The Wiley Handbook of School Choice

Robert A. Fox, Nina K. Buchanan, Robert A. Fox, Nina K. Buchanan

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781119082323
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Istruzione superiore

The Wiley Handbook of School Choice presents a comprehensive collection of original essays addressing the wide range of alternatives to traditional public schools available in contemporary US society.

• A comprehensive collection of the latest research findings on school choices in the US, including charter schools, magnet schools, school vouchers, home schooling, private schools, and virtual schools
• Viewpoints of both advocates and opponents of each school choice provide balanced examinations and opinions
• Perspectives drawn from both established researchers and practicing professionals in the U.S. and abroad and from across the educational spectrum gives a holistic outlook
• Includes thorough coverage of the history of traditional education in the US, its current state, and predictions for the future of each alternative school choice

1
A Brief History of Public Education in the United States

Sylvia L. Mendez Monica S. Yoo, and John L. Rury

Schools have functioned as one of the principal institutions from colonial America to the twenty‐first century to transmit knowledge and cultural values across generations. Early in their history, schools reflected the interests of local communities, but in the nineteenth century they also began to serve national interests, and today they increasingly address international issues. As this suggests, educational institutions have reflected important social and political changes. In reviewing the history of public education, the symbiotic relationship between schools and society is apparent and aids in our understanding of today’s school system. This chapter provides a brief history and review of the current state of public education, with a focus on five periods: Colonial America and the Revolution, the Age of the Common School, the Progressive Era, the Postwar Period, and the Emerging Twenty‐First Century.

1.1 Colonial America and the Revolution

At the birth of the United States, schooling practices that began in colonial America served as the educational foundation for the new nation (Bailyn, 1967; Cremin, 1980; Kaestle, 1983). The movement of Europeans to North America entailed significant social and ideological changes as they undertook long‐term settlement, rapid economic development, and an adaptable commitment to Protestant perfectionism. Intended to complement the education provided by families and churches, schools were established early in colonial settlements. The curricular underpinnings were dictated by local cultural values and customs, including religious proclivities and the virtues of hard work and deference to authority. Local control became a hallowed principle of American education. Education, although influenced by Western European tradition, was a diverse enterprise motivated by preserving local and individual interests and values.

The colonialists produced different types of schooling: many boys (and some girls) often studied an elementary curriculum of reading, writing, and arithmetic rooted in religious dogma and moralism (Tyack & Hansot, 1990). Along with the Bible, they studied spellers, the hornbook, and other didactic texts, such as the New England Primer, first printed in 1690 (Axtell, 1974; Nord, 1995). Higher levels of schooling primarily served affluent boys on pathways to colonial leadership (Cremin, 1970; Vine, 1976). Some attended Latin grammar schools or local academies, the first being the Boston Latin Grammar School. Boys undertook advanced study of Latin and Greek in preparation for admission to colleges such as Harvard (established in 1636). Women were excluded from colleges and Latin grammar schools and were widely held to be intellectually incapable of higher learning.

Despite these institutional arrangements, family was the primary educational influence, as home and farm obligations typically took precedence over school (Axtell, 1974). School terms were short, attendance was inconsistent, and educational standards were highly variable (Cremin, 1970). Some children received early instruction in dame schools operated by educated women in their homes, supported by modest fees (Perlmann & Margo, 2001). These schools provided early instruction for boys and often were the only formalized instruction for girls (Tyack & Hansot, 1990). In addition to basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, girls were taught homemaking skills, such as cooking and sewing. Apprenticeships were the primary rite of passage into a trade (Cremin, 1970).

New England’s Puritans sought to mandate basic education by requiring parents to teach their children basic literacy, as well as religious precepts and elementary mathematics. Consequently, literacy rates were higher in the New England colonies than in other colonies (Cremin, 1970; Lockridge, 1974; Moran & Vinovskis, 2007). A Massachusetts act in 1647, popularly known as the “Old Deluder Satan Law,” mandated public support of schools to maintain moral rectitude (Nord, 1995). Towns with 50 families were required to hire a teacher for basic reading and writing instruction; towns with 100 families were expected to hire a Latin teacher. This law reflected an early belief that education was not entirely voluntary and that schools were a means for preserving basic values (Cremin, 1970).

The Middle Colonies featured a more culturally and religiously diverse group of settlers. Religious denominations established their own schools, as did independent masters, usually in the cities. Academies offered instruction in such practical arts as navigation, surveying, agriculture, and mechanics, with a focus on English, rather than Latin and Greek (Beadie, 2010). Benjamin Franklin’s Academy was among the most famous; established in Philadelphia in 1751 for males who were able to pay tuition.

In contrast to the North were Southern Colonies, in which settlers generally followed the Church of England. Large plantations led to a dispersed population that made communal schooling less manageable. Additionally, wealthy Southern plantation owners hired tutors or sent their children to boarding schools. Few schooling opportunities existed for poor farmers’ children and almost none for African slaves (Kaestle, 1983).

Much debate ensued on the role of schooling for Native Americans and African Americans, who represented about a third of the population. While the vast majority received no formal schooling, education through ritual and custom was the tradition. Schools for them were managed by religious groups, such as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (Church of England) and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Quaker schools taught basic literacy, numeracy, and religion, as well as vocational training, and were open to boys and girls of all socioeconomic classes and races, although they were few in number (Woody, 1923). These conversion efforts also were found in Spanish‐settled lands and were led by Catholic missionaries; participation was mandated by coercive tactics of offering special gifts and favor, and cruel force when necessary (MacDonald, 2004; Weber, 1994). Additionally, freed African Americans and abolitionist groups later developed schools for African Americans in the North, such as the New York African Free School (Rury, 1985). These charity schools and others established later were segregated by race, minimally funded, and focused on teaching children to behave properly (Cremin, 1970; Kaestle, 1983; Szasz, 1988).

