We couldn't agree more, which is why we're so excited that she's currently leading our Victorian Academy course! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A) by joining up here: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
My great grandmother was a Pupil teacher, became a fully qualified teacher and lifted her family into the middle class. Because of her my father was able to get into Grammar School, University and become a teacher himself who chose to work with Children with disabilities, helped develop makaton and create a curriculum for special needs school.
My son has severe autism and non verbal, do you know what curriculum he created? Id be very interested, i am looking for a curriculum with not much luck, thankyou xx
As a granddaughter of the woman who would only attend school every other day, because her and the sister who was her closest in age only had one pair of shoes between them...the subject of Ragged Schools touches my very soul.
At my primary school there were kids who turned up without shoes; but they were eager to learn. Martin had a stick-on prosthetic ear; Tom had callipers; and many others had blue unction for lice. The diseases have gone as, unfortunately, has the eagerness to learn.
@vladmars5297 I remember reading a Soviet writer Victor Astaphiev who went to a Soviet school in the 1950s and had lice and how girls in his class were shockingly appalled by this, whereas to him it was normal at the time. That's just shows how times have changed.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
In 1940 during WWII I was about 4nearly 5 and sent out of the bombing down to Devon. There I went to the local village school that looked just like the one in the video. I remember slates and chalk but we also had exercise books cut in half to save paper. We wrote in pencil so it could be rubbed out and the paper used again. The absolute last knockings of a Victorian school.
Thank you so much for sharing your first-hand recollections of what it was like to actually live through that experience. Your testimony is very important and you should make a recording of it for the benefit of future generations. Please do this, all you would have to do is to speak into a recording app on any mobile phone and it will record your very important testimony for people in the future to hear and understand what it was actually like to experience being evacuated from your home and sent to stay with strangers. Ask a friend or family member to help you with this, it is important that other people know where you have saved your testimony to. All you need to do is to open any kind of recording application on a mobile phone and then speak into it so that your precious first-hand account is saved for posterity. Thanking you in anticipation of you doing this. Wishing you all the very best.
My mother was born in 1950, back then West-Germany, now Germany. She told me she was one of the last grades to start school with a slate. She used them in grade 1 and 2, from 3rd grade paper. If I remember correctly, 2 or 3 years after her they were abandoned completely. My sister was born in 1972 and she was one of the last grades to enter school after Easter, they changed it to summer a couple of years later. I was born in 1988 by the way :) When I entered school in 1994, we had to use pencil during the first two grades. In 3rd grade, class teachers would allow switching to ink depending on how well a student held the pencil and readability of the handwriting. From grade 4, pencil was no longer allowed except for geometry or art class.
This is fascinating. I'd always thought Victorian classrooms sounded like a nightmare. But there was a logistical reason they were like that. What an achievement to go from 50% to 100% literacy in a couple of generations, especially when you consider that a big indicator of your educational achievement these days is how educated your parents were.
I also thought that Victorians were rather rough and tough which of course they were, but how else could you control 400 kids in one room? Bearing in mind, that education had to be affordable, and you only could afford one teacher, so does it any wonder that they used rods?
Nowadays with 30 children in a class everything is unbearable, like, how teachers are even supposed to teach something when they can't have any authority? Things were rough, but it was for a very good reason...
Ruth Goodman is probably the best social historian there is. Had she been teaching my history class when I was at school I’d have paid far more attention.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Certainly she has the enthusiasm for her subject- not too keen on her continued use of 'kids' for 'children' though! --- put that down to my education both at school and in family life in the 40's and 50's I suppose!!
In the Victorian style? You’re talking late 1960s/early 1970s. I was at junior school at that time, children with little jobs in class were called monitors, milk monitor, ink monitor but there was nothing like the Victorian system, we certainly weren’t sitting in a class of 300 😂
Children in France still use slates today. I had one when I was learning my letters. I still have one now, for sentimental reasons. I have an exercise book belonging to a French child from around 1905 and the calligraphy is absolutely perfect, all done with a dip pen, of course! Elderly people here have told me how their grandparents in this rural area couldn't read or write in the 1800s and if they received a letter or had to fill in official paperwork the postman would take the time out of his rounds to read or write for them.
Yes, school in France in the 50s and 60s wasn't too different from that, they would also use dipping pens and the inkwells were still the same! in my elementary school in the early 2000s we still had older desks with the inkwell hole and the dent to rest your pen as well.
I love the way Ruth can tell us about history without preachy little lectures about oppressors and oppressed. She definitely needs her own RUclips channel. She might become a star!
5:20 I love how those who were on the very bottom rung of society's ladder had learned the value of education in order to better their circumstances in life, and that is what motivated them to help others who were also on the very bottom rung of society's ladder. That strong impulse to help others came directly from the heart, and I greatly admire them for putting it into motion.
