A Study On The History Of American Compulsory Education

America is the most powerful country in education. During the course of development over three hundred years, the educational development was in the lead of the world. From the year 1852 to 1919, it took America sixty-seven years to implement primary compulsory education in every state; after the Second World War, America fulfilled the secondary compulsory education, its number of years reached 12 which is one of the longest number of years in the world. To study the history of American compulsory education and summarize the successful experiences are of important referential value to the compulsory education of China.The paper consists of six parts. The first part defines compulsory education and analyzes the differences and relations between compulsory education, universal education, primary education and common school education.The second part deals with the ideological origins and theoretical foundations of American compulsory education. In my opinion, the development of American compulsory education rooted in the ideas of European educators. In ancient times, it is Plato who put forward democratic thought of educational opportunity, and Aristotle who proposed the principle of legislation for education. During the Renaissance, Thomas More and Martin Luther at the first time in history put forward the idea of compulsory education. It was Johann Amos Comenius, Robert Owen and other educators who developed the ideas of compulsory education. All the expositions of educators above laid a theoretical foundation for the establishment and development of American compulsory education.The third part deals with the three stages of American compulsory education. The first stage is the time of colony during which the ideal of popularizing of education was put forward but it is impossible to fulfill because of the restriction of social conditions. The second stage, which spanned from 1787 to the end of the 19th century, deals with the establishment and preliminary fulfillment of compulsory education. Some political leaders with foresight and sagacity advocated and appealed to universalize education. Jefferson put forward Knowledge Popularizing Act, which was the representative of advocating and appealing universal education and public education after the founding of United States of America. The Tutorial System School Movement, Sunday School Movement and Infant School Movement at the time promoted the development of compulsory education.Particularly propelled by the Common School Movement, the fundamental principle of American education -public, universal, free, non-religious was established. The one-track common school system, which differs from double-track education system of European countries, came into being. And later on the ideal of compulsory primary education partly come true. The third stage, which spanned from 1900 to the postwar periods, after the First World War, compulsory education developed rather rapidly, the ideal of compulsory primary education became true in the 48 states of the USA. After the Second World War, the ideal of compulsory secondary education gradually became reality.The fourth and fifth parts cover the practical patterns and successful experiences of American compulsory education. In the author's opinion, during the long historical development, America formed a practical pattern with American characteristics, which include: patterns of legislation, administration, finance and teacher training. At the same time, America accumulated some successful experiences: firstly, good external conditions are the rich soil and motive power for the development of American compulsory education. Secondly, American people has a good tradition of valuing education, and American government regards developing education as the most strategic thing to cope with; thirdly, America is good at learning advanced experiences from European countries and simultaneously America knows how to bring forth new ideas. Fourthly, America is adept in stimulating the initiative of federal government and local to...