Schools: Episode 1

Episode one of The Story of Schools focused on the early roots of the American school system, and this was incredibly fascinating because I feel like, when we think about the origins of education, we sometimes forget just how far back that history goes. I certainly never venture back to the early 1800s when I think about the history of education, even though it definitely did exist, even though it looked far different than it does today. This period of time (late 1700s-late 1800s) was when education like one room school houses were very popular, while one room school houses continued into the 20th century, they originated in the 19th century and were much more popular. One thing I knew before I watched this episode, but was still interested in learning about was how white boys were really the only ones who received educations during this time, girls were sent to schools to learn to be proper women and African American and other non white students were refused completely from getting any kind of education. On top of all this, the boys who did attend school, attended very minimally. School wasn’t nearly as advanced as it is now, and it also wasn’t mandatory like it is now. The school that existed in this time period was very focused on memorization and regurgitation, which still exists today but most of school during this time period was just writing the same thing over and over again. Watching this episode right before watching episode 4 was very fascinating because of how different schools used to be compared to what they look like closer to today. As future teachers, it’s important to see where we come from, and how much the education system as grown since the beginning.