Recently there has been a growing concern about the decline in academic achievement among students as modern schools have moved to more non-academic functions. William Torrey Harris was an early education reformer whose ideas are now proving relevant to the problems currently facing education. Harris entered the field of education in the 1850s…

The Founding Fathers of the United States placed great importance on the learning of foreign languages and on excellence in reading and writing English. Sacrifices in the curriculum in favor of English were justified by the desire that Americans speak and write English as well as the British. Above all, the Founding Fathers were concerned with the…

This paper reviews the history of undergraduate curriculum in the United States from the colonial period to the present, arguing that the drive for utility has been the main force shaping curricular trends. It discusses the purpose of early colonial colleges and their curricula, which emphasized Latin, Greek, Hebrew, ancient history, theology,…

In this report, the Commissioner of Education presents a general review of the U.S. educational condition, discusses the work of the Commissioner's office, and offers summaries of education statistics, using diagrams. Also provided are a summary of educational condition in the states and territories and comparative statistics and remarks on…