This is from the internet but if you think you know the answer then check it on the internet you got this! :) In most of the middle and southern colonies children received very little formal education because they lived far apart or because of religious differences, but in the New England colonies all towns were required to provide public schools. The New England Puritans encouraged education because they wanted their children to learn to read God’s word in the Bible. Boys would usually receive more education than a girl. “Female education in the best families went no further than writing and arithmetic; in some few and rare instances, music and dancing,” wrote Abigail Adams. In 1647 Massachusetts passed a law that any town with 50 or more families had to hire a teacher to teach their children to read and write. Those towns with more than a 100 families needed to build a school. A typical school was usually a one room building with a chimney and fireplace in the center. Students had no boards to write on and pencil and paper was hard to find. Books were scarce also. Usually there was one book for the entire school, The New England Primer. Teachers would use it to teach the alphabet, syllables, and prayers. Parent were willing to contribute whatever they could to further their children’s education, they would give money, food, firewood or anything else required to help their children learn to read the word of God. New Englanders wanted their children to learn social moral rights and to grow up to be responsible citizens in colonial New England.
