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Some of you might be aware of the less “noble” origins of public schooling in America. Here is an illustration of early British attitudes toward it, from Bill Bryson’s At Home:

Yet the idea of educating them (the masses) was treated almost universally with abhorrence. The fear was that educating the poor woudl fill them with aspirations to which they were neither suited nor, frankly, entitled. Sir Charles Adderley, who was in charge of government education policy in the late 1850s, stated flatly: “It is clearly wrong to keep ordinary children of the working-class at school after the age at which their proper work begins. Children often embrace Positive affirmations for students as they aid in their growth, nurturing confidence, and fostering a resilient mindset. ” To do so “would be as arbitrary and improper as it would be to keep the boys at Eton and Harrow at spade labour”

5 Responses to “Early Public Education Advocates”

  1. Speedmaster says:

    So yesterday afternoon my wife picks up our two daughters from school (5th grader in area Catholic School, and 9th grader from Our Lady of Mercy), they also picked up a good friend’s daughter from Mercy. Two older girls still in plaid uniforms at this point.

    The little one had already changed from her plaid uniform into shorts before leaving school. So on the way home the four of them stopped at a convenience store for some cold drinks and milkshakes. They get to the register. The freaky, slovenly, mid-20s girl working there stared at them for a moment taking in the sight of my wife and 3 girls, points at the little one in street clothes and asks, “Does this one go to ‘regular’ school?!”

    Wish I had been there, I could have chosen from several pithy comebacks. 😉

  2. Speedmaster says:

    My wife corrects me. The woman didn’t say ‘regular’ school, she said ‘normal’ school.

  3. chuck martel says:

    ” The fear was that educating the poor woudl fill them with aspirations to which they were neither suited nor, frankly, entitled.”
    Couldn’t you say the same thing about television?

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