Origins of the Urban School

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Confronted by a rapidly-changing urban-industrial society between 1870 and 1915, educators in ten Massachusetts cities implemented reforms to make the public school a more relevant institution. Marvin Lazerson relates these reforms to those made in similar urban areas and to their ultimate impact on contemporary education. He studies the two-fold burden imposed upon education: 1) the assimilation of masses of immigrants and 2) the preparation of manpower for an industrial economy. Then he discusses the various reforms which were introduced—kindergartens, manual training, vocational education, evening schools, and citizenship instruction. While these changes transformed the schools, the author maintains that by 1900 the consensus was that they had not eliminated the problems of the city or industry. He probes the resulting questions which were raised and analyzes their answers.