Formal education in Mississippi began in the early 19th century with

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

s and

academies An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

, a public education system was founded during the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...

, by the

biracial Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

legislature led by the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

. Throughout its history,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

has produced notable education inequalities due to

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Intern ...

and underfunding of black schools, as well as rural

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

and lack of commitment to funding education. In the 21st century, Mississippi struggles to meet national assessment standards, and the state has low graduation rates. The

Mississippi Legislature The Mississippi Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The bicameral Legislature is composed of the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, with 122 members, and the upper Mississippi State Senate, with 52 m ...

and

Board of Education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional ar ...

develop policies aimed at building better learning environments and standards in the classroom. In 2005, ninety-one percent of white students statewide were in public schools, and an even higher percentage of black students.Bolton, Charles C. '' The Hardest Deal of All: The Battle Over School Integration in Mississippi, 1870-1980.''

University Press of Mississippi The University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi. Universities *Alcorn State University *Delta State University * Jackson State University *Mississippi State U ...

, 2005, pp. 136, 178-179. , 9781604730609. Although unusual in the West,

school corporal punishment School corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of physical pain as a response to undesired behavior by students. The term corporal punishment derives from the Latin word for the "body", . In schools it may involve striking the student on ...

is common in Mississippi, with 31,236 public school students paddled at least one time. A greater percentage of students were paddled in Mississippi than in any other state, according to government data for the 2011–2012 school year.

Antebellum education

Prior to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, the elite arranged for private education of their children, founding private academies and schools. Some sent their children to the North (particularly

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, which had many Southerners) or

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for education. The state government did not set a

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...

. Most children were educated at home for the skills they needed to help support their families. Funding for the few schools was left to private donations and student

tuition Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...

. In

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, Franklin Academy for Boys was opened in 1821 as the first public school in Mississippi for white students. By 1830, only thirteen percent of white children were enrolled in public schools, and there was limited access to government-funded schools at the beginning of the

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology * Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

. In 1918, Mississippi became the last state in the Union to require children to attend at least some schooling.

Education in the Constitution

Mississippi's Constitution of 1868, drafted by a biracial convention, was the first legislation to provide for free public education for all children. The constitution established a “uniform system of free public schools, by taxation or otherwise, for all children between the ages of five and twenty-one years.” Legislation was passed in 1870 that created

school districts A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, whic ...

under the supervision of an elected State Superintendent of Education and appointed country superintendents, as well. Areas of a population with at least 5000 were permitted to establish separate school districts and extend the school term to seven months. The Constitution provided the following features in its legislation to establish a public education system: 1. Administration: the state superintendent of public education must be elected to provide “general supervision of the commons schools and the educations interests of the State.” A State Board of Education shall also be made up of the State Superintendent, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. 2. School Term: The school year should also be at least four months. Any county that does not abide by the guidelines presented in the legislation should forgo its share of school funding and taxes. 3. Funding: The common schools were funded from a combination of revenue earned from the sixteenth sections lands, and an excise tax on alcohol, military exemption fees, and public and private donations specifically designed for public education. Such monies were invested in United States bonds and the interest collected was allotted to support school systems. A

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments f ...

was also levied to aid in funding education. By this time, the state was dominated by

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

European Americans. The Constitution also states that public schools or their funds were not to be controlled by any religious group. It forbade conversion of public schools into Catholic

parochial school A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The wo ...

African Americans and education

Before the American Civil War, both enslaved and free

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

were prohibited by state law from receiving education. After the war,

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

groups in northern Mississippi helped establish schools to educate African-American youth. Some

white supremacists White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

tried to take control of the educational system, hoping to quell efforts to educate African Americans. The Constitution of 1868 did not direct integration of the new public school system, in part to gain support to establish it at all. The legislature determined that each individual school district could choose whether to have an integrated or segregated system. Superintendents of each county were told to divide the funds equally between white and black schools in the district, but black schools were underfunded. White schools were better constructed and were able to better serve the students academically. During the 1870s, education for blacks was further endangered as violence erupted in protest of the education of African Americans. At the same time, the government greatly decreased funding for public schools and the effectiveness of schools diminished. In 1886, state Superintendent J. R. Preston created a revised education code that slowly raised standards in the classroom. Teachers were paid more in salaries and were required to take teacher licensing exams.

Leaders in education

The Mississippi Board of Education, which currently has nine members, oversees education policy in the state. The Board appoint the State Superintendent of Education, sets public education policy and oversees the Mississippi Department of Education. Section 201 of the Mississippi Constitution states that the Mississippi

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

shall appoint one member from Mississippi's Northern

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

district, one member from Mississippi's Central Supreme Court district, one member from Mississippi's Southern Supreme Court district, one member who is employed as a school administrator, and one member who is employed as a public school teacher. Additionally, the

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

shall appoint two members-at-large, and the Speaker of the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected fo ...

shall appoint two members-at-large.

Institutions

References

Sources

*McMillen, Neil R. ''Dark Journey: .'' Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990. *Guyton, Pearl Vivian. ''The History of Mississippi: From Indian Times to the Present Day.'' New York: Iroquois Publishing Company, 1935, 294-295. *McLemore, R.A. ''A History of Mississippi.'' Vol. 2. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1973.

External links

*U.S. Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/ *US Census Bureau https://www.census.gov/ *Mississippi Department of Education http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Education In Mississippi