Colonial colleges and the College of Rhode Island's educational mission

Seminar Activities

Colleges in the colonial period were significantly different from colleges in the modern learning environment. Most of these schools were focused on preparation of ministers and were largely extent seminaries given that they were founded by several church groups. During the early 1700s, colonial colleges were primarily meant to be schools of higher culture for laymen ministers. The colonial colleges were founded through cooperation between the state or government and the church. Actually, 70% of colonial colleges prepared students for ministry before embracing new things into the curriculum such as Greek and Latin lessons.

Requirements to Gain Admission into College of Rhode Island

The College of Rhode Island was founded in 1764 through cooperation between the state and the church with the goal of increasing Baptist ministers. In light of its goal to increase Baptist ministers and strong link to the church, the college ensures that sectarian differences of views do not become part of classical and public instruction ("Colonial Colleges," n.d.). However, classroom and public instruction will involve free study and explanation all religious controversies. As a result there are certain requirements that students will face before admission into the college. First, students are required to take oral and written exams in Latin or Greek with the school's president. Secondly, students must provide an evidence of character in order to obtain admission to the college. Third, students need to have an admittatur i.e. A certificate of admission, which is granted by the president of the college. Finally, even though the school's primarily religious influence is Baptist, there are no religious requirements for admission.

Curriculum

The College of Rhode Island offers classical curriculum that comprises classical languages and literature. This curriculum includes religious classes that are geared towards preparing laymen for ministry and teaching on classical languages. The classical languages with are part of the core curriculum include Greek, Hebrew, and Latin as well as logic and rhetoric. Students will also be taught on moral philosophy and natural philosophy such as ethics, sociology, political science, and economics.

Article Critique

The article, "For the Children of the Infidels" was written by Bobby Wright in 1988 to describe American Indian education in the colonial colleges. The article provides examples in the 17th and 18th centuries where charitable funds were redirected to revive colonial enterprises despite being collected for American Indians' conversion and higher education. First, the article offers a contradictory assertion of the goal of education as being the key to changing the nature of men while stating that education is the main cause of men's uncivil and barbarous behavior (Wright, 1988, p.73). If education was the major factor in changing human behavior, how could it be the cause of unwanted behaviors? Secondly, the author seems to postulate that the only factor that impaired colonial attempts toward Indian higher education was deception and fraud. While these attempts were largely affected by fraud, there were other factors including American Indians' resistance to spiritual matters and piety, which was the goal of education.