Universal Free Public Education in a Diverse Society
Diane Waldron
Eastern Connecticut State University
Students shoot and kill other students and educational staff within the walls of public schools. A decade of high-stakes testing ends with parents opting their children out of the latest generation of standardized testing. Every child is expected to succeed although some children will succeed differently as per their IEP, 504, or ELL status. Public schools provide students with free food, uniform vouchers, free psychological services, free physical health services, and – lest we forget the purpose of public schools – a free tax supported education.
Thomas Jefferson and Horace Mann had a much simpler concept in mind as they worked for tax funded free public education for all (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012; vid). During America’s infancy education was not considered a necessity, intended primarily for the edification of wealthy boys and young men who were expected to grow into future leaders of church and state. Girls, free African Americans, and the working classes did not truly need an education, except to have the ideals of democracy instilled into their psyches in order to uphold the fledgling republic… and also to read the Bible.
As the citizenship of the United States became more educated, the demand for more equality in education grew. Increasingly, citizens turned to the court system and the federal government for help in establishing and enforcing equality in education. The “separate but equal” (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012; Highbeam Research, LLC, 2005; School, 2000) 1896 Supreme Court ruling allowed segregated public education to set down deep roots in the South, and it would take plenty of legislation and finally the threat of funding loss to finally put an end to segregated public schools in the south (Boutin, 2010; Highbeam Research, LLC, 2005; Sass, 2012;School, 2000).
As western territories opened up following the end of the Civil War, provisions were made to fund public education in those new territories. Catherine Beecher made teaching a respectable career for middle class women, and towns vied to attract settlers by providing a quality education (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012;School, 2000). The “problem” of what to do with Native American children was solved by sending them away to “Indian Boarding Schools” where boys were taught industrial arts, girls were taught domestic arts, and all Native American students were indoctrinated into mainstream American culture (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012;School, 2000). Mexican children who became Americans following the Mexican American War, however, were left to attend their own Spanish schools (Verduro,2006, p. 14).
Wealthy or poor. Male or female. Able- or feeble-minded. Black or white or Native American or Mexican American. So were students labeled, until the early twentieth century, when a wave of immigration brought roughly three million children into the public education system of this country (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012;School, 2000). For some of these immigrant people, the “Work, Play, Learn” model employed by Wirt in Gary, Indiana was hugely successful. Based on Dewey’s progressive ideas, the public schools in Gary, Indiana became the center of Americanizing both the immigrant children and their parents (School, 2000). Back East, New York City employed its own brand of Americanization in public schools, with patriotic textbooks, and a radical English-only curriculum (School, 2000).
Chinese. Latin American. Hispanic. Puerto Rican. Cuban. The population of the United States became even more diverse with a second, and then a third wave of immigration, bringing children whose language of choice was not English. Public education responded to the needs of these immigrants by establishing bilingual education in American public schools, with the idea that the child would be taught academic subjects in his or her native language, while also learning English. More importantly, perhaps, were the federal funds provided to public schools to educate these immigrant children (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012;School, 2000).
The Civil Rights Movement paved the way for racial and gender equality in public education. Title IX, prohibiting discrimination based on gender and also providing protection from sexual harassment, was based on the same premise as the Civil Rights Act, whereby noncompliant institutions would lose federal funding. The Civil Rights Act also made public education accessible to students with disabilities. Inclusion and a “least restrictive environment” (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012;School, 2000) as mandated by federal law, became the standard for students with physical, emotional, and intellectual disabilities. And as with the Civil Rights Act and Title IX, the IDEA had teeth. Noncompliance meant the loss of federal funding.
Thomas Jefferson’s and Horace Mann’s visions of universal, tax-supported, free public education for all citizens as a means to uphold democratic ideals and provide all children with the opportunity to climb the social ladder had come to fruition.
Or had it? Economic disparities have created and continue to maintain achievement gaps between wealthy suburban children and impoverished urban youths. Economics-induced segregation has persisted in urban schools whose populations are primarily impoverished, minority students (Lazarin and Kohler, 2007). Bussing students from city to suburb or suburb to city was one solution to socio-economic segregation; however most students and parents resisted (School, 2000). But the idea of choosing where one’s child would attend school, rather than passively accepting whatever school happened to be available in one’s district, grew wings.
Voucher programs continue to allow students to attend private schools paid for by tax payers; magnet schools still attract high achieving students with specialized programs; charter schools, run by teachers and parents with no board of education and no superintendent, also offer programs targeted to specific student interests – and, if none of these options are appealing, parents can opt to home school their children (Boutin, 2010; Sass, 2012;School, 2000). Federal funds for all of these alternatives to public education have been generously granted since the late twentieth century; however…
…those funds have become increasingly tied to student performance on standardized tests since the end of the twentieth and the start of the twenty-first century. Teaching to the test became commonplace following the passage of No Child Left Behind, as schools desperately sought to improve student performance in order to preserve federal funding. My observation, as a teacher of seventeen years in the same school, is this: the only people who ever benefitted from standardized testing are the companies that create, publish, and score the tests. I think most educators, students, and parents would agree that standardized testing is not the solution to the many problems facing American public education.
I don’t think one solution exists to “fix” public education in America. The federal government has been throwing money at educational problems since the 1960’s, but huge inequalities persist. In the environmental MOOC that I have enrolled in, we have discussed “wicked” problems, and I believe that making American public education more effective for all students is a wicked problem. The diverse voices and the concerns of every person with an interest in improving public education in this country must be heard if we are to see progress in our educational system.
References
Boutin, Melissa (June 2010). Timeline of US Education. Retrieved
from http://www.slideshare.net/melboutin/timeline-of-us-education-4474399.
HighBeam Research, LLC (2005). Milestones in African American Education. Available
at http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872844.html.
Kohler, Adriana D. and Lazarín, Melissa (2007). Hispanic Education in the United
States. http://publications.nclr.org/handle/123456789/1393
Sass, Edmund (2012). American Educational History: A Hypertext Timeline. Retrieved
from: http://www.eds-resources.com/educationhistorytimeline.html
School: The Story of American Public Education Series (Documentary). (2000). Stone
Lantern Films.
Verdugo, Richard (2006). A Report on the Status of Hispanics in Education: Overcoming
a History of Neglect. Available at