Submitted by Leona Baker, Historical Society of Salisbury Township

What do children need to know to succeed in adulthood? By the 1800s, people began thinking that all children should have at least some education. In 1834, Pennsylvania mandated public schooling be provided for all children until age 13 to provide the skills needed in the expanding and more demanding world of the early to mid-1800s.

Instruction in all the state-run schools included reading, writing, arithmetic, history and geography. Post-Civil War schools began adding music, art and hygiene. At first, teachers were male, but soon women, working for less pay, were hired since state-run schools depended on unpopular property taxes.

The U.S. was largely rural and agriculture-dominated, so most children needed little formal education to be able to run a farm, sell produce and buy the new machines that were making farming less physically demanding but more complicated. A basic education still provided all that those children needed to be successful. A few students went on to colleges to be able to move into higher-status circles.

States soon required teachers to have a modicum of instruction in teaching before being sent out in the field, though country schools still depended on recent eighth-grade graduates to teach the lower grades. Two-year normal schools were established to teach prospective educators. As time went by, many of these schools became real colleges and then universities catering to other subjects to prepare leaders who were cognizant of the world beyond the farm and manufacturing work.

Education above eighth grade spread. High schools were set up, usually near the main city of the county or township. These schools began preparing boys and girls for jobs requiring more than the basic arithmetic, reading and writing. Higher math, science, public speaking and world history as well as critical thinking, debating and sports encouraged even higher learning. Young men and, later, young women attended college for degrees in the sciences, literature and mathematics as well as teaching.

As inventions pushed the new technologies into more parts of society, students began needing more and more education to compete in real life. There were still many who worked at simple jobs needing only the basics, but there was a burgeoning need for proof of education to get and hold a job. The new colleges filled that need. There were classes in reasoning and ethics. Many students held down part-time jobs to pay for room and board. Parents often handed down their own old college books to their children. While the sciences required newer books, the other classes did not change much. Philosophy, reasoning, ethics, Latin, Greek and math pretty much stayed the same.

The need for further education continues. Technology requires continued learning long past young adulthood. Today, many 30- and 40-year-olds are going back to college - often online - to keep up with our changing world.

What do children need to know to succeed in adulthood? Much more in the 21st century than ever before.