What follows will be a historical account of somewhat unfamiliar events and people. The aim is less to recall a nearly forgotten episode than to suggest its ironic complement to the current effort to raise standards in the teaching and learning of history. Typical for the discipline, the narrative draws upon the research of others, and several scholars have helped prepare the conceptual ground. Of the latter, four will be cited briefly by way of an introduction: John Dewey and the most recent presidents of the History of Education Society.

In speaking of the settlement of America, Lawrence Cremin observed that “it is [the] fact of empire that holds the key to the dynamics of early American education.” This was as true of French colonial efforts in the New World as it was for those of the English, though French colonial motivation was tempered by the vague notion of “for the glory of the King,” which revolved around defensive military needs while giving lesser consideration to economic imperialism. And with the French, as for the English, education played a significant and necessary role in colonial policy which attempted to achieve social and cultural dominance. Within a scant decade of the establishment of New Orleans as a permanent settlement in the Louisiana Territory in 1718, provisions were made for the education of the females of the area—white and minority. While meager efforts had been made to provide education for the male youth, those efforts were not well received by the small local population and ultimately were short lived. Consequently, the first lasting element of institutionalized education in French colonial Louisiana, the Ursuline school and convent, put a unique emphasis on female and minority education. How this unusual development merged with, and reflected, colonial political goals is the central concern of this essay.

The Hawaiian Chiefs' Children's School was founded in June 1839 when Hawai‘i's Congregational missionaries, gathered in the dusty port town of Honolulu for their annual General Meeting, received a letter from Hawai‘i's high chiefs asking them to establish a school exclusively for their children, the royal children. The chiefs' proposal was discussed at length by the assembled missionaries. Some expressed concern about devoting limited missionary resources to so few children. Others did not think the chiefs' children should be singled out for special treatment. In the end, however, these reservations were overcome, and the mission voted to accept the chiefs' request.