Renaisance Education: Values and Purposes The Renaissance was a time of change. It began in Italy during the 14th century, and spread throughout the North. People all over Europe were affected, for the better and for the worse. Some people finally had a chance to control their own fate. Others, like upper class women, lost their social status. The values and purposes of Renaissance education were to improve the society, increase the economy, and restore the religious beliefs. The social lives of people were greatly influenced by advancements in education during the Renaissance. More people then ever before were send to schools and educated. Schools for girls were built, and they were taught sewing, reading, writing, and dancing. Some of these schools even had teachers for singing and playing instruments. Upper class women were taught language, philosophy, theology and mathematics. But their education only prepared them for social life at home. Women lost political power, access to property and their role in shaping society. People were taught to understand and judge the writings of others. Courtiers, aristocrats and nobles were able to write poetry and text. By being well educated, having good penmanship, knowing how to ride, play, dance, sing, and dress well, men of high status gained respect and reputation. These skills also helped attain preference and support among princes. Nevertheless, the school system did not teach youth how to behave in daily life situations. They spent too much time on Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic. Those studies that were realistic, enlightened men's minds, and prepared them for life, were reserved for the Universities. Therefore, students had a slight understanding of the meaning and the true use of knowledge. They were only able to write Latin, which no one of judgement would want to read, and when they went to universities, they wasted their friends' money and their own time. Afterwards, they would return home again, as unsophisticated and uneducated as they were before. In addition, many individuals thought that having to many schools was a terrible thing. They believed that only a minority of men should study literature, because more farmers were needed than judges, more soldiers than priests, more merchants than philosophers, and more hard working groups than dreamy and thoughtful individuals. Italian humanist Piccolomini, who himself was educated, believed that philosophy and literature, should be taught to every individual, because these studies reveal the truths about the past, the reality of the present, and the prediction of the future.
Women in society were always put as not being equal to men. During the Renaissance, women were inferior to men; women in different classes had different roles. Low class women were expected to be housewives and take care of everything to do with the house. Working class women were expected to work for their husbands and help them run their business. They would work along side with their husbands and then go home and take care of the household. Upper class women may have had servants and workers working for them but the women were still expected to take care of the house hold.
Hamilton provides an inside look at how congress really works and clears up popular misconception that make members of congress look like wasteful bickering crooks that support gridlock and are only concerned with the needs of interest groups and lobbyists. Hamilton argues that Congress has changed for the better throughout the years and that they are held at higher standards than they were before. Hamilton states that Congress is not only working at keeping the public happy but that have recently become faced with a lot more issues than before, they are not only more issues but more complicated and technical that are very high risk policies that take a long time to produce a decision (Hamilton, 1988, 65). Hamilton states that Congress is a system in which the viewpoints of everyone are taken into account and make sure there is a consensus when it comes to defining decisions. Even though many of us acknowledge that lobbyist and special interest groups play an essential role in the law making party, Congress is making an effort to make sure that everyone’s voice is heard. Congress is making sure that the balance of power is distributed properly. In recent years, there has been a decline in mega-lobbies and interest groups so that not only the wealthy powerful get their voice heard, but the everyday american people get an opinion in things that affect them as well. In Gary Lee’s article, The NRA Has Lost some Firepower, we can see that interest groups are beginning to have less of an influence on larger political decisions (Hamilton, 1988, 65). For example, the National Rifle Association’s defeat in the battle over the “Brady bill” and their war towards trying to revamp Medicaid was a great loss for lobbyists and
As mentioned above, women’s role were unjust to the roles and freedoms of the men, so an advanced education for women was a strongly debated subject at the beginning of the nineteenth century (McElligott 1). The thought of a higher chance of education for women was looked down upon, in the early decades of the nineteenth century (The American Pageant 327). It was established that a women’s role took part inside the household. “Training in needlecraft seemed more important than training in algebra” (327). Tending to a family and household chores brought out the opinion that education was not necessary for women (McElligott 1). Men were more physically and mentally intellectual than women so it was their duty to be the educated ones and the ones with the more important roles. Women were not allowed to go any further than grammar school in the early part of the 1800’s (Westward Expansion 1). If they wanted to further their education beyond grammar, it had to be done on their own time because women were said to be weak minded, academically challenged and could n...
This past summer, when I lived and worked in Washington, DC—first as a U.S. Senate Page and then as a Congressional Intern—I gained invaluable experience and insight to the American political system. It is amazing how much one can learn from simply overhearing the conversations of Members of Congress on a daily basis. Working on the floor of the Senate and then in the back rooms of a Congressional office were two entirely different experiences, each teaching me in a distinctive way about how our political system functions. While I most definitely became aware of how bureaucratic and slow our democratic system can be, I also discovered that with a commitment to unity and prosperity for the common good, great feats are attainable through government.
The Renaissance began after Europe began recovering from the Black Death. Anyone who had survived was just happy to be alive and started focusing more on material things, rather than religious ones. Another reason the focus shifted from religious thoughts was because of the Great Schism. People began second guessing their rulers and religious leaders and became more secular. One important city involved in the Renaissance was Florence, which would come to be known as the cultural center of the Renaissance. Florence was located in Tuscany and was ruled by merchants originally, but was later taken over by a wealthy family known as the Medicis. Later, however, the economy began to decline, which made the people turn to a man known as Savonarola. Savonarola, however, was an extremely strict ruler and did not allow such things as gambling or painting. He then went on to criticize the Pope and was sentenced to death for heresy. The Medici family then gained back control. These power struggles within Italy would lead to better trade which would help lead to people having a new, better way of life.
