Importance of Education
Education benefits the individual and the society in which the individual lives. A person without an adequate education may have difficulty finding a job and earning a living. The economic well-being of a country can be undermined by lack of a skilled work force, and the more technologically advanced a nation is the more acute is its need for educated workers.
Every group, no matter how primitive, makes at least some effort to train its youth in its way of life. As a society becomes more complex, education becomes more important. Schools and other institutions play a vital role in preserving and extending a nation's cultural heritage.
Education has acquired great importance in all societies. It helps to prepare the men and women who direct and carry out the varied activities required in a modern society. Education is considered to be essential in a democratic society such as the United States. People who govern themselves must learn to recognize and preserve their freedoms, form intelligent opinions about public affairs, vote thoughtfully, and hold office effectively.
| Important dates in U.S. education | |||
| 1635 | The Boston Latin School, the first secondary school in the American Colonies, began classes. | ||
| 1636 | Massachusetts chartered Harvard College, the first college in the American Colonies. | ||
| 1642 | Massachusetts passed an education law requiring parents to teach their children to read. | ||
| 1647 | Massachusetts became the first American colony to require establishment of public elementary and secondary schools. | ||
| 1785 | Georgia chartered the first state university. | ||
| 1795 | The University of North Carolina became the first state university to hold classes. | ||
| 1819 | The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state cannot take over a private college without its permission. | ||
| 1833 | Oberlin Collegiate Institute (now Oberlin College) became the first coeducational college in the United States. | ||
| 1852 | Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school-attendance law in the United States. | ||
| 1862 | The Morrill Act gave federal land to support state agricultural and technical colleges. | ||
| 1874 | The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that taxes could be collected to support public high schools. | ||
| 1917 | Congress passed the Smith-Hughes Act, the first act to provide federal funds for vocational education below the college level. | ||
| 1944 | Congress passed the first GI Bill, granting funds to veterans to continue their education. | ||
| 1954 | The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public schools segregated by race are unequal and therefore unconstitutional. | ||
| 1965 | Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to aid local schools and to improve the education of children from low-income families. | ||
| 1972 | Congress passed the Education Amendments Act, which grants funds to almost every institution of higher learning to use as it wishes. | ||
| 1978 | The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that college and university admission programs may not use specific quotas to achieve racial balance. But they may give special consideration to members of minority groups. | ||
| 1979 | Congress established the U.S. Department of Education. | ||
| 1983 | The National Commission on Excellence in Education reported in A Nation at Risk that U.S. students lagged far behind students in many other industrialized nations. | ||
| 1994 | Michigan became the first state to sharply reduce the use of property taxes in the financing of its public schools. | ||
| 2000 | The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that students may not lead group prayers at public school football games. | ||
| 2001 | Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act to increase federal funding for public schools and to establish broad student testing requirements. | ||
