<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16441" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>When I TRULY wish to hear someone's viewpoint, I
don't frame my questions to them sarcastically....</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> Monday, May 14, 2007 11:09 AM</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>Sue,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Why would you be wary of 4 in 1000 to be a wrong assessment of the
1800's Were your there? Or doesn't it fit your <SPAN class=correction
id="">paradigm</SPAN>?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I truly wish to hear your viewpoint.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Doug</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV> <BR>-----Origin<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN>
Message-----<BR>From: <A
href="mailto:suehovey@moscow.com">suehovey@moscow.com</A><BR>To: <A
href="mailto:heirdoug@netscape.net">heirdoug@netscape.net</A>; <A
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>Sent: Sun, 13
May 2007 8:29 PM<BR>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] What was education like before
the Prussian method <SPAN class=correction
id="">ofindoctrination</SPAN>?<BR><BR>
<STYLE>.AOLPlainTextBody {
FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #000; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff
}
.AOLPlainTextBody PRE {
FONT-SIZE: 9pt
}
.AOLInlineAttachment {
MARGIN: 10px
}
.AOLAttachmentHeader {
BORDER-RIGHT: #7da8d4 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #7da8d4 1px solid; BACKGROUND: #f9f9f9; FONT: 11px arial; BORDER-LEFT: #7da8d4 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #7da8d4 1px solid
}
.AOLAttachmentHeader .Title {
PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; BACKGROUND: #b5ddfa; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; FONT: 11px arial; PADDING-TOP: 3px
}
.AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldLabel {
PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 9px; BACKGROUND: #f9f9f9; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px; FONT: 11px arial; COLOR: #000000; PADDING-TOP: 1px
}
.AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldValue {
BACKGROUND: #f9f9f9; FONT: 11px arial; COLOR: #000000
}
.AOLAttachmentHeader A {
COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
.AOLImage A {
COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: none
}
.AOLAttachmentHeader A:hover {
COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: underline
}
.AOLImage A:hover {
COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: underline
}
.AOLWebSuiteCompose .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink {
OVERFLOW: hidden; WIDTH: 1px; HEIGHT: 1px
}
.AOLWebSuite .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink {
OVERFLOW: hidden; WIDTH: 1px; HEIGHT: 1px
}
BODY {
BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: "Verdana"; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white
}
.AOLWebSuiteCompose P {
PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px
}
IMG.managedImg {
WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px
}
IMG.placeholder {
BORDER-RIGHT: #dadad6 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #dadad6 1px solid; BACKGROUND: #f4f4f4 no-repeat center center; BORDER-LEFT: #dadad6 1px solid; WIDTH: 275px; BORDER-BOTTOM: #dadad6 1px solid; HEIGHT: 206px
}
</STYLE>
<DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3>
<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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">duPont</SPAN> 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 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">mid-1600s</SPAN> to the <SPAN class=correction
id="">mid-1800s</SPAN>, 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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">voluntarism</SPAN>.<SUP>2</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">Dr. Lawrence A.
<SPAN class=correction id="">Cremin</SPAN>, 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">fireplac</SPAN>.<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
<SPAN class=correction id="">Watt's</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">labours</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">academe</SPAN>. 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">rigours</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">Morison</SPAN>, 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Franklin's</SPAN> 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">townspeople</SPAN>. </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, <SPAN class=correction id="">Philadelphia's</SPAN>
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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">Presbyterians</SPAN>, the <SPAN class=correction
id="">Moravians</SPAN>, th! e <SPAN class=correction
id="">Lutherans</SPAN>, and Anglicans all had their own schools. In
addition to these church-related schools, private s! <SPAN
class=correction id="">choolmasters</SPAN>, 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 s<SPAN class=correction id="">choolmasters</SPAN>
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 A<SPAN
class=correction id="">rea</SPAN></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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">Philadelphia's</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Benezet</SPAN>,
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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">Pennsylvanians</SPAN>, as well as New <SPAN class=correction
id="">Jerseyans</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">statist</SPAN>
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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Phil! ip's</SPAN>
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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Tennant</SPAN> to found a
seminary.<SUP>21</SUP> Queens grew out of a small class held by the Dutch
<SPAN class=correction id="">revivalist</SPAN>, John <SPAN
class=correction id="">Frelinghuyson</SPAN>.<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, <SPAN class=correction id="">Princeton's</SPAN> sixth
president, was apparently proud of the fact that his institution was
independent of government c! ontrol. 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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">Princeton's</SPAN> 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">voluntarism</SPAN>. </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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Logan's</SPAN>
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 <SPAN
class=cor! id="" rection>self-improvemen</SPAN>! 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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">mid-19th</SPAN> 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">Boorstin</SPAN> 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">Hutchinson's</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">church-goer</SPAN> 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">Franklin's</SPAN> <SPAN class=correction
id="">Junto</SPAN>, 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 <SPAN
class=correction id="">bookbindery</SPAN> of George <SPAN class=correction
id="">Rineholt</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction
id="">Hellenistic</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">voluntarism</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Boorstin</SPAN> 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 est!
