When did schooling used to start for kids?

[quaz]

Anyone know when schooling used to start for kids?

I'm talking about when did parents used to teach their kids how to read? (back in the 1700's/1800's)

Also, how about during the Renassaince? When did kids start schooling?

I ask b/c I oscillate back and forth... I find it absolutely ridiculous the push down of academics. At the same time I also think we set too low of expectations on young kids as a society. There is a bunch a 4 year old used to do compared to what many of them do now.

I have no historical reference to help balance my viewpoint.

Tammy

[Stayseeliz]

I think we expect too much from our kids at too young an age (preschool, kindergarten), etc then expect NOTHING from them as teens. Teens aren't supposed to be responsible. They're supposed to run around all hours of the night, get in trouble, etc..When the reverse should be true..

Let the kids be kids and prep the teens for real life instead of letting them run wild!!

[rsps]

This doesn't completely answer your question, but there is a book called "taught to lead: the education of the presidents of the united states" that is pretty comprehensive with regards to how the various presidnets were educated.
That might be a start for you.

[rsps]

poking around on various sites on the internet I'm seeing age 6 or 7 as a common starting point for schooling (mentioned both on sites about ancient Rome and Renaissance Europe)
Neither of these sites listed thier sources.

[eilonwy]

The idea of educating everyone in the same way is a relatively recent one. Way back in the day, most people weren't expected to learn to read; written knowledge was the province of the elite. It would really depend upon the circumstances; a child raised on a farm in the 1700's had little if any reason to learn how to read, while a child raised in an affluent home would probably have been expected to read. It varied pretty widely, I'm sure.

[quaz]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

The idea of educating everyone in the same way is a relatively recent one. Way back in the day, most people weren't expected to learn to read; written knowledge was the province of the elite. It would really depend upon the circumstances; a child raised on a farm in the 1700's had little if any reason to learn how to read, while a child raised in an affluent home would probably have been expected to read. It varied pretty widely, I'm sure.

?? Is it Gatto? I thought he had stated before public schools in the US that literacy rates were at an all time high? Of course, I wouldn't expect high literacy rates during the Renassaince... and yah, I would expect a time frame difference in when affluent homes start and a kid on the farm (since a farm really needed all hands on deck).


What's interesting when I think about it, is the whole renaissance man concept... here were people that were very knowledgeable about a breadth of items... art, lit, math, science.... I have to wonder what on earth these kids did for learning. Was it apprenticing? Was it just that there were other people like that arond? Was it the way they went about learning? When did they start learning?



Yah- I agree with not expecting much of anything from tweens... even high schoolers.

rsps- I'll look into that book.

Thanks

[eilonwy]

It depends on where and when, like I said. You can say that literacy rates in Alabama were at an all time high in the 1700's, for example, but that doesn't take into account the fact that thousands of people weren't counted as people at all, kwim? It's hard to understand ideas like that out of context.

[Wilhemina]

When dd1 and I attended a *one room schoolhouse* field trip experience, the docent said that students generally didn't attend school until age 8 (1880's Texas).