The+One+Best+System+Part+III


 * Return to Reading Response and Discussion**


 * The One Best System: Part III**

In part three, the author writes about (1)“critics and dissenters”, (2)“configurations of control”,(3) ”cultural conflictions” and (4)“the burden of race” cased by Pluralism, which indicates the varieties of religions, races, ethnicities and partisan politics, in 19th century, in the process of the way to One Best System.
 * Summary:**

(1) In order to establish One Best System, it was irrelevant for many bureaucrats to consider the ethnic, religious and cultural differences. However, the people who valued their own lifestyles started criticizing the new system. Catholics, one minority group who was the victim of discrimination started building their own institutions. Critics started from not only those subordinates but also some intellectuals who questioned the system, which had mechanical methods making the students behave like slaves at school. At the same time, conservatives criticized the students learning non-academics.

(2) During the process of reformation, there were conflicts over the authoritySince the school boards, the older form, still held considerable influence, the problem ‘who has the authority?’ grew bigger between bureaucratization and the school boards. In some cities, the superintendents’ sphere of influence varied. Some superintendents gained more power, and some principals, who used to have autonomy, opposed superintendents using passive opposition with committee support. Also, graft and pay-offs caused political problems in school systems.

(3) By the incresed number of immigrants, religious and ethinc differences were becoming serious issues in public school politics. In addition to the religious conflict between protestants and catholics, billingualism and biculturalism brought a change to the school system. Some schools started providing the students with curriculum in both in English and Germany, due to demands by Germans who had politically high status among the immigrant groups. Educating students bilingually kept their cultural appreciation and involved more children in school.

(4) Even before the Emancipation Procalamation, many black people sought education through private, voluntary schools, which shows that they had a strong desire for education. However, they were excluded from the school system and educational justice. They believed they could improve their social status by having faith in the equalizing power of schooling. Segregation and integration was the biggest concern they had. Some of them supported the segregation because of the serious racism their children faced in the mixed schools, and others believed only by desegregation, they could obtain equall opportunities. By the end of 19th century, the number of black children who attended schools increased and their illiteracy rate dropped, but on the other hand many teachers lost their jobs due to desegregation.

Ayumi Friedmann

"There are many persons who say that teachers in the graded schools ought not to serve more than ten years at the outside, for the reason that they become dull, formal, and uninteresting; but, if this be true, it is certainly the fault of the system rather than of the teachers." page 82
 * Key Passage:**

"The thing which a school ought not to be the thing which our system of supervision is strenuously trying to make the school into, is a factory, with the superintendents for overseers and the teachers for workmen." page 82

In 1880 "Most critics of the school bureaucracies did not question the aim of transmitting the dominant culture through public education, other dissenters opposed the common school precisely because the treasured cultural differences which public schoolmen were attempting to destroy." page 84

"One result of such discrimination and pressure was that catholics increasingly dissented from the common school consensus and sought power over their own educational destiny." page 85

"Catholics could not accept the second-class citizenship nor this violation of their religious rights. In city after city they withdrew their children and boycotted the schools."page 86

The "Quest for catholic power arose as much consternation then as the demand for black power today." page 86

"Fights between school boards and city councils over appropriations and over school functions were commonplace." page 88

"Conflict and ambiguity stemmed from the division of power among central and ward school boards." page 88

"It must be admitted that the problem [of proper selection of school boards] remains unsolved; and without doubt this is the supreme educational problem which remains for our educational statesmen to grapple with." page 89

"The actual spears of authority of individual superintendents differed enormously during the late nineteenth century." page 90

"School bureaucracies and political machines both responded to the splintering of decision-making in the city; both sought to answer the question, "Who's in charge?" Astute machine bosses created complex chains of command." page 93

"Each position had rights and responsibilities that had to be observed the result was a massive party bureaucracy." page 94

"School bureaucracies sought to assimilate foreigners by teaching them English, indoctrinating them in Mugwump civics, and providing them with skills and habits needed in the urban job market." page 94

"Machines were a business, offering centralized power to those who wanted jobs, contracts, and services, and that often meant graft, patronage and favoritism..." page 95

"it is difficult to decide which is the more startling, the innocent acceptance of the situation by teachers and superintendents, or the depth of cupidity and cold blooded selfishness manifested by the partisan politicians, and even by members of school boards." page 98 Max Greenstein

//Politics//: Used in relationship to inequality of religion, race, ethnicity, and neighborhood loyalties. //Responsibility//: Who held the responsibility within schools to accomplish needed tasks like hiring and firing teachers and getting needed materials. //Pluralism: "//A condition in which numerous distinct ethnic, religious, or cultural groups are present and tolerated within a society" ([|http://dictionary.reference.com)] //Common Schools//: Those who rejected the One Best System felt that a return to common schools was the best option. //"Machine-Like//://"// A description often used by dissenters to describe public schools. //Dissenters//: Those who rejected the One Best System "//Common School Crusade//:" That which developed do to those who rejected the One Best System. //Control//: Who held the power? Caused teacher's to fear for their lives, often found themselves caught in the middle of the superintendents and school boards. //WASP:// White Angro-Saxon Protestant //Protestant America, Anti-Catholic, Ultra-Protestant//: The two forces in opposition during the time of the One Best System //Bilingualism, biculturalism//: The desire to have foreign cultures taught in American schools, many accepted this idea, but many more rejected it. //Fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments//: Legal changes that really didn't change anything and caused there to still be a need for desegregation in public schools. //Rebellion:// The rise of blacks and others who were unsatisfied with their public schools
 * Important Terminology:**


 * Discussion Guiding Questions:**

1. As in our discussion about the "office of a school" and the "office of a teacher," what do you think the office of a superintendent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries involved? How would the job differ from a superintendent today? What might have stayed the same? Refer to pages 90 and 91.

2. What were the differences between the Catholic parochial school system and the public school system? Why and how did the parochial school system grow and strengthen?

3. Discuss the following quote from page 98, "[John] Philbrick believed that 'the paradise for which the teacher prays' is a job in which 'he owes his position to his merit, and not to favor...sure that his efforts will be appreciated and recompensed.'"

4. Pluralism is a broad term, which can cover ideas within the relms of economics, culture, religion, legality, politics, philosophy, etc. What kinds of pluralism were discussed in this chapter and how does that relate to the strive for the one best system?

(Renee Fallacaro)