Dame school
Encyclopedia
A Dame School was an early form of a private elementary school
in English-speaking countries. They were usually taught by women and were often located in the home of the teacher.
in 1870, whereafter schools that were found to be below government-specified standards of tuition could be closed.
, where basic literacy was expected of all classes, than in the southern colonies, where there were fewer educated women willing to be teachers.
Motivated by the religious needs of Puritan
society and their own economic needs, some colonial women in 17th century rural New England opened small, private schools in their homes to teach reading and catechism to young children. An education in reading and religion was required for children by the Massachusetts School Law of 1642. Dame schools fulfilled this requirement if parents were unable to educate their young children in their own home. These women, often widows, received tuition in coin, home industries, alcohol, baked goods, and other valuables. Teaching materials generally included, and often did not exceed, a hornbook
, primer, Psalter
, and Bible
. Girls in dame schools might also learn sewing, embroidery, and other "graces". Most girls received their only formal education from dame schools because of sex-segregated education in common or public schools during the colonial period. If their parents could afford it, after attending a dame school for a rudimentary education in reading, colonial boys moved on to schools where a male teacher taught advanced arithmetic, writing, Latin, and Greek.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, some dame schools offered boys and girls from wealthy families a "polite education". The women running these elite dame schools taught "reading, writing, English, French, arithmetic, and music, and dancing".
, started in 1789, was a Dame school in which children were taught basics by a convict, Isabella Rossen.
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
in English-speaking countries. They were usually taught by women and were often located in the home of the teacher.
Britain
Dame schools were quite varied - some functioned primarily as day care facilities, overseen by illiterate women, while others provided their students with a good foundation in the basics. The inadequacies of Dame schools in England were illustrated by a study conducted in 1838 by the Statistical Society of London that found nearly half of all pupils surveyed were only taught spelling, with a negligible number being taught mathematics and grammar. Dame schools became less common in Britain after the introduction of compulsory educationCompulsory education
Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all persons.-Antiquity to Medieval Era:Although Plato's The Republic is credited with having popularized the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought, every parent in Judea since Moses's Covenant with...
in 1870, whereafter schools that were found to be below government-specified standards of tuition could be closed.
North America
In North America, "dame school" is a broad term for a private school with a female teacher during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The education provided by these schools ranged from basic to exceptional. The basic type of dame school was more common in New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, where basic literacy was expected of all classes, than in the southern colonies, where there were fewer educated women willing to be teachers.
Motivated by the religious needs of Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
society and their own economic needs, some colonial women in 17th century rural New England opened small, private schools in their homes to teach reading and catechism to young children. An education in reading and religion was required for children by the Massachusetts School Law of 1642. Dame schools fulfilled this requirement if parents were unable to educate their young children in their own home. These women, often widows, received tuition in coin, home industries, alcohol, baked goods, and other valuables. Teaching materials generally included, and often did not exceed, a hornbook
Hornbook
A hornbook is a book that serves as primer for study. The hornbook originated in England in 1450 . The term has been applied to a few different study materials in different fields...
, primer, Psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
, and Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. Girls in dame schools might also learn sewing, embroidery, and other "graces". Most girls received their only formal education from dame schools because of sex-segregated education in common or public schools during the colonial period. If their parents could afford it, after attending a dame school for a rudimentary education in reading, colonial boys moved on to schools where a male teacher taught advanced arithmetic, writing, Latin, and Greek.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, some dame schools offered boys and girls from wealthy families a "polite education". The women running these elite dame schools taught "reading, writing, English, French, arithmetic, and music, and dancing".
Australia
The first school in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, started in 1789, was a Dame school in which children were taught basics by a convict, Isabella Rossen.
See also
- History of education in the United StatesHistory of education in the United StatesThe history of education in the United States, or foundations of education, covers the trends in educational philosophy, policy, institutions, as well as formal and informal learning in America from the 17th century to today.-New England:...
- Education in the Thirteen Colonies
External links
- http://www.nps.gov/fova/forkids/the-dame-school.htm
- http://www.williamsburgkids.com/people/schools.htm