The Rise of Popular Literacy in Victorian England: The Influence of Private Choice and Public Policy

In early Victorian England, there was an intense debate about whether government involvement in the provision of popular elementary education was appropriate. Government did in the end become actively involved, first in the administration of schools and in the supervision of instruction, then in establishing and administering compulsory schooling laws. After a century of stagnation, literacy rates rose markedly.

While increasing government involvement would seem to provide the most obvious e...