Ngram: school and family

reposting from 2-11-2011; updated 11-18-12 

Bigger, Better Google Ngrams: Brace Yourself for the Power of Grammar - Ben Zimmer - The Atlantic: "As of today, the Ngram Viewer just got a whole lot better. For starters, the text corpus, already mind-bogglingly big, has become much bigger: The new edition extracts data from more than eight million out of the 20 million books that Google has scanned. That represents about six percent of all books ever published, according to Google's estimate. ..."

I generated this ngram in 2-11 and it still is interesting even when I run the terms with the new data. And you can run it for different European countries and see results also. Note that compulsory attendance laws became more widespread and in the years 1900 - 1920 and public schools grew at a rapid rate. By 1930, there would be more than 130,000 school districts in the US. (After this, increasing centralization would drive that number much, much lower.) Run these yourself to see them in full.

History of education in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "By 1900, 34 states had compulsory schooling laws, 4 of which were in the South. 30 states with compulsory schooling laws required attendance until age 14 (or higher).[44] As a result, by 1910, 72 percent of American children attended school. Half the nation's children attended one-room schools. In 1918, every state required students to complete elementary school.[45]"

ngram: school and family

1905 and 1974
In the chart above, the crossover points are 1905 and 1974.  1905 saw the birth of the credit:

American Educational History Timeline: "1905- The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is founded. It is charted by an act of Congress in 1906, the same year the Foundation encouraged the adoption of a standard system for equating "seat time" (the amount of time spent in a class) to high school credits. Still in use today, this system came to be called the "Carnegie Unit." ..." See the Carnegie Foundation's home page for additional information."

Here are some facts about life in the US in those years.

1905 - Facts From 100 Years Ago: (selected)

• The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
• There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.
• Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.
• Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
• Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
• More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
• Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had no college education.
• Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

What Happened in 1974 including Pop Culture, Prices, Events and Technology:
1974 Inflation continues to spiral out of control around the world reaching 11.3% in the USA and 17.2% in the UK and the global recession deepens. The famous skeleton "Lucy" is discovered in Ethiopia which lived between 3.9 to 3 million years ago. More and more smaller digital based consumer products appear in the shops and the earliest forms of Word Processors appear which resemble a typewriter more than a computer. After the findings of the Watergate Scandal Richard Nixon becomes the first US president forced to resign from office. "

Our Quality of Life Peaked in 1974. It's All Downhill Now: "With the turning of every year, we expect our lives to improve. As long as the economy continues to grow, we imagine, the world will become a more congenial place in which to live. There is no basis for this belief. If we take into account such factors as pollution and the depletion of natural capital, we see that the quality of life peaked in the UK in 1974 and in the US in 1968, and has been falling ever since. We are going backwards."

Case-Sensitive Search
Ngram is case-sensitive and case does change this ngram a bit. Here's the same search capitalized. There are no crossover points but I've focused on 1868, part of a small rise on the left end of the graph, with additional material below.

ngram: School and Family

American Educational History Timeline:
1867 - The Department of Education is created in order to help states establish effective school systems.

1867 - After hearing of the desperate situation facing schools in the south, George Peabody funds the two-million-dollar Peabody Education Fund to aid public education in southern states.

1867 - Howard University is established in Washington D.C. to provide education for African American youth "in the liberal arts and sciences.” Early financial support is provided by the Freedmen's Bureau.

1867 & 1868 - The four Reconstruction Acts are passed over President Andrew Johnson's veto. They divide the south into military districts and require elections to be held with freed male slaves being allowed to vote.

1868 -In spite of opposition by southern states, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified and becomes law. It guarantees privileges of citizenship including due process and equal protection under the law including the right to vote for freed male slaves. It becomes the basis for the rulings in Brown v. Board of Education and Pyler v. Doe as well as many other important court cases.

What Is It?
I discovered this strange jump when I ran my same basic search, family and school, using British English books. In this case, the graph was the same whether capitalized or not.  The distinct and sharp rectangular rise on the left is quite unique. Again, run it yourself to be able to mouseover and see the data points.