The Identified Periods that Impacted U. S. Education (Reaction Paper Sample)

The Identified Periods that Impacted U. S. Education Student’s First Name, Middle Initial(s), Last Name Institutional Affiliation Course Number and Name Instructor’s Name and Title Assignment Due Date The Identified Periods that Impacted U. S. Education Introduction Education in the United States has passed through many challenges as many people were denied reading and learning opportunities. However, many aspects of American Education have gone through drastic changes throughout history, which has proved to be helpful in the education sector. The following reaction paper is based on five articles about historical timelines in U.S education, including the Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647 (1647), Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann on Education, Mendez vs. Westminster, and Board of Education, and Endrew F v Douglas County School District.  Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647 (1647) This act was passed in 1647 and was significant because it set the cornerstone for establishing public schools in the United States. It was made possible by the Puritans, who placed high importance on literacy and felt that everyone should be able to read and understand the Bible by themselves. It sets the basis for public education. The act founded many principles that have remained in place today, including the notion that primary education is a public or social responsibility. Thus, the state's authority requires communities to raise and spend local school funds. It also highlighted that day-to-day responsibility for school operations rests with local governments. Hence, schools are structured at various levels, separating primary education from higher schooling (Carleton, 2009, p. 2). As a result, the act formed a basis through which primary and secondary schooling thrive due to community and state support. The act also compelled towns to support instructors for their children. The act's theological motivation was stated explicitly: it was intended to prevent "ye old deluder, Satan" in his goal of "keeping men from the understanding of ye Scriptures." In addition, it required that every village with 50 or more families was to hire and retain an instructor to teach all children reading and writing. This was essential as reading aids brain development and is also known to activate the eye muscles. It also improved the reader's conversational abilities since it is an activity that requires higher degrees of focus. 1700-1779- Thomas Jefferson Authors Bill 79: “A Bill for More General Diffusion of Knowledge”. Mr. Thomas Jefferson was an outspoken proponent of public education in the United States. His most notable contribution to this cause was the establishment of the University of Virginia in 1819, which is still in existence today. The laws were altered, and Bill 79, "A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge," was created during his work in Virginia in the late 1770s and early 1780s. It is regarded as one of his most famous articles on the public school system. The bill was presented many times in the House of Delegates but was not passed until 1778 and 1780. According to the draft regulations, each county would be divided into discrete districts of five or six miles square, known as hundreds, and a school for the teaching of literature, writing, and mathematics would be established in each of these districts. It also wanted every member of the hundred to support the tutor and send their children for free for three years (Smith, 2012, p. 1). Nevertheless, the bill wanted schools to be run by visitors who would select the best student each year from those whose families can't afford to educate them further and send them to one of the twenty grammar schools (high schools, in effect) that will be built across Virginia. To teach the likes of Greek and Latin and geography and the more advanced branches of numerical arithmetic.  This bill enabled the selection of the brightest students to continue with their education for another six years while expelling others. Using this method, twenty of the most brilliant brains each year were rescued from the garbage and educated at no cost to the public, enabling the brightest but poor students to receive an education. 1837 Horace Mann on Education Horace Mann, who lived from 1776 to 1859 and is renowned as the "Father of the Common School Movement," had a significant impact on the development of what we now refer to as the educational system. Mann began his work as a lawyer in Massachusetts, and as a good lawyer, he rapidly learned that the state's educational system was underperforming and woefully disorganized. He also realized that teachers were either poorly or ultimately untrained, and many children could not attend school due to a lack of teachers and poverty.  Mann took on the job of reforming the school system to address the issues of low attendance rates and a scarcity of trained educators in the community. He was able to accomplish this through a variety of means. His first contribution to education was establishing a school for the mentally impaired, which was unprecedented at the time of his birth. In the previous decades, there had never been a school that specialized specifically in a subset of students with exceptional needs. Following in the same footsteps, he also introduced establishing institutions dedicated solely to the education and training of teachers and other educators. He believed that it was critical for schools to have well-trained teachers to be successful in their efforts to educate children. As a result, he made many teachers be trained, leading to prosperity in the education sector. Mann's most significant contribution to improving education came when he established the first interracial, coeducational, and free school system in the United States. This would allow anyone of any ethnicity to attend classes without worrying about the financial difficulties that have previously prevented the poor from attending. Mann's aim for accomplishing this was to bring his state's citizens together to form a unified collective to progress educational diversity. By encouraging others, he was able to advocate for this reform in education, and this was made possible by the fact that education was a means of influencing moral behavior. He considered education to be a means for guiding the morality of others. Therefore, many people received an education, including the poor, due to his commitment to education. Lastly, Mann also promoted equality in the education system. Mann wanted to ensure that more students had access to equality in the educational system. Mann believed that education would provide everyone, rich or poor, with the potential for power, money, and a fulfilling life. Mann's moral, honest, and pure ideal of equality was natural. As a result, there was equality in education, allowing everyone to receive equal treatment. 1946- Mendez vs. Westminster and Board of Education During the late 1940s and early 1950s, various concerns about racial segregation affected multiple localities. Numerous individuals waited until representatives from other racial groups addressed these problems before speaking out to support them. Mendez vs. Westminster and Brown vs. The Board of Education were two closely linked cases in which the courts were forced to take a stand in order to effect change.  These two cases paved the way for many people of different races to join together and be able to attend school even if they were different from the rest of their peers. Mendez v. Westminster (1946) laid the groundwork for the eventual abolition of school segregation in California. Among those who made the complaint included Gonzalo Mendez and five other families who were denied the chance to register their children at an Anglo school. In response, they demonstrated and subsequently filed a class-action lawsuit against the Westminster School District in Orange County, California (Vanzetti and Bu...