I just thought I would share the origins of the US public education system for anyone who wanted to know more or was not aware of how it came to be. Much of it was derived from the German (Prussian) public education system by Horace Mann. I'm not sure if it was tailored towards factory work in the beginning, due to the time period (first half of the 1800s for the US), so that must have come later in the second half of 19th century America. However, I'm guessing it never thought overly high of creativity and free thinking when at the time, many who were going through the education system were still working on farms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Mann

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_education_system