American Education: A History Lesson
Timeline (1825-Current)
1825
Assumptions
There existed an issue with religious affiliation in education.
There existed an issue with the factor of affordability in education.
Ideals
After his presidency, Jefferson tackled the issue of education.
He wanted to move away from the religious ties to college, and also wanted it to be paid for by the general public so that students who were less wealthy could attend
Jefferson’s hope was that anyone could freely attend, as long as they had the ability — a perfect meritocracy.
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
Free public education in primary schooling, agnostic education, and the ideal of a perfect meritocracy.
New Insights
New Policies
Well ahead of his time, free public education (in primary schooling) didn’t overtake private education until the late 1800s
New Outcomes
1862
Assumptions
Ideals
The purpose of the land-grant institutions was:
“without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactic, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.” —Title 7, U.S. Code
Known Problems
Known Factors
This bill was created in response to the industrial revolution and the myriad of “practical” professions this innovative time period was creating — machinists, farmers (as a vocation vs. a lifestyle), even engineers.
New Factors
It was at this time that college truly transitioned from being about civic leadership and classical (read: philosophical) learning to being about vocational learning.
New Insights
People were starting to realize that in a changing, industrial world, certain professions had specific educational needs.
New Policies
The Morrill Land-Grant Act is passed into law by President Lincoln, which allowed states to freely receive land for public universities — so-called land-grant colleges.
The Morrill Land-Grant Act is often called the singular source of practical and affordable higher education
New Outcomes
70 U.S. institutions were created as a result of this act (including the second Morrill Land-Grand Act in 1890).
1880-1900
Assumptions
Ideals
More leaders of industry on their boards, who in turn asked the question, “Why can’t college be run like a business?”
Known Problems
Known Factors
This period also sees the buildup of great wealth among prominent figures and therefore more discretionary income.
This led to new levels of philanthropic generosity, and colleges topped the list of institutions to give to.
Remember, although there weren’t a great number of college alumni, many civic and business leaders had attended college.
New Factors
New Insights
New Policies
New Outcomes
They gave back to their institutions.
They also used their connections in this golden age of illustrated magazines to work their PR charm and get the physical beauty of many college > campuses out in front of the nation’s eyes.
1900
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Although degrees are conferred after four years of education, it’s still the case that the majority of students leave after just two years of school.
In fact, at William & Mary, 90% of students between 1880-1900 ended their studies after two years
Known Factors
After that point, they could earn their L.I. Certificate (License of Instruction), which would allow immediate employment in various fields.
College admission remained low.
New Factors
Architecture was a tool to attract more young men to make college alluring.
New Insights
New Policies
College Entrance Examination Board formed (now known as just College Board).
This organization seeks to standardize college entrance requirements in order to make sure the “product” of US colleges is up to par.
New Outcomes
Eventually, it’s this organization that owns and operates SAT testing, CLEP testing, and the Advanced Placement (AP) program
1930
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
New Insights
New Policies
New Outcomes
Tuition prices at private schools begin to rapidly escalate.
1920-1940
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
New Insights
New Policies
New Outcomes
The average tuition nearly doubled from $70 ($600 today) to $133 ($1,100 today)
1960
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
Because public schools get the majority of government funding, they are able to keep tuition prices low.
New Insights
Since these private schools are now setting themselves apart, they of course become even more prestigious to the public, and everyone wants in
New Policies
New Outcomes
Private schools, however, are having to continue to raise tuition prices in order to meet inflation and also provide a “luxury” product that would differentiate them from public institutions.
In order for people to afford these schools, they come up with creative financial aid packages to get students in classrooms.
They utilize a mix of grants, loans, and work-study opportunities.
They tout small class sizes, study abroad opportunities, and niche class topics to stand apart from state schools.
1972
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
New Insights
Instead of the government subsidizing schools for student tuition, they’ll now give money directly to the students.
New Policies
The Basic Educational Opportunities Grants (BEOG) program takes effect.
These were need-based grants given to full-time students, and those students were required to remain in good academic standing.
Later, these grants are renamed Pell Grants.
New Outcomes
The basic structure of Pell Grants remains nearly the same today, with the infamous FAFSA forms determining how much is given to each student
1975
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
For the first time in 24 years, college enrollment drops from the previous year.
Known Factors
New Factors
New Policies
Due to student anti-war protests, the rise of independent research institutes, and various other factors, the government pulls a large amount of funding for universities.
