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    American Debate - Edited

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    Joshua
    The document discusses the history of equal educational opportunity in America from the 1840s to 2000, including the rise of public schools, compulsory education, growth of high schools, incorporation of disabled students, and debates around cultural literacy and the impact of socioeconomic status on outcomes.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    American Debate - Edited

    Uploaded by

    Joshua
    8 views3 pages
    The document discusses the history of equal educational opportunity in America from the 1840s to 2000, including the rise of public schools, compulsory education, growth of high schools, incorporation of disabled students, and debates around cultural literacy and the impact of socioeconomic status on outcomes.

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    American debate.edited

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    The document discusses the history of equal educational opportunity in America from the 1840s to 2000, including the rise of public schools, compulsory education, growth of high schools, incorporation of disabled students, and debates around cultural literacy and the impact of socioeconomic status on outcomes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    8 views3 pages

    American Debate - Edited

    Uploaded by

    Joshua
    The document discusses the history of equal educational opportunity in America from the 1840s to 2000, including the rise of public schools, compulsory education, growth of high schools, incorporation of disabled students, and debates around cultural literacy and the impact of socioeconomic status on outcomes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    Surname 1

    Students Name

    Instructors Name

    Course

    Date

    American Debate on Equal Educational Opportunity

    Over the years, education has experienced tremendous changes in various parts of the

    globe. Moreover, the American debate over equal educational opportunity has changed over time

    due to changes in expectations of what schools must make available to students. For instance,

    many years ago, most learnings happened at home. In this kind of learning, parents taught their

    children or in some other cases, private tutors could be hired to do the job (Banks 25). Here, only

    essential reading and writing was taught. However, the 1840s saw the rise of few public schools

    in the country among communities that could afford them. The major conflict during this time

    was that the girl child was not allowed to attend school (Banks 31). This is because it was

    believed that women were entitled to get married and take care of their children.

    The discrimination against the girl child resulted in Horace Mann of Massachusetts and

    Henry Bamard of Connecticut to call for free, compulsory school for every child in the nation.

    By 1918, all the American children were required to attend at least an elementary school. Within

    a span of thirty years, which is from 1910 to 1940, the number and size of high schools in

    America grew rapidly. For instance, by 1910, 9% of Americans had a high school diploma and

    by 1940, the number had increased to 50% (Banks 44). These achievements were realized due to

    the equal educational opportunity for every American child. The high schools provided the

    necessary skills to the youth to teach schools together with essential skills for planning careers in

    white collar jobs and some high-paying blue collar jobs (Banks 53).
    Surname 2

    The third era of 1950 to 2000 saw the incorporation of handicapped children in the

    education system. This was fueled by the law passed by the Congress in 1975 on "Education for

    All Handicapped Children Act." This act made free education available to all eligible students

    with a disability. The conflict in this era was that the education system was not giving an

    emphasis on cultural literacy. This made E.D Hirsch to advocate for the incorporation of the

    ‘cultural literacy' – the facts, phrases, and texts that are essential for decoding basic texts and

    maintaining communication (Banks 74). Moreover, Coleman’s report entitled ‘Equality of

    Educational Opportunity’ pointed out the factors that lead to poor academic achievement among

    American students. Coleman states that the student’s background and socioeconomic status are

    much more important in determining the educational outcomes (Banks 79).


    Surname 3

    Works Cited

    Banks, James A. Cultural diversity and education. Routledge, 2015.

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