Education in America: How It Has Changed Over Time - Essay Sample

Introduction

Education is one of the sectors and or areas that have undergone a great transformation from the early years in American history with comparison to the present times. It is actually very different looking at the way people in America used to receive education and how they do it today. This shows that a lot of positive changes have been made in all the dimensions of education ranging from the establishment of more schools and other institutions of learning. This great transformation in the education of American people has come along with the help of the foundations of American education that have been there to support the processes of this education.

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Discussion

For the success and spread of education in the present day America, a lot of factors and activities have contributed largely to all these arrangements. These factors are of different dimensions but they have all attributed to the intensified education in the United States. As of the quote by Nicholas Lemann in the American New Yorker Magazine, it is true that despite the fact there is nothing to do with education in the American constitution, immense changes have come up and are felt today from the ancient times in America (Stitzlein, 2014). This means that education in the hands of American people has become a daily routine that is internalized in the minds of the people in that they always recognize it like any other duty or rather role that points onto them. These are some of the main factors that have made education possible in America;

The Building of More Schools

At the time when education began in the United States, there were very few schools available ranging from the levels of primary schools, colleges, and other institutions that offered training of any type in America. However with time, many dignitaries and recognized individuals in America pushed for the establishment of schools within all the parts of America to aid in easy access of education by all people who wanted to receive this education. The push for these people to ensure that more and more schools were opened up was not without efforts by the same people to open up schools in various places by themselves. In the early centuries like in the 16th century, only a few primary and high schools were available and therefore not all the people and or learners could get access to the few institutions that were available. As a result, this denied a large number of people the chance to get the education they would have wanted to acquire.

End of Racial Segregation

Another issue that had affected education negatively in America was the segregation of the people in America on the basis of where they came from. This refers to the segregation of the immigrants and blacks at the expense of the whites in America. The whites had been given the first priority when it came to accessing education despite the fact that not all of them were capable of acquiring this education (Board & Board, 2019). It came a time in the education history of America when the segregation and discrimination ended and thus all the classes of people in America began having equal access to education regardless of their origin and or status. Moreover, the new schools and learning institutions that were set up included those of the Native Americans, the blacks and the immigrants as long as they were all willing to acquire the education.

Growth of the Economy

From the history of the education in America, at first acquisition of education in America was a long and challenging process for most of the people because of the fact that they could not have a good balance between paying the school levies and providing for their families. In other words, for the parents taking their children to schools to get education meant that the children were to leave the farm activities and these acted as the sources of income and sustainability for these people. As a result, many parents could not pay for these children's education (Stitzlein, 2014). However, as of the statement by Nicholas Lemann in the New Yorker Magazine, this is not the same case in the present date having the economic stability and huge growth in the United States. With the huge growth and expansion of the economy in America, all the people have been able to lead stable lives and thus can afford to pay for education in any schools within their reach.

More Advanced Governments

The changes in governments over all this time has impacted positively on the way the practice of education is done in America. In the early times, the governments in a place considered nothing important as far as education was concerned. Actually, they concentrated more on other things rather than education. It was thus the responsibility of anyone who wanted to access education to do all that was required for them. A big change has been today in America since governments that mind more about the education of children at primary and tertiary levels have been put in place.

One of the ways in which the transformation of the governments has, in turn, led to changes in education is through serious funding of the education departments by these governments. This is because of the fact that the people running these governments understand the importance of having an informed and educated society. In addition, it has been the core duty of the government in America to make education compulsory for specific ages of children in all the parts of America. This means that each and everyone is able to acquire education from any of the available learning institutions. Also, education in the primary levels has been fully funded by the government in public schools and this gives the children an opportunity to get an education at no expense.

Effects of Transformations in Education

A lot has come with the changes that have taken place in the history of education in America. One of the major positive impacts of this is that education has led to the improvement of innovation throughout America with the people being equipped with different skills and ideas on different issues (Pulliam & Van Patten, 2019). Additionally, there has been continuous improvement of the education as more and more advancement have and are still being pushed for.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the various historical foundations in the education of America have contributed largely to the way education is in present-day America. It is clear that the education sector is going to receive more positive transformations and achievements with time. The end result will always be the availability of an informed society whereby people come up with very innovative ideas and plans for economic growth.

References

Board, T., & Board, T. (2019). 11 Facts about the History of Education in America. Retrieved from https://www.americanboard.org/blog/11-facts-about-the-history-of-education-in-america/

Fareed Zakaria alleges a "dangerous" American "obsession with STEM education". (2015). Physics Today. Doi: 10.1063/pt.5.8108

Historical Timeline of Public Education in the US. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.raceforward.org/research/reports/historical-timeline-public-education-us

Pulliam & Van Patten, History and Social Foundations of American Education, the 10th Edition | Pearson. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Pulliam-History-and-Social-Foundations-of-American-Education-The-10th-Edition/PGM157171.html

Stitzlein, S. (2014). Habits of Democracy: A Deweyan Approach to Citizenship Education in America Today. Education and Culture, 30(2), 61-86. Doi: 10.1353/eac.2014.0012