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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>And you will still be a long way off, but this makes for
interesting reading. I'd be wary of any publication which quoted the duPont
study (only 4 in 1000 Americans not literate in 1800) as proof of
literacy. Surely you don't find that a credible statement.
Well maybe you do..</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Sue </FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=heirdoug@netscape.net
href="mailto:heirdoug@netscape.net">heirdoug@netscape.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=suehovey@moscow.com
href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">suehovey@moscow.com</A> ; <A
title=heirdoug@netscape.net
href="mailto:heirdoug@netscape.net">heirdoug@netscape.net</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, May 13, 2007 7:15 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] What was
education like before the Prussian method ofindoctrination?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN contentEditable=false style="DISPLAY: inline-block"></SPAN>Sue,
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I had heard it from other sources that it was as high as 98% but I will
settle for 90%.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Enjoy</DIV>
<CENTER>
<H1><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Education in Colonial
America</FONT></H1>
<H3><I><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Robert A.
Peterson</FONT></I></H3></CENTER>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">One of the main
objections people have to getting government out of the education business
and turning it over to the free market is that "it simply would not get the
job done." This type of thinking is due, in large measure, to what one
historian called "a parochialism in time," <SUP>1</SUP> i.e., a limited view
of an issue for lack of historical perspective. Having served the
twelve-year sentence in government-controlled schools, most Americans view
our present public school system as the measure of all things in education.
Yet for two hundred years in <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> history, from the
mid-1600s to the mid-1800s, public schools as we know them today were
virtually non-existent, and the educational needs of America were met by the
free market. In these two centuries, America produced several generations of
highly skilled and literate men and women who laid the foundation for a!
nation dedicated to the principles of freedom and self-government. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The private
system of education in which our forefathers were educated included home,
school, church, voluntary associations such as library companies and
philosophical societies, circulating libraries, apprenticeships, and private
study. It was a system supported primarily by those who bought the services
of education, and by private benefactors. All was done without compulsion.
Although there was a veneer of government involvement in some <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">colonies</FONT>, such as in Puritan
Massachusetts, early <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT>
education was essentially based on the principle of voluntarism.<SUP>2</SUP>
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Dr. Lawrence A.
Cremin, distinguished scholar in the field of education, has said that
during the colonial period the Bible was "the single most important cultural
influence in the lives of Anglo-Americans."<SUP> 3</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Thus, the
cornerstone of early <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT>
education was the belief that "children are an heritage from the Lord."
<SUP>4</SUP> Parents believed that it was their responsibility to not only
teach them how to make a living, but also how to live. As our forefathers
searched their Bibles, they found that the function of government was to
protect life and property.<SUP>5 </SUP>Education was not a responsibility of
the civil government. </FONT>
<H3><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Education Began in the Home and
the Fields</FONT></H3>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Education in
early America began in the home at the mother's knee, and often ended in the
cornfield or barn by the father's side. The task of teaching reading usually
fell to the mother, and since paper was in short supply, she would trace the
letters of the alphabet in the ashes and dust by the fireplac.<SUP>6</SUP>
The child learned the alphabet and then how to sound out words. Then a book
was placed in the child's hands, usually the Bible. As many passages were
familiar to him, having heard them at church or at family devotions, he
would soon master the skill of reading. The Bible was supplemented by other
good books such as Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, The New England
Primer, and Isaac Watt's Divine Songs. From volumes like these, our founding
fathers and their generation learned the values that laid the foundation for
