Exploring Of History Of Education From Colonial Days To Today (Essay Sample)

History of Education from Colonial days to today Student’s name University Affiliation History of Education from Colonial days to today Undeniably, education is an integral part of the life of an individual. It enables people to acquire knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits through methods such as teaching, training, directed research, discussions, and storytelling (Cooper & Ryan, 1988).In light of this task, the essay seeks to explore the history of education, how it has evolved from colonial days to today. In line with Dewey (1999), the history of education can be traced back from the time when the European immigrants moved to colonial America where they brought their cultural values, traditions, and philosophies about education. Further, the scholar argues that the current education structure in the United States is founded on the Western or European belief system. During this period, some tribes such as the Cherokee had developed written languages and a system of formal education so that knowledge can be passed from one generation to the other. It is also worth noting that religion played an integral part in the development of education. For example, the Puritans, a staunch fundamentalist Protestant believed that education was crucial since it helped people to read the Bible and receive salvation. The first compulsory education laws were approved in Massachusetts from 1642-1648. The laws mainly targeted the non-Puritans who did not provide their children with appropriate education. As a result, the Massachusetts Act of 1642 made education an obligation of the state (Dewey, 1999). On the flip side, the development of colonial days to today has had its fair share of challenges. For instance, in Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896, the U.S Supreme Court gave out a ruling which purported that the constitution was not violated if racially separate facilities were equal (NAACP, 2017).However, NAACP, a civil rights group commissioned a study in the 1930s whereby Nathan Margold established that the endorsement made by the supreme court did not provide the black with similar facilities as the whites. As a result, Margold claimed that ‘separate but equal principle’ had been violated thus the reason as to why a strings of lawsuits were filed. Later, Houston joined NAACP where he came up with an equalization strategy that advocated for fairness in the facilities provided to black and white students. Through this strategy, Houston was successful in several suitcases such as Murray v. Maryland which led to the disintegration of the University of Maryland’s Law School and State ex rel. Gaines v. Canada. Similarly, Thurgood Marshall, Houston’s successor also fought for the Equal Protection Clause where the states of Texas and Oklahoma were compelled to enroll black students in their professional and graduate schools. Through these decisions, more victories such as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka were achieved (NAACP, 2017). More importantly, various organizations and movements have been formed to ensure that education is accessible to every student irrespective of their cultural, ethnic or financial backgrounds. For instance, National Association for Bilingual Education is professional organization that advocates for equality in the education sector. In addition, the association supports excellence for both multilingual and bilingual students. According to the article, this organization has partners in 18 states with more than 5, 000 members who work towards investing education, the country’s future leaders, and the world’s well-being. They do so by creating programs, policies, research, pedagogy and enhancing professional development (National Associa...