This paper discusses the southern approach to education during the period of 1700 to 1860. During this period there developed in the South three culture-specific institutions that helped delay the growth of Common Schools, and later Public Schools. Those institutions were the following: (1) a code of honor; (2) the development of a structured hunting society; and (3) the condition of slavery. These institutions isolated many southerners from other parts of the country, greatly hindering educational growth and reform in the South for decades. The paper describes the social conditions and attitudes that created those institutions. It discusses differences in northern and southern concepts of education. On the whole, the South exaggerated the value of appropriate birth, race, class, and level of personal independence. This mitigated against any emphasis on or respect for learning. Included are an extensive list of references and several tables indicating percentages of young people receiving educations in the North and the South. (PS)