Education

The Rise of 19th Century English Education
The democratization of English education emerged as a direct result of the French Revolution in the 18th century, and more specifically as a result of the Jacobin Club. The Jacobins were a group of radicals who encouraged and participated in the bloody Reign of Terror, a period in the French Revolution most remembered for its extreme violence. Wanting to avoid political rebellion, the Victorians concluded that mass education would be the best method toward stifling dissent and instilling in its subjects a strong sense of compliance with English morals, laws, and industrialization, and also keep down crime rates.

The mass production of education began at the start of the 19th century and continued to evolve. In the beginning, classroom conditions and curriculums were very poor and very limited. Under the Monitorial System, all grades would be crammed into a barn-like room and would all be learning simultaneously from one teacher and his/her "monitors" in the same place at the same time. These places were rife with discipline (both verbal and violent) and were hotbeds for the spread of disease. The teachers of these classrooms were typically incompetant, and the material they taught was extremely limited in its scope; students mostly read, studied, and copied passages from the Bible.

Results of the Mass Production System of English Education
As education progressed through the century, several different types of schools began to emerge, including private/public schools, dame schools, Sunday schools, factory schools, national schools, common day schools, grammar schools, ragged schools, industrial schools, reformatory schools, and universities. Funding continued to be a point of contention between the schools, political activists, and government. Interestingly enough, the reformatory and industrial schools received more funding than most, because it was believed criminal offenders and possible criminal offenders needed better supplies and a more quality education.

The Revised Code for Educaiton was enacted in 1862 dictated that school funding be reduced to a "payment by results" system. In general, it inspired a highly negative view of teachers in the eyes of English society as they were seen as largely incompetant toilers. It was about this time that education began to experience a more concrete separation of Church and State. Instead of staying limited to the Bible and the latinate classics, English literature became an important element to literary education and composition.

About halfway through the 19th century, a new and improved version of the Monitorial System was put into practice. Instead of student monitors, students of high moral and intellectual caliber could become "Pupil-Teachers." In addition to teaching younger students, the Pupil-Teacher would also study alongside a schoolmaster or schoolmistress in a five-year apprenticeship, and both participatns would receive modest government stipends for their efforts. From there, a Pupil-Teacher would go on to a Training College to be refined in the art of teaching, and would ideally move on to become a schoolmaster or schoolmistress.