THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
History of Education in the United States. — The Reformation principle that the individual should be guided in life by the Bible had as an educational corollary that he should at least be taught to read it. Where the Reformation was chiefly a religious movement and was carried to logical conclusions, the effect upon the devel opment of universal education was quite direct, but where the Reformation was political and ecclesiastical rather than religious, and halting rather than thorough, the attitude toward edu cation was one of comparative indifference and neglect. The former condition was true wher ever Calvinism prevailed, as in the Netherlands, Scotland and among the Puritans in England. The latter condition was true in England gen qrally, where the Anglican Church was in the nature of a compromise. The United States was settled in the 17th century when religious antagonisms were most bitter and, moreover, it was largely settled by groups of people who fled from Europe because of religious persecu tion and because of their desire to worship in their own peculiar way. The kind of educa tional system that would be established in any part of the new land would be determined chiefly by the kind of religious opinions held by the people settling there. We find three fairly distinct types of education developing in the colonies: 1. The Selective Type prevailed in the south ern colonies where distinctions of classes de veloped and the Anglican Church was estab lished. The gentry employed tutors for their own children or sent them to England to be educated. They were not only not interested in the education of the masses who were in many instances indentured servants and convicts, but believed solely in the system of apprenticeship as a preparation for the trades which were to be the life-work of these lower classes. Hence, down to the Revolution, the character that was early impressed upon education in the southern colonies remained, i.e. fair provision for sec ondary education through the voluntary and haphazard establishment of Latin schools, and little provision for elementary instruction be yond the system of apprenticeship.
2. The Parochical School Type prevailed in the middle colonies. These colonies were set tled chiefly by various Calvinistic sects like the Dutch Reformed in New York and the Presby terians in New Jersey, or by other sets of the advanced Protestant type, like the Quakers and Mennonites of Pennsylvania. They all believed in the need of everyone to read the Bible, and all, therefore, favored elementary education. But as each sect denied the efficiency of any other's way to salvation, this elementary edu cation took the form of parish schools attached to the church. In all the middle colonies in
addition to the parochial schools for elementary education there existed °grammar* schools for secondary education.
3. The Town School Type prevailed in New England. The people who settled there were more homogeneous than in any other part of the country. There was little distinction of classes among them as in the southern colonies and there was no distinction of sects as in the middle colonies. They were mostly of the middle class socially, were generally well edu sated and had university graduates for leaders; were thorough believers in democratic govern ment and were strong upholders of the Calvin istic-Genevan principle of the church-state form of government. Holding firmly to the necessity of everyone being able to read the Bible, the General Court, i.e., the legislature of Massa chusetts, passed the famous law of 1647 by which "the Puritan government of Massachu setts rendered probably its greatest service to the future." The law provided that every town that contained 50 families should maintain an elementary school and a town that had 100 families should maintain in addition a "gram mar" school to fit the youth for the university. The religious motive that prompted the law is stated in the preamble, namely, to prevent °that old deluder, Satan, keeping man from a knowledge of the Scriptures.° Unfortunately, subsequent developments resulted in the de cline of education in New England and the decay of the town school. The chief cause was the spread of population into unsettled regions and the attainment of local govern ment by districts within the town. The houses of the early settlers were clustered around the meeting house of the town, partly for better protection against Indians and partly because of religious devotion. As religious fervor de creased in the 18th century and fear of the Indians passed away with their diminution in numbers, settlers moved into parts of the town that were inaccessible to the town school or they moved into entirely new regions that had no town school. Hence arose the "district" school, which could afford only a poor teacher who "kept" school a few months in the year. In all the colonies the colleges that had been founded, such as Harvard and Yale in New England, Columbia, Princeton and Pennsylvania in the middle colonies and the College of Wil liam and Mary in Virginia, supplied the higher education needed by the members of the learned professions.