ablished in America that was not to be deviated from until the <SPAN
class=correction id="">mid-ninet</SPAN>! <SPAN class=correction
id="">eenth</SPAN> 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
<SPAN class=correction id="">Du</SPAN> <SPAN class=correction
id="">Pont</SPAN> de <S! class=correction id="" PAN>Nemours</SPAN>
revealed that only four in a thousand Americans were unable to <SPAN
class=correction id="">rea</SPAN>! d and write legibly.<SUP>37
</SUP>Various accounts from colonial America support these statistics. In
1772, Jacob <SPAN class=correction id="">Duche</SPAN>, the Chaplain of
Congress, later turned Tory, wrote:<SUP>38</SUP> </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">The poorest
<SPAN class=correction id="">labourer</SPAN> 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 ninet<SPAN class=correction id="">eenth</SPAN> century, the Duke of
Wellington remarked that "the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing
fields of <SPAN class=correction id="">Eton</SPAN> and Cambridge." Today,
the battle between freedom and <SPAN class=correction id="">statism</SPAN>
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
<SPAN class=correction id="">voluntarism</SPAN> in education.</I>
<HR>
<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">1. Bertrand
Russell, quoted in: Tim <SPAN class=correction id="">Dowley</SPAN>, ed.,
The History of Christianity (Grand Rapids: <SPAN class=correction
id="">Wm</SPAN>. B. <SPAN class=correction id="">Eerdman's</SPAN> Pub.
Co., 1977), p. 2. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">2. <SPAN
class=correction id="">CIarence</SPAN> B. Carson has emphasized this point
in his The <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT>
Tradition (<SPAN class=correction id="">Irvington-onHudson</SPAN>: The
<SPAN class=correction id="">Fbundation</SPAN> for Economic Education,
Inc., 1964). </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">3. Lawrence A.
<SPAN class=correction id="">Cremin</SPAN>, <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> Education: The Colonial
Experience, 1607-1789. (New York: Evanston and London: <SPAN
class=correction id="">Harper</SPAN> 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
<SPAN class=correction id="">McEachern</SPAN> Wells, Divine Songs by Isaac
Watts (Fairfax, <SPAN class=correction id="">Va</SPAN>.: <SPAN
class=correction id="">Thoburn</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Morison</SPAN>, The Intellectual Life
of New England (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1965), <SPAN
class=correction id="">pp</SPAN>. 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:
<SPAN class=correction id="">Harper</SPAN> 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 <SPAN class=correction id="">Bridenbaugh</SPAN>, 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),
<SPAN class=correction id="">pp</SPAN>. 15-16. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">18. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Morison</SPAN>, p. 39. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">19. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Morison</SPAN>, p. 37. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">20. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Morison</SPAN>, 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), <SPAN class=correction id="">pp</SPAN>. 14-22. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">22.William H.S.
