Education systems in XIV

[SannaR]

The latest bone my brain has been chewing on is how many schools are there in XIV and what RL equivalent would you give said school? There's four that we know of. We know of the Studium, Saint Endalim's Scholasticate, the Rissai-juku and the Magitek Academy. The only one which seems to allow any child to attend regardless of status or wealth is that of the Rissai-juku. The other three seem to need either some status or wealth or both to attend as Nero seems to have needed to apply on his own to the Academy since he calls himself a peasant from the province. Where Cid was invited to apply. Both are attending it around the age of twelve. Which is stated as being the youngest.

We also know that the Studium and the Scholasticate have at least a money barrier for entry as the twins mom gets worried about less wealthy families via the exchange program might not be able to send their children to the Studium if not also afford their materials. It's also hinted that the main character we interact with during the Scholasticate story has the smarts to keep up with their fellow students but isn't from as wealthy of a family. We get no hint that the children of the Brume go to school pre Firmament reconstruction.

We know that the Garlean Empire makes some form of education mandatory when we're at the negotiation table with Varis when Hein brings up how even though religion is banned in Garlemald the Emperor is to be revered and praised at all times which is taught to school children.

Then we know that the Archon mark is sort of akin to getting one's PHD. Do you think there's schools in the three starter cities and if there are what types of hurdles would there be? What kind of schooling do you think other places we've visited would have? Also sorry if this is something that we've talked about partially in another older thread. As while writing this post I vaguely remember debates about XIV's various education systems.

[Haventale]

Well, how are you defining school exactly? Would the Thaumaturgy Guild in Ul’dah count for example? Are we only talking about academic institutions? Or do martial arts places such as the Pugulist’s Guild or being apprenticed to a blacksmith count? I feel like there’s lots of places in the game where people can go to learn things.

In general, the game setting seems to be going with the ye olden real world scenarios where many “academic institutions” were only for the wealthy (although in XIV I think they all allow women to enroll, which is a stark difference from many historical real world institutions).

Within the world of XIV, magic for the most part is a very academic subject, unlike in other games where some people are just born with it and some aren’t (I personally prefer XIV’s setting where it’s a subject that can be learned by anyone, as I generally dislike the notion that some people are just special and you’re not. Or the idea that someone is fundamentally incapable of learning something. I just can’t agree with the sentiment).

So going back to the starter cities, I would say that the Thaumaturgy Guild in Ul’dah counts as a school in the broad sense of “a place people go to learn things where there are learners and teachers.” But with that train of thought, I could argue that any of the class guilds in the game are such. So, how are we defining “school” exactly? I feel like the analysis of XIV’s setting is going to be different depending on how we define it.

[MikkoAkure]

Besides the obvious Sharlayan, there's Ishgard who has a whole questline devoted to its school. Ul'dah's alchemist guild also seems to act as something of a school and the guildmaster at Limsa's arcanist guild teaches children as well.

Other than that, Eorzea is likely much like real-life medieval Europe and the vast majority of "education" is done through apprenticing at the guild you'll be working at as an adult. Most of the population seems to be illiterate and that's backed up by the signs on all the shops being pictures instead of names. Some adventurers we bump into and even Estinien are from small farming villages that are not even on the map so it can be assumed that not everyone lives in the city either and many people just exist as farmers for generations, without needing to read or anything else.

[SannaR]

Well, how are you defining school exactly? Would the Thaumaturgy Guild in Ul’dah count for example? Are we only talking about academic institutions? Or do martial arts places such as the Pugulist’s Guild or being apprenticed to a blacksmith count? I feel like there’s lots of places in the game where people can go to learn things.

In general, the game setting seems to be going with the ye olden real world scenarios where many “academic institutions” were only for the wealthy (although in XIV I think they all allow women to enroll, which is a stark difference from many historical real world institutions).

Within the world of XIV, magic for the most part is a very academic subject, unlike in other games where some people are just born with it and some aren’t (I personally prefer XIV’s setting where it’s a subject that can be learned by anyone, as I generally dislike the notion that some people are just special and you’re not. Or the idea that someone is fundamentally incapable of learning something. I just can’t agree with the sentiment).

So going back to the starter cities, I would say that the Thaumaturgy Guild in Ul’dah counts as a school in the broad sense of “a place people go to learn things where there are learners and teachers.” But with that train of thought, I could argue that any of the class guilds in the game are such. So, how are we defining “school” exactly? I feel like the analysis of XIV’s setting is going to be different depending on how we define it.

I meant academic. Since the Rissai-juku seems to be the equivalent of elementary school. The guilds for me would be more like trade schools. The only thing holding people back at least outside of skill via crafters and gathers that would hold someone back is the person's ability to access to aether. Since the guildmasters of the Thaumaturge gild's youngest sibling doesn't have a biggest personal aether pool and so they're unable to learn. Since teaching anyone with too small of a pool will have a high risk of dying. Same with using Red Magic. Why Arya has a problem being as good as us or X'Ruhn.

