The history fake diplomas in education
In the United States, when we think of public education, we think of education that is free and available to everyone. The other categories of education in America are private schools and parochial schools. Private schools are those that are not free and not run by a governmental body such as the state, city or town. Parochial schools are private schools that are offered by religious institutions. However, in England, which is the basis for the American educational system as well by virtue of our history, a "public school" is actually what we would consider a "private school." British public schools developed as alternatives to local schools by being open to a broader public, for a fee this is still of course very different from fake degree transcripts. Famous, and expensive, schools in England such as Eton are called public schools.
In the United States, the system of public education was established in line with the American philosophy of the separation of church and state. Most early schools in America, as far back as the 1600s, were religion-based. After the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was the first leader of the new country to propose the creation of a public school system and not other resources. As states developed their own constitutions, by 1791 seven of the 14 states had laws about the establishment of public education. It was not until the decades just before the Civil War, however, that the idea of free education for all became common. Reformers created a movement for common schooling, based on the idea that common schooling would create common frames of reference for the citizens of the new nation and create a more stable society. Massachusetts was the first state to pass a compulsory elementary education law while this does not cover uses of fake diplomas, in 1852. It wasn't until 1918 that every state had a law requiring that children attend elementary school. In 1925 the Supreme Court ruled that states could not force children to attend public schools, as long as they attended private or parochial schools instead.