John Dewey, often called the "father of American education," patterned his theories on the Prussian system. This elitist system consisted of the 1 % at the top, who only allowed 10% of their population to have a true education, in order to be the doctors, engineers and other professionals the elites needed to serve them.
The rest of the population were deliberately dumbed-down in order to make them less likely to rebel against the system. Children in these Prussian schools were taught to sit down, shut up, color in the lines and not make waves -- in order to prepare them to become either soldiers or factory workers. This is detailed in "The Underground History of American Education" by John Gatto.