De waarde van kennis bij arbeiders en de kleine burgerij in de tweede helft van de negentiende eeuw

In the wake of economic growth and technical developments, technical education became more important in the second half of the nineteenth century. The liberal government left it mainly to private initiative to finance this education. Only better well-off working classes and lower middle classes could afford the technical school for their children. Other knowledge which was considered important was the ‘civilizing knowledge’ the philantropic institutions offered. Useful knowledge would make and end to social distress. The efforts the upper middle class put in to civilize the masses did not reach the lower layers of the working classes, that preferred to relax after long working days. However, especially the lower middle classes where eager to develop their knowledge about the fast changing world in which they lived.