[Vyrerus]

What MikkoAkure said is most hammer on the nail I think.

Most of the societies in Eorzea are geared towards sheer survival, rather than towards enlightenment.

You have to wonder a bit about how much book learning really could afford to your average person in this setting, too. Wouldn't it be more prudent to learn a trade or how to fight in a world full of monsters and magic? I mean, even the intellectual institutes that we know about seem to have practical applications in mind.

It's probably something along the lines of figuring out a child's strengths, and then giving them over to the most applicable guild. Like that girl in the Conjurer quests.

This question calls to mind just how big of a deal it was when Sharlayan made the Hinterlands colony. Wasn't it always a big point that many intellectuals or lovers of knowledge(education) tried to go there?

[EaraGrace]

Other than that, Eorzea is likely much like real-life medieval Europe and the vast majority of "education" is done through apprenticing at the guild you'll be working at as an adult. Most of the population seems to be illiterate and that's backed up by the signs on all the shops being pictures instead of names. Some adventurers we bump into and even Estinien are from small farming villages that are not even on the map so it can be assumed that not everyone lives in the city either and many people just exist as farmers for generations, without needing to read or anything else.

It’s stated in the Eorzea Encyclopedia that around 50% of Eorzeans are literate, so the the Medieval comparison doesn’t hold completely. It being so high should suggest that schooling of some sort is common, even if it’s just some instruction on numbers and letters. In the 1450s, Germany and Britain had literacy rates between 7% to 16% and it wasn’t until the 18th century that it reached as high as Eorzeas so I think we need to give the continent more credit. They have a unified currency and language, established overland and oversea trade routes that stretch from continent to continent, and a relatively advanced understanding of astronomy and physics. The Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution is right around the corner.

[Cleretic]

It’s stated in the Eorzea Encyclopedia that around 50% of Eorzeans are literate, so the the Medieval comparison doesn’t hold completely. It being so high should suggest that schooling of some sort is common, even if it’s just s9me instruction on numbers and letters. In the 1450s, Germany and Britain had literacy rates between 7% to 16% and it wasn’t until the 18th century that it reached as high as Eorzeas so I think we need to give the continent more credit. They have a unified currency and language, established overland and oversea trade routes that stretch from continent to continent, and a relatively advanced understanding of astronomy and physics. The Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution is right around the corner.

I always assumed FFXIV's general societal level was somewhere between the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution (when exactly kinda depends on where you're looking). A quick google says that literacy rates in that time were around 50%-ish, which checks out, especially when you account for the fact FFXIV's world is much less sexist than that era was in real life so you can presume the lower rates of literacy among women wouldn't carry over.

[Dikatis]

In all likelihood there are people who teach literacy and basic math skills to children lucky enough to meet them. Jannequinard, the job mentor for the Astrologian quests, spends his downtime when not at the Athenaeum Astrologicum teaching children "their numbers, letters, and stars". House Haillenarte does active philanthropic work, Nanamo sets up a trade school for Ala Mhigan refugees in Stormblood, and we see that numerous business leaders like Beatin and Rowena are fond enough of children to look after them.

[Lyth]

...

I think the state of education and society's survival demands are often linked. For example, following the Fourth Umbral Calamity (of Earth), there was a dark age of sorts in which people were generally distrustful of knowledge and technology on account of the fall of Allag. This persisted until the Fifth Umbral Calamity (of Ice) forced society to develop magic again in order to fend off the cold and have a means of growing crops in the harsh environment. After the War of the Magi and the Sixth Umbral Calamity (of Water), there was yet another dark age in which magic was forbidden, libraries were burnt, and spellcasters were hunted down. So this very much seems to have been a cyclical thing simply because people didn't fully who was at the root of these Calamities.

[Kakurady]

I've found this Tumblr blog collecting XIV lore. The author has an article on formal education in Eorzea: https://mirkemenagerie.tumblr.com/po...n-in-the-other

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I don't have carpenter levelled so I can't check, but it appears Stillglade Fane plays a role in the education of children as well, even if it's not necessarily in a classroom setting:

An edict recently passed by Stillglade Fane requiring all children between the ages of six and nine to train in the art of conjury has parents scrambling to find reasonably priced canes and crooks.

This is supposed to be text from a level 5 carpenter levequest.

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Leaving canon territory, I've read a fanfiction where the protagonist was taught literacy at a temple of Thaliak in Limsa Lominsa, perhaps inspired by how the cult of the Muses were associated with places of learning (Mouseion, which formed the basis of the word "museum") in ancient Greece.