Colonial New England Education Versus Present U.S education

Education in the time of Colonial New England and present today are quite different. Religion played a major role in colonial New England education system. This was evident in the New England Primer were the majority of the book dealt with religion there were prayers for the infants and the young child recitation from bible verses; there were poems that highlighted various characters from the bible. Where as in today’s educational system the classical reading writing and mathematics are studied along with numerous chosen subject areas. The Public education in present day United States of America boasts a separation of church and state. This means that there shall be no teaching or reference to religion in the classroom. Where as, in colonial New England education was geared at the saving of the spiritual souls. Often The Bible was used as a teaching tool. It serves as away to get to heaven. Early education was done at home, the boys were taught a trade and girls taught skills from mothers.
In colonial New England the very wealthy would send their children off to England to get their education; Young boys would be sent away to live and learn from tutors. The girls would learn from an upstanding respected woman in the community: computation, writing and reading. Mothers would teach their daughters good homemaking tasks which encompasses values, social graces and manners. This was not reserved for only girls as the first education came in the form of homeschooling for the children. Today’s education system offers education to all. They may have different avenues by which to accomplish said goal but the government instituted the no child left behind act that allows every child a chance of education. In colonial New England the teachers had little to no training but with the current system teachers have to be trained and there are standards that must be met in order to remain or become a teacher.
School time of the colonials began at seven in the morning and ended at five in the evening with recess from eleven in the morning to one o’clock mid afternoon. Currently students spent seven hours in school unless there are special schools with extended hours. A lot has changed with education then and education now. The Caucasians males were the only people allowed to get a ‘formal’ education in the colonial times mainly at the Latin grammar school. Now there are laws against discrimination where women and other races have the right to education. Yes! There have been many positive strides since the colonial New England education to present.