Hi,
I think that Keith Hudson wrote that the educational standard of England
was better about 1870 than today.
I looked up some numbers about this in a history book called "Ruling
Britannia" written by Glyn Williams & John Ramsden, published by Longman
in 1990.
>From page 280: "In 1869 about 30 per cent of children were at schools
receiving government grants and inspected by government officers to
ensure efficiency, about 23 per cent were at schools without grants and
inspection, and the rest were not at school at all - mainly in the
expanding cities. Most schools were run by voluntary bodies, mainly
those associated with the Church of England."
In the long run it was the secularised board schools, paid by the
government, which gave all English children the opportunity to attend
school.
"Overall educational provision improved and illiteracy which had been a
major problem now declined." (page 281)
TABLE 15.1 Growth in Educational Provisions
Year Government Expenditure Numbers in Inspected Schools
1870 �1.6 m. 1.7 m.
1880 �4.0 m. 3.6 m.
1890 �5.8 m. 4.7 m.
1900 �12.2 m. 5.7 m.
It is evident that it was the state which built an educational system in
England which reached the whole population. And it is really bad if it
is breaking down. But I guess that the situation today is still better
than back in 1870, when illiteracy was a major problem.
Teachers' wages have rather low in Norway for some years now, and few
students have gone to the Teachers Training Colleges, but this year the
government began a four year escalating plan to improve the wages of
primary school teachers, and this year the wages grew by 30.000
Norwegian kroner, that is about 4.000 US dollars.
--
All the best
Tor F�rde
http://home.sol.no/~torforde/
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
