Lovedtodeath Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 How were the founding fathers educated? I always hear about how Ben Franklin was classically educated, so it must be good. Why do I not have any information on this? When did they start school? How many years were they tutored? When someone graduated a product of a classical education, weren't they considered done? Yet we are expected to put our kids through a classical education and then send them to college. Am I wrong here? I am just assuming. I have no information on this, but would certainly love to have some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secular_mom Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Have you read the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin? It is a good read. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 When did they start school? How many years were they tutored? When someone graduated a product of a classical education, weren't they considered done? Yet we are expected to put our kids through a classical education and then send them to college. Am I wrong here? I am just assuming. I have no information on this, but would certainly love to have some. No, in very early American history, boys were tutored in Latin grammar because that was a prerequisite to admission to Harvard. Girls were done after age fourteen or so, though. Also, Benjamin Franklin was apprenticed to a printmaker, not the more rigorous model of early American education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted February 6, 2009 Author Share Posted February 6, 2009 Hmmm... I wonder how old they were when they went to Harvard, and when they graduated from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 (edited) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Colonial_America The two books that taught me the most about the nitty gritty of colonial education were The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, which went into great detail about the common knowledge of colonial Americans, and The Family Letters of Thomas Jefferson, which included his letters to his sister dictating each year's homeschool curriculum for his daughters. Edited February 6, 2009 by dragons in the flower bed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plaid Dad Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Climbing Parnassus has a discussion of early American classical education and the Founders. But the 18th century is recent history when it comes to classical education. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 My library had this Truthquest recommendation. I thought it was a good read for me- not the kids. She also wrote Home Life in Colonial Days. Child Life in Colonial Days, by Alice Morse Earle: http://books.google.com/books?id=AJAAAAAAYAAJ&dq=child+life+in+colonial+america+alice+morse+earle&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=dWKMSaWcLJ6DtwfZxM2DCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 How were the founding fathers educated? I always hear about how Ben Franklin was classically educated, so it must be good. Why do I not have any information on this? When did they start school? How many years were they tutored? When someone graduated a product of a classical education, weren't they considered done? Yet we are expected to put our kids through a classical education and then send them to college. Am I wrong here? I am just assuming. I have no information on this, but would certainly love to have some. How about just getting some biographies out of the library and reading the parts about these people's educations? I find out a lot of this kind of stuff by reading bios. Right now I'm slowly reading The Education of Cyrus, and it's fascinating, esp. since I now recognize (thanks to using WTM for our homeschooling) the things that his father and other mentors were teaching him and how they taught him. Even some quick reads of bios. written for middle grade students will give you some insight into how lots of people from the past were educated. I have bios from the YWAM heroes series, and some from The Sowers and some from Childhood of Famous Americans. It's fun for me to see how when many of the were kids, they had to study math methodically, they were taught sounds for reading, they were taught Latin skills, spelling skills.....all the stuff I missed out on in my random education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy loves Bud Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 We were watching the miniseries on John Adams last night, and it showed Abigail teaching the children Latin. I don't know if it was accurate or not, but I sure loved seeing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laylamcb Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Ditto both of my grandmothers. One went to Stanford at 16, and the other was a college professor of French (she came here from France at age 18). Latin: It does a body good. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Franklin was mostly self-educated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Another source for this kind of info is The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment by Carl J. Richard (1994). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I was just reading about Shakespeare in the preface to a play- in his day, he and others of his social status , boys only of course, were sent to school at age 4 or 5 and schooled from 6am till 4 or 5 in the afternoon, with only a short break in the day- until about age 15- then they moved onto an apprenticeship. Latin was emphasised in school. It sounds like that was normal for the wealthier classes. It didnt mention university but I guess some went there too. I am not sure I would compare a modern classical education, WTM style, to an historical one- having read Plaid Dad's book and Climbing Parnassus. We live in different times- even if we wanted to imitate what they did we would have to adapt it to our times. I don't presume my kids will go to university anyway- but giving them a broad and deep foundation during their childhood/teens, while preserving their spirit and love of learning and life- is my aim. I am not sure I would want a traditional classical education with long hours and gruelling work all through childhood- anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 They didn't have to learn quite as much history or science as we do now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyboys Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 Ditto both of my grandmothers. One went to Stanford at 16, and the other was a college professor of French (she came here from France at age 18). Latin: It does a body good. ;) That's what I keep telling the dc! ;) eta: what great role models you had! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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