More Ruth Goodman you say? We're here to help! You can hear more from Ruth (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
I think what is also interesting is the diversity of some families in that period. Some of my family were from the east end of Glasgow, worked in the railways at the turn of the century yet in that same family, a cousin was the first female Dr in Glasgow.
I remember in my old school back in only the 80s we had desks that had ink well holes, obviously the ink long gone but i loved thinking about how old those desks were and who may have used them at one time!
Yes, in the mid-80s, there were 1-2 of those in my school too. I really don't know how they got there because the schools in my town were built in the 1950s. Before that, there had been 8 one-room schoolhouses sprinkled around town from the early 1800s, so it's possible a few desks had survived from one of those.
We love Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
This beautiful spirit is a national treasure. She dances to her own drum, but a smart person would sit down and listen. She is your embassador of history and culture.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Thank you for the information 😊 Greetings from Ukraine:) My grandmother grew up in the village in soviet union, she was the first one of her family to attend a university. Her uncle helped her move because her dad had to give up his primary school education for the uncle, so her dad remained a peasant while her uncle got a good job in the city. That is a difference education can make.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
I could listen to her talk all day! She has a way of explaining things that just completely captivates you. I wish my own history teachers had been even half as passionate about the lectures they gave us.
My dad attended a one room school house around the '30s in Northern Maine. But there were not many children to make things crowded. And I'd listen to Ruth any day of the week!
I started school in 1949, being a war baby most of my primary class size was 40+ each year. First year High school my class was taught by Mrs Tungate, and the class of 60 was split into two sections, 1T and 2T, the other 5 classes of first year the same. I cannot imagine 300 children at the same time.
Yeah I want more Ruth Goodman!!!! Bravo! I wish she would start her own channel for new projects and discuss the projects and shows she has done over the last 15-20 years! More Ruth! Brilliant!
My grandfather and his younger siblings went to school in the 1880s, for 1d a week each, but their older siblings never learnt to read and write. 4d or 5d a week was a significant sum, but people were proud to pay it because they could see the benefits.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
We can't get enough of Ruth either! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
11:40 Some people at the top didn't like their staff to be able to read and write. When employing people to work for the aristocracy, they would reject applicants for being literate because they wanted to be sure that no-one could read their correspondence and discover their secrets. They were also worried that literate people would be discontented when doing hard manual labour and so they might rise up and rebel against their masters, as they had done in the French Revolts when so many people of noble birth ended up decapitated.
That depends. As work becomes more "advanced" you NEED your employees to be able to read simple sentences and follow instructions so they don't blow anything up. They absolutely did not want intelligent employees, but the world after the steam engine needs readers. It needs people capable of sitting in silence for more than eight hours - a skill so kindly taught in schools. It needs people that follow rules. At the end of the day, reading is just a small part of the skills taught in a school. Nobody walked out of there knowing latin, but they knew how to sign a contract and get to work in time.
As an elective home educator, I can confirm that school is and never was compulsory, in the UK ,it was just education that was. Obviously, most people chose to delegate this responsibility to schools but you could educate "otherwise" which meant as long as a child was receiving an education, they didn't need to attend school. Some children were unable to receive an education for various reasons including disability and chronic illness and some were considered unable to be educated, often because of intellectual disability but sometimes because they were deaf or blind for example. Some children stayed at home to look after family members and/or do housework.......others went to work to support the family......some authorities turned a blind eye. Although the purpose of schools was to educate, it was also to accommodate and get children off the streets when parents were at work. They were often left out in all weathers and many were the victims of crime or criminals themselves. The industrial revolution was the catalyst for compulsory education.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftsbury (1801 - 1885), advocated for animal welfare and was president of the Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection. He was also a vice-president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He argued for total abolition of vivisection, not reform. In 1879, he delivered a speech condemning the practice of vivisection and questioned why vivisectionists were subjecting "God's creatures to such unspeakable sufferings?"
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
This is my second time watching Ruth Goodman discuss Victorian history. I absolutely love how she captivates you with her easy-to-understand and fascinating lectures. Her explanations are on point, and from start to finish, viewers gain a comprehensive understanding of the history lesson. It's clear that she is brilliant and passionate about sharing knowledge. I really enjoyed seeing the period photos interspersed with her commentary-they made the program enjoyable from start to finish.
