Good and Righteous People and Useful Citizens of the State: The Danish 1814 School Acts and the Rise of Mass Schooling in Denmark

Abstract

In 1814, the Danish King Frederik VI enacted a set of schools laws, each specifically pertaining to the countryside schools, the market town schools, Copenhagen, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and Jews. The legislation was a response to the agrarian reforms aimed at creating more enlightened and more independent peasants, while also being motivated by the need to provide support to the poor and uneducated children in urban areas. Given the unique needs of various parts of the Danish king’s realm, with their varied populations, administrative structure, and local conditions, this resulted in five distinct acts. In sum, in an attempt to provide schooling for the vast majority of children and create some kind of uniformity in educational outcomes, the government chose a set of acts adjusted to the local context.