Little Known George Washington Education Facts

Posted by Kayley Kenzie

March 23, 2008

by Kayley Kenzie

George Washington was born in 1732 on February 22. He was born on his father’s Westmoreland County plantation in Virginia. His father, Augustine Washington, was a justice of the county court and also the area’s leading planter.

George was born from Augustine’s second marriage, after his first wife died leaving two sons and daughter to be raised. George was the oldest of the six children Augustine had with his second wife, Mary Ball.

We don’t know much about George Washington’s childhood, nor do we know a lot about the George Washington education.

We do know that most children in the state of Virginia were instructed by private tutors or in local private schools. At age seven, boys usually began their formal education. They learned how to read, write, and do basic arithmetic.

Boys would later learn classic languages, Greek and Latin. They also were taught bookkeeping, geometry, and surveying. If their fathers were wealthy, they would be sent to England to complete their education.

George’s older half brothers went to England. Unfortunately, their father died before George could be sent to England.

George Washington education probably started with a school close to home for the first few years. Possibly he went to another school later. What we know for certain was that he was skilled in mathematics and learned surveying.

Although most sons of gentlemen learned Greek and Latin, George never learned any other language. Nor did he ever go to college. It’s been estimated that the George Washington education came to an end around the age of 15.

Social skills were considered an extremely important part of any young man or woman’s education by the gentry class. George spent more and more time with his half brother Lawrence in his home at Mount Vernon after their father died.

Lawrence helped in many ways, such as: mentoring and tutoring him in his studies, teaching him social graces, and introducing him into society.

Through his life, the George Washington education was considered defective. He consciously tried to make up for some of what he did not learn in school by constantly reading and learning from those he respected.

George created a huge library for himself as he studied over the years, and he also wrote a lot and subscribed to many newspapers.

George may have placed such a high value on education because of his incomplete formal schooling. When he died, his will donated money for building a school in Alexandria, Virginia and for a national university.

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