RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
African Americans were mostly excluded from pub-
lic secondary education. In 1890, fewer than 1 percent of black teenagers attend-
ed high school. More than two-thirds of these students went to private schools,
which received no government financial support. By 1910, about 3 percent of
African Americans between the ages of 15 and 19 attended high school, but a
majority of these students still attended private schools.
EDUCATION FOR IMMIGRANTS
Unlike African Americans, immigrants were
encouraged to go to school. Of the nearly 10 million European immigrants set-
tled in the United States between 1860 and 1890, many were Jewish people flee-
ing poverty and systematic oppression in eastern Europe. Most immigrants sent
their children to America’s free public schools, where they quickly became
“Americanized.” Years after she became a citizen, the Russian Jewish immigrant
Mary Antin recalled the large numbers of non-English-speaking immigrant chil-
dren. By the end of the school year, they could recite “patriotic verses in honor
of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln . . . with plenty of enthusiasm.”
Some people resented the suppression of their native
languages in favor of English. Catholics were especially con-
cerned because many public school systems had mandato-
ry readings from the (Protestant) King James Version of the
Bible. Catholic communities often set up parochial schools
to give their children a Catholic education.
Thousands of adult immigrants attended night school
to learn English and to qualify for American citizenship.
Employers often offered daytime programs to Americanize
their workers. At his Model T plant in Highland Park,
Michigan, Henry Ford established a “Sociology Department,”
because “men of many nations must be taught American
ways, the English language, and the right way to live.” Ford’s
ideas were not universally accepted. Labor activists often
protested that Ford’s educational goals were aimed at weak-
ening the trade union movement by teaching workers not
to confront management.
Expanding Higher Education
Although the number of students attending high school
had increased by the turn of the century, only a minority of
Americans had high school diplomas. At the same time, an
even smaller minority—only 2.3 percent—of America’s
young people attended colleges and universities.
CHANGES IN UNIVERSITIES
Between 1880 and 1920,
college enrollments more than quadrupled. And colleges
instituted major changes in curricula and admission policies.
Industrial development changed the nation’s educational
needs. The research university emerged—offering courses in
modern languages, the physical sciences, and the new disciplines of psychology
and sociology. Professional schools in law and medicine were established. Private col-
leges and universities required entrance exams, but some state universities began
to admit students by using the high school diploma as the entrance requirement.
HIGHER EDUCATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS
After the Civil War, thou-
sands of freed African Americans pursued higher education, despite their exclusion
from white institutions. With the help of the Freedmen’s Bureau and other groups,
blacks founded Howard, Atlanta, and Fisk Universities, all of which opened
284 C
HAPTER 8
B
TECHNOLOGY AND SCHOOLS
In 1922, Thomas Alva Edison
wrote, “I believe that the motion
picture is destined to revolutionize
our educational system and that
in a few years it will supplant . . .
the use of textbooks.” Today’s
high schools show that the bril-
liant inventor was mistaken.
Recently, some people have pre-
dicted that computers will replace
traditional classrooms and texts.
Computers allow video course-
sharing, in which students in
many schools view the same
instructors. Students also use
computers to access up-to-the-
minute scientific data, such as
weather information.
