Yanni,
Thank you for offering us 'enlightenment' on the subject of education. May I remind you that primary school education in Europe was pioneered almost exclusively by the Reformers such as Martin Luther in Germany ? That it was Luther and others of his time who made it possible for ordinary children to go to school. An idea so good that it is due to them that all nations do the same today. In fact, nobody did more to achieve a huge improvement in general education than the protestants. At a time when the 'Holy Roman Empire' had always reserved education for its own elites and for a small number of its closest associates. And at a time when that Empire had created ignorant masses who were able to neither read nor write. In the 10th century (200 years after Rome and the papacy had virtually taken over all governments of western Europe) the average town of Europe contained serfs of the feudal system who were as ignorant as any who ever lived. Entire monasteries were filled with monks who still could not write. And who could hardly count from one to ten. The elite ruling classes of Europe read only Aristotle or dogmas from their Latin catechisms. The state of education was generally a disaster. And, even by the early 18th century the Jesuit strangelhold on education was so shameful that entire towns were complaining about useless standards of education in their schools, even in areas where the Jesuits were in total control of universities and colleges. Rousseau's 'Emile' was written for the education of these elite privileged families and has almost nothing to do with the education of European society as a whole. The same privileged families who, for centuries, had male members who knew little more than how to hunt deer, foxes, and rabbits and whose career aims were to learn Latin and to take part in crusades, horse riding events and religious pilgrimages. A society where the language of the ordinary people was still outlawed in schools. As in France and Germany. And where each and every textbook for students was vetted by the same Jesuit Order, who, by this time, were also the censors of Europe. Have you read any of the complaints against the Jesuit educational system from the mayors of Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and elsewhere in the late 16th and 17th centuries ? They will embarass you.
Mozart never went to school. Ever. And when this absurd state of ignorance finally collapsed across Europe the embarrasment was that it had not been allowed to collapse before. Raised on a diet of superstitions, Mary worship, idols, and religious pilgrimages the population finally agreed that children should go to school. And realising they had to concoct a controlled system of education which has been called the 'enlightenment'. Meaning, in practice, fresh control of society through the very same elites. This time in the name of the Encyclopaedists of Paris and their fraternal supporters such as the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians, the Illuminatists, and the same (hidden) Jesuit control. This temporarily underground. With the British Empire now a product of the earlier Venetian commercial Empire. So that Rousseau and Voltaire (both of whom were closely associated with the same elites) would be presented as models of 'enlightenment' when, in actual fact, they part of the same roving theatre as Casanova, Cagliostro, and a hundred other actors of the 'Enlightenment'.
The state of education in Germany was widely recognised to be far superior than virtually anywhere else in Europe. Why ? Because the ordinary boy or girl now had had access to school education for over two centuries. Except in areas where the same old sytem had influence. And because money spent on religious pilgrimages and the 'forgiveness of sins' was now being spent on primary education and on textbooks. In their own language.
Rousseau, 'enlightened', indeed !!
Originally Posted by yanni
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