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Education in Elizabethan England
Education in Elizabethan England was an integral part of English society since it was required for many professions. Education was available to many families at the time, however only for boys. Girls stayed home and learned cooking, childcare, and sewing from their mothers. For the boys, there were three types of schools for children of different ages. The youngest went to petty schools, then moved to grammar schools, and finally studied at a university (Freidl; Elizabethan Education).

Petty Schools
Petty schools were designed for boys aged 5 to 7 years and were run usually by an educated housewife who charged a small tuition fee for her efforts. During these years the boys learned basic reading and writing skills, the catechism (which was a book which laid out the details of Christian faith), and proper behavior. The children were expected to memorize and recite certain phrases related to Christianity such as "I will renounce the Devil" (Elizabethan Education) and practice correct table manners. These teachings were considered vital to an education in the Petty Schools (Elizabethan Education; England Education in Elizabethan Period; Freidl).

Grammar Schools
Grammar schools were for boys between 7 and 14 years of age. These schools were larger than petty schools and were close to what we would call boarding schools, since they had more than one professor and since students often lived on campus for the majority of the year. All children of nobility would be sent to grammar schools, in fact nobles often funded a local grammar school, but many children of middle or working class families would attend also, if they could afford the small fee (Elizabethan Education; Rowse 501).

During the Elizabethan Era, grammar schools primarily taught Latin. Latin was essential for any career in Elizabethan society; it was required for law, diplomacy, medicine, botany, philosophy, and civil employment. Even merchants and musicians could use skills in both writing and speaking Latin (Rowse 501; Gillard; England Education in Elizabethan Period). So in class, younger students would learn only the alphabet and the very basics of the language. They would not be able to create sentences for at least a year and they would be taught by older students or assistants to the school's professors. During the later years at grammar school, students would be taught by professors. The cirriculum focused on translations between Latin and English and the study the works of classical writers such as Horace, Virgil, and Cicero (Elizabethan Education; England Education in Elizabethan Period; Friedl; Grammar Schools in the United Kingdom).

Life at grammar schools could be very tough on the students. The day began at 6 in the morning and ended at half past 5 in the afternoon in the summer and went from 7 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon in winter (Rowse 504). Each day except for Sunday students would attend class, on Sunday they would attend Church, and on Monday there would be an exam on the sermon the previous day. Students were also expected to speak in Latin at all times in order to increase their fluency. Needless to say, this rule was broken many times and students often received punishments such as 50 beatings from a cane (Elizabethan Education; Grammar Schools in the United Kingdom).

Universities
Universities were the final destinations of many students in Elizabethan England. After completing grammar school at age 14, students would attend a university to focus their study on one subject. They would stay for seven years to complete their courses. Undergraduates would have the opportunity to study Law, Theology, Medicine, the Arts, including philosophy, rhetoric, and natural history, or the Liberal Arts, including Logic, Arithmetic, Music, and Astronomy (Elizabethan Education; Rowse 510-511). Due to the young age of many undergraduates, they would be put under the responsibility of a graduate student who was their tutor. The graduates would study at colleges within the university, which offered a higher level curriculum than undergraduate schools and were significantly smaller, while guiding the undergraduates through university life, which still involved severe discipline and beatings (Rowse 520-521).

In England at this time, all boys were allowed to study at a university, regardless of their family background. Sons of nobles and gentry would be sent to universities, but they were not the majority. Most of the students were commoners, who either paid tuition to study at the university, or worked as servants waiting tables at the university in lieu of tuition. No matter how one received it, all people appreciated a university education. The nobles and gentry saw it as preparation for their high place in society, while the middle class valued the number of potential professions it opened for them (Elizabethan Education; Rowse 520-521).

The Chantries Acts of 1545 and 1547
The Chantries Act was enacted by King Henry VII in 1545 and renewed by Edward IV in 1547. It gave all property owned by churches who could not make more than 200 pounds a year to the crown and it was designed to prop up royal coffers after the Italian War of 1542-1546. However, these acts had undesirable and unforeseen consequences. Since many small churches sponsored schools in their villages, the Chantries Act stripped the funding of many grammar schools and universities. This especially affected poorer students since their families could not afford to send their children to far away cities for education (Chantry; Rowse 489). However, during Queen Elizabeth's reign, many towns sent petitions to her to ask her to give them a charter to build a school. The Queen felt that education was important for the country and granted many towns the necessary money to build a school. By 1600, the number of grammar schools in England had increased from before the Chantries Acts to 360 (Rowse 496).