Journal of Undergraduate Research
Keywords
school attendance, American frontier, Utah, 1870, Utah pioneers
College
Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Department
Economics
Abstract
In his study, “Education Among the Mormons,” Frederick S. Buchanan noted that “when we examine development of public schooling in Utah during the half century which elapsed between the initial settlement by Mormon pioneers in 1847 and the granting of statehood in 1896, it is not obvious that a smooth developmental process of growth occurred.”1 Traditional holds that early Mormon settlers were devoted to education and quickly built a strong schooling system for the youth, yet Frederick S. Buchanan’s statement paints a more accurate picture of frontier education in Utah. This economic study used empirical evidence to test the differing views of education in the Territory of Utah. Frontier education did not measure up to contemporary eastern education nor to the grand stereotypes supposing that the early Utah pioneers were all learning their three “R’s.”
Recommended Citation
Payne, Tally Shae and Pope, Dr. Clayne L.
(2013)
"THE DETERMINANTS OF SCHOOL ATTENDANCE ON THE AMERICAN FRONTIER: THE CASE OF THE TERRITORY OF UTAH IN 1870,"
Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013:
Iss.
1, Article 171.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/171