Victorian School Facts For Children

Most of what a person needed to know they learned at home. Boys learned to farm, build, and hunt while girls learned how to garden, care for the family, sew and cook.

During Colonial Times, women were not permitted to get an education because they were only relegated to learning domestic skills. As time went by, women were slowly allowed to attend school but were once again limited to the subjects they were able to learn and they were only taught certain hours of the day. Over time, many cities did not have enough money to build two schools, so both boys and girls attended the same schools. As Myra and David Sadker wrote, “Entering by two separate doors, boys and girls went directly to their assigned single-sex area. Sometimes they went to different floors, or boys went to one side of the building and girls to the other. Frequently the girls were taught by women and the boys by men, so they continued to learn in their own sex-segregated worlds” (Sadker 343). Many critics thought that having both girls and boys attend school would have

They was wealthy families and was a lot easier from them as they had the money to attend a private school or was home-schooled. They were also encouraged to donate money and goods to the poor.

After marriage, the husband was considered lord and master of the family. But not all the women were meek and submissive. By the 1700's, the woman’s status had rapidly improved in colonial America. A wife and child made as much as a man did. Although women did not have equality with men, their status greatly improved from their status in Europe. A woman’s station in life was determined by the position of their husbands or fathers. The women of the poorest families, compiled to work in the fields, stood at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the surest signs of the accomplishments a family had made, was the exemption of their women from the fields. Before 1740, girls were trained in household crafts and the practical arts of family management. But afterwards they began to study subjects that required reading and studying such subjects as grammer and arithmetic. The women of the upper classes occupied themselves mainly with planning the work of the home and with supervising the domestic servants. Along with these tasks the women also baked, nursed, and sewed. But there were many social restrictions placed on the women of that time. One such restriction was that a wife, in absence of her husband, was not allowed to lodge men even if they were close relatives. For

According to Bynner and Joshi (1999) class differences have persisted since the late 1950’s. It can be seen that all studies carried out by various theorist came to the same conclusion that middle class pupils tend to do a lot better than working class in terms of educational achievement. Pupils from middle class backgrounds tend to pass more exams, stay on at school for longer and are five times more likely to go to university. This gap in achievement widens with age as right from nursery school to university, processes like labelling or the self fulfilling prophecy take

There are many different reasons why women got married in the Victorian era. First and foremost was due to the lack of education. Women were usually uneducated or were taught only basic responsibilities. If a woman had too much education, Victorians thought that it would weaken their womb and deform their bodies (Moore). From early childhood, girls were taught that they should get married and have children when they get older (Hamilton). The little education that women got was received mostly at home. There were some boarding schools, but there was no university for women to attend. The studies that a girl would learn were French, drawing, dancing, music, and how to use globes. If the boarding school was interested in teaching any practical skills, girls would learn plain sewing as well as embroidery, and accounts. Through knowledge and education a woman could have had a better sense of self-worth and pride. On the contrary, boys were well educated at home by a tutor until they were old enough to attend public

“Most girls were trained from childhood for the traditional roles of wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beverages, especially beer, and how to spin and weave cloth for clothing. If a woman worked outside of her home, her job usually grew out of her household

The 1870 Education Act, universally recognized as Foster’s Education Act, set the structure of schooling for all children aged between 5 and 13 years old (Politics, 2014). Gillard (2011) mentioned that the 1870 Education Act which ‘established school boards to oversee and complete the network of schools and bring them all under some form of provision’ was drafted by Liberal MP, William Forster, and it was introduced on 9 August 1870. 1870 Education Act is the start of obligatory state education (Shaw, 2011).

Education was not equal between the sexes and neither between the classes. Gentlemen were educated at home until they were old enough to attend well-known or lesser schools. A lady’s schooling was

Victorian women had several hardships to overcome. Education, marriage, leisure, and travel amongst other things were limited and controlled. A woman was never to travel if not in the company of her parents or husband. Leisure, for example, was limited and a woman always had to look busy and find something to do. They did not have the right to vote, sue or own any property. Their bodies

During Victoria’s reign there were changes of great importance economically, socially, and technologically. London had a rapid growth from a 2 million to a 6.5 million population by the time of Queen Victoria’s death, due to a significant change. As a result of the industrialization, instead of a life based on ownership of lands, England was transformed to a modern economy. Based on trade and manufacturing they changed from an agrarian society in 1800’s with 75% rural to an industrial society by the 1900’s with a 75% modern urban economy. Socially, there were extreme discriminations especially between men and women. Consequently, women were not eligible for a higher education, employment and were denied the right to vote. Gradually and by the end of Victoria’s reign, women won significant political and legal rights. These included a greater access to education, the custody of children, economic independence and were able to work under fair conditions. Definitely, the Victorian Period was an era of dramatic changes that highly developed England’s power and

The Victorian era was one of transition, and it was this transition, the removal of old beliefs, to be replaced in new, that resulted in the lack of something definite to believe in (Houghton 2,14). The Victorians believed they were breaking with the medieval world, yet at the same time they idealized it. In fact there were a few extremists who, according to Matthew Arnold, "hoped 'to retain or restore the whole system of the middle Ages'" (Houghton 2). In an England that was continually pushing forward, expanding its boundaries and dabbling in the science and

Despite being under the rule of a female monarch, women faced many inequalities and suffering during the Victorian age. Examples of these inequalities include not having the right to vote, unequal educational and employment opportunities. Women were even denied the legal right to divorce in most cases. As the Norton Anthology states, these debates over women’s rights and their roles came to be known as the “woman question” by the Victorians. This lead to many conflicting struggles, such as the desire by all for women to be educated, yet they are denied the same opportunities afforded to men. While these women faced these difficulties, there was also the notion that women should be domestic and feminine. There was an ideal that women should be submissive and pure because they are naturally different. The industrial revolution introduced women into the labor workforce, but there was still a conflict between the two identities; one of an employed woman, and one of a domestic housewife.

The Victorian education tried to introduce, especially in young men, an attitude towards women based on respect. They were taught to think of women as sisters or even as angels rather than human beings. This kind of education tried to separate completely love from sex and it was not especially oriented to girls because women were supposed to not have any kind of sexual desire.

Do you enjoy being young and privileged? Do you enjoy being able to play as much as you want? How does it feel, not having spend your childhood working in a factory? You have the chance to live freely, be a kid, go places, hangout with your friends, etc. Unfortunately, life wasn’t that easy in the victorian period.