| The New
World was grouped in three geographic categories, consisting of the southern,
middle and New England colonies. Since the southern colonies depended on an
agrarian economy dominated by a plantation system based on slavery, there were
great distances between each house and plantation; making it was rather
difficult to establish schools for all. For this reason learning occurred mostly
in the home, by parents or tutors. For the slaves in the southern colonies,
there was very little education because their lack of education was used as a to
maintain their present state of ignorance. Most of the settlers in the southern
colonies arrived as indentured servants, and were of English lower or
middle-class background. However, once arriving to the New World these same
English men became the new aristocrats of the southern colonies. S. Alexander
Rippa notes, “family fortune and great wealth were accumulated by land
acquisition and tobacco growing…these were the quickest ways to prosperity”
(Rippa, 6). In the southern colonies, religion was not a focal matter as it once
was in England. The Anglican Church was a primary institution were governmental
matters were handled instead of religious matters. Therefore, we see that
religion was not as important to the southern settlers and it did not serve as
an “instrument of civic discipline” as it was for the other colonies. In the
other colonies, religious matters was the main reason for education, however,
“education in the southern colonies was considered to be a private and
individual concern instead of a civil or religious matter. The Anglican Church,
to which the southern colonists officially adhered, was not indifferent toward
education. But unlike the Puritans in New England, the Anglicans in the South
did not view the state as an agency for establishing schools” (Rippa, 25).
Because settlers believed education was not a public concern of the state,
the wealthy had tutors on their plantations for their children.
Non-English
speaking groups such as the German Quakers and the Dutch dominated the Middle
colonies. The Quakers believed they were a different kind of people, who
discouraged all worldly vanities. They came to the New World to in 1683, to
practice their religion without ridicule. As a result, the Quakers brought their
strong religious belief to their educational system. Education for the Quakers
centered on their religious beliefs and was the sole purpose for education. The
Dutch’s “entire curriculum strongly emphasized religious training,” where the
schoolmaster was often an officer of the church (Rippa, 29).
The Puritans
were the inhabitations of the New England colony. Just like the Quakers, the
Puritans also brought their strong religious beliefs and practices with them to
the New World. Under the influence of John Calvin the Puritans had two types of
schools: “the primary schools, such as the dame schools and the reading and
writing schools for the children of the lower classes; and the Latin grammar
school for the elite” (Rippa, 30). The New England Primer was used as reading
material; it taught children their alphabet, phonics, as well as religious
rhymed couplets.
From this we see that religion was the main focus of early
American education. We also see that education was not required but considered a
privilege of the elite and men. Over the years the perception of education being
for males and the elite has changed; wherein today’s educational creed is open
to all regardless of race, sex, class, or denomination.
Many
believed that education was not a necessity for all, and those who were deemed
privileged enough to receive one were taught by family members. One of the
responsibilities of a family was to educate their young. However, to educated
them didn’t necessarily mean teaching them the fundamentals of math, english,
and science; most often their education included
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