Education

Public elementary and secondary education in Missouri is the responsibility of the state board of education, created in 1945. The board, appointed by the governor, appoints a commissioner of education. This official administers the state department of elementary and secondary education and supervises the public school system. School attendance is required from age 7 to 16.

A free school for Indians and needy white children was founded at the settlement of Ste. Genevieve in 1806. Although an attempt to provide public schools for all rural children was made in 1839, it was not until 1870 that a system of public education for all was formulated.

William T. Harris, superintendent of schools in St. Louis during 1870-85. was instrumental in introducing new European (especially German) educational theories into the United States. St. Louis was the site of the first public school kindergarten in the nation, opened in 1873. In 1880, industrial arts education for the first time became an organized program with the opening of the St. Louis Manual Training School.

The University of Missouri, founded in 1839, is the oldest state university west of the Mississippi. The main campus is at Columbia. The university also has campuses at St. Louis, Kansas City, and Rolla.