Good Friday: An Old Deluder of Satan By Catherine on 4/06/2007 09:20:00 AM
So, as some may or may not know, Massachusetts was the first state in the colonies to implement compulsory public education. Ye Olde Deluder of Satan Law of 1647 stated that villages of over 50 families to hire a teacher and towns with over 100 families to establish a "grammar school." Being Puritans, they also demanded that Church holidays be given off. Like today, Good Friday. This, of course, has morphed from Puritanical fire and brimstone to the more wishy-washy-feel-good-everyone-gets-Christian-and-Jewish-holidays-off. I can't help but love where this is going. Soon, we'll have Ramadan and Boxing Day and Saint Patrick's Day off, too. Hell, why have school at all? It's not like most kids care about it, other than to get into a "good school" and get a "good job" to make "good money." School for learning's sake has gone the way of the four-hour Puritan mass-- that is to say, a few intellectually curious, self-motivated students continue to study for love's sake, but, like Mass, it's watered down and attendance is waning.Not that I'd attend Mass, even a watered down one. But I don't think school is deluding anyone but the students anymore, especially not Satan.
Labels: massachusetts history, school