Early settlers in Massachusetts did not come to obtain quick riches or venture upon new lands. They left England primarily to avoid religious and social persecution. The early settlers in Massachusetts came as intact nuclear families, many were educated and were educators, and most came with the intent of establishing a new permanent community in the colony (Kaestle, 2002). Schooling was a foremost consideration in this new community.
The first recorded attempt to educate an idiot was made about the year 1800, by Itard, the celebrated physician-in-chief to the National Institution for the Deaf and Dumb ...