The Education of Charles Dickens
In 1812, when John and Elizabeth Dickens admired their newborn, Charles, they
had no idea how his educational pursuits would lead him to immortality in the
literary world. John Dickens hoped his son would grow up to be a "learned and
distinguished gentleman" (Ackroyd 78). He passed this aspiration on to his son
who kept it true to his heart. To Charles Dickens, education was the means by
which he would reach this goal that had been deeply embedded in him as a child.
Unfortunately, the educational offerings of early nineteenth century England
were sparse and inadequate. His educational pursuits left him frustrated and
unfulfilled. But Dickens' determination didn't let him give up his dreams. With
no other alternatives available to him, he educated himself.
Formal schooling began at the age of nine for Charles. His first encounter with
Victorian education was at the Rome Dame School in Chatham. He and his sister,
Fanny, received a typical Dame school education, which amounted to less than
what Elizabeth Dickens had already taught them. His parents quickly pulled their
children out of this institution and enrolled them into an institution of higher
academic standards, the Clover Lane Academy.
Reverend William Giles, a well-known teacher from Oxford, ran the Clover Lane
Academy. The school's curriculum would have consisted of advanced reading,
writing, calculating, and possibly Latin. Charles was an excellent student. His
mentor "pronounced" him "to be a boy of capacity " (Forster 11). All references
made by Dickens regarding this period in his life are positive and happy ones.
Charles was finally on his way to achieving his dreams. But it was a short-lived
happiness.
In Victorian England, the quality of the education the children received was
directly related to the family finances. After two years, John Dickens was
transferred to London and Charles had to leave Clover Lane Academy. Charles
hoped for a continuation of his education but poor financial decisions had put a
strain on family finances. His family obligations took precedence; the Dickens
A woman’s self-worth and self-esteem are vital to experiencing happiness in a marriage. In addition, low self-esteem can cause a woman to feel abandoned because she is not getting enough emotional support from her husband. Cisneros demonstrates this through the character of Cleofilas in the story. For example, Cleofilas often reminds ...
Cisneros does a great job by having Cleofilas leave at the end to show that she became strong and stopped waiting around for someone who was not going to change. She wants women to know that it is not alright for them to suffer because of what people have to say, which is shown when Cleofilas held herself from going back to Mexico because she was worried about the gossip. Finally, Cisneros wants women to find their own place in the world and understand that the world does not have to revolve around men.
Gross, R (2010). Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour. 6th ed. London: Hodder Education. p189.
Charles Dickens born February 7th 1812 – 9th June 1870 is a highly remarkable novelist who had a vision to change wealthy people’s scrutiny on the underprivileged and by fulfilling the dream he writes novels. Furthermore, I think that Dickens wrote about poverty as he had experiences this awful incident in his upbringings.
Passer, M., Smith, R., Holt, N., Bremner, A., Sutherland, E., & Vliek, M. (2009). Psychology; Science of Mind and Behaviour. (European Edition). New York.
"Now what I want is facts… Facts alone are wanted in life… This is the
With this paper I wanted to focus on psychological aspects that had to do with a different side of the culture. There are three key aspect of information from the c...
A woman’s self-worth and self-esteem are vital to experiencing happiness in a marriage. In addition, low self-esteem will cause a woman to feel abandoned, because she is not getting enough emotional support from her husband. Cisneros demonstrated this through the character of Cleofilas in the story. For example, Cleofilas often reminds herself why she loves Juan Pedr...
Baird, A. A. (2011). THINK Psychology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. (pp. 264-275).
Dickens' Attitude Toward Education in Hard Times Dickens wrote Hard Times in 1854, when the industrial revolution was active. The symposia are not active. This influenced the way the book was written. In the first two chapters of Hard Times, Dickens' attitudes to education are presented. He uses two characters, Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild to show the bad.
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Keil, F. C. and Wilson, R. A. (1999) The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London, England: The MIT Press
Cognitive Psychology is focused on learning based on how people perceive, remember, think, speak and problem-solve. The cognitive perspective differs in...
Balota, D. A. and Marsh, E.J. Cognitive psychology. Key Readings. (2004) Hove: East Sussex: Psychology Press.
Goldstein, E. (2015). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting mind. Research, and everyday experience (4th edition). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning