Education in Medieval Scotland includes all forms of education within the modern borders of Scotland, between the departure of the Romans from Britain in the fifth century, until the establishment of the Renaissance late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century. Few sources on Scottish education survived the Medieval era. In the early Middle Ages, Scotland was an oral society, with verbal rather than literary education. Though there are indications of a Gaelic education system similar to that of Ireland, few details are known. The establishment of Christianity from the sixth century brought Latin to Scotland as a scholarly and written language. Monasteries served as major repositories of knowledge and education, often running schools.

In the High Middle Ages, new sources of education arose, such as song and grammar schools designed to train priests with emphases on music and Latin grammar, respectively. The number and size of these schools expanded rapidly after the 1380s. By the end of the Middle Ages, all the main burghs and some small towns had grammar schools. Educational provision was probably much weaker in rural areas, but there were petty or reading schools in rural areas, providing an elementary education. There was also the development of private tuition in the families of lords and wealthy burghers that sometimes developed into "household schools". Girls of noble families were taught in nunneries and by the end of the fifteenth century Edinburgh also had schools for girls. There is documentary evidence for about 100 schools of these different kinds before the Reformation. The Education Act 1496 decreed that all sons of barons and freeholders of substance should attend grammar schools to learn "perfyct Latyne". All this resulted in an increase in literacy, with perhaps 60 per cent of the nobility being literate by the end of the period. (Full article...)

Shenandoah Valley Academy is a Seventh-day Adventist co-educational parochial boarding school located in New Market, Virginia. It is ranked as one of the best private schools in Virginia for getting into top ivy, little ivy, and public ivy universities. Pictured is the original building at Shenandoah Valley Academy pictured in 1924.

January

• Catholic Schools Week starts on the last Sunday of January.

6th

• 1907 – Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome.

12th

• 1888 – In Nebraska, teacher Minnie Freeman leads thirteen children from her schoolhouse to safety during the Schoolhouse Blizzard.

17th

• 1989 – Stockton massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground in California, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.

28th

• 1986 – Christa McAuliffe, a teacher at Concord High School (New Hampshire), dies in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

• ...that Roseland Christian School (pictured) changed from a completely Dutch-American student body in 1884 to a completely African American one by the mid 1980s?

• ... that E.S. Richardson Elementary School is named after a Louisiana educator, who ended his career as an administrator of the wartime Office of Price Administration?

• ... that Evergreen Lutheran High School lost its lease in DuPont, Washington in 1988 and has been looking for another site while sharing land at a local church?

Zdeňka Wiedermannová-Motyčková (17 April 1868 – 16 October 1915) was a Moravian teacher, journal editor, and women's rights activist. Born into a family of progressive educators, she studied to become a teacher, graduating in 1886. Her Catholic education led her to more conservative values than her family's, but after teaching for several years, she began to recognize the disparities between women and men teachers, as well as those of their students. By 1898, she was publicly calling for equal pay for equal work and campaigning for equal education for boys and girls. In 1902, Wiedermannová founded and became chair of the Moravian Teachers Union, whose focus was to professionalize teaching standards. The following year, she opened a Girls' Academy in Brno, hoping later to include secondary education there. As the Austro-Hungarian Empire provided little funding for girls' education, she held lectures to provide for the operating costs of the academy. Finally in 1908, she successfully established the first girls' secondary school in Moravia.

That year, Wiedermannová founded and became the editor for Ženská revue (Women's Review), a magazine publishing articles on developments in the international women's movement. Also in 1908, she began an informal marriage with fellow teacher Vincenc Motyčka. As he was Catholic and unable to divorce his first wife, the two were not able to formalize their union, but she added his surname to her own. In 1909, she retired as a teacher to focus on activism. She became one of the most visible Czech feminists, presenting over a hundred lectures during her career. She founded numerous women's associations and in 1910 was instrumental in the creation of a regional umbrella organization, the Progressive Organization of Women in Moravia, actively committed to women's suffrage and the integration of women into all segments of public life. (Full article...)

• ... that the Leonia Alternative High School's employment of volunteer instructors led to opposition from the local teachers' union?
• ... that although he only had ten minutes to learn to play offensive lineman, college football player Jake Witt was able to successfully block against "the best defensive line" in the U.S.?
• ... that Lothar von Falkenhausen was appointed an honorary professor of Zhejiang University, an honor usually reserved for Nobel Prize winners?
• ... that college basketball player Jett Howard almost signed at Tennessee, but instead chose the Michigan team of his father Juwan Howard?
• ... that a retired high school teacher coached the United States men's national ice hockey team at the Winter Olympics?
• ... that Hikari Kodama disguised herself with wigs during public performances because she went to a high school with strict rules?
• ... that Home Depot CEO Ted Decker ran his own landscaping business in high school?
• ... that Japanese singer Noa became interested in music after watching the 2006 film High School Musical?