Past Exam Questions
Please note that during a particular semester I might choose to approach a topic somewhat differently than in the past. Also, I might to choose to emphasize different aspects of a term or subject than I have in the past. Therefore, some of the possible answers given to students in the past might not work in your class at all.
Benjamin Rush…
a. …became an early advocate for structures and holistic women’s education because he believed that women played a really large role in an aristocratic-less society founded on republican principles.
b. … was fairly certain that structured schooling was appropriate for women since it had been discouraged only after the United States was founded and Republicanism encouraged women to stay at home.
c. …was adamant that women retain the trappings of European society through independent and home-based educational structures and philosophies. Women needed to be educated, but for the sake of the home and their children.
d. …became an early advocate for “soft” (i.e. non-scientific) women’s education because he believed that women played a really large role in an aristocratic-less society founded on republican principles.
Booker T. Washington…
a. …was an inequality abolitionist who believed that blacks should be provided separate and equal educational opportunities to whites since only African Americans could understand the needs of their black students.
b. …advocated that blacks gradually assimilate into the dominant culture by slowing proving themselves through their hard work and trustworthiness. He believed that a long-term solution was the best.
c. …advocated that the “talented tenth” of black youth (particularly males) eventually go to college and learn how to enact change through the legal process in order to make life better for all blacks.
d. ...was the first president of Howard University and then later became the president of Tuskegee University in Alabama, the latter being a school that taught vocational skills to African Americans.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s conceptions of “natural childhood”…
a. …believe that common schools were best built on the French model and advocated for these “norms” over the Prussian system.
b. …believed that children were basically a “blank slate” when they were born and would only become bad or ill-tempered at the hands of adults.
c. …believed that language education was the most fundamental ingredient necessary in order to develop a child’s intellect.
d. …centered on his belief that children were innocent and born good and would only become bad or ill-tempered at the hands of adults.
The Morrill Land Grant Act(s)…
a. …were widely accepted originally by black colleges because they believed that the money provided would put them on a relatively equal footing with state-sponsored white schools.
b. …set aside monies for higher schools that were primarily dedicated to teaching the “mechanical arts” and “practical learning,” although not all of these schools necessarily only taught these subjects.
c. …were designed to help fund colleges that were primarily set aside for schools that were to continue the “seminary” university system that stressed rhetoric and classical languages.
d. … set aside land for higher schools that were primarily dedicated to teaching the “mechanical arts” and “practical learning,” although not all of these schools necessarily only taught these subjects.
The Kindergarten Movement…
a. …was founded in the United States by Friedrish Froebel, a German who thought up the idea while watching children learn about the world around them through playing in nature during their free time.
b. …was started in the United States before the Progressive Era in the early 1860s, but not actually through formal school systems. Instead, immigrants in homogenous communities brought the idea with them from northern Europe.
c. …was part of a large Progressive push to add another year to the front of the elementary school system to Americanize children so that they would be relatively compliant once they entered the elementary system.
d. ...was championed by people such as Frobel so that children would become “more adaptable” to their local communities who were usually of different ethnicities and spoke different langauges.
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court decision…
a. …in which Homer Plessy was found guilty of purchasing a ticket for the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train. The train company was happy about this since many people were ignoring the law that separated the races.
b. …in which Homer Plessy was found innocent of riding on the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train bound for Alabama. The reason for this was that the ticket was interstate and therefore fell under the purview of the federal government.
c. …that established the initial idea of Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” since business owners were looking for ways in which to segregate the races in this businesses since whites liked to feel superior when spending money.
d. …that established legal president for “separate but equal” even though many business owners didn’t care for the practice since it cost them money and resources to create facilities specifically set aside for different races.