New Insights
The golden age of the American university is officially over, and schools must re-invent themselves to again gain favorable reputation.
New Outcomes
This leaves them in a bit of a crisis, as many of them had operating budgets that relied on this funding.
This led to two major changes:
First, colleges began paying more attention to what students/parents wanted in terms of services and curriculum offered.
Second, colleges began to welcome and even recruit part-time, transfer, and older, “non-traditional” students — groups who were previously just an afterthought.
1980
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
New Insights
As private universities continue their tuition hikes, and now state schools follow due to funding cuts, more than half of first-time college freshmen are enrolled at community colleges.
New Policies
New Outcomes
And yet, Thelin writes that “the dominant image of the ‘real college experience’ remained indelibly linked to the four-year, full-time residential tradition.
1980's
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
New Insights
The discovery of the so-called Mt. Holyoke phenomenon:
Charging higher tuition leads to a greater number of applicants, as well as academically higher quality applicants.
To the college applicant (and their parents), price equals prestige.
New Policies
New Outcomes
This phenomenon has not abated.
2008
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Factors
In the 80s and 90s, banks were giving mortgages at incredibly low interest rates to anyone that applied.
Known Problems
The recession hits, in large part due to the mortgage bubble.
There were hardly any checks in place to determine if people could actually pay their bills.
New Factors
New Insights
The recession means that more and more students need more and more financial aid in order to attend college
New Policies
New Outcomes
Many economists are saying that student debt could be the next economic bubble.
2010
Assumptions
Thelin notes that “most colleges have succumbed to the misplaced belief that there is an indelible connection between academics and employment.”
Ideals
Known Factors
Criticism begins to surface about the connection between a college degree and employment.
Known Problems
While colleges tout the need for a degree to be employed, many graduating students — even in traditionally high placement fields like business and medicine — are not finding work.
New Factors
Other factors include overstaffed administrative offices, many of whom are overpaid (the average VP or dean — of which there are often a dozen or more per school — makes well over six figures, and up to seven figures), as well as colleges feeling the need to cater to prospective students in the form of luxurious dining halls, dormitories, fitness centers, and coffee shops.
New Problems
This makes it difficult to get a job after college, and students are unable to pay back their debt.
Because of this, almost half of college graduates aged 20-24 are back at home, living with their parents.
Colleges are increasingly running into financial problems.
New Insights
Only 17 colleges have self-supporting athletic programs — that is, programs that are funded entirely through their own revenue.
At most large schools, football budgets alone exceed what the athletic department brings in.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for 20-24-year-olds hovers at around 15%.
Student loan debt overtakes credit card debt in America for the first time. The average student who took out loans for school owes ~$25,000, largely to the U.S. government (they bought out most student loans during the recession).
Because of these increasing costs, tuition prices are rising at about three times the rate of inflation
New Policies
New Outcomes
Big-time college athletic programs take more and more heat, especially in terms of how much of the general operating budget they consume.
Part of this can certainly be blamed on the athletics funding mentioned above.
Commercialism has found its way to the university.
2019
Assumptions
Ideals
Known Problems
Known Factors
New Factors
New Insights
New Policies
New Outcomes
Art of Manliness — Is College For Everyone? An Introduction and Timeline of College in America
A History of American Higher Education by John R. Thelin
The Classical Education: 20th Century
The Quintessential Institution
"The Institute is, from the standpoint of organization, the simplest and least formal thing imaginable. It consists of three schools - a School of Mathematics, a School of Humanistic Studies, a School of Economics and Politics.
Each school is made up of a permanent group of professors and an annually changing group of members. Each school manages its own affairs as it pleases; within each group each individual disposes of his time and energy as he pleases. The members enjoy precisely the same freedom as the professors.
They may work with this or that professor, as they severally arrange; they may work alone, consulting from time to time anyone likely to be helpful. No routine is followed; no lines are drawn between professors, members, or visitors.
Princeton students and professors and Institute members and professors mingle so freely as to be indistinguishable. Learning as such is cultivated. The results to the individual and to society are left to take care of themselves. No faculty meetings are held; no committees exist.
Thus men with ideas enjoy conditions favorable to reflection and to conference. A mathematician may cultivate mathematics without distraction; so may a humanist in his field, an economist or a student of politics in his.
