The Bronts and Education [Paperback]

A 2007 exploration of how the Bront?s' fiction engages with the intense debates on education in the nineteenth century.In spite of the prevalence of education in the Bront?s' lives and fiction, this is the first full-length book on the subject. Marianne Thorm?hlen offers much new information both about the Bront?s and their books and about the controversies about education in early nineteenth-century British social politics.In spite of the prevalence of education in the Bront?s' lives and fiction, this is the first full-length book on the subject. Marianne Thorm?hlen offers much new information both about the Bront?s and their books and about the controversies about education in early nineteenth-century British social politics.All the seven Bront? novels are concerned with education in both senses, that of upbringing as well as that of learning. The Bront? sisters all worked as teachers before they became published novelists. In spite of the prevalence of education in the sisters' lives and fiction, however, this was the first full-length book on the subject when it was published in 2007. Marianne Thorm?hlen explores how their representations of fictional teachers and schools engage with the intense debates on education in the nineteenth century, drawing on a wealth of documentary evidence about educational theory and practice in the lifetime of the Bront?s. This study offers much information both about the Bront?s and their books and about the most urgent issue in early nineteenth-century British social politics: the education of the people, of all classes and both sexes.Introduction; Part I. Education and Society: 1. The education of the people; 2. The improvement of the mind; Part II. Home and School: 3. Household education versus school training; 4. Parents and children; 5. Professional educators in the home; 6. Schools and schooling; Part III. Subjects and Skills: 7. A sound English education; 8. Religion and education; 9. The accomplishments; 10. Male and femalt