The Role of Education in Stren

            The most obvious way to measure the role of education in strengthening America's future is to simply observe the effect it has on it's past. Almost from the inception of this country, education has sought to keep pace with a populace that blossomed, figuratively speaking, overnight into the single most dynamic, creative, and technologically advanced society the world has ever seen. .
             Education systems, particularly the public ones, have sought from the beginning to provide a pool of talent suited to move this nation to its next level of dominance in nearly every field imaginable. Public education has always responded to the call for future needs. From an agrarian society, through the Industrial Age, and now into the era of computer-related technology, education systems throughout our country have met, and exceeded the challenges poised by its harshest critics.
             So much of the American fabric is tied into the education system; it is difficult to imagine what life was like before it existed as we know it. Long before there were mega- high schools, homecoming, organized sports, computer labs, and performing arts institutions, children were educated in simple, one room buildings which housed all grades. At that time, America was an agrarian society, and children were expected to toil in the fields alongside their parents. Thus the tradition of "summer vacation" came to be. .
             With the great migrations to the industrial cities and an influx of European immigrants during the late 1800s, a different need began to emerge. Where once, simple basic math and reading skills were all that were necessary for the average American to manage through farm life, now more advanced math and reading skills were a must if one wanted to provide for one's family. Large companies needed educated workers to keep the wheels of industry turning and to keep the competitive edge on this side of the Atlantic.
             All through the early twentieth century, public school systems, like the one in New York City, were shining models of excellence not just for the rest of America, but the world.