在我国的美国教育史研究中，对殖民地时期教育的关注不够，研究殖民地时期教育有利于补充美国教育史研究。家庭教育是英属北美殖民地教育的重要部分，研究殖民地时期的家庭教育，有助于弥补已有殖民地时期教育研究中对家庭教育的忽视。马萨诸塞殖民地家庭教育是北美殖民地家庭教育的一种模式，其内部的多样性和差异性有待考察，加之已有研究中在马萨诸塞殖民地的家庭、儿童观、家庭教育的特征和历史影响等方面存在争议和疑问，因此，本研究聚焦于马萨诸塞殖民地，在较为充分占有原始史料的基础上，采用文献分析法和比较研究法，选取马萨诸塞殖民地不同职业和阶层的3个家庭的家庭教育作为案例，从宗教、道德、智识和职业教育4个维度，考察马萨诸塞殖民地家庭教育的状况，分析其总体特征、内部差异和历史影响。

研究发现，马萨诸塞殖民地家庭作为宗教、管理、教育和生产单位，承担对应的宗教、道德、智识和职业教育职能。马萨诸塞殖民地家庭教育具有普遍性，要求所有人都被安排在家庭中，规定家庭中的孩子接受最低要求的教育。户主是家庭教育的主要负责人。宗教教育始于给婴儿取名和洗礼，家庭通过宗教仪式、宗教阅读和教理问答等方式进行宗教熏陶；在道德教育方面，要求孩子顺从、勤俭，通过爱和权威，有时也使用体罚管教孩子；父母或其代理者教孩子基础的读写算，也可能教更高阶的知识和技能；父母会帮助男孩选择家庭之外的职业，牧师等专业性强的职业需要学习古典教育，由家庭和学校教育相配合完成，商人和工匠等一般职业则会跟随父母或到另一个家庭做学徒或仆人，女孩也会在家庭中或另一个家庭中学习成为妻母。马萨诸塞殖民地家庭教育具有公共与私人、古典与职业、宗教与世俗兼有的矛盾与综合的特点。

马萨诸塞殖民地家庭教育内部具有多样性和差异性。第一，职业-阶层差异带来了家庭教育的差异。家庭教育占据不同阶层孩子所有教育的比重不同，家庭教育更可能占据下层阶级孩子教育的全部。家庭教育的目标和功能不同，体现在：对上层家庭来说，家庭教育是阶级固化的工具，家庭教育的目的是促进明确职业规划的达成，从而实现后世子孙保有“高级学识”；中下层家庭教育的重点在其功用，它是职业准备的工具，有时是阶级攀升的工具。家庭教育的内容、方式和效果不同，体现在：宗教教育上，越上层的家庭可能有更丰富多样的宗教教育方式且收效更明显，越下层的家庭中宗教教育方式更随意偶然也更可能收效甚微；道德教育上，上层的家庭更强调通过爱和权威使孩子顺从，而下层家庭则强调实用的美德，如勤俭；智识教育上，知识分子家庭更可能在家庭中教孩子高级的文化知识，如古典语言，而中下阶层得靠自学获得或永远接触不到；职业教育上，尽管不同阶层家庭都关注孩子的职业选择和准备，但更高阶层的家庭对孩子从事高级职业的期待更加坚定，并能够为此提供充分的条件。家庭教育的方法运用上，体罚更可能出现在中下层而不是上层家庭。第二，性别差异也带来了家庭教育的差异。在教育者性别上，男性户主，即孩子的父亲或主人，是家庭教育的主导者，女性，即母亲或女主人是辅助者；男性教更高阶的内容，女性教重复的、细致的和繁琐的内容。在教育对象性别上，男性更可能受到更高阶的智识教育；男孩为家庭外的职业、女性为家庭内的职业做准备。

家庭教育对马萨诸塞殖民地的建设发挥了作用，其中，宗教教育坚定了大部分马萨诸塞殖民者的清教信仰，道德教育教孩子服从和团结以维持殖民地内部社会等级秩序和自愿统一的团结，智识教育让马萨诸塞整体教育水平超过其他殖民地，职业教育在一定程度上成就了殖民地的昌盛。

马萨诸塞殖民地家庭教育继承了英国清教家庭教育的旧传统，培养了殖民地清教徒，又在美洲的新环境中塑造新传统，在清教主义的基础上发展出功利主义，在世俗化的进程中培养了洋基人。马萨诸塞殖民地家庭教育具有公共性，这种公共性源于马萨诸塞殖民地家庭的公共性。马萨诸塞殖民地家庭所承载的教育职责的变化展现了强迫教育承担者从家庭过渡到学校。

