The young people of samurai families received education at domain-run schools, while the children of common people were taught the three R's; at private schools, which lay midway between the two, the children of samurai and ordinary people were taught; Gogaku had aspects that overlapped them in terms of educational content.
藩学校が武士の師弟を教育し、寺子屋が庶民を対象として、読み書き算盤を教え、塾がその中間にあって武士も庶民も教えたという中で、郷学は教育内容の面では、それらとかなり重複する側面を持っていた。