Education in Urcea
Education in Urcea is provided in public school, private school, and home schools, and is divided into K-12 education and higher education. Urcean public education is operated jointly by provincial and local governments alongside the Church and is regulated by the Collegium Scientificum, which is both a university system and the nation's public education department. Education in Urcea is traditionally based on the principles of classical education and primary and secondary education are primarily focused on teaching the seven traditional liberal arts.
Principles
According to the Collegium Scientificum, the purpose of education in Urcea is "to mold students into more complete people and able citizen-subjects" by "freeing (them) from their basest desires and creating them as individuals capable of self-rule in the most direct sense". Consequently, the Collegium Scientificum argues that the outcome of education is to create a population "free to pursue the intellectual and religious pursuits of their longing in addition to being capable in their duties to state in life" and to create a population 'capable of self-governance by means of self-rule' and 'self-moderation'." This is accomplished through the two primary subject areas of education, referred to as "knowing" and "doing". "Knowing" refers to the program of teaching "cultural touchstones", that is, specific fact-based education, while "doing" refers to technical knowledge that will be useful to students later in life.
Self-governance
The highest principle imparted in the Urcean education system is "self-governance", sometimes also referred to as "self-rule". Rather than self-sufficiency, self-governance refers to ensuring that students have emotional discipline and control over their own desires. These skills are not only viewed as valuable due to the religious implication of self-control and resistance to sin, but also because it is viewed that individuals who have self-restraint are more responsible citizens. Individuals who are capable of self-governance, according to the Urcean system, capable of not only being more productive workers, but also are better trained to be diligent parents and responsible voters.
Technical knowledge
The Urcean educational system emphasizes the teaching of technical knowledge, that is, the "science of doing"; this entails not only physical labor tasks and familiarity with physical tools and objects in addition to more "white-collar" tasks such as basic familiarity with filling government forms and completing taxes, but also basic familiarity with task completion. Accordingly, at all grade levels, attention is given to establishing balance between one's work and their other life obligations, as well as to fundamental abilities such as how to internally schedule, balance different tasks, and awareness of how one's emotions and situation are affecting one's productivity in any given day. This type of education is not only geared towards creating productive workers, but is also geared towards giving students the tools to properly achieve self-governance while not being overwhelmed by their work, no matter the industry or field they enter.
Cultural touchstones
In addition to technical knowledge and concepts in self-governance, the Urcean education system does include components of education referred to as "cultural touchstones", a fact-and-memorization style of education that gives students a basic understanding of world history, comparative religious beliefs, Urcean literary canon, and a more thorough education on Urcean and Levantine history. While touchstone-based education is not included in every curriculum every year, it is variously included or heavily referenced by year. The intention of memorization of these facts is to provide students cultural literacy and context for human behavior that may provide students the opportunity to acquire additional knowledge as adults when presented with unknown information. In this sense, the Urcean educational model views these types of facts to be the basic building block on which students, when adults, can become more well rounded and capable of self-governance.
Detractors have derided cultural touchstones as "dated, rote memorization" which detracts from the teaching of general skills.
Religious education
In Urcean public schools, catechetical classes are included in every grade level. As a vast majority of Urceans are members of the Catholic Church, all students - Catholic or not - are expected to take Catechesis classes, although non-Catholic students are "graded only on their understanding of the underlying philosophical concepts" according to the Collegium Scientificum rather than their acceptance of the ideas as true.
Urcea's religious education is intended to convey two types of information. The first is called "religion in fact"; this is basic information learned by rote memorization relating to the facts and timeline of salvation history, important Saints, information about the Sacraments and Christian life, scripture, and other information taught in a straight forward way and is similar in concept to cultural touchstones. The second is called "religion in truth", which are more fundamental and complex philosophical concepts about God and how they relate to "religion in fact", including ideas such as divine simplicity, the unmoved mover, and aseity. Both "religion in fact" and "religion in truth" as education are not, contrary to popular opinion, intended to necessarily convince students of the truth of the Catholic faith, though it often has that effect. Instead, the two-pronged approach is intended to equip students "to handle, understand, and apply breakthroughs of grace in their lives with the truth of salvation history; to impart on them the tools of understanding grace in their lives once present". In other words, Urcean society relies on what is referred to as the "violence of grace", a sudden and irreversible act of realization and conversion that occurs in one's religious life. The educational component is intended to contextualize the "breakthrough" when it occurs in order to leave the educated Urcean in a position to truly embrace the Catholic faith. This method has been criticized both by secular educators and some Catholic catechetical experts for departing from a traditional teaching method.
