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Education in the Mass Society
- a. Mass education was product of mass society
- i. Being educated meant attending secondary school or university
- 1. Secondary schools emphasized Classical education based on study of Greek and Latin
- 2. Usually for elite, nobles, wealthy, government until 1850, when expanded to middle class families
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Beginning of 19th
- i. At beginning of 19th: little interest in primary education
- 1. Only in German states was there a state-run system for it
- 2. 1833: French government created system of state-run secular schools by instructing local government to establish an elementary school for both sexes
- a. None required attendance, but children still expected to work in fields; so their attendance was irregular
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after 1870
- a. After 1870, functions of state extended to development of mass education in state-run systems
- i. Most western governments began to offer at least primary education to both boys and girls between six and twelve
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In most countries
- 1. In most countries, it was not optional
- a. Austria had established free, compulsory elementary education
- b. France: 1882 law made primary education compulsory for all children between six and thirteen
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Britain
- a. Britain made it compulsory, but Parliament made act that brought all elementary schools under county and town control
- i. States also assumed responsibility for the quality of teachers by creating teacher-training schoolsà state-financed primary schools, salaried and trained teachers, and free, compulsory elementary education for the masses
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Why were they so committed to education?
- i. Education important to personal and social improvement and also sought to supplant Catholic education with moral and civic training based on secular values
- ii. Even conservatives were attracted to mass education as a means of improving the quality of military recruits and training people in social discipline
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Another reason
- i. Another reason: industrialization
- 1. Unskilled labor was sufficient to meet factory needs, but the new firms of the Second Industrial Revolution demanded skilled labor
- a. Both boys and girls with an elementary education had new possibilities of jobs beyond their villages or small towns, including white-collar jobs, etc.
- b. Mass education furnished the trained workers they needed
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Chief motive
- i. Chief motive was political
- 1. Expansion of voting rights necessitated a more educated electorate
- a. Mass compulsory education instilled patriotism and nationalized the masses, providing even greater national integration
- i. Nationalism supplied a new faith
- 1. Single national language: unity
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Motives determined
- i. Motives determined what was taught
- 1. Indoctrination in national values took on great importance
- a. At core of academic curriculum were reading, writing, arithmetic, history, etc.
- i. Education of boys and girls varied
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Sexes
- 1. Sexes were separated
- a. Girls did less math and no science; instead: sewing, washing, ironing, cooking
- b. Boys taught carpentry ad military drills
- 2. Also taught virtues of hard work, thrift, etc.
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Female teachers
- i. 2/3 of all teachers by 1880s
- 1. Many men viewed teaching of children as extension of women’s natural role as nurturers of children
- 2. Females were paid lower salaries, in itself a considerable incentive for governments to encourage the establishment of teacher-training institutes for women
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First colleges
- a. First colleges for women were teacher-training schools
- i. Barbara Bodichon, a pioneer in the development of female education, established her own school where girls were trained for economic independence as well as domesticity
- ii. Not until beginning of 20th were women permitted to enter the male-dominated universities
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Literacy and Newspapers
- i. Result of mass educationà increase in literacy
- 1. Germany, Great Britain, France, Scandinavia: adult illiteracy was eliminated
- 2. Areas with less schooling had high adult illiteracy rates, like 78% in Romania who, as well as others, had only a minimal investment in compulsory mass education
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With incresae in literacy
- i. With increase in literacy came rise of mass-circulation newspapers, such as evening News and Daily Mail in London
- 1. Known as “yellow press” in the US, these newspapers shared some common characteristics
- a. Written in easily understood manner and tended toward sensational
- i. These tabloids provided details of crimes, diatribes, gossip, and sports news
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Other forms of cheap lit
- i. Other forms of cheap lit: specialty magazines and women’s magazines began in 1860s
- 1. Pulp fiction: extremely popular westerns with innumerable variations on conflicts between cowboys and Indians
- II. Mass Leisure
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