Who Taught George Washington? (What I learned from Sam, #2)

Who taught George Washington?

How about Benjamin Franklin?

Thomas Jefferson?

Do you care to guess?

Lawrence A. Cremin (author of “American Education: The Colonial Experience 1607-1783”) describes the signers of the Declaration of Independence and of the U.S. Constitution as a hodge-podge, “It is clear that the group is a collective outcome of provincial education in all its richness and diversity.”

According to Cremin, of the 56 signers of the Declaration, 22 came from provincial colleges, 2 from an academy in Pennsylvania, and the rest represented “every conceivable combination of parental, church, apprenticeship, school, tutorial and self-education, including some who studied abroad.”

And the signers of the Constitution (who had not already signed the Declaration)?

14 were from provincial colleges, one from the Newark Academy, and the others “spanned the same wide range of alternatives.”

The founders of our country were the product of what Sam Blumenfeld describes as, “the freest conditions possible.” George Washington was taught by his father and a half-brother. Benjamin Franklin learned to read from his father, and he attended a private school for writing and arithmetic. Thomas Jefferson studied Latin and Greek under a tutor.

“Of the 117 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, one out of three had had only a few months of formal schooling, and only one in four had gone to college.” (Samuel Blumenfeld)

So now you know who taught George Washington.

I learned this from Sam Blumenfeld, the author of Alpha-Phonics and How to Tutor.

Before Sam created his tutorial books, which have helped thousands of homeschool families to teach their children the three R’s, he spent many years researching and writing about public education.

Please follow my blog as I continue to share what I am learning from Sam Blumenfeld’s books.

by Meg (homeschooling mom of 9)

MS, Exceptional Student Education (Univ. of W. Florida) emphasis on Applied Behavior Analysis

MA, psychology (Grand Canyon University)

Bachelor of Arts (Northwest Nazarene University)

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