I love that the older kids helped teach the younger kids back then, now days in school, you get yelled at for helping your classmate with the in-class work😂🤦♀️
This was a gripping delivery that really brought the system to life in my mind. "The past is a foreign country" and Ms Goodman has been the most excellent tour guide, and given us a chance to put ourselves in the place of the pupils, the teachers, the assistants, the parents, and the philanthropists who were part of this movement that profoundly altered the world. Thank you.
my school in the 1950s and 60s looked just like that. inkwells and dip pens. The cane, ink monitors, coal monitors for the cast iron stoves, milk monitors, bare floor boards and more.
Yes, the village school I attended in Wiltshire in the 60’s was just as you describe. Plus outside bucket toilets and Izal paper. I remember playing at sliding down the coke pile and being severely admonished 😂. We also went for nature walks around the village on nice sunny days.
Ruth is amazing. It would be a real privilege to meet her in real life. Her passion for history and knowledge is inspirational. And she’s clearly flat out good fun. My ideal evening would be her, an old pub, and a couple of ceilidh band reprobates to listen to while you chat over a pint of porter. You’re brilliant Ruth, never change.
@@TheFleetflyer what a night that would be! Ruth is doing a live Q&A as part of our HistoryExtra Academy, which this video is an extract from 🙂 You can see more at HistoryExtra.com (BYO porter though we’re afraid!)
Cannot believe how much this reminded me of my primary school in 1960s. A CP (Christian Primary) school. Started with slates, had white China inkwells and dip pens before moving to fountain pens. Single stove between two classrooms, only lit from October regardless of weather. Telephone in a wall hung box in the corner , where hand bell was also stored.
I started school in 1955. We had dip-pens and ink to use. I was very proud to be the ink monitor! When I think back to those years, it seems like yesterday!
In rural America there were one room school every mile or so. I had an old man tell me years ago, that when he started in a one room school (about 1890-95) that every time he picked up the pen or pencil with his left hand the teacher hit him across the knuckles with a ruler, hard enough to leave a mark at times. He said he finally quit trying to write left handed. A different world.
My mum, born 1933, had her left hand tied behind her back at school. This in Plymouth UK in quite a big primary school, it had a boys entrance and a girls entrance!
@@GS-dc4dt As a mother of a left-handed child, I cringe so deeply at this. Imagine what tying a child’s hand behind their back would have done to their brain, not to mention their emotional state. What I find to be most surprising is the fact that they felt left handedness was a big deal to begin with; lefties form their letters exactly the same as righties. There is literally nothing different you need to do to teach such a child.
You're dead right about them beating lefties though. My grandma was a leftie. Born in 1950. Lived in the city. The nuns beat her senseless for using her left hand. Eventually she was able to train herself to use her right. It's because the church associates left handedness with being evil. Silly superstitious fools. Now two of my sons are lefties and I think about that a lot. People really don't know what they're talking about when they say "the good ole days."
This only needs a better sound recorder on set, and it's perfect! Ruth has such charisma on screen as a storyteller, and her passion for the topic really comes through
you can hear even more from Ruth in the HistoryExtra Academy! This is an extract from the course we're currently running on Victorian Life, led by Ruth: www.historyextra.com/academy/
‘Imagine being the first in your family to read or write’- I have some insight to this as social worker in a senior secondary school for refugees in an English speaking country (Australia)- many of whom are pre literate. It’s life changing- with English language skills they can assimilate into society better, which is huge, and would take too long to describe here. With English literacy skills, well, they have so many more choices and opportunities. I like how Ruth says that families ‘generally’ were supportive and motivated for their children to have an education- my students families are as well, but for some, they are so vulnerable and their cultural differences too big to overcome- they want their daughters to work and care for family, education is too much for them to think about. I imagine this was the same for British families in Victorian times too.
I love the use of pre-literate instead of "illiterate", which I've never seen before. Completely changes the tone from "can't read or write" to "can't read or write YET" 😊
Church of England school we used a slate at first then pencil but no ink until you were 10 years old if you made a mistake you crossed through and rewrote next to it, this was 1967 you did not talk until the Teacher asked . One just waited with hand up until she saw you . and no clicking of fingers . The head mitsress retired and the school changed over night .
We're really glad to hear it! You can hear more from Ruth (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Indeed she has featured in many tv series and programmes however, unless it is by her own choice, I doubt, sadly, that there is any valid reason for her not to be any longer. She is clearly very good, very passionate, well informed and articulate about her subject and appears to remain very popular. Therefore and without wishing to get political, one would have to assume she is considered too old (as many middle aged and older women are - ref Sue Barker) or she doesn’t tick enough/any of the right boxes (and I don’t just mean the BBC). It’s a great shame and hopefully it will change and she will again appear back on our screens where she belongs and clearly where many of us would like her to be
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Filmed at the Black Country Museum, could tell right from the start! Such a fantastic museum! This was brilliant! (Plus Ruth Goodman has such a soothing voice) I highly recommend her book, How To Be A Victorian too 😀
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Absolutely LOVE this little series with ruth. She is such a fantastic historical communicator, she has an ability to make her enthusiasm for history infectious. I love it. Will defimately be hanging out to see the next episodes!
