I am Asad Arslan Asif, a student of literature, from Riphah International University. Lines ahead put light on Post-American Revolution Education and Jefferson.

Following the American Revolution, Americans started to view education differently. Children were traditionally instructed in a variety of specialised trades through apprenticeship or parental assistance. Many would pick up reading and writing, but they would also do this at home as part of their education. It was crucial that they learn how their parents had learned because most kids would follow in their parents' footsteps in terms of career. Their schooling equipped them for careers as farmers, craftspeople, or other skilled tradespeople.

Formal Education:

Some kids had received individual tutoring or had been sent to school to learn reading, writing, math, and other topics. The majority of children chosen for formal education came from wealthy households, and their education's goal was to prepare them for one of the more elite professions, such as the ministry or the law. Children would need to learn Latin and Greek in order to pass the college admission exam, therefore private schools run by a schoolmaster who is paid by the parents of his students would teach students those languages as well as a few other disciplines. Children would normally start college at 12 or 14. The majority of the colonial institutions (Harvard, William & Mary, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Queen’s, and Dartmouth) had been established by religious organisations and was committed to both the education of the general populace and the training of ministers. Despite not being created by religious organisations, the College of Philadelphia and King's College, now Columbia University both had a sizable ministerial presence on their faculties and in their governance. Faculty members typically worked as preachers in a specific religion.

Scholars and Citizens:

Because it altered society's foundational principles, the American Revolution brought about a significant shift in how Americans perceived education. After gaining their freedom, certain American leaders started to consider how to reform the educational system. According to Benjamin Rush, the goal of American education was to produce citizens rather than academics. All citizens needed to be educated if the American republic was to endure. States rapidly showed an interest in expanding access to formal education. In 1789, Massachusetts mandated that communities establish common schools, while Pennsylvania's 1790 Constitution mandated that towns establish institutions to provide free education to the underprivileged. The nations understood that in order for their inhabitants to be dependable keepers of the peace, they needed to be educated.

Jefferson’s Stance:

Thomas Jefferson recommended that Virginia establish a network of grammar schools to give all free children in the state three years of free education and to teach them reading, writing, and mathematics. The most intelligent students at this level could continue on to college after three years for youngsters who demonstrated remarkable promise. All children would learn to read and write under Jefferson's proposed system, and the most intelligent students would be chosen to receive leadership training. After the Civil War, Jefferson's grandiose plan would be implemented. Jefferson and other proponents of educational reform had hoped to establish a public school system. They wanted to modify how schools were funded even though they were generally satisfied with how schools were run. Up to fifty pupils would sit on benches in a classroom with one teacher, who was typically a young man studying for the ministry or the law. The students would copy the lessons the teacher would dictate. Lessons were memorised by the students, and they were graded on their recall of what they had learned.

Sunday schools:

Beginning in the 1790s, women predominately ran Sunday schools. Despite typically being associated with religions, these schools provided secular education. In any case, it would be challenging to locate an American school in this era that did not include a strong religious component; the New York Free School enforced Sunday church attendance, though students were free to attend any denomination. However, even though it would be held in a church, the Sunday school was accessible to everyone. The teacher used the Bible as their primary text to teach reading and writing to her students, who ranged in age from children to adults, one day per week. These institutions, like the charity schools, were created to stop an uneducated, underprivileged class from growing and posing a threat to society.

New York’s Free Schools:

In order to teach former slaves' and free Black children how to read, write, and contribute to society, donors established the African Free School in New York in 1787. Other charitable schools founded by different religious denominations came after this. While teaching reading, writing, and math in each of these institutions, the lessons all had a strong moral foundation. The foundation of these free schools was religion. The counties were allocated money from the sale of public lands to pay the charity-school teachers, and for five years New York enjoyed a system of state-supported education. New York State made the decision to support these charity schools with state monies in 1795. The legislature ended this practice in 1800. Five years later, DeWitt Clinton and other New York benefactors founded the Free School Society, which opened free schools for underprivileged students and received funding from private donations.

Lancastrian System:

These changes were all made with the goal of improving school funding. The manner that schools should run was advanced by two important changes. Joseph Lancaster, a London school administrator who taught more than a thousand students by himself, had pedagogical strategies that the New York Free School Society adopted. The Lancaster approach required the teacher to train a few more talented pupils to serve as "monitors," carrying out a lot of the drilling and paying attention to recitations. One teacher may manage hundreds of kids using this strategy. This system had two benefits: first, it was much less expensive than the previous system, which required one instructor for every thirty or forty students, and second, it was said that the Lancastrian schools could teach a kid to read in just a few months.

Pestalozzian System:

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi introduced a further change that was brought over from Switzerland because he disagreed with the drill and memorising methods used in the majority of schools in Europe and America. Pestalozzi advocated educating students by piqueing their curiosity and encouraging them to explore the natural world. Once their curiosity had been sufficiently piqued, Pestalozzi recommended teaching reading, writing, and math using practical examples rather than moral lessons and abstract theories. When Philadelphia businessman William Maclure visited Pestalozzi in 1805, he realised that his approach would be the best for educating republican Americans. In order to start a Pestalozzian school in America, Maclure employed Joseph Neef, one of Pestalozzi's teachers.

State Universities and Academies:

While there was no change in how schools were operated in the years following the Revolution, there was a significant increase in the number of schools. To educate the populace of the republic, communities and/or states established schools throughout the new nation. A state university was first established in Georgia in 1785, then in New York in 1787 and North Carolina in 1789. James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and John Adams all made attempts to convince Congress to create a national university, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Jefferson tried unsuccessfully to get Virginia to set up a system of education, but after leaving office, he focused all of his attention on starting the University of Virginia.

States also authorised private academies to train students for college entrance, in addition to institutions. The federal government also made an effort to promote education by selling and dividing western territory. Congress mandated in 1787 that the land be divided into townships in the newly created territories in the Ohio River valley, that certain lots in each township be set aside for a schoolhouse, and that other land parcels be sold to cover the cost of the school.

Media Resources Links:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/45310547

https://sk.sagepub.com/books/american-educational-history/n2.xml

https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/teaching-the-revolution-today/the-american-revolution-in-our-schools/

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/revolutionary-colleges

https://www.pearson.com/pathways/student-resources/history-of-education-in-america.html

https://youtu.be/CsQnnmUP8vQ

https://youtu.be/diOTAe-sNa4

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606970.pdf