Week 2, Blog #2 American Public Schools 1900-1950

With the influx of immigrants in the early 20^TH century schools became the ideal institution for organizing what I would consider the American agenda. Children were assimilated into the new America. They were taught English, given classes in citizenship, and became well versed in patriotism.

Children were honed through educational plans of study into which part of society they would function in. Through skewed testing and class divisions that were not discussed in this documentary, minority students were not expected to succeed past manual labor in some parts of the United States.

Although children were initially used for labor as frequent as adults, after the depression it was mandatory for children to attend school until the age of sixteen. That causes me to feel that the only reason children were forced out of labor is because of the lack in employment available. Was mandatory education implemented in response to the unhealthy competiveness between adult men to earn a living that was being threatened by cheap labor through use of the juvenile workforce?

I believe that education is important. I’m glad that in the United States there are public schools and that children must by law attend. I do feel that a lot of injustices have occurred throughout the public school system. Having history books that only depict “American Heroes” I believe was a terrible offense (As American as Public School: 1900-1950, 2000).

 I do understand that America at the turn of the century was in a very unique position. For a large part of the population America was not their origin of birth.  It may have been felt under the guise of homeland security that assimilation was the only means of protecting the United States from having a civil war. By creating a new culture and sense of pride and nationalism coupled with a renouncing of previous culture you can in a way depict a sense of unity at some level.  

It’s unfortunate that we are still relearning and fixing the sins of our forefathers so to speak. With that being said in the midst of our education in cultural understanding and richness I really do love this country. There are incredible opportunities and a feeling of hope that anything can be possible and achievable through education. There are obstacles and hurdles, for some more than others, but there is still a life worth achieving that is attainable in this country.

Films for the Humanities and Sciences."As American as Public School: 1900-1950" 2000. Online video clip. Arizona Universities Library Consortium. FMG Video On Demand. Accessed on 13 July 2010. http://digital.films.com/play/ P7J4SF