The
Influence of School on a Generation
Since
the beginning of recorded time there have been students and there
have been teachers. Whether it’s an apprenticeship or a academic
lesson, teaching has been around for centuries. As a country, the
United States were founded by people who wanted to escape for
religious and personal freedom. With settling in the United States
came a new setting of teaching and learning. Since before the 1800
and up until now teaching and learning has changed drastically. Over
the years the curriculum and the way that school has been taught has
changed so much because of the progression of ideas. It has
progressed to include more open ideas and a broader spectrum of
information including controversial ideas and facts. In turn, this
has produced progressively intelligent generations throughout the
span of the United States.
Education
is a staple of growing up and becoming a full functioning adult.
Without education there would be no progression of ideas, technology,
or people. If education had failed to develop the world as its known
would not exist today; we would be living in a world where people
stayed on the land they were born on, a world where people would
barter for food and clothes; a world that would remain stagnant and
unchanging. People are where they are today because of the ever
changing ideas and concepts. And because of that it has made people
intellectual being capable of curing diseases, going into outer
space, and simply just staying alive past the age of 100. Without
education and the changes it has endured, we would still be living
like neanderthals.
Teaching
before the 1800s was very simple and only consisted of a few subjects
taught by common men. They were either school masters, or in the
rural areas farmers, surveyors, or innkeepers. These men only taught
boys because women and girls were told that they were to run the
household and raise the children. Women taught the girls how to do
things like sew, cook, clean, and take care of children so the men
could go off and work. The boys, however, learned their basic ABC’s,
reading, writing, religion, and sometimes grammar.12
This was the simplest of knowledge that the men and boys of that time
needed to know because they were mostly farmers, blacksmiths,
deckhands, and had other physical labor jobs. These types of jobs
also brought up the opportunity for apprenticeships and the like for
young boys to get into. Usually the boy’s father or a relative
taught the boy the trade, but there were some instances in which the
boy would get into a trade that was not family owned.
During
the 1800s schools developed out of the simplicity and physicality
that it once knew. Because of the development of technology
throughout that age there was a need for more intelligent people.
This brought around the development of the teacher, teaching, and
what the students were learning. There was such a high demand for
people who could develop and run the new technology that a change in
education was necessary. Common schools started to spring up
everywhere offering an education to children for free. Most schools
of that time were private or tuition based so only a select few were
able to attend, but with these new schools anyone could get an
education. This
was in part due to Horace Mann. Horace Mann was a Massachusetts man
who had proposed this system
of free, universal and non-sectarian schooling. Each district would
provide a school no matter religion or social class. The funding for
these schools came from taxes that the government collected.
Mann hoped that these schools could provide a political education to
the younger generation.12
During this time
there was an increased need for more and better teachers; here they
turned to women because they had a good maternal instinct and a high
moral character. They also tended to be better with children and they
were cheaper to pay than men. The women who became teachers, however,
tended to be really young; as young as 14 or 15. This often led to
the older boys in the class hitting on the teachers and disrupting
class. But even though the women teachers had to deal with some
negative things, this opportunity gave way for more ideas, political
opportunities, and they felt a sense of public usefulness.12
This
was also the century in which a teaching “norm” came along. There
were so many new students and not enough teachers to teach them, so
untrained people were teaching classes. After a while, however, the
Normal School came along. These schools taught teachers how to teach
and thus provided a norm for all teachers. This is also were sciences
were introduced into the curriculum of learning. Even with good
intentions, these schools were short lived because Universities and
Colleges took it upon themselves to provide the schooling necessary
to produce a teacher. Normal schools had a great influence on
teaching and learning because it provided that common ground for
teachers to teach and for people to learn rather than individual
teachings.12
A
lot of African American teaching efforts were also established during
this time period. During this century the Civil War had ended and
African Americans were no longer slaves. This was also the time of
African American progression, especially intellectually. African
Americans got the opportunity to go to school and get an education
with the help of the Freedman’s Bureau. There
was also the Port Royal Experiment that was
an early attempt to prepare newly freed slaves for full democratic
participation in post-Civil War society. Their goals consisted of
making the freed slaves literate, economically dependent, and the
promotion of civil rights.
