Education is a very Important Matter in Society

Throughout history education has always been something important to one’s life. Education is what shapes our way of living and shapes the way we think. As a community we learn from each other as well, however when one goes to school we have new opportunities, skills, and a stronger knowledge of what goes around the world. Throughout history there had been political problems, the civil war and the reconstructions that helped schools out. The development of the education policy occurred due to the following court cases: Plessy vs.

Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education.

Education has always been essential to help lay ones foundation. In the year 1836 Texas had political problems with Mexico. This occurred due to Texas believing that the Mexican government had failed at organizing an education that was a public system. As the years progressed the first public school, Anglo-American had been enacted. This had been giving thousands of acres of land to support public schools. In the year 1861 through 1865 the civil war occurred, the Civil War was a war between the North and the South. Many things were part of the war. One of the main ones being slavery. The first slaves were brought into Jamestown. They suffered for a very long time. Slaves were being mistreated and when they were shipped from one place to another they were put all together into ships very tightly. There was some occasions were the slaves would be tied up or chained up. Slaves had been treated extremely bad many of them would die throughout the trips due to diseases, starvation, or mistreatment. Slavery was one of the first things that made development of new educational policy occur.

Reconstruction, this is known as the rebuilding of the South. The reconstruction was helping the South rebuild itself after the civil war had affected it extremely. Some amendments that were added to the constitution to help during the time of Reconstruction was the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendment. The thirteenth amendment was the outlaw of slavery, the fourteenth amendment consisted of African Americans being treated equally by all laws. The third amendment added was that all male citizen had the right to vote, meaning any race could, however, females could not vote until years later. In the website, Texas Education Agency it is mentioned, “The new state constitution of 1876 set aside forty-five million acres of public domain for school support and directed that the income from the new Permanent School Fund be invested in bonds” (Education Laws and Rules, 2016). Thus had occurred after the Reconstruction and Civil War had ended. The Permanent School Fund was created in the year 1854. This fund was to help the schools in Texas that were public.

Although schools were public the development of educational policy was a challenge for the American citizens. Many court cases had to occur for the development to happen. During this time the south was a very segregated area. There was a line between colored people and whites. Colored people were not allowed to drink, eat, buy, talk, or sit around white people. Two examples are Rosa Parks and Emmett Till. Rosa Parks was on her way home when she got on the bus that takes her home. As the bus started to fill up the colored people had to sit further back or give up their seat for a white person. Whenever the seats were all taken, Rosa Parks was asked to give up her seat, however she denied and minutes later was taken by an officer. Emmett Till, was young teenage boy who had gone to vacations with his family where one day he went with his cousin to a store. When they were at the store he was accused of whistling at a white woman. Because of her false accusation her husband had gone with another man and kidnapped Emmett Till. Not only was he kidnapped but brutally assassinated. These examples are just a few of things that could possibly occur to a person of color if they were seen doing anything that did not go according to the certain rules back then. Therefore, the following court cases were passed for an education: Plessy vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education.

Many landmark cases have occurred over the past years, an important one being Plessy vs. Ferguson. Plessy vs. Ferguson is very well known for the phrase “separate but equal” This court case began by Plessy. Plessy had not followed the rules orders for their color. Although Plessy was white he was classified as black man because of his ancestors. Plessy had got in a train and because of his skin he was able to buy a first class ticket, however when a man asked him for his race and Plessy had mentioned he was mixed. He was asked to move, however he denied to give up his seat. He was arrested and a day later took out of jail. A month later his cased was heard and he was defended by Albion Tourgee. He had mentioned how Plessy’s thirteenth and fourteen amendments were violated. The case was later taken to the Supreme Court and after a few years later because of the violation of the thirteenth amendment slavery was abolished, which was helping the development of education because this would bring people together for an education once slavery was abolished.

It is May 17, 1954 when another landmark mark had occurred, the case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Now when one looks around from elementary all the way into universities, there is a variety of people working together, ready to learn, and communicating. However, if one goes way back one realizes that a mix of people was not always allowed because of segregation that separated the communities from getting together. During the segregated time colored people were forced to go to a completely different school from the whites. Whites had new and improved things and studying in very good condition, however it was not the same story for Africans Americans. By 1954, there was a change that will give Africans Americans a new opportunity. Two important people to this case was, Linda Brown and her Father. Linda had to walk several miles from home to her school, although she had a school very close to home she was not allowed to go in because of her skin color. When her father tried to enroll her at the school, he was prohibited due to African Americans not meeting the requirements for the school. Because of this many parents saw the chance to get equality for their children’s and their own, so they took this to court. At first the court had said that Plessy vs. Ferguson had already cleared the problem because school being separate was not unequal, although it was. However, the fourteenth amendment was brought up and it was being violated by the separation of schools. The court case was a success and because of this children and students have all the same opportunity for a good education.

All in all, education is a very important matter in society. It teaches every student important subjects for our future careers and home work. Throughout history many events had to occur for great opportunities. Although, they weren’t fair all the time as a community people got together to have fair and equal opportunities for everybody. Slavery, civil war, reconstruction, and the court cases had all helped for a better educational policy in Texas.

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