Early American Approach to Education and Today’s educational Challenges

America’s education system has a considerably complex and rich history. Since the colonial era, education has been at the center of the nation’s social progress. During the colonial period (1620-1770), education was the core of education. During the common school era (1770-1890), the education system’s primary focus was uniform education for all people regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds. As for the public school era (1890-1950), the emphasis was on children’s interests as the basis for curriculum formulation while implementing problem-solving skills, self-discipline, hands-on learning, and flexible approaches.

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As for equality (era 1950-1980), the education system focused on promoting equality, particularly minorities and females’ integration. This paved the way for the contemporary reform era (1980-Present) (Lindert & Williamson, 2016). Although the current model has enjoyed significant success, it faces various challenges that need addressing.

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The challenges stem from the school of choice approach facilitated by the numerous reforms on the education system over the years. Today, children have various options, including public schools, private/Christian schools, or homeschooling. Since the different forms of schools use varying curriculums, there is no uniformity and equality in today’s education system (Gross, 2017). Additionally, the school of choice approach does not promote inclusiveness. For instance, private schools exclude people from the middle and lower socioeconomic classes.

Similarly, Christian schools exclude people from other religious backgrounds (Lindert & Williamson, 2016). Some of the early American approaches to education can be applied to remedy today’s educational challenges. Firstly, the education system can borrow a leaf from the common school era to implement a uniform curriculum for the entire education. Also, similar to the equality period, the education system should emphasize promoting equality by integrating all individuals into a single set-up regardless of their gender, racial, or religious background.  Consequently, this will promote equality and inclusion in the education system.

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