McGuffey Readers were important in the evolution of schooling because…
a. …McGuffey, being an inequality abolitionist, placed “interracial” passages in the book that, while abolitionist in form, actually contributed later on to the concept of segregated schooling.
b. …it was the first Progressive attempt to create a common core of textbooks. What was particularly fascinating about them was their truly secular nature, which was different than the mostly-Protestant books that came before.
c. …It offered one of the first “graded” concepts in that there were different books and pages set aside for different skill levels of student, which would help teachers move away from strictly memorization/recitation.
d. …were Locke-like in their structure. Students would start with a “blank slate” of pages in which to creatively write and then, slowly were added “natural” concepts that were designed to ensure students wouldn’t be “corrupted”
The Kindergarten Movement…
a. …was founded in the United States by Friedrish Froebel, a German who thought up the idea while watching children learn about the world around them through playing in nature during their free time.
b. …was started in the United States before the Progressive Era in the early 1860s, but not actually through formal school systems. Instead, immigrants in homogenous communities brought the idea with them from northern Europe.
c. …was part of a large Progressive push to add another year to the front of the elementary school system to Americanize children so that they would be relatively compliant once they entered the elementary system.
d. ...was championed by people such as Frobel so that children would become “more adaptable” to their local communities who were usually of different ethnicities and spoke different languages.
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court decision…
a. …in which Homer Plessy was found innocent of riding on the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train bound for Alabama. The reason for this was that the ticket was interstate and therefore fell under the purview of the federal government.
b. …that established the initial idea of Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” since most business owners were looking for ways in which to segregate the races in this businesses since whites liked to feel superior when spending money.
c. …in which Homer Plessy was found guilty of purchasing a ticket for the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train. The train company was happy about this since many people were ignoring the law that separated the races.
d. …that established legal president for “separate but equal” even though many business owners didn’t care for the practice since it cost them money and resources to create facilities specifically set aside for different races.
John Locke…
a. …believed that all children were born with a “blank slate,” but that they were also curious about the world around them. To raise them properly, parents would be careful not to indulge their natural inclinations too much.
b. …believed that corporal punishment was the cornerstone to raising children since they were so weak-natured by design. In this way, they would receive “healthy” doses of “disgrace” rather than “unhealthy” doses of “esteem.”
c. …believed that “desire” and “will” were the cornerstones of education and that, while both sexes were equally capable of both, the male sex needed to be “esteemed” more because it was the “stronger’ sex.
d. …wrote what was essentially a philosophy of childhood by writing a fictional story about childhood and how that child goes though different stages of life. In it, he stresses a child’s innate desire to be “natural” and “curious.”
T or F Miriam Webster believed that the “errors” of education in the United States, in part, was that there were just not enough books for students and not enough qualified teachers available.
T or F Education and the philosophy surrounding it in the United States generally didn’t change in the near future after the end of the Revolutionary War since most of the colonists were from England, which was the basis for their schooling.
T or F In general, Democrats weren’t really supportive of the common school movement.
T or F John Dewey believed that socialization was generally of small importance compared to the “practical” knowledge that schools could provide to children.
T or F The play movement was an urban, Progressive response to the overwhelming numbers of immigrant children crowding into the cities of the U.S., particularly on the East Coast.
T or F The Committee of Ten decided that the “traditional” rhetorical and classicist view of secondary school be scrapped altogether since it didn’t really add much “practical” knowledge that was considered more useful.
T or F Lancasterian Schools, although not a success during the time they were popular, at least set a standard for how schools in larger, immigrant-populated cities would need to approach mass education for an industrial age.
T or F The Common School Movement was an early Progressive movement that wanted to somehow unify the primary/elementary school system with collegiate-level education and did so by appointing the Committee of Five to investigate ways to best do this.
T or F Before 1910, Progressives were so in control of the school system that the nature of high schools had changed so drastically from what had come before that, by 1930, around 50% of the population attended.
T or F The Smith-Hughes Act was primarily designed to provide for vocational education for agricultural students and one of the earliest examples of the federal government involving itself directly in education.
Benjamin Rush…
a. …became an early advocate for structures and holistic women’s education because he believed that women played a really large role in an aristocratic-less society founded on republican principles.
b. … was fairly certain that structured schooling was appropriate for women since it had been discouraged only after the United States was founded and Republicanism encouraged women to stay at home.
c. …was adamant that women retain the trappings of European society through independent and home-based educational structures and philosophies. Women needed to be educated, but for the sake of the home and their children.
d. …became an early advocate for “soft” (i.e. non-scientific) women’s education because he believed that women played a really large role in an aristocratic-less society founded on republican principles.
