As industrialization booms in the Republic of Elan, the number of schools has increased. Many who would go without education suddenly find it available to them. Cities now boast multiple schools for all levels of education. Communities that once had only one-room schoolhouses now see multi-grade education being introduced. Reading, writing, and basic math are becoming more common skill sets among the population.
Most of this growth is due to the work of philanthropists and the Church. However, sometimes a company will create schools for their employees’ children.Some call this charity - others call it indoctrination. Regardless, it is impossible to ignore the fact that more people are being educated than ever before in Elan’s history.
Though there are still a few rural communities and settlements without schools, there is usually a schoolhouse nearby. When the children are not needed to help at home or on the farm, they are able to attend lessons. In communities where there are no schools, some humanitarian organizations have created raffles for families to win an education at a nearby boarding school. Sometimes when distant or traditionally poorer communities reach a certain population, they will come together to hire tutors to hold classes once a week in their common meeting space for everyone in the community. It is a common sight to see people search for ways to learn in the little free time that they have.
The rise of the middle class has given rise also to more educational opportunities. Schools have cropped up all over the major towns and cities to train the children of higher paid workers and managers. Though their schools are still less well-funded than the options of the upper class, these schools rarely struggle for resources and teachers like the options of the lower class. Additionally, secondary education and colleges are not as impossible to attend as before the industrialization of Elan. Still, it can take significant amounts from families to send their children to school. And in the boom-and-bust of rampant industrialization, educational opportunities may disappear if a job is lost.
Those that are privileged to have wealth are able to afford the admission fees of more prestigious schools. It is currently a popular decision for the wealthy to send their children to the best academies and boarding schools, where the curriculum focuses on intellectual splendor and refinement. Often, these schools will also incorporate key historical events and skill sets of their provinces into their lessons. Students dress in uniforms and sit at small desks similar to those of Duriana’s businessmen, while learning both academics and etiquette. The goal is to see that the children are made into young adults worthy of their status. Upper class families who can't afford the steep prices of boarding schools will typically hire live-in tutors to help reduce the prices, but the curriculum is much the same.
Elanites who make their way through tutoring or primary education and wish to seek a continuation of higher education have many options available to them, including various trade schools scattered throughout the country or one of the prominent universities within the republic, regardless of scholarship availability. If scholarships prove elusive, there is always the chance to exchange an education for labor in a work-study program. Students who take this route often work off their debt as janitors or doing clerical work for the school.
Peverin’s Hooper University in the city of Greenborough focuses on law. This school is known for its devoted students. However, their more serious demeanor may in part be due to the city around them not being well-suited for entertaining younger people. Coffee houses, concert halls, and theaters have struggled to establish themselves in the city’s limits. A system of student organizations has arisen called coteries, similar to fraternities or sororities. These groups have a firm standing in Hooper University and are often a source of camaraderie and entertainment for the growing student body. While they unify the people within them, they often create rivalries, pitting one coterie against the other. Inter-coterie sports and games are common on campus. While the administration supports the coteries, extreme cases of hazing have become a recurrent problem - in the last five years, two students have died in events believed related to coterie hazing.
In Copperbrook, Wyllis, Scranterry University boasts many bright minds shrouded in the smog of the oil refineries. Although a wide variety of educational opportunities are offered, sciences are the focus of its greatest investments. With a curriculum both creative and rigorous, many students who attend admit that their years there are a trial of endurance. Still, those who finish are lauded for the work they've done to better lives and the industry for the people of Elan. The campus itself is home to some of the best laboratories and libraries in the country, and boasts the most expensive and advanced observatory in the nation. Unfortunately, the observatory is currently almost entirely useless due to the smog. The students who typically attend come from higher class families and tend to spend their time with the like-minded or alone. The few promising students who come from modest backgrounds are usually isolated by their classmates, and tend to cling to each other, therefore furthering the gap between the student body. While Scranterry’s area of study includes all of the sciences, it especially excels in chemistry, technology, and engineering. Most recently, the school’s academics have expanded to include the emergent fields of sociology and psychology.
Wittingham University in Huxley, Duriana was the first university founded in Elan, and has become more esteemed with its age. A beacon of education, nearly every field of academic study is represented in its curriculum, but particularly those of business and political science.The university’s professors are exceedingly well-regarded in academic circles, and are masters in their fields. Such a fine campus hosts many public events, including showcases of student accomplishments. Like Hooper University, there is a lively collection of coteries, some so secret that not even the university’s administration knows of their existence. These groups throw large balls, parties, and other such social events for members old and new. Those prestigious enough to be invited, typically former members and other people of note, are more than happy to attend and meet with new promising students. With the coteries, of course, come alliances and rivalries, and it is a common habit for students to remain members long after they graduate. It is not untypical for businessmen to hear what coterie another was a part of and be ready to make a deal - or break one.
Across town from Wittingham University is the Jillert School of Fashion. Where Wittingham represents pomp and rigor, Jillert represents art and expression. People across Elan dream of someday wearing the sumptuous designs by those who study here. The clothing is almost as colorful, varied, and forward thinking as the people who designed it. In fact, students are often easily identified by how they dress. Jillert students have been the source of many trends that take the nation by storm, most recently that of wearing decorative pins or necklaces stating the pronouns of the individual wearing them. Twice yearly, the school hosts a showing of student projects by having students and models parade down the city’s Main Street, ending at the Museum of Textiles where the opening ceremonies are held. Though it is primarily a school of fashion, in more recent years the university has begun offering degrees in a wide variety of the arts, including the highly competitive Dance & Performance program. Besides the obvious artistic aspects of its curriculum, the program includes courses teaching the business of being a performer and the manners necessary to move in exclusive and upper class circles. The degree is rumored to be popular among courtesans and brothel owners, further fueling both the rampant popularity of the program and the protests against it. Scandals are not foreign to Jillert, but the administration has shown no signs of changing their curriculum.
Almost all colleges and universities in Elan have representation of several collegiate coteries. These organizations are social clubs most often unified under a focus of study. These schools strongly support the presence of the coteries and encourage membership. While most of the schools have established chapters, not all coteries are at all schools.
The clubs are used primarily for extracurricular training, specialized learning, and even sometimes philanthropy. Another benefit though, and a heavily important one, is that coteries offer networking with current and prior members, creating professional opportunities before and after graduation. Some of the largest names in Elanite business were part of these fraternities. Because of the prestige and promise of the coteries, many, many people who attend these schools wish to become part of them.
The current collegiate coteries in Elan are:
Chrymsen Coterie - The oldest coterie established and therefore the most broad, covers all "prestigious" professions with emphasis on banking and money-lending and now moving more towards general commerce and finance
Floren Coterie - Accounting and Finance
Gulrick Coterie - Law
Muser Coterie - the Arts
Opresse Coterie - Business and Merchantry
Quintis Coterie - Medicine
Rapsid Coterie - Theology and the Church (both High and Low)
Vional Coterie - Literature and Philosophy
Most provinces host a great number of trade schools, with curriculum coinciding with major local industries. While most companies partner with existing trade schools to pick the most promising students, some companies have decided to bypass this convention and open their own schools, which are sometimes the only option for those of lesser means to get a secondary education.