K-12 education
In Urcea, K-12 education is divided into two sections, called "sextets" for grade groupings. Structurally, each sextet is responsible for conferring different subjects but also includes catechetical education classes at each grade level. In addition to the core basics of each sextet's areas, various history and Urcean literature courses are included at varied grade intervals. Most grade levels also include a remedial material course, which ensures students remain a level of familiarity with material learned at lower levels, especially materials taught at grade intervals. Remedial material courses are graded on a student's grasp on the sum total of all knowledge acquired so far in their academic career, and is considered the most important class for the purposes of a student's overall yearly grade. History classes are included in all thirteen grade levels, though only become major areas of study beginning in the Second Sextet. Physical school buildings and campuses are divided by Sextets and are functionally considered separate "schools".
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is not considered part of either Sextet but is typically grouped in with the First Sextet and Kindergarten classes are taught on the same physical grounds as the First Sextet. Kindergarten is designed to teach or reinforce the basic "mechanical foundations of a sound education", which includes basic math and reading skills in addition to an age appropriate supplementary religious education which is designed with the presumption that most students have already received basic religious education from both the Church and their family. Kindergarten is typically for students beginning at ages 4 and 5 and is designed to provide context and basic tools through which the First Sextet can be understood.
First Sextet
The "First Sextet", a period of education which can be roughly equated with "primary education" in other countries, is the first six grade levels, focused primarily on teaching the trivium - grammar, logic, and rhetoric. The First Sextet includes the years 1-6. Basic math courses are also included for the students to have a base level understanding of mathematical concepts before a full arithmetic-based education occurs in the Second Sextet. The First Sextet begins usually at age six and ends around age twelve.
Second Sextet
The "Second Sextet", a period of education which can be roughly equated with "secondary education" in other countries, is the second six grade levels, focused primarily on teaching the quadrivium - arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The Second Sextet includes the years 7-12. The second half of Grade 12 is largely all remedial classes based on all seven of the key principles of education as well as historical, literary, and catechetical information, and typically includes four major examinations at its conclusion as well as two major academic papers of the student's choosing, with one focusing on philosophical concepts, such as those learned through the First Sextet and catechetical classes, and the other on material concepts, such as those learned during the Second Sextet. The Second Sextet begins around age twelve and ends around age eighteen.
Higher education
Liberal arts schools
Liberal arts colleges are a broad term for every four year college and university in Urcea regardless of the major fields of study it focuses on, ranging from engineering to music theory. In liberal arts colleges, theology and philosophy courses are comparable to "general education" courses in other world education systems and comprise about a quarter of the total credits needed to graduate, with the student's majors, minors, or electives constituting the remaining three quarters. Liberal arts colleges are by far the most common in Urcea and are sponsored by provinces, municipalities, or private not-for-profits. The most prestigious university system in Urcea is the Collegium Scientificum in Urceopolis and elsewhere, which also serves as the nation's primary education regulatory body.
Trade schools
Urcea has a well developed system of trade schools maintained by each guild, with most guilds having either a standalone trade school per province or an embedded program within provincial public universities. Trade schools are typically a three year degree program that includes salaried apprenticeship roles beginning in the second year of an education. While a trade school degree does not require an individual to join the particular guild industry of their choice on graduation, the education is highly specialized to each guild and sets an individual on the track of life within that industry. As guilds are divided into both labor and capital, the education provided at trade schools includes both technical, hands-on labor education as well as practical management and financial balancing courses necessary for an individual to one day own their own firm. Trade schools also offer intangible benefits to its graduates, namely networking opportunities and personal engagement with local vested guild members, often offering apprenticeships under vested owners and workers alike. Due to the social and economic influence of guilds within Urcea, the percentage of young people attending trade schools as opposed to traditional liberal arts-oriented institutions of higher education is higher than any other Occidental country.
Trade schools operate on a traditional tuition model, requiring students to pay both for classes as well as room and board in addition to administrative fees. However, due to the specialized nature of many of the professions the schools teach, employers within specific guilds sponsor students and pay for their tuition in exchange for an agreement to work at that employer for a certain length of time. A similar system is also used in Urcea's teaching schools.
