Reflection Paper 17

Compared to the current United States colonial New England had very different views on things such as religion, teacher training, the length of expected school attendance, and discrimination. Religion in colonial times was their main principle of living. They lived by the Bible and God was always in front of their thoughts. Their beliefs were held above everything else to them, they controlled their actions. They always had to watch what they did for fear that it might not be what God wanted so they constantly controlled themselves. Religion in colonial times was what made a community and made their bonds strong. Those who went against their beliefs were exiled from the community. In today’s world we are not that strict anymore, we are more accepting to other religions and there are hardly any cases of being ostracized because of religious beliefs especially since there are so many different forms of religion in the United States today. For schools in colonial times children, form ages eight to fourteen, had to go to school. They went to school, out of the entire year, for 12 weeks. Unlike colonial times children are in school for many years starting from about age three to early or late twenties and are in school for about 175 days to 186 days. Teacher training in colonial times was entirely different from teacher training in the America today. The only requirements for teachers were that they only had to have minimal educational background and had to be willing to take the low-paying job as a teacher. In America people aspiring to become teachers have to have a certification of a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, or a doctorate. Discrimination was widely found throughout colonial times in many forms such as discrimination towards religion which was definitely more common since colonialism revolved around religion. There was discrimination against social classes, races, etc and there was no punishment for it. In the world today discrimination still happens but there are repercussions for it such as lawsuits. It is a big deal in America and is not tolerated because it goes against the law. No one is allowed to get away with it anymore as they were able to in colonial times.