Emily
Educational Rights; Colonial Education

There was a time in America when not everyone had a right to learn. Today everyone has a legal way to get an education, but it wasn’t always this way. In Colonial America, not everyone was allowed to be educated. Some English colonists learned from apprenticeships and others learned in classrooms. In Colonial America, how you were educated depended on your culture, gender, and race. For example, enslaved Africans were banned from learning to read and write; and Native Americans learned from their families, not from attending schools. But whomever you learned from, discipline was the most important part of learning your trade or occupation.

Educational punishments in Colonial America were severe to keep children kind, orderly, and respectful. Kids in Colonial America were taught to follow the rules by seeing other kids get punished. “Discipline could be harsh in Colonial schools. Whipping posts, often with leather straps, found frequent use for those students who were unruly or made mistakes. The students felt the sting of a rattan, a leather strap attached to a wicker stick..” ( James, Bauguess S. “Education in the Colonial and Revolutionary Era. ) This is quote is important because it shows the horrible things that happen in the classroom if a kid is bad or disliked. Most likely if your family did anything bad the teacher would punish you more often. Since all of the kids in the school were the same race and had the same culture and beliefs there was not a lot of discrimination. Another thing that is important in this quote is if you make a mistake you will get punished until you correctly answer the question of test, so there was probably a lot of pressure. This was inhumane because kids always seem to be uncontrolled once in awhile but they should get hurt for it. There was a variety of punishments given out to kids in Colonial America. Some punishments were for the whole class, for example, a whispering stick. It prevents kids from speaking even if they did nothing wrong. This means that you were not allowed to talk during class. The only way you are able to open you mouth is a test. If you messed up in something you were learning you would be shamed. It would embarrass your whole family to know that their kid had to wear a dunce hat. A dunce hat was something you wear on you head to be shamed. You sit in the corner of the classroom with a hat that says dunce. In this quote it says,” On occasion, the whispering sticks contained strings for tying the stick to the student’s head. Slit sticks used for pinching students’ noses remained on the students for long periods.” This quote is about some punishments a kid could get. These punishments should not be done to kid. The punishments could also be good because kids who go to schools know the pain of not obeying the law. School was not frequently used and most would not go to a classroom to learn because a lot would learn from apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships were a very big part of colonial education. It you wanted a special trade like being a blacksmith or carpenter, you would learn from a master of the trade. You would be very lucky to get an apprenticeship because it is a very helpful for your whole family. It is less food for your family to buy and Just because you do not get paid in apprenticeship, does not mean that it is useless to have. Also, there won’t be very many rebels because most people follow the contract , so they can have money when they own their own business. Women finish apprenticeships at 18 and men 21, and they both start at the same time. It is cool that women get out of their apprenticeships before men ,but men can go to college and women can’t. that since men did most of the hard work it made sense for them to be educated. Women were expected to have a family and run the household. These rules are fair. Education with women is unfair because they were forced to work in the house and were not allowed to follow up in education. Because colonist thought women learned faster, it doesn’t make sense that women would not be allowed to pursue their learning. Apprenticeships Were on of the only way middling class women would learn to read and write. Similarly, there were others that did not get the education they deserved or learn in a different way like African American slaves and Native Americans.

Slaves were treated badly and not allowed learn how to read and write. Slave were supposed to be stupid and follow the rules without any thought of rebel. This is not fair because Slaves are people too. The Master would not teach them to read and write because it was illegal and because it would make the slaves more powerful. If the slaves are smart, they can get power to fight back and then run away, which for the English is losing money and time which is really bad. Slaves would learn from ancestor or elders how to work a farm and plant crops. Other slaves would also teach them music so they would all work at the same speed. Some Colonist felt strongly that slaves should learn and get taught to read and write. If you got caught teaching Slaves you would be arrested and probably for life. There were also Natives who learn a whole lot of different thing , but the English were not happy with it. Natives learned about how to be resourceful , but Some colonies would try to change them. Natives were forced to make a decision of what life they would want to live. “Once they were properly civilized, Native Americans would most likely accept the Christian faith . Most Native Americans Resisted attempts to become part of Christian society. They understood the need to protect and preserve their ways of life. Those relatively few who choose to give up the old ways often found themselves lost between two worlds. On one hand, they learned to reject their own culture. On the other hand, White society would never accept them as equals no matter how well they spoke English or how much they acted, dressed, and lived like white people. Some native American used their literacy on behalf of their own people. And some culturally sensitive white men and women helped tribes transcribe their spoken language into a written language the ability to write in their probably language was an important tool for preserving their culture.”( James, Bauguess S. “Education in the Colonial and Revolutionary Era.” ) This is unfair because the Natives are being dehumanized, and English now are trying to teach them their ways. They think that if a Native is, “Civilized” They will be Christian. This is totally not true because even if they liked this faith the Native were treated worse than people who are already part of the community. Some Natives wanted to save their way, but a lot had trouble. They had trouble with keeping their community alive because the English were tearing them away one by one. really well. The Native who would not change a learn to resourceful of the nature around them would learn in different ways. Women would do most of the work and learn how to do it from their mother. They would learn to farm, build the house, cook, and almost everything else that took place in the village. The boys learned from their father. They would usually learn to hunt by sitting in a garden and thourghing rocks at the bunnies and other varmints. The Natives had a lot of different strategies of learn, but they did not have tool for learning like a hornbook.

