Early Medieval and Contemporary Education Essay

Assignment 1



According to Gutek (1995), the church in the medieval period exercised a virtual dominance of formal education through direct or indirect means. During this period, formal education was supervised by clerics though it was not a pre-requisite for practicing religious life or leadership. Since the church has a virtual monopoly over formal education, there were different kinds of educational institutions associated with chivalry, the guilds and the church during the medieval period. Even though access to education was limited during this period, these educational institutions, which were mostly church-related, conducted basic or elementary education. The institutions provided basic/elementary educational functions despite the fact there was relatively vague differentiation between elementary and secondary schools.



The educational institutions associated with the chivalry, the guilds, and the church in the early medieval era were parish, chantry, monastic, and cathedral schools (Gutek, 1995). Parish schools were presided over by a priest and primarily focused on religious ritual and music education as well as reading and writing skills. On the contrary, chantry institutions provided education on the language of the church liturgy and Latin and were established based on an endowment provided by a rich person. Monastic schools provided training on church doctrine to monks either as brothers or priests as well as basic reading and writing skills in Latin to those preparing for secular priesthood. Cathedral schools emerged and flourished in the 12th Century and focused on providing Latin instruction as well as other vernacular languages. These educational institutions in the medieval period differ from today’s institutions in the sense that they focused primarily on religious education. Unlike modern educational institutions, medieval ones were established by religious institutions i.e. the Church and focused on enhancing religious life and practices.



Assignment 2



Discussion Post 1



Kaylan McCaskill’s response on the pattern of training in the guild system reflects the kind of educational systems that were utilized during this period. However, this response does not include one of the major features that characterized guild systems of education i.e. religion. While these systems focused on providing training based on particular interests or career, the training was based on religion. Religion formed the basis of education on other areas of interests/career in the guild pattern of training. McCaskill’s response suggests that the current system of education is based on the pattern…