Hutterite Families

Following kindergarten comes a ten-year period from ages six to sixteen that is a time of intensive preparation for embracing the Hutterian way of life. A large part of this period is spent in the big school. The local school board instructor teaches from the normal provincial curriculum, and their German teacher provides the moral and religious instruction. The instruction takes place in a one-room classroom with children from the first to the tenth grade in attendance.

The English school is staffed by a teacher provided by the government, who teaches at the colony. Before and after those classes, the Hutterites run their own, in which the children are taught German and the Hutterian way of life. This way, the colony meets government requirements, and the children get a minimal education for interacting in the larger world, but they are not corrupted from their way of life (Kephart 1976).

The education system successfully separates Hutterite children from the outside world. Having close primary, intimate, concrete relations with the colony and only a secondary generalized relationship with the outside world, Hutterites find it hard to interact with and relate to the outside world, so defection is rare (Peter 1971).