School in the paintings of the old masters: Spanking, sleeping teacher and other interesting facts about the education of the past

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The education system often makes us want to criticize it. I don’t like the curriculum, the teacher doesn’t like it, they didn’t taste good food in the school cafeteria … However, looking at the paintings of ancient masters of genre painting from different countries, you understand that in fact school education is developing rapidly. Apparently, being a schoolboy 200-300 years ago was very difficult.

Teachers and students

Even in Ancient Greece, a "teacher" - that is, "Leading the child" was called a slave whose duties were simply to deliver a child from a noble family to school and bring him back. Moreover, it is known that it was usually not the strongest and most dexterous servants who could be useful in other matters, but the old and lame ones who were given over to this business. Judging by the paintings of the Flemings, by the 17th century the situation with experienced teaching staff had, of course, changed, but not much. Education at that time was already three-stage: in Holland there were elementary schools, secondary schools, which were called "Latin", and higher educational institutions - universities. If teachers in secondary schools should already have at least some knowledge, then in lower grades they sometimes even could not read themselves.

It was these schools that the famous master of genre painting Jan Steen glorified in his canvases. In his paintings, we can see a spacious school building and students of different ages. Children from three years old were sent to the elementary school, both boys and girls. Apparently, the main task of the teacher was not to teach them anything, but simply to prevent the school from being smashed. No wonder there was a saying in Holland:. Moreover, the motto “all the best for children” was invented much later, so schools, especially rural ones, could be located in old stables or sheds. Since there were few who wanted to cope with the screaming crowd of kids, and no special qualifications and knowledge were required from the teacher, women were also taken as teachers of the "first stage".

Such a scheme of primary education (one class of different ages and one teacher) existed in all European countries, in America and in Russia. It remained unchanged until the 19th century. Often there was only one school for many villages, and the children had to go to it several kilometers away. The teachers usually lived at the school or in turns with the families of the students. Sometimes the teachers were young girls who had received an education, but only before marriage. Further, it was believed that household chores would no longer allow a woman to work fully.

Learn "a little, something and somehow"

The time of classes, depending on the country and region, could vary. So, in rural areas it was pointless to collect children for school in summer and autumn - in the hottest time of the little helpers, the parents simply did not let go. Studying has long been considered "pampering", but working in the field or in the garden is a real thing. Therefore, until the harvest was harvested, schools did not even open. The beginning of classes could come at the beginning of winter. Day "September 1" in our country was legalized only after 1935.

On the other hand, in Holland the “holidays” for second-level schools were only a month. Those who had already begun to study Latin and were seriously engaged in calligraphy, which at that time was the most important of the skills, were already working more seriously. Moreover, the school worked all day, from morning to evening, with two long breaks. The educational process consisted in the fact that the children took turns coming up to the teacher, receiving the assignment and sitting down to carry it out. Here is one of the arithmetic problems of that time: “Two people have bought together eight pints of wine and would like to divide them equally. But to divide the purchased wine into equal parts, they have no other measure than one bottle of five pints and the other of three. The question is: what should they do?"

Crime and Punishment

Judging by the pictures, the little rascals constantly had to be brought up. We can also see the methods and tools used for this in abundance on old canvases. Rods, a ruler, a "chair of shame" or ours, local - "for peas" - pedagogy in those days did not even involve upbringing without corporal punishment.

Holland also had a couple of their own, special, receptions. One of them is "combing out". The teacher, with the help of a metal comb, quickly but very painfully tidied up the hair of the unkempt student. But the second tool is so often depicted in paintings that, probably, it was as common an attribute of the teacher as, later, the pointer.

This strange wooden "spoon" in the hands of the teacher is a paddle - a spatula for corporal punishment. Translated, this word means both a paddle and an oar. They beat her most often on the hands, but the boys could get hit on other parts of the body as well. The girls were thrashed only on the palms, since the female body, created for childbirth, was still afraid to damage it.

Incidentally, a search on this subject has returned a large number of modern whipping paddles for sale. However, after a little hesitation and thinking about the ways of modern education, according to the aggressive design of these products (black leather, rivets), I had to admit that the "remake", perhaps, is already from another opera.

Honor and respect

The issue of teacher salaries has traditionally become as painful as the quality of school education. Even 200 years ago, this problem was solved simply - parents paid for the education of their offspring. In rural schools, in addition to a small monetary reward, it was customary to thank the teacher and "in kind" - that is, with food. Moreover, these "contributions" were also regular. Separately, the parents provided the teacher with firewood for the winter.

You can scold the school system as much as you like, but we have to admit that at all times the main thing is still the child's desire to gain knowledge, because even from imperfect medieval schools, talented scientists and just literate people came out.