Characteristics of Education during Medieval Times

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Characteristics of Education during Medieval Times
At the end of the Roman Empire Era, a large number of educational institutes of Romans stopped offering their services. Gradually, education was no longer the primary concern, and fighting skills were more valued. Most of the politicians and rulers of this historic period gained power through inheritance and wars while education was deemed insignificant to their success. The judicial and social society of medieval times was under the influence of ancient German and Roman culture; however, the Church exerted influence on the judicial and social society which facilitated the development of educational systems in Medieval Times (Newman np). The Church grew increasingly suspicious of Germanic, Roman, and Greek culture and decided to shut the operation of all pagan schools. The influence of the church saw the birth of monasticism. Priests, Monks, and Bishops took the responsibility of teaching, and the educational pattern became entirely religious.
During medieval times, not all children attended school. Noble medieval children were prioritized for education during their training to become knights because it was essential for them to read and understand the code of chivalry. Contrarily, poor medieval children were educated by Priests who taught them how to read and write. Only three main types of school existed in the medieval ages: the monastic school, the grammar school, and the elementary-song school (Simkin np). The elementary song-school was affiliated with a huge church in town. The subjects taught in this type of school were songs and Latin hymns. The students in elementary song-school were only taught how to read and write by an educated priest (Simkin np).
Monastic schools catered to boys that were being specifically trained for the church. Monks oversaw the lessons and the main subject was religious education. Sometimes, monastic schools educated local boys from underprivileged families, and in return, they worked as servants in the monastery (Simkin np). Grammar schools were affiliated with large churches or cathedrals. The main subject taught in these schools was Latin grammar. As well as grammar, the boys were taught rhetoric (the art of public speaking) and logic (the art of arguing) (Simkin np).
There was an absence of books in most schools and students were taught by the skill of individual masters and rote learning. Most masters were clergymen who were impartially educated. At some of the larger schools, classes would consist of one-hundred or more boys in the school and days lasted as long as thirteen hours with periodic breaks for meals (Trueman 1). Lessons normally began at sunrise and ended at sunset. This meant that in the months of summer and sprin...