The New England Primer

The New England Primer is a fascinating little document, being one of the earliest text books in the United States. It's difficult to evaluate it, as today it is nothing but a piece of religious propaganda readily discarded without a second thought. So one star? But still interesting to see what early colonial education was like and how we have progressed since.

This was a fascinating read for me as an educator and a Catholic, and a dabbler in history and anthropology. As a teacher, I'm impressed with the rigor of the content. It was not an easy read in either content, sentence structure, or diction. It is impressive that kids can learn to read at this level, but just proves that kids can meet high standards if you expect them to. As a Catholic school teacher, I have learned that Catholic schools in America came about because public schools taught relig [...]

It is amazing to think about the vast difference in education children received then as opposed to now. I believe children need to be taught soberly about God.

Amazing to me that this was the equivalent of a first grade textbook in it's day. It gives me the sense that our educational system has devolved significantly in certain respects. In first grade, I was barely scraping by with: 'See Sam run. Run Sam run.' These kids were learning vocabulary words like 'Edyfying, Formidably, Consolation, and Mortification. Oh how far the mighty have fallen. Considering it's only rival for best selling book during the 1700's was the Bible, I can't understand why I [...]

Thought provoking we have strayed far from excellence in education.

My first e-book! And the source of the children's prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep." I'll have to read this again, since I may have been a bit distracted by the format.

Wow has your Education has changed

I used to have a rather worn copy of this book in my library. Alas, most of that library is gone now, and this book with it :(

The book that taught America to read. What more can you say?