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Yeun Seok Lee English D
 * Victorian Education**

Examine the British educational system. You will need to distinguish between education for the wealthy and education for the poorer classes. How did social class affect an individual’s education and upbringing? What were the differences in education between men and women?

** //__Summary__// ** Before the Victorian Age, education was not a major part of life in England. There was no formal education system in England prior to this time of period because the majority of all children worked to help support their family. The Elementary Education Act of 1870, also known as the Foster’s Education Act, set standards and the foundation for the creation of a formal education system in England. This law made it mandatory for all children between the ages of five and twelve go through some type of formal education. It gave public money to create schools that lower class people could go to because they were almost free.

Prior to this act being passed, the only children that were able to go to school were children of aristocrats. These families had enough money to hire private tutors to teach their children until they were of the age to go to schools such as Eton or Rugby. Following these schools, upper class citizens would go to on to Oxford and Cambridge. However, children of lower class were unable to become educated for multiple reasons. First off, families did not have the money to pay for their children’s education. Secondly, children also had to work in factories and on farms in order to supplement their parents’ incomes. These social circumstances created a situation where poor people remained uneducated and poverty-stricken, while upper class citizens reaped the benefits of education and wealth.

Not only were there differences between the educations of the rich and poor, there were inequalities between the education of men and women. Between rich men and women, men studied subjects that are more practical: the classics, arithmetic, the sciences, law, and history, but women studied dancing, singing, drawing, and sometimes embroidery. The inequalities between the men and women of the lower classes were not as great between few people of either sex was educated. However, if they received any type of training, men would be more focused on mechanics, while women would have focused on cooking or sewing.

**Works Cited** : Costello, Mrs. K. “Victorian Family Life.” //Nettleworth Primary School.// Nettleworth Primary School, 2004. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.

Costello, Mrs. K. “Victorian Schools.” //Nettleworth Primary School.// Nettleworth Primary School, 2004. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.

Roth, Christine. “Victorian England: An Introduction.” //Graduate English Program//. University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, 2003. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.

Simkin, John. “1870 Education Act.” //Spartacus Educational.// Spartacus Educational, 2007. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.

**//__Visuals__//** Child Labor

Public School Classroom

Costello, Mrs. K. “Victorian Schools.” //Nettleworth Primary School.// Nettleworth Primary School, 2004. Web. 21 Feb. 2010. (from same source)
 * Citations for Visual Images: **

__//** For Further Research **//__ [] It is the official website for the United Kingdom, because the Parliament homepage reflects the work of the Houses of Parliament. Since this website is edited and submitted by the Parliament, their knowledge of Victorian Age is very accurate from regular sources. In addition, the Houses of Parliament contains information that were unknown to the ordinary people and have excess of several data. Therefore, this website can be fully reliable and have contains many accurate sources.

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