Characteristics.

From the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, schooling played an increasingly important part in the education of young Americans. More colleges were founded, of course, but the greatest proliferation of schooling came below the college level. In both New France and the Spanish borderlands the Catholic Church continued to control formal schooling, generally making sure that academic standards and religious orthodoxy were maintained. In New Netherland as well as the British colonies schooling was closely allied with the various Protestant denominations throughout the seventeenth century. During the eighteenth century schooling proliferated and became more accessible and diverse in subject offerings than in either New France or the Spanish borderlands. Throughout the Americas, though, education reflected the class system, and except in Canada, boys were much more likely than girls to have schooling. Young men from the lower classes might attend some...