“Athens has been called the Classic City, not from her ancient namesake, but because she has been the acknowledged seat of lea

Jonathan Edwards

HIST 4000

Dr. Gagnon

Spring 2003

The Emergence of Public Education in Antebellum Athens

Athens has been called the Classic City, not from her ancient namesake, but because she has been the acknowledged seat of learning in Georgia for many years. Augustus Longstreet Hull, 1906. [1]

The landing of settlers in North America brought about many changes to what is now the United States. A mainstay in this transition though was a firm belief in the education of children. Education has remained a cornerstone of this nation on the move and has provided many individuals the opportunity to be interwoven in American culture; Ultimately, education has given those same individuals the knowledge and tools necessary to essentially choose the path of their own desire. The action among the newcomers to this nation was their way of indirectly stating their desire to stay and tame this wild unsettled country, and upon arrival these settlers tried to recreate the European system of schooling that they had known before. This was a new world though; it was a fresh beginning, and it offered a pristine opportunity in which to develop new styles of learning and educational experience. In this paper I would like to examine the important elements that led to the beginnings of American public schools. More importantly, I wish to analyze the public educational policy of Georgia and of the Athens area during the antebellum period in an attempt to uncover any preconceived notions as to why the South is considered to be lacking educationally.

The increased diversity of America paints an interesting picture of how far America has come since the founding of this nation. Even before America claimed itself as independent from foreign rule it was already engaged in a dynamic that recognized education as a vehicle for upward mobility. The prime factor in all of this is that upward mobility was only accessible to a limited class of people and the deep roots of this ideology are issues that are still being dealt with today. In essence education has become a platform for knowledge even before its infusion into mainstream American culture.

In early colonial times the family was seen as the essential unit of social organization and informal education in the colonies.[2] Many colonial homes were the place of both literary and vocational instruction. Parents played the major role in the instruction of their children in the early days. The mother usually tended to the reading and writing instruction, while the father had the children engaged in chores that would train them in the economic activities of the New World. These informal lessons would establish the tools necessary to segue to the formation of a child’s formal education. It was upon this foundation of the non-formal agencies of the family and the household that the formal educational structures of the school and the college were built.[3] This formal education would operate under a system that was, in actuality, the most important of the legacies brought from Europe to understand clearly, the relationship between church and state.

Religion was seen as the only reason for an education for the reason that it would provide students with the knowledge to live a morally pure life. At this time in the eighteenth century America was acting upon the realizations and teachings that the evangelical movement of the time, known more widely as the Great Awakening, had bestowed upon them. These teachings informed citizens that they were mere puppets in the hand of a god that had utmost control over their destinies. The town schools of New England had already taught mainly reading, writing, and religion, but with this increased awareness of an all-knowing god students began to see an increase in their studies of religion. Sermons from ministers such as Jonathan Edwards brought about a heightened increase in the emphasis of religion necessary in the schools, whereas other religious factions had already a healthy course of religion included in their daily learning regimen. For example, Calvinist theology went hand in hand with perceptions of education. Religion and education were seen as interrelated components that formed the basis of educational thought. The Calvinist placed and emphasis on reading and writing because they found it to be an important attribute of the clergy that would allow them to read and understand the scriptures. Needless to say the nation was influenced by a cultural pattern that entailed a close alliance between church and state. This relationship would soon be undermined by changes and developments that would lead to the separation of church and state in the Revolutionary period and in the years of the early republic.

New England had begun a system of formal education not long after colonists arrived in the New World. Schools began to be established when the colonists were informed by a letter from King James, in 1621, to diverse of his loving subjects.[4] This proclamation from the king enacted the New England Puritans to establish a grammar school in each town in which boys were taught to read the Bible. The early beginnings of the public school started out for the purpose of educating young men who in turn would be able to live the life exemplified by religious guidelines. This religious training was also emerging in the colonies of the South.

In Georgia a heavy emphasis was placed on education almost immediately at its inception. The Trustees of the Colony in England wanted to make sure that this was going to be an educated colony. The town of Savannah soon after its charter began to make arrangements for the education of the colonists there. Colonists began to notice that in the middle of the town they have reserved a spot of land, which they intend to build a church on, as soon as possible, though they have a place, at present, set apart for public worship on Sunday, where the Children are educated all the rest of the week.[5] The establishment of education in Georgia was also based upon the need for religious training. Men such as General James Oglethorpe, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and John Martin Bolzius were all graduates of European institutions and that provides the reason attention was given to schools for children. In the beginnings of Georgia schools they primarily were built for educating Indians and other schools were sponsored by religious organizations. Some of these were the Irene school, which functioned as an Indian school that was set up by John Wesley. The Salzburgers and Moravians were religious sects that also set up their own respective schools.

