Document Type
Issue Area Six
Abstract
America has always believed that schools were too important to be left to teachers. Our first public school was founded in 1635 by Puritan ministers. They believed that lay teachers were not sufficiently pure to be trusted with the teaching of the young. To assure strict supervision, the ministers created a governing board, with themselves as governors.
This attitude, which persists today, began as an historical accident. It exists today only in England's colonies - only Canada, New Zealand, and Australia all have school boards like the United States. These four countries rely on the property tax to support schools. In these countries, the people who were concerned with property were expected to govern those who were concerned with ideas. One could hardly envision a more dysfunctional governance arrangement.
Journal Title
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series
Volume
5
Issue
2
First Page
252
Last Page
254
Publisher
Institute for Educational Leadership, University of Northern Iowa
City
Cedar Falls, IA
Copyright
©1994 Institute for Educational Leadership, College of Education, and the University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Seeland, Jean
(1994)
"Changing Schools for a Changing Society,"
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series: Vol. 5:
No.
2, Article 60.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/iel_monographs/vol5/iss2/60
