During this time in history, few schools existed in Pennsylvania in 1774. Children were taught at home using a Bible and hornbook to learn to read and write from their parents. A hornbook was a wooden board with a handle. It would hold a lesson that included capital and lowercase letters, series of syllables and the Lord’s Prayer for the student. A thin layer of cow’s horn protected the hornbook. A wealthy child’s hornbook would have been adorned with jewels and leather.
Children during this time wrote using a quill dipped in ink. They also wrote in a copybook because paper was too expensive. A male tutor would have taught wealthy children privately. Boys would go to grammar school and sometimes college. Girls did not get to attend school, however they spent their time learning from their mothers how to cook, preserve food, and serve meals. They were also not supposed to spend any of their time reading. Some girls were sent to learn how to sing, play musical instruments, sew fancy stitchery, and serve tea properly. Boys became apprentices, shopkeepers, or craftsmen when they grew up. Girls were taught lessons on how to run a home.
English Grammar Schools started due to the growth of middle class businesses in the 1700s. Because of the growth, there was a demand for secondary education. A secondary education would provide instruction for subjects such as navigation, engineering, bookkeeping, and foreign languages. Commercial subjects were stressed rather than religious ones. Later in the 1700s, women were allowed to attend English Grammar Schools. “They were taught the 3Rs (Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmatic) as well as dancing, French, and training on being a lady.” An academy was a new type of secondary school that started and they grew in the second part of the 18th century. They were private schools with did allow women to attend. They became the most popular type of the secondary schools.
By the 1750s literacy rates of people who could basically read and write, were the highest in the New England colonies (about 75% of males and 65% of females). The literacy rate was lower in the Middle and Southern colonies.
Comments (9)
Education has changed over the past 200 years. It is interesting to see what each time period thought was important. During this time girls were preparing to keep a home and boys were training to make a living. Another interesting point you addressed was the literacy rate being higher in the New England states than in the middle and southern colonies;with girls not too far behind the boys. It would be interesting to see a lesson using the hornbook. How do you think your students would like carrying that around their neck?
Posted by Kathleen Childress | September 26, 2010 10:04 PM
Posted on September 26, 2010 22:04
The whole literacry rate percentages really caught my attention. Up until this point there really was not focus on education for women; just the basic to get by to help with the household. So it surprised me to see them only slightly behind the boys in percentages.
I would really like to see one of these hornbooks that the kids had to use. I just can't grasp the idea of it.
Posted by Anonymous | September 28, 2010 3:41 PM
Posted on September 28, 2010 15:41
Repost
The whole literacry rate percentages really caught my attention. Up until this point there really was not focus on education for women; just the basic to get by to help with the household. So it surprised me to see them only slightly behind the boys in percentages.
I would really like to see one of these hornbooks that the kids had to use. I just can't grasp the idea of it.
Posted by Holly Tilley | September 28, 2010 4:28 PM
Posted on September 28, 2010 16:28
Response to Susan Matthews - Early National Education: It is interesting to read about the changes over the years. I think it is funny how they rich would adorn their hornbooks with jewels! The information about the different literacy rate between the Northern and Southern states was interesting. Nice to note that even though women had not really received much in the way of formal education previous to this period.....they didn't seem to fall way behind because of the lack of "formal" education.
Posted by Cathy Ryan | September 28, 2010 9:27 PM
Posted on September 28, 2010 21:27
Its amazing how many males were teachers back then. Now a days male teachers are rare and special. We look at males differently as teachers. A lot of men are catching a bad rap for certain things now. Women are more exceptable as teachers, especially in the elementary school. But back then men were looked at as superior as teachers.
Posted by Jamillah Simpson | September 29, 2010 10:22 PM
Posted on September 29, 2010 22:22
It is interesting to read that education was very close to the same in colonial education time and early national education. Way to go females during this time. Considering that females were not taught how to read and write until the late 1700’s, they were not too far behind the males. I wonder why literacy rates were lower in the middle and southern colonies? I am guessing that those colonies did not an education system that required boys and girls to read and write.
Posted by Melissa Lange | September 30, 2010 7:58 PM
Posted on September 30, 2010 19:58
I can understand what a hornbook LOOKS like, but did they write on it? ? Or was it just for reading? And I was confused as to what a “copybook” was, and how it was different from a hornbook...and, if they wrote with ink did they clean their copybook or hornbook and reuse it? Confusing.....
When I read that the girls learned “how to carry on a polite conversation” I thought that perhaps we need to teach that particular skill to both girls AND boys today! Too often our students can barely say “Good morning” when they walk down the hallway and an adult speaks to them. They don’t even look up when an adult speaks to them. I agree with several of the comments, too often manners are sadly lacking in our children today.
Posted by Marlee Wright | September 30, 2010 11:20 PM
Posted on September 30, 2010 23:20
Marlee you bring up some good comments. I too was wondering if the children could write in the horn books. My guess would be no. I am sure they were past from brother to brother. I think they were more like their textbook.
Posted by Melissa Lange | October 3, 2010 10:49 AM
Posted on October 3, 2010 10:49
It makes you think when you look at literacy rates in the north and literacy rates in the southern states. I wonder if that was closely related to the fact that northern states were quickly becoming more industrialized as compared to southern states. Were children in the south less likely to go to school regularly because they were needed to work? Were schools more prevalent in the north where there were more cities with larger populations. It would be interesting to compare all of that data and see how it correlates.
Posted by Amanda Burcham | October 5, 2010 2:45 PM
Posted on October 5, 2010 14:45