Although they were publicly supplied at the local (town) level, they were not free. In the 18th century, 'common schools' were established students of all ages were under the control of one teacher in one room. Similar statutes were adopted in other colonies in the 1640s and 1650s. In 1642 the Massachusetts Bay Colony made 'proper' education compulsory other New England colonies followed this example. Īll the New England colonies required towns to set up schools, and many did so. The planter class did not support public education but arranged for private tutors for their children, and sent some to England at appropriate ages for further education.īy the mid-19th century, the role of the schools in New England had expanded to such an extent that they took over many of the educational tasks traditionally handled by parents.

Single working-class people formed a large part of the population in the early years, arriving as indentured servants. Literacy was much lower in the South, where the Anglican Church was the established church. Literacy rates were much higher in New England because much of the population had been deeply involved in the Protestant Reformation and learned to read in order to read the Scriptures. 'Cremin (1970) stresses that colonists tried at first to educate by the traditional English methods of family, church, community, and apprenticeship, with schools later becoming the key agent in 'socialization.' At first, the rudiments of literacy and arithmetic were taught inside the family, assuming the parents had those skills. The first free taxpayer-supported public school in North America, the Mather School, was opened in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1639. Boston Latin School was founded in 1635 and is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States. The first American schools in the thirteen original colonies opened in the 17th century.

See also: Education in the Thirteen Colonies, Latin school § Latin schools in colonial North America and the USA, and Neo-Latin § Latin in school education 1500-1700 New England

Democracy and education 1916