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The Politicization of Education Movements in 19th Century

We are happy to share the abstracts for the conference What citizenship education for what democracy? Transnational Perspectives from the 19th to the 21st Century.

Under the Cover of Education? The Politicization of Education Movements in Nineteenth-century Germany, Britain and the Netherlands

Anne Heyer

In April 1872 the Dutch Protestant minister Abraham Kuyper demanded that the municipality of Amsterdam established a new school. As Kuyper wrote in his newspaper De Standaard, the religious authorities of the Dutch Reformed Church had given their approval, and the municipality had to take the next steps: ‘[w]e have good courage, that the municipality will not stay behind, but will haste to bring together the funds necessary for the construction of the schools.’1 Despite the politeness in the quote, Kuyper informed his readers, in an alarming tone, that only one tenth of the children of the city was attending schools. This concern for education was typical for nineteenth-century Europe.

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  1. “Binnenland,” De Standaard, April 22, 1872, 2, Delpher. []