Schools aren’t a modern invention. There’s a lot of debate about who “invented” schools. Some people say that Plato created schools for his students, but others argue that the ancient Greeks were teaching in the agora before Plato was even born. The first real school in America was built in 1635 in Boston.

However, it’s hard to tell who really created schools, because they have been around for so long.

Why Was The First School Created?

The first school was created with the intention of educating children in the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Education is available to all people throughout their lifetime.

It is important for an individual to become educated in order to be able to make educated decisions about themselves, their families, and their communities. Education is also important to be able to have a job.

What Were Ancient Schools Like?

Ancient schools provide a glimpse into the lives of our predecessors. They were often made of stone, with an open courtyard in the center.

The courtyard was used as a gathering place for students and teachers to discuss ideas, share knowledge, and debate. One of the most famous ancient schools is Plato’s Academy in Athens. When the school was established by Plato in 387 BC it was located on grounds outside of Athens due to laws prohibiting teaching within city limits.

Did American Children Always Go To School?

The short answer is “no.” It wasn’t until the early 20th century that compulsory education became common in America, and even then, there were still large pockets of the country where children would not go to school.

The first compulsory schooling took place in Massachusetts in 1852, after a law was passed that required all children between the ages of 8-14 to attend school. This led to an increase in attendance throughout the state, with the percentage of children who attended school rising from 28% to 70%.

However, it would be decades before compulsory school attendance would become law in every state. One of the most significant reasons for this was financial: when people began living and working further away from their communities, it became more difficult for them to send their children back home for schooling when they needed them to work on the farm or take care of family members.

What Did The Earlier Schools Focus On?

The earlier schools focused on the basics, both in terms of how to read, write, and do math. They also taught the students about the world around them.

The earlier schools didn’t have any distractions.
The earlier schools were meant to be places of learning, not places of punishment. Students in the earlier schools were more likely to learn how to think for themselves and solve problems creatively.

When Did Education Become A Priority in America?

The year of 1872 marks an important time in the history of the American education system. In this year, a group of educators and politicians established a new system for schools in Boston, Massachusetts. The schools were not only to teach the three “R’s”, but to offer students a well-rounded education.

This included teaching their morals, giving them good manners, and teaching them about how to live in society. This was one of many reforms that were happening in America at the time, and Americans began to realize that education was important for not only personal success but also for society as a whole.

In the years following 1872, the idea of a well-rounded education expanded to other areas of the country. As a result, many schools began to offer extracurricular activities and classes that were not required by law. However, there was still a great debate over whether this was right or wrong.

Many people argued that schools should only teach academic courses and nothing else. They did not believe that teaching students about morals, manners, and society was the responsibility of schools.

The great debate over this issue lasted for many years and affected almost every state in America. On one side of the argument were those who believed American education should be divided into two separate systems: common schools and normal schools.

These normal schools would focus on academics while common schools would focus on citizenship and social skills. On the other side of the argument were those who believed that these two types of education could be offered in one school system; they believed all children should receive a well-rounded education.

Who is Credited for the Modern Version Of School?

It is difficult to pinpoint the origin of schools. The earliest schools were very informal, and often consisted of a teacher and a few students in one room.

However, in modern times Horace Mann is credited for the modernization of schools. He was an American educator and politician; he founded the first public high school system in Massachusetts. He also made many contributions to the curriculum and administration of American education.

History of School

The earliest predecessor of the school was the “ludus” or “place of learning” in Roman Empire. The courses taught were usually rhetoric and grammar, sometimes languages or math. The classes were always small and generally held inside a teacher’s home or a temple. It is unclear how long this type of schooling lasted because there is little evidence to support it; however, some scholars believe that it had already ended by the first century AD (Toynbee).

The next form of education after the ludus was the “schola” or “school” that was run by priests who were also teachers. This type of schooling took place mostly in Greece and Rome (Toynbee). Plato established an Academy for this purpose in 387 BC (Kohn). This form of schooling would be used for centuries to come as the model for future academies (Encyclopedia Brittanica). It is interesting to note that there is still an academy by this name on Long Island today.

After Christianity became popular around 300 AD, monks became teachers and began to teach reading, writing and theology outside monasteries (Toynbee). These monks started teaching children at their monasteries because they felt that it was their duty to do so; however, very few people were literate at this time so they often taught more than just reading and writing (Encyclopedia Brittanica).

By 400 AD there were over 10,000 monks teaching children all over Europe (Kohn). Although these monks did not have formalized methods of teaching like we do today they still had very good results with their students because they used religious knowledge as a way to teach basic skills such as reading and writing.

In Europe under Charlemagne during 800 AD a man named Alcuin established a school at York which he called a cathedral school because it was attached to a cathedral in York where he could teach all subjects including theology and literature from his own works (Kohn). This model would be duplicated throughout Europe many times over when cities grew large enough to have multiple cathedrals with attached schools or cathedral schools became too large to handle alone.