PBS The Story of School Episode 1

During the history of the United States from the time of pre-revolutionary ideas to 1900, education was very different than what it is today. It is interesting to think that public education was basically a form of Sunday school, where many schools were closely linked to the Protestant Bible. By the time of the Revolutionary War, most Americans could read newspapers and the Bible, as well as figure their own taxes. However, education was very unequal; I found it appalling that girls only got the chance to go to school for three years! Along those lines, their was no education provided for slaves. Education was also limited among the poor and rural schools were dilapidated. The schools were focused around discipline, which connects to the education interviews that I conducted with my father and grandmother. When they went to public schools, discipline was a very important feature. I also thought that the piece on how teaching was seen as strictly a woman's profession was very intriguing; while there are still more female teachers today, I feel like male teachers have begun making a huge impact on this frontier. I liked the piece on how it was a woman's "moral responsibility" to teach. While many of the teaching techniques and what was in the textbooks seems ridiculous now, I understand the era and the culture of the time.