In the study of American educational history in my country, insufficient attention has been paid to education in the colonial period. Studying colonial education is conducive to supplementing the study of American educational history. Family education is an important part of education in the British North American colonies. Studying family education in the colonial period helps to make up for the neglect of family education in existing studies of colonial education. Family education in the Massachusetts colony is a model of family education in the North American colonies. Its internal diversity and differences need to be examined. In addition, there are disputes and doubts in existing studies on the family, children's views, characteristics of family education and historical influence in the Massachusetts colony. Therefore, this study focuses on the Massachusetts colony. On the basis of relatively sufficient original historical materials, this study adopts the method of literature analysis and comparative research, selects the family education of three families of different occupations and classes in the Massachusetts colony as cases, examines the status of family education in the Massachusetts colony from four dimensions: religion, morality, intellectual and vocational education, and analyzes its overall characteristics, internal differences and historical influence.

The study found that the family in the Massachusetts colony, as a religious, administrative, educational and production unit, assumed corresponding religious, moral, intellectual and vocational education functions. Family education in the Massachusetts colony was universal, requiring everyone to be arranged in the family and stipulating that children in the family receive the minimum education requirements. The head of the household was the main person in charge of family education. Religious education began with naming and baptism of infants, and the family carried out religious education through religious rituals, religious reading and catechism. In terms of moral education, children were required to be obedient and thrifty, and they were disciplined through love and authority, and sometimes corporal punishment. Parents or their agents taught children basic reading, writing and arithmetic, and may also teach more advanced knowledge and skills. Parents would help boys choose careers outside the family. Professional occupations such as pastors required classical education, which was completed by the combination of family and school education. General occupations such as merchants and craftsmen would follow their parents or go to another family as apprentices or servants. Girls would also learn to become wives and mothers in the family or another family. Family education in the Massachusetts colony has the characteristics of contradiction and integration of public and private, classical and professional, religious and secular.

There is diversity and difference within family education in the Massachusetts colony. First, occupational-class differences lead to differences in family education. Family education occupies different proportions of all education for children of different classes, and family education is more likely to occupy all education for children of the lower class. The goals and functions of family education are different, which are reflected in the following: for upper-class families, family education is a tool for class solidification, and the purpose of family education is to promote the achievement of clear career planning, so that future generations can retain "advanced knowledge"; the focus of family education in the middle and lower classes is its function, which is a tool for career preparation and sometimes a tool for class climbing. The content, methods and effects of family education are different, which are reflected in the following aspects: in religious education, the upper-class families may have more diverse religious education methods and more obvious results, while the lower-class families may have more random and occasional religious education methods and may have little effect; in moral education, the upper-class families emphasize obedience through love and authority, while the lower-class families emphasize practical virtues, such as diligence and thrift; in intellectual education, intellectual families are more likely to teach their children advanced cultural knowledge, such as classical languages, while the lower-middle class must learn by themselves or never get in touch with them; in vocational education, although families of different classes pay attention to their children's career choices and preparations, higher-class families have a firmer expectation for their children to engage in advanced careers and can provide sufficient conditions for this. In the application of family education methods, corporal punishment is more likely to occur in lower-middle class families rather than upper-class families. Second, gender differences also lead to differences in family education. In terms of the gender of educators, the male head of the household, that is, the child's father or master, is the leader of family education, and the female, that is, the mother or hostess, is the assistant; men teach higher-level content, and women teach repetitive, detailed and tedious content. In terms of the gender of the education targets, males are more likely to receive higher-level intellectual education; boys are prepared for careers outside the home, while females are prepared for careers within the home.

Family education played a role in the construction of the Massachusetts colony. Among them, religious education strengthened the Puritan faith of most Massachusetts colonists, moral education taught children to obey and unite to maintain the social hierarchy order and voluntary unity within the colony, intellectual education made the overall education level of Massachusetts surpass that of other colonies, and vocational education made the colony prosperous to a certain extent. Family education in the Massachusetts colony shaped new traditions in the new environment of America, developed utilitarianism on the basis of Puritanism, and cultivated Yankees in the process of secularization.

Family education in the Massachusetts colony inherited the old tradition of British Puritan family education and cultivated colonial Puritans. Family education in the Massachusetts colony is public, and this publicness comes from the publicness of the Massachusetts colonial family. The changes in the educational responsibilities carried by the Massachusetts colonial family show the transition of the bearers of compulsory education from the family to the school.