Lewis Carroll, author of “Alice in Wonderland” was highly intelligent. As well as writing a world famous children's book, he became a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford. So what sort of education fitted him for this?
Home Schooled
Lewis Carroll (real name C.L. Dodgson) was home schooled until he was twelve years old. Both his parents were involved in teaching their eleven children.
Religious Education with Mama
His mother concentrated particularly on his religious education. Some little books survive in which she notes down Carroll’s record of religious reading, both by himself and with her.
Interested in His Sums
His father, a clergyman who was a brilliant mathematician and classical scholar, taught him other subjects. Carroll was particularly keen on his sums. His family recalled that when Carroll was tiny, he found a book of logarithmic tables, and asked what they were. His father told him that they were too hard for him to understand. The little boy persisted, and begged for them to be explained nonetheless.
The main reason for his home schooling was probably that his father did not earn much money and could not afford to pay for him to go away to a good school. There was no universal free education in those days, and although there were many cheap schools, they were of poor quality.
Off to Richmond School
Eventually his father had a promotion and his income went up considerably. So, on 1st August 1844, when Carroll was twelve, he was sent off as a boarder at Richmond School, Yorkshire, ten miles from his home.
A Kindly School in Yorkshire
The school was expensive but it had a good reputation, particularly for its religious teaching. Luckily, the headmaster, James Tate II, was a good and sensitive man. He allowed the children freedom to roam and play, and ruled with a gentle hand.
Carroll boarded in Tate’s enormous house, and he mixed and ate with Tate’s sons and daughters as well as the other boarders. He liked the Tate family so much that he kept in touch with them for many years afterwards, and remembered Tate with affection as “my kindly old headmaster.”
Success
Carroll coped well with school life and made friends, and he enjoyed his studies. Mr. Tate told his parents that he thought the boy possessed “a very uncommon share of genius.”
Tough Times at Rugby School
It was a different story when Carroll turned fourteen and moved on to the big public school of Rugby. Rugby is still one of the country's top public schools. It was one of the best schools in the country in Carroll's day, too. But although it had recently been reformed by the great Dr. Arnold, Rugby was very rough compared both with Richmond and what we would expect from a school today.
Open Fires
The boys worked from 7 am to 10 pm six days a week, and studied the Bible equally hard on Sundays. They also cooked their own food over individual open fires in their studies – it seems like a miracle that the school did not have a major fire!
Relieved to Leave
In both his schools, Carroll did outstandingly well, particularly in mathematics, and he won many prizes. But he did not like the rough, bullying atmosphere which then prevailed at Rugby and must have been relieved to return home after three years, on the completion of his short formal education.
Jennifer Woolf - Jennifer Woolf
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