While education existed before, the Industrial Revolution drastically changed the nature of work and the skills required. The shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy demanded a more skilled and literate workforce. Factories and burgeoning industries needed employees who could read instructions, perform calculations, and adapt to new technologies. This created a widespread societal understanding that formal education, beyond basic literacy, was no longer a luxury but a necessity for economic advancement and social mobility. The rise of mass production and specialized labor further solidified this belief.
Other factors played a role, like the progressive movement's focus on social reform, but the Industrial Revolution was the primary catalyst for the widespread acceptance of formal education as essential for individual and societal prosperity in the US.