What is it about?
This article investigates the monitorial system of education in Sweden between 1820 and 1843. It shows that the mechanical exercises used in schools for the working classes were not implemented in the academic schools. The schools for the working classes were also directed towards instilling obedience, while the academic schools sought to awaken self-activity.
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Why is it important?
The article shows that the difference in the use of monitorial education in different types of schools corresponds to the different purposes of the schools in question. In this context, social class had a decisive impact on the teaching design.
Perspectives
An interesting question in this context is how to interpret the different uses of monitorial education in relation to the emergence of discipline as a technique of power. This is of particular relevance when dealing with academic elementary and secondary schools. One might even wonder whether the emphasis on self-activity in these schools is an expression of liberal techniques of self-discipline rather than discipline in a classical sense.
Dr Esbjörn Larsson
Department of education Uppsala University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Classes in themselves and for themselves: the practice of monitorial education for different social classes in Sweden, 1820−1843, History of Education, April 2016, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/0046760x.2016.1161081.
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