History of education in Kentucky

Wealthy families had their children tutored at home or at small local "academies" that charged tuition.

[2][3] A few private schools pre-dating Kentucky's statehood, such as the Salem Academy in Bardstown starting in 1794.

Some towns set up charity schools for paupers but thy had a negative stigma attached.

Upscale academies became local finishing schools for girls, with an emphasis on social skills, music, dancing and embroidery.

According to Philip C. Kimball, under the leadership of Thomas Noble and the federal government's Freedmen's Bureau, a school system for Kentucky Blacks was created in the late 1860s.

They persevered against the hostility of scattered white mobs, the inadequate training of some teachers, and minimal local or state tax support.

[10][11] In Lexington, the city school superintendent Massillon Alexander Cassidy implemented Progressive Era reforms.

[12] The Kentucky Education Association is a powerful lobbying group dedicated to higher funding, safer buildings, better study materials, smaller classes, and the empowerment of teachers, school employees and parents.

Professional training in law and medicine was gained by young men working as aides for established mentors.

Holley made Transylvania the outstanding institution of higher learning west of the Alleghenies.

Holley attracted eminently qualified faculty; by 1825, the medical school was ranked second in the country.

Famous alumni included Stephen F. Austin, founder of Texas; Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America; Richard Mentor Johnson, vice president under Martin Van Buren; John C. Breckinridge, vice-president under James Buchanan; and Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

In 1865, both institutions merged, using Transylvania's campus in Lexington while perpetuating the Kentucky University name.

The Day Law in 1904 prohibited racial mixing forcing Berea students to be all white until it reintegrated in 1950.

In 1906, the Labor Program was set up, requiring every student to work as part of their educational experience.

[21] In 1866 it opened with 190 students and 10 professors, on the campus at Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate.

[22] For the new school, Lexington donated a 52-acre (210,000 m2) park and fair ground, which became the core of UK's present campus.

[22] Three years later, the college formed the Agricultural Experiment Station, which researches issues relating to agribusiness, food processing, nutrition, water and soil resources and the environment.

This act instituted six basic initiatives, some of the most important being a focus on core subjects, community service, and self-sufficiency.