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English schools 18th century English school uniform: chronological trends--18th century
English Schools: Chronological Trends--18th Century
Figure 1.--English schools changed very little in the 17 cenury alothough scahool wear changed. Suits and kjnee breech became standard wrar for men and boys. Except for the Dane Schools, only boys went to school and discipline coukld be very harsh as an unknown artist here illustrates. Notice hiw well dressed the boys were. Education was basically a privlidge reservedc for the upper-class and the rissing middle-class. The Ibdustrial Revolution which began at mid-century broiught great weakth to Engkand resilted in profound social mchange. Major changes in educationj began in the late-18th century with the advent of the Subday SChool Moivement. .
No important advances were mae in Eglish edication until the late-18yh century. School boys like their fathers wore knee breeches through most of the 18th century. There were major developments in children's fashions during the 18th century. After mid-18th century, specialized childrens styles emerged for the first time. These specialized styles like skeleton suits were mostly for boys. A huge step in English educatiin was the Sunday School novement. Robert Raikes helped to launch it (1780s). the Sunday School Movement began as an effort to teaching poor boys. There were no child labor lawa and no free public schools. Childrenm worked long hours. Sunday was their only free time. The ame is misleading. Sunday School today denotes sectarian religious instruction at churches. The Sunday School movenent was to teach poor children to read and was not conducted at churches. There was Bible study, but primarily for moral uplift and was non-sectarian. Ha nnah Ball established the first Sunday School, but it was Robert Raikes who systenilized the and launched the fsith-based program (1780s). Raikes began by teaching poor boys confined in work houses. He saw education as a way of prevent chrinality. The focus was on teaching the boys to read in addition to studying the Bible and the catechism. The effort ws eventually expanded to childre in poor slum neignborhoods and to include the girls. One teacher describes the effort. "The children were to come after ten in the morning, and stay till twelve; they were then to go home and return at one; and after reading a lesson, they were to be conducted to Church. After Church, they were to be employed in repeating the catechism till after five, and then dismissed, with an injunction to go home without making a noise." The effort began a small trial. It expnded very quickly and within only afew years, some 250,000 English children wer participating and learming to read. ith limited finding, the movemnt would take advantage of older students would help teach the younger ones. The Sunday school movement was truly inspiring. Some of the greatest minds of the day observed it and were deeoly imoressed. This included economist Adam Smith (1723-1790), philosopher Thomas Malthus (1766-1836), and Methodist preacher John Wesley (1703-1791) to commebt on how effective it was in promoting popular education. Adam Smith, for example, wrote, "No plan has promised to effect a change of manners, with equal ease and simplicity' as did the morals-based literacy training provided in the 18th-century Sunday school. [Trumbull, p. 118.] It was an important beginning tero toward public education. The Sunday School Movement would spread to the United States and have a powerful impact there as well.
