Going Public: Literacy and History of American Education

Public education played a huge part in the quickly changing early United States. In the early days of the country and in the days of the thirteen colonies, education was not a widespread practice. There were very few schools and education was not seen as important to most people living there at the time. The economy was based around agriculture, and as such farmers did not see the need in educating the youth in anything other than agriculture. The schools that did exist, were small and funded by individual towns. The education provided in these schools was short and very basic. Today we would consider these schools as preschools.     Thomas Jefferson            Public education unified the United States in many ways. People like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Rush was the importance of education, particularly in educating the youth of America. On page 13 of the textbook the author says “They argued that the survival of th...

           My name is Matthew Lemons. I am a senior at NJCU in the fire science program. I am a career firefighter in Summit New Jersey. I am married and have a 14-month-old son. I have been blessed with a beautiful family and successful career and am thankful for both every day.  Literacy is important for our society and myself personally. Being able to read and communicate is the basis for a cohesive society. Both of parents are college educated and had a strong commitment to raising my brother and I to be well educated. My parents were extremely supportive and encouraging from a young age to learn how to read and write. My parents taught us the importance of not just reading the words but to gain an understanding of what the words meant, what picture the author was trying to convey to the reader. Growing up, my mother was strict about my brother and I playing video games during the daytime. She preferred we spent that time learning ...