- Many colonial leaders had a concern for education

o All major religious groups had education concerns:

S Anglicans in Virginia and the Carolinas

- Religious leaders constantly discussed means of ensuring education to the children in their respective areas

- The emphasis upon reading the Bible and pious books was characteristic of the English Puritans, also the Protestants

o Protestants made individual biblical interpretation a central part of their religion

- In most areas, those who had the means to pay for instruction were expected to provide education for their children

- New Englanders succeeded best in their efforts to create schools in which children of both the prosperous and the poor could gain the minimal essentials of education; the other colonies struggled with the problem

S strong central government - dominated by clergy who had firm opinions about training children in literacy and knowledge of the Bible

· Massachusetts Bay could see that all children be educated by persuasion or authority

- In many instances, tutors and teachers were indentured servants or convicts

o Quakers envisioned eliminating poverty and ignorance

- Conditions were far more favorable to learning in the compact towns and villages of the northern colonies

o Mothers who had children of their own took in other children to teach as well

- Some southern parents sent their children to England to be reared and sent back to the colonies

o The cost of teachers and headmasters was covered by the government or by joint agreements between parents

- In general, the practice of so called free schools in southern colonies was to collect fees from parents able to pay and only freely admit orphans and those children too poor to pay for private schooling

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1712
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)