Beyond the Little Red Schoolhouse

Abstract

after the Civil War, the United States was a predominantly rural, agrarian society composed of farmers, shopkeepers, and craftsmenaided by a handful of lawyers, bankers, doctors, and ministers. In contrast to contemporary society, where the Directory of Occupational Titles, compiled by the United States Department of Labor, lists several thousand occupations, the range of jobs was very small, formal training rare, and requirements for diplomas or certificates few. Indeed, the skill and knowledge required for most occupations often was learned not from classroom instruction but by watching, imitating, and doing. Farmers, blacksmiths, silversmiths, and printers acquired applied knowledge and the manual skills of their vocations through apprenticeship or, more informally, within the confines of the family or community. One example of this training process was described by Mark Twain in his Life on the Mississippl. Under the tutelage of Mr. Bixby, an experienced riverboat captain, Twain learned about the bends and shoals of the Mississippi River from the vantage point of the pilothouse, without the aid of navigational maps or depth finders and without the formal training such instruments would have required. For example, unable to differentiate between a false wind reef and a dangerous bluff reef by the ripples of the water, young Twain was instructed as follows by Bixby: FREDERIC JACOBS is assistant dean for Programs in Professional Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. DONALD PHILLIPS is a doctoral student in Harvard's School of Education.