"Dogmas Accepted as Divine"

The difficulties inherent in transferring control of educational responsibilities to the state and the antipathy it created within Florida have not been fully explored in previous scholarship, and a study of the drive toward centralization, replete with race and class issues, provides insight into both the nature of progressivism and education in Florida. This study serves to address that missing scholarship. This project examines the course of Progressive Era reforms in statewide education in Florida's primary and secondary schools (that is, first through twelfth grades). Specifically, it focuses on both the theories behind reforms as well as the application of those theories. Included in this is an examination of the impact of race and class on proposed and implemented reforms. Special attention is paid to vocational education.