Here they prepared newly freed slaves for full democratic
participation by providing them
with a basic knowledge of politics, literacy, and economic
independence. The Hampton Institute also gave way for further the
education of freed slaves by providing them with an agricultural
college and a Normal School so they could be trained to teach.12
As
education in this era progressed there had to be some laws and
regulations on it because it was becoming a sort of business. In
1867 the U.S. Department of Education was created in order to
maintain efficient school systems and to promote the cause of
education throughout the country. Henry Barnard was a man who poured
his life and political career into bettering the education of the
United States. After two failed bills he turned his attention to the
creation of a state Board of Commissioners of Common Schools which
passes unanimously. He was even elected to head the department. His
job was to “collect information on all of the common schools by
means of inspection or correspondence; to propose plans relative to
consideration by the board and the state legislature; to meet with
parents, teachers, and administrators in each county; to edit a
common school journal; and to promote among the public, in any way
possible, interest and information regarding the subject of
education.” While doing his job, however, he found that no federal
office gathered educational statistics of any kind. After that he
requested that a few educational questions be added to future
censuses. Him, along with his friend Horace Mann, as well as others
interested in the education of the common school used the gathered
information to dramatize the bad state of American education. The big
question was, “should the federal government establish, support,
and administer a comprehensive educational system, as many European
nations did, or should it confine itself strictly to collecting and
diffusing statistics concerning state and local systems?” After
many years of trying to establish a department to deal with education
an advocate for the cause named E. E. White read a paper at a
conference that lead to sponsorship in Congress by General James A.
Garfield. The on February 14, 1866 Garfield introduced a bill to
establish a federal department of education. Senate approval came the
following year on March 2nd.14
By
having a governmental department to deal with all of the issues that
come along with public schooling, education takes a step forward to
further provide education for those who might not be able to afford
it.
Compared
to before the 1800s the curriculum didn’t change all that much;
however, it did change some in ways to prepare people for the new
jobs and experiences people were going to face. Some of the subjects
stayed the same, like reading and writing. Reading and writing are
the basis for all learning and comprehension in any language and to
have a basic understanding of this subject was impediment for all
people even before the 1800s. Arithmetic, although not a new subject,
was formally introduced during this time. Arithmetic consisted of
addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and other simple
mathematical rules of thumb. This skill would help out in fields that
requires their workers to know how to use math to do simple tasks.
During this time, however, geography and history were introduced into
the curriculum as a means of furthering the students knowledge of the
world. At that time the world was expanding at such a rate it was a
good advantage to have going into the working force. History was also
becoming a big subject during this time because of how past events
affected the future. Between the conquering of land, wars, and other
important events in time, it was valuable to know what went on in
their country and around the world.
As
the century began to change, so did teaching. During the 1900s 75% of
teachers were women. There were still some male teachers, but they
were more likely to be on the high education level such as colleges.
