St. Louis In-Context: Public School System

     The public education system in St. Louis began in 1838 with two elementary schools.  The classes were divided between genders, and the children were taught the basics such as reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography.    Although the middle class was initially weary of public education, the establishment of the first high school in 1855 gave the system the prestige it needed to continue its mission.  The Civil War forced the school board to adopt fees for attendance after their funding was funneled towards the militia.  However in 1865-1864, the school's funding was restored and eventually came to rely on income from property taxes, fees were eliminated, and attendance jumped back up to nearly 14,000.  Black children were unable to attend the schools in this new public system.  In 1864, the Board of Education for Colored Schools was formed by prominent whites and blacks to provide free education to black children.  Initially, these schools lacked public funding and relied on generous donations by private citizens and businesses to stay afloat.  The 1865 Radical Constitution required school boards to support black education, to which the St. Louis school board quickly complied by appropriated five hundred dollars of its budget to the Colored Board.  Despite these efforts, by 1875 schools in black districts were generally in poor condition, frequently relocated, and district lines appeared to be drawn randomly, forcing many students to walk longer distances past white schools.  Teachers were paid much less to work in these schools, and the complaints of parents went unheard.  Ironically, whites were hostile about these new districts because of these conditions, stating that tax payer money was being wasted on poor and ineffective schools (Primm 315-18). 1872 saw the rise of the kindergarten movement in St. Louis' public schools, thanks to the efforts of William Torrey Harris, superintendent of schools from 1868-1880.  Harris believed that children were losing the ability to be educated between the ages of three and five, especially those in working class families.  He encouraged Susan Blow to study with Maria Krus-Bolte, a leader in kindergarten education in New York. Upon her return they began designing kindergarten programs, which included lessons on self-control, virtue, and punctuality, keeping in mind the difficult transition children face coming from the home into the routines of school.  In 1878, kindergarten, despite criticism of its German roots and expense, was made a part of regular school by the board.  In 1880 and 1881, kindergarten programs were in all sections of the city, serving white and black, the rich and the poor. By 1900, there were almost two hundred thousand students enrolled in kindergarten (324-325).