WHy was Massachusetts the first colony to put compulsory education laws in place,

S

seoreh

New member
both in 1642 and 1647 and? than again in 1852 with Horace Mann's advocacy- Why were the puritans who came to flee religious persecution so ready and willing to put government in schooling, how is that different than government in your personal religious life? How did it go from religion would be your salvation to education will be your salvation? I realize there are a lot of theories: complusory education had been created to put children of different races, classes together and thought to promote better citizens, end poverty,literacy, democracy- yet if this is TRUE, why are schools today such a mess ? SO for those who say I am rambling and not actually asking a question, in summary these are my question; why was Massachusetts the first to be big on government run schools ( government , king, ruler school bureaucracy should choose my books, tell me I have to be the
 
Big government? You don't get it.
The first principal to the puritans was, everyone had to read the bible for them selves. A hundred years before, protestants were burnt at the stake for reading the bible in english. Reading the bible was everything.
So to guarantee everyone could read the bible, you had to guarantee that everyone could read. It was a grass roots effort to vote taxes on themselves, to build schools and pay teachers.
As a result, Massachusetts had the worlds highest literacy rate for centuries.
Second, the Puritans did not come to America for religious freedom for everyone. They came so that they could decide things for themselves, and not be bothered by a appointed bishop. The same men who were elders in the Congregational Church, were also on the town board, and the school board. The only difference between sunday school and regular school was sunday school did not teach math.
 
Because it's where the Puritans settled and the Puritans were all gung ho about their religion and felt that to propagate it properly and prepare the well suited for a career in the ministry it was necessary to make all children of the colony literate in a basic way -- though not by government insinuating itself into the affairs of education in too manifest a way, whereupon they left it to the populace at large to take charge and implement the mandate as specified. With Horace Mann though it was entirely different in that he did put state government in control, being all the while careful not to get the Feds involved. Still he refrained from letting government run it entirely and left a certain amount over as the special province of the private sector, meaning allowing for some local control and home grown oversight. But subsequently things got out of hand and the welfare state set in, whereupon government took the reins of education unto itself and came under the domination of teachers' unions dictating policy left and right and leaving nary a morsel of say-so for the public at large. So no, it wasn't the Massachusetts colony that initially jumped into the fray, although it was they who demanded a private education, come what may.
 
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