(Download) "By the Numbers: Minimum Attendance Laws and Inequality of Educational Opportunity in Missouri, 1865-1905 (CHAPTER 5) (Report)" by American Education History Journal # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: By the Numbers: Minimum Attendance Laws and Inequality of Educational Opportunity in Missouri, 1865-1905 (CHAPTER 5) (Report)
- Author : American Education History Journal
- Release Date : January 01, 2007
- Genre: Education,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 223 KB
Description
In The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935, James D. Anderson wrote, "[B]oth schooling for democratic citizenship and schooling for second-class citizenship have been basic traditions in American education" (Anderson 1988, 1). He added, "[B]oth were fundamental American conceptions of society and progress, occupied the same time and space, were fostered by the same governments, and usually were embraced by the same leaders" (1). A study of school attendance laws in Missouri between 1865 and 1905 demonstrates this dual nature of American education. Specifically designed for black students, the laws were intended to provide schooling for freed slaves; however, as the political balance shifted they became the primary mechanism for denying equal educational opportunity to significant numbers of blacks. A common feature of the laws was the assignment of African-Americans to segregated schools that would close if average daily attendance in any month failed to meet a threshold number established by the legislature. Since the state had a sparse black population, the laws resulted in frequent school closings that interrupted instruction, thereby causing students to choose between traveling great distances for an education or foregoing formal schooling altogether.