Women who were teachers had to live under really strict rules: they
had to be single and have no children. They were also paid badly and
didn't have any benefits. Also, because of the mass amount of
immigration that was taking place at this time the teachers were
faced with the obstacle of teaching people who might not know the
English language. Schools were also very similar to factories of that
time; they were overcrowded, dark with no windows, and poorly
ventilated. This lead to similar problems that factories had like the
rapid spread of disease. These conditions were partly due to the fact
that the schools were really poorly funded.12
African
American schools were even worse off at the beginning of the 1900s;
they got all of their supplies secondhand and were subject to even
worse funding. However,
with the Supreme Court case of Brown
v. Board of Education
schools were no longer segregated. Before 1954 most public school
systems in the South, and some in the North as well, were racially
segregated. Some of the schools were segregated by law and others by
culture and tradition. This case, not only impediment to educational
progression, also marked the start of the end of segregation. With
the development of public schools and industry after the Civil War it
was necessary that children go to school to better prepare them for
the modern life; however, Southern schools, as well as some in the
North, did not enroll African American children. Because of this the
Freedman’s Bureau took it upon themselves to educate the African
American children. These tax-funded schools stayed in existence even
after the death of the Freedman’s Bureau. Rather than allowing
African American children into new public schools the South decided
it would be better to fund separate school instead. It was a common
theme in the South to have laws about segregation in school, and even
in the West and North where integration was more common. As said by
W. E. B. Dubios said in The
Souls of Black Folk,
“The
Negro colleges, hurriedly founded, were inadequately equipped,
illogically distributed, and of varying efficiency and grade; the
normal and high schools were doing little more than common-school
work, and the common schools were training but a third of the
children who ought to be in them, and training these too often
poorly”
This
clearly shows the conditions and the kind of teaching that African
Americans had to face in the public school systems. Even though a lot
of money was being poured into education very little of it actually
went to African American schools. In 1910 $9.45 was being spent to
educate a white child compared to $2.90 for an African American
child. By 1916 that number had increased to $10.32 for white children
while it decreased to $2.89 for African American children; because of
this African American schools were inferior in almost every way.
There were many minor court cases that progressed the integration of
schools but Brown
v. Board of Education
was the official start to the end of segregation. Named after Oliver
Brown, a man, who's daughter had to cross a railroad track and board
a bus to be taken to an African American school on the other side of
the town when there was a school a few blocks from his house,
officially declared that “racial segregation in the public schools
of he District of Columbia is a denial of the due process of law
guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.11
Even
though this ruling only applied to Washington D.C. It lead forth the
change of segregation laws everywhere.
Attendance
to school also went up over the course of this century. From 1900 at
6.3% of 17 year old in school to 1930 where 28.8% of 17 year olds
were in school. It had also became stressed that mental ability was
necessary for success. Even farmers taught their children the “Three
R's”: reading, writing, and arithmetic as per the 1800s. However,
in more suburban and urban areas they stressed a mastery of
mathematics and language. This was actually the difference between a
low-paying, unskilled job and a higher-paying position as an office
worker. By the 1930s more students were going off to college after
they had graduated high school.6
This
was also a century of war and that meant that schooling had to be
changed in order to accommodate this. During this century WWI, WWII,
and the Vietnam War. took a toll on how things were taught and who
were attending school. Because of the need for support for all of
these wars there was a lot of propaganda that were going into the
schools and what was being taught. There was also a draft that was
taking place that took recently of age boys into the war because of a
need for men. This meant that a good portion of the senior classes
would be off to war. Propaganda also persuaded boys to enlist in the
war voluntarily and made women want to help out, too. These things
had a big influence on what teenage boys wanted to do or were made to
do, and what was expect of teenage girls.12
During
this time a man named John Dewey further progressed the way that
education was looked at. Dewey focused more on how things were taught
than what was taught. He believed that students do their best when
they're able to experience and interact with what they are learning
and that they should be able to take part in their learning rather
than just being lectured to. He also considered educational settings
a place for the students realize their full potential and the ability
to take those skills acquired in school for a greater good. He also
elaborated on the fact that education is key in creating social
change and reform. Dewey had very specific ideas of what should be
going on in the classroom and how the students should be taught. He
stressed the two ideas that come together as one. He says that the
curriculum and real world appliances should be taught together in
order for the student to get the most out of their education. He said
that this technique would deepen the comprehension of the material as
well as their ability to apply it to real life situations. However,
there were instances in which some schools would give the child too
much independence for learning and he argued that this hindered the
child just as much. Dewey was adamant about combining the two types
of teaching into a perfect balance of the two.4
Dewey
was a big advocate for connecting school subjects with the real world
and the use of these skills in the real world. This was about the
time that the curriculum was adapted to fit into the real world.
