¡Descarga Education in 19th Century Britain: Poor vs. Better-off y más Apuntes en PDF de Idioma Inglés solo en Docsity! EDUCATION 1. Education for the Poor At the beginning of the 19 th century there was no state-run education system. All schools were run privately, either by individuals or by voluntary bodies. It was up to parents to arrange and pay for any schooling their children had. Most children, especially those of poor parents, received little or no schooling. These were the most common types of schools for the working-class: 1.1.Dame schools They were small schools each run by an old lady. They provided little more than a place for young children to be left while parents went out to work. The rooms were often crowded, and education was limited to sewing, knitting and reading the Bible. Fees had to be paid, but these were small. 1.2.Charity schools They were run by religious charities, such as the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SPCK). The society was funded by public donation, so it had no regular or reliable income. Through these schools it was hoped that poor children would learn obedience and to accept their place in society. Education was often of a low standard, and was mainly reading, writing, arithmetic and memorizing the Bible. Sunday schools were opened by Robert Raikes, a newspaper editor who believed that children should be taught in Christian principles and he established these schools because Sunday was working children’s only free day. The original aim was to teach reading, so that children could grow up able to read the Bible for themselves, but writing and arithmetic were taught as well. The Sunday School movement spread rapidly, encouraged by the Methodist church, the church of England and some factory owners. The Sunday Schools were mainly funded by voluntary subscriptions. 1.3.Ragged schools They were set up by individuals as acts of charity for the poorest children who could not attend any other school. In 1844, Lord Shaftesbury founded the Ragged Schools’ Union to help with fund-raising for these schools. 2. Education for the Better-off 2.1.Education for girls Girls from more well-to-do families were often taught at home by a governess. They were taught reading, writing, music, painting and dancing. Mothers often assisted, particularly in the teaching of sewing, cookery and all the management of household accounts. At girls’ private boarding schools lessons also concentrated on good manners and behavior –the skills girls needed to attract husbands and to be good wives. 2.2.Grammar Schools Most towns had a grammar school. Many had been founded in Tudor times to teach the classics (Latin and Greek) to local boys. During the 18 th century demand increased for a wider variety of subjects to meet the needs of the Industrial Revolution. The Grammar Schools’ charters did not allow them to change what they taught, so their curriculum became out-of-date. Few parents chose to send their sons to these schools, and the standard of teaching fell. 2.3.Public schools Many of the public schools had been established in the later middle-ages. Among the most famous were Eton, Rugby, Winchester and Harrow. These schools were attended by the sons of the upper-class and nobility and by sons of some merchants and industrialists. Many pupils were sent far from home to public schools. Many of the teachers were Church of England clergymen and the curriculum was similar to grammar schools, so they did not really educate boys for careers in industrial Britain. School discipline was often brutal and conditions harsh. Bullying was common and a system of “fagging” operated, where younger boys acted as servants to the older pupils. 2.4.Dissenting academies They were run by non-conformists and were often the best type of school. These were schools for girls as well as for boys. Their curriculum included science and maths, and the teaching was good. 2.5.Private schools They were mainly attended by children from the middle-classes. These included girls’ boarding schools. Many private schools were badly run, with poorly educated teachers. 3. The Monitorial system The monitorial system of teaching was used in schools run by two voluntary societies. These societies wanted to provide education for children living in the industrial towns. They did a great deal for the provision of elementary schools and also for teacher training. Pupils attending the schools had to pay a small fee. Other funds came from church collections and voluntary subscriptions. The British and Foreign School Society was founded in 1808 by Joseph Lancaster, a Quaker. Supported by non-conformists, this Society built and ran schools offering elementary education (the “3Rs”, reading, writing and arithmetic and Scripture). Lancasterian schools were built all over Britain.
