In 1642 Massachusetts (and Maine) enacted the first school law, concerned that illiteracy and infidelity were overtaking the colony. Simply, parents and masters were required to teach those under their care to read and write. Five years later a subsequent law required communities to establish schools for the instruction of reading and writing.

Now, some 380 years later, that basic instruction has evolved into the country’s public school system.

It’s worth parsing the sparse text to learn why this all came to be, keeping in mind the Massachusetts colony brushed close to being a theocracy. The school law posited “… that learning may not be buried in the grave of our fathers, in the church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors.” While not privy to the side conversations of legislators at the time, the result was clearly laudable, then and now.

If a town reached 50 households, one individual was to be appointed to teach all children to read and write. Once the populations reached over 100 families or households, the law required “… they set up a grammar school, the master being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university.”

Not included above are references in the law “… to that old deluder Satan to keep men from knowledge of the scripture.” Even a cursory read quickly establishes the notion of a colonial theocracy. But there’s also no mention of school governance, curricula, sexual and racial equality, access to bathrooms and locker rooms, books in the library (or the school library) or rights associated with any entity. It was a simpler time.

In colonial Massachusetts it seemed more important “to defeat Satan” by requiring the colony’s children learn to read and write and be prepared to move to and succeed at university (or beyond grammar school) if that suited them. Is that not the basic thrust of today’s public education system in Maine (and Massachusetts)?

We seem to have lost our way compared to our colonial brethren. They had a clear vision for the role of public education in society. The colony’s children needed instruction to read and write and be suitably prepared to move on in life. That was left to the instructors and masters charged with that task. There are educational professionals charged with that same work today.

The record of those times seems to lack references to parental rights and subsequent demands of teachers. It may have happened, but probably in a less contentious fashion. Did colonial America do a better job keeping their eye on the ball with regards to public education? The U.S. continues to chug along from those humble beginnings and is the envy of the world. Oh, let’s not forget to keep “that old deluder Satan” at bay.

F. Gerard Nault of Windsor was a member of the RSU 12 board of directors and served as board chairman.