Education From Rabelais ' Perspective

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Education from Rabelais’ Perspective

The Renaissance altered centuries of thought in Europe. One figured who contributed to revolutionizing though was the author Francois Rabelais who wrote comedic critiques of his world. In his stories of Gargantua and Pantagruel the author critiques many aspects of sixteenth century life– especially the education system. He examines previous educational attitudes, as well as those during his time. As a humanist thinker, Rabelais values education and reform. The author was extremely familiar with the university system in France during the Renaissance because he himself studied in these places. Francois Rabelais emphasizes that education has progressed since the Middle Ages, but he also affirms problems still persist during the Renaissance period.
Rabelais critiques medieval education to demonstrate the flawed system prior to the Renaissance. Rabelais finds issue with “traditional scholastic debates pro et contra” due to their loose connection to seeking truth (M.A. Screech 30). He communicates his personal distress through Pantagruel’s rants about prior scholars glossing worthwhile texts (Rabelais 33). Glossing, or commentary by scholars, was a popular scholastic pursuit before the Renaissance. Rabelais found it to detract from the texts overall value. The author also uses Gargantua, Pantagruel’s father, who lived during the prior period to emphasize the many additional specific failures of medieval education. He writes Pantagruel a

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