Education has always been perceived as a means of achieving wisdom even in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is believed that the embryos of the European educational systems were developed from the medieval monasteries (Plitz, 1981: 14). However, the cathedral schools soon outstripped the monasteries as a centre of learning (Piltz, 1981: 49). This progressive transfer of culture from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance marked the beginning of secularization. This essay will discuss the differences in practice and principles of the medieval and Renaissance education in terms of its educational approach, curriculum, foundation purposes and its conduct. It will also distinguish the different world-views of the two forms of education and conclude by asserting the inevitable differences of their distinctive ideas.
             In the Middle Ages, the Church had always taken a lead in the foundation of schools. They had charged of all the systemic education, which existed insofar (Powicke, 1935: 86). They were also responsible and clear about the kind of guidance in which peasantry should receive (Powicke, 1935: 82). The churches also "had a special focus on preaching"(Raymond of Penafort Extracts), which emphasized on the value of missions as a means of converting people to Christians (Powicke 1935: 84). Due to the divine importance of such missions, the appointments of teachers were thus enjoined with meticulousness (Powicke, 1935: 75).
             In agreement with the focus on preaching, it was believed that "by copying the precepts of the Lord", the Gospel could be spread "far and wide"(Cassiodorus Extracts: 1). As printing was invented only in the middle of fifteenth century (Perry et al, 2000: 316), the "copying of Christian and pagan manuscripts"(Perry et al. Extracts) was vital in the transferring of texts before this period. This shows the different form of texts used between the medieval and Renaissance e...