Education and its effect on social hierarchies:

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Education and its effect on social hierarchies:
Education in the past was just a way to get by in life; you only went to school to learn just enough basic knowledge and skills to survive. Education was a political dispute between allegiances and counties; sending children to certain school was almost like voting for a political party to show loyalty. Education in the South was also deeply rooted in conservative traditions of no common curricula between teachers, “fixed truths” of antebellum universities that could not be challenged or debated about, and strict social hierarchies and race, class, and gender inequalities. At the turn of the century, the South experienced major reforms in public education such as the standardization of student curriculums, the idea of encouraging students to be engaged in school and try to please their teachers, academic competition, and faculty reforms. Major education reforms resulted not only changing the way education was being treated, but also challenged social norms and social hierarchies. In 1878, the ratio between male and female teachers was three to one (Leloudis, Schooling the New South; Page 74). Many young men also taught primarily for the work experience, not so much for the children’s sake; for these men, teaching was a “stepping stone” for another career path or profession in the future. Feminization of teaching challenged the traditional gender roles of females, as it opened up opportunities for women to become publically active in a role that was once predominantly occupied by men. While white women were attempting to engage in public life and have an active role in society, African Americans suffered even more from inequality. Through education and the pursuit of peace, however, b...

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... that encouraged women to participate in politics and public life. The feminization of teaching, a field once predominantly occupied by males, also secured women’s role in society, their serviced valued above all else in the field of education. Secondly, generous funding from philanthropists, like Anna T. Jeans and Julius Rosenwald, advanced African American education and living conditions, both which were denied by Jim Crow Laws and white supremacy. While this act of generosity and academic development for blacks didn’t necessarily stop racial inequality, again it allowed opportunities once denied by the white man. Later in the teens and twenties, students in modern universities and intellectuals, playwrights, and reformists also began to question the legitimacy of white supremacy and the negative effects of Jim Crow Laws such as low wages and inadequate education.

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