![]() It didn’t take long for this increasingly vocal movement of child psychologists and concerned moms to identify public enemy number one. These new ideas about what’s best for kids’ education were picked up by organizations like the National Congress of Mothers, a group formed in 1897 that would become the National Parent Teachers Association (PTA). Popular turn-of-the-century women’s magazines like The Ladies Home Journal published studies showing that drilling of spelling words didn’t improve children’s overall spelling ability, and its editors promoted more “natural” patterns of child learning and growth. If schools were going to offer equal education opportunities for all students, they needed to do it scientifically, and the leading educational minds of the day were fascinated with the emerging fields of psychology and child development.īoard members for the National Congress of Mothers, an organization dedicated to the education and welfare of children formed at the end of the 19th century. But as America and its students became more diverse, the rigidity of rote memorization seemed insufficient. ![]() All of that memorization and recitation meant hours of practice at home every night. Kids were expected to “say their lessons,” which meant memorizing long passages of history texts and poetry, drilling math problems, and reciting it all out loud in class. Until then, Schlossman says most schoolwork revolved around drill, memorization and recitation. ![]() Around the late 19th century, with the arrival of waves of immigrants, officials had begun shifting public education policies to best serve the rapidly changing face of America. Soviet technician working on Sputnik 1, circa 1957.Īs far as education was concerned, there was plenty of rethinking to do. ![]()
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