The Purpose of Education
The purpose of education in the United States, like many other educational topics, is both controversial and ever changing. For the most part, the purpose of education reflects what a society values the most. Therefore, the purpose of education changes as society at large changes. These changes have been both helpful and destructive to the American social fabric.
When the Puritans first came to the United States and started their communities, their purpose of education was to teach their children about religion and obedience. In his book The American School 1642-1996, Joel Spring says, “[i]n the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, education in colonial New England was used to maintain the authority of government and religion” (6). Through the schools, all children learned to be obedient and to respect authority. Girls and boys also had separated curricula to learn life skills. Girls learned how to be good housewives whereas boys learned a type of trade or craft that they could do for the rest of their lives. In his book Godly Learning, John Morgan says that “Puritans…expected girls to be acquainted with Scripture, but they seem to have adopted the general expectations…that girls were to be trained privately in morality and for the duties of the household” (177). However, “the majority of boys were placed into apprenticeship” (Spring 9). Religion, authority, and life skills were most important to the Puritan culture so they were the central focus of the education of Puritan children.
Around the time of the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the purpose of education should be to find the best people suited to lead the country. In his bill for the “more general diffusion of knowledge”, Jefferson says, “it becomes expedient for the publick happiness that those persons, whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue, should be rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and able to guard the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of their fellow citizens” (Conant 88). Jefferson goes on to say that these “geniuses” are the ones who should lead the country because they will be able to make the best decisions for the general public. Because the country had just gone under a revolution, the concern of most of the general public was who would now lead the country. Therefore, education centered on the new form of government. The purpose of education of this period was to find those who could best lead the country.
Nowadays, the purpose of education seems to be a mixture of elements. In Joel Spring’s book American Education, he states that there are three main aspects of the modern purpose of education: political, social, and economic (6). The political aspect ensures that everyone can be active participants in the democracy. The social aspect works to improve society. Some people believe that through education they can better the social conditions, such as poverty, that are prevalent in modern society. The economic aspect of the purpose of education is to prepare students for some sort of work in the world, whether it be a doctor or a mechanic. These three aspects put together show what is most important to modern American society: being active in the political system, solving the problems of society, and finding a job.
These changes in the purpose of education have been both helpful and destructive to the American social fabric. Nevertheless, one cannot predict whether or not a change in the purpose of education will be helpful or destructive. Thomas Jefferson did not know whether or not democracy would be a valid form of government for the United States but he advocated the teaching of it nonetheless. One can only truly see the effect of a change in the purpose of education by having the advantage of hindsight. However, the present should not be discouraged from making changes that society sees fit to make.
In conclusion, the purpose of education has changed as the United States has changed. The Puritans valued teaching religion whereas post-American Revolution society valued teaching those who would one day lead the country. These changes can either be helpful or destructive to the American social fabric but many tend to be helpful. Because the helpfulness or destructiveness of a change cannot be predicted, one should not be dissuaded from making changes. Without changes in the purpose of education, society as a whole would never progress.
Works Cited
Conant, James B. Thomas Jefferson and the Development of American Public Education. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962.
Morgan, John. Godly Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Spring, Joel. American Education. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1994.
Spring, Joel. The American School 1642-1996. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 1997.
© November 23, 1999
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