Renaissance: A period of enormous creativity and productivity in the arts and sciences in Europe from approximately the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Included the "rebirth" of classical culture.
Major Effects of the Renaissance on Education
1. Established a tradition that no one could be considered educated who was not trained in the classics.
2. Established classical secondary schools all across Europe.
3. Reaffirmed ancient tradition which gave secondary teachers higher status than elementary teachers.
4. Produced a shift in the curriculum away from the religious and toward the secular.
Reformation: An attempt to reform the church in the sixteenth century that ultimately resulted in the fracturing of the church into the Roman Catholic Church and numerous Protestant denominations.
Major Effects of the Reformation on Education
1. Promoted the ideal of universal education, without regard for gender, race, or social class.
2. Inspired first major campaigns for women's literacy.
3. Established tax supported schools.
4. Established compulsory education laws.
5. Placed religion back at the center of the curriculum, but did not remove the classics.