free enterprise. In "Against Idleness and Mischief," for example, they
learned individual! responsibility before God in the realm of work and
learning.<SUP>7</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">How doth the busy
little bee<BR>Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the
day<BR>>From every opening flower.<BR>How skillfully she builds her
cell,<BR>How neat she spreads the wax<BR>And labours hard to store it
well<BR>With the sweet food she makes.<BR></FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">In works of
labour, or of skill, </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">I would be busy
too; For Satan finds some mischief still<BR>For idle hands to do.<BR>In
books, or work, or healthful play<BR>Let my first years be passed; That I
may give for every day<BR>Some good account at last. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Armed with love,
common sense, and a nearby woodshed, colonial mothers often achieved more
than our modern-day elementary schools with their federally--funded programs
and education specialists. These colonial mothers used simple, time--tested
methods of instruction mixed with plain, old-fashioned hard work. Children
were not ruined by educational experiments developed in the ivory towers of
academe. The introduction to a reading primer from the early 19th century
testifies to the importance of home instruction.<SUP>8</SUP> It says: "The
author cannot but hope that this book will enable many a mother or aunt, or
elder brother or sister, or perhaps a beloved grandmother, by the family
fireside, to go through in a pleasant and sure way with the art of preparing
the child for his first school days." </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Home education
was so common in America that most children knew how to read before they
entered school. As Ralph Walker has pointed out, "Children were often taught
to read at home before they were subjected to the rigours of school. In
middle-class families, where the mother would be expected to be literate,
this was considered part of her duties."<SUP>9</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Without ever
spending a dime of tax money, or without ever consulting a host of
bureaucrats, psychologists, and specialists, children in early America
learned the basic academic skills of reading, writing, and ciphering
necessary for getting along in society. Even in Boston, the capital city of
the colony in which the government had the greatest hand, children were
taught to read at home. Samuel Eliot Morison, in his excellent study on
education in colonial New England, says:<SUP>10</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Boston offers a
curious problem. The grammar (Boston Latin) school was the only public
school down to 1684, when a writing school was established; and it is
probable that only children who already read were admitted to that.... they
must have learned to read somehow, since there is no evidence of unusual
illiteracy in the town. And a Boston bookseller's stock in 1700 includes no
less than eleven dozen spellers and sixty-one dozen primers. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The answer to
this supposed problem is simple. The books were bought by parents, and
illiteracy was absent because parents taught their children how to read
outside of a formal school setting. Coupled with the vocational skills
children learned from their parents, home education met the demands of the
free market. For many, formal schooling was simply unnecessary. The fine
education they received at home and on the farm held them in good stead for
the rest of their lives, and was supplemented with Bible reading and
almanacs like Franklin's Poor Richard's. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Some of our
forefathers desired more education than they could receive at home. Thus,
grammar and secondary schools grew up all along the Atlantic seaboard,
particularly near the centers of population, such as Boston and
Philadelphia. In New England, many of these schools were started by colonial
governments, but were supported and controlled by the local townspeople.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">In the Middle
<FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Colonies</FONT> there was even less
government intervention. In Pennsylvania, a compulsory education law was
passed in 1683, but it was never strictly enforced.<SUP>11</SUP>
Nevertheless, many schools were set up simply as a response to consumer
demand. Philadelphia, which by 1776 had become second only to London as the
chief city in the British Empire, had a school for every need and interest.
Quakers, Philadelphia's first inhabitants, laid the foundation for an
educational system that still thrives in America. Because of their emphasis
on learning, an illiterate Quaker child was a contradiction in terms. Other
religious groups set up schools in the Middle <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Colonies</FONT>. The Scottish
Presbyterians, the Moravians, the Lutherans, and Anglicans all had their own
schools. In addition to these church-related schools, private s!
