Chapter 5: The History of Schools in the United States

In The Joy of Teaching, authors Gene E. Hall, Linda F. Quinn, and Donna M. Gollnick discuss how curriculum has developed over the last three centuries.  In colonial times, the curriculum consisted mostly of reading, writing, and arithmetic, with strong religious influences.  Industrialization created a need to educate the immigrants so that they would become beneficial workers and members of society.  Following Industrialization came the Progressive era which focused on trying to reform society through reforming the schools and the education students were provided with.  In the 1950s, the launch of the Russian satellite, Sputnik I, and the following arms race between America and Russia initiated a shift in the focus of education "to improve the teaching of science, mathematics, and foreign language" (190).  Now, "efforts to increase student understanding and achievement in all areas of the curriculum" are a leading factor in "curriculum development and implementation throughout public schooling in the United States" (190).  The various cultures that immigrated to the United States throughout the last three centuries spent great efforts fighting to have their cultures included in the curriculum, but it was not until the federal government had national standards developed in the 1980s that included many of the ethnic and racial groups fighting for inclusion, that the "cultural wars" peaked and continue to this day.

Along with the changes in curriculum that have been taking place for centuries, debates within education have been equally prevalent.  One such debate is the question of which cultures to include in the curriculum; immigrant cultures want their histories included, while others do not feel they should be included.  This debate remains present in today's education, yet it is not seen as such an important factor as it was twenty or thirty years ago.  Another important debate in the education world is deciding who has the right to an education and whether everyone deserves an equal education or not.  This was primarily seen when women were not allowed to go to school and when blacks were segregated in the schools, and although women and blacks now have the right to an equal education as Caucasian males, there are still parties who oppose these ideas.  The debate between teaching evolution and teaching creationism still holds strong in today's society, just as it did years ago; schools are meant to separate religion from the curriculum, but this is also meant with great controversy.