There was a range of schools for middle class children depending on the wealth of their families. Upper middle class children (still of wealthy parentage) would attend a private school; these were for mainly boys though some girls did attend these types of schools. The boys would be taught Classics and Maths, and the girls would be taught manners, singing, dancing, painting and embroidery. These were usually boarding schools, though the same types of subjects were taught, these would have been the cheaper of the two schools.
Another middle class school was the grammar schools, to attend these schools you must have been followers of the Church of England, a protestant, Christian. These schools were for only boys and taught Classics, Maths and following later Languages. Grammar schools were usually in wealthy towns such as Wolsingham, Bishop and Durham (at the time,) these were for only for middle class children.
Another type of school only for middle class children were the ‘dissenting academies,’ these only taught none Church of England children, but again only took boys. These dissenting academies had the most up to date curriculum, teaching Maths, Science, Geography, Languages and accounting. These schools were the best at the time, and were highly popular among the middle classes.
Charity schools were aimed at the lower middle classes, and/or working class children. “Few of these schools did give working class children a proper education.” (Internet.) These schools were for the male and female children. They taught the three R’s, Religion, Crafts (Weaving and shoe making.) These were only very small schools, charging small fees, but to the parents paying them these fees would seem extremely high. These schools were usually in villages such as Willington, the average pay a week for a typical working class person is around 10d, and out of this 2d would be spent on a Childs education. This is an extremely high proportion.
The last school that is aimed at lower middle class children or working class children are the dame schools. These taught Reading, sewing, knitting or nothing. These kinds of schools were more of a child minding service rather than a school, and what was taught depended upon the person that ran the school. ““It’s not much they pay me, so its not much I teach them.” One Dame said” (Culpin)
Without wealth, to pay for an education, children weren’t educated enough to get good jobs, these children ended up down the pit. Not surprisingly most of these children were lower or working class children.
People needed money to get an education, if they didn’t get an education they would end up with a bad paying job, going nowhere in life. As I’ve already said, it isn’t the only factor though; Wealth is probably the largest factor, though as you can see males had a much better, fuller education than the females. And religion also determined what type of school you attended in these times. Of course personal wealth determined what type of school a person attended, though so did other factors. But to me the best type of schools at the time were the dissenting academies, though these were for the middle classes.