School

Secularization also affected the churches as the denominational upholders of schools. In the course of the French occupation the education system was clearly neglected, especially with regard to elementary schools: in 1814 three quarters of Rhinelanders were illiterate.

A.Klebe described the school system in Neuwied:
"Each of the main parishes has its own school, but the way they are furnished and equipped can by no means serve as a model. One can imagine the degree of eagerness which pervades the teachers when one hears that they are only paid 1 Rhine thaler per child annually, from which they must make a living. Looking down, the authorities are not very worried about improvement. The children of Mennonites and the Inspired attend protestant schools. The latin grammar-school is left entirely to itself, and fails to achieve what it is supposed to, although a young, competent man is employed there, who was educated in Dessau."
(Klebe, A.: Reise auf dem Rhein, 1806, Frankfurt a.M., S. 451.)

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