A Zeal For Education
- Free schooling was the exception, not the rule, in British colonies- Many colonial leaders had a concern for educationo All major religious groups had education concerns:S Anglicans in Virginia and the Carolinas- Religious leaders constantly discussed means of ensuring education to the children in their respective areas- The emphasis upon reading the Bible and pious books was characteristic of the English Puritans, also the Protestantso Protestants made individual biblical interpretation a central part of their religion- In most areas, those who had the means to pay for instruction were expected to provide education for their children- New Englanders succeeded best in their efforts to create schools in which children of both the prosperous and the poor could gain the minimal essentials of education; the other colonies struggled with the problemS strong central government - dominated by clergy who had firm opinions about training children in literacy and knowledge of the Bible· Massachusetts Bay could see that all children be educated by persuasion or authority
Connecticut and other New England colonies (except for Rhode Island) followed Massachusetts- Agrarian colonies: Virginia, Maryland, etc. Every planter with money tried to hire a tutor for his children; two or three planters sometimes joined together to jointly hire a tutor for their children- In many instances, tutors and teachers were indentured servants or convictso 2/3 of schoolmasters in Maryland just before the American Revolution were convicts or indentured servants- Children of poorer farmers made due as best they couldo Occasionally, the church gave sparse lessons in readingo More often, the parents, if they were literate themselves, taught their childrenS Children on isolated farms in agrarian communities rarely learned to do more than spell out a catechism or write their names. - Many wills of other Virginia Planters were used for educationo Richard Russell - Set aside part of his estate for the education of 6 poor childreno Reverend John Farnefold - Gave 100 acres and all the school books in his library to form the Winchester School- In general, the practice of so called free schools in southern colonies was to collect fees from parents able to pay and only freely admit orphans and those children too poor to pay for private schooling- The great distances that separated plantations scattered along the bays and rivers of Virginia and Maryland made most of them inaccessible to such schools as were established. - Conditions were far more favorable to learning in the compact towns and villages of the northern colonieso Every able child in the community could get to the community schoolo The cost of teachers and headmasters was covered by the government or by joint agreements between parentsS Made education available in New England to children whose parents would have been unable to pay the higher costs of schooling in agrarian communitieso No other colony had such a high university graduate proportion among its leadersS Graduated leaders set out to model the educational system after that of England'sS Envisioned the New World as another England which would be purged of its errors and shortcomings; wanted children to be virtuous and educated with assured success- Within 5 years of Its settlement, Massachusetts Bay set about founding a grammar school with a basic Latin curriculum like the grammar schools of Englando The inhabitants of Boston held a meeting in April of 1635 to elect Philemon Portmort as schoolmastero Some of the richer inhabitants joined to hire Daniel Maude from Emmanuel College to teacho School became known as the Boston Latin Schoolo Charleston hires a schoolmaster and soon other New England towns like Dorchester, Salem, Lynn, New Haven, etc. S Both schools were united in 1805 to form Hampton Academy. o King James sent instructions to the bishops to collect money to put towards schoolso The Virginia Company set aside 10,000 acres for the creation of a university at Henrico and 1,000 acres to support a college for the conversion of non-Christianso Plans were scrapped because the Indian Massacre of 1622 nearly wiped out the colonyo The earliest school in Virginia to survive was established by Benjamin Symmes, a planter, who willed in 1635 that 200 acres and the milk of 8 cows be set towards the education of children of Elizabeth and Kiquotan Parisheso Thomas Eaton in 1659 founded another school in Elizabeth City with 500 acres, 2 slaves, and cattle. S The most famous schoolmaster of the early period was Ezekiel Cheever, who began his career in 1642- In addition to grammar schools, there were writing schools where penmanship, arithmetic, and reading were offered- Modern Free School: A tax supported public school open to all without cost- Early Free School: " a democratic, public institution no restricted to any class, where tuition fees are only charged to those living outside the region" - The founders of New England set out to ensure that schooling should not be denied to any child because of povertyo Laws passed throughout New England in the colonial period give responsibilities of education to the local governmento 1642 - Act passed by the General Court in Massachusetts Bay inquire of parents concerning the training of children and apprenticesS In cases of negligence, the leaders were instructed to impose fines and to