<SPAN class=correction id="">Demarest</SPAN>, 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, <SPAN class=correction id="">Vol</SPAN>. III (Edinburgh, 1805),
<SPAN class=correction id="">pp</SPAN>. 312-318, 328-330. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">25. Max <SPAN
class=correction id="">Farrand</SPAN>, ed., The Autobiography of Benjamin
Franklin (Berkeley, California, 1949), p~ 86. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">26. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Bridenbaugh</SPAN>, p. 8T </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">27. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Bridenbaugh</SPAN>, p. 99. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">28. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Bridenbaugh</SPAN>, p. 9L </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">29. Wright,
<SPAN class=correction id="">pp</SPAN>. 126-133. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">30. Daniel
<SPAN class=correction id="">Boorstin</SPAN>, The Americans: The Colonial
Experience (New York: Random House, Vintage Books, 1958), <SPAN
class=correction id="">pp</SPAN>. 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. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Bridenbaugh</SPAN>, <SPAN class=correction
id="">pp</SPAN>. 64-65. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">33. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Bridenbaugh</SPAN>, p. 65. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">34. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Boorstin</SPAN>, 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,
<SPAN class=correction id="">Vol</SPAN>. I (Boston: Houghton <SPAN
class=correction id="">Mifflin</SPAN> Co., 1W, 1971), p. 398. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">36. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Rousas</SPAN> John <SPAN class=correction
id="">Rushdoony</SPAN>, The Messianic Character of <FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">American</FONT> Education (<SPAN
class=correction id="">Nutley</SPAN>, 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. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Bridenbaugh</SPAN>, p. 99. </FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff">39. <SPAN
class=correction id="">Farrand</SPAN>, 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: <A
href='javascript:parent.ComposeTo("suehovey%40moscow.com", "");'>suehovey@moscow.com</A><BR>To:
<A
href='javascript:parent.ComposeTo("heirdoug%40netscape.net", "");'>heirdoug@netscape.net</A>;
<A
href='javascript:parent.ComposeTo("vision2020%40moscow.com", "");'>vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>Sent:
Sun, 13 May 2007 2:22 PM<BR>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] What was education
like before the Prussian method ofindoctrination?<BR><BR>
<STYLE>#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLPlainTextBody { FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #000; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLPlainTextBody PRE { FONT-SIZE: 9pt}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLInlineAttachment { MARGIN: 10px}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLAttachmentHeader { BORDER-RIGHT: #7da8d4 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #7da8d4 1px solid; BACKGROUND: #f9f9f9; FONT: 11px arial; BORDER-LEFT: #7da8d4 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #7da8d4 1px solid}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLAttachmentHeader .Title { PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; PADDING-LEFT: 3px; BACKGROUND: #b5ddfa; PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px; FONT: 11px arial; PADDING-TOP: 3px}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldLabel { PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 9px; BACKGROUND: #f9f9f9; PADDING-BOTTOM:!
1px; FONT: 11px arial; COLOR: #000000; PADDING-TOP: 1px}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldValue { BACKGROUND: #f9f9f9; FONT: 11px arial; COLOR: #000000}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLAttachmentHeader A { COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: none}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLImage A { COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: none}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLAttachmentHeader A:hover { COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: underline}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLImage A:hover { COLOR: #2864b4; TEXT-DECORATION: underline}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLWebSuiteCompose .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink { OVERFLOW: hidden; WIDTH: 1px; HEIGHT: 1px}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLWebSuite .AOLPicturesFullSizeLink { OVERFLOW: hidden; WIDTH: 1px; HEIGHT: 1px}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7!
ee949cfb3 BODY { BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 10p
t; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: "Verdana"; BACKGROUND-COLOR: white}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 .AOLWebSuiteCompose P { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 IMG.managedImg { WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px}#AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 IMG.placeholder { BORDER-RIGHT: #dadad6 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #dadad6 1px solid; BACKGROUND: #f4f4f4 no-repeat center center; BORDER-LEFT: #dadad6 1px solid; WIDTH: 275px; BORDER-BOTTOM: #dadad6 1px solid; HEIGHT: 206px}</STYLE>
<DIV id=AOLMsgPart_2_5ab41af9-bc46-4dfc-8ec7-be4abdfc0d17>
<STYLE></STYLE>
<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>
<DIV class=AOLPromoFooter>
<HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">
<A
href="http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100122638x1081283466x1074645346/aol?redir=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eaim%2Ecom%2Ffun%2Fmail%2F"
target=_blank><B>Check Out the new free AIM(R) Mail</B></A> -- 2 <SPAN
class=correction id="">GB</SPAN> of storage and industry-leading spam and
email virus protection.<BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<HR>
<DIV></DIV>=======================================================<BR> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR> serving the
communities of the <SPAN class=correction id="">Palouse</SPAN> since
1994.
<BR>
<A>http://www.fsr.net </A>;
<BR>
<A>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>=======================================================
<DIV>
<HR>
<DIV></DIV>No virus found in this incoming message.<BR>Checked by <SPAN
class=correction id="">AVG</SPAN> Free Edition. <BR>Version: 7.5.467 /
Virus Database: 269.7.0/803 - Release Date: 5/13/2007 12:17
PM<BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV>
<HR>
<DIV></DIV>No virus found in this incoming message.<BR>Checked by <SPAN
class=correction id="">AVG</SPAN> Free Edition. <BR>Version: 7.5.467 / Virus
Database: 269.7.0/803 - Release Date: 5/13/2007 12:17
PM<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><!-- end of AOLMsgPart_2_526d01d6-5b31-4803-808f-2e7ee949cfb3 -->
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>No virus found in this incoming message.<BR>Checked by AVG Free
Edition. <BR>Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: 269.7.0/803 - Release Date:
5/13/2007 12:17 PM<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>