12 February, 2004 Mandy Biggers and Mike Hasler 1 Moral Training, Women's Seminaries, and Leadership in the New Republic Watras Chapter 2 EDCI 659 History

12 February, 2004 Mandy Biggers and Mike Hasler 1

Moral Training, Women's Seminaries, and Leadership

in the New RepublicWatras Chapter 2

EDCI 659

History of American Education


Key Points and Leaders

Aim of Education:

Preserve the new Republic

Teach all people

democratic values and

appropriate language

Train leaders with

classical education

Classic Education

can shape students’

abilities and values

Franklin

Rush

Webster

Jefferson Yale College

Women’s Seminaries


Key Topics

• Preserving the Republic

• Building a National Language– Spellers

– dictionaries

• Selecting and Training Leaders

• Classical Language debate

• Women’s Education


Benjamin Franklin• Children have to learn to be virtuous, diligent, and independent

– Rush and Webster agreed with this perspective

• Franklin’s 13 virtues for social advancement– See handout

• Access to books is critical to the self-education of children– Self education was considered key

• Junto, the first lending library

• Poor Richard’s Almanac—entertaining method of spreading ideas of self improvement

• Usefulness and ornamentation were both important– e.g., penmanship

• History was Franklin’s most valued subject

• Women should have sufficient practical training for self-sufficiency later in life


Benjamin Rush• Grew up under the influence of two leaders of the “Great Awakening”

– Rush was a slave owner

• Schools should inspire young people to be patriotic

• Concept of Public Education focused on four levels:– Town--reading and writing in English and German for all children– County—prepare youth to enter college– State—Four colleges to teach men math and science– State—University of Philadelphia—law, divinity, political theory, science

• Six points:– Hold Christian faith– Students were “public property” and must serve the common good– Liberty is possible only in a republic– Youth should learn to work and avoid drinking liquors– Students should not learn they have independent will, but under authority of teacher– Youth should participate in “amusements” that reinforced gospel messages

• Women need education because of their role in raising educated children and managing household affairs and budgets


Noah Webster• Textbooks were critical

• Guiding Principles– Increase student patriotism– Strengthen school children’s morals– Build a uniform national language

• Opposed study of classical languages– Latin and Greek

• Teachers should emphasize morals lessons over intellectual

• Bible should not be used in the classroom– He did not want the students to consider the Bible to be common

• Teachers should govern absolutely including the use of “the rod”

• Webster did not produce the first dictionary in the U.S.– He focused on simplification of spelling and useful listings of words– Encouraged and implemented “Spelling Bees”

• Father of the “copyright”

• Women should be able to learn to write and speak English properly and have sufficient math and geography skills


Thomas Jefferson• Education should serve as a method for selecting future leaders

• “Gifted” students should take on studies in theoretical subjects and classical languages

• Structure of Public School Systems

– Independent school districts, approximately 100 schools in each county (boys and girls)

– State had 20 Grammar schools for the top male students for learning Greek, Latin and mathematics

– Top half from grammar schools went on the College of William and Mary

– Tuition was need based, poor yet able students were admitted tuition-free and costs covered by the state

– “For the more general diffusion of knowledge” Bill for State of Virginia, 1779

• “All citizens should have education proportionate to their conditions and pursuits in life”

• Founder of the University of Virginia

• No specific statements on women’s education, other than basic school proposal, however, he educated his daughters in all major topics


Yale College

• Balance curriculum—The 1828 Report– Subjects may appear irrelevant to modern life

– When joined together, these subjects form a balanced curriculum that teach students how to learn

– Highest profit from education is from students teaching themselves

• Professors arranged texts and reading

• Tutors (recent graduates) led discussions

• Daily examinations in the recitation room

• Seniors experienced oral exams of 12 – 14 days

– “The college began the process of education rather than completed it.”


Women’s Seminaries• Franklin, Rush, Webster, Jefferson all felt women needed to

have sufficient knowledge to begin the education of their children at home and be self-sufficient in case of widowhood

– All encouraged women to pursue higher studies than had ever been available before the colonial period

• Emma Willard opened a boarding school for women in 1814

– “an enlightened government should provide education for females because this would elevate the character of the community”

– “women should not be involved in political causes because it would hurt their efforts to advance women’s education”

– The Willard School in Troy, New York is still in operation


Cindy Warren

• The differences between various levels of education in women during this time and their ability to educate their sons.

– Each of the major education leaders made note of the fact that women should be sufficiently educated to begin the education of their children at home before they began school.


Heekyoung Kim

• According to the timeline (p. 50) Emma Willard opened a boarding school in 1814. Is this the first school for women? I am wondering what kinds of restrictions there were to get in that school. Or what kinds of family background (socially and financially) did women in that society come from?

• http://www.emma.troy.ny.us/about/history/ehwillard.shtml

• According to the website for the Willard School, the school was envisioned as a place for the “teaching of teachers.” They noted that all women were encouraged to attend, if capable, but the theme of the text leads us to believe that most of the students were from the upper classes.


