Society has been shaped by the principles and traditions set forth by its predecessors. In the early 1600’s, citizens from Europe immigrated to the New World for religious freedom and a new life. The New World was a vast unexplored land filled with immense opportunities unseen by the settlers of that time. Communities, colonies, and small sized governments, formed all throughout the region and societal issues began to arise. With the different issues that arose, settlers realized the importance and necessity of some type of education system. The colonist felt that “the masses had to be educated in order to understand the written religious and secular codes that the colonies were now living under” (Barger, 2004). Dame schools, grammar schools, and colleges were established all throughout the land by the church to provide religious and spiritual instruction to the coming generation. According to historian Samuel Morison, early Americans believed that, “Education is of singular benefit to the commonwealth and that it fits children for future service in the church and state” (1956, p. 67). Since the churches were in charge of the schools, its faith and different doctrinal beliefs had a major influence on the local schools. The American education system between the early 17th and 18th century was based on the foundation of Christianity.
The early American education curriculum was rooted on Christianity since it relied heavily on the use of Christian books to teach students. School masters taught lessons heavily laced with religion relying on text such as a primer (Reef, 2009, p. 4). The most common primer used by instructors at that time to teach reading and writing was the New England Primer (Mondale & Bernard, 2001, p. 21). The Ne...
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With a cultural background like Mike’s, survival in the American educational system is a difficult struggle at best. However, Jack helped fill in some of the critical cultural blanks. “He slowly and carefully built up our knowledge of Western intellectual history – with facts, with connections, with speculations” . And Jack served as more than simply a source of numb...
In the 1600’s, America was the new world, and the land of opportunity, which spurred settlers to travel to the region seeking religious freedom or economic success. However, as the colonies of New England and Chesapeake were settled, they had contrasting viewpoints on how they should live, and manage their newly occupied settlements. These viewpoints correlated to specific problems arising in each area. For example, the New England colonies experienced the witchcraft scare, and the Chesapeake colonies experienced civil uprisings like Bacon’s rebellion. To better understand why these colonies experienced contrastingly different problems, a closer look is required of the two colonies social, economic, and religious viewpoints, which contributed
Thomas Jefferson had very basic ideas for education in colonial America. He felt that the law did not need specific details, but simply a basic system. Jefferson felt that the school should be set up to educate children in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Jefferson stated that every county should be broken down into hundreds, which were small districts of five or six square miles. In these hundreds, the first three years of a child's education would be gratis according to Jefferson. After the first three years, it would be up to the parents to fund their children's educ...
Catechism, also known as religious instruction, schooling or teaching coexists with historic and present educational systems. Generalizing on this dogma is the idea that historically, education had the jurisdiction to incorporate religious values into a curriculum. Secular education was not a question of right or wrong, but more of a when and how. Individuals like Benjamin Harris subconsciously disguised religious works in the form of education. The New England Primer of 1777 is his most relevant and popular creation. Based off the Puritan religion, The New England Primer of 1777 imbedded many unique religious and educational principles into early schooling. A book consisting
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After reading Joel Spring?s book, and reflecting on some of the issues facing our schools, it is apparent that our educational system requires much attention among our nation?s leaders. While the system has transformed in many beneficial ways, we are still plagued by the growing problems of society. I look forward to reading another book by Joel Spring, and developing my evolving understanding of the educational system within the United States.
Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. New York: Basic, 2010. Print
...nary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 6. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 135. Student Resources in Context. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Chapter 3 “Recall and Reflect” Question 4: What was the intellectual culture of colonial America, as expressed in literature, philosophy, science, education, and law?
Johnson, Michael P. Reading the American Past. Bedford Books, Boston MA 1998. This material may be legally cited or reproduced as long as the author's name is not removed from the publication and full and proper credit is given in the citation.