What Do You Know About a George Washington Education?
Kayley Kenzie
George Washington was born in 1732 on February 22. He was born on his father's Westmoreland County plantation in Virginia. His father, Augustine Washington, was a justice of the county court and also the area's leading planter.
George was born from Augustine's second marriage, after his first wife died leaving two sons and daughter to be raised. George was the oldest of the six children Augustine had with his second wife, Mary Ball.
We don't know much about George Washington's childhood, nor do we know a lot about the George Washington education.
Most children in Virginia were taught at home by private tutors, or in local private schools. Boys usually stated formal education at the age of seven. They would start with lessons in reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.
Boys would later learn classic languages, Greek and Latin. They also were taught bookkeeping, geometry, and surveying. If their fathers were wealthy, they would be sent to England to complete their education.
George might have gone to England to further his education like his two older half brothers did, but he wasn't able to after his father died.
The George Washington education most likely started in a school located close to home for a few years. He may have gone to another school later. But what we know for sure was that was very good at mathematics and learned surveying.
He didn't learn Latin and Greek like many of the other gentlemen's sons in the area. He never learned a foreign language or went to college. It is estimated that the George Washington education ended around the age of 15.
The gentry class held social skills to be very important as part of a young man's or woman's education. After George's father died, he started spending more and more time with his half brother Lawrence at his home, Mount Vernon.
Lawrence gave George the help he needed by tutoring him in his studies. Lawrence also taught him his social graces and introduced him into society.
The George Washington education was seen as defective his whole life. He made every effort to make up for all the things he didn't learn in school by reading books and learning from people he respected.
Through the years of his personal studying, he built up an enormous library. He also subscribed to many newspapers. He also wrote a lot.
It's possible that George's truncated formal education caused him to place a higher value on education. He willed money for building a school in Alexandria, Virginia as well as a national university.
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