This Day In Education

It’s October 11th and on this day in 1884, Eleanor Roosevelt was born.  Eleanor Roosevelt would go on to be the First Lady of the United States, transforming the role from a passive hostess to an active political participant. This isn’t surprising, as she was already an advocate for social reforms, human rights, and education before her marriage.

It’s October 9, and on this day in 1701, the Collegiate School of Connecticut was founded with the goal of educating students for religious and civil employment.    Never heard of it? Well - today, we know this school as Yale University, one of the top ranked colleges in the United States.

It’s October 7th and on this day in 1806 carbon paper received its patent. Ralph Wedgwood (1766-1837) was an English inventor. He came from a family of well-known pottery-makers. Wedgwood received British Patent 2972 for his “apparatus for producing duplicates of writings,” which he called the Noctograph or “Stylographic Manifold Writer.” As stated in the patent description, Wedgwood’s device produced duplications. The user would insert a piece of carbon paper in between two pieces of stationery. They’d then write with a metal stylus that produced a smudgy imprint of the writing onto the bottom sheet. Meanwhile, the top sheet would receive a mirror image on its underside. The paper itself became “carbonated” by a treatment process of soaking it in a mixture of pigment and oil.

It’s December 14th and today in 1960 during the UNESCO General Conference, the Convention Against Discrimination in Education treaty was adopted.  It affirmed that education was a fundamental human right and that states are obligated to provide education without discrimination.

It’s December 13th and today in 1769 Dartmouth College was founded.  The college was the last American college to receive a charter from the King George III of England for the quote “education and instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes in this Land…and also of English Youth and any others.”

It’s December 12 and today in 1881 Louise Thuliez was born.  Thuliez was a schoolteacher who became a devoted resistance fighter in both World War I and World War II.

It’s December 11 and today in 1946, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was founded. UNICEF’s mission is to protect the rights of children around the world and to help them meet their basic needs. 

It’s December 10th and today in 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The declaration includes 30 articles that detail the fundamental rights of all people regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

It’s December 9, and on this day in 1935, thousands of university students in China marched against Japanese aggression. Known as the December 9th movement in China, the date is widely seen as a symbol of the awakening of China and its eventual takeover by Chinese nationalists.

It’s December 8, and on this day in 1971 the Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments in the case of Wisconsin V. Yoder.  The case centered around three Amish families who withdrew their children from school after they finished the eighth grade, despite a compulsory state law saying that all students have to attend school until they reach 16 years of age.

It’s December 7th and today in 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor leading the United States to enter into World War II. With the onset of war, the Progressive Education Movement, which gained considerable momentum in the 1930s, came to an end.

It’s December 6th and today is the first day of Computer Science Education Week This week was first sponsored by ACM, or the Association for Computing Machinery, in 2009.

It’s December 5th and today in 2019, the Minneapolis Foundation, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, Greater Twin Cities United Way, and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, hosted “Reimagine Education”. While Minnesota is our specific location for today’s TDE, the impact could be replicated anywhere.  

It’s December 4th and on this day in 1920 the founder of PFLAG, Jeanne Manford, was born.  Manford’s steadfast love for her son Morty blazed a path for other parents to advocate for their gay and lesbian children.

It’s December 3, and on this day in 1971, students in Don Rawitch’s history class at Bryant Junior High in Minnesota fired up the game Oregon Trail for the first time. Those students had no way of knowing they were playing the first edition of a game that somehow secured a magical place in pop culture history and coined the popular phrase “you have died of dysentery.”

It’s December 2nd and today is National Special Education Day!  This day commemorates the signing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, into law by President Gerald Ford in 1975. We talked about the history of this act just the other day on November 29th.

It’s December 1, and on this day in 1981, the Supreme Court of the United States listened to arguments in the landmark Plyler V. Doe case, involving undocumented immigrants' access to education.

It’s the end of November and in 1959 the ACT was introduced.  The ACT, otherwise known as American College Testing, was a competitor to the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT.

It’s November 29th and today in 1975 President Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA). The act was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA in 1990. Prior to this act, children with disabilities were often excluded, intentionally or otherwise, from free effective public education.