Things like word problems in math came along to try and help student
make sense of what they might need that particular information for.
Likewise, common vocabulary was introduced so that these kids could
have a wider vocabulary. Along with this adaption, the curriculum
consisted of very similar subjects as did the 1800s like reading,
writing, math, history, and geography. They also introduced things
like current events as an addition to the histories.12
Advances
in maths and sciences were also introduced to help progress the
knowledge of the students. The most well known and controversial idea
being the teaching of evolution. The Scopes Trial brought into light
the clear controversy of teaching evolution in schools because at
this time the country was still very religious especially in the
1920s when this trial took place because of the increased importance
placed on Religious Fundamentalism. The Scopes Trial began when John
Scopes, a high school biology teacher, was told by the American Civil
Union to teach evolution in a school in Tennessee, a state that
strictly outlawed the teaching of evolution. The Scope Trail was
nicknamed the “Monkey Trail” because of the mistaken belief that
Charles Darwin, the scientist that developed the theory of evolution,
claimed that humans are descendants from monkeys. John Scopes was
found guilty and fined $100, but this trial brought about the
suggestion of non-religious teaching.5
War
time education was also a very common thing of this time because of
the amount of wars that had happened during that time period. During
this time there was an emphasis on “one-world”, they were taught
about the new developments that brought along the air-age, there were
courses in anticommunism, global understanding, environmental
education, free enterprise units, and physical fitness courses in
order to get that current generation in shape for war and wartime
challenges. This gave way to a better understanding of the world
around them and what the country was dealing with at that time.13
As
the century changes over to the 2000s many educational aspects change
along with it. Compared to the 1900s the 2000s is an era of
progression and intellectual expansion. As a result of the change
that happened during the 1900s the 2000s was vastly different
educationally. As the year 2000 approached more men were getting into
teaching, even though the majority of teachers were still women. Not
only did who taught the students change, but so did what they were
being taught. Education formed a more concrete curriculum that
included five core subjects: Math, English, History, Science, and
Foreign Language.
Math
had progressed so much over the past century that many sub-subjects
had expanded out of it unlike the simple arithmetic that was so
prevalent in the 1800s. Subjects like Algebra, Financial Algebra,
Geometry, and Calculus all became common math subjects in schools
around the world. This gave a way to explain things like if a air
plane took an hour to fly 1000 miles with an air current of 50 miles
per hour then how long would it take to return the tip with an air
current against it at 60 miles per hour. The progression of math also
made the students more capable of doing simple math tasks like making
change or coming up with the tip at a restaurant. Most importantly
the advances of math lead to even more advances in the Sciences. Like
Math there are many sub-subjects that came out of the progression of
Science like Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Anatomy and Physiology.