A horn book was a very used tool in education because books were expensive. Books were really rare so they would uses a hornbook to teach all the writing. In this quote it says, “There were few books. During ,most of the Colonial period young schoolchildren in New England used a hornbook. This was a small, flat wooden board with a handle. To it was attached upon which printed lesson-papers were hard to get, the pupils covered them with a clear sheet of horn to prevent them from tearing – hence the name ‘hornbook.’ Some hornbooks were very fancy and included ivory pointers. Most of them were plain and had a string through the handle so that they could be worn around the neck. “ ( James, Bauguess S. “Education in the Colonial and Revolutionary Era. ) The hornbook was a useful tool for kids to learn their abc’s and also a cheap way. Only english people were allowed to learn from a horn book, but it was accessible to women and there was no sexist part about it. This was unusual because usually women would be treated worse than men. Education and a lot of sexism sometime, but sometimes it was completely equal. This is a resourceful tool that is easy to work with. The hornbook substituted for books which were rare and if you had some you would be lucky. A horn book that used ivory must have been really expensive and cruel to Elephant. Having a hornbook was not just for schools or tooters that can’t afford books, it also was a helpful way for kids to copy and have good handwriting. Having a horn book is great, but the classroom or surroundings were also very important for the learning process of reading and writing.

The classroom was a very important part of the learning process. The classroom space affected the thinking of kids learning. This quote says, “In colonial America , school’ didn’t necessarily refer to a specific setting. A school could be just about anywhere children and teachers were gathered in town churches and meeting houses, shops, barns, even inns, and taverns…One-room schoolhouse were typically around 20 feet (6m) long and 18 feet (5.4m) wide with 6 or 7 foot (1.8-2.1m) ceiling and two or three windows. Walls were coated with lime plaster, a whitish material that brightened the room. On dark afternoons, candles or whale oil lamps added extra light¨(James, Bauguess S. “Education in the Colonial and Revolutionary Era.”) The classroom was really small and hard to get around in. The colonial classrooms were way different than ours because how many new materials we have. Theses classrooms are really small and hard to work in because there was not a lot of light and kids had limited work space. If you learn in a church it would be more about the bible opposed to learning in a tavern. If you learned in a tavern you would learn more about social skills. parents would probably want their kid to go to a church, but if a church was not close then if would be hard for the kid to even go. Dependent on where learn changes the rules of learning. In some places one rule was, ¨A fireplace or potbellied stove provided heat. To pay for part of their children’s education, parents often sent them to school with wood for the fireplace. In some schools, children would fail to bring their share of firewood were punished by having to sit in the coldest part of the room.” (James, Bauguess S. “Education in the Colonial and Revolutionary Era.”) It is a weird punishment to have kids sit in the coldest part of the room, but it was very important during winters if most wouldn´t have a very nice winter coat. The idea of sitting in the coldest part of the room must have scared everyone to bring wood in. If you were in a church most likely this punishment because it simply already had wood. A rule in a church could be way different than a rule in a barn or inn because of the space that you are in. Another important part of education was learning at home and most likely if you were rich that is how you would learn.
Rich people in colonial America would learn from a tutor and if you were a man college. If you are rich you more educated than poor and most likely will thrive in that area. Philip Vickers was a rich kid learning to read and write with his sisters and brothers.
Philip Vickers Fithian journal entries:
Monday, November 1st [1773]
We began School—The School consists of eight—Two of Mr. Carters Sons—One Nephew—And five Daughters—The eldest Son is reading Sallust; Grammatical Exercises, and latin Grammar —The second Son is reading English Grammar Reading English: Writing and Cyphering in Subtraction—The Nephew is Reading and Writing as above; and Ciphering in Reduction—The eldest daughter is Reading the Spectator; Writing; & beginning to Cypher—The second is reading next out of the Spelling-Book, and beginning to write—The next is reading in the Spelling-Book—The fourth is Spelling in the beginning of the Spelling-Book—And the last is beginning her letters—
Philip Vickers learned with his cousins, neighbors, and family. Like most rich kids he learned from spelling books and learned Latin. If you were a rich boy most likely you would go to college if you wanted to be in law. If you were rich you would use books that your household had and read as part of your assignment. If you were rich grammar was also a very important part of learning. This is cool because it talks about a family that is known today and how they lived. But overall, this is not how most people learned in Colonial America, in fact very few got to learn like this.

Education was accessible to very few in Colonial America. But is it still like this today? What if women were still not allowed to go to college? What if your education depended on your race? Education in Colonial America was limited but very important to those who had it. Rich English learned prestigious matters. Africans were taught from their friends and families. Middling English learned from apprenticeships and in classrooms. But no matter where you learned you would get an education about something. From learning to read and write to working on a farm schooling helped with everything. Education was one of the most important things to building Colonial America.