Reflection 19

Our school system has done a lot of changing over the years since it first started in colonial times. The first type of school that was established was called a dame school. This was similar to the present day elementary schools. The school was usually located in the home of the teacher who was normally a woman. The teachers were often uneducated and only taught their pupils the basics of the school. The students were only taught to spell and were not taught math or grammar skills. Then in the nineteenth century, Horace Mann coined the “common school” which would provide all white children the chance to get the basics in education. The pupils went to this school from ages six to fourteen. The students were taught reading arithmetic and writing also geography and history. There weren’t report cards like there are in today’s society, but there were end of the year recitals which was when students had to recite the information that they had learned. After the dame schools, and after long deliberation, the society stressed that higher education was needed rather than just the education received from the dame schools. The Latin grammar schools were created because of this stress. Originally, these Latin grammar schools were designed for those who would become ministers and leaders in the communities. This would typically be a male student from the upper class bracket in the society. The girls were not even accepted into these schools because they were informed that the most important and influential people in the society were always men. The Latin grammar schools were used to prepare boys for higher learning. They are similar to today’s high schools in preparing students for college. Horace Mann’s normal school was the place that people could attend after receiving their elementary education. Normal schools provided a two year training program for teachers. You can say that it was similar to what we have as a college today that trains people in the field of their desire. U.S. schools has undergone many different transformations, most of which were for the best of the students and schools.


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