Foundations Of Education
...ideological and practical influence as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, John Dewy, and Johann Pestolazzi. Each altered the course of American education to a degree that the developments made during and after the lifetimes of each of these figures are practically manifested in today's educational environment. In some cases, as with Franklin, much of his contribution was practical, with the establishment of public libraries and emphasis on self-education. Others, such as Dewy, were ideological pioneers that changed the methods of education. One can never overlook the role of politics in American Education; the regulation of education and the presence of Patriotic/Nationalist agendas in curriculum are still issues that we face today, those who played a significant role in the establishment of the current system also influence the fundamental goals and outcomes of that system.
Benjamin Franklin is heralded as one of the greatest American philosophers as well as one of the most influential figures in American history. His fundamental desire for education and self-improvement would set an example for others to follow as well as establish a model for the educated American. He was also a major proponent of schools as both an ideological tool for indoctrinating members of other religions, as well as a method for assimilation of other races and cultures into the white Anglo model. We are still struggling as a culture to undo the influence of those who followed this model. Practices of exclusion, segregation, racism, and exploitation were typical of the early model of American education. Franklin notes, "Why increase the Sons of Africa, by Planting them here in America, where we have so fair an opportunity, by excluding all blacks and Tawnys and increasing the lovely white
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This statement is somewhat loaded in that it is apparently...
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