Some key ideas in Renaissance educational
Renaissance educational theory of the 15th and 16th centuries weighs in on the side of aristocracy, i.e., leadership roles should be in the hands of the best and brightest. Educa-tion for leadership is crucial for the sons of aristocrats. Being born into the aristocracy is not in itself a guarantee that leader-ship capabilities will emerge. "Blood tells," theorists agree, but it does not tell everything, and it does not tell enough about what is most important. "Philip fathered Alexander's body, but Aristotle was father to his mind." The theme echoes through the renaissance and into the seventeenth century (e.g., John Clark, Declamations, 1625).Renaissance educational theorists assume that leader-ship education is necessary for the sons of the aristocracy. A few allow that gifted children are sometimes born into lower class families, and that such children may appropri-ately become proteges of benefactors. Very few renaissance educa-tional theorists speak to the subject of leadership education for girls, although a fair number do recommend variant forms of liberal education for upper class girls. It was a late medieval writer, Christine de Pisan, who wrote most notably on the education of women for leadership within courtly
North Italian aristocrats, followed by their transalpine counterparts, understood the need for tutors or palace school-masters. Although the proposed curricula varied, the theme of moral choice remained a constant in discussions of the essen-tials comprising education for leadership. The Renaissance inherited palace schools from the Middle Ages. Just as late medieval princes were tutored at court, so the emperor Maximilian was tutored as a boy when the renaissance was well advanced. The imperial court could call upon the finest scholars and teachers of the realm. Aristo-cratic fathers might contribute substantially to educating their sons for leadership. Yet, few if any fathers would know as much as would be needed to provide their sons with an edu-cation sufficient to the demands of sig-nificant leadership roles. Guidobaldo might learn valuable les-sons at his father's knee, but his father, the Duke of Montefeltro, employed Vittorino da Feltre, one of foremost educators of his genera-tion, to conduct a palace school. The highest conception of the renaissance leader sup-posed study as a life-long occupation. Study space, a kind of space associated almost exclusively with ecclesiastics during the Middle Ages became a familiar feature of secula
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