Education and CultureGuided Reading Activity Answers

Fewer than half of children attended school prior to 1870…

19th Century Education Individuals like Horace Mann, pictured

to the left, were responsible for starting the common school movement during the 1840s and 1850s. At that time, heavy immigration from Ireland, Germany, and China had left some Americans wondering whether or not the traditions of free speech and democracy, and the Protestant Christian values our nation had embraced would continue into the future. Soon, however, business leaders came to support the movement as well, recognizing that an educated workforce would make American companies more productive and competitive – improving the standard of living in the United States.

Compulsory Education

Compulsory education is the legal requirement that children attend school up to a certain age. Until the late 1800s, this was not required. Many families sought to put their children to work at a young age to earn wages for the family. Indeed, many companies hired these children before their tenth birthdays – because their labor was valuable, and they would accept extremely low pay.

The Freedman’s Bureau

The Themes of Public Education

Reading – reading in the English language was critical to the continuation of American culture. ‘Riting – learning how to write in the English language. ‘Rithmatic – basic mathematics were required in society.Christianity – the moral values of the Christian faith were considered absolutely essential in most communities.

Andrew Carnegie

Mark Twain

He was the author of both The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and he coined the phrase, “the Gilded Age” to describe late 19th Century America. Twain would go on to write dozens of novels, and was an outspoken political figure during his lifetime, speaking out against racism and imperialism.

Kate Chopin

She was the author of The Awakening, a feminist novel describing the unhappy marriage of a Southern woman. While her work would not be considered shocking in today’s world, it broke with the social customs and gender roles of the time.

Jack London

This Californian wrote about the hard lives of miners and sailors in classic novels like The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Seawolf. London celebrated individualism in his work and the wild nature of frontier communities was a large part of his experience – man vs. nature was his constant theme. Although he lived in San Francisco most of the time. Sadly, alcoholism ruined his life and he died at a very young age.

Stephen Crane

He was the author of the Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets – which describe the hard life of men and women in poor urban areas. Crane’s harsh depiction of the lives of young women in the tough neighborhoods in urban centers across the country proved very influential over the years. Although not considered a “muckraker” himself, he certainly inspired muckrakers to advocate for change.

Paul Laurenc

e Dunbar

He was the first African American poet and writer to make a living with his art. His poetry was extremely influential among African-American writers of later generations, including members of the Harlem Renaissance – yet, he passed away at the young age of thirty three, decades before the greatest contributions of African-American scholars and writers in the 1920s.

Horatio AlgerThis very popular writer was famous for his “rags to riches” stories in which hard working, well-behaved boys achieved prosperity and wealth through hard work, courage, and honesty. During a time period where it was extremely difficult for hard working people to achieve any wealth at all, his stories offered hope – some would say false hope – to the good citizens of the nation.

Newspapers Grow in PopularityNewspapers grew in popularity for a variety of reasons, but two were especially important. First of all, more Americans were literate than previous generations – perhaps not by percentage, but in shear numbers. Many read on a low reading level, so newspapers attempted to present their stories on an appropriate reading level.Secondly, the growth of big cities made the circulation of news a much less personal affair. In smaller towns, church groups or community organizations circulated the news and help men and women to cope with difficulties. Newspapers were used in large cities to both rely information and to organize communities.

Joseph Pulitzer

Joseph Pulitzer was the founder of the New York World newspaper and the leading innovator in the newspaper business during his time. To sell newspapers, Pulitzer attempted to present the news in the most sensational manner possible. The writing in his papers was at a lower reading level – to gain more readers. It was cheap – to allow more men an women to purchase the product. And he circulated the paper broadly – in order to gain more customers and to make the advertising space in his papers more valuable. Pulitzer sold millions of papers – without being too bound down by the need to check his facts!

Yellow JournalismYellow Journalism is the term used to describe the sensational reporting style of newspapers like the New York Morning Journal or the New York World, both of which exaggerated, embellished, improvised, or simply fabricated high interest stories which sold newspapers. The danger of this style of reporting was its power to mislead people in major cities across the United States.