Even though all of these sub-subjects of math and science were
introduced during the 1900s they really came about as being key
subjects during the 2000s.7
English
also expanded to include works for all over the world and from all
time periods. Works from England, Germany, Spain, France, and many
more other countries made their way over here to further elaborate on
their history as classic American works do for Americans. Because
literature and history have such close ties they're often taught side
by side. U.S. History is often taught during the same year as
American Literature classes. This gives the student a sense of
connection between the stories of the past and the stories that the
past created. Most importantly these subjects tie together common
themes throughout history like war and the desire for peace. With
insight from both the factual and interpreted side of history the
students get to see how things have changed over the years in
different educational aspects. I
interviewed Ms. Coleman and asked how history was taught back when
she was in high school which was 2000-2003. She said that history was
primarily all lectures and note taking and that there wasn't a whole
lot of variety in how the subjects was being taught; however, now it
is evident by how I have observed her teaching and what she has told
me, that active participation is now more common in the classroom
than it was before.3
7
The
United States was founded on immigrants from different countries
coming in hopes of religious and political freedom and economic
opportunities. Making Foreign Language something that the students
should learn was a great idea. Most schools only offer Spanish or
French, but private schools also offer languages like Latin. As of
now, a lot of the people that are coming into the states are of
Latin(Spanish) origin, so its a good tools to have for jobs that
require talking to people who are from those countries. Having this
subject as part of the curriculum has made the people who are going
into the work force more culturally aware and capable of handling
immigrants from Spanish or French speaking countries. In
my interview with Sr. Bilsbury, he shed some light on how Spanish was
taught for him when he was in high school, which were in the years
1986-1989. He said that for the most part when he was in school they
took a lot of notes, learned the grammar, and there wasn't a whole
lot of language production; however, he goes on to compare it to how
it is now and says,
“I
feel like it has definitely changed and that our department focuses
on communication between students in the target language; whoever is
doing the work is the one that is learning. There isn't a lot of
language acquisition if there isn't a lot of participating. They
learn in a target language only environment that captures the energy
of the teenagers and put it into the target language. There's a lot
of work with partners like debating over correct answers for a
pre-class activity while using target language. One experiment was
the blog I did with my senior classes, so rather than saying it in
class [they] could think it out and write what [they] wanted to say
down, as well as reading in Spanish.”2
From
what Sr. Bilsbury said it seem pretty clear that a lot of things have
changed within the Spanish teaching department. Now students are
practicing with speaking the language as well as learn the culture
behind the language rather than just taking notes on grammar concepts
and memorizing vocabulary.
Not
only have the subjects themselves changed, but so has what is being
taught in those subjects. Because this upcoming century is so much
more advanced and progressed previously controversial and taboo ideas
are making their way into the classroom and aren't being challenged
like they used to be. As seen with the Scopes Trial of 1925 the
teaching of evolution had been outlawed in Tennessee; however, as
things progressed throughout the years evolution became more and more
accepted as an scientific alternative to creationism. Even though
some schools in strongly religious areas still don't believe in
evolution they do teach it alongside with creationism. One
question that still remains is, “Should Church-State separation be
maintain?” On the yes side the argument can be seen that part of
the First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion,” which leads R. Freeman Butts to explain
that schools are a state run institution and should be not affiliated
with church and the Constitutional Amendment should be maintained. On
the other hand Robert L. Cord argues in his book that “In 1791 when
the First Amendment's prohibition that 'Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion' was added to the United
States Constitution, no other country had provided so carefully to
prevent the combination of the power of religion with the power of
the national government,” which goes to say that we had to draw
that fine line for the government, not government run institutions.10
On
top of the debate over Church-State separation sexual
education was considered to be a very taboo subject back in the mid
1900s, but as time progressed people became aware that even though it
is such a taboo subject teaching it to high schoolers is worth it if
it means that less people are getting pregnant in high school and
contracting STD's.
Probably
one of the most important progressions that has happend is the
accommodations that have been made for people with disabilities.
Before it was known that mental disabilities were a genetic and
uncontrollable thing people who had these disabilities were just
considered to be stupid or not trying hard enough. However, as time
went on it was found that some people had learning disabilities or
social disabilities that influenced how they learned and interacted
with the people that were around them that effected their education.
Because it is now known that these people can't control how they
learn or interact with people the educators are now able to make
changes that are geared to how the people with these disabilities do
learn and interact in order to make their education better. My
father has dyslexia so I though it would be fitting to interview him
on how it was for him when he was in high school between the years of
1977 and 1980. He told me , “[I struggled] with everything except
for shop and gym. At the time I didn't know I had dyslexia. I tried
hard, but it just didn't seem to work. In grammar school I would just
move my eyes across the page and make movements with my mouth to make
it look like I was reading. But anything that had to do with working
with my hands I was good at.” When asked how dyslexia was dealt
with he said,
“It
wasn't handled at all, because no one knew. My father said that I
just needed to buckle down and work harder, but I didn't really try
at homework, but then again we didn't have a lot of it. And there was
just no way of telling if someone was just sliding through then like
I was. Math was difficult because of the numbers that got all mixed
up and so was English because of the reading. But I managed to get by
and I managed to cheat to get by, too.”
