Religious freedom and Protestant influence on colonial American higher education

Religion Colonial Education

Religion as a Driving Force

The impact of religion on the human psyche is both important and worthy of investigation. The spiritual aspects that drive the human soul to its desires is a powerful, but often ignored power that can be used to help create a learning environment and teach us about the true capacity of the human mind. The importance of religion and the freedom to pursue one's own spiritual path is embedded in the values of this country as noted in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. This essay will explore how this religious freedom has impacted higher education in the history of this nation, and how these forces are still impacting the environment today.

The colonial movement away from England was revolutionary in many ways. Freedom loving individuals who had the courage to step away from harmful circumstances and create a new version of life in their own image were substantially rewarded in many ways. (Axtell, 1976). The revolution was in fact an off shoot of the Protestant Reformation nearly 3 decades earlier, as the ruling religious factions lost ground to reasonable argument tempered by courage and willfulness (Axtell, 1976).

The Protestant Influence

The higher education systems set up in colonial times were rich with many ideas but were mostly based on the protestant Christian mind frame. Wisniewski (2011) wrote "In America's colonial days, all schools were religious, associated with different affiliations, like the Quakers and the Puritans. Even early state-funded public schools in Massachusetts had devotional Bible readings and prayers, according to Perry L. Glanzer, associate professor at the Baylor University School of Education and Institute of Church-State Studies. But the United States even then was a uniquely diverse place, and there were pressures to educate people the bridge their differences and develop them into American citizens."

The language of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence suggests that spiritual guidance was imperative within the colonial culture. While science and inductive reasoning were viewed as important aspect, the firm belief in higher power was explicitly revealed in many of the underlying documents and speeches that gave this country its birthright and character. Purpose was directed to a calling and this in itself was a true reward. Stout (1977) agreed with this when she wrote "considered as an intellectual movement, the Revolution represented a spiritual purge administered to a corrupt established order in the interest of restoring a pure order that would both free the colonists from a decadent oppressor and cleanse their own society, " (p.523).

Religion and Education as Being Obsolete

Fortunately higher education and religion do not need to have a sympathetic relationship in order for either practice to survive. The ability of the higher educational institution to present information and data that is unique to their organization is flailing. The impact of the internet and the availability of unthinkable amounts of information and data have made many organizations of higher learning obsolete (Wisniewski, 2011). Teaching oneself in an auto-didactic manner becomes the preferred choice of those who follow strict religious teachings.

Those wishing to receive a pure spiritual educational experience at the highest levels must seek their own path to find true spiritual redemption. While those institutions that were once considered to be religious in the past, may in fact still be, but in name only. Like many things that have evolved since colonial times, the purity of religion has also found its way out of the education system despite what is often presented.