Blog B; First State Board of Education

In search of a resolution to solve the problem that states had not established teaching qualifications, legislator James G. Carter created the first Board of Education (BOE) in 1937 in Massachusetts. This Board of Education, also being the first in the nation, was appointed Horace Mann as it’s secretary. Horace Mann was a Massachusetts lawyer and legislator. While he was Secretary of the BOE, he was able to change public opinion towards school problems and to gain support for increasing teaching wages as well as improving their training through normal or regular teacher-training schools. This new Board of Education, with the help of secretary Horace Mann, was able to reach states across the nation and help to create a better school system with more certified teachers.


In the early 1830’s, people really began to notice a lot of faults in district schools. Decentralization left schools to be extremely varied from one district to the next. There was no uniformity in the way children were being taught or what they were being taught in different districts across a state, let alone between states. The quality of teachers was very low because there was no law or rule stating or setting any amount of qualifications that someone had to obtain before becoming a teacher. The first Board of Education involved a combination of local school boards to a state board of education. The main purpose of the BOE was to appoint only a few people to make all the decisions around how school would be taught and what students would learn. This way, students will be learning a universal curriculum that may only vary slightly.


A failing district school system was also caused by a lack of state funds and the simple fact that something as important as schooling should not be left in the hands of people who’s morals and values are as different as day and night. The object of a BOE is to find a “common” way of teaching. With these common schools, students will be taught by teachers who have all had relatively the same amount of schooling. Also, the main themes and subject taught in school will be based on a common political creed and a common nonsectarian religion, and funding for these schools and teachers would come from state tax support. The need for this “common” way of schooling was expressed by Carter. He concluded,
… If the State continue to relieve themselves of trouble of providing for the instruction of the whole people, and to shift the responsibility upon the towns, and the towns upon the districts, and the districts upon individuals, each will take care of himself and his own family as he is able, and as he appreciates the blessing of a good education. The rich will, as a class, have much better instruction than they now have, while the poor will have much worse or none at all. The academies and private schools will be carried to much greater perfection than they have been, while the public free schools will become stationary or retrograde.
As you can see, through Carters observations, the need for a state funded common curriculum was very important for the improving of education. That is exactly what the development of a state board of education helped to accomplish.


WORKS CITED

Newman, Joseph W. America's Teachers, Fifth Edition. Pearson Education
Inc., Boston. 2006.

www.educationanddemocracy.org/emery/emery_chapter1.pfd

www.faculty.weber.edu/tlday/1500/horacemann.htm

www.md.edu/~rbarger/www7/normal.html

A -- My Informal Education!

Since I was a little girl I have loved the outdoors. Fortunately for me, I grew up in the north Maine woods so I was able to spend my days climbing trees, finding hidden rock piles that I could climb in and out of, and making mud pies. My parents were great, they never tried to kill time by sticking my sister and I in front of a T.V.. We went for walks, hiking, we wrote stories, baked, and all kinds of other things. For this I will always be grateful, but, I will never be able to thank my parents enough for the first time they brought me skiing.


If I had to choose one thing that I could do all day every day, it would be ripping up the slopes! A passion like this did not come from a classroom. It came from many freezing cold afternoons in Sugarloaf when I knew my mom had to have turned into an icicle, but she always let me take that one last run. I remember being told about my first skiing experience, for I was too young to recall it myself. My mom told me that I was about two and a half years old and she let my dad take me all the way to the top of Crab Mountain, a little resort by where I grew up. At this point, my dad had jumped in laughing, wanting to tell the rest of the story himself. He said that I had on a bright red snowsuit with these goggles that were entirely way too big for my little face. When we got to the top he said that I showed no fear whatsoever. He told me mom was waiting for me at the bottom and off I went. I did not stop or turn for anyone, I just tucked and went screaming “look out” the whole way down! My mom then went on to say, with her being an onlooker waiting for me to come down, that once I did reach the bottom the only think that could stop me was the base lodge. Apparently the ground had flattened out quite a bit and I did lose most of my speed so hitting the building wasn’t a big thing (Thank god!). And from that day on, my dad recalled, he knew I was going to be a skier.


Throughout the rest of my childhood, during the my family would take my sister and I on little ski vacations, but only to mountains in Maine. Once I reached college, at UNH, I was able to ski all of New Hampshire. Although growing up skiing in New England was great, I still had my sights set on bigger mountains and more snow! I took a break from college and decided to make that dream a realization for myself. I packed up and moved to Sun Valley, Id, where I lived for the next two years. In those two years, I was able to ski all of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Oregon. It was AMAZING! In those two years, I was able to learn more about skiing, life, and myself than I ever could in a classroom. Those experiences and adventures are something that I will have with me for the rest of my life!

Trial/First Day

First time trying to blog...kind of cool :)