Brilliant video, thank you. The village junior school (built 1874) which I went to in the late 50's/early 60's looked much like this. We had the ink wells, ink monitors and the same furniture. You had to be careful with the seats. 2 kids to a bench, if you both stood up, the bench would flip up. If you weren't thinking and sat down, you'd crash to the floor (via whatever chunks of iron/wood got in the way). I remember the windows being quite high (but I was small). The most exciting lesson was the one where we put chairs on the desks to stand on and look out of the windows. This was an art lesson about how the sky and the ground meet on the horizon, so we shouldn't make every picture with a blue strip at the top and a green strip at the bottom.
Ruth needs her own youtube channel!!
So does Alex and Peter.
Yep, totally agree.
Yes she does
Hear, hear!
She is excellent.
When you see a video of, Ruth Goodman, you STOP, watch & listen. Absolutely love her videos.
Ruth Goodman and Eleanor Janega should do a video together it’d be amazing
We couldn't agree more, which is why we're so excited that she's currently leading our Victorian Academy course!
You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A) by joining up here: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
@historyextra Awe thank you. I'll do that.
@@frankm.2850 I totally agree.
Absolutely..I was going off to bed when I saw this and sat right down to watch her
My great grandmother was a Pupil teacher, became a fully qualified teacher and lifted her family into the middle class. Because of her my father was able to get into Grammar School, University and become a teacher himself who chose to work with Children with disabilities, helped develop makaton and create a curriculum for special needs school.
A similar story to ours!
Wow. That's way cool
Cool!
My son has severe autism and non verbal, do you know what curriculum he created? Id be very interested, i am looking for a curriculum with not much luck, thankyou xx
As a granddaughter of the woman who would only attend school every other day, because her and the sister who was her closest in age only had one pair of shoes between them...the subject of Ragged Schools touches my very soul.
💜
At my primary school there were kids who turned up without shoes; but they were eager to learn. Martin had a stick-on prosthetic ear; Tom had callipers; and many others had blue unction for lice. The diseases have gone as, unfortunately, has the eagerness to learn.
@@frogandspannerwhat are callipers and blue unction?
My grandmother from Ukraine during the Soviet Union in the 50s also went to school in shifts because they had 1 pair of shoes for 4 children.
@vladmars5297 I remember reading a Soviet writer Victor Astaphiev who went to a Soviet school in the 1950s and had lice and how girls in his class were shockingly appalled by this, whereas to him it was normal at the time. That's just shows how times have changed.
Anything with Ruth Goodman is amazing. Her enthusiasm is heartwarming 💕
I can listen to Ruth talk all day.
Me too!!! I love her so much!
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Love love love this woman. For goodness sake give her another series on main stream television so more people can learn in a fascinating way.
She is not a freak that's why they wont give her her own series lol!!
@@SG-ve7zz Well said. I can't see her pandering to certain demographics in order to keep the job.
She was on mainstream tv for years.
She has had at least 6 series on TV. All for the BBC. You don’t get much more mainstream than that.
But Ruth is a legend on mainstream telly. Be brave, and look for her on history slots on the BBC 😉😊
In 1940 during WWII I was about 4nearly 5 and sent out of the bombing down to Devon. There I went to the local village school that looked just like the one in the video. I remember slates and chalk but we also had exercise books cut in half to save paper. We wrote in pencil so it could be rubbed out and the paper used again. The absolute last knockings of a Victorian school.
British subjects still used slate and chalk in many of the colonies back then too.
Thank you so much for sharing your first-hand recollections of what it was like to actually live through that experience. Your testimony is very important and you should make a recording of it for the benefit of future generations. Please do this, all you would have to do is to speak into a recording app on any mobile phone and it will record your very important testimony for people in the future to hear and understand what it was actually like to experience being evacuated from your home and sent to stay with strangers. Ask a friend or family member to help you with this, it is important that other people know where you have saved your testimony to. All you need to do is to open any kind of recording application on a mobile phone and then speak into it so that your precious first-hand account is saved for posterity. Thanking you in anticipation of you doing this. Wishing you all the very best.
My mother was born in 1950, back then West-Germany, now Germany. She told me she was one of the last grades to start school with a slate. She used them in grade 1 and 2, from 3rd grade paper. If I remember correctly, 2 or 3 years after her they were abandoned completely.
My sister was born in 1972 and she was one of the last grades to enter school after Easter, they changed it to summer a couple of years later.