Booker T. Washington…
a. …was an inequality abolitionist who believed that blacks should be provided separate and equal educational opportunities to whites since only African Americans could understand the needs of their black students.
b. …advocated that blacks gradually assimilate into the dominant culture by slowing proving themselves through their hard work and trustworthiness. He believed that a long-term solution was the best.
c. …advocated that the “talented tenth” of black youth (particularly males) eventually go to college and learn how to enact change through the legal process in order to make life better for all blacks.
d. ...was the first president of Howard University and then later became the president of Tuskegee University in Alabama, the latter being a school that taught vocational skills to African Americans.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s conceptions of “natural childhood”…
a. …believe that common schools were best built on the French model and advocated for these “norms” over the Prussian system.
b. …believed that children were basically a “blank slate” when they were born and would only become bad or ill-tempered at the hands of adults.
c. …believed that language education was the most fundamental ingredient necessary in order to develop a child’s intellect.
d. …centered on his belief that children were innocent and born good and would only become bad or ill-tempered at the hands of adults.
The Morrill Land Grant Act(s)…
a. …were widely accepted originally by black colleges because they believed that the money provided would put them on a relatively equal footing with state-sponsored white schools.
b. …set aside monies for higher schools that were primarily dedicated to teaching the “mechanical arts” and “practical learning,” although not all of these schools necessarily only taught these subjects.
c. …were designed to help fund colleges that were primarily set aside for schools that were to continue the “seminary” university system that stressed rhetoric and classical languages.
d. … set aside land for higher schools that were primarily dedicated to teaching the “mechanical arts” and “practical learning,” although not all of these schools necessarily only taught these subjects.
The Kindergarten Movement…
a. …was founded in the United States by Friedrish Froebel, a German who thought up the idea while watching children learn about the world around them through playing in nature during their free time.
b. …was started in the United States before the Progressive Era in the early 1860s, but not actually through formal school systems. Instead, immigrants in homogenous communities brought the idea with them from northern Europe.
c. …was part of a large Progressive push to add another year to the front of the elementary school system to Americanize children so that they would be relatively compliant once they entered the elementary system.
d. ...was championed by people such as Frobel so that children would become “more adaptable” to their local communities who were usually of different ethnicities and spoke different langauges.
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court decision…
a. …in which Homer Plessy was found guilty of purchasing a ticket for the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train. The train company was happy about this since many people were ignoring the law that separated the races.
b. …in which Homer Plessy was found innocent of riding on the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train bound for Alabama. The reason for this was that the ticket was interstate and therefore fell under the purview of the federal government.
c. …that established the initial idea of Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” since business owners were looking for ways in which to segregate the races in this businesses since whites liked to feel superior when spending money.
d. …that established legal president for “separate but equal” even though many business owners didn’t care for the practice since it cost them money and resources to create facilities specifically set aside for different races.
McGuffey Readers were important in the evolution of schooling because…
a. …McGuffey, being an inequality abolitionist, placed “interracial” passages in the book that, while abolitionist in form, actually contributed later on to the concept of segregated schooling.
b. …it was the first Progressive attempt to create a common core of textbooks. What was particularly fascinating about them was their truly secular nature, which was different than the mostly-Protestant books that came before.
c. …It offered one of the first “graded” concepts in that there were different books and pages set aside for different skill levels of student, which would help teachers move away from strictly memorization/recitation.
d. …were Locke-like in their structure. Students would start with a “blank slate” of pages in which to creatively write and then, slowly were added “natural” concepts that were designed to ensure students wouldn’t be “corrupted”
The Kindergarten Movement…
a. …was founded in the United States by Friedrish Froebel, a German who thought up the idea while watching children learn about the world around them through playing in nature during their free time.
b. …was started in the United States before the Progressive Era in the early 1860s, but not actually through formal school systems. Instead, immigrants in homogenous communities brought the idea with them from northern Europe.
c. …was part of a large Progressive push to add another year to the front of the elementary school system to Americanize children so that they would be relatively compliant once they entered the elementary system.
d. ...was championed by people such as Frobel so that children would become “more adaptable” to their local communities who were usually of different ethnicities and spoke different languages.
