reflection paper#17

The difference between colonial New England educations with present day education fluctuates in a number of ways. First and for most, colonial education was much more developed in a since of wanting to learn what was being taught. I don’t think attendance really mattered to them or was even taken regularly because of the vast capacity of students in a single class room. The classrooms were like church assemblies compared to the way classrooms are now in present day education. The school term in New England was rarely four months in a year. Now-a-days teachers are able to take attendance and mark off who is absent or tardy. school lasts for about ten months, with an exception of days off, spring break, and winter breaks. Religion was very important to the Puritans. In New England, with an exception of Rhode Island, the Puritan or Congregational Church was practically the State Church. In no other part of America had religion taken a hold on people as it did in New England. Before education came religion. The New Ministers were important men of reflective learning and taught to their churches in honesty and true sincerity. As for religion in schools now-a-days, it’s rare that you’ll find it. Unless the school’s curriculum is Christian based the only time you’ll hear the Lord’s name is in the Pledge of Allegiance. Schools in the present day don’t put so much emphasis on religion and I really don’t know why. I’m still attempting to figure out how that became of a change. How did religion just turn away from education when it was basically the foundation of it all? The teaching styles of present day education I believe is way more advanced compared to the way it was in colonial times. Not to say that teachers today and teachers back then didn’t have any knowledge of teaching, but I believe both were trained according to what there was to know for the learning of the students during each certain time period. The teachers in New England were often students of divine nature who stood tall above the rest and sometimes the minister of a local church. Even the innkeeper was at one point capable of teaching. That goes to show you that almost anyone was sought out to do the teaching job. Today, an individual has to go through a number of steps before becoming a certified teacher. What ever the ministers and divine students knew was what they taught to the class. Today, teachers educate the students on things the state sets out for them to learn and comprehend in order to move on to the next grade. The difference between colonial education in England and education now were very different from each other. Thank God for technology.