Education in the Early Colonies

As you have seen and read in The Fighting Ground, life for the colonists during the Revolutionary War was much different than today. Today, our schools have many books, technology, teachers, and students. What was school like for Jonathan? What kinds of lessons and books did he read? Was his education system better or worse than today’s?

Read the information on the website about education in the colonies. It can be found at

http://alumni.cc.gettysburg.edu/~s330558/schooling.html

Please Answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. How is the “town school” in Dedham, Mass. different from ours? Be specific! What do you see in the illustration?

2. One of the most popular “textbooks” was the hornbook. What three very important things did it teach?

1.

2.

3.

Which of these three would NOT be allowed in our textbooks and why?

3. Explain some main differences between a “dame school” and a primary or preschool.

Dame School Our Primary/Preschool

4. The New England Primer was a MUST for education. How is it completely different from our textbooks?

5. Which textbooks do you think were most effective – ours or theirs? Why? (Don’t jump to conclusions. Think about what the goals of education are. What were the colonists’ goals? What are our goals?)

6. Look at the education in the Northern, Middle, and Southern Colonies. Check out the specific laws in each of these groups. Fill in the chart with five of the characteristics you find (similarities and differences).