<P> Many students of democracy have desired to improve education in order to improve the quality of governance in democratic societies; the necessity of good public education follows logically if one believes that the quality of democratic governance depends on the ability of citizens to make informed, intelligent choices, and that education can improve these abilities . </P> <P> Politically motivated educational reforms of the democratic type are recorded as far back as Plato in The Republic . In the United States, this lineage of democratic education reform was continued by Thomas Jefferson, who advocated ambitious reforms partly along Platonic lines for public schooling in Virginia . </P> <P> Another motivation for reform is the desire to address socio - economic problems, which many people see as having significant roots in lack of education . Starting in the 20th century, people have attempted to argue that small improvements in education can have large returns in such areas as health, wealth and well - being . For example, in Kerala, India in the 1950s, increases in women's health were correlated with increases in female literacy rates . In Iran, increased primary education was correlated with increased farming efficiencies and income . In both cases some researchers have concluded these correlations as representing an underlying causal relationship: education causes socio - economic benefits . In the case of Iran, researchers concluded that the improvements were due to farmers gaining reliable access to national crop prices and scientific farming information . </P> <P> Reforms can be based on bringing education into alignment with a society's core values . Reforms that attempt to change a society's core values can connect alternative education initiatives with a network of other alternative institutions . </P>

Why did reformers set out to improve education in the united states