I was born in 1988 by the way :)
When I entered school in 1994, we had to use pencil during the first two grades.
In 3rd grade, class teachers would allow switching to ink depending on how well a student held the pencil and readability of the handwriting. From grade 4, pencil was no longer allowed except for geometry or art class.
so cool! You’ve witnessed so much history
We had exercise books cut in half during the 1980s Canada. Old habits die hard.
This is fascinating. I'd always thought Victorian classrooms sounded like a nightmare. But there was a logistical reason they were like that. What an achievement to go from 50% to 100% literacy in a couple of generations, especially when you consider that a big indicator of your educational achievement these days is how educated your parents were.
I also thought that Victorians were rather rough and tough which of course they were, but how else could you control 400 kids in one room? Bearing in mind, that education had to be affordable, and you only could afford one teacher, so does it any wonder that they used rods?
Nowadays with 30 children in a class everything is unbearable, like, how teachers are even supposed to teach something when they can't have any authority? Things were rough, but it was for a very good reason...
@@aminadoce I agree, but wait for the woke generation's response... lol 😆
@aminadoce nah, I'm glad we don't use corporal punishment in schools anymore.
@@anyaharris5617caning. Also, parents and teachers co-disciplined the children
Ruth Goodman is probably the best social historian there is. Had she been teaching my history class when I was at school I’d have paid far more attention.
I could listen to Ruth Goodman all day!
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Certainly she has the enthusiasm for her subject- not too keen on her continued use of 'kids' for 'children' though! --- put that down to my education both at school and in family life in the 40's and 50's I suppose!!
I was a school monitor in our village school over 50 years ago! In fact our classroom was not unlike the one here.
Wow!
In the Victorian style? You’re talking late 1960s/early 1970s. I was at junior school at that time, children with little jobs in class were called monitors, milk monitor, ink monitor but there was nothing like the Victorian system, we certainly weren’t sitting in a class of 300 😂
I love the “what you see is what you get” with Ruth, she is not the least bit vain not dressing up or putting makeup on
Children in France still use slates today. I had one when I was learning my letters. I still have one now, for sentimental reasons. I have an exercise book belonging to a French child from around 1905 and the calligraphy is absolutely perfect, all done with a dip pen, of course! Elderly people here have told me how their grandparents in this rural area couldn't read or write in the 1800s and if they received a letter or had to fill in official paperwork the postman would take the time out of his rounds to read or write for them.
i went to school in onatrio canada and we were given individual whiteboards & a marker . same concept !!
@@lilyflower50099 Yes, indeed.
Yes, school in France in the 50s and 60s wasn't too different from that, they would also use dipping pens and the inkwells were still the same! in my elementary school in the early 2000s we still had older desks with the inkwell hole and the dent to rest your pen as well.
@sayakota3054 Yes, my schools in the 1970s still had the inkwell hole and dent for the pen.
I just love how Ruth transports me as a viewer.
Anything with Ruth Goodman presenting is guaranteed to be good!
Ah Ruth. Wonderful. No matter what era she presents she somehow looks so at home and brings our past back to life ❤
I love the way Ruth can tell us about history without preachy little lectures about oppressors and oppressed. She definitely needs her own RUclips channel. She might become a star!
5:20 I love how those who were on the very bottom rung of society's ladder had learned the value of education in order to better their circumstances in life, and that is what motivated them to help others who were also on the very bottom rung of society's ladder. That strong impulse to help others came directly from the heart, and I greatly admire them for putting it into motion.
WE NEED MORE RUTH GOODMAN!
More Ruth Goodman you say? We're here to help! You can hear more from Ruth (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
I‘m a teacher myself and I love Ruth Goodman. This is so fascinating! 400 kids in one room, my god.
Ruth Goodman is the absolute queen of unintentional ASMR, and I’m here for it!
I think what is also interesting is the diversity of some families in that period. Some of my family were from the east end of Glasgow, worked in the railways at the turn of the century yet in that same family, a cousin was the first female Dr in Glasgow.
I remember in my old school back in only the 80s we had desks that had ink well holes, obviously the ink long gone but i loved thinking about how old those desks were and who may have used them at one time!
Yes, in the mid-80s, there were 1-2 of those in my school too. I really don't know how they got there because the schools in my town were built in the 1950s. Before that, there had been 8 one-room schoolhouses sprinkled around town from the early 1800s, so it's possible a few desks had survived from one of those.
The Ruth Goodman! Instant klick, always a delight!
Former teacher here. Amazing that in my years I felt hard done by for having classes of 30.
We love you Ruth. The Edwardian Farm is our favorite.
