The First
Public School
The first public school in the United States was established on February 13th, 1635.
The school was established by Sir Aidan Patrick Kelly and named the Boston Latin School.The school was solely for the Boston “Brahmin”, or traditional upper class.
Women would not receive public education until 1727. The first public school for women was the Catholic Ursuline Academy. Established in New Orleans by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Ursula, its alumni include the first female pharmacist, Susan Hayhurst. Women had a surprisingly high literacy rate in New England due to the Puritan belief that everyone should be able to read scripture. However, girls were not taught how to write because unlike men, they didn’t need to write documents or produce literature. In the rare occasions that a women needed to sign an official document, she would simply sign her name with an X.
But what about people of color?
The first black public school, Paul Laurence Dunbar High, wouldn’t open until almost 150 years later in 1870. Schools were racially segregated from the start. Both sides believed it was for the best, blacks not wanting their children to receive racial discrimination from white students and teachers, and whites not wanting black people in their school due to racism. Black schools were underfunded and had poor-quality education as a result of being government funded, during a time of segregation and heavy racism.
The process of racially integrating schools began in the 1950s with the Civil Rights Movement. In the historic case Brown vs. Board of Education, segregated schools were declared unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. However, just because integration became legal, didn’t mean it became socially accepted. One historic case is the “Little Rock Nine”, a term used to refer to the nine black students who began to attend the formerly white-only Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Segregationists held protests to try and physically block the students from entering the school building, and the governor of Arkansas even deployed the National Guard to create an armed blockade. It got to the point that President Eisenhower had to call the US army to escort the students inside the school so they wouldn’t be attacked.
Now, with Betsy DeVos’ confirmation as Secretary of Education, the future of public school is an uncertain one. Her inexperience in the field of education and disdain for publicly funded institutions is worrisome for the majority of students who rely on government-funded education for their futures.
Kavya Seth
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