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SW Saskatchewan | I believe it represents what became a great disconnect in education. From the time of the Dewey report in 1830's Massachusetts, American education took a real "swing" towards technological literacy. It is interesting that his report on education was contained in his "Reports of Manufactures".
Prior to this, the European educational model was very much a "classical education", with emphasis on the writings of the Greek and Roman philosophers. Not all bad because the founders of the Republic were well versed in the theoretical models of govt that had played out for over two thousand years. Was all included in the military colleges of the day but along a lot of technological math-geometry and trigonometry were a necessity for a cabin boy in the navy to progress to navigator or Captain. The artillery commander in the field had to be able to ballistic computation without the aid of computer.
But the new model for the nation was based in large part on that with the new republic came new needs for the education of its citizens, the ability to function in a society where a man was counted by his capabilities, a free man could only be possible if he could be self sufficient.
This continued into the mid 20th century when the "well rounded man concept" became the mantra of education and technological ability was shunted out the side door. The system that had produced Henry Ford, Edison,the Wright Brothers and the other greats of our heritage was replaced with a system designed to produce third rate philosophers!
A country cannot afford third rate anythings, there is no shame in not being able to conquer Aeronautical Engineering but to not be able to write a clear and concise sentence in English is an indictment of the system of learning. I will forgive misspellings, error in grammar, dialect and just about anything, but a sentence that does not convey the meaning of the writer(unless it is written by a lawyer of politician) is not forgivable. Accurate speech is even more important, there is no time to go back and reconsider.
My father was the product of education in 1890's Minnesota and his abilities in mental or envelope back math were phenomenal, but he had to think on his feet all his life and his references were what he could carry in his head. Math, English, Civics and he did lean on a pocket handbook for mechanical equations and financial calculations.
His education in the arts was appreciation of Washington crossing the Deleware and for literature appreciation, he had learned "Evangeline" and "The Song of Hiawatha" which were the base of his political beliefs.
Sadly, the education that was possible in a one room country school is seemingly impossible today. Or maybe it is a historical feature that must be stamped out in the name of "progress".And yes, I believe that was an accurate portrayal of 1890's education. I would have thought Science may have been a bigger portion of the curriculum but it may have been more represented in the math portion.
I feel honored that I had a four year experience of that richness before being drawn bit by bit into today's "close enough" concept of education. | |
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Can U Pass The 1895 Eight Grade Final Exam