choolmasters, entrepreneurs in their own right, established hundreds of
schools. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Historical
records, which are by no means complete, reveal that over one hundred and
twenty-five private schoolmasters advertised their services in Philadelphia
newspapers between 1740 and 1776. Instruction was offered in Latin, Greek,
mathematics, surveying, navigation, accounting, bookkeeping, science,
English, and contemporary foreign languages.<SUP>12</SUP> Incompetent and
inefficient teachers were soon eliminated, since they were not subsidized by
the State or protected by a guild or union. Teachers who satisfied their
customers by providing good services prospered. One schoolmaster, Andrew
Porter, a mathematics teacher, had over one hundred students enrolled in
1776. The fees the students paid enabled him to provide for a family of
seven.<SUP>13</SUP> </FONT>
<H3><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">In the Philadelphia
Area</FONT></H3>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Philadelphia also
had many fine evening schools. In 1767, there were at least sixteen evening
schools, catering mostly to the needs of Philadelphia's hard-working German
population. For the most part, the curriculum of these schools was confined
to the teaching of English and vocations.<SUP>14</SUP> There were also
schools for women, blacks, and the poor. Anthony Benezet, a leader in
colonial educational thought, pioneered in the education for women and
Negroes. The provision of education for the poor was a favorite Quaker
philanthropy. As one historian has pointed out, "the poor, both Quaker and
non-Quaker, were allowed to attend without paying fees." <SUP>15</SUP>
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">In the
countryside around Philadelphia, German immigrants maintained many of their
own schools. By 1776, at least sixteen schools were being conducted by the
Mennonites in Eastern Pennsylvania. Christopher Dock, who made several
notable contributions to the science of pedagogy, taught in one of these
schools for many years. Eastern Pennsylvanians, as well as New Jerseyans and
Marylanders, sometimes sent their children to Philadelphia to further their
education, where there were several boarding schools, both for girls and
boys. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">In the Southern
<FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">colonies</FONT>, government had, for
all practical purposes, no hand at all in education. In Virginia, education
was considered to be no business of the State. The educational needs of the
young in the South were taken care of in "old-field" schools. "Old-field"
schools were buildings erected in abandoned fields that were too full of
rocks or too over-cultivated for farm use. It was in such a school that
George Washington received his early education. The Southern <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Colonies'</FONT> educational needs were
also taken care of by using private tutors, or by sending their sons north
or across the Atlantic to the mother country. </FONT>
<H3><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Colonial Colleges</FONT></H3>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">A college
education is something that very few of our forefathers wanted or needed. As
a matter of fact, most of them were unimpressed by degrees or a university
accent. They judged men by their character and by their experience.
Moreover, many of our founding fathers, such as George Washington, Patrick
Henry, and Ben Franklin, did quite well without a college education. Yet for
those who so desired it, usually young men aspiring to enter the ministry,
university training was available. Unlike England, where the government had
given Cambridge and Oxford a monopoly on the granting of
degrees,<SUP>16</SUP> there were nine colleges from which to choose. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Although some of
the colonial colleges were started by colonial governments, it would be
misleading to think of them as statist institutions in the modern
sense.<SUP>17</SUP> Once chartered, the colleges were neither funded nor
supported by the State. Harvard was established with a grant from the
Massachusetts General Court, yet voluntary contributions took over to keep
the institution alive. John Harvard left the college a legacy of 800 pounds
and his library of 400 books. "College corn," donated by the people of the
Bay Colony, maintained the young scholars for many years."<SUP>18</SUP>
Provision was also made for poor students, as Harvard developed one of the
first work-study programs.<SUP>19</SUP> And when Harvard sought to build a
new building in 1674, donations were solicited from the people of
Massachusetts. Despite the delays caused by King Philip's War, the hall was
completed in 1677 at almost no cost to the! taxpayer.<SUP>20</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">New Jersey was
the only colony that had two colleges, the College of New Jersey (Princeton)
and Queens (Rutgers). The Log College, the predecessor of Princeton, was
founded when Nathaniel Irwin left one thousand dollars to William Tennant to
found a seminary.<SUP>21</SUP> Queens grew out of a small class held by the
Dutch revivalist, John Frelinghuyson.<SUP>22</SUP> Despite occasional hard
times, neither college bowed to civil government for financial assistance.