Corrine Wickens

• Who were the major leaders of the “Great Awakening” and how/why was it so influential?– Solomon Stoddard, a Puritan from

Massachusetts

– Jonathan Edwards with his sermon on “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God”

– http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/four.html


Jisook Kim• As simply mentioned in this book, Thomas

Jefferson did not hold multicultural attitudes and I can remember a phrase which Jefferson used, “America for White.” I want to know how Jefferson is evaluated in America in this point of view.

– http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/tj3/writings/slavery.htm

– While widely admired then and now for his many great qualities, Jefferson’s views on slavery and differences between races are often now looked at as incorrect. He did, however, make clear his desire for eventual emancipation of the slave population of the US, but was concerned about the results of immediate emancipation without preparing slaves for life as free men and women.


Grace Lin• What are more utilitarian and applicatory

women topics do you think are appropriate for the second millenirian women?

– Not sure about what you’re asking here… we’ll discuss in class

• What are required skills of women in your country in ancient and present times?

– This greatly depends on their job, and has changed over the decades… raising a family, running a household, cooking, being “proper”, working to support her family, being a support center, etc.


Homayra Moghadasian• Page 48 states that in 1832 the women who founded the

Female Anti-Slavery Society, confronted the fact that they could not hold property or retain their earnings. As a Muslim, I know that almost 1500 years ago Islam gave these rights to women. I was wondering if the discussant can find out when these rights were given to women in western countries.– In 1919 Congress finally passed the Susan B. Anthony

Amendment that had first been introduced in Congress in 1878, simply: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Illinios was the first state to approve this amendment. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution took effect on August 26, 1920. This made the United States the 27th country to allow universal sufferage.

– http://library.thinkquest.org/J002886/sufferage.html


Tamara Carter• On page 27 (and several other places), the book mentions the

education that was intended for boys. I got the impression that this education was only for white boys, but the only references I found in the chapter to it were the description of Jefferson’s beliefs on page 41 and Rush’s beliefs on page 29. Do you know anything about the education of Native American or black boys?– I was not able to find anything different from the text about the

education of nonwhites during this period. However, it is reasonable to assume that this was only addressed as a matter of practicality.

• Also on page 27 Franklin suggested that boys should be able to read and write when they enter the academy at age 8. Where would they have learned to do this?– Throughout the chapter, all of the key leaders in this time noted the

importance of the mother in providing the first phases of education. This was the prime motivation for many of early statements about the need for women to be educated at all.


Linda Black• Does the current move toward nationalized testing, and

therefore a national curriculum just reflect the continuation of this chapter’s theme on republican education, which began after the revolution?– Possibly! I also believe it is to put us on track to be

competitive internationally because we are so far behind other countries when it comes to education.

– “OECO Indicators 1998 reveals that the lowest 25 percent of Japanese and Korean eighth graders outperform the average American eighth grader in math and science. And a recent report found that only 7 percent of Ohio high school seniors are prepared for learning and performing most skilled entry-level jobs.” quoted by State Senator Eugene Watts of Ohio

– http://www.enc.org/topics/assessment/testing/document.shtm?input=FOC-001574-index


Alicia Kerr

• How was it decided that the words Noah Webster used in his dictionary became the “proper” American language? From the book I can see his rationale behind it, but is there more information, particularly things in writing (besides the few brief mentions in this book) about opposition to it and preventing it from happening?

– http://www.historyhouse.com/in_history/webster/

– Yes! Even now there is opposition, and I’m sure there was at the time it was written, although I couldn’t spend enough time to find the references to show it.


KJ Lowry• Would you agree that after considering

all the aspects of this chapter and its notable characters, that the most truly influential individual with respect to education here is Noah Webster?– As far as who is still influencing us today,

probably. We all have a copy of Webster’s at home or at school. I would argue though, that Jefferson’s model for education in Virginia served as a model for how many states set up their school systems.


Daewoon Yoo• Though I have never experienced the spelling bee test

personally, it is familiar with my by mass media. I fully understand that spelling bees acted as a tool for measuring individual ability in early 19c. Because people thought educational level could be measured by the ability to spell at that time. Besides, these contests were used to reinforce the democratic character of America. Now days, what is the importance of spelling bee in American education? Is it a just useful tool for students to memorize how to spell? Does it have any extra role?– Scripps Howard (the National Bee people) quote “Our purpose is

to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.”

– I believe it can be used as motivation to help kids become good spellers and to study in general.

– http://www.spellingbee.com/about.shtml


Mandy Biggers

• Why did Franklin publish under a pseudonym? Didn’t everyone know it was Franklin?

