Education for all?

Before the nineteenth century there were no systems in place for education, unless of course, you had the means to pay for it. Even then, education wasn’t available to all, with girl’s missing out. Girls may have had a governess, but they were taught how to behave in polite society and to keep a happy, thriving household.

Many aristocrats, who had the privilege of being able to afford to educate their children, were against educating everyone. They believed it was a waste of time trying to educate the lower classes, that they were not intellectual enough. So many of the social structures of this time would have led to this belief.

Imagine a world where people believed there was no point in educating its citizens.

The noble classes saw the importance of education for their own children, believing it to be a necessity. They wouldn’t want to lose their land and privilege. To secure the family’s success for future generations, their heirs needed to be educated in the family business matters. The family’s social standing relied on learning the classics and other academic subjects.

The non academic population, had to fend for themselves, tending the land or through artisan handicrafts to sell on. An increasing population made sustaining this way of life ever more difficult.

The advent of the Industrial Revolution brought about considerable change, transforming the way of life for future generations.

There was now a need to educate the masses so that they could work in the factories and boost the economy, but for who’s benefit?