Seminaries and formation schools
The third largest type of higher education institution in Urcea is Catholic seminaries and formation schools. Seminaries work for the training of priests and most date to the counter reformation; formation schools are lesser institutions dedicated to the education and training of other religious. Many of these are privately operated by the Church with various degrees of state support, and most seminaries operated independently by religious orders receive no state funding at all. Some seminaries, however, are embedded within public liberal arts schools or have associated programs where seminarians receive educational credit. A small number of seminaries are operated directly by the state within a public school. The most prominent institution is St. Andrew's Seminary, part of the Collegium Scientificum in Urceopolis; this institution is a campus within the larger Collegium Scientificum system, although the vast majority of programs and all seminarian dorms are on-site at the seminary.
Seminary tuition is typically fully subsidized by the diocese or religious order which operates them, if independent; otherwise they are paid for using the general tuition system if embedded within a public university. Some dioceses and religious orders pay for the seminaries out of their general funds, while others create a special monthly collection at Mass for the training of priests to pay for it.
Community colleges
Community colleges are two year higher education institutions administered by some municipalities and provinces which include a mix of liberal arts education and trade education; they are, consequently, considered a cross between the two primary four year college options.
Community colleges are tuition free to those students who live within the municipality and provinces which sponsor them. Consequently, they are heavily subsidized by taxpayers.
Normal schools
Normal schools are public colleges sponsored by provinces which are for the purpose of training public school teachers. Those individuals who seek to enter the teaching field usually must receive a sponsorship from their local school district.
Students attending normal school typically do so at no cost; instead, the school district sponsoring them shoulders the cost, and in exchange the newly-graduated teachers agree to a ten year work contract with that school district; those who violate the contract must reimburse the district for the cost of their education.
Governance and funding
Governance
Provinces, localities, and the Collegium Scientificum share degrees of power over public education, with the provinces exercising the most control and oversight of the three parties with respect to the practical logistical administration of the schools.
The issue of legislative authority over the school system is a fraught political issue. The Conshilía Daoni has traditionally asserted its supremacy over the Collegium Scientificum in its role as regulator, and accordingly passes various statutes related to the education system in the form of the Education Law. The Collegium has never accepted the Daoni's claims, but nonetheless largely complies with the provisions of the Education Law on a negotiated basis. The issue has been deferred several times by the Archducal Court of Urcea, stating that the Collegium as an ecclesially chartered institution is beyond the authority of the Daoni, but otherwise stating that it's a political, not legal, matter. As a pragmatic precedent, most Education Law changes are negotiated before they are considered by any of the Daoni's committees. Views on the topic vary by political party and affiliation; the Solidarity Party is considered the most deferential towards the Collegium's independence, the National Pact is considered to be relatively aggressive, and the Social Labor Party calls for the complete supremacy of the government over the education system, advocating the creation of a secular Education Ministry.
Funding for K-12
Public school districts in Urcea receive three primary funding streams; property taxes assessed by communal governments, aid provided by Provincial governments, and funds provided by the Collegium Scientificum. The Office for Primary and Secondary Education of the Collegium Scientificum in FY2005-06 was provided with $1,178,198,617,900.51, the vast majority of which was dedicated to education aid to the nation's school districts.
Funding for college
Funding for college varies widely based on the type of institution attended. The Collegium Scientificum's institutions in Urceopolis and Harren receives most of its funding directly from the Government of Urcea. Outside of Urceopolis and Harren, the Collegium typically receives aid from the provinces and states, though to varying degrees. The Collegium typically demands a funding-to-institution ratio of provinces, meaning that it will maintain more institutions if the institutions are better funded per-student. All of the CS's institutions receive a small portion of their funding from private sponsorships of facilities as well as competitive grants. As the Collegium Scientificum charges tuition for doctoral degrees, this tuition also makes up a small portion of the CS's overall budget. Private and church-run liberal arts colleges are mostly funded by tuition or by donors. Trade schools are primarily paid for by guilds though tuition is also an important part of their budgets. Seminiaries and formation schools are fully subsidized by the diocese operating them in most cases. Community colleges and normal schools are mostly subsidized.