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Gabby Giovenco
Mary Monsour
Foundations of Education & School Law
SED 110 01
September 10, 2014

History of Education
1592-1670-Comenius
1782-1852-Froebel
1821-First public school opened
1827-Massachusetts made a law stating the a town of five hundred or more families
had to open a public school
1848- First Experimental School for Teaching and Educating Idiotic Children
opened
1852- Massachusetts enacted a mandatory attendance law
1896 -Plessy vs. Ferguson
1954 -Brown vs. Board of Education
1975 -PL 94-142, IDEA
1990 - Computers/ education
As each day goes by the world makes a memory of what happened that past day.
This is called history. Education has its own history; education itself has impacted the
world. Humanity has the power to change education. As humans grow so do their ideas

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regarding education.
Comenius was an educator from 1592-1670 lived with the mindset that teachers
are meant to be nurturing and/or caregivers. Being nurturing and an educator illustrates
Comenius as a believer in the Naturalist Theory, the belief that children are overall good
depending on the environment. This belief influenced many educational mentors after
him, and determined the settings that are current in classrooms today. Classrooms are
meant to be a good learning environment for students. The areas dedicated to learning
and studying are meant to be inviting, not dark and dingy like a dungeon. Montessori,
another educator, heavily influenced this idea. Montessori focused on the idea of making
the classroom acceptable and inviting for younger children, by using brighter colors and
kid-sized furniture creating an engaging area to study. By appealing to the size and
personality of the student they become more comfortable and happy leading to the
possibility of greater comprehension, better behavior and possibly more efficient
learning. Classrooms today also promote diversity, which was another teaching of
Comenius. Educators are influenced to be respectful and helpful towards their students
rather than harsh and dictating. Harshness is not always appealing to students. Harshness
could put the student on the defense and possibly set them off. Harshness without
wavering may lead to rules and rules get broken. Respect is everlasting and influential,
something students will benefit from. Without the ideas of Comenius, it is possible that
the world of education would still be under the idea that all children are bad or evil
(Ornstein, Levine, Gutek, &Vocke 97-99).
As stated Comenius influenced many people after him, one of those people being
Friedrich Froebel. Froebel created Kindergarten (1782-1852). Froebel was an idealist

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who saw the importance in education for children, especially in early development. This
changed education for everyone because it promoted education from an early point in
life. Kindergarten impacted learning because it increased the amount of information a
human being would learn in a lifetime. For example, kids start learning at four and five
now rather than an older age. This allows them to learn more, and understand more from
an earlier point in life, this function aides in early childhood development, which is now
crucial in life (Ornstein, Levine, Gutek, & Vocke 107-109).
Kindergarten opened education up to a new age group, while in 1821 the first
public school opened, the Boston English public high school. The opening of one public
school was guaranteed to influence the building of others. Public schools changed the
way education was given. Instead of going to a private institution it was now possible to
attend a school that was open to everyone. Public schools are an extremely common thing
in todays society, without the accessibility that public schools offer; many people would
be left without an education. Public schools also provide a way of pursuing a form of
higher education, which this type of school was designed to do (Sass 1).
Going along with the opening of schools, in 1827 the state of Massachusetts
passed a law that enacted the standard that a town of five hundred or more families was
required to open a public high school (Sass 1). Without this mandate, education may have
never developed into what the system is today. While it also opened education up to more
people, just like the first public high school did it may have also influenced the standards
that are in place today. The importance of classroom size and over crowding is a
recurring issue. After growing up in over crowded classrooms and schools, it has been a
personal realization that it is much easier to become distracted and take advantage of the

