Education4


 * WHAT WAS EDUCATION AND SCHOOL LIKE IN SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND? HOW WAS IT DIFFERENT IN URBAN/RURAL LIFE? HOW WAS IT DIFFERENT IN NOBLE/MERCHANT/COMMON LIFE? **
 * Answer prepared by: Hannah L**

Education in Shakespeare’s England was set up very differently than the educational system today. Moreover, what people learned in school and how they learned it was very different than what we learn in school and how we learn it today. The education children received was greatly determined by their social class and their gender. Middle and upper class were more likely to get an education than lower class children. Bright lower class children could obtain a scholarship to schools. Rich people would usually hire private tutors, especially for girls. Boys were more likely to go to school than girls during this time period. Any middle class girl who had the opportunity to go to school, went for less years than the boys so that the girls could work with their mothers cooking, cleaning and taking care of their siblings.

The tutors who taught mostly rich girls specialized in subjects such as geography, music, dancing, fencing, and French along with the basic subjects like reading, writing, and arithmetic. The tutors also taught children of noble birth. It was very important for the children with royal blood to be educated well by a well-experienced teacher.

If the children didn’t have private tutors, they usually went to petty schools. The children started going to petty schools when they turned four to learn how to read, write, and do arithmetic from a “hornbook.” According to Miriam Greenblatt in her book //Elizabeth I and Tudor England, “A hornbook is a wooden tablet on which a sheet of text was pasted and then covered with a thin layer of horn for protection” (54). The hornbook was for learning the Lord’s Prayer in Latin and every student had to know the prayer by heart when they grew older. The parish church generally ran petty schools and so the curriculum was strongly religious, consisting mostly of prayers and the catechism. Discipline was very strict at the time, and beating the children with a birch rod was common. The typical school day in a petty school ran from six or seven o’clock in the morning until five o’clock in the afternoon. The children had a fifteen-minute break for breakfast, which was at 9:00 a.m. Between breakfast and dinner, there was a half-hour recess at 3:00 p.m. There was a two-hour break for dinner, which was at 11:00 a.m. (54). The school day was scheduled very differently than schools are scheduled today. //

After finishing petty school, children went on to grammar school, which usually lasted until the age of fourteen. Very few girls went on to grammar school, though if the girls were very wealthy, they may continue on with a tutor (55). Grammar schools were either full-time boarding schools or day schools. In the day schools, the students went home for dinner. The subjects that the children learned were unlike the subjects we learn today. “The curriculum featured Latin,” according to Greenblatt (55). The occupations that needed Latin included civil servants, doctors, and lawyers. Since grammar schools were meant to help students for their future jobs, it was a necessity for the students to learn Latin. The school was mostly boys due to the fact that not many women had jobs that required Latin. The grammar schools were predominantly wealthy children, however intelligent lower class students were able to obtain scholarships.

After grammar school only boys might attend Oxford or Cambridge, which were England’s two universities. According to James Barter, the author of //Shakespeare’s London (96), “upon admission to Oxford, each boy is required to spend four years learning basic liberal arts and mastering the rules of logic.” If the students wanted to obtain a bachelor’s degree, it would take them four years. According to Greenblatt, “Receiving a master’s degree took an additional three years, and a doctorate in law, divinity, or medicine took another seven to twelve years.” Teaching at Cambridge and Oxford was done largely by lecture, but since both universities had their own press, students began to read texts for themselves (55). “There were also two alternative institutions of higher learning, the Inns of Court and the Inns of Chancery, where students learned law both by attending lectures and by observing proceedings in law courts and in Parliament,” as stated by Greenblatt. //

Education during Elizabethan England was different than our education today such as in how we learn and what we learn. There are enormous differences in who went to school and why they went to school. The amount of women going to schools has increased and the over all percentage of people being educated has increased greatly over time too. The education was preparation for future careers and every subject the students studied helped them in the future. Barter, James. //Shakespeare's London. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent
 * Works Cited

Books, 2003. 96. Print. // 

Chrisp, Peter. //Shakespeare//. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc., 2002. 8- 9. Print.

Greenblatt, Miriam. // Elizabeth 1 and Tudor England //. Tarrytown, NY:

Benchmark Books, 2002. 54-55. Print.   Singman, Jeffrey. //Daily Life in Elizabethan England//. Westport, CT:

Greenwood Press, 1995. 58-147. Print. **