Hard Times

Charles Dickens
 Pre-20 Century Novel essay
th

How does Dickens present the

education system in Hard
Times?
 What makes….?
A Good Teacher A Bad Teacher

A Good School A Bad School

 Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870)
• Charles Dickens is one of the most
famous Victorian authors.
• His own story is one of rags to riches.
• Sent to school at the age of nine BUT
short-lived because his father was
imprisoned for bad debt.
• Charles was sent to work to earn money
for the family in Warren's blacking
factory.
• Appalling conditions and Dickens felt
loneliness and despair.
 Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870)
• Father was released, BUT the twelve year
old Dickens, was made to continue to
work at the factory.
• His father, however, rescued him from that
fate, and
Dickens became a day pupil at a school in
London.
• His brief stint at the Blacking factory
haunted him all of his life -- he spoke of it
only to his wife and to his closest friend-
but the dark secret became a source for his
writing.
• MassiveIndustry andandEducation
industrial progress advances in
technology.
• Education was needed so industry and commerce
could keep up with other countries in Europe,
particularly Germany, where national schools had
already been set up.
• The Education Act of 1870 stated that education
should be available for all children between the ages
of 5 and 13.
• Big buildings were required to educate many children.
• School Boards were set up to organise education in
areas where new schools were needed When we talk
about ‘Victorian schools’ in this unit we mean these
‘Board Schools’ as they came to be called.
 School for all?
• Free education was available for the children of the poor,
such as in the ‘Ragged’ Schools or Workhouse Schools,
but they were usually sent out to work as soon as they
were old enough.
• Families were large, wages poor, and children worked
alongside adults in agriculture and industry, including
factories and mines.
• This mixture of education systems meant that learning
took place in many different buildings, from public
schools, groups in church halls or small village schools,
to rooms in the teacher’s or parents’ own house.
 BOOK THE FIRST - SOWING:
CHAPTER I The One Thing Needful

NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these

boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts
alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing
else, and root out everything else. You can
only form the minds of reasoning animals
upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of
any service to them. This is the principle
on which I bring up my own children, and
this is the principle on which I bring up
these children. Stick to Facts, sir!'
 How would you cope?
• What is a horse?
– If a teacher were to ask you this question in the
present day write down what you would answer.
– Now imagine Mr Gradgrind in ‘Hard Times’ were
to ask you this. What kind of answer might he
expect? Write down what you would answer to
him.
 Chapter
'Bitzer,' said 2: Murdering
Thomas the innocents
Gradgrind. 'Your
definition of a horse.'
'Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty
teeth, namely twenty-four grinders,
four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive.
Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy
countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs
hard, but requiring to be shod with
iron. Age known by marks in
mouth.’
 Comprehension questions
• 1. Where did Charles Dickens have to work?
• 2. What were his feelings about his work?
• 3. What ages did the 1870 Education Act state
schooling should be made available for? What were
these schools known as?
• 4. In ‘Hard Times’ the school is shown to be like a
factory. What does Mr Gradgrind want to produce
from his school?
• 5. How is school different now? What other skills are
encouraged in pupils?