Education

The Middle Colonies were not really known for education. In New Jersey an effort was made to educate children, but schools were not as good as they were in New England. There was no public school system, so only families with resources could educate their children. Many children were forced to start working at a young age in order to generate an income for the family anyway. The education available was private academies, religious schools or private tutors.

A religious movement called the "Great Awakening" influenced education. It encouraged democracy in religion and the opportunity for everyone to be trained as a minister. Partly as a result of this, New Jersey's first college was founded in 1746. It was originally called the College of New Jersey and is now known as Princeton.