Chapter Six

Chapter six informs the reader about the development of common schools and secondary education in America. Thomas Jefferson created a bill in the Virginia legislature in 1779 titled Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge which established public schools for the masses. Tuition was free for all white males and females for three years. The common school movement was from 1830 to 1865 which increased publicly funded schools for common children. Many social groups viewed the common school as a way to control social unrest and crime. In 1831, the first US comprehensive high school was opened in Massachusetts. Higher education slowly became more readily available to women and minorities.

Chapter Five

The oldest schools were between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Sumer (Mesopotamia). Temple schools were also in ancient Egypt. The Socratic Method is a dialectal teaching method employed by Socrates using a questioning process based on the student's experiences and analyzing the consequences of responses, leading the student to a better understanding of the problem. Toward the end of the middle ages, there were about eighty universities. Chapter five explored Humanism which is the dominant philosophy of the Renaissance that emphasized the importance of human beings and promoted the literature and art of Rome and Greece. Chapter five also explored Naturalism which is a philosophy that emphasizes the natural world, the freedom if the individual, and the development that is natural in humans. Chapter five was quite interesting because the reader was able to see how much education has progressed over the course of many years. It is truly incredible!