So, how were Victorian era schools and education in general? A Look into how Victorian Children Lived, Played, Worked and Survived . At the start of Queen Victoria’s reign, there were no government-run schools, and no law saying children had to go to school. When upper class boys reached the age of 10, however, they were sent to boarding schools like Rugby, Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Westminster, Charterhouse, and a small number of lesser schools. Through the Victorian era, the government made gradual steps towards a more robust schooling system in Britain. But farm kids were often absent in … In 1839, the first groups of school inspectors were employed to examine schools and assess how successful the schools were. Victorian school punishments were painful and humiliating by today’s standards. Victorian era Ragged Schools were charitable organizations established around the 1840s and dedicated to the free education of society’s most destitute children in Britain. It is fitting that Pop, though wanting “first-rate fellows”, was filled with the college’s top athletes, for sports were the focus of all public schools during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The schools combined a free education, food, clothing, lodging, religious instruction, and other home missionary services as required for poor children. The ragged schools were often run by churches and had a foundation of charity and religion. Sons of rich families went to expensive public (fee-paying) schools. While in some remote places there are male-only schools as well, but they are now a rare occurrence. Note that all the children are boys rather than boys and girls because girls and boys were taught separately. For the wealthy there was an overwhelming sense of boredom and the constant prodding to be proper and polite with very little parent to child communication. The Union was founded with the aim of turning a movement of individual schools, like LCM’s Field Lane, into a system of free education for poor children that could be sustained by charity or even government grants. In some areas, school … ... Schools and colleges were opened across the world for women. ... of the 563 children registered for the day school, only 275 were actively attending. This was a long, thin stick used to strike children on the hand for any number of pretexts; for example, if they'd told lies, been insolent or arrived late to school. The most common form of punishment was the cane. But taking a look at what American schools were like in the 1800s might convince them how much tougher it could be—and just how good they’ve got it. This classroom, like my mother's, was almost certainly in a large custom-built Victorian school. These schools spread rapidly and there were 350 ragged schools by the time the 1870 Education Act was passed (The Victorian School). Young Victorian boys and girls, regardless of class, were mostly educated at home. They were taught classical subjects like Latin and Greek, and educated to become leaders and statesmen. Life for Victorian Children in Victorian times (1830 to 1900) was nothing like childhood in today’s world. The small schoolrooms in rural areas were normally flat. Many countries like India and Pakistan, have women-only schools even today where no males can attend classes. The school year got longer in the early 1900s as educating children became required by law and more public schools were built. 1. Guthrie also started a ragged school in Edinburgh and Sheriff Watson started another in Aberdeen. 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