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court decision…
a. …in which Homer Plessy was found innocent of riding on the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train bound for Alabama. The reason for this was that the ticket was interstate and therefore fell under the purview of the federal government.
b. …that established the initial idea of Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” since most business owners were looking for ways in which to segregate the races in this businesses since whites liked to feel superior when spending money.
c. …in which Homer Plessy was found guilty of purchasing a ticket for the “white’s only” car of a Louisiana passenger train. The train company was happy about this since many people were ignoring the law that separated the races.
d. …that established legal president for “separate but equal” even though many business owners didn’t care for the practice since it cost them money and resources to create facilities specifically set aside for different races.
John Locke…
a. …believed that all children were born with a “blank slate,” but that they were also curious about the world around them. To raise them properly, parents would be careful not to indulge their natural inclinations too much.
b. …believed that corporal punishment was the cornerstone to raising children since they were so weak-natured by design. In this way, they would receive “healthy” doses of “disgrace” rather than “unhealthy” doses of “esteem.”
c. …believed that “desire” and “will” were the cornerstones of education and that, while both sexes were equally capable of both, the male sex needed to be “esteemed” more because it was the “stronger’ sex.
d. …wrote what was essentially a philosophy of childhood by writing a fictional story about childhood and how that child goes though different stages of life. In it, he stresses a child’s innate desire to be “natural” and “curious.”
T or F Miriam Webster believed that the “errors” of education in the United States, in part, was that there were just not enough books for students and not enough qualified teachers available.
T or F Education and the philosophy surrounding it in the United States generally didn’t change in the near future after the end of the Revolutionary War since most of the colonists were from England, which was the basis for their schooling.
T or F In general, Democrats weren’t really supportive of the common school movement.
T or F John Dewey believed that socialization was generally of small importance compared to the “practical” knowledge that schools could provide to children.
T or F The play movement was an urban, Progressive response to the overwhelming numbers of immigrant children crowding into the cities of the U.S., particularly on the East Coast.
T or F The Committee of Ten decided that the “traditional” rhetorical and classicist view of secondary school be scrapped altogether since it didn’t really add much “practical” knowledge that was considered more useful.
T or F Lancasterian Schools, although not a success during the time they were popular, at least set a standard for how schools in larger, immigrant-populated cities would need to approach mass education for an industrial age.
T or F The Common School Movement was an early Progressive movement that wanted to somehow unify the primary/elementary school system with collegiate-level education and did so by appointing the Committee of Five to investigate ways to best do this.
T or F Before 1910, Progressives were so in control of the school system that the nature of high schools had changed so drastically from what had come before that, by 1930, around 50% of the population attended.
T or F The Smith-Hughes Act was primarily designed to provide for vocational education for agricultural students and one of the earliest examples of the federal government involving itself directly in education.
Discuss the differing types of schools in the early history of the Colonies/United States (up to 1820). What kinds were they and how were they organized? How did they differ? How were they the same? Who did each primarily serve? How were they integrated into the community and were some favored more by some than others? How did these influence the school systems that proceeded them?
Discuss the the establishment of common forms of schooling from the Colonial period until the 1870s. What kinds of different attempts were made and how were they promulgated and organized? How did they differ? How were they the same? Who did each primarily serve? How were they integrated into the community and were some favored more by some than others? How did these influence the school systems that proceeded them?
Discuss the establishment of the progressive school ideal beginning in the late 1800s until the First World War. How did progressive schooling differ from Common Schooling and why were these changes promulgated? How did progressive schooling change within this time frame and why? What types of legal and extralegal structures were put in place to support progressive school reform? At the dawn of the First World War, what did progressive schooling actually define what school was suppose to accomplish?
Discuss the different philosophies surrounding school and their curricula between early American schooling and the dawn of the First World War. What changed during this time frame and what remained the same? Who (either individuals or groups) were the most influential in crafting these curricula and why did they feel correct in doing so?
Discuss the development of the accreditation system in the United States (K12 to C/U). Why have accreditation in the first place and what did its proponents hope to accomplish? Were there differences in the reasons behind accreditation between the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of schooling? Why or why not?
