Farin Education

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General education is not priority in the minds of the Farin people. It is a luxury reserved for those who can afford it, where both finances and time are concerned. It is extremely rare for a poor Farin to know how to read or write, and most only ever learn basic counting from their meager monetary transactions. The poor are typically born into their profession, learning the trade from their parents and then going on to teach it to their own children in time. Most only know how to say a few simple sentences in Lithmorran, although they may learn more if their profession requires it.

Those of the middle class send their children to local one-room schoolhouses, where classes are taught by one or two members of the clergy. Children normally attend these schools from ages 4 to 10 and are taught a variety of subjects, including reading, writing, history, counting, computation, Lithmorran, and Davite religion. The length of a school year and hours of classes vary from town to town, but in most cases the semesters run from Maritus to Maius and Septembris to Novembris, with three-month breaks in between so that children can learn and perform their household duties as well. Classes are not held on holy days, Votumas, and Solisda. Attendance is not compulsory, but since the schools are run by the Church for no expense, most parents who do not need their children to work will insist on sending them. By age 11, most children go on to apprentice to local masters or to assist their parents at work or home.

Gentry and nobles look down upon the crowded classrooms of the public schools and prefer to keep their children at home. Instead, they hire private tutors, experts in their particular subject, to teach the children of the family (who are often numerous enough to fill a small classroom on their own). Boys are taught fencing, politics, economics, law, and military strategy. The education of girls focuses more on culture, dancing, music, painting, and embroidery, although they are increasingly allowed to sit in on the boys' lessons. Both sexes learn history, religion, and several languages. Lithmorran is the sole language used in the classroom, Farin being considered informal, and Vavardi is the most popular foreign language of study. Education usually begins at age 4 and goes on until age 16, when the boys leave home to serve in the military.