History DB
lisa9530
HIS2113_Lesson11_Education.pptxMichigan history
Educating a State
Educating a State
Education is deeply embedded in the cultures of peoples who settled Michigan.
English
Puritans
Northwest Ordinance 1787
School Laws and Financing
Finance of public education written into territorial tax code.
Under territorial law, schools were to be locally operated but the territory/state regulated activities and set curriculum.
Michigan’s constitution placed a priority on education, including the promotion of libraries.
Federal Ordinances also provided a significant source of education finance: Section 16
Despite these aggressive measures, education in Michigan was not “free” until 1869, and parents of school-aged children often had to pay additional fees.
Frontier Education
Michigan, “the schoolhouse state.”
Red paint – was cheap, practical, and common.
Most early schoolhouses were one room: 18’x20’
One room school houses were most common until 1920s.
The Little Red Schoolhouse
Teachers in the 1800s
Saw teaching as a temporary occupation.
Were often under prepared.
Teacher training standards were slowly put into place during the early 1900s.
Student Attendance was irregular.
Agricultural families needed their children for work.
Nine month calendar adopted and enforced
Higher Education
Augustus Woodard and the University of Michigania (Catholepistemiad)
In 1841, University of Michigan opened with six students and two professors.
Religious connections and influence.
Smaller church supported schools sprung up throughout the 1800s.
Michigan Agricultural College opened in 1857.
Morrill Act of 1862 created the land grant system to support the education of farmers and mechanics which helped establish Michigan State University.
Education for All
Women’s Education
Primary schools were considered coeducational.
Female colleges
1870 - Universities begin admitting women.
Special Education
Education for special needs individuals supported in first constitution.
1949 – Education for mentally handicapped.
Recent innovations
Charter schools
Virtual University
Education, Communities, and Culture
Theater
Detroit Opera House
German Theaters
Art and Architecture
Detroit Museum of Art
Greek Revival Style
Literature and Music
“Michiganders are better at building automobiles that are works of art than we are at fashioning great sonnets…”
Pages 168-169: The authors name drop famous people…
