| The study of the evolution of equality in educational thought examines the impact of racial ideology on the manner in which Negro and white students were educated in America from 1865 to 1954. The research provides insight into why schooling for the dominant culture was promoted and received full support while countervailing forces existed within the culture to deny equal educational access to members of the subordinated culture. The study analyzes how equality in education as an American experience changes in meaning as a result of changing social, economic and cultural conditions. Social conflict is explored in the context of the educational power struggle of the major culture to build and sustain a biracial educational system. In this study, there will be an examination of the hardships experienced by Negroes in obtaining an education.; The study examines the social and cultural principles and practices that resulted in the asymmetrical distribution of equality and justice in the American system of education during the period under study. This examination provides an understanding of how the concept of equality in education changes over time in American thought. The history of knowledge, the speculation of ideas and values cannot be easily traced without reference to the institutions (schools) that teach and carry out the beliefs of a culture. If the history of change regarding equality versus inequality in education is to be more than a chronicle, it is necessary to explain, as far as possible how change took place. The study analyzes the history of change and the factors that aided and retarded educational equality. Racial ideology and ethnologic values as related to education and the American culture will be a major concern of this study.; Selected source materials include a range of periodicals, records, folklore, literature, textbooks, legal documents, formal treatises by theologians, political leaders, scientists, educators and social scientists. It is the author's hope that this study may assist students in the field of educational history to more clearly understand the pristine ideas embodied in American thought regarding democracy in education and the changing ideology regarding equality in education over time. Research in this document is organized in chronological periods, focusing on ideas which may be thought of as characteristic of the periods under study. The education of a nation provides the foundation for intellectual, moral and social growth. It is through investigating the policies that an educational system is governed by that one can make considerations regarding the basic tenets of educational thought. The focal points of this study include an examination of racial ideology and schooling as a means for analyzing educational thought as it relates to developments in the implementation of a dual system of education in America. |