These
kinds of disabilities weren't even known about until the late 1900s
or even the 2000s so kids like my dad didn't get the help that was
needed, but when asked if he thought things have changed since he was
in high school he responded with, “Oh gosh yeah! They didn't have
occupational therapists when we were in school. There was nobody to
help you with that kind of stuff. You were able to squeak by because
nobody noticed. Now they think, when the kid is having trouble, what
can we do to help, not what is the kid doing wrong.”8
The
fact that there are now people who help these kids throughout their
high school career has made for people who might not be deemed
intelligent to be some of he brightest people out there because they
were able to get help and were helped to succeed.
Now
more than ever before, high school graduates are going off to
colleges and universities. Not
to mention that there are more universities and colleges than there
was as well. But, in her article “Failing
college: why are we screwing up the world's best higher education
system?” Katherine
Mangu-Ward says
that “Enrollment
may be skyrocketing, but so are student debt levels and default
rates. Tuition costs are increasing many times faster than income, or
than prices in any other sector.” This clearly shows that even
though many people are now enrolling in higher education the cost is
also going up with it; therefore, making it harder to actually get
that higher education. Not only that, but she also goes onto say
that, “Students arrive on campus under-qualified, courtesy of an
American public school system that has flatlined in quality while
tripling its per-student cost. They do less academic work yet receive
better grades than their parents did.” It seems that high schools
are doing a bad job of preparing their students for higher education,
which in turn, makes their success in colleges or universities
sub-par.9
The
Committee for Economic Development also agrees that “The
education system needs to be innovative and it needs to reflect this
economy that we live in now,” and that “America has got to invest
in education,” as stated by Mike Petro, Executive Vice President,
CED.1
Taking
the history of education and the aspects that go into the education
throughout the centuries the progression of the intellectual ability
of the people can be compared to how the educational system
progressed in both how the students were being taught and what was
being taught. Common ideas and jobs of the centuries directly reflect
the intellectual level of the people of the United States.
Before
the 1800s most of the people had simple ideas and jobs. The lives of
these people consisted of sleeping, working, eating, and other
humanly needs, not a whole lot of people were self-actualizing people
who wanted to do good for each other; everyone just wanted to
survive. There were a few people who wanted to better themselves and
make good for others but they were mostly politicians and doctors.
There were very little people who went beyond farming, smithing,
deck-handing, and other physical labor jobs. During this time people
had simple minds and simple ideas. This was a time where men were
superior to women, white families had slaves, and religion had a big
influence on what everyone said and did. Education during this time
was only offered to white boys who were privileged enough to have the
opportunity. Women were told to stay home and do chores around the
house.
As
time progressed and it turned over to the 1800s more ideas were being
introduced and progression of education made way for more
intellectual jobs. Because of the introduction of Common Schools more
and more people were able to get an education and further their
intelligence. These schools started to spring up everywhere because
there were more job that required more intelligent people as workers
and having schools provided the children of that generation with a
opportunity to further their mental capability. As the development of
schools happened during this time so did the ideas and the jobs that
were coming about. By introducing history and geography during this
era of education the students broadened their scope of what they were
learning; they were no longer just learning how to read, write, and
do math. Having history and geography as part of the curriculum the
students are able to see how other countries interact with their
country and what had influenced the world that they lived in. Because
of this newfound knowledge about the world around them they became
more intellectual people because they were then capable of seeing
things from an objective point of view. Not only that but by having
the formal introduction of arithmetics gave the people of that time
better preparation for jobs that required working with heavy
machinery, finances, or production of good. This brought people out
of an age where most of the jobs consisted of physical labor and
barely any thinking. As people were getting smarter the amount of
people who were participating in education also continued to grow;
there were more people who were providing education or furthering
their education. This also proved to increase the mental ability of
the nation solely because of the sheer amount of people who found it
worth their while to become an intellectual being.
