Schooling in Colonial America

1600-1800

The Purpose of Education

What does a person need to know to be a productive citizen?

Religious training Upper class

College Working classes

Apprenticeships Farm labor

“on the job” training

Harvard 1726

Education was neither free, public, nor secular in the Colonies

Educational opportunities were stratified Class Gender Race Religion Region

Education served to retain the status quo Children were educated to take

their parent’s place in society Tension

American ideal of equal opportunity for all

Southern Colonies

A sharply defined class structure

Dispersed population Anglican church did

not put an emphasis on religious indoctrination

Belief that education was a private matter and not the concern of the state

Middle Colonies A diverse population

English, Dutch, German, French, Swedish

Catholics, Mennonites, Calvinists, Lutherans, Quakers, Presbyterians, Jews

Commercial interests An emphasis on vocational

education

Northern Colonies

A fairly uniform population

Puritan New England “Children are vipers and

infinitely more hateful than vipers.”

Jonathan Edwards

A Theocracy

The Construction of Childhood For the Puritans,

Children were miniature adults

Born in sin, they were vulnerable to Satan’s ploys

Thus, they need to be closely monitored

The Construction of Childhood

High child mortality led to more “objectification” than today

The Construction of Childhood

By the mid-19th century, childhood began to be thought of as a unique time in life.

“Adolescence” had not yet been invented, however.

The Emergence of Higher Education Harvard College

The purpose was to prepare young men, 13-18, in Biblical and classical studies

The goal was to produce a new generation to assume leadership in the church and commonwealth

College Life

Greek, Latin, Scripture Moral development

was as important as intellectual development

College was a “rite of passage” for colonial gentlemen.

“Caning” at Harvard

Colonial Schooling

Private Tutors Upper Class

Dame Schools Boys & girls

Grammar School Upper & Merchant

Class Mission or Charity

School The poor

Private Academies Upper Class

College Upper Class

Dame Schools

Taught by women in their homes

Open to girls Colonial “Day Care”

Education For The Wealthy Private tutor

Grammar school

Academy

College

What was a colonial education like? One-room log or

clapboard cabins Students aged 3-20 Teachers would “cite,”

students would “re-cite.”

Corporal punishment

Hornbook Paddle shaped board with

paper sheet attached Usually contained the ABC's

in both small and capital letters

Some Scripture

Hornbook They had been used in

Europe

Their use continued in the colonies because printed books and pamphlets were harder to come by.

New England Primer Calvinist Theology

Combined hornbook with authorized catechism

Secular materials Almanacs

Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanack”

Chapbooks Most were imported from

England

The National Era

1780-1830

The Educated Citizen “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be.” - Thomas Jefferson

The Founders were The Founders were deeply influenced by deeply influenced by Enlightenment Enlightenment thoughtthought

They believed that a They believed that a republic could survive republic could survive only if its citizens only if its citizens were educatedwere educated

European Thinkers who influenced American Education John Locke

1632 – 1704 Tabula Rasa Children should learn

through their five senses (Empiricism)

Children learn through imitation

Children are rational creatures

Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778

Critical of educational practice

Education should be consistent with the natural conditions of a child’s growth They are not ready to

deal with abstract ideas imposed upon them through books

European Thinkers who influenced American Education

Educating a New Nation Literacy prior to

the revolution White men White women Blacks

Slave Free

Native Americans

After the Revolution Economic changes

Commercial economy

Improved transportation

A more mobile society meant a need for improved communication

After the Revolution Political changes

Political, economic theory

Locke Rousseau

Calls to action Pamphlets

Common Sense Broadsides Newspapers

A Republic demands an educated citizenry

The task was to build a nation out of 13 colonies

Eliminate all things British

Thomas Jefferson History instead of

Scripture “Geniuses raked

from the rubble” “The people are

the only safe depositories”

University of Virginia

Noah Webster Connecticut

teacher Goal- eliminate

British textbooks

Noah Webster Blueback speller Became

America’s greatest lexicographer

The first American Dictionary

Benjamin Rush Founder of Dickenson

College “Thoughts upon the

mode of education proper in a republic”

“Thoughts upon female education” Among the first to

advocate education for females

But, separate, not equal

Benjamin Rush Jefferson’s

personal physician Gave medical

advice to Meriwether Lewis prior to the Lewis and Clark expedition

Invented “the tranquilizing chair”

The Impact of Immigration and Industrialization

The Lancastrian system

A course of study Units of work

Textbooks McGuffy readers Blueback spellers

The Lancasterian System System of education in which

children could be educated very cheaply

One teacher was in charge of large numbers of students

Monitors were used as a method of "crowd control," hence the schools came also to be known as monitorial schools.

More advanced students had the responsibility of assisting in teaching those students below them

The McGuffy Reader The most popular schoolbook in the

nineteenth century was the McGuffey Reader, introduced in 1836.

Based on landmarks of world literature, the set of six readers, which increased in difficulty, were the basis for teaching literacy, as well as basic values such as honesty and charity.

The readers gave the teacher flexibility she lacked before, allowing her to more easily teach a classroom of pupils of different ages and levels.

Tens of millions of copies were sold in the nineteenth century.

In rural America the McGuffey Reader was often the only exposure people had to world literature.