how did the U.S. public school system originate?
360227
This site might help you.
14979
This varies wildly from state to state, from county to county, and from school to school.  In the U.S. we have both public (free attendance, supported by tax money) and private schools. \n\nYou should talk to the principal of the school your children are going to attend, as well as their teachers and parents of other students in their classes. Find out if there is a Parent-Teacher organization in the school and get involved.  Talk to other parents in your neighborhood, at the playground and at church to get their impressions of  local schools.\n\nUse sites like http://www.greatschools.net/ to find out more information about schools in your area.
210042
I have a masters degree in this and it will take a long time to answer your question.  I suggest that you take a look at any History of US Education book.
576673
This question is miscategorized.\n\nSpecial Education refers to the education and parenting of children with special needs.\n\nThat being said... the metric system (e.g. kilograms, meters, etc.) was introduced by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800's, because he wanted a standard set of weights and measures throughout his empire.\n\nThe English system (lbs, oz, inches, etc.) evolved during the Middle Ages based on common items used for measuring. For instance, the "inch" was originally based on the practice of using from the tip to the first joint of the thumb as a measure for small items.
1004539
The answers in this thread really bother me.  I am not at all sure I am getting my money's worth from our public school system as judged by the responses.  Your history teachers and parents should be slapped - hard!\n\nYour answer:  Declaration of Independence was officially adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4 1776, although the resolution that led to the writing of the Declaration was actually approved two days earlier.
624400
Their main function at that time was to teach the American language, culture, and traditions so that children would grow up having the knowledge and abilities required to participate in a "democratic industrial society".  (At this time Native American children were sent off to Government boarding schools, at which they were forced to give up their language, dress, culture and traditions.)  It should be noted, however, that there was a great deal of debate at that time about exactly what to teach, whether all children should be taught the same things, and even whether certain groups of children (e.g. African-Americans, Native Americans) should be allowed to attend public schools with white children.  \n\nIn the early 1900s, public education moved away from a focus on academics and began to focus on providing vocational skills that would prepare children for work (keep in mind that it was "normal" then for kids to have only a few years of schooling before entering the workforce at a young age).  Thus English proficiency was no longer a must for succeeding in school.\n\nNote that the bilingual education debate is about as old as the American public school system.  The second link (below) will take you to a page detailing the history of the debate and each side's arguments.  \n\nSee the links provided for more information, or you can get the book "School: The Story of American Public Education", which is the companion volume to the PBS series of the same title.
378120
There are many problems that exist with public schools, and there are a variety of reasons.  Parents aren't making their kids learn any discipline or have any discipline about learning, schools are underfunded, teachers are underpaid, (which makes some potentially great teachers choose other fields) lack of community support, exagerated emphasis on standardized testing, etc.  The biggest problem would be apathy from the general public, everyone always thinks that it either isn't their problem or that someone else will fix it. It's like the TV ad with the huge group of people standing around talking about how horrible it is that someone dropped trash 2 feet from the trash can, but no one in the group actually reaches down and picks it up.  Lest you all think I am all talk and no action, I am an 11 year veteran teacher of public high school, and yes, I am still "in the trenches."
1180023
I'm a public school band director from Georgia...here's your answer:\n\nAt private schools, teachers are more relaxed because they have less troublesome students. There are virtually no fights are problems of this kind, because parents are PAYING to have their kids go to private school. Therefore, more work gets done each day. I used to teach at a private middle school by the way.\n\nAt public schools, you have your good kids, your bad kids.....ones that do what they're supposed to and the ones that get in trouble every week. Also, the public schools have to abide by many many many many state regulations or people can lose their jobs. This is a very basic answer but its one you can easily understand. Schools need more days to handle these kind of things, and also because its harder to educate and entire class to specifications because of the new "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001. Ask a teacher about that. \n\nI could answer further but I don't want to bore you. There's your basic answer. Hope this helps!
855737
The educational system in the United States has gone down hill since the 1960’s when the emphasis shifted from Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Science and History to socialization and political correctness. It also has to do with the Federal Government taking the power away from local school boards. The government changed the focus from education to integration and I am definitely not against equal rights and opportunities for all races of people. \n\nDo all children in America need to be taught the same things? I think not. Schools were better run by local boards that could take action quicker without going through a hundred levels of Federal bureaucracy. Most schools in America today are more concerned about students sitting quietly than they are in the education of our children. The education level of children graduating from high school today is a national embarrassment. We should all be ashamed for what we have let happen to our schools. The best way to correct this is to give control back to the communities. Maybe there should be some minimum standards of performance, but that should be the extent of it. Does the Federal government really belong in the class room? That is the real question the country needs to take a hard look at.
733772
Basically, people pay property taxes to fund the public school system.  Those that don't have kids or send their kids to private school don't get any sort of break on their taxes by not using the system.  The concept of School vouchers basically are a credit to be used at any participating school.  So one could use the voucher (worth lets say $5,000) at a public or private school of their choosing.\n\nThe argument for is that it provides a market-based incentive for schools to operate better in order to attract students, the argument against is that the ones really benefiting are those families that already send their kids to private schools, only now, they would get it paid for by the government.
1168268
People who run schools.
131813
In the USA, ALL kids get free public education through high school. After that, there are plenty of scholarships available to adopted kids, as are available to any other type of kid (or adult for that matter).
130479
Rome didn't have any public schools. Most children \n went to private school or studied at home.Their subjects \n were reading, writing, and arithmetic. In many homes, \n the slaves taught the children. Before the age of \n fourteen, they studied Latin and Greek.
326979
Here's a website with some info.\n\nIt was also mentioned in: www.greatschools.net/
637171
To dumb down the populace and train them to be obedient slaves.\n\nOne of Marx's planks for a communist society was the government control of the schools. If you can indoctrinate the children you need not worry about the adults who will grow old and die eventually leaving you a fresh generation of easily manipulated drones to control.\n\nThis is why civics is no longer taught in school, this is why America as a society is getting dumber, this is why we now are teaching kids fuzzy math. \n\nI was fortunate, my parents sacrificed to see that my sibling and I got a private education. The public schools are nothing but government training/prison camps today. Police, lock downs, all transactions electronic or biometric (thumb-scan), no cash, drug dogs and no privacy, from cameras in the bathrooms to random searches, RFID embedded school ID's. This is the path our wonderful government wants to take society as a whole, the schools of today are a microcosm of the society we will be forced at gun point to live in tomorrow.
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It's the wonderful public "education" system of the USA.\n\n'tis funny no? Actually, no, not at all.
433538
All school systems seem to suck. Some just seem to suck less.\n\nTHE BUSINESS OF SCHOOLING & THE FOURTH PURPOSE \n\nIf modern schooling has a "Fourth Purpose," there must be an earlier three. Traditional forms of instruction in America, even before the Revolution, had three specific purposes: \n1. To make good people \n2. To make good citizens \n3. And to make each student find some particular talents to develop to the maximum. \nThe new mass schooling which came about slowly but continuously after 1890, had a different purpose, a "fourth" purpose. \n\nThe fourth purpose steadily squeezed the traditional three to the margins of schooling; in the fourth purpose, school in America became like school in Germany, a servant of corporate and political management. \n\nWe should reveal the mechanism of mind control training, habits, and attitudes. \n\nChildren were literally trained in bad habits and bad attitudes! Teachers and principals, "scientifically"certified in teachers college practices, were made unaware of the invisible curriculum they really taught. \n\nThe secret of commerce, that kids drive purchases, meant that schools had to become psychological laboratories where training in consumerism was the central pursuit.