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Universal Education Diminished: There has never been a time when all parents have been in agreement with what all schools have had to offer their children. The establishment of universal education diminished the power of all parents to determine what their children learnt, particularly for those who had no capacity to opt for any other route to knowledge.
Primary Schools. In England the act of 1870 laid the groundwork for a system of universal education, but it provided for instruction only of children less than 13 years of age. Attendance did not become compulsory until 1880, and though free education was given in most elementary schools after 1891, fee paying was not completely abolished until 1918. The act that forbade fees also made education to the age of 14 compulsory.
The survey also demonstrated that regardless of the system of education, preparation of the teacher, size of the class, or socio-economic background of the student, the pupils of all the countries tested had almost identical scores up to the end of the period of universal education. For the secondary school test group, however, a definite correlation existed between mathematics scores and the type of training teachers had received. On the basis of the results, there was general agreement among educators in the U.S. that mathematics programs could be greatly improved, particularly those at the elementary and junior high levels.
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