Yeah, but you’re missing the point. He got an education in Ipswich before going to one of the colleges of Oxford, one of the two major universities of England, with there being dozens of such institutions and thousands of schools to supply them across Europe, Meanwhile Westeros is the size of South America and it has one university who’s graduates are stuck in servitude to the nobility
These schools were established to train clergy: there’s at least strongly implied to be a similar apparatus for the Faith of the Seven. Secular educational institutions don’t really appear (in the west) until the very late Middle Ages and the early modern period, when there was a sufficiently prosperous middle class to support them. Westeros doesn’t seem to be there yet. And as noted, they don’t become common until much later.
Most economic activity in Westeros and the rest of the world didn't require an education. Most people have to be farmers just to have enough food to feed everyone, and a large number of the non-farmers have to learn trades. Thesel require specific training but no generalized education. Plus on the farms children can do work while learning, sticking them in school would hurt food production.
On Earth it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that educating the masses became a viable thing. Most people didn't need any general education and it wasn't worth the quite significant investment when they were needed elsewhere.
In the premodern times 80+ percent of the people were peasants who just did not need to be able to read or write, while their peasant-work was needed to feed the society.
So no lord or king or whoever saw an opportunity to found schools for them. (And even noble people often could only read, but not write, which was a special skill.)
But there must have been exceptions; some time ago I read that in medieval Novgorod, probably most of the people were literate, because one great lord / prince(?) had founded schools. In cities probably literate people were needed, but not in the countryside.
But even in Kings L and real-life cities weren't only merchants etc but a lot of unskilled but needed people, so maybe its authentic that there are no schools
I would image commoners could give their sons and daughters to Septries and motherhouses. Where at the least, they would learn how to read the Seven Pointed Star, hymns, and other religious texts.
Any who would pay for it? You have to remember, that in Westeros, while the king levies monetary tribute, his lords main responsibility is military service.
Additionally, there was few jobs that required literacy in the Middle Ages. Also, there already exists an education system for those who could afford it. Those being the master-apprentice guilds. Gendry was a student learning to become a blacksmith.
Feudalism runs on a caste system (read: strict social and economical hierarchy). The more educated someone is, the easier it is for them to move up a rung. That’s antithetical to the whole system.
You don't have literate preachers who recruit smarter smallfolk to join the Church and get educated
In real life, the church combined both an educational and spiritual mission; in Westeros those functions are split between the Maesters and the Septons, with people interested more interested in learning presumably joining the former. We do certainly see commoners becoming priests, and the Faith seems to have some form of training, however.
You have literally one university on the whole bloody continent and the doctors produced from there are constantly mistrusted.
True, but it’s also a university far more sophisticated than anything that existed in medieval Europe.
The nobility reviles the concept of learning and service.
Some of them do, as is always going to be the case. But there seems to be a pretty universal understanding that a basic education is necessary, they pretty much all seem to know how to read, speaking multiple languages is common, and even a backwater like Winterfell hosts a library with unusual books. Intellectual and academic discussions are popular with both nerds like Tyrion and Rodrik Harlaw and jocks like Garlan Tyrell and the Red Viper.
For the same reason this wasn't common practice until the 1800s (at the earliest) on Earth
I mean there were schools and universities for the children of well to do commoners, just look at Cardinal Wolsey
Wealth is the key factor as to why he received an education. Most commoners don't even have a fraction of that money
Yeah, but you’re missing the point. He got an education in Ipswich before going to one of the colleges of Oxford, one of the two major universities of England, with there being dozens of such institutions and thousands of schools to supply them across Europe, Meanwhile Westeros is the size of South America and it has one university who’s graduates are stuck in servitude to the nobility
“Well to do” exactly
These schools were established to train clergy: there’s at least strongly implied to be a similar apparatus for the Faith of the Seven. Secular educational institutions don’t really appear (in the west) until the very late Middle Ages and the early modern period, when there was a sufficiently prosperous middle class to support them. Westeros doesn’t seem to be there yet. And as noted, they don’t become common until much later.
It's a lot easier to control your populace if they're less educated. It also makes upward social mobility much more difficult.
Most economic activity in Westeros and the rest of the world didn't require an education. Most people have to be farmers just to have enough food to feed everyone, and a large number of the non-farmers have to learn trades. Thesel require specific training but no generalized education. Plus on the farms children can do work while learning, sticking them in school would hurt food production.
On Earth it wasn't until the Industrial Revolution that educating the masses became a viable thing. Most people didn't need any general education and it wasn't worth the quite significant investment when they were needed elsewhere.
And yet there were still schools and universities, a lot of them compared to Westeros
Depends where and when you're comparing it to reallyy
I mean Westeros is the equivalent of the late medieval period, like, you know, when Wolsey was kicking
In the premodern times 80+ percent of the people were peasants who just did not need to be able to read or write, while their peasant-work was needed to feed the society.
So no lord or king or whoever saw an opportunity to found schools for them. (And even noble people often could only read, but not write, which was a special skill.)
But there must have been exceptions; some time ago I read that in medieval Novgorod, probably most of the people were literate, because one great lord / prince(?) had founded schools. In cities probably literate people were needed, but not in the countryside.
But even in Kings L and real-life cities weren't only merchants etc but a lot of unskilled but needed people, so maybe its authentic that there are no schools
I would image commoners could give their sons and daughters to Septries and motherhouses. Where at the least, they would learn how to read the Seven Pointed Star, hymns, and other religious texts.
Any who would pay for it? You have to remember, that in Westeros, while the king levies monetary tribute, his lords main responsibility is military service.
Additionally, there was few jobs that required literacy in the Middle Ages. Also, there already exists an education system for those who could afford it. Those being the master-apprentice guilds. Gendry was a student learning to become a blacksmith.
Feudalism runs on a caste system (read: strict social and economical hierarchy). The more educated someone is, the easier it is for them to move up a rung. That’s antithetical to the whole system.
Money and indifference
Why would the people in charge want it to be?
Westeros is insanely backwards compared to real-life feudalism.
You don't have literate preachers who recruit smarter smallfolk to join the Church and get educated
You have literally one university on the whole bloody continent and the doctors produced from there are constantly mistrusted.
The nobility reviles the concept of learning and service. The Hightowers who set up the Citadel were basically regarded as joke even within the family
It's lucky the high Lords can even read in a culture like this
In real life, the church combined both an educational and spiritual mission; in Westeros those functions are split between the Maesters and the Septons, with people interested more interested in learning presumably joining the former. We do certainly see commoners becoming priests, and the Faith seems to have some form of training, however.
True, but it’s also a university far more sophisticated than anything that existed in medieval Europe.
Some of them do, as is always going to be the case. But there seems to be a pretty universal understanding that a basic education is necessary, they pretty much all seem to know how to read, speaking multiple languages is common, and even a backwater like Winterfell hosts a library with unusual books. Intellectual and academic discussions are popular with both nerds like Tyrion and Rodrik Harlaw and jocks like Garlan Tyrell and the Red Viper.