Children and Education

1. Children and Education Mary, Mary Page, and Brennan

2. Child Care and Nursing • Infants were breastfed for a much longer period than today to decrease fertility in women. • Upper Class women thought breastfeeding was crude. • Wet Nursing was a popular method in which babies were shipped to the country side where another women nursed the child for the first few years of its life. • “Killing Nurses” often let babies die on purpose so they could make room for new children and more profits.

3. Foundlings and Infanticide • Parents allowed their children (mostly girls) to die if they were unable to support them. • The church denounced infanticide as a pagan practice. • Parents who could not support their children would often leave them on the doorsteps to churches. These babies were known as “foundlings.” • Homes and hospitals for foundlings were developed in Europe. Foundling hospitals took in about 100,000 children per year, however the majority of children in foundling homes and hospitals died anyway.

4. Attitudes Towards Children • 18th century parents were unconcerned with their children. • One Englishman claimed that he, “had more interest in the diseases of his horses than of his children.” • Hospitals and doctors rarely agreed to see children because of the high child mortality rate. • 18th century parents raised their children with strict physical discipline and indifference.

5. Schools • Elementary schools for boys ages 7-12 began appearing in 17th century Europe and taught basic literacy and religion. • The church encouraged reading so that they could teach the Bible more effectively. • Prussia was first to stress universal education and required children to attend elementary schools. • The literacy rate in Europe drastically increased between 1600 and 1800.

6. Books and Popular Culture • The Bible was popular choice for reading. • Short pamphlets called “chap-books” focused on religious subjects. • Fairy Tales, Medieval Romance stories, Fictionalized History, and Adventure stories were also popular because they allowed the average person to escape the troubles and hardships of everyday life. • Almanacs contained fun facts.

7. On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau • This book encouraged parents to treat their children with kindness. • Education should be used in order to prevent corruption in children. • Discussed the importance of teaching boys and girls different curriculums so that they may achieve their full potential later in life.

8. Multiple Choice Questions • 1. 18th century parents in Europe typically treated children • A. As a burden • B. With indifference and emotional detachment • C. With extreme physical discipline • D. All the above • 2. Jean Jacques Rousseau was most likely to agree with which of the following statements… • A. It is of no use for girls to receive an education • B. Children are formed into model citizens through harsh discipline • C. Boys and girls should be educated differently. • D. As children become more educated, they also become corrupted. • 3. Foundling homes and hospitals… • A. Were safe and healthy places for abandoned children • B. Provided abandoned children with an education. • C. Were dangerously overcrowded , causing many children to die. • D. Were frowned upon by the upper class. • 4. Nursing in the 18th century… • A. Was common among upper class women. • B. Was beneficial to both infants and their mothers • C. Ended quickly, usually after the first year of an infant’s life. • D. Was always performed by the infant’s mother.