Popular education - rights and duties: school reforms in the Sardinian Kingdom between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

摘要

Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a new method for the provision of popular education emerged in Europe. The Sardinian Kingdom represents a good example of this evolution: in 1729, Piedmont was the first state in Europe to launch a “modern” educational policy with the creation of a public school system. Education was considered a concession granted by the King to deserving subjects who demonstrated the possession of pure morals and faith in Catholicism. The French Revolution imported the idea of education as a right for all citizens and made genuine attempts to reform the school, but it lacked sufficient time to build a new school system. In the following years Napoleon, who had no interest in popular education, tried to use the school to transform the inhabitants of Piedmont into French citizens, but schooling in Piedmont managed to preserve some of its own peculiarities. In 1814, when the Savoy monarchy was restored, it did not remove the French educational system, but tried to change it for its own aims. Nevertheless, Savoy gave much more attention to popular education and attempted to oblige all citizens to attend primary school. The history of the last decades had shown the importance of education in fostering loyal subjects. At the beginning of the nineteenth century it was clear that the message of the Enlightenment, which promoted the school as a way to achieve private and public happiness, had been distorted: in the following centuries education would be considered a duty rather than a right.View full textDownload full textKeywordspopular education, right, duty, happiness, citizensRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2011.560857