As Frederick Rudolph has observed, "neither the college at Princeton nor its
later rival at New Brunswick ever received any financial support from the
state. . .." <SUP>23</SUP> Indeed, John Witherspoon, Princeton's sixth
president, was apparently proud of the fact that his institution was
independent of government control. In an advertisement addressed to the
British settlers in the West Indies, Witherspoon wrote:<SUP>24</SUP> "The
College of New Jersey is ! altogether independent. It hath received no favor
from Government but the charter, by the particular friendship of a person
now deceased." </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Based on the
principle of freedom, Princeton under Witherspoon produced some of America's
most "animated Sons of Liberty." Many of Princeton's graduates, standing
firmly in the Whig tradition of limited government, helped lay the legal and
constitutional foundations for our Republic. James Madison, the Father of
the Constitution, was a Princeton graduate. </FONT>
<H3><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Libraries</FONT></H3>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">In addition to
formal schooling in elementary and secondary schools, colleges, and
universities, early America had many other institutions that made it
possible for people to either get an education or supplement their previous
training. Conceivably, an individual who never attended school could receive
an excellent education by using libraries, building and consulting his own
library, and by joining a society for mutual improvement. In colonial
America, all of these were possible. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Consumer demand
brought into existence a large number of libraries. Unlike anything in the
Old Country, where libraries were open only to scholars, churchmen, or
government officials, these libraries were rarely supported by government
funds. In Europe, church libraries were supported by tax money as well, for
they were a part of an established church. In America, church libraries,
like the churches themselves, were supported primarily by voluntarism.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The first
non-private, non-church libraries in America were maintained by membership
fees, called subscriptions or shares, and by gifts of books and money from
private benefactors interested in education. The most famous of these
libraries was Franklin and Logan's Library Company in Philadelphia, which
set the pattern and provided much of the inspiration for libraries
throughout the <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">colonies</FONT>.<SUP>25</SUP> The
membership fee for these subscription libraries varied from twenty or thirty
pounds to as little as fifteen shillings a year. The Association Library, a
library formed by a group of Quaker artisans, cost twenty shillings to
join.<SUP>26</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Soon libraries
became the objects of private philanthropy, and it became possible for even
the poorest citizens to borrow books. Sometimes the membership fee was
completely waived for an individual if he showed intellectual promise and
character.<SUP>27</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Entrepreneurs,
seeing an opportunity to make a profit from colonial Americans' desire for
self-improvement, provided new services and innovative ways to sell or rent
printed matter. One new business that developed was that of the circulating
library. In 1767, Lewis Nicola established one of the first such businesses
in the City of Brotherly Love. The library was open daily, and customers, by
depositing five pounds and paying three dollars a year, could withdraw one
book at a time. Nicola apparently prospered, for two years later he moved
his business to Society Hill, enlarged his library, and reduced his prices
to compete with other circulating libraries.<SUP>28</SUP> Judging from the
titles in these libraries,<SUP>29</SUP> colonial Americans could receive an
excellent education completely outside of the schoolroom. For colonial
Americans who believed in individual responsibility, self-government, and
self-improvemen! t, this was not an uncommon course of study. Most lawyers,
for example, were self-educated. </FONT>
<H3><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Sermons as Educational
Tools</FONT></H3>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The sermon was
also an excellent educational experience for our colonial forefathers.
Sunday morning was a time to hear the latest news and see old friends and
neighbors. But it was also an opportunity for many to sit under a man of God
who had spent many hours preparing for a two, three, or even four hour
sermon. Many a colonial pastor, such as Jonathan Edwards, spent eight to
twelve hours daily studying, praying over, and researching his sermon.
Unlike sermons on the frontier in the mid-19th century, colonial sermons
were filled with the fruits of years of study. They were geared not only to
the emotions and will, but also to the intellect. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">As Daniel
Boorstin has pointed out, the sermon was one of the chief literary forms in
colonial America.<SUP>30</SUP> Realizing this, listeners followed sermons
closely, took mental notes, and usually discussed the sermon with the family
on Sunday afternoon. Anne Hutchinson's discussions, which later resulted in
the Antinomian Controversy, were merely typical of thousands of discussions
which took place in the homes of colonial America. Most discussions,
however, were not as controversial as those which took place in the
Hutchinson home. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Thus, without
ever attending a college or seminary, a church-goer in colonial America
could gain an intimate knowledge of Bible doctrine, church history, and
classical literature. Questions raised by the sermon could be answered by
the pastor or by the books in the church libraries that were springing up
all over America. Often a sermon was later published and listeners could
review what they had heard on Sunday morning. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The first Sunday
Schools also developed in this period. Unlike their modern-day counterparts,
colonial Sunday Schools not only taught Bible but also the rudiments of
reading and writing. These Sunday Schools often catered to the poorest
members of society. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Modern historians
have discounted the importance of the colonial church as an educational
institution, citing the low percentage of colonial Americans on surviving
church membership rolls. What these historians fail to realize, however, is
that unlike most churches today, colonial churches took membership
seriously. Requirements for becoming a church member were much higher in
those days, and many people attended church without officially joining.
Other sources indicate that church attendance was high in the colonial
period. Thus, many of our forefathers partook not only of the spiritual
blessing of their local churches, but the educational blessings as well.