The formation of schools for religious purposes led to the beginning of what was to become the public school also termed the common school. It was not until the American Revolution that an emphasis on public schooling and schooling in general began to take national precedence. Like stated previously the nation had already begun to undergo a crisis among the economic, social class, and sectional relationships of the country. It was then that republican ideals began to uncover that education was the key to a more prosperous nation. These ideals would be championed by many of the political and social leaders of the time. In the late eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson popularized the ideas that a democratic republic required an enlightened citizenry and that government had a duty to promote education in order to foster a meritocracy based on talent and ability.[6] It was Jefferson’s view that in order for the nation to retain its prestigious forms of self-governance a few things had to be in place: Jefferson’s vision of an agrarian society that could expand across space required a society that was homogenous and that was independent and exercised self-control. In this ideology education was a chief instrument in creating this type of citizenry. This idea was opposite from many Federalist ideals, since many federalists were staunch Calvinists and believed in a monarchial rule that reserved greatness for a select few. It was through the work of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin that Americans turned away from tradition and began to believe that they could control their own destiny through their own personal experiences. The most important of these was the educational experience.

In the early nineteenth century immigration and increased social disorder placed a heightened pressure on public schooling. Cities were becoming overcrowded and segregation began to emerge as a vital issue in everyday affairs. Working-class leaders viewed public schools as a way to promote upward mobility and to remove a source of economic competition.[7] Schools were also seen as a way to answer the problems of crime and poverty. Now the momentum shifted directly towards public schools in order to take over the role of the church and provide the students with basic literacy and exposure to science and technology.

With this shift from religious training to an education system that promoted and enhanced other facets of education, teamed with the separation of church and state, an interesting situation arises in the South. In the North public school systems began to be established in each county in which every white child, regardless of class status, was given the opportunity to attend schools established by the government free of charge. Interestingly, this was not occurring in the South.

The Declaration of Independence was a major influential factor in the establishment of schools in Georgia. It allowed for Georgia to adopt its first state constitution a year later which stated that schools shall be erected in each county and supported at the general expense of the state as the legislature shall hereafter point out and direct.[8] Later state constitutions reduced the requirements to just permitting counties to establish forms of formal public education. The actual type of schools to be established was not specified exactly, but since they were to be established in each county one can come to the generalization that they were to be accessible to everyone in Georgia.

In 1783 the Georgia assembly made grants to both academies and free schools. Both institutions charged some sort of tuition in order to supplement state grants, but for the most part all schools during that time were products of local initiative. In the north, especially in Massachusetts, the common school allowed each and every child to receive an education regardless of social background. This was not the case in the south. In the South, education remained largely confined to private academies and informal “old field” schools.[9] The “old field” school was the first form of public education. The first Old Field School was a one room log building erected by a group of parents in an old, barren field.[10] These “old field” schools appeared exactly as they sound. They were often placed on undeveloped and unusable parcels of land on the edge of town. At this time money or the lack there of, was the main contributing factor if the town had public schooling or not. These “old field schools” were exactly that. They were often placed on undeveloped and unusable parcels of land on the edge of town. Many time the parents of the children in the area had to fund the building and teaching themselves. The schoolmasters during this time were often passers by who had to convince the parents of the town to let them teach. For these students the day consisted of working on arithmetic problems that they copied down on their slates and they occasionally had the opportunity to read a passage from a reader if resources were available. The places in which the real learning was occurring that engaged students in many various learning experiences was in the state and privately funded academies.

What seemed to be the trend in Georgia throughout this time though was the establishment and enhancement of private academies. During most of Georgia’s first 100 years as a state (1776-1872), public schools were mere charities.[11] During this time state legislatures were placing all of their focus on these academies. In 1822 the Georgia state legislature voted in favor to divide the monies between academies and a Poor School Fund. This act of legislation would give a meager amount of funds to counties whose poor parents could not pay the tuition to private academies. This charity attached a stigma to the school funds that most poor people rejected with utter contempt. By 1850 the state of Georgia had 219 chartered academies.[12] The children who were born into the social elite were usually the ones who attended these schools because their families were the only ones who could afford tuition. The people of Athens were firm believers in this form of education.