As
the century turned over to the 1900s even more subjects were being
introduced and even more modern ideas were as well. This was about
the time that people started to question their religion and what
their religion was saying. The idea of evolution, being one of the
best examples of questioning religion, gave way for a more scientific
way of thinking about things. The wars of this time also progressed
what was being taught in history classes and current event classes.
The concepts about fascism and communism made the students of that
time compare a different form of government with their own for the
first time. This also taught the students of that time that not
everywhere in the world is like the United States. The intellectual
ability of the people of this time was vastly different from the
people of the 1800s primarily because of the fact that they had more
insight to the outer world than the previous century and they were
also more involved in international affairs rather than what was
going on at home. By this time as well the United States had slowly
made its way to being one of the biggest world powers out there which
had lead to the wars that had ensued during that time. This was
mostly due to the fact of their progression of ideas and out of the
era of slavery.
Now,
more than ever, people are intelligent, can think for themselves, and
accept new and controversial ideas without much refute. People now
have the ability of to see someone else's perspective and understand
what they might be going through simply because they have a concrete
foundation of education on current events, mathematics, science, or
foreign language. The intellectual ability of the people of the 2000s
far exceeds the people of the 1900s, mostly because of the amount of
information that is available to people because of the creation of
the internet. The creation of the internet came about in the 1950s
but developed into what we consider the internet today in 1993;
however, what it is today is a combination of internet websites not
what the internet is in its actuality, a network of computer
networks. The internet and World Wide Web was developed as a product
of intellectual beings being able to come up with a new idea because
of knowledge that they had learned in school.
Because
this is a paper that studies the correlation between the development
of education and the intellectual ability of the people there are
really no limitations; however, its not easy to judge the intellect
of people. Everyone has the capability to learn and comprehend things
it just depends on what knowledge they have access to. In this case
the evaluation of intelligence is more on the basis of what they
know. This is then compared to how people thought and what they did
for a living during that century. Because there was more knowledge
that could be accessed over time, in this case, it means that the
people got more intelligent over time; however, as said before, the
capability of intellectual comprehension isn't necessarily less. With
this taken into account this paper would then argue that the
acquisition of information makes a person intelligent rather than
their capability to learn and comprehend. Another argue that could be
made is that there are different kinds of intelligences and that
knowing things doesn't necessarily mean that a person is intelligent.
According to Dr. Howard Gardner people have different capacities for
intelligence. He claims that there are 9 different kinds of
intelligences: Mathematical, Linguistic, Spatial, Kinesthetic,
Interpersonal,
Intrapersonal, Musical, Naturalistic, and Existential. With this said
it could be argued that Native Americans during the 1800s were very
intelligent naturalistically. The question of what intelligence is
makes this comparison a bit more difficult to be concrete.5
How
has the progression of education shaped the intellect of people over
the years? Can it really be said that education has made people more
intelligent or has given people the opportunity to know more things?
Is intellect measured by what facts a person knows or about how well
they can conduct themselves in certain subjects? The biggest question
that still remains is how is intelligence defined. If its defined as
the facts that people knows as well as their skills, then education
has greatly influenced the intellect of the people of the United
States; however, if its defined as Dr. Howard Gardner had proposed
then people have always been intellectually exceptional. The point of
view of the assessor determines the conclusion.
Over
the past few centuries education has developed drastically; from
fathers teaching their boys to public school with teachers and
students of all walks of life, education has changed for the better.
With that said, the intellect of the people of the United States have
also progressed with it; from working in the fields to being able to
construct something that can propel people into outer space. But do
they have any correlation? Because they are so closely related
education and how its progressed over the years has definitely made
for more intelligent people in respects to how much people are able
to comprehend; however, people have always been intelligent beings
with the ability to be great at something that they love to do.
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