when was the american public school system established
History of education in the United States After the Revolution, northern states especially emphasized education and rapidly established public schools. By the year 1870, all states had tax-subsidized elementary schools.[49] The US population had one of the highest literacy rates in the world at the time.[50] Private academies also flourished in the towns across the country, but rural areas (where most people lived) had few schools before the 1880s.