Item Detail
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12957
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1
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0
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English
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Education and Mormon Enculturation : The Ogden Public Schools, 1849-1896
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Salt Lake City, UT
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University of Utah
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268
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Ph.D. diss.
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"Ogden's early public schools (1849-1867) were very informal institutions. City schools were ungraded, facilities were primitive, terms were of short duration, and teachers lacked adequate training. Public funding was insufficient and limited primarily to school construction and maintenance. A system of tuition was employed to cover instructional costs. Historical sources suggest that early Ogden schools were not consciously used as vehicles of Mormon indoctrination. Under the condition of Mormon homogeneity, there is no hint that more was expected of these rather primitive institutions by church leaders or parents than equipping students with basic literacy and simple computational skills. The completion of the transcontinental railroad brought changes, including the influx of non-Mormons. Unhappy with the public schools, these new residents supported private denominational schools that had been established by church organizations. From 1869 to 1885, the public schools of Ogden underwent considerable institutional strengthening. The resulting changes reflected general community development but were also tied to the importation of educational ideas and policies from the larger society. Stronger institutions and educational rhetoric brought greater awareness of the potential of the school as an agent of enculturation, but Mormon leaders soon realized that a curriculum including religious studies would jeopardize any petition for statehood. In Mormon hands the public schools served as covert carriers of Mormon culture, even in the absence of overt religious instruction. Fearing this was not sufficient church leaders established youth organizations. The decade from 1886 to 1896 was a decade of transition. Mormon school men in Ogden were influenced by educational dialogue in the larger society, especially in light of federal pressure being exerted in their community. They accepted and advocated elements of the common school reform in vogue nationally. Non-Mormons gained political ascendancy and wrested the school from Mormon control. Anticipating this development, the Mormon leadership established a private system of academies (including the Weber Stake Academy in Ogden) and inaugurated a program of religious classes for those attending public schools." [Author's abstract]