Athens was a college town meaning that the town grew up around the college. This would naturally attract those of higher social status. Schooling in Athens was at a premium. The 1840 census enumerated five primary schools (with 170 students) in Clarke County, and the 1850 census counted seventeen such schools with 482 students.[13] In the primary schools literacy and numeracy were taught while grammar schools introduced Latin and Greek. These schools were intended to prepare elite boys on preparing for the University. Athens also bolstered its own institution for the education of females. Among these were the Athens Female academy, later named the Athens High School for Young Ladies and the Lucy Cobb Institute. In Athens, the agitation for public schools first began in 1879.[14] Athens did not even establish a system of free public schools until 1885 when the Athens City Schools system was established. The people of Athens also had their reasons for this. The conservatives opposed it. They had never been to a public school, they had been well educated without it, and the private school was good enough for them and their children.[15] The people felt that a form of public education would only bring about an increase in taxes. Also parallel with conservative ideology, coined by John C. Calhoun who was the most dominant conservative leader at the time, was the belief that education would not help the masses. Believe it or not, during the antebellum period Athens was the staging ground for what went on as far as state educational policies are concerned. Many of the leading individuals in Athens had extremely close ties political factions and were the leaders of the parties in some instances. What stuck out in the minds of Athenians was that moreover the public school was a Massachusetts invention and we were becoming Yankeeized fast enough anyhow.[16] This mindset goes to show the amount of sectionalism that was present at this time, as well as lending itself to the notions of class dominance that was abound.

I believe that more was included in this public school exclusion. I feel that the overall behavior and ideologies different social groups in the South, as a whole, are instrumental in the type of education that was offered. Some historians argue that the South’s educational inferiority is related to the uniqueness of its economy. Some say that educational progress in the South lagged behind that of New England because of the lack of a sense of community goals comparable to the religious orientation in New England.[17] Common schools were thought of by Southerners to be a product of urban industrial areas. The South was an agrarian region with limited resources necessary for this type of venture. People were more spread out and conventional means of travel were not readily available. During this time, in this particular area, all of the available funds were allocated to land and slaves. The culture of this region resembled a caste-like society that was very hard to obtain any sort of upward mobility. The political beliefs of Southerners were very “laissez faire” and believed that the state should be carefully limited and prevented from interfering with personal freedom or upsetting the “natural laws” ordering human activity.[18] Included in these activities was the implementation of education. Naturally, under conditions such as these schools were placed in a predicament in which they had to be private enterprises or charitable ventures.[19] There was also dynamic created in which the South was a planter-dominated society. Even though planters made up a small percentage of the population, their influence was not representative of their numbers. There were distinct social differences between master and slave, as well as the differences between gentlemen and poor whites. So how does something that is run by government funds produce an institution that in itself is lacking and reproduces a situation that is not equal in opportunity? Simple, the overshadowing power of influence combined with conservative ideals that do not attempt to face the problem at hand create a situation in which everyone seems stagnant. Something good, money, is going into the problem in turn the ones that are benefiting are the elites who have had it made all along. The difference in the educational system in the North and the South are that in the North these types of problems got addressed. The separation of church and state along with the abolitionist movement provided Northerners with the motivation needed to assess these problems. However, in the South elite planters that threw around their political weight to ensure that their social and economic status would survive ruled society. It has been proven throughout history that influence is the tool that brings about results, good or bad. In this case, elite men took words from the Declaration of Independence that touted equality and happiness and used them to influence what they wanted, importantly; they used them for what they did not want. In essence, they took some words that were already misconstrued at the outset and used them to shape and preserve what they say fit.

Through this examination I have solidified my belief that potential outcomes of a situation register differently in the minds of people. Being given the autonomy over the institution of education led the school away from its religious roots and into a direction that often meanders down dead end roads. In the antebellum period, consistency was not very abounding in the educational system. This was evident through the numerous closings of schools during that time. Athens itself experienced this. Today Educators and politicians alike use the examples that are so readily available from this period and learn from the mistakes and try to imitate the positives. For example, there has been an extreme outcry for control of schools to be in the hands of the local communities. In the antebellum period schools were run privately, yet they were subject to local control. This is to ensure that those that are immediately related to the school are actually benefiting from what is going on and not under the control of somebody many miles away. Through this I have learned the element that ultimately unleashed the emergence of the public school away from what it was and into what it is growing to be. Ultimately, it is important to explore and understand the past in order to see where we are going. Education in this country has always been of utmost importance and with the influx of an increasingly diverse nation it will continue to be a cornerstone of our lives. Education enables us the freedom to make educated decisions based on knowledge, and experience. Hopefully, in hindsight, the examination of social views on education in the South can lead the citizenry down the path to increased awareness of the obstacles of years past. It is now up to this generation to actually learn from it, or discard it and live in a world dominated by the past. Personally, I would choose the former.

External links related to the history of education