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Education in the 19th century
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In the earliest days of the colonies, most schooling occurred at home, but in the mid-1600s, the first public schools were opening. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, many boys and girls were learning reading, writing, and arithmetic in one-room schoolhouses. Here, students did lessons from schoolbooks called primers, writing their assignments on slates because paper was so expensive. Much of their education was based on memorization. The teacher would give a student a printed lesson to memorize and the student would repeat the lesson from memory.
Parents who could afford to send their children to private academies, did so starting when the children were fairly young up through their teens. The first academy in America was probably one started by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia in 1753. Some academies taught students who lived in the area and went home after school; others had students who came from far away and lived at the school. There were usually separate academies for boys and girls. Boys' academies taught many subjects, including Latin, Greek, arithmetic, English, French, algebra, history, navigation, and agriculture. Girls' academies offered a different set of courses, focusing more on elementary reading, needlework, drawing, and music lessons, with an emphasis on religion.
The school that Amelia attends in Letters from a Philadelphia Bookworm was a real school. John Poor cofounded the Young Ladies' Academy of Philadelphia with Benjamin Rush in 1787. It was one of the first schools of its kind, teaching high school-aged girls reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, music, and catechisms.
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In the early 1800s, girls and boys generally went to different schools and were taught different subjects. |
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Boston Latin School
Read about the history of Boston Latin School, the first public school in the U.S.
School Tales
See how students, teachers, and school are depicted in stories written in the 19th century.
Education in Colonial America
Learn about education during the colonial period.
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Education in the 19th century
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