Public education would, in the Progressives' view, homogenize America's ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse population and create a national culture. The Catholics were a prime target of public education. Another objective of the schools was to make good quiescent taxpayers out of the children who would be future citizens and voters. A further purpose was to keep children out of the work force so they would not compete with adults. The most revealing feature of public schooling is compulsory attendance.
Children have to go, and the length of time has increased over the years.
Teacher and school critic John Holt found it interesting that children may not take the high school equivalency exam sooner than the age at which they would complete high school. If a child can demonstrate at age 13 that he knows what is required of a high school graduate, why shouldn't he be able to take the exam and be done with school. It is not there to serve the children. Nothing is less suited to an environment of compulsion than learning. The very idea of compulsory learning is ludicrous.