Administration has been minimized in extent and importance. Men without ideas, without power of concentration on ideas, would not be at home in the Institute." The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge by Abraham Flexner p. 551
What It Means To Be Truly Educated
“If I were asked what education should give, I would say it should offer breadth of view, ease of understanding, tolerance for others, and a background from which the mind can explore in any direction.
Education should provide the tools for a widening and deepening of life, for increased appreciation of all one sees or experiences.
It should equip a person to live life well, to understand what is happening about him.” Education of a Wandering Mind by Louis L'Amour
“A book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.” Education of a Wandering Mind by Louis L'Amour
"Chomsky defines his view of education in an Enlightenment sense, in which the “highest goal in life is to inquire and create.
The purpose of education from that point of view is just to help people to learn on their own.
It’s you the learner who is going to achieve in the course of education and it’s really up to you to determine how you’re going to master and use it.”
An essential part of this kind of education is fostering the impulse to challenge authority, think critically, and create alternatives to well-worn models.
This is the pedagogy I ended up adopting, and as a college instructor in the humanities, it’s one I rarely have to justify." Noam Chomsky
views expressed by the founder of the modern higher education system, Wilhelm von Humboldt, leading humanist, a figure of the enlightenment who wrote extensively on education and human development and argued, I think, kind of very plausibly, that the core principle and requirement of a fulfilled human being is the ability to inquire and create constructively independently without external controls.
Be in a position to inquire and to create on the basis of the resources available to you which you've come to appreciate and comprehend.
To know where to look, to know how to formulate serious questions, to question a standard doctrine if that's appropriate, to find your own way, to shape the questions that are worth pursuing, and to develop the path to pursue them.
That means knowing, understanding many things but also, much more important than what you have stored in your mind, to know where to look, how to look, how to question, how to challenge, how to proceed independently, to deal with the challenges that the world presents to you and that you develop in the course of your self education and inquiry and investigations, in cooperation and solidarity with others.
That's what an educational system should cultivate from kindergarten to graduate school, and in the best cases sometimes does, and that leads to people who are, at least by my standards, well educated Noam Chomsky
“Graduates should excel in the essential skills of oral and written communication, critical thinking, and quantitative analysis.
Every student should leave with a broad knowledge of the social and natural world, a keen sense of self, an awareness of our membership in a global society, and understanding of what it means to be thoughtful and responsible citizens of the community, state, and nation in which they live.” Why We Need an Open Curriculum
“It seems to me that educated people should know something about the 13-billion-year prehistory of our species and the basic laws governing the physical and living world, including our bodies and brains.
They should grasp the timeline of human history from the dawn of agriculture to the present.
They should be exposed to the diversity of human cultures, and the major systems of belief and value with which they have made sense of their lives.
They should know about the formative events in human history, including the blunders we can hope not to repeat.
They should understand the principles behind democratic governance and the rule of law.
They should know how to appreciate works of fiction and art as sources of aesthetic pleasure and as impetuses to reflect on the human condition.
On top of this knowledge, a liberal education should make certain habits of rationality second nature.
Educated people should be able to express complex ideas in clear writing and speech.
They should appreciate that objective knowledge is a precious commodity, and know how to distinguish vetted fact from superstition, rumor, and unexamined conventional wisdom.
They should know how to reason logically and statistically, avoiding the fallacies and biases to which the untutored human mind is vulnerable.
They should think causally rather than magically and know what it takes to distinguish causation from correlation and coincidence.
They should be acutely aware of human fallibility, most notably their own, and appreciate that people who disagree with them are not stupid or evil.
Accordingly, they should appreciate the value of trying to change minds by persuasion rather than intimidation or demagoguery.” Steven Pinker
The Educated Man: From Blue to White Collar
“Given that tuition, room, and board charges at many colleges were minimal, why did more young men and women not opt to enroll? The American economy provides two very different explanations.
On the one hand, many families could not afford tuition payments, however low; more important, they could not afford the forgone income or forfeited field labor of an elder child who went from farm to campus.
On the other hand, in those areas where the American economy showed signs of enterprise and growth, a college degree—even if affordable and accessible—was perceived as representing lost time for making one’s fortune.
This perception held for such high-risk ventures as land development, mining, and business. It also pertained to the learned professions of law and medicine, where academic degrees were seldom if ever necessary for professional practice.
The college in this era, then, was but one means of finding one’s place in adult society and economy.”
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