Education has taken on many forms and there have been great periods of educational development over the centuries. The 17th century, however, was a polarizing era in education and, to a large extent, caused a great rift between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
Although there were some great advances in the time, there were also some low points. Here, Connie Elser explains some facts about education in the 17th century.
Glasgow University, Scotland in the 1650s. Scotland had an impressive education record in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The rich were separated by education
If you had the money for an education, then you were part of the in-crowd; however, very often the people who had money were born into it. There weren’t many self-made rich around, which limited the number of people who had access to quality education.
The majority of people were illiterate and, as a result, could not go to university either. Although there was a great educational divide in Europe, the 17th century helped to give spark to some more liberal education in the 18th century. In most cases, the universities had religious ties or involvement and the church was in control of what was taught and what not.
It was the forerunner to the age of enlightenment
Due to the constraints in education, some people started to expand their minds and become more innovative. They were not very pleased that there was such a divide between those who had an education and those who did not.
This is one of the reasons why in Europe, new ideas were starting to crop up. Innovation in education was one of the areas that received particular attention. The non-conformist, anti-establishment intellectuals are a testimony to the change in Europe and that Europe was starting to break free from medieval thinking.
Gradually, common people gained more access to education because of the many innovative ideas that abounded at that time. As such, although economic segregation started to weaken little by little, there were countries that were more egalitarian than others.
Sweden was the place to be for the commoner
Although the majority of Europe was segregated in terms of education, Sweden took a different route. It was one of the first countries to educate the masses. By royal decree, all the people were expected to be literate by the 1680s.
Although the reason this was put in place was so that everybody was able to read the scriptures, it had a knock-on effect. Once you could read, there was no law that stated that you could only read the Holy Scriptures.
People started to read more widely and also gained knowledge that was previously not widely available. Commoners started learning about different subject matters that unlocked possibilities for them and the generations that succeeded them.
There was often artisan schooling for those less fortunate
In the rest of Europe, there was still some education for the masses. Education just had a different form, depending on which side of the divide you found yourself on. Whereas the rich were able to formally educate their children, the common folk more often passed down their trade.
Artisan training was common and fathers passed their skills down to their sons and mothers passed their skills down to their daughters. There were also some cheaper options available for the commoner in the form of dame schools, charity schools and some church or independent schools that catered for the poor.
The Scots were looking out for those less fortunate
Another group who were trying to do something for common folk were the Scottish. The church was supportive and by the late 16th century, it was declared by the Presbyterian Church that every parish in Scotland should have a school (although this proved impossible at the time).
This meant that the Scots had more parish elementary schools than the English and these schools were not just aimed at the rich and established. They were there for everyone. This was very evident as literacy rates shows us that the Scots had high literacy rates in the 18th century in the 18th century.
That made a difference to a whole generation because more people managed to read, making it easier for them to engage with other educational and entertainment material.
Conclusion
Much can be said about education in the 17th century, but the one thing that stands out is that while the rich/poor divide remained, it started to show the early inklings of mass education. People broke free of the norm that education was only available for the rich – and, out of desperation, innovation and the future of education was born.
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