The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia

Education

Education SECTION EDITOR Kate Rousmaniere 26414_U11.qxd 7/7/06 10:58 AM Page 793 Overview 795 Rural Education 799 Urban Education 802 Intellectualism 804 Social Movements 806 Higher Education 809 Academic Freedom 812 Community Colleges 813 Fraternities and Sororities 813 Historically Black Colleges and Universities 814 Liberal Arts Colleges 814 Professional Education 815 State Universities 817 Student Activism 818 University of Chicago 819 Women’s Colleges 820 Elementary and Secondary Education 821 Agricultural and Vocational 824 Art 825 Curriculum 825 Early Childhood 826 Gender and Sexuality 828 Literacy 829 Private Schools and Academies 830 Special Education 831 William Holmes McGuffey (1800–1873) 832 Teachers and Administrators 833 Teacher Education and Normal Schools 836 Teacher Unions 838 Margaret Haley (1861–1939) 838 Ella Flagg Young (1845–1918) 839 Progressivism and Reform 839 Progressive Education 842 John Dewey (1859–1952) 843 Francis W. Parker (1837–1902) 845 Consolidation 846 Desegregation 846 Finance 848 Homeschooling 849 Testing 849 Vouchers and Charter Schools 850 Multicultural Issues 851 African Americans 854 Appalachians 855 Asian Americans 856 Bilingual 857 Mexican Americans 858 Native Americans 859 Religious Schooling 860 Amish 862 Jewish 863 Lutheran 864 Roman Catholic 864 Section Contents 26414_U11.qxd 7/7/06 10:58 AM Page 794 Overview The popular image of the one-room country schoolhouse as the embodiment of education in the Midwest is only one dimension of a complex story. Indeed, the characteristics of midwestern schooling are remarkably diverse. The distinctive regional themes of education in the Midwest have emerged from dynamic tensions among conflicting positions on local and centralized control of schooling, traditional and innovative curricular ideas, and vocational and intellectual purposes of education. Demographic diversity has also shaped elementary and secondary education in the region for more than two centuries. Some of the nation’s most densely populated urban school districts as well as some of its most geographically expansive rural districts are in the Midwest . The region has a range of culturally homogeneous schools, from predominantly white rural and suburban schools to predominantly African American urban schools to schools designed specifically for Native American students, ethnic identity groups, and religious communities. Historically, the Midwest has fostered innovation, including the nineteenth-century readers of William Holmes McGuffey and the progressive ideas associated with John Dewey’s earlytwentieth -century work with experimental education at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory School. And while we tend to think of the Midwest as homogeneous , it was the great racial and cultural diversity of midwestern city schools that led to some of the major legal landmarks in racial desegregation, including the U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954, 1955). The persistent movement of peoples into and around the region has directly shaped the character of its schools as districts have adapted in a variety of ways to the influx of populations from Europe, Central America, and Asia; religious minority populations from abroad; and internal migratory waves of African American, Appalachian , and Latin American populations from southern regions of the country. Higher education in the Midwest has also been marked by great diversity of purpose and form, and it has made a profound impact on American culture as a whole. Through the nineteenth century, midwestern states supported the establishment of land-grant and agricultural colleges, teacher-training institutions, and large state universities as well as private and religiously based colleges. Both public and private institutions were oriented toward expanding trades, professions, and culture in a new region. This purpose has continued into the modern era with a wide array of instituEducation v 795 tions, from small liberal arts to religiously based institutions to large universities with professional and technical expertise. The cultural identity of higher education across America is popularly associated with “Big Ten” universities and their boosterish blend of athletics and academics. Across elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate education, then, the Midwest has played a defining role in the development of American educational institutions and ideas. Superficially, midwestern education may seem less dynamic than education in other parts of the United States, but it actually has been the site of some of the most significant turning points in American educational history. The “Education ” section examines the breadth of educational initiatives in the region with introductory essays that survey the history and characteristics of midwestern rural and urban education and distinctive intellectual and social movements linked with educational...