Was western education superior in the past

>>1804495
Oh yeah. In the 1850s if you applied for studying law at Harvard, knowing Latin and Greek were the REQUIREMENTS for admission. Now it feels like they let in any fucking retard as long as he pays.

http://www.bullittcountyhistory.com/bchistory/schoolexam1912.html

Most modern university students would be unable to graduate highschool back then

>>1804586
Holy Shit...

why do you think education got easier though throughout the centuries?

>>1804955
Capitalism

An account of Percy Bysshe Shelley's time at Oxford in 1810:

>The Master and Fellows of his college were, of course, all clergymen, and the only intellectual distinction it could claim from past history was that Dr Johnson regularly used to spend the evening there with Sir Robert Chambers, Vinerian Professor of English Law, and Sir William Jones the orientalist, on which occasions he would personally consume three bottles of port. The undergraduates at University College still only numbered some 200 in Shelley’s time, and the total number in all three years at Oxford was well under 5,000, so it was a close-knit and somewhat claustrophobic society. Oxford had no Faculties of Science, and Shelley’s main requirements seem to have been to attend Chapel daily each morning, deliver a translation into Latin of an article from the Spectator once a week, and visit his tutor once a term. Personal academic supervision was minimal, and undergraduates, especially those from county backgrounds, were expected to do a good deal of private entertaining, take an active part in the drinking, sporting and whoring life of the city, and to do a little light general reading among the Greek and Latin classics. Particularly during the years of the Napoleonic Wars, and more than a decade before the growth of such remarkable institutions as ‘The Apostles’ at Cambridge, where young writers such as Tennyson and Richard Monckton Milnes could gather, the intellectual life of the universities was virtually dormant.

>>1805027
>Hogg remembered Shelley returning mournfully from one of his early tutorials:
>They are very dull people here.... A little man sent for me this morning, and told me in an almost inaudible whisper that I must read; ‘you must read’ he said many times in his small voice. I answered that I had no objection. He persisted.... ‘Must I read Euclid?’ I asked sorrowfully. ‘Yes, certainly; and when you have read the Greek works I have mentioned, you must begin Aristotle’s Ethics; and then you may go on to his other treatises. It is of the utmost importance to be well acquainted with Aristotle.’ This he repeated so often that I was quite tired, and at last I said ‘Must I care about Aristotle? What if I do not mind Aristotle?’ I then left him, for he seemed to be in great perplexity.

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yes

>>1804955
Universal Literacy

In most western nations IQ scores of students had been on a rise since education became mandatory. But this reached a peak in 80s-90s. After this average intelligence dropped. This could be a sign education during 70s-80s of 20th century was best.

Yes, but only because universities today spend more time indoctrinating students into a specific political camp, than simply teaching students knowledge and critical thinking skills.

>>1804495
People used to be beaten into learning often inaccurate information. Our system is better, not perfect but much better.

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>>1805400
>People used to be beaten into learning often inaccurate information.

Used to be?

>>1805423
A teacher can't legally beat you. I don't know what hellhole you live in if your teacher can still use physical punishment.

>>1804586
I'd pass it OK (on all subjects, math probably the weakest), but a lot of that shit is quite proscriptive. Literally 'so what'. It's less about contextualizing knowledge, and more about weeding out those too lazy or dumb to read and remember shit. Not a bad thing per se, but if that's all it takes...

>>1804955
When universities stopped becoming establishments exclusively for the elite.