CHAPTER XVII EDUCATION IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES OUTLINE The schools of the American colonies closely resembled those of the European countries from which the colonists came, and were influenced by the various religious conceptions of education that were current in each case. In general, where the Calvinistic attitude prevailed, the colonies attempted universal education, but where the Anglican communion dominated, the aristocratic ideal of education was in evidence. Three types of colonial school organization appeared: (1) laissez faire in Virginia; (2) 'parochial' in New Netherlands; and (3) governmental activity in Massachusetts. The South generally followed the same plan as Virginia, and New York (after the English occupation) and Rhode Island also developed on this basis. The other Middle and New England colonies followed the parochial and governmental patterns respectively. American Education a Development from European.We have hitherto had little occasion to speak of American education, except by way of anticipating certain great waves of influence and important institutions that have come into America from Europe. But we have now reached the period when the New World began to be extensively colonized, and in the rest of our study educational practices in America will become increasingly distinctive and influential. The schools of America are the offspring of European institutions, and have their roots deep in the social soil of the lands from which the colonists came. While the universal, free, and secular schools of the United States are a natural accompaniment of its republican form of government, like the new democracy itself, this development of popular education was not reached at a bound. At first the American schools resembled the institutions of the Mother Country as closely as the frontier life would permit. The seventeenth century was, therefore, for tion of schools.' American education distinctly a period of 'transplanta The seven- Influence of Reformation period upon the colonists. tion of schools,' with little or no conscious change; and it is only toward the middle of the next century, as new social and political conditions were evolving and the days of the Revolution were approaching, that there are evident the gradual modification of European ideals and the differentiation of American schools toward an ideal of their own. Conditions in Europe from Which American Education Sprang. Hence, in order to understand American education in the colonial period, we must briefly consider the social and educational conditions in Europe during the early part of the seventeenth century, when the colonists began their migrations. The thirteen American colonies were started while the fierce agitations of the Reformation period were still at their height. The settlers, for the most part, were Protestants, and many of them had emigrated in order to establish institutions-political, ecclesiastical, educational-that would conform to their own ideals, and in all cases education in the New World was given a peculiar importance by the dominant religious interests and conflicts of the old. At this time in practically all the states of Europe, educational institutions were controlled and supported by the Church and religious orders, with the assistance of private benevolence; but a few schools everywhere, and especially in Teutonic countries, were maintained by pre-Reformation craft gilds, and so had a close connection with municipalities (see p. 92). Thus the American schools at first naturally adopted the religious conception of education and religious domination, but had some acquaintance with free schools and municipal management. toward uni tion among aristocratic Anglicans. In addition to these characteristics, the religious reformers, like Luther and Calvin, generally held to the Tendency idea that a system of schools should be supported, or versal educaat least established, by the state, and that all children Calvinists, but should have an opportunity to secure an education ideals among sufficient to make them familiar with the Scriptures. If people were to be guided by the word of God, they must all be able to read it. But this view of education was not held by those for whom, as in the English Church, the Reformation was not primarily a religious and theological, but rather an ecclesiastical and political revolt. In Holland and Scotland, for example, where Calvinism prevailed, universal education was upheld by the mass of the people, but in France and England only a small minority, the Huguenots and Puritans respectively, adopted this attitude. Hence it happens that, wherever in America the influence of Puritanism, the Dutch Reformed religion, Scotch Presbyterianism, or other forms of Calvinism was felt, the nucleus of public education appeared, while in the colonies where the Anglican communion was dominant, the aristocratic idea of education prevailed and training of the masses was neglected. However, even among the Calvinists, who held that elementary education should be universal, and that the State as well as the Church should hold itself responsible for its being furnished, the logical solution of the problem was not perceived for scores of years. In the Calvinistic colonies it was not at first believed that education should be the same in character for all or that the State should bear the expense through taxation. This distinctively American interpretation of public education did develop later, but in the beginning even the most advanced colonies to some extent placed the financial responsibility upon the parent or guardian. Colonial School Organization: The Aristocratic Type in Virginia. As a result of these general traditions and characteristics, there would seem to have been three chief types of school organization in the colonies. These were (1) the laissez faire method, current in Virginia and the South; (2) the parochial organization of New Netherlands and the Middle Colonies in general; (3) the governmental activity in Massachusetts and most of the other New England colonies. We may profitably discuss these typical organizations in order. Turning first to the aristocratic colonies of the South, we may select Virginia, the oldest of these provinces, as representative of the type. That colony constituted the first attempt of England at reproducing herself in the New World, and here are found an order of society, form of government, established church, and distinction between classes, similar to those of the Mother Country. For some time there existed a sharp line of demarcation between the gentry, or landowning class, and the masses, which included the landless, indentured servants, and other dependents. In education, the colonists had brought with them the idea of a classical higher and secondary training for the upper classes in the semi-monastic type of university and the (Latin) grammar school (see pp. 120 f.), and but little in the way of elementary education, except private 'dame' schools and the catechetical training by, the clergy. There were, in addition, the family 'tutorial' education, both secondary and elementary, for the children of the wealthy, and evident attempts at perpetuating the old English industrial training through apprenticeship for orphans and children of the poor. But no such institution as a public elementary school was at first known. In consequence, the educa- Consequent tional legislation in colonial Virginia is concerned mainly legislation. with (a) the organization of a college or university, (b)' individual schools of secondary grade, and (c) apprenticeship education for the poor. educational found a college During the first quarter of a century most educational efforts in Virginia were in behalf of the foundation of Efforts to an institution of higher learning, and were aided by the king, the Anglican bishops, and the London Company. By 1619 over £2000 and a grant of ten thousand acres of land had been obtained for a University at Henrico, but this rather indefinite plan was brought to a violent end by the Indian massacre of 1622, and the funds were diverted to a school in the Bahamas. An even more fruitless endeavor to found a college was made in 1624 by Sir Edwin Palmer upon an island in the Susquehanna. During this period also there was at least one abortive attempt to establish a school by collections and gifts, and during the second quarter century of the colony there were chartered a number of secondary schools, and secondary endowed with bequests of land, money, cows, horses, schools. |