Did your high school experience feel a little like a relic from another era? Beneath the daily routines of bells and benchmarks is a history of deliberate choices (made by a small number of voices), evolving philosophies, and healthy controversy that evolved through a period of rapid social change. This week, the hosts examine the origins of the American high school system as we know it, prompting critical inquiries into the emergence and evolution of the course and assessment structure that dictates the rhythms of adolescence in the United States. We review the landmark report of the Committee of Ten, an 1892 working group of National Education Association of the United States Committee on Secondary School Studies, which was convened in order to create a framework of educational standards to bring order to the patchwork chaos of secondary schooling in the U.S. left in the wake of the Civil War. We discuss the initial goals of the secondary school system and to what extent original intentions are still serving our students today. The episode also interrogates the notion of a singular “best” teaching or assessment method.
00:15 Intro & Recap of Holocaust Education Museum Exhibit (Cincinnati) and Guided Virtual Tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau
06:50 An Academic Conference with Enormous Power Over American High Schools
10:15 The Report of the Committee of Ten: The Most Important Education Document Ever Issued?
12:00 The Formalizing of Education as a Profession
14:50 The National Education Association: Convener of Educational Change
16:00 Horace Mann, Common Schooling, & the Evolution of Standards
19:30 Who Decides What is “Best”? And Better Questions
25:50 Ten After Ten: Retrospective Look & Influence of the Report
30:20 The End of Differentiation & Discussion Questions
40:00 What We Learned
For a full list of episode sources and resources, visit our website.
Sources & Further Reading:
Education Reform in Antebellum America | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Ten Years' Influence of the Report of the Committee of Ten
Episode 60 - Where No Mann Has Gone Before - 16:1 - An Education Podcast
Episode 40 - A More Perfect Union? - 16:1 - An Education Podcast
NEA Leadership on Teach for America