What were schools like in the 1800s?

Answer 1

Children were dressed like little adults and, in fact, treated like adults in that they were (in the lower classes) expected to go to work as early as 5 or 6. They were probably more serious than our children; working in a dangerous factory will knock lots of foolishness out of a child. There was no such thing as a teenager and no cult of children who need to be spoiled and entertained. Girls were often married at 15 or 16 and, in the middle to lower classes, boys were expected to decide at about 10 what trade they wanted to go into, so they could be apprenticed.

There was no standard or requirement for literacy; the boys in the upper classes were fluent in Latin, Greek, often French, with some Italian. They were heavily versed in the literary classics. Their less fortunate peers went to school when they could and often taught themselves after work.

Girls in the upper classes were literate and probably knowledgeable in light literature (poetry, novels, etc.) but were discouraged from learning anything more than "feminine accomplishments": playing the pianoforte, drawing, fine needlework.

Poor girls were lucky to be able to read, but often knew something the "better" girls did not: how to run a household.

These children were also raised with a greater presence of death. Dying in childbirth was fairly common and, since Birth Control was illegal and unreliable, childbirth was tough to avoid. It was rare for a mother, of any class, to raise all her children without one fatality.

Fathers were often killed in factory accidents--with no OSHA to monitor working conditions. The Victorians' repulsive methods of disposing of waste generated many of the fatal illnesses they suffered.

And many people died at their doctor's hands, being bled or "cupped" for all sorts of illnesses and complaints, or treated inappropriately for under-diagnosed symptoms.

I think this climate, in which responsibility was ever-present and mourning was big business, had to have a melancholy affect on children that, luckily, our children don't have.

______

There were huge changes aftecting children between 1800 and 1899 (probably more than, say between 1700 and 1799).

• During the 1800s basic (elementary) education became compulsory (and later also free) in all the more advanced countries.
• The 1800s saw the development of the concept of childhood, that is a definite period of development between the age of physical dependence (or infancy) and adulthood. This had started to develop already a little earlier (about 1770 onwards) in the middle classes. For the first time, books (other than school books) were written specifically for children; they began to dress differently, at least in the middle classes. In all or most advanced countries laws were passed from about 1843 on forbidding or at least restricting child labour in factories and mines. More generally, there was a growing sense that children were delicate and vulnerable, and needed protecting from the harsher aspects of adult life. Penalties for children breaking the law changed, with the emphasis shifting to reform. Late in the 1800s (from 1890ish on) the additional concept of adolescence (a stormy, stressful period) was created by psychologists ...
• All this tended to delay the age at which children were treated as 'mini' adults and delayed their entry into the labour market - and therefore cost money. Many of these changes were most marked among the better off.

Answer 2

Schools in the 1800's had few rooms. The range of ages in each class was broad. A vestibule held coats as the students entered the building.