Education In 1800s

In the 1800s, the Witherbee School was built. This was one of the first schools on Aquidneck Island. The students there were taught the basic classes, which included reading, Writing, Arithmetic (mental and written), Geography, Grammar. History, Physiology, Drawing and Spelling, almost the same curriculum as any Middletown Public School. Since this was a one room school-house, all of the students of various ages were in the room together. The room was heated by a wood-burning stove which meant the older you got the farther you moved from the stove and the more uncomfortably cold. The history of this little schoolhouse emphasizes how much the world has changed over the past two-hundred years. While one of the major crisis of education in the

Public schools were not common during the 1600s and the early 1700s. Instead, affluent families paid private tutors to educate their children. Common Schools, which educated students of all ages in one room with one teacher, emerged in the 18th century. Educating children to reach their full potential and actively promote and participate in a democratic society, or progressive education, began in the late 1800s and became widespread by the 1930s. By 1918, every state required students to complete elementary school, however, students were not required to have any further education to apply for jobs. Throughout the 20th century, the percentage of students who received an education increased drastically, as did the percentage of people who graduated from high school. College, however, was not as much of a requirement to get a job in the 20th century than it is in the 21st

Students in Middletown High School are required to take four years of Math and English, three years of Science and History, and one year of Art or Music. While these are all very important subjects, none of these are specifically catered to a certain job. Also, none of these subjects teach about financial aid or the federal loan process. A recent study from the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings suggests that most students have a poor understanding of the financial aid and federal loan process. Another idea to introduce to Middletown High School is a career pathway courses. Courses like these can have classes that teach basic knowledge of the career and offer internships. This would be very beneficial because it would give students real-world scenarios to help prepare them for the future. It will also help them decide if they want to major in that certain area without having them pay for a class and then decide they don’t want to take that, which is what would happen in college. Changing the curriculum, while it may take a while, will be beneficial years down the road.

Another thing that is an unnecessary cost in college are general education courses. For college, these are required classes, but why is that? These are classes that review everything students learned in high school. If these classes were integrated into the high school curriculum, students would be saving