The Historical Development of the Public School System in Waxahachie, Texas: Exploring a Local Dialect in the Grammar of Schooling
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Copyright by Mark Wesley Kylar 2010 The Dissertation Committee for Mark Wesley Kylar certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Historical Development of the Public School System in Waxahachie, Texas: Exploring a Local Dialect in the Grammar of Schooling Committee: Sherry Field, Supervisor Nelson Coulter O.L. Davis, Jr. Louis Harrison Ann O‘Doherty The Historical Development of the Public School System in Waxahachie, Texas: Exploring a Local Dialect in the Grammar of Schooling by Mark Wesley Kylar, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2010 To The Educators Acknowledgements The artful phrase posted on my high school chemistry teacher‘s classroom window advertised: we are living in a world of permanent change. As an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin from 1985 to 1989, I am grateful, appreciative, and humbled to have returned as a graduate student some twenty years later to the same institution, but a different one. As I have carried out this project, I have felt impelled to sort out those aspects of the past that are yet present, and those which are not. Such, it seems to me now, is the proper role of the educational, and educator, historian. That this task was a co-construction of knowledge for me has indebted me to the following persons. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Sherry Field for shepherding me through this process as an able and willing guide, but also as a teacher in the truest sense of the word. Emerson said that the secret of education lay in respecting the pupil, and Sherry has a wonderful gift for respecting those elements that her students bring to the table, and challenging them to greater achievement. Likewise, I thank Dr. O.L. Davis, for truly inspiring me throughout his coursework. I was privileged to have spent time under his tutelage and am fortunate to have arrived in time to share in his legacy. I highly esteem the manner in which Dr. Louis Harrison exemplified instructional techniques which translated contemporary theory into practice, as indeed did many of my professors during this graduate journey. v As for two other committee members, Dr. Ann O‘Doherty and Dr. Nelson Coulter, former colleagues in the Round Rock Independent School District, I am uniquely grateful for their participation and perspective. That education is multi-faceted, and that they may view circumstances from a different perspective from curricularists was an important and helpful goal that their participation allowed me to achieve. Regarding the specific research of this project, I am indebted to Shannon Simpson, curator of the Ellis County Museum, for access to materials; likewise to his sister, Megan Simpson Mills, librarian of Waxahachie High School, and second-grade colleague, for her loan of pertinent materials. I would also like to thank those persons who talked with me about their experiences as students in the Waxahachie public schools, several of whom were my former teachers. Of this group I am indebted in particular to Billy Ray Hancock for his interview regarding Tirey Wilemon and for sharing his notes from his own historical research into the district. vi The Historical Development of the Public School System in Waxahachie, Texas: Exploring a Local Dialect in the Grammar of Schooling Mark Wesley Kylar, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2010 Supervisor: Sherry Field The history of the Waxahachie public schools from 1884 to 1970 reveals not only the development of the school system itself, and the local, regional, and national trends which influenced public education, but also serves as a case study of what David Tyack and Larry Cuban describe as the grammar of schooling, the inherent and implicit rules for bringing about a ―real school‖ as perceived by its stakeholders. The study provides insights into the effects of local concerns vis a vis the larger movements and events in American history upon the development of this particular local school system. The origins and the subsequent development of the public school system in Waxahachie, a small north-central Texas community located approximately thirty miles south of the Dallas, Texas, is the focus of this dissertation. The chronological history of the Waxahachie public school system, as an early independent school system is examined from its preceding influences, through its tumultuous inception, to its consequent periods of stability, professionalization, and growth. The study encompasses three major vii superintendencies, equating them to regimes by virtue of their length of tenure, and as a touchstone for depicting the societal trends with which they contended or reflected. Influences of race and religion are examined as primary and secondary animating themes. The manner in which educational philosophies as described by Watras, including Scholar Academic, Social Efficiency, and Learner-Centered, are examined in relation to the historical periods during which each superintendent held office. A detailed history is presented about each superintendent‘s term of office, exploring such topics as meeting the needs of a growing school district, accounting for curricular trends and forces at the local, regional, and national level, and navigating the societal terrain in the establishment and maintenance of a ―real‖ school. viii Table of Contents Introduction...................................... .............................................................................................. 1 Chapter One: Historical Overview: Beginnings of a Local Grammar of Schooling ........................ 10 Historical Overview: The Modern Era and the Professional Grammar of Schooling ................ 19 Historical Overview: Local Influences on Education .................................................................. 23 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................. 26 Significance of the Study ........................................................................................................... 29 Interpretive Framework ............................................................................................................ 32 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 38 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................................................ 44 Chapter Two: The Roots of a Local Grammar of Schooling: the Masonic Academy, Marvin College, and Mrs. Nash’s School .................................................................................................... 46 The Academy ............................................................................................................................. 46 Marvin College ........................................................................................................................... 47 The Zenith of Marvin College .................................................................................................... 65 Decline and Transition ............................................................................................................... 74 Mrs. Nash’s School .................................................................................................................... 80 A Note on African-American Schooling ..................................................................................... 83 Chapter Three: Creation of the Waxahachie Public Schools: The Formative Years, 1884-1898 .. 84 The Bond Question .................................................................................................................... 94 No Man’s Land ......................................................................................................................... 131 A Second Attempt ................................................................................................................... 143 Establishing a City Public School System: The 1890’s ............................................................. 154 Texas College and The West End School: Complement or Competition? ............................... 162 Curriculum Practice: Finding a Working Grammar of Schooling ................................................. 168 The Graded School .................................................................................................................. 168 Literary Societies: Elocution and Entertainments ................................................................... 171 ix The Military Company and Marching Drill .............................................................................. 178 Local Lessons in the Grammar of Schooling ............................................................................ 180 An Administrative Viewpoint .................................................................................................. 185 Teacher Institutes ................................................................................................................... 187 The Basic Grammar of Schooling ................................................................................................. 193 Chapter Four: The Acker Regime, 1898-1910 ...........................................................................