Victorian Education and the First Part of Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Victorian Education and the First Part of Hard Times by Charles Dickens The education system in the 19th century was one of the more prominent floors in society. Trainee teachers usually began work around 14 years of age, predictably resulting in poor quality teaching. Subjects and topics were drilled repeatedly until set deep into the children’s memories. Numbers of children to a class were incredibly high, meaning there was a huge lack min teacher – pupil relationship. If you happened to be particularly bright then you were likely to be dragged behind whereas if you were unfortunately slow, then you would be left behind with no special help or encouragement. Authorities were very domineering; everybody was expected to be able to follow the system, personal differences were not taken into account in any way productive. Corporal punishment is another feature commonly used by Victorian teachers; children were often beaten because of mistakes, and as you can imagine, violence from teachers was a frequent event mainly due to the narrow minded peremptory conditions. Evidently, the consequences of such an education produced uniformity to such a degree that linked each child into the system. The sense of depersonalisation that consumed the tender young imaginations, so vivid and active - the impersonal existence that dissolved away any trace of flourishing enthusiasm and discarded the dregs; deadpan, stunted adults. All the same, and all plugged into the same matrix. The novel Hard Times powerfully reflects Dickens’ personal interest in the education system. He seems to have taken samples from particular features of education and amplified them to create a fictional scenario constructed from reality. Th... ...ian education absolutely horrifies me (probably due to my love of expressive arts), and I think that there is no way that the humiliation and dehumanisation could have had any positive affect on the children. There was no stimulation or variations of syllabus for different levels of academic intelligence and I think that the introduction of these things have had a positive and productive outcome. I am curious to read on having reached this point, especially to look into how the young Gradgrinds turn out. I’d also like to see how Sissy is affected by the system – if she is at all. One of the things that really makes me want to read on, is the introduction of several new characters fairly early in the story; the way they are linked to each other and how they differ as individuals seems to entice my imagination – I want to know what’s going to happen next.