Understanding the Relationship Between American Schools and Society

The interrelationship between society and the curriculum being taught in schools is deeply rooted in the history of American schools. The organization of society itself is believed to always shape the education of children in one way or another. Schools in turn reinforce the normality's of the society they are based within. The subject matter of the curriculum taught in the United States public schools has been an important issue throughout American history. Programs of study have varied in what is being taught, and how it is being taught; as the many types of social reform have also varied through the years.
In America in the late 1700s, following the Massachusetts education laws of 1642 and 1647, educating American children became more of a social responsibility as teachers were beginning to be formally hired for the exclusive purpose of teaching. …