Education in Middle Age Essay Sample
In the U.S., education is a fundamental right to which all citizens are entitled, regardless of their age. In this sample, we will explore how middle-aged people in America can pursue their educational goals and what they need to know about accessing higher education.
Essay Sample On Education In Middle Age
Thesis Statement – Education In Middle Age Essay
In the Middle Age, education was a privilege of the wealthy and the church.
Introduction – Education in Middle Age Essay
Education refers to the process of acquiring knowledge and skills through learning, memorizing, and understanding. It is very important for people in order to build a strong country: “A country’s future rests in good part on how it organizes and manages its schools”. From this perspective, there is no doubt that education is an essential factor that determines a person’s social status as well as his contribution to the development of society.
In the Middle Ages, however, education was not recognized as an important factor for success or social growth. In fact, only wealthy children could get access to information from books because literacy was restricted by class and left most medieval adults with little more than their own experience of life.
Main Body – Education In Middle Age Essay
Propagation of Education in the Middle Ages
The mode of imparting education during the Middle Ages was generally done by the Churches. A large number of Cathedrals impart education among young boys. They were provided free education in the usual educational institutions. But when it comes to educating the girls, they were taught only basic reading and writing at home only. Some of the most popular subjects taught to the students are Liberal Arts, Latin, Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Astronomy, Philosophy, and Mathematics. If you compare the education system of the middle ages with that of the darker ages, students were taught practical experiences of hunters, poachers, wildlife, livestock, and agriculture from the farmers. Monks, priests, and bishops of all religions took up the task of teaching and imparting education and its pattern was mainly religious.
Accessories of Education in the Middle ages
During that time, there were no modern pen and paper to write as seen in today’s education system. Students and Scholars used bone or ivory for writing their notes on tablets made up of wood. These tablets were coated with green and black wax. The teachers and propagators of education have first written books through their own hands. In those times, parchments were used as papers. These parchments were made up of animal hides which were dried before making the parchments. Moreover, a special type of ink was used to write, these inks perfectly set on the parchments which were made from animal hides. During those times, Quill pens were used to write and this is generally made up of bird’s feathers. These handmade pens were perfectly manufactured and are regarded to be one of the best inventions during that period of time.
The true nature of the education system in the Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, Bishops, Monks, and Priests were the main educators. They prefer to educate the upper-class students while the lower-class students were rarely educated. This was because the entire society was based upon the feudal system of society. Most of the lower class people and peasants work for the upper-class people for their living, They even engage their young children at work and this proves that in the middle ages education was also meant for the upper-class students and the children belonging to the peasant class were unable to reap the benefits of education.
Moreover, during that period, it is advantageous to have education only for the ruling class, since they were able to rule over the lower class people. The educational institutions kept the poor class people away from having education so that they get subdued by the ruling class people. Moreover, the tuition fees charged for education were very high and it was impossible for the poor class people to even afford it. As a whole, the education system of the Middle Ages was meant to keep the poor class people uneducated and poorer.
Educating people during the middle ages was quite a tough task because during the time of wars and battles, the classes were disturbed in monasteries, churches and thus studies were stopped during a particular period of time.
Women Education in the Middle Ages
The feudal system during the middle ages lays emphasis on men’s authority over womenfolk. Women have little or no chance at all to attain education. The young girls from the upper class and ruling class were taught the basics of reading and writing at home only. When upper-class girls were limitedly taught, it is unfeasible for the girl and woman from a peasant background to learn how to read and write. The education imparted to the upper-class women is very limited and it is controlled by the authority of the Church.
During the middle ages, women were not encouraged to get better education since they were seen to have lower strata than that of the menfolk. In Medieval history, women were given a position lower than the men in society. Whatever education women got was just to be a good householder and was given the training to be a good wife and good mother in the future.
Thus, this was the position of education at that time. But due to modern thoughts, education was open to all strata of life in modern times.Conclusion – Education In Middle Age Essay
In conclusion, in the Middle Age, only wealthy children could get access to information from books because literacy was restricted by class and left most medieval adults with little more than their own experience of life. Furthermore, due to the fact that the church was the only available source of education most medieval citizens did not have any knowledge or abilities that differed from their peers. Finally, it is impossible to assess literacy rates in Middle Ages since no reliable statistics are available.