Devon Bautista

The reading was definitely interesting. The chapter had passages on many of the main influences of early education—specifically the “common school.” I particularly liked the views of the workingmen’s role in education, because I find it interesting that the workingmen of the day even cared about education of themselves or others during the time period. It is easy to see why the upper echelon of society would be interested in schooling, but new immigrants and already settled in trade workers to do not have obvious motives. For me it took some thinking to understand that the workers believed it would even the playing field between them in government and class in general. I like that the chapter took the time to show their standpoint in contrast to other groups. It is also notable to mention that the chapter tells how people with similar views can have opposing interests or motives. Though both groups wanted schooling they both had different vested interests, and this is something you wouldn’t know by just looking into numbers and laws from the era, there needs to be a back-story to understand situations like that. Another thing I thought was interesting was the political viewpoints of the days. I find it interesting how the Democratic viewpoint in early history was much like the Republican view of today, and suggested that government not intervene too much in sectors such as education (or provide any funding). It is interesting to see the change in beliefs in an entire party’s view over time. Some questions I had about the reading were: How strongly did prohibition affect the countries feelings about a common school—specifically with religious morals incorporated? Another question I had was regarding the workingmen’s idea of sending all children to one uniform boarding school to ensure all students get the exact same education. Do you think they were honestly suggesting such extreme measures or simply using this as a bargaining strategy in which they could ultimately meet somewhere in the middle? Is there any ideal compromise to ensure equal opportunity in spite of the social stratification?