Education during Victorian Era

823 Words2 Pages

At the start of the Victorian era, education was not considered important. Girls from wealthy families were taught at home and the rich boys had the opportunity to attend school to be educated. The poor children were not able to attend school due to financial problems. The novel Great Expectations particularly focuses on the education system during the Victorian era. It takes us back to the time period where education was not given enough attention. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens applied education system to express his concerns. He did not accept the fact that people were taught based on certain consideration. “Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.” -Charles Dickens. This quote depicts that human being, as reasoning animals, must rely fundamentally on facts, so does new generation in particular since, as he believes, nothing else, could be as productive. This is expressed through Pip. Education spans pip’s life only around the years 1812-1841 but, we also see the society wanting to be educated. Therefore, in the novel Great expectations, Charles Dickens applied education system to express his concerns. He reflects on how education system was like during the Victorian era through the novel. People were educated based on certain considerations such as social class, gender, and financial situation in both the novel and during the Victorian Era
During the Victorian era people were classified into different social classes; the working, middle and upper classes. The working class used to do physical ...

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...t educated due to the lock of money.
In conclusion, the novel Great Expectations particularly focuses on and represents the education system during the Victorian Era. People were classified into different social classes; the working class, middle, and upper classes. People received education according to their gender as well. Also, financial situation affected a lot of people regarding education. Therefore, in the novel Great expectations, Charles Dickens applied education system to express his concerns. He reflects on how education system was like during the Victorian era through the novel. People were educated based on certain considerations such as social class, gender, and financial situation in both the novel and during the Victorian Era.

Works Cited

http://greatexpectationscd.wordpress.com/education/
http://www.victorianschool.co.uk/schoolday.html

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