I think that education in America has been viewed as a vehicle for improving society or destroying it; it all depends on what historic period is evaluated and through what eyes it is seen. For example, Puritans, who were among the first people to come to American soil and settle down, believed that education was the way to improve the church and achieve moral perfection. Reading, writing, and moral development had a close relation to the Bible, so Puritans believed that instructing people was important to fight the Devil. Education has also been seen as a tool to achieve equality and human rights. In the 1700s, Thomas Jefferson believed that American education should be widely available to all white children no matter their social class, so poor children could also be instructed. In 1828, many poor white people asked for the opportunity to learn. Horace Mann, who advocated for a common school opened to everybody, became the leader of these poor white people. This is how it appeared what it is known today as elementary school where all children have the right to learn and are treated equally without money being an obstacle on the way to basic education. However, Horace Mann's battle was difficult because while he envisioned a better America with equal opportunities for all children, business interests expected disaster if children, who constituted part of the work force, were taken away. Tax payers expressed their concern that additional monies may be required to cover public education which will affect the country. Other people who did not think about education as a way to improve society were Native Americans. Church missionaries educated Native American with the excuse of making them civilized, but these alleged teachers were actually using education to conquer and ridicule the natives' culture. Native Americans saw education as a weapon to kill their culture and oppress them. Consequently, Native Americans decided to use education also to fight for the survival of their culture. This is how the Cherokee syllabary surged from the hands of Sequoyah people. This allowed the possibility of writing in Cherokee and the publishing of books in this language, Cherokee school became bilingual, and even a Cherokee newspaper came to light. The Navajos were another tribe who opposed the action of the federal government to conquer through education. Many Navajo people refused to send their children to reservation schools, created by the colonists in Indian reservations, because of the same reason of Sequoyah people who taught that education would take away their children out of their tradition and their believes. On the other hand, African Americans have had to fight hard to win their place in schools. Due to ignorance and racism, education of African Americans was seen by the white South with fear and anger in colonial times. Since that time, black people have had to fight for their right for a proper education, but thanks to their perseverance and noble reasons, African Americans learn today in the same classrooms that not only white people but every minority learns. Women have a story of struggle for a chance to learn too. Often discriminated, female students were often relegated to house chores, or they were victims of hostile demonstrations by male students and professors in schools. Nowadays, American education has come a long way getting better every day. Many people see education as the way to create future professionals, who will make amazing discovers in science, learn more about ancient cultures, and achieve several other accomplishments. American education, which is not discriminative like in colonial times, is seen as a tool to change our future citizens for the better. However, as I said it was not always this way because American education for some time was seen as a weapon to fight for social injustices by some people, a tool of conquest by others, and even some people thought of it as a straight way to Heaven.
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