Titel: Education in the 1840s
Skrivet av: Lena Frid skrivet 2009-06-18, 16:59
In 1842, the Swedish parliament decided that every parish must have an elementary school (folkskola). Some schools already existed, mostly through private donations, others were built during the next decade.
Before that, children were taught religion, reading, and writing some weeks every year by an ambulating school teacher, often an old soldier or the parish clerk. The law stated that children had to attend school from the age of seven. Parents or employers who kept children at home or at work were taken to court for breaking the law.
Schooling was also important because the children had their religious confirmation and first communion in the lutheran church around the age of 14. A person who was not confirmed was not allowed to take the sacraments of the church; he/she could not get married. The priest tutored the teenagers and decided if they had understood their religious lessons well enough to be confirmed and treated as adults. If not, they must come back next year and try again. Of course children wanted to be adults, get full pay, and when they came of age, make their own decisions, be allowed to take the oath on the Bible and witness before court, and be able to marry.