</FONT>
<H3><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Philosophical
Societies</FONT></H3>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Another
educational institution that developed in colonial America was the
philosophical society. One of the most famous of these was Franklin's Junto,
where men would gather to read and discuss papers they had written on all
sorts of topics and issues.<SUP>31</SUP> Another society was called The
Literary Republic. This society opened in the bookbindery of George Rineholt
in 1764 in Philadelphia. Here, artisans, tradesmen, and common laborers met
to discuss logic, jurisprudence, religion, science, and moral philosophy
(economics).<SUP>32</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Itinerant
lecturers, not unlike the Greek philosophers of the Hellenistic period,
rented halls and advertised their lectures in local papers. One such
lecturer, Joseph Cunningham, offered a series of lectures on the "History
and Laws of England" for a little over a pound.<SUP>33</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">By 1776, when
America finally declared its independence, a tradition had been established
and voluntarism in education was the rule. Our founding fathers, who had
been educated in this tradition, did not think in terms of
government-controlled education. Accordingly, when the delegates gathered in
Philadelphia to write a Constitution for the new nation, education was
considered to be outside the jurisdiction of the civil government,
particularly the national government. Madison, in his notes on the
Convention, recorded that there was some talk of giving the Federal
legislature the power to establish a national university at the future
capital. But the proposal was easily defeated, for as Boorstin has pointed
out, "the Founding Fathers supported the local institutions which had sprung
up all over the country."<SUP>34</SUP> A principle had been established in
America that was not to be deviated from until the mid-ninet! eenth century.
Even as late as 1860, there were only 300 public schools, as compared to
6,000 private academies.<SUP>35</SUP> </FONT>
<H3><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">A Highly Literate
Populace</FONT></H3>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The results of
colonial America's free market system of education were impressive indeed.
Almost no tax money was spent on education, yet education was available to
almost anyone who wanted it, including the poor. No government subsidies
were given, and inefficient institutions either improved or went out of
business. Competition guaranteed that scarce educational resources would be
allocated properly. The educational institutions that prospered produced a
generation of articulate Americans who could grapple with the complex
problems of self-government. The Federalist Papers, which are seldom read or
understood today, even in our universities, were written for and read by the
common man. <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Literacy</FONT> rates
were as high or higher than they are today.<SUP>36</SUP> A study conducted
in 1800 by Du Pont de Nemours revealed that only four in a thousand
Americans were unable to rea! d and write legibly.<SUP>37 </SUP>Various
accounts from colonial America support these statistics. In 1772, Jacob
Duche, the Chaplain of Congress, later turned Tory, wrote:<SUP>38</SUP>
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The poorest
labourer upon the shore of Delaware thinks himself entitled to deliver his
sentiments in matters of religion or politics with as much freedom as the
gentleman or scholar.... Such is the prevailing taste for books of every
kind, that almost every man is a reader; and by pronouncing sentence, right
or wrong, upon the various publications that come in his way, puts himself
upon a level, in point of knowledge, with their several authors. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Franklin, too,
testified to the efficiency of the colonial educational system. According to
Franklin, the North <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT>
libraries alone "have improved the general conversation of Americans, made
the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other
countries, and perhaps have contributed in some degree to the stand so
generally made throughout the <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">colonies</FONT> in defense of their
privileges." <SUP>39</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The experience of
colonial America clearly supports the idea that the market, if allowed to
operate freely, could meet the educational needs of modern-day America. In
the nineteenth century, the Duke of Wellington remarked that "the Battle of
Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton and Cambridge." Today, the
battle between freedom and statism is being fought in America's schools.
Those of us who believe in Constitutional government would do well to
promote the principle of competition, pluralism, and government
non-intervention in education. Years ago, Abraham Lincoln said, "The
philosophy of the classroom will be the philosophy of the government in the
next generation." <BR></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">
<HR>
</FONT><FONT size=2><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff"><I>At the time
of the original publication, Mr. Peterson was Headmaster of The Pilgrim
Academy, Egg Harbor City, New Jersey. He taught economics and was
constantly in search of ways to support and defend the principle of
voluntarism in education.</I>
<HR>
<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">1. Bertrand
Russell, quoted in: Tim Dowley, ed., The History of Christianity (Grand
Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdman's Pub. Co., 1977), p. 2. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">2. CIarence B.
Carson has emphasized this point in his The <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> Tradition
(Irvington-onHudson: The Fbundation for Economic Education, Inc., 1964).
