Colonial Education

The nature and purpose of colonial education was different if you were a boy or girl.  Christopher Lamb revolutionized the classroom, when Christopher Lamb was in school the program back then was focused around the bible and, moral and social values.  The discipline during Christopher’s classroom experience was based off of physical punishment; the students received welts and bruises when they acted out.  Christopher Lamb became a teacher after his apprenticeship was up, once he had the reins of the classroom he started to change things, for example he took out the need for physical discipline and began using a punishment and reward system.  Education grew from simple home schooling to dames or stay at home mothers who started teaching more than just their own children.  The education changed a little, yet the focuses were still on reading, religion, and values for the boys.  However the girls were taught homemaking skills by the age of 7 years old.  As time went on a law called Old Deluder Satan Law was passed and made it a requirement that –Every town of 50 households must appoint and pay a teacher of reading and writing, also – Every town of 100 households must provide a Latin grammar school to prepare youths for the university, under a penalty of 5 pounds for failure to do so.  All in all the colonial time period for education laid out the foundations for, local control of schools, compulsory education, tax-supported schools, and state standards for teaching and schools.