The Victorian farm was great too, not only was Ruth great but Alex and Peter were as well 😊
Ruth Goodman the best historian of our time! 👏👏👏
We love Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
This beautiful spirit is a national treasure. She dances to her own drum, but a smart person would sit down and listen. She is your embassador of history and culture.
Ruth has such a calm voice, I like to watch her before I go to bed to relax.😊
The first Etch-A-Sketch! 😃😄 7:44
Ruth is why I subscribed to this channel.
We're happy to have you here!
I love Ruth Goodman. She really transports to back in time giving you a look at what the time and people were like.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Thank you for the information 😊 Greetings from Ukraine:) My grandmother grew up in the village in soviet union, she was the first one of her family to attend a university. Her uncle helped her move because her dad had to give up his primary school education for the uncle, so her dad remained a peasant while her uncle got a good job in the city. That is a difference education can make.
I love Ruth Goodman's history lessons. So passionate about what she's explaining and engaging... Thank you Ruth!
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
I could listen to that wonderful woman all day, everyday. God, I'm so glad I learned English.
I could listen to her talk all day! She has a way of explaining things that just completely captivates you. I wish my own history teachers had been even half as passionate about the lectures they gave us.
Ruth is by far my favorite Historian . Bar none .. What a treat to have her as a teacher . I love domestic history .
My dad attended a one room school house around the '30s in Northern Maine. But there were not many children to make things crowded. And I'd listen to Ruth any day of the week!
I started school in 1949, being a war baby most of my primary class size was 40+ each year. First year High school my class was taught by Mrs Tungate, and the class of 60 was split into two sections, 1T and 2T, the other 5 classes of first year the same. I cannot imagine 300 children at the same time.
Yeah I want more Ruth Goodman!!!! Bravo! I wish she would start her own channel for new projects and discuss the projects and shows she has done over the last 15-20 years!
More Ruth! Brilliant!
Every time I’m feeling down I watch Ruth. So much positivity. Her energy is top notch
I watch everything Ruth does. I adore her!
We had inkwells (long since unused) in our desks as late as the sixties.
I’m so happy to see more and more of Ruth nowadays! She’s a gem, she has such passion for her historical insight and I love soaking it all up!
My grandfather and his younger siblings went to school in the 1880s, for 1d a week each, but their older siblings never learnt to read and write. 4d or 5d a week was a significant sum, but people were proud to pay it because they could see the benefits.
Ruth Goodman got me listening with my mouth wide open. This is my favourite series ever
Oh Ruth, thank you so much for this! You bring the past alive.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
I could watch Ruth Goodman for hours
We can't get enough of Ruth either! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
11:40 Some people at the top didn't like their staff to be able to read and write. When employing people to work for the aristocracy, they would reject applicants for being literate because they wanted to be sure that no-one could read their correspondence and discover their secrets. They were also worried that literate people would be discontented when doing hard manual labour and so they might rise up and rebel against their masters, as they had done in the French Revolts when so many people of noble birth ended up decapitated.
That depends. As work becomes more "advanced" you NEED your employees to be able to read simple sentences and follow instructions so they don't blow anything up.
They absolutely did not want intelligent employees, but the world after the steam engine needs readers. It needs people capable of sitting in silence for more than eight hours - a skill so kindly taught in schools. It needs people that follow rules.
At the end of the day, reading is just a small part of the skills taught in a school. Nobody walked out of there knowing latin, but they knew how to sign a contract and get to work in time.
As an elective home educator, I can confirm that school is and never was compulsory, in the UK ,it was just education that was. Obviously, most people chose to delegate this responsibility to schools but you could educate "otherwise" which meant as long as a child was receiving an education, they didn't need to attend school.
Some children were unable to receive an education for various reasons including disability and chronic illness and some were considered unable to be educated, often because of intellectual disability but sometimes because they were deaf or blind for example.
Some children stayed at home to look after family members and/or do housework.......others went to work to support the family......some authorities turned a blind eye.
Although the purpose of schools was to educate, it was also to accommodate and get children off the streets when parents were at work. They were often left out in all weathers and many were the victims of crime or criminals themselves.
The industrial revolution was the catalyst for compulsory education.
Crying tears of joy at 4:10 for the poor kids who got to go to school!
That got to me...
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftsbury (1801 - 1885), advocated for animal welfare and was president of the Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection. He was also a vice-president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He argued for total abolition of vivisection, not reform. In 1879, he delivered a speech condemning the practice of vivisection and questioned why vivisectionists were subjecting "God's creatures to such unspeakable sufferings?"
So ahead of his time and even still as this still goes on
Wow! Why would they do vivisections at all? Isn’t dissection enough?
Ruth is a brilliant communicator. I was thrilled to see a new video.
