Education: By & For the Public

Mr. Josiah Holbrook of Connecticut had no notion at first that his scheme would catch on as it did. Back in 1826, he and his friends were only a handful, but they were serious about the idea that the nation's new common schools belonged to the public and that the public should be concerned to make them better. They organized the American Lyceum to help set standards, soon had members all over the U.S. For more than a decade these members made speeches, wrote articles, held public meetings. They got results: better training for teachers, the formation of state and county...

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