ABSTRACT
In the American colonial era, the education of girls and boys often occurred together. The Massachusetts School Law of 1647, frequently considered the world’s first public school law, required education to be provided to all children in any Massachusetts Bay community of fifty or more households. 1 Of course, the purpose of “The Old Deluder Act” was to teach Protestant children to read the Protestant Bible and, therefore, by reading directly God’s own words, arm them against the deceptions of Satan (who was presumed to take the form of the Pope) and his minions (i.e., Roman Catholic priests and nuns). All children, including girls, needed protection against Satan, and so girls and boys learned to read together.