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Ruth…ur knowledge is second to none.Thanku for sharing.👍🏴🌸
This is my second time watching Ruth Goodman discuss Victorian history. I absolutely love how she captivates you with her easy-to-understand and fascinating lectures. Her explanations are on point, and from start to finish, viewers gain a comprehensive understanding of the history lesson. It's clear that she is brilliant and passionate about sharing knowledge. I really enjoyed seeing the period photos interspersed with her commentary-they made the program enjoyable from start to finish.
Love these episodes!!!
I love that the older kids helped teach the younger kids back then, now days in school, you get yelled at for helping your classmate with the in-class work😂🤦♀️
This was a gripping delivery that really brought the system to life in my mind. "The past is a foreign country" and Ms Goodman has been the most excellent tour guide, and given us a chance to put ourselves in the place of the pupils, the teachers, the assistants, the parents, and the philanthropists who were part of this movement that profoundly altered the world. Thank you.
my school in the 1950s and 60s looked just like that. inkwells and dip pens. The cane, ink monitors, coal monitors for the cast iron stoves, milk monitors, bare floor boards and more.
Yes, the village school I attended in Wiltshire in the 60’s was just as you describe. Plus outside bucket toilets and Izal paper. I remember playing at sliding down the coke pile and being severely admonished 😂. We also went for nature walks around the village on nice sunny days.
And they worked. 😉
It's not just the stories I like, but also the presenter. Ruth has an appealing personality.
Ruth is amazing. It would be a real privilege to meet her in real life. Her passion for history and knowledge is inspirational. And she’s clearly flat out good fun. My ideal evening would be her, an old pub, and a couple of ceilidh band reprobates to listen to while you chat over a pint of porter.
You’re brilliant Ruth, never change.
@@TheFleetflyer what a night that would be! Ruth is doing a live Q&A as part of our HistoryExtra Academy, which this video is an extract from 🙂 You can see more at HistoryExtra.com (BYO porter though we’re afraid!)
There was no need for this type of cruelty. A lot of these teachers were sadistic.
Thank you, Ruth, for these videos. They're fantastic.
Cannot believe how much this reminded me of my primary school in 1960s. A CP (Christian Primary) school. Started with slates, had white China inkwells and dip pens before moving to fountain pens. Single stove between two classrooms, only lit from October regardless of weather. Telephone in a wall hung box in the corner , where hand bell was also stored.
I once again see Ruth Goodman, I once again click like.
We once again appreciate it 🤝
I started school in 1955. We had dip-pens and ink to use. I was very proud to be the ink monitor! When I think back to those years, it seems like yesterday!
I am so glad to see that it is not only me who gets fully happiness by listening to Ruth
I would love a collaboration with Ruth Goodman and Nicola Parkman (Hands across the Sea Samplers) about school needlework samplers. 🙏
Captivating and engaging. Go Ruth!
In rural America there were one room school every mile or so. I had an old man tell me years ago, that when he started in a one room school (about 1890-95) that every time he picked up the pen or pencil with his left hand the teacher hit him across the knuckles with a ruler, hard enough to leave a mark at times. He said he finally quit trying to write left handed. A different world.
My mum, born 1933, had her left hand tied behind her back at school. This in Plymouth UK in quite a big primary school, it had a boys entrance and a girls entrance!
Thankfully these things have changed!
@@GS-dc4dt As a mother of a left-handed child, I cringe so deeply at this. Imagine what tying a child’s hand behind their back would have done to their brain, not to mention their emotional state. What I find to be most surprising is the fact that they felt left handedness was a big deal to begin with; lefties form their letters exactly the same as righties. There is literally nothing different you need to do to teach such a child.
Definitely wasn't every mile or so. It wasn't uncommon for children to have to walk several miles to get to school.
You're dead right about them beating lefties though. My grandma was a leftie. Born in 1950. Lived in the city. The nuns beat her senseless for using her left hand. Eventually she was able to train herself to use her right. It's because the church associates left handedness with being evil. Silly superstitious fools. Now two of my sons are lefties and I think about that a lot. People really don't know what they're talking about when they say "the good ole days."
This only needs a better sound recorder on set, and it's perfect! Ruth has such charisma on screen as a storyteller, and her passion for the topic really comes through
I was born in 1975 and started school in 1980. I still remember using a small chalkboard and chalk when I was learning to write. Fascinating stuff .
Ruth, your voice and way of speaking is almost hypnotic. One cant stop to listen to you. Why you do not have your own channel?
you can hear even more from Ruth in the HistoryExtra Academy! This is an extract from the course we're currently running on Victorian Life, led by Ruth: www.historyextra.com/academy/
Ruth we just love watching you present historical topics. My partner is greek and fascinated with English history because of you ❤
This lady is amazing!!
