AS AMERICAN AS PUBLIC SCHOOL / “YOU ARE AN AMERICAN”

History is always beautiful because it teaches us the glories and mistakes from the past. History helps us to value and understand how things used to be and how they have evolved, although sometimes humanity tends to start all over with the same cycle. Such as the educational system. While reading “Part-Two” of School, I contemplated the beginnings of education in America and its progress along the time. This part of the book focuses on how immigrant children were impacted by the American school system and how they also impacted the system.

Through decades school has progressed hand to hand with the economy which means that students need to accommodate their education based on the nations needs. Diane Ravitch says: “As economy became more complex, students stayed in school longer to gain additional skills and knowledge.” Over time theories of how education should be implemented came back and forward sharing different ideas, progress, achievements, and concerns. In 1917, school was based on vocational and industrial education to prepare youngsters for jobs. At that time, it is reasonable to prepare children for jobs and to teach them what they were not learning at home. I do not criticize 100% such system because, as I said before, it was based on the needs of that time, the sad thing would have been that it stood like that, based on John Dewey’s idea of progress.

Arguing with Dewey’s idea, Mr. William Wirt introduced a new insight into the public education. He started we what we know today as classes divided by periods. His purpose was to have students moving around the different classrooms instead of having them sitting all day in the same classroom and listening to the same teacher. Also, Wirt developed a plan to create school buildings in a way that was more comfortable and proper to the teaching-learning experience. Years later, in New York a detractor of Dewey, John Hylan presented a 360°-degree plan in which instead of educating children to work in factories, students will have the chance have an education and hence more opportunities in the “white-collar” workforce. This new idea will give students the opportunity to become lawyers, artists, literates, doctors just to mention a few. This new idea will help students have more ambitious professional career plans regardless of their ethnicity, family backgrounds, race or breeding place.

An interested topic in Part-Two of School is how after the WWII I.Q. test were so important to implement in school. They were designed to assess individuals to identify future officers. Later, such tests were used in school to predict the future of a student. This mindset sentenced many citizens to accept and conform with what the system thought it was best for them. I believe that I.Q. test should not be an evaluation tool to determine the future of an individual, although they might be a useful tool for other purposes.

The chapter closes with a quote that says: “Not only did the public school transform the immigrants; the immigrants eventually helped to transform America, making landmark contributions in every day walk of life, as artists, scientists, intellectuals, journalists, business leaders, professionals and ordinary citizens.” Many classmates shared the idea of how the chapter focused on what was wrong with the educational system back in the days. In my opinion, the chapter is focused on how the system has progressed and is built depending on the needs of the nation at a specific time or era. I am not saying I agree with everything that I read, I just understand why some decisions had to be made, and how those decisions were made based on the discoveries and knowledge based on that era. Progress is always progressing and evolving along with humanity.