School in the WoT world?

Juliya Karisu

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I've just been wondering this lately ... how did all of the characters learn to read? Do math? Etc.? I don't recall anything about school being mentioned in the Two Rivers, yet all of them can read. Rand, Perrin, Egwene at some point are reading The Travels of Jain Farstrider. Mat says he doesn't like to read, but he can read a note put into his pocket. Do you think they were all taught at home by their parents?

I assumed Faile and Elayne and other nobility are taught by tutors. When Egwene becomes a Novice she takes classes, so there's a kind of school in the White Tower. Rand sets up schools, more like universities, for learning. But I'm wondering about basic education. What do you think?
 

Ephrem Elpidius

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I think you are correct really, it seems more like it is left to the parents and individual families to teach their own, unless wealthy then tutors.
 

Aduiavas Ida

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Yeah, it seems that literacy is fairly normal. Even the poor seems to be able to read at the least. But we also see that gleemen are the ones that keep the histories, and they learn them by heart...

I think Jordan just didn't want to make it a problem :cheeseeni:
 

Jahily al'Karee

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Great question!
I would think home schooled or maybe a one-room school if the village was big enough? And tutors for the well to do.
 

Atarah al'Norahn

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Moiraine mentions in New Spring, Chapter 6, that novices who don't know how to write are taught a "decent hand." However, some of those who already know how to write do so "badly" and improve slowly. Thus, there are some Aes Sedai who prefer to use clerks when they want their writing to be legible.

Melare, a Red Aes Sedai, is mentioned to have grandnephews at school, which she pays for.
 
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One of my very favorite things about the Wheel of Time is how different all the cultures are. Based on that and my memory of what was said on the subject in the books, the answer is, as always, "It varies." :laugh:

Moiraine mentions in New Spring, Chapter 6, that novices who don't know how to write are taught a "decent hand." However, some of those who already know how to write do so "badly" and improve slowly. Thus, there are some Aes Sedai who prefer to use clerks when they want their writing to be legible.

Melare, a Red Aes Sedai, is mentioned to have grandnephews at school, which she pays for.

I remember reading that, Atarah Sedai -- and being slightly surprised that I had never noticed the subject not really having been treated before. :laugh:
 

Aduiavas Ida

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I just reread New Spring. There it is mentioned that not everyone knows how to write. Moiraine had naturally learned this, but Siuan came to the Tower not knowing how to write. And so did many others. It is mentioned when M and S are set the task of copying the lists that are illegible..
 

Jocasta Braithe

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I could imagine Emond's Field having a village school but that the main characters were all past that age before we met them so it just goes unmentioned. Yikes, can you imagine being taught to read by Nynaeve?
 
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