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Title: A Hard Days Night: Evening Schools and Child Labor in the United States, 1870-1910

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2008

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Abstract: Although economists and historians have made progress in understanding the rise of public education and the impact of legislation regarding child labor and compulsory school attendance in the U.S., the literature has neither documented nor analyzed a coincident feature of the educational movement that involved widespread efforts to enable children to combine work and schooling. Evening schools, in particular, were common throughout the U.S., and enrollment in the schools increased over the second half of the nineteenth century. This paper brings together information from a variety of sources to trace the history of the public evening school movement into the post-WWI period. The analysis econometrically examines the diffusion of evening schools and their impact on educational outcomes of poor children. Findings suggest that the diffusion of public evening schools comprised efforts to educate disadvantaged youths, assimilate immigrants, and alleviate overcrowding in day schools. Although contemporary critics questioned their effectiveness, public evening school programs in the late 1800s appear to have significantly improved literacy outcomes for working youths and children of immigrants. By documenting and analyzing this relatively neglected aspect of public education, and bringing new data to light, this paper provides a first quantitative look at the expansion of evening schools in the U.S. and holds broader relevance for understanding the role of non-traditional education alternatives in the schooling decisions of children in poor households.

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Authors: Carter, Linda

Publisher: Vanderbilt University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other

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