Reading Education of Colonial America

Reading was the most important subject from the very beginning of colonial America and it continues to be the most important subject in school education in America. The reason why the settlers were interested in reading education was they were mostly Puritans who were seeking religious freedom, and who believed salvation was a result of a personal relationship with God. They thought the relationship could be built only through reading the Bible individually. At first, the ultimate goal of reading education was the salvation of every person, and to be literate was like a boarding pass for a salvation ark. The materials used in the colonial period were also religious. Colonists followed a certain protocol to teach children to read. The protocol began with a Hornbook. It was followed by a Primer and then proceeded to the Psalter, the New Testament, and the entire Bible. They used the Alphabet Method to teach children to read. The New-England Primer was the most important text of the period. Almost every religious or private school used it as the primary text. In the beginning of the colonial period, the contents of the Primers were all religious. But, they started to be exchanged with secular and political ones, which were mostly anti-English or anti-monarchy as the colony began to resist the English government. The couplets that came along with each alphabet letter showed the secularism and anti-English doctrine of the period. The aspects of the reading education of this period can be interpreted by modern educational theories and reading models. The most relevant educational theory is Behaviorism and the most relevant reading model is Bottom-up.