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THE ORIGINS OF PUBLIC EDUCATION American colonists valued education, but they often lacked the resources necessary to send their children to school. For many children, school was not considered necessary. For the most part, parents taught their children how to read at home. A system of apprenticeship, in which young people were sent to work with a skilled craftsman at an early age so that they would learn the trade, was another key component of colonial education. The Massachusetts Bay colony led the way in public education, largely because Puritan religious leaders want- ed to make sure that colonists could read the Bible. The Boston Latin School, founded in 1635, was the first public school established in the United States. The school was supported by donations, rather than from local taxes. The first college in the colonies was Harvard, founded in 1636. During the 1640s, the Massachusetts Bay colony passed laws that required each town in the colony to establish and pay to operate public schools. Other British colonies, particularly in the North, soon followed this example. At first, early American schools in the northern colo- nies were only open to boys and young men from white families. Eventually, girls were given the opportunity to attend primary schools, although it was extremely rare for young women to receive higher education. Education was much different in the southern states, where the popula- tions were more rural. There were few schools in the South. Wealthy families hired tutors to teach their children at

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Contemporary Issues: Education