Following the Revolution, national leaders suggested that schools could help to preserve the political freedoms and ideals of democratic citizenship (Cremin, 1980). This sentiment was most clearly articulated by Thomas Jefferson, who believed that the common people, not only the elite, should be literate and well‐informed. He made little mention of female education, however, or the education of African Americans or Native Americans. In 1779, his Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge called for Virginia to fund state‐supported universal elementary schools for boys and girls and merit‐based scholarships for promising boys to attend grammar schools (Kaestle, 1983). But the Virginia legislature rejected it largely on the grounds of local control conflicts. Tension between local and state responsibility for formal education influenced the formation of the new nation and its emerging school systems.

The Continental Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance Acts in 1785 and 1787, linking government, schools, and morality by providing resources to support education (Tyack, James, & Benavot, 1987). With westward expansion, the Civilization Fund Act of 1819 supported the use of schools in “civilizing” Native American children, many of whom were later removed from their families and schooled in values opposed to their indigenous way of life. The practice of assimilation through boarding schools endured until the early twentieth century (Adams, 1995; Hoxie, 1984). Altogether, however, state and federal governments played very limited roles in education for most of the nineteenth century.

Another important issue following the Revolution was women’s education. Benjamin Rush and other leaders argued for schooling to expand the role of women to include patriotic socialization through “republican motherhood” (Kerber, 1980; Rudolph, 1965; Tyack & Hansot, 1990). During this period, female literacy rates were on the rise, reflecting a new openness to female schooling (Lockridge, 1974; Nash, 2005; Sklar, 1993; Tyack & Hansot, 1990). This was a portent of future developments in American education.

1.2 The Age of the Common School

As the United States entered the nineteenth century, Thomas Jefferson’s vision of education widely supported by tax monies slowly gained credibility. Common school reform found supporters, as concerns mounted in response to an increasingly diverse nation shaped by rapid industrialization and urbanization. Industry provided models for the growing school system, as leaders were impressed by the power and efficiency of early factories and the virtues of a disciplined workforce (Kaestle, 1973; Kliebard, 1999; Nasaw, 1979; Tyack, 1974). In light of this, reformers, such as Horace Mann, Catharine Beecher, and many others, pushed for a state‐coordinated system of education from elementary schooling to college, with local control of institutions and nascent professionalization of teaching. Schools became the central educating institution of the nineteenth century, supplanting the roles once played by families and church. Yet, differences continued to exist in the type of schooling children would encounter based on religion, gender, class, and race.

The greatest champion for common (elementary) schools was Horace Mann; a lawyer, Massachusetts senator, and, beginning in 1837, the first Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education (Binder, 1974; Cremin, 1951; Kaestle, 1983; Messerli, 1972). He promoted the need for a mass system of nonsectarian education supported by public tax monies to ensure that children of all social and economic classes received a “common” education. He believed this would foster national unity by building upon common morals, creating a strong skill base for commercial ventures, and preparing children for democratic citizenship. Mann gained national support for public schools through his Annual Reports to the Massachusetts Board of Education, as well as his writings in The Common School Journal, which he founded (Messerli, 1972) in 1838. He envisioned a standardized schooling experience for all children, with a common, nonsectarian curriculum to inculcate children with proper American values.

Mann’s desire for a common curriculum was challenged by church leaders who argued that this curriculum was an affront to religion. Catholics, in particular, called for public funding of parish schools (Lannie, 1968; Nord, 1995; Ravitch, 1974). They feared Catholic children would be “Protestantized” in school and turned away from their faith and family. Eventually, Cath...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction
• 1 A Brief History of Public Education in the United States
• 2 A Brief and Future History of School Choice
• 3 School Choice
• 4 A Political Scientist Looks at American School Choice
• 5 The Economics of School Choice
• 6 Philosophical Understandings of American School Choice
• 7 Private Schools
• 8 The Case for Private Schools
• 9 The Case Against Private Schooling
• 10 Private Schooling in Portugal
• 11 Magnet Schools
• 12 The Case For Magnet Schools
• 13 The Case Against Magnet Schools
• 14 Specialist Schools in England
• 15 Description and Brief History of Charter Schools
• 16 The Case for Charters
• 17 The Case Against Charter Schools
• 18 Lessons the United States Can Learn From Sweden’s Experience with Independent Schools
• 19 An Introduction to Educational Vouchers
• 20 The Case for School Vouchers
• 21 The Weak Case for Vouchers1
• 22 Lessons the United States Can Learn From Chile’s Experience with School Vouchers
• 23 A Description and Brief History of Home Schooling in America
• 24 A Case for Home Schooling
• 25 Home Schooling
• 26 What the United States Can Learn from Canada’s Experience with Home Schooling
• 27 Making the Choice to go Online
• 28 The Case for K-12 Online Learning
• 29 K–12 Online Learning and School Choice
• 30 Virtual Schooling in Australia
• 31 Losing the War of Ideas? Why Teachers Unions Oppose School Choice
• 32 Religion in Schools
• 33 Educating Students with Disabilities in the School Choice Context
• 34 School Choice and Legal Issues
• 35 A Critical Look at Parental Choice
• 36 School Choice
• 37 Media Coverage of School Choice
• Conclusion
• Index
• End User License Agreement