After the end of the Second World War until the late 1960s, the nature of school geared itself more toward science; why was this? Who were some of the promoters of this change that we discussed in class and what did they believe? Were their any detractors and if so what did they believe? How did the government respond if it did at all and why did they do so (or do not)? What overall change to the philosophy (if any) behind school after this?
Discuss the ways that mass transmitted media and education has interacted. Why did television and radio even care to get involved with educational efforts and how did they do this? How did these interactions change over time? Did the government become involved, and if so, how so?
Discuss the government’s attempts to change the school system after 1965, particularly after the beginning of the Carter presidential administration. How did they go about arguing for change and improvement and how was that change and improvement to be measured. What types of measurement techniques were used and how did that change over time? Were these measurements successful or not?
Briefly discuss the education of Blacks before the Civil War and then write in detail how it began to change afterwards until the First World War. Who were the major figures advocating for Black education after the Civil War and how did their ideals differ? What major legal and socio-cultural roadblocks did Blacks have to overcome while seeking an education and how did they cope with these?
Discuss the ways religion either has or hasn't co-existed with public schooling throughout American History. What were the initial views of religious instruction in schools? Did these views remain in place for long, or did they quickly change? Who, specifically commented on their inappropriateness or lack thereof? What are some of the precedent-setting court cases surrounding religion in schools and how did these change or secure educational religious express?
Discuss the end of educational segregation after the Second World War. Discuss the way the NAACP used the legal system to overcome discrimination and how they did so. What were the major cases associated with this process, how did they differ, and what were the outcomes? How did actual integration work and what happened during this process? What were the results of the integration process?
Discuss the the establishment of common forms of schooling from the Colonial period until the 1870s. What kinds of different attempts were made and how were they promulgated and organized? How did they differ? How were they the same? Who did each primarily serve? How were they integrated into the community and were some favored more by some than others? How did these influence the school systems that proceeded them?
Discuss the establishment of the progressive school ideal beginning in the late 1800s until the First World War. How did progressive schooling differ from Common Schooling and why were these changes promulgated? How did progressive schooling change within this time frame and why? What types of legal and extralegal structures were put in place to support progressive school reform? At the dawn of the First World War, what did progressive schooling actually define what school was suppose to accomplish?
Discuss the different philosophies surrounding school and their curricula between early American schooling and the dawn of the First World War. What changed during this time frame and what remained the same? Who (either individuals or groups) were the most influential in crafting these curricula and why did they feel correct in doing so?
Discuss the development of the accreditation system in the United States (K12 to C/U). Why have accreditation in the first place and what did its proponents hope to accomplish? Were there differences in the reasons behind accreditation between the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of schooling? Why or why not?
After the end of the Second World War until the late 1960s, the nature of school geared itself more toward science; why was this? Who were some of the promoters of this change that we discussed in class and what did they believe? Were their any detractors and if so what did they believe? How did the government respond if it did at all and why did they do so (or do not)? What overall change to the philosophy (if any) behind school after this?
Discuss the ways that mass transmitted media and education has interacted. Why did television and radio even care to get involved with educational efforts and how did they do this? How did these interactions change over time? Did the government become involved, and if so, how so?
Discuss the government’s attempts to change the school system after 1965, particularly after the beginning of the Carter presidential administration. How did they go about arguing for change and improvement and how was that change and improvement to be measured. What types of measurement techniques were used and how did that change over time? Were these measurements successful or not?
Briefly discuss the education of Blacks before the Civil War and then write in detail how it began to change afterwards until the First World War. Who were the major figures advocating for Black education after the Civil War and how did their ideals differ? What major legal and socio-cultural roadblocks did Blacks have to overcome while seeking an education and how did they cope with these?
Discuss the ways religion either has or hasn't co-existed with public schooling throughout American History. What were the initial views of religious instruction in schools? Did these views remain in place for long, or did they quickly change? Who, specifically commented on their inappropriateness or lack thereof? What are some of the precedent-setting court cases surrounding religion in schools and how did these change or secure educational religious express?
Discuss the end of educational segregation after the Second World War. Discuss the way the NAACP used the legal system to overcome discrimination and how they did so. What were the major cases associated with this process, how did they differ, and what were the outcomes? How did actual integration work and what happened during this process? What were the results of the integration process?