What the Education of George Washington Means to Us

by Kayley Kenzie

Compared to other leaders of his day, the education of George Washington was limited. Unlike his two older half-brothers, he did not go away to England for his education.

He didn’t even go to college or study an additional language. George Washington’s education came to an end when he was about 16 years old.

So who taught Washington, and where did he go to school? We don’t know for certain. All that remains of the education of George Washington are the school papers. We can see through these papers that Washington received a solid education that helped him throughout his life.

In his own words, Washington describes his education as “defective.” Even though the education of George Washington continued throughout his life, he was very self-conscious of the fact that his formal schooling ended when he was in his early teens.

His favorite learning methods included studying the people he most respected, learning from others, and reading books. He also took the time to learn from his own experiences.

But let’s go back to his school papers. Here’s what we can conclude about the education of George Washington through these records:

1. His first school papers are dated from 1741. These papers show that Washington could read, write, and do math when he was 8 or 9.

2. Washington turned in a paper that was a survey of a turnip field owned by his half-brother. Clearly he learned about surveying in school. How did this skill help him later on?

3. We can see from another one of Washington’s papers that he learned geography, knew how to calculate interest in monetary transactions, and could also copy many of the legal forms in use in Virginia in those days.

4. Even though Washington didn’t go to England for schooling, he spent time learning manners. In one of his papers, he copied 110 rules people should follow for good behavior and good manners.

The rules were known as the “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” The rules clearly must have helped him interact with people and the leaders around him.

Although it’s true that the education of George Washington was truncated by a couple of years, he still received a very solid education. He learned the skills he needed to be a leader for this nation.

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