Luna 1

Esmeralda Luna Roster #13

Professor Shkorupa
EDU 202
November 3, 2020
Important Issues in The History of American Education
1. There have been a lot of forms of schooling throughout the years some of which
would be grammar schools and reading-and-writing schools. Grammar schools were
schools that boys would attend they learned about literature, writing, math, and Latin.
When they were done with grammar schools they usually moved up to universities.
Petty schools focused on reading and writing; they would usually take place in the
teachers’ homes. The difference between them would be the material being taught
and the fact that girls were allowed to attend petty schools.
2. Noah Webster most famously known for his creation of the Webster dictionaries
played a key part in education today. He created the American Spelling book in an
effort to replace the previous New England Primers, his spelling book contained the
alphabet, syllables, consonants, rules for speaking, readings, short stories, and moral
advice. By creating these books, he effectively taught many kids how to properly
read. Thomas Jefferson believed that by making education more available to the
public there would be a more organized society, he created primary schools,
intermediate schools, and universities. He made the first three years of primary school
free of charge so people who did not have enough money could receive an education
even if was for a short period of time.
3. Three moral lessons used in the McGuffey Readers were clean living, hark work, and
literacy. They were created by a man named William Holmes McGuffey who was a
professor, minister, and college president. These values were taught through the
readers because McGuffey thought that those traits were virtues that children should
learn.
4. There were various methods of deculturalization used by the United states
government against Native Americans and Puerto Ricans. Starting off with removing
native languages and replacing them with their own, taking away their land, not
teaching them their own culture in schools, converting their religion which was
Christianity, moving them from their native land to a predominantly white area and
denying them American citizenship. These methods were used to make Native and
Puerto Rican people forget about their own culture and assimilate to new ones being
forcefully presented to them.
5. The theory of cooperative learning is primarily based on achieving student
collaboration in order to accomplish classroom goals. With this theory students are
placed in a group-based classroom and are encouraged to work with one another, a
popular theorist by the name of John Dewey helped mold this theory into what it is
today. Along with helping create the theory of cooperative learning, Dewey believed
in a hands-on approach way of learning. He firmly believed that students should learn
about the environment around them. The theory of positive reinforcement states that
if a student is rewarded with good behavior, they will be more likely to want to keep
up that behavior in order to gain the recognition. A certain theorist who can be
attributed to creating the ideas surrounding operant conditioning would be Edward
Thorndike. He believed in “Law of Effect” which states that when behavior is
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rewarded it will more than likely be repeated, and when behavior is punished it will
stop. Social interaction and cooperative learning go hand in hand, by using
cooperative learning in a class student are likely to develop social skills as well.
Lesson plans are essential for classroom success, they help provide a structure to what
teachers teach. Johann Herbart’s was a theorist who believed in teachers being fully
prepared to teach a class, his method was divided into preparation, presentation,
association, generalization, and application.
6. The concept of “Meritocracy” is progress based solely on student ability and talent,
rather than measuring capability based on their personal background. The concept of
“Equality of Opportunity” is based on equal opportunity for all students regardless of
personal background. The difference between them is that meritocracy bases solely
on capability so if a student is not as talented as other students they will be left out,
equality of opportunity gives out an equal playing field for all students.
7. Tracking is when students are divided based on academic abilities, this becomes an
issue when students who are grouped into low performing classrooms realize they are
being tracked. It can affect their overall behavior and self-esteem; it can also affect
the way teachers view them. For example, when a teacher can automatically create a
prejudice against lower performing classrooms which affects classroom success.
Tracking can also create a form of segregation; this is because minorities or students
coming from a lower-class families are often grouped together while everyone else
coming from a higher economic status are grouped. While there are many cons
surrounding modern day tracking there is also a positive side to it when used
correctly. Teachers can use tracking to determine which students are falling behind
during class and group them with students who are not having difficulties learning.
8. Plessy vs. Ferguson was an extremely important landmark that took place in 1896
which made segregation considered constitutional. A man named Homer Plessy
refused to sit in a car made for black people, he was arrested and during the case it
was decided that his rights were not violated under the separate but equal doctrine.
This led to various segregation laws one of which included Jim Crow laws. These
laws were in place until the Brown vs. Board of Education that took place 58 years
later in 1954. This case ruled that racial segregations in school was considered
unconstitutional because both white and black school were not equal therefore
violating the separate but equal doctrine leading to desegregation in schools.
9. The concept of an open classroom was to remove classroom walls and have large
groups of students work under the supervision of various teachers. I do not feel like
this idea would be as effective in my personal teaching situation, as much as I believe
that students learn best from one another, I also believe that having too many students
interacting would be difficult to manage and cause distractions. By having smaller
classrooms with individual teachers’ students are more likely to concentrate on what
they are supposed to be learning. An individual teacher will know in which areas their
students are struggling and will change their lesson plans deciding on how well they
grasp the concept being taught.
10. Factors that influenced the kind of education you might receive during the colonial
period would be geography, wealth, race/ethnicity, and gender. Geography played a
factor in colonial education because northern colonies were populated by puritans
who created schools to teach students about religion rather than standard education.
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Wealth also played a factor during these times because in order to attend a nice
school and have a proper education students had to have the money to afford it. If
they did not have the money then they would have to resort to lower end schools,
most people choose not to go to these schools because they would have to sign a
“Pauper’s Oath” declaring they were poor which most people refused to admit due to
the public embarrassment that came with it. Minorities were not allowed an education
and neither were girls. Rather than being taught educational topics girls were usually
taught how to become good wives by doing household tasks. They were also taught at
a young age on how to become mothers.