sooo... the US has now invented education?

[Kasz216]

Mr Khan said:

Kasz216 said:

Actually... I think the US did invent widespread schools and the school system as we know it today.

Don't quote me on it though, because honestly I don't care enough to check.

 

Of course, schools in an invidividual sense have been around since greek philosphers and before.

 

However that a country should try and educate the majority of it's people... I think that such a thing may have been implemented by the US first.

Bingo. Most of the major European-ish countries were conducting experiments in education through the 19th century, but America was the one that embraced mass education quicker because there was no classist stigma about education (not to say that America has never been classist, but significantly less so than Europe), so we got around to it quicker than other countries. Hell, when Japan decided they needed mass education for their country in 1870 as part of the Meiji reforms, they adopted off of us because we were the only one doing it on a really large scale

Nice, I wasn't sure for sure, though I did know that widespread public schooling as an idea went as far back as Thomas Jefferson, likely due to the founding fathers Masonic roots.

But i wasn't sure if europe or the Muslim world did it first.

Muslims i believe creating the first modern schools with the invention of Madrassas.

 

Thought i had read that was the case though.  Really, I wonder what kind of effect that had on American GDP etc... vs other countries.  That'd be an interesting historical economics equation to run.