Even though the common school movement was successful and served to create thousands of elementary schools where education was free, there was a big empty space between the elementary school and university. The need to fill that empty space brought as a consequence the foundation in 1921 of the first free secondary school in a city that was a pioneer concerning educational reforms in several occasions, Massachusetts. The name of this school was the English Classical School at the beginning, but then its name changed to English High School, and finally to Boys' High School. However, as more similar schools were created, the secondary schools took a private-tuition character, and they were not seen as an extension of elementary schools by the general public. The programs in these schools were dedicated to prepare for college or provide students who would not continue studies with a general curriculum. But the view of secondary schools as private schools was not the only obstacle to the creation of free high schools. The public rejected the idea to pay additional school taxes just like it happened when Horace Mann came out with the idea of the free elementary school. However, thanks to several court cases, such as the Kalamazoo, Michigan, case in 1874, the courts determined that public taxes could be used to benefit secondary or high schools. So, this is how the idea of the free high school became a reality. The country and society had become more industrialized, so education of masses had to be higher to the one that elementary school offered, and everybody had to have access to high school. Parents started to see high school as an opportunity to obtain better jobs for their children. High schools represented what elementary schools had represented about a century before, which was the growing of American dreams and economy. High schools differed from the precedent secondary schools in that they were governed not by private boards but by the public. The creation of free high schools affirmed democracy because these schools allowed thousands of children who finished elementary school to continue their studies, and they were free, so all children no matter their social status were able to attend school and improve themselves. The American high school differs from European high school at that time in that in America, students did not have to decide right away what they wanted to study; in Europe, the tracking system was stricter. However, high school did not meet the needs of all students. For example, the junior high school, first established in 1909 in Columbus, Ohio, was designed to meet the unique needs of preadolescents. So, it lacked democratic principles because it did not meet the needs of every student. In general, even though it was not perfect at the beginning, the high school became a strong symbol of democracy and progress in the education in the United States of America.
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