I remember being at school in the 60s and learning writting with slate boards and pen with tips and ink Wells xx
Absolutely love Ruth's storytelling!
i adore this type of information, i wish it was longer. Dr. Goodman is an amazing and articulate educator!
Here I am, on my morning off work, searching for every video I can find featuring Ms. Ruth Goodman! You are an absolute gem! 😊❤
I love everything Ruth Goodman does... I missed her so much... She needs her own channel.
Many years ago, I saw Ruth for the first time, so glad to see her again she is fantastic
Talk about some one who doesn’t need a script….this is ur lady !
‘Imagine being the first in your family to read or write’- I have some insight to this as social worker in a senior secondary school for refugees in an English speaking country (Australia)- many of whom are pre literate. It’s life changing- with English language skills they can assimilate into society better, which is huge, and would take too long to describe here. With English literacy skills, well, they have so many more choices and opportunities. I like how Ruth says that families ‘generally’ were supportive and motivated for their children to have an education- my students families are as well, but for some, they are so vulnerable and their cultural differences too big to overcome- they want their daughters to work and care for family, education is too much for them to think about. I imagine this was the same for British families in Victorian times too.
I love the use of pre-literate instead of "illiterate", which I've never seen before. Completely changes the tone from "can't read or write" to "can't read or write YET" 😊
@ - love you’re comment- yes! I think strengths based language is so so important, especially for vulnerable people. ❤️
More Ruth please! She's amazing! I've been a big fan of hers for a decade at least. Give the wonan her own RUclips channel!
Church of England school we used a slate at first then pencil but no ink until you were 10 years old if you made a mistake you crossed through and rewrote next to it, this was 1967 you did not talk until the Teacher asked . One just waited with hand up until she saw you . and no clicking of fingers . The head mitsress retired and the school changed over night .
She’s a phenomenal communicator. She made this way more interesting than it really is!
i enjoy the way ruth presents info and the way she treats the past with respect
I could listen to this delightful woman teach all day! ❤
Oh how I do love these segments, and how much joy they bring to my life. Thank You 😊 💚 😸
We're really glad to hear it! You can hear more from Ruth (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Someone give Ruth her own show!! Please!!!
She had plenty already and I'm sure there's a valid reason why she's not on tv anymore.
Indeed she has featured in many tv series and programmes however, unless it is by her own choice, I doubt, sadly, that there is any valid reason for her not to be any longer.
She is clearly very good, very passionate, well informed and articulate about her subject and appears to remain very popular. Therefore and without wishing to get political, one would have to assume she is considered too old (as many middle aged and older women are - ref Sue Barker) or she doesn’t tick enough/any of the right boxes (and I don’t just mean the BBC).
It’s a great shame and hopefully it will change and she will again appear back on our screens where she belongs and clearly where many of us would like her to be
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Filmed at the Black Country Museum, could tell right from the start! Such a fantastic museum! This was brilliant! (Plus Ruth Goodman has such a soothing voice) I highly recommend her book, How To Be A Victorian too 😀
We love the Black Country Museum - fantastic hosts for our Victorian Academy filming!
Ruth is fantastic, I watched her program Victorian farm years ago and loved it. This is a great series, I hope they have many more videos planned.
She is amazing! Look forward to lots of lectures from her. Fascinating stuff.
Make sure you don't miss any Ruth by signing up for the Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Ruth Goodman is so great at this!
We can't get enough of Ruth! You can hear more from her (and put your questions to her in a live Q&A!) by joining up for our Victorian Academy course, which she's leading: www.historyextra.com/academy/victorian-life/
Ruth is the best teacher and host ever! I really enjoy watching everything she's in!
Absolutely LOVE this little series with ruth. She is such a fantastic historical communicator, she has an ability to make her enthusiasm for history infectious. I love it. Will defimately be hanging out to see the next episodes!
Brilliant video, thank you. The village junior school (built 1874) which I went to in the late 50's/early 60's looked much like this. We had the ink wells, ink monitors and the same furniture. You had to be careful with the seats. 2 kids to a bench, if you both stood up, the bench would flip up. If you weren't thinking and sat down, you'd crash to the floor (via whatever chunks of iron/wood got in the way). I remember the windows being quite high (but I was small). The most exciting lesson was the one where we put chairs on the desks to stand on and look out of the windows. This was an art lesson about how the sky and the ground meet on the horizon, so we shouldn't make every picture with a blue strip at the top and a green strip at the bottom.
I wish Ruth had been my history teacher at school…she makes it so interesting!
History is wonderful when told by the right people
Right Ruth is my FAVE please feature her more!
Woho! Lovely seeing Ruth back!