apprentice children where they might gain the rudimentary educationS 1647 - General Court of Massachusetts passed a law pushing universal literacy in the colony· "Satan, that old deluder, had as one of his chief projects, a plat to keep men form the knowledge of the Scriptures by keeping them in an unknown tongue"· Every town of 50 households or more were required to have a schoolmaster; every town of 100 or more households was ordered to establish a Latin Grammar School where students could be prepared for universityo Failure to comply with this law resulted in a fine- 1648 - laws passed that required leaders to be vigilant lest any of their neighbors should fall to illiteracy- Rhode Island, because of it's decentralized government, lagged behind in education- A large portion of New England women were literate; many were trained in dame schoolso Some dame schools were private, supported by tuition; others received town supporto Mothers who had children of their own took in other children to teach as well- Training of children in honest vocations was very important to colonistso Growing influence of middle-class thinking helped to emphasize the virtue of industryo Vocational education was not substituted for classical education- The Dutch in New Netherlands were concerned about their education alsoo 1649 - 9 men recited the sad state of education and literacy in New Netherlands to the Dutch States General in HollandS They recommended a public school with at least two good teachers so that the youth can be indoctrinated with the knowledge and fear of the LordS 1637- a schoolmaster in New Netherlands is listed on the salaried officials in the Dutch West India CompanyS Earliest schoolmaster sometimes combined functions of teacher, sexton, and comforter of the sickS Dutch Reformed Church shared the responsibility with the Dutch East India Company to license and hire teachers- In New York, education lagged behind other colonieso Its citizens were notably negligent of public schoolso Two bills were introduced into the public assembly (1691, 1696) to establish schools; neither passedo 1732 - legislature set up a grammar school for Latin, Greek, and mathematics in New York Cityo 1709 - The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts established a free charity school - Pennsylvania Quakers wanted to insure against indigence and make certain that every community provided the elements of education for the youngo Emphasized practical education as opposed to classical learningo William Penn's first Frame of Government ordered the governor and the Council to erect public schools to see that all children under twelve should be taught a useful skillo Quakers envisioned eliminating poverty and ignoranceo Schools established were free only to those unable to payo Quakers did not make education a matter of public concern- Germans cared little for learningo German's and Reformed Church members were peasants and were nominally concerned with educationS Moravians alone were establishing schools and promoting education- In contrast, the Scottish who swarmed into Pennsylvania brought a respect for learningo William Tenet's Log College was a classical grammar school designed to give education to hopeful young ministersS School flourished from 1726-1742; encouraged the foundation of other schools- Philadelphia earned an early reputation for it's schoolso Many private schools were nightly, for the benefit of apprenticeso Because of Philadelphia's cosmopolitan atmosphere, more foreign languages were taught in Philadelphia than in any other place on the continento Courses offered were Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic- The first schools in Maryland were established by the Jesuitso 1696 - An act devised a plan for the establishment of schools,S First of these was King William's School in Annapolis- Some southern parents sent their children to England to be reared and sent back to the colonieso Hazards:S Long Sea voyageS Mortality from smallpox and diphtheriaS Possibility that English education would make them unfit for life in the colonies- Majority of children stayed at home- South Carolina planters followed Virginianso Hired private tutors- North Carolina - furthest behind in education of the colonieso Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to Foreign Parts made a particular effort to send teaching missionaries to North Carolina- Harvard University - first institution of higher educationo Founded to teach ministers divinity- College of William and Mary - chartered in 1693 - second institution of higher learning- Yale - founded in 1716 - founded to offer the level of learning of Harvard without the bustle of the big city - third colonial college- King College - New York - Later known as Columbia - chartered in 1754- Other colleges founded before the Revolution:o Rhode Island College - later known as Brown University - 1764o Queens College - Later known as Rutgers - 1766. had the greatest difficulty in establishing schools - low-mobility situations- When one surveys the difficulties, the amazing fact is not that most schools were poor and few but that so many colonial Americans somehow obtained the rudimentary elements of an education- Within 10 years after the settlement of Jamestown, colonial authorities were making efforts towards creating schools.
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