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Elizabethan Era Schooling

What was the Main Purpose of Schooling in the Elizabethan Era?

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Like everything else, education and schooling in the Elizabethan era were also received according to wealth and class. The main purpose of education was train boys in good manners and proper behaviour according to their social class.

Teaching methods were dependent on recitation and memorization. It was a conservative curriculum and great stress was put on the learning of rhetoric and Latin language. The most usual kind of school was the grammar school where boys were sent at age 6 or 7.

Elizabethan era schools

Petty Schools in the Elizabethan Era

The most elementary level of education was conducted for boys aged between 5 and 7 at what was called a ‘ Petty School ‘. These lessons and general education were conducted not in a school but in the house of the teacher.

The word ‘petty’ probably derives from the French word ‘ petit ‘ meaning little or small. These Petty schools were usually run, for a small fee, by a local, well-educated housewife, and were therefore also referred to as ‘ Dame Schools’.

Elizabethan Era Schooling Facts

It is important to note that a school’s curriculum and the Elizabethan education of children was dictated by the ruling monarch of the time which would, of course, also reflect the religion of that particular King or Queen. This must-have caused considerable consternation due to the fanaticism of the followers of the Catholic and Protestant religions.

Elizabethan Era Schooling

The primary study of a grammar school is Latin grammar, using Lily’s Grammar as the basic text, with Plautus, Terence, and Seneca as classical sources. Any history, literature, or drama is mainly a vehicle for illustrating the grammar.

Who went to School in the Elizabethan era?

Boys from wealthy families were mostly the ones to be sent to schools for education. While the children of the richest households were imparted education at home through a private tutor, boys from poor peasant classes could not afford an education at all.

Did girls go to school in Elizabethan times?

Girls were usually not sent to schools or given an education. They were made to stay at home and learn the household skills and arts like knitting and embroidery. However, towards the end of the 16th century, few schools were established for girls as well.

Educated woman in Elizabethan era

Elizabethan Era Education for the Poor

Poor people in the Elizabethan era hardly received an education. They could not afford to send their kids to school because they had to help their families in earning a living. The grammar school fees were also unaffordable for them. Illiteracy, therefore, was common among poor people.

In villages, however, little schools were often set up where the local vicar taught subjects like grammar, rhetoric and mathematics to the village kids.

In the Elizabethan schools, punishments were very strict. Ill-behaved students often received a beating.

Latin language in Elizabethan Era

Why were students taught Latin in the Elizabethan era?

Latin is also the language of international affairs, and men of affairs are expected to be able to communicate in it. Or employ someone who does. Anyone who wants to make his way in the world must have at least a working knowledge of Latin.

Passages about being a good Christian were also taught and learned by heart by these children. A study of the works of great authors of classical literature such as Virgil was also part of the curriculum for children’s education.

Elizabethan Era Schooling

Most likely literate were the gentlemen because of the chance to attend education in the two best universities in England, the Cambridge University and Oxford University. In these universities, they were able to study theology, medicine, law, philosophy, and classical literature in both Greek and Latin.

Queen Elizabeth
also recognized the importance of the arts to the life and legacy of her nation. She was fond of the theatre, and many of England’s greatest playwrights were active during her reign, including Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare.

Elizabethan Era Schooling

Education During Shakespeare’s time

From the age of 10 the boys, including William Shakespeare, would leave the Ushers to study with the Masters at the King Edward IV Grammar School thus continuing with their translations and extending their Elizabethan education by studying the works of the great classical authors and dramatists, such as Ovid, Plautus, Horace, Virgil, Cicero and Seneca.

Formal schooling was not encouraged for girls unless they were the children of nobility. For those who were educated, schooling focused primarily on chastity and the skills of housewifery.

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