The Renaissance, cont'd

I find it interesting that the Renaissance educational model had so much in common with the ancient Greeks and Romans. It's somewhat ironic that Humanism, the first great intellectual movement of the Renaissance, is credited with opening new fields of study in literature, history and science, yet the movement itself is so deeply rooted in the classical Greek and Roman learning.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that an educational structure so deeply rooted in the study and use of language produced Shakespeare.

I think it's also important to recognize who was excluded from Renaissance education - namely, everyone other than upper-class boys. Without schools of instruction that were accessible to the public, most people were unable to afford to hire private tutors for their children - especially following the ravaging, war-torn circumstances of the Middle Ages. Many others were offered only a very basic, elementary level of education. Thus, although the Renaissance is generally thought of as a time of learning and newfound discovery, it seems to have remained a limiting, stultifying period for a significant number of people.

For me, one of the most interesting sections of the text relating to Renaissance rhetoric is the discussion of Ramus and his rejection of Scholasticism. According to Bizzell, "he was one of the first academics to publish his works in the vernacular - French, in his case." It seems that this recognition of the vernacular as a medium for learning must have played an important role in making education more accessible to the masses, for one would no longer need to learn Latin or Greek to engage in the educational process.