Some Wicked Friends of Public Schools By Bruce Walker
Free education, the provision for the opportunity for universal literacy, is a blessing to any society. The ability to read and write has made the difference between social mobility and social stagnation. Free public education is largely an American invention. The Northwest Ordinances provided for land to go to public schools.
Free, mandatory schooling appears to have originated in Scotland, where churches were required to provide schooling to all children -- male and female -- so that everyone could read the Bible. The unintended consequence in Scotland was a virtual explosion of intellectual and cultural activity in the Nineteenth Century, parallel to the explosion of activity in America.
Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment