The Lust for LearningThe Lust for LearningThe Lust for LearningThe Lust for Learning

Education and its ReformsEducation and its Reforms

• Public education continued becoming more popular

• States made grade schools– Accept fact government

can not function without educated people

– Tax supported elementary schools

– Checked child labor– Provided free textbooks

• Teacher training schools or “normal schools” expanded after the civil war from about 12 to 300

• By 1900 there were 6,000 high schools

• Number of parochial schools increased with immigration in the 1880s and 1890s

• Kindergartens which were borrowed from the Germans became popular after gaining support

• Chautauqua Movement (1874)– Public schools excluded adults – Resembled the lyceums, public lectures

• given by well known speakers and held in tents

– In 1892 100,000 people enrolled in courses of home study

• People began to see education as a birthright• Crowded cities would bring about better

educational facilities– Small one room schools would not be good

enough for the growing number of students attending

• Success of schools seen – Illiteracy dropped from 20% in 1870 to 10.7%

in 1900

Education for Black Education for Black People People

Education for Black Education for Black People People

And Booker T. WashingtonAnd Booker T. Washington

Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. Washington• “Foremost Champion of

Black Education”• 1881: headed the black

and normal industrial school at Tuskegee, Alabama

• Taught useful trades so black students could gain self respect and economic security

• “Accomodationist”• Strived for economic

independence

• George Washington Carver” Agricultural Chemist• Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois

– First to urn Ph.D. at Harvard of his race– demanded complete EQUALITY– National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP) (1910)

George Washington George Washington CarverCarver

The Hallowed Halls of Ivy:The Hallowed Halls of Ivy:The Hallowed Halls of Ivy:The Hallowed Halls of Ivy:

The growth of colleges and universitiesThe growth of colleges and universities

New New OpportunitiesOpportunities

A college education, for everyone, seemed indispensable for success Women’s colleges gained ground

Like VassarBy 1900, every fourth college graduate was a woman

Black institutes blossomed in the SouthHoward University, Washington D.C.Hampton Institute, VirginiaAtlanta University, Georgia

The “Enlightened” The “Enlightened” LawsLaws

• Morrill Act of 1862– Provided a generous grant of the public

lands to the states for support of education

– These “land-grant colleges” eventually became state universities

• Bound themselves to provide certain services, such as military training

• Hatch Act of 1887– Provided federal funds for the

establishment of agricultural experiment stations

Private PhilanthropyPrivate Philanthropy

• Richly supplemented federal grants– New industrial millionaires donated fortunes

• These philanthropists were cynically described as, “one who steals privately and gives publicly.”

• Money barons gave away almost $150 million

– New private universities of high quality were opened, with the help of the philanthropists

• Cornell• The University of Chicago

Specialized InstitutionsSpecialized Institutions• There was a sharp increase in professional

and technical schools – Had modern laboratories where students could

experiment

• Leading these specialized institutions was John Hopkins University– Maintained the nation’s first high-grade graduate

school

– Carried the Germanic tradition• Before, Americans had to go to Germany for a

graduate degree

– Dr. Woodrow Wilson received his Ph.D. here

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