Education and Professions by Sarah C.

Education in early New England was closely aligned with the cultural backgrounds of each group. Each colony had their own style and pattern for their educational system. Religion was a prominent factor affecting education. Quakers, Calvinists, and Puritans established their own means for interweaving religion with their education. The Quakers stressed the importance of nurturing families. They did not use many books or effective means of educating. They weren’t against them, but felt their methods were more effective for the goal they initially wanted to achieve. Calvinists’ main focus was emphasizing a personal interpretation of the Bible. The Puritans wanted to educate as well as shape individual lives. They succeeded in establishing grammar schools and Harvard College. Beyond the religiously based schools, there were few colonists that studied classical language or mathematics. There were other colleges established such as Oxford and Cambridge. The curriculum included “logic, rhetoric, ethics, politics, history, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, physics, nature of plants, Greek grammar and literature, Hebrew grammar and Bible readings, Chaldee grammar and Apocryphal reading, Syriac grammar and New Testament readings, and catechetical divinity. The prerequisite required fluency in Latin. After a century of these educations, other colleges branched off to preserve their background, which expanded options of the colonist’s education. Doctors made medicine out of leaves, roots, tree bark, herbs and some parts of animals. The doctors got paid even if the patients died. The farmers could not thrive and accumulate money easily. This caused people to become fishermen and sailors, shipbuilders and merchants. There were little means of manufacturing, but people supplied their own desires. Most every farmer was also a mechanic. The wife and daughters spun and wove clothes for the family to wear. There were blacksmiths and craftsmen. They were considered the average men amongst the colony. The ministers were looked upon highly and had much respect around the community. Knowledgeable doctors were hard to come by and were also looked upon as a respectable profession. Resources: Boudreau, George W. "Education, 1585–1763." Smith, Billy G., and Gary B. Nash, eds. in Encyclopedia of American History: Colonization and Settlement, 1608 to 1760, vol. 2. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHII129&SingleRecord=True, (accessed November 8, 2010). "Earliest Harvard College Schedule." American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? ItemID=WE52&iPin=AHI10881&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 8, 2010). Unger, Harlow G. "Education in the Colonial Period." Encyclopedia of American Education,Third Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. American History Online, Facts On File,Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAE0470&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 8, 2010). http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/battles/weaver.jpg