At the beginning of the Renaissance, for the first time, education was considered to be a core part of society, however, as time went on it became only available to the elite. Education was so emphasized because of their believe that the Greek and Roman times were a Golden Age and the only way to revive it was to study the past. This meant an extreme focus on history and looking at history as a way “to a right estimate of the present” and “a sound forecast of the future) (document 1). At first this access to education was available to all, however, as the years went by it slowly became something “appropriate only to a small minority of men.”
With the start of the Renaissance came the start of a curriculum based on the humanities. Some subjects that they learned were math and science. Educating themselves in these two subjects helped to better their understanding of the world around them. They studied rhetoric, Greek and Latin as well because it was thought to improve one’s ability to speak eloquently and write persuasively. The study of these two languages also allowed them to understand Greek and Roman literature. This was very important, as they believed that within the texts lies “the whole of attainable knowledge” (document 4). There was also an emphasis on being a well-rounded person, or a Renaissance Man, and so they were also taught to sing, dance and write poetry.
The duty of a Renaissance wife was to be an accessory to her husband and help him to move up in society, and so there were certain things that they were taught to help them do so. Reading, singing and dancing were the main subjects that they were taught. Women were believed to be devious in nature and so when a woman was taught to read the books she read must “teach her good manners” and the sentences she writes cannot be “trifling songs” but instead “somber sentences” (document 5). Although there was an increase in the amount of women being educated, there were still many restrictions.
At the end of the Renaissance people begin to doubt previous education tactics. By the time students were fifteen they were thought to have “little sense of the meaning and true use of learning” (document 10) even though they were very good at speaking Latin, a language which was only used at Church. Some people begin to believe that it is not for the good of society to educate everyone as studying “inspires contempt for all