Education In Colonial History

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Education In Colonial History

Thomas Jefferson and Robert Coram both had different plans for education in colonial America. Jefferson was the most well known advocate for education while Coram was the least famous devisor of educational plans. Jefferson, as we all know, wrote the Declaration of Independence and later became the third President. Robert Coram was a young man who worked for a Republican newspaper in Delaware. He based most of his plan on the works of Noah Webster, who was a supporter of public schools.
The objective of this essay is to determine which person's plan is more democratic. Before that can be established, I think a definition of democracy should be stated so that it may be called upon later in this essay. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, democracy is stated as the principle of social equality and respect for the individual within a community .
Thomas Jefferson had very basic ideas for education in colonial America. He felt that the law did not need specific details, but simply a basic system. Jefferson felt that the school should be set up to educate children in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Jefferson stated that every county should be broken down into hundreds, which were small districts of five or six square miles. In these hundreds, the first three years of a child's education would be gratis according to Jefferson. After the first three years, it would be up to the parents to fund their children's education, but they would still be able to attend school for as long as they wanted. This seems to provide an excellent democratic system of education. He continues on, stating that certain students should receive benefits. One case is that Jefferson feels that the smartest child in the school, whose parents cannot afford further education, should be sent onward to the grammar schools, with costs dismissed from the family. Also, continuing with this gratis education, Jefferson believes that twenty of the smartest students should go on to receive an education from William and Mary College.
Robert Coram had a different plan for education in the colonies. Coram felt that equal education should be dispersed to everyone. He goes on to state that education should be given to every class of citizens, to every chil...

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