lish youngsters did not go to school at all; those who did went principally to what was euphemistically called a petty school . . . where they studied reading and writing in the mother tongue intermittently for a year or two under an indifferently prepared tutor" (p. 13). Very few outside of the wealthiest families enjoyed an advanced education, and some of the most accomplished individuals in society were primarily self-taught, relying on their own resources to build personal libraries and study according to their particular interests.
However, one American educated in this elite way advocated a different approach to schooling for his fellow citizens in the new republic. Carroll Atkinson and Eugene T. Maleska (1962) write, "[Thomas] Jefferson's great contribution was his clear statement of the ideal of free universal education, a goal almost achieved during the following [nineteenth] century" (p. 101).
As the nation developed, so too did public attitudes toward formal schooling. Cremin (1976) writes, "The institutions of American education changed significa
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