Part II: As American As Public School 1900 to 1950

EDUCATING ALL TYPES OF CHILDREN

One of the best ways to educate all types of children, regardless of economic and/or racial status, is by incorporating multiple teaching techniques into course lessons. I think it is also important to not focus on pushing one belief on students. For example, in Part I of School: The Story of American Public Education, the author mentioned that at the start of the common school system, many immigrants were hesitant to attend because they were forcing all students to practice and learn about one religion. In Part II, As American As Public School, we learned that after World War I, as immigration drastically increased, intelligence testing was implemented to assign students to ability groups. However, these I.Q. tests demonstrated differences in scores between racial groups. Consequently, intelligence test scores were used as propaganda to try and restrict immigration. 

For educators, it is important to consider the various learning styles when planning lessons. Two teachers named Neil Fleming and Colleen Mills used the acronym VARK to describe four types of learning styles that they have come across. VARK stands for visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic. Visual means a person may learn more through seeing things like charts, graphs, and maps. Auditory means that a student might prefer hearing the information. Read/write means the student likes to see words to learn. Lastly, kinesthetic means the student might learn more through experience. Although this is not an exact science and children might have multiple learning styles, teachers should consider these methods and incorporate them into their curriculum. By including multiple approaches, educators and teachers will be able to grab the attention of a majority of their students. This will also allow the student to be more engaged in the lesson. The video below further explains the different learning styles that a person can have.

Schools should also be engaging with their students. This means that it should not focus solely on academics. In the book, a historian stated that “John Dewey believed that if schools were anchored in the whole child, in the social, intellectual, emotional, and physical development of a child, teaching would be different, and learning would be different and schools would be very different, hospitable places for children” (p. 77). If the curriculum can attract students with multiple learning styles and schools allowed children to develop all aspects of themselves (meaning emotionally, socially, physically, and academically), then it would be easier to educate more children.  Like David Tyack once said, “there are many ways that young people learn” (p. 88). 

WHO DOES SCHOOL BENEFIT AND WHO DOES IT FAIL?

From my perspective, I believe that public schools mostly benefit English-speaking students and fail non-English-speaking students. Historically, from the 1900s to the 1950s, people assumed non-English speaking immigrants and children of immigrants were not equipped enough to handle traditional schools. On page 66, the author stated “children from immigrant and working-class backgrounds whose English was poor … seemed unsuited for traditional academic courses.” The reason this started was because immigrants had difficulty keeping up with the standard curriculum. I think that part of this belief is a common stereotype that is still seen today.

As I was growing up, I noticed that students that did not speak English had resources but they were not always available to them. I’ve also met peers who struggle with academic assignments, tests, and essays because help was not provided. When my younger cousin came to the United States from another country a couple of years ago, she spoke fluent English. However, since she came from somewhere else, the school system held her back a grade. Despite her excelling in all her courses and participating in school activities, the system automatically assumed that she would not do well and needed to repeat a grade. Now, she is over the average age for her grade because of this decision. My old middle school was full of non-English speaking students. There were several children whose first language was not English. There were ESL teachers and separate classes. But since it was a public school, it was underfunded and there were not many educators around that could offer their help to every single student.