16TH CENTURY 18TH CENTURY 20TH CENTURY
SECULAR
HUMANISM RENAISSANCE ENLIGHTENMENT PROGRESSIVISM
PROTESTANT
CHRISTIANITY REFORMATION AWAKENINGS EVANGELICALISM
God-centered worldview. Two basic philosophies of educa-
tion developed from these worldviews. One comes from the
Judeo-Christian tradition and is rooted in Scripture, and the
other originated as a reaction against the religious ideals of
the pre-Renaissance era. The two have competed with each
other historically in the scheme of American education and
continue to do so today.
Religion had a significant influence on education during
the colonial era in America and was often known as the
fourth “R.” Religious books were typically used in learning
to read, and the school day often included Bible reading,
singing hymns, and prayer. However, America experienced
a religious decline at the end of the 17th century, and church
attendance was at an all-time low. This decline coincided
with the rise of enlightenment philosophies, and humanistic
ideology surfaced to fill the void. While the Enlightenment
was primarily a European movement, it made an impact on
the thinking of American leaders and was influential in the
shaping of society and education at the end of the colonial
era and beginning of the national era of the 18th century.
America experienced the First Great Awakening in the
midst of the Enlightenment era. This awakening, which
peaked between 1740-1742, slowed the progress of enlight-
enment ideology. The awakening also provided a spiritual
foundation of Christian principles for the colonies as they
approached the American Revolution and influenced the
lives of our Founding Fathers and early national leaders.
While evangelical religion was the prime factor for initi-
ating formal education in colonial America, this revival
had a significant impact on shaping education at all levels.
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For example, it renewed interest in literacy and learning
and stimulated the founding of numerous academies and
colleges. It also protected and prolonged the Christian prin-
ciples that were foundational to colonial education and
served as an obstacle to the development of public educa-
tion during the next century.
Immediately following the American Revolution, the
secular humanistic ideas of the Enlightenment threatened to
become the dominant intellectual thought of the new nation
as deistic and atheistic teaching made its way to America
from Europe. Moral and spiritual standards crumbled in an
environment of skepticism. While the Second Great Awak-
ening of the early 19th century saved the nation from the
encroaching grip of the European Enlightenment, secular
ideas still appealed to the intellectual and religious thought
of the new nation.
Over the half-century following the American Revo-
lution, national leaders recognized a need for a common
school system. The two educational philosophies battled for
influence as the common school movement was launched.
Although the process of secularization was underway,
much of the responsibility of education at all levels was
still entrusted to ministers and schools that were under the
direct influence of religion. Some educational reformers
sought to produce good, patriotic, pious, virtuous citizens
through moral education and urged that the Bible be used
in schools for this purpose.
The secular ideas of the Enlightenment reappeared at
the end of the 19th century with the rise of evolution and
science, a revolution of intellectual thought, the expan-
sion of liberal theology and modernism, and the weaken-
ing of church control over education. Growing dominance
of humanistic thinking continued to challenge traditional
Christian beliefs. State control of education escalated in
the 20th century through standardization, centralization,
accreditation, certification, credentialing, and compulso-
ry attendance laws. Public education became an Ameri-