Ohio History Journal

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THE ORIGIN OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN OHIO

THE ORIGIN OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN OHIO

 

BY WILLIAM MC ALPINE, M. A.

 

A certain very excellent history of education says

that in Ohio public education was a victory of the New

England element over the other parts of Ohio's popula-

tion. In the same work, there are certain maps taken

from Mathews' Expansion of New England. Certain

parts of the state where the New England population is

supposed to have predominated are marked white. The

remainder is black. The unescapable fact that Samuel

Galloway came from another stock is explained by stat-

ing that he was in contact with New England people at

Miami University. Cincinnati is also marked as a

Yankee center. It is not my purpose to detract from the

contributions of the sons of New England to Ohio's cul-

tural growth. They did nobly. Nor am I influenced by

any emotional bias in my researches upon this subject.

While my name is Scottish, I am very nearly three-

quarters Yankee by descent and possess the mental and

physical characteristics of my Massachusetts fore-bears.

Until about two years ago, I firmly believed the com-

monly accepted theory of Ohio's educational genesis.

But the evidence does not exist that any one group ob-

tained an early option on schools in Ohio. True, a good

case can be made for the Yankee if we tell all he has

done and name the persons of Yankee descent who bat-

tled for schools in Ohio, and totally ignore the others,

This seems to have been done. Much is said about At-

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