Titel: Education in the 1840s
Skrivet av: Anders Ellerstrand skrivet 2009-06-20, 08:36
My mother's father's father was born in the north of Sweden in 1874. He started working with the animals at the age of 7 and in the forest and with timber on the river at the age of 10.
He went to school from the age of 7, but only for 2 and a half months a year. His first year in school was with a trained teacher, after that it took another four years before they again could hire a trained teacher. From the age of 10 he was only allowed to go to school two days a week, and after the age of 12 was to valuable as a worker to be allowed to attend school.
You would not expect much education from that kind of upbringing, but he still climbed high in society and I have read his memoirs which are very well written. To explain that I find two solutions:
1. He had a grandmother with a fine background. She spent much time with him when he was a child and it was she who taught him to read and write. 2. He obviously had talent and ambition. I think he took well care of his few days in school and later in life (age 20) had a chance to attend school again. He described that time as one of the happiest in his life.
So a conclusion about education I think has to take many facts into consideration.