WHY SCHOOLS MATTER

In a slim volume on New York City during the eighteenth century, historian Carl Kaestle presents a picture of education that reveals sharp differences from schooling as we know it today.¹ Public schools did not exist. Education, where it was found, seemed to proceed in a haphazard manner, with most arrangements between teachers and pupils being temporary. The great majority of children were taught to read and count at home, or under the supervision of the local minister, with great attention given to the Bible. It was generally understood that instruction taken outside the home would serve to reinforce the