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Believe it or not, the education of George Washington was limited compared to other leaders of his day. His two older half-brothers went to England to receive their education; George Washington did not.

He didn’t even go to college or study an additional language. George Washington’s education came to an end when he was about 16 years old.

So who taught Washington, and where did he go to school? We don’t know for certain. All that remains of the education of George Washington are the school papers. We can see through these papers that Washington received a solid education that helped him throughout his life.

In his own words, Washington describes his education as “defective.” Even though the education of George Washington continued throughout his life, he was very self-conscious of the fact that his formal schooling ended when he was in his early teens.

His favorite learning methods included studying the people he most respected, learning from others, and reading books. He also took the time to learn from his own experiences.

Here is what we can learn from the education of George Washington just by reviewing his school papers:

1. His first school papers are dated from 1741. These papers show that Washington could read, write, and do math when he was 8 or 9.

2. Another one of Washington’s papers was actually a survey of his half-brother’s turnip field. Obviously, he learned surveying while he was in school. How would this ability aid him later in life?

3. One of his papers showed that he studied geography, could calculate interest on money transactions, and could copy many legal forms that were used in Virginia at that time.

4. Washington may not have received his education in England, but he was certainly taught something about manners and decorum. He copied 110 rules that people should observe for good manners and behavior.

These rules were named “The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” It was these rules that must have enabled him to communicate so well with the leaders and people around him.

Although it’s true that the education of George Washington was truncated by a couple of years, he still received a very solid education. He learned the skills he needed to be a leader for this nation.

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