	In Plato’s mind, the value of an education is to clear one’s mind of impure thought, bring it to a higher lever than at the start, and attain a certain level of righteousness. This may have been a good idea 2300 years ago, but today, I see it as very limiting and impractical. In his time, only the rich aristocrats went to school. It’s purpose was not for the students to learn skills or ideas that would help them later in life, but to expand their minds, thus making them into ‘better people.’ There was no need for them to learn any job skills. Back then, if you came from a rich family, you were rich. Working at simple jobs was for the peasants and slaves. Today, life is different. Our society is completely unlike that of the ancient Greeks. We have no caste system limiting the wealth and prominence of any citizen, we have no slavery to handle all the manual labor, our army is proportionately smaller and much less honored, and religion is a part of one’s private life, not a dominating public force as it was to the Ancient Greeks. Most people today have a regular, day to day job, whether it be in an office, store, factory, or anywhere else. We have to earn our wealth by working, not inheritance. That is why most people go to school today.
Members of the California State Legislature spend most of their time politically cultivating their districts and the state as they do legislating. To increase efficiency, most legislators direct their attention towards their home constituents. In the book titled Politics In America, Thomas Dye and Bartholomew Sparrow call this legislative tactic as “home style,” which is defined as legislator’s activities that primarily focuses at the constituents’ problems and interests. I believe that creating relationship with district constituents is the most essential factor to become a competent legislator. For instance, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has improved San Francisco for 25 years and consistently satisfying the needs of her constituents. In C...
The Black Death had a huge impact on Europe in the fourteenth century. Many deaths occurred in just five years twenty five and forty five percent of populations were taken away by the deadly plague. The Black Death was not just one bacterial strain that made up the plague it was a combination of three bacterial strains from three plagues the three bacterial strains are bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic…(the DBQ Project Page 151). The plague began in China and the plague started to spread throughout Asia and Europe. This plague was dangerous and it shows that through how many people it killed. The people of
Since the genesis of the United States of America, political scientists and figures have recounted tales of war between the ideologies of political groups. In his farewell address, even George Washington, first president of the United States, warned against “the danger of parties in the State” as well as “the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally” (Washington). Since human beings are reluctant to heed good advice, the “mischiefs of factions” (Madison), since then, have come about and been growing and changing, and political alliances have been strengthening and evolving, so much so that they have progressed into a form of hierarchical organizations that foster environments in which everyday Americans can come together and celebrate their concurring political beliefs. At present day, political polarization is stronger than it has ever been before, proven by the decline of centrist members in Congress, the increasingly partisan voting behaviors of the American public, and the widening social gap between Republicans and Democrats. This intense partisanship has several implications on the functioning of the American government, delineated by the increased time it takes to confirm presidential nominations in a divided branch government, 30 percent legislation decrease in a divided legislative government, and the overall decline of honest discussion in the American political atmosphere.
The Renaissance was a cultural and intellectual movement that had its peak during the 15th and 16th centuries. During these times there was a heightened interest with the classical learning that was brought about in the middle ages. The renaissance first started in Italy and then eventually spread to Western Europe. During this period there was a high interest in the aesthetics of the classical world like architecture. The renaissance focused on the 17th century philosophy which came from the Greeks.
Throughout Beloved, Morrison’s varied narrative techniques open the reader’s eyes to the complicated personalities and characteristics of the black community, providing insight to their internal emotional strugglers. Through this, she adds an unspoken emotional aspect to the already intense reader experience, drawing them into the novel. As the characters become more complicated, Morrison complicates the novel, overwhelming the reader with a barrage of conflicts and struggles to convey the struggle of slaves to find and solidify their existence, identity, and future.
Schmidt, Steffen W., Mack C. Shelly II, Barbara A. Bardes. American Government and Politics Today: 2010-2011 Brief Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011
As previously stated, the renaissance was the rebirth of society. What led to this was a decrease in faith because of the great schism, a conflict between two popes, where both said they were the pope. People were starting to take a secular view compared to what the church told them to believe. Society was changing to where individual viewpoints mattered. With politics starting to matter, and a better economy, places were beginning to be city centered, specifically city states, which are urban societies that have taken secular views.
In the Victorian Period receiving an education was an act of unconformity. Women were to be pure, domestic, and submissive and these traits could not be achieved through education. The education of women was thought to disrupt the social balance of time, but in the Victorian Period women were educated because they were mothers of men. They wanted women to teach their children so they had to be educated. Women were stripped of their rights and dignity, but they were finally free to break through the co...
Insomnia occurs when someone experiences difficulty falling and staying asleep (New Perspective, 2010). For some people, insomnia’s a major condition that greatly affects their daily life from how they behave towards others, to how they feel about themselves. There’s a reason why they’re unable to get a goodnight’s rest and those factors vary from person to person. For example, maybe they’re plagued by nightmares which create an atmosphere they’re unable to fall asleep in. Maybe they just moved to a new place much different from their last, or maybe they consumed too much caffeine earlier that day and the effects are still present in their system. Insomnia is a major condition and should be treated as such which is why it’s important to understand