Colonial+Period

Connecticut colony was a leader in education. The first public schools were established in 1642 in New Haven and in Hartford in 1643. Many of our private schools, such as Hopkins and Taft were established at this time. The Puritans of Connecticut put heavy emphasis on education, specifically so that young and old would be able to read the Scriptures. If they were educated, they could learn God’s laws and the laws of men. The father in a Puritan house prepared his children by teaching them the Bible once a week. Education was the ultimate responsibility of the parent and the Puritan homes were strict—a child could be seen not heard and spoke only when spoken to by an adult. The Connecticut Code of 1650 made it a requirement that children and apprentices be taught to read. Connecticut also required children to be trained in an “honest calling” so that they could contribute to the colony, as well as taking care of themselves. Many children at the age of seven or eight (were sent to homes to work. They became **apprentices.** Even the wealthy parents followed this tradition. By this age, boys usually decided on a craft or trade and remained in it all their life. The wealthy colonist children, if not an apprentice, attended private schools, or they had private teachers (tutors). These students were headed for the university. Although public schools were supposed to be established, most children were educated at home where they learned obedience, religion and the skills for daily life. In some towns, there were “dame” schools which were taught by widows in their own homes. These women taught only the basic skills because that was all they knew. These skills included learning the alphabet, spelling, writing and simple arithmetic. Boys who attended these schools paid a penny a day.
 * Beginning Stages of Education **

When laws establishing schools were written, two kinds of schools were specifically mentioned: those that provided training in reading and writing, and those that would train for entrance into the university. Here Latin was used, and not many continued on in this type of school. Any town that had fifty or more families had to establish a school for reading and writing, and those towns with 100 or more were to set up **grammar schools** to prepare boys for the university. This was often expensive to establish, so the grammar schools usually even included “petty scholars”—those not continuing into college.
 * Laws About Education **

Parents were expected to provide pens (actually quills), papers, books and firewood in the winter.
 * Parents Responsibilities **

**The School Day** School started at 7:00 o'clock in the morning. Most children had to walk from their house to the school Monday through Saturday. If a pupil performed a task properly, they got to sit closer to the fire for warmth. If the schoolmaster felt a child needed discipline he tapped them on the head or across the hands with a heavy ruler. If the school master thought it was really necessary, a child could be whipped or made to wear a dunce hat. Discipline and strict obedience were expected at all times. Schools in Colonial times were not like our schools today. They ran all year and they used all the same texts. Since students withdrew and reenrolled depending on family life, it was easy to resume study.

The dame school and/or the one room school house or building often in need of repairs. There were no desks and nice backed chairs, only benches and tables and a seat for the schoolmaster, as well as a desk for the dictionary. Curriculum ** There were not many children’s books during this period. Cotton Mather wrote //Good Lessons for Children in Verse//, and there was the //New England Primer//. Also included in this list would be Hughes //Plain and// //Easy Directions to Faire Writing// or Crocker’s //The Tutor to Writing and Arithmetic.// //Aesop’s Fables// were used in early classrooms. The basic book was the //Hornbook// that had the alphabet and numbers on one side and the Lord’s Prayer on the other. The hornbook was a little frame with a handle on it. A piece of paper was slipped into the frame, or sometimes just tacked onto what was a paddle. Sometimes letters were just drawn onto the wood itself. Paper was rare and was often made of rags. Spelling and simple arithmetic was taught using a hornbook also. Lessons were often done in **doggerel** rhyme, one which even survives today, “Thirty days hath September. . . ” Most lessons were done aloud and in rote with no understanding of why. The ABC’s often included pictures and religious rhymes such as A “In Adam’s Fall We Sinned All,” B “Thy life to mend, This Book attend.” Since this was a religious society this is not at all odd.
 * The School House **
 * 

For lesson plans similar to colonial times but updated for the technology age, click here. We mentioned “dame” schools, but a regular one-room schoolhouse had a schoolmaster, often a young man, a graduate straight from Harvard or Yale, whose ultimate goal was to be a minister or lawyer. Generally he received only a Bible and a place to stay as payment. Sometimes they received corn or barley as a payment. They also received lodging in the homes of the towns’ folk.
 * Teacher **

Schools were generally for the boys. It was not customary to educate women since her place was the home. She didn’t have any economic pressure to earn her own living since she was going to get married and raise a family and care for her home, often at an early age. Women were basically illiterate; many could only sign their names with an x. If they did go to school, it was to a “dame” school where they taught some reading and knitting and maybe a little arithmetic, music and dancing. They were taught reading for Bible study and arithmetic for household expenses. It was more important to learn how to be a housewife: to cook, to spin, to weave and to knit socks. Women and young girls during leisure time often embroidered **samplers**. They made fancy scarves and veils and did much quilting.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;">Students **

Education according to the Colonies ** <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">If you were a school-age person in colonial America, you might have gone to a public or private school, just like you would today. But what you learned and how you learned it have changed through the years. · <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">In the **New England Colonies**, parents believed that their children should learn about Christianity. To that end, parents taught their children to read so they could read the Bible. And once those kids knew how to read, they could read school books as well. New England villages having more than 100 families set up **grammar schools**, which taught boys Latin and math and other subjects needed to get into college. And although girls could read, they weren't allowed to go to grammar school or to college. · **<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Middle Colonies **<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> schools were also largely religious but taught the teachings of one religion. If you were a Catholic, you learned about the Catholic religion. Most schools were private. Students also learned other subjects so they could get into college. Again, girls weren't allowed to attend, unless they were Quakers. · <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">School-age kids in the **Southern Colonies** were taught at home, for the most part, by their parents or by private tutors. When these kids became teenagers, they would then go off to college or to Europe. As in the other colonies, Southern girls did not go to school. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Schools were generally small, not like the large ones many kids go to today. Kids learned to read from special books called ** [|hornbooks] **.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">media type="file" key="Education__Leisure__Gender__and_Class_Differences_in_the_Colonies.asf" width="300" height="300"

To make your own hornbook, click [|here].

Kids in colonial America were taught a trade, usually the one their fathers did, so they could continue the family business when their fathers retired. Often, kids would go to school //<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif';">and // learn a trade.

In the early 1600’s, education was born and was based on the “four R’s,” namely reading, writing, arithmetic, and religious studies. Students aged six to eight years old attended “dame schools.” The first formal school was formed in 1635 by Puritans for boys of a certain social status to achieve higher learning. In the dame schools, a teacher focused on reading—math and writing were not a high priority in elementary education at that time. After a child finished “dame school,” their parents had three simple options for their sons, Latin school for college preparation, training at home by their father, or learning with a craftsman. <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, elementary education began being influenced by religion. In 1642, Massachusetts passed a law stating that all children should learn how to read—the inability to read was seen as Satan’s attempt to keep people from reading the bible and scriptures and coming to God.

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">**Assignment** <span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Now that you have learned about a day in the life of a child living in the Colonial Period, create a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting education in the Colonial Period to how it is presently.

To learn more education during the Colonial Period visit the following sites:

Education in colonial America

School During Colonial Times

Schooling, Education, and Literacy in Colonial America

To learn fun facts about the 13 Colonies, visit The Thirteen Colonies of America.

References [] @http://library.thinkquest.org/J002611F/craft3.htm [] []

Links to Primary Sources from Google Books <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">By Barbara Beatty <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 200%;"> [] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">By Barbara R. Peltzman [] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">By Richard J. Altenbaugh []
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13pt;">Preschool Education in America: The Culture of Young Children from the Colonial Period to the Present **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13pt;">Pioneers of early childhood education: a bio-bibliographical guide **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13pt;">Historical dictionary of American education **