Germany's Influence on The United States Education System

2006 Words5 Pages

The United States education system would look quite different without the ideas brought to America by the German immigrants. Germany’s influence can be traced back to the beginning of our country. Their impact goes back to the first German settlement in 1608 at Jamestown, Pennsylvania. German immigrants to Colonial America brought with them their culture, traditions, and philosophy about education. Much of the formal education system currently in place in the United States has their roots in Germany. The German immigrants are responsible for the first kindergarten in America, introducing both physical and vocational education, and establishing a universal education for all students. They also had a strong impact on the beginning of universities in our country. The German people were deeply religious. These religious beliefs carried over into our new schools as our nation was formed. As far back as the 1700’s, the school was an avenue to establish superiority over other nationalities. This paper will investigate the influence that German immigrants have had on American education during the time when America was being colonized and onto later years . This paper will also examine how our modern education system has roots from the early German schools. It is my thesis that our modern education system has been strongly influenced by the German people that immigrated to America. German immigrants were deeply religious people. In fact many immigrants came to America to escape religious persecution in Germany. The immigrants, however, splintered into many different religious groups. Some of the most common German religions were Lutheran, Catholic, and Free thinkers. (# 3 pg. 45) Many of the new German Americans exerted great energ... ... middle of paper ... ...immigrants lived their lives were in hopes of raising children to carry on their German traditions. # 1The German eleme million million or n % of or nt in the % United States with special reference to its political, moral, social, and educational influence By Albert Bernhardt Faust\1909 Boston and New York - Houghton Mifflin Co. #2 The American school 1642-2000 Joel Spring McGraw Hill 2001 #3 The Germans Jacquelyn Landis Green haven Press 2006 #4 The German-American Heritage Irene M. Franck 1989 New York - Oxford Facts on File # 5 The German-Americans La Vern J. Rippley 1984 University Press of America, Inc. the culture of the German communities was designed to build and maintain the German heritage in the new country Works Cited The American School 1642 - 2000 Joel Spring The Germans Jacquelyn Landis The German-American Heritage Irene M. Franch

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