History of Public Education

For over 150 years, traditional public education has operated in essentially the same manner. The rudiments of American public education began with the belief that as a nation we needed to inculcate certain values and mores in our children. Thomas Jefferson took this idea and expanded on it by declaring that at least one citizen in every four- to five-square-mile radius was to provide the area's children with instruction in the sciences, arts, and morals of society. America's public schools were founded on the notion that for a democracy to work, all children need to be able to read, write, and compute, and all children must understand their responsibilities and rights as citizens.

The Jeffersonian approach continued until the 1830s, when Boston became the first jurisdiction to institute compulsory education sanctioned by the state. Every child was required to attend school. And schools taught curricula consisting mainly of arts and sciences, some understanding of democratic processes and the moral way of conducting oneself. Later, John Dewey advanced the progressive educational theory of the twentieth century, suggesting that in a democracy, education must engage with and enlarge the everyday human experience.

Incredibly, for a century and a half, there has been little substantive change in public education. In America's public classrooms, the classic approach remains essentially that same as it was years ago: one-size-fits-all with a core curriculum of subjects presented to all students in largely the same manner. Students are divided by age and taught according to this curriculum. And they are promoted based on their perceived mastery of subjects. Or worse, they are advanced as part of a tacit social promotion system that serves no one-particularly no the children themselves.

Today, traditional public education is failing far too many of America's children. Yes, there are great public schools and even greater public school teachers. But the reality of really having nearly one half of kids who enter high schools dropping out suggests that meaningful change must take place.