EDUCATION 49 
VIII. 
EDUCATION 
BY 
JAMES DAWSON, D.S.O., M.A., 
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, ABERDEEN. 
Tue first reference to schools in Aberdeen was made in the Statutes of 
the Church of date 1256. A school in Inverness was referred to in a 
Deed of 1316, and schools in connection with Elgin Cathedral and 
St. Magnus Cathedral, Lerwick, were mentioned early in history. The 
Town Councils of these and other burghs seem to have given early 
support to church schools established for the purpose of giving instruction 
in Latin and music, and gradually to have assumed their control. The 
Aberdeen Grammar School is, for instance, a direct successor of the 
early church school, and we find that the ‘ Sang’ School of the city, 
known to exist prior to 1370, was for centuries carried on by the Town 
Council. The burghs in the course of time provided schools for the 
teaching of subjects other than Latin and music, and they also sanctioned 
the opening of private schools, but only if the subjects of instruction 
proposed were not those for the teaching of which they themselves had 
already made provision. The establishment of schools for elementary 
education in the larger centres of population grew with the extension of 
the church or through the benevolence of private citizens and trusts. 
In John Knox’s First Book of Discipline (1560-61) there was outlined 
a scheme of education which aimed at establishing all grades of seminaries 
from parish schools to universities, and at making education compulsory 
for all and free to the poor. For various reasons the plan was only 
very imperfectly realised. An Order in Council of 1616 ordained the 
erection of a school in every parish, and the movement was supported 
by Acts of Parliament passed in 1633, 1646, 1669 and 1803. The 
development of parish schools in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and 
Moray was greatly assisted by the operation of the Dick Bequest, which 
since 1833 has ensured the settlement of a man of sound education— 
practically always a university graduate—in every parish school. The 
Trust still continues its grants. Some very good work was done in the 
parish schools, and many ‘a lad o’ pairts’ went straight from his parish 
school to the university, where, supported by a bursary gained in com- 
petition, he found himself on the way to a useful career. 
The object of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, was to ensure 
that the means of procuring efficient education for their children might 
be furnished and made available for the whole people of Scotland. This 
Act and the Act of 1918 are really only the modern expression of the 
ideals contained in the First Book of Discipline. 
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