– http://www.school-for-champions.com/biographies/franklin.htm

– http://www.english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin/citizen.html 1732-1757 (WOW)

– http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_name.html


Jennie Stuhrenberg

• I know that public schools over the last few years have made values and character building part of their curriculum. What are some ways local schools are teaching values? Are there specific programs or is it just a part of daily lessons?– At my last school we used a program called “Character

Counts” that has 6 pillars that we taught the first six weeks of school (trustworthiness, respect, caring, responsibility, fairness, and citizenship)

– http://www.charactercounts.org/

– There are other programs… has anyone taught with them?


Rui Kang• On the bottom of page 42 and top of 43, the

author discussed the rationales for a more balanced curriculum for higher education. How do you compare a more balanced curriculum that includes everything and a narrower but more focused curriculum that concentrates on students’ chosen subject or area of interest considering the issue of efficiency and the fact that some knowledge and skills are certainly valued more by the society than others?

– Class discussion


Samantha McPhail• What are all 13 of the virtues referred to in Poor

Richard’s Almanac? Why did Franklin write this book under an assumed name? In his library group, what exactly does Junto mean? In Franklin’s academy, he had four denominations, one of which was the Moravian denomination-what is this?– See handout for 13 virtues

– Junto Society http://www.juntosociety.com/

– Junto, Latin for meeting, Webster’s defines it as “a group of persons joined for a common purpose”

– The Moravian church is a Reformed Protestant denomination with its historical roots in Germany and the Czech regions of Europe. Early adherents to the Moravian faith settled in Eastern Pennsylvania (hence Franklin’s connections) and later in the Winston-Salem region of North Carolina.


Anissa Myers• What would an example of a “value standard” be

that an aristocrat may have that Franklin felt artificial?– First, the example of carrying a decorative hat that the

author used in the book

– My assumption is that the use of foreign phrases that add no value to the discussion, but only serve to show one’s worldliness would fall in this category, e.g., “joie de vivre,” “jene se qua”

– Pretending to love opera or classical music because it is expected of the upper classes, when one really doesn’t care for it


Moira Baldwin• How do Jefferson’s three recommendations for

schools (p. 39) compare to today’s tracking?

1. Heavily debated, these are some points and counterpoints

2. Students should be separated into groups by their abilities

– There is a philosophy that classes should be blended to ensure that there are high performers that can provide informal role modeling and peer tutoring to classmates

– Likewise there is a counterpoint that the Gifted and Talented groups should be allowed to learn at their own, accelerated, pace.


2. Some students should receive vocational training

– Until recently, most high schools had “shop class” or “business training”, now that is usually done at the community college level

3. Gifted students should undertake theoretical studies and the classical languages that were the foundation of scientific studies

- Gifted students today are still encouraged toward higher level science and languages.

Moira Baldwin, cont.


Michael Saberian• Chapter discussants should address how economic

differences between the commercial North and the rural

South influenced their views on the purpose of education,

particularly what manner of material was studied

(vocational training verses academic training).

– Yes, this was the case as the agrarian South encourage a

more vocational approach to education.

– This is still somewhat evident in the presence of

vocational vs. “college prep” curricula present in rural US

compared to urban and suburban schools


Fuhui Tong

• Are there boys’ or girls’ schools in the US and is it overwhelmingly advantageous that coeducation is much better? – There are still today differing points of view on this topic

– There are several private single-sex institutions, but very few, if any public.

• In page 29, the book talked about the Great Awakening which influenced Benjamin Rush’s ideas of education. I would like to know more about this occurence.– Previously discussed


• Besides Webster, are there any other eminent figures who help establish American English?– Samuel Johnson also developed a dictionary, but it was outsold by

Webster’s.

– This website describes Webster: “Noah Webster (1758-1843) was by all accounts a severe, correct, humorless, religious, temperate man who was not easy to like, even by other severe, religious, temperate, humorless people. A provincial schoolteacher and not-very-successful lawyer from Hartford, he was short, pale, smug, and boastful...” (The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson)

• Please explain more about “recitation room” on page 43 and provide your view of the function of tutors.– Closest example of the recitation room today is the case method of

study with study groups found in Law and Business Schools at the Master’s levels as well as the defense process during the pursuit of the Ph.D.

– Class discussion on tutors

Fuhui Tong, cont.


Tsueifen Chen

• I am amazed at Webster’s effort in building a national language. I would like to know if his original scripts, books, dictionary, or grammar books were well preserved and exhibited in any museum.

– Yes! We will pass around some, albeit not original, for you to see


Junhi Liu

• In page 39, one of the learned groups was wealthy and wanted to prepare of government service. I wonder why this group should be so rich to do government service. I wish I could get more background knowledge to understand this paragraph.

– The early phases of our nation’s development focused on the landowner as a key individual, particularly in the more agrarian regions in the South. Landowners had the time and the resources to devote to public service, while most citizens required the wages from work or small farms to survive and support their families. In many ways, this hasn’t changed significantly.


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12 February, 2004 Mandy Biggers and Mike Hasler 1 Moral Training, Women's Seminaries, and Leadership in the New Republic Watras Chapter 2 EDCI 659 History