<P>--John Adams, U.S. President, 1785 </P> <P> After the Revolution, northern states especially emphasized education and rapidly established public schools . By the year 1870, all states had tax - subsidized elementary schools . The US population had one of the highest literacy rates in the world at the time . Private academies also flourished in the towns across the country, but rural areas (where most people lived) had few schools before the 1880s . </P> <P> In 1821, Boston started the first public high school in the United States . By the close of the 19th century, public secondary schools began to outnumber private ones . </P> <P> Over the years, Americans have been influenced by a number of European reformers; among them Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Montessori . </P>

Which was a reform to the education system in the united states that began in the early 1800s
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