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teachers trust. This aspect provides issues for the student and the teacher. Often times
there are towns that have schools that reach a certain point of being overcrowded, that
they have to build a new school to house the overflow students.
Along with the process of opening schools, in 1848 the first Experimental School
for Teaching and Educating Idiotic Children opened. This was the first type of school to
open that openly dealt with children with mental disabilities. Although the school
eventually closed due to a decrease in population, and experiments the school preformed
on students impacted education in that it created a learning system for the mentally
challenged, or provided the idea for this evolutionary type of school. This opening may
have led to the development of special education and other functions (Sass 1).
As the opening of more public schools became ideal so did the importance of
attending school. In 1852 the state of Massachusetts mandated attendance to push
students to go to school and get an education. This law set the stage for future laws that
are apparent today like kids have to attend school until the student becomes a certain age
(Sass 1). If attendance was not mandated the importance of education maybe discredited
because of the lack of importance.
Schools started mandating attendance; segregation also became an increasing
dilemma by 1896. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case focused on segregation. This case did not
out law the action of segregating, but did recognize it as a problem. The case made it
legal as long as both African Americans and Caucasian had "equal" facilities. This set
the standards for integration in the future, although it did not allow for it. The case did
bring the problem to the surface and equal facilities were just a step closer to
integration (Who2 1).

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Following the Plessy vs. Ferguson case was the Brown vs. board of education
case in 1954. This case did make integration possible. This changed education; it changed
the nature of school, as people knew it. Today schools are all integrated. After many
racial struggles, schools tend to now get along on a racial standpoint rather than having
race wars. Integration changed everything. This was an important movement though
because it helped start the advancement towards equal rights. Integration also helped
people become more open and diverse (National center). Diversity is often times
implemented into the school systems as a relationship goal for success.
By 1975 a law was passed, the law was PL 94-142 now known as IDEA, the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law made it so that children with a
handicap could attend school for free, because FAPE allowed it to be (SCN). The passing
of this law changed the functions of school but made it possible and easier for children
with handicaps to get the attention and type of education they deserved. At one point in
time, mentally, and physically handicapped children were not allowed to go to school
because schools could not support them. With PL 94-142 not only did it provide them
with a personal/individual styled education, but also provided them with a support system
presented by the school (SCN).
Following IDEA was the No Child Left Behind act (NCLB) this meant that it is
necessary for every student to succeed. Each state set standards that students were to
meet on standardized testing. The standards were set so that everyone had equal chance.
The hope behind this act was to promote a quality education, and equal standard learning.
The impact behind this movement was that as long as a child passed the standardized test
they were eligible to move to the next grade whether they were really prepared to or not

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because the goal was for each student to meet the proficient level on the tests. NCLB was
literally meant to make sure kids advanced in grades and knowledge, so the children did
not get left behind (U.S. Department of Education 1).
One thing that was getting left behind though was the technology of a past era.
The Internet is now a thing, after long years of developing. Computers were becoming
more popular and useful to society. The development of the Internet changed/changing
the way classrooms work. Internet and computers make education an accessible goal
outside of the classroom. This allows for a class more likely to focus on a discussion
rather than the process of completing work because it is accessible now through mass
amounts of technology. Discussions are beneficial to the classroom because they promote
critical thinking and problem solving skills. Discussions provide the situation with a
different perspective that ideas may be applied to. Internet and computers impact schools
continuously making learning more accessible and allow for a different set of skills to
develop. These new tools are forming a new way to learn and process information (Kahn
Academy and Forbes video).
All in all many things affect and have effected education. These are just a few
things that have changed education for others and myself. Almost everything affects
advancements towards education. It is human nature to want to advance their
understandings and push themselves. Education plays a huge part in advancement; it is a
reflection of human competencies. Students grow and push boundaries so do teachers.
Education changes, hopefully for the better. Education and human advancements feed off
of each other, the two promote one another to do better.

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Works Cited
"Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483(1954) (USSC+)." National Center for
Public Policy Research - A Conservative Organization. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Sept.
2014.
The History of Education. Prod. Salman Khan. Dir. Michael Noer. Youtube/ the History
of Education. Kahn Academy and Forbes, 1 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2014.
Ornstein, Allan C., Daniel U. Levine, Gerald L. Gutek, and David E. Vocke. Foundations
of Education. 11th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. ducation