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">3. Lawrence A.
Cremin, <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> Education:
The Colonial Experience, 1607-1789. (New York: Evanston and London: Harper
and Row, 1970), p. 40. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">4. Psalm 127:3.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">5. Romans 13.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">6. Elizabeth
McEachern Wells, Divine Songs by Isaac Watts (Fairfax, Va.: Thoburn Press,
1975), p. ii. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">7. bid., p. 42.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">8. Eric Sloane,
The Little Red Schoolhouse (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company,
Inc., 1972), p. 3. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">9. Ralph Walker,
"Old Readers," in Early <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> Life, October, 1980, p.
54. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">10. Samuel Eliot
Morison, The Intellectual Life of New England (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 1965), pp. 71, 72. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">11. Carson, p.
152. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">12. Louis B.
Wright, The Cultural Life of the <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American Colonies</FONT> (New York: Harper
and Row Pub., Inc., 1957), p. 108. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">13. Ibid. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">14. Wright, p.
109. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">15. Carl and
Jessica Bridenbaugh, Rebels and Gentlemen (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1982), p. 36. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">16. Ibid., p. 39.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">17. Frederick
Rudolph, The <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> College
and University (New York: Random House, A Vintage Book, 1962), pp. 15-16.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">18. Morison, p.
39. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">19. Morison, p.
37. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">20. Morison, p.
39. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">21. Archibald
Alexander, The Log College (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1968, First
Published, 1851), pp. 14-22. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">22.William H.S.
Demarest, A History of Rutgers College, 1766-1924 (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1924), p. 45. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">23. Rudolph, p.
15. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">24. John
Witherspoon, "Address to the Inhabitants of Jamaica and Other West-India
Islands, in Behalf of the College of New Jersey," Essays upon Important
Subjects, Vol. III (Edinburgh, 1805), pp. 312-318, 328-330. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">25. Max Farrand,
ed., The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Berkeley, California, 1949), p~
86. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">26. Bridenbaugh,
p. 8T </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">27. Bridenbaugh,
p. 99. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">28. Bridenbaugh,
p. 9L </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">29. Wright, pp.
126-133. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">30. Daniel
Boorstin, The Americans: The Colonial Experience (New York: Random House,
Vintage Books, 1958), pp. 10-14. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">31. This later
became, of course, the <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> Philosophical Society.
</FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">32. Bridenbaugh,
pp. 64-65. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">33. Bridenbaugh,
p. 65. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">34. Boorstin, p.
183. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">35. Richard C.
Wade, et. al., A History of the United States with Selected Readings, Vol. I
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1W, 1971), p. 398. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">36. Rousas John
Rushdoony, The Messianic Character of <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> Education (Nutley, N.J.:
The Craig Press, 1963, 1979), p. 330. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">37. 1bid. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">38. Bridenbaugh,
p. 99. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">39. Farrand, p.
86.
</FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV> <BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From:
suehovey@moscow.com<BR>To: heirdoug@netscape.net;
vision2020@moscow.com<BR>Sent: Sun, 13 May 2007 2:22 PM<BR>Subject: Re:
[Vision2020] What was education like before the Prussian method
ofindoctrination?<BR><BR>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Well the 98% is a number anyone could pull out of
anywhere. Additionally, even with the "Old Deluder Satan Law" literacy
wasn't necessarily a goal for females, or the poor, or slaves...And even the
level of knowledge defined as "literate" then would be insufficient
for today. The national census, which did attempt to tally the
literate didn't even begin until 1790. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sue</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=heirdoug@netscape.net
href="mailto:heirdoug@netscape.net">heirdoug@netscape.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=idahotom@hotmail.com
href="mailto:idahotom@hotmail.com">idahotom@hotmail.com</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, May 13, 2007 1:49
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] What was
education like before the Prussian method ofindoctrination?</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>"<SPAN style="DISPLAY: inline-block"></SPAN>Without public education,
we might as well set our clocks back 300 years and<BR>restrict education to
only those that can afford it." Tom-Tom Hansen.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I don't think that the education in the Colonies 300 years ago was only
for the "well off". If that were the case then why was there a 98% literacy
rate back then? <BR><BR></DIV>
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