Study On The Common School Movement In The United States

The Common School Movement is a critical event in American history of education. It carried on some New England traditions in the colonial period and enlightened the educational reform after the end of the19th century. What happens today in American education always has its origins in the Common School Movement if we look deep in to it. To understand the reform and development in the United States, we have to know something about the Common School Movement.The People’s Republic of China have experienced several educational reforms and made great progress after its foundation. But we still have some problems and face new challenges and difficulties in the new situation. To study the Common School Movement is helpful for us to learn experience and lessons from the development of American Public Schools, to solve the problems in China’s basic education.These are the context of the study:Preface introduces the reason for choose the topic, the literature review, the concept definition, the context and methods, innovation points and limitations. Chapter1concerns on the background of the Common School Movement. There are social backgrounds including political, economic, demographic and religious factors. The educational backgrounds are the influence of education in the colonial period, the ideas about universal education of such American Fathers as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Rush and Noah Webster, the preliminary practice of universal education like the Sunday school and free school which adopted the monitor system. Chapter2focuses on the rising and development of the Common School Movement, including the educational ideas of the representatives such as Horace Mann and Henry Barnard, the innovation of the educational system, the secularization of education, the changes of common schools and the teachers. Chapter3concerns on the continuance of the Common School Movement, which introduces the changes of common schools between American Civil War and the end of the19th century. Chapter4talks about the meaning of the Common School Movement. There are close connections between the Common School Movement and the modern American education transform. The Common School Movement laid a good foundation for American modern school system, promoted the development of education in all levels. There were also some limitations in the Common School Movement. The Common School Movement also influences today’s American education in such areas as the relation between public schools and the assimilation of immigration, the equality of educational opportunity, religion. Conclusion discusses the importance of social consensus to educational reform, the limitation of schools’ social function, and the revelation of the Common School Movement to the basic educational reform in China.