The Phenomenon of Compulsory Schooling

The phenomenon of compulsory schooling has only existed for about two hundred years. The Prussian government, humiliated by the ease with which Napoleon and his Imperial Army had ransacked their proud army in what some historians still consider the “worst defeat of all-time,” a one-day defeat of the what had previously been the most highly reputed and “unrivalled” military force in Europe, at the Battle of Jena on October 14, 1806, instituted a broad-scoped form of state-mandated mass schooling in the early 1800s. Though many Americans came under the influence and admiration of the revolutionary Prussian education system, it was not until Horace Mann and his Harvard cronies conspired with New England business leaders of the Industrial Revolution to get the first compulsory school laws passed in the United States in 1852.
Out of a human history of about 12,000 years, 200 is not a very long time. Still, there are many who will automatically argue that the conception (first found in the writings of Plato and much later illustrated in detail by Rousseau) and institutionalization of schooling have been signs of progress, of the evolution of our species, another benefit and advance coming out of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. While these arguments may have some merits, the fact remains that compulsory schooling is a system that is by its very nature forced upon a population--it is, after all, compulsory and, therefore, in need of questioning: Why is this system forced upon we the people? Is this system really necessary for the achievement of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as promised in the foundational documents of our democracy? Is this a system that we, the people, would choose naturally to impose upon ourselves? Is this a system that truly nurtures the potential of the promise of our natural, inalienable, and democratic rights?