1895 GREAT BRITAIN QUEEN VICTORIA SCHOOL ATTENDANCE & PUNCTUALITY MEDAL AWARD

Description: This medal is a rare find for collectors of Exonumia and Coins & Paper Money. The 1895 Great Britain Queen Victoria School Attendance & Punctuality Medal Award is a unique piece of history that showcases the importance of education and punctuality in early 20th century Britain. Crafted from high-quality pewter and featuring intricate designs, this medal is a must-have for any serious collector. The country/region of manufacture is the United Kingdom, adding to its historical significance. The medal's fineness is also noteworthy, making it a valuable addition to any collection. Up until the 19th century, education in Europe was mostly a purview of the wealthy. Most everyone else stopped attending class once they could read and write and master basic arithmetic, if that long. And even when children were in school, absenteeism was high due to illness, farming cycles that required the entire family to work, bad weather, inadequate transportation, and lack of warm clothing. Girls usually quit sooner than boys because they were required to help with the child care and cooking at home.Showing UpBut this all began to change with surprising speed when attendance and money were inextricably linked. By the 1870s, in England, School Boards were receiving public funds based on attendance, not enrollment. Attendance was now mandatory by law. The schools had to find a way to motivate the students and their parents to make attendance a priority. The answer was numismatic in nature: Award medals to those children without a single absence or tardy mark. The design of the medals would be modeled after military medals, complete with a bust of the monarch, and a date bar with pin. Liverpool started awarding medals in 1877 and London followed in 1887. Although these are not the only British School Boards that gave out attendance medals, their examples are easier to find. Schoolchildren immediately embraced the program and worked very hard to win the beautiful metallic honors. The fact that so many medals were won under the strictest of rules is a testament to the determination of the English schoolchildren. Attendance had to be perfect with no exceptions, not even for serious illness. A single tardy could disqualify an otherwise eligible child and even when perfect attendance was achieved, the medal was not proffered unless the headmaster and the school managers agreed that the student’s conduct was deserving of the award. These attendance medals were, in actuality, attendance and conduct medals.The London rules were quickly challenged by the powerful Sunday School Union that wanted an exception to be made for their annual picnic that pulled children out of school for one day. For many months, the Union debated with the School Board but the latter won out. There would be no exceptions. Attendance had to be perfect.By 1890, the London award scheme held six designs: the first three in white metal with a white metal clasp, the fourth and fifth medals in bronze with a bronzed clasp and a sixth medal in gold-plated bronze with a gilded clasp. The bronze categories were for children who achieved multiple years of perfect attendance. Eventually, there would be eleven medal types with the most prestigious award being made of silver with a silver clasp and a white silk ribbon. These were awarded beginning in 1902, one year after Queen Victoria’s death and the assumption of the throne by King Edward VII. Over the next 18 years, the design of the medals and ribbons would undergo more changes in size, design and make-up. From 1916 to 1919, certificates replaced medals for the years of the “Great War.” Medals came back for the school year 1919 but by 1920, the practice of awarding attendance medals had ceased for good.Many of these treasured mementos have survived and are readily available today at general Internet auction sites. Prices vary according to rarity of type and condition, beginning at around $20.00. Many collectors look for “family medals,” a series of medals awarded in consecutive years to the same child. American HonorsAcross the Atlantic, school medals would become a popular tradition, too, awarded in areas such as attendance, merit, deportment, conduct, effort, and for mastery of specific subject areas, especially Latin, the arts, and sports. In the 1700s, most children learned at home or in small home-based schools. Books were scarce so they were frequently loaned but well cared for. In the early 1800s, American girls seldom attended school for more than two years because it was widely held that it was unnecessary for them to do so. Opportunities for women were severely limited. Sons of farmers were not very likely to go to school either. The North built school buildings, while in the South home schooling was more common. The children of slaves did not attend school at all. All of this began to change for the better after the Civil War as more schools were built. By the mid-1800s, child labor was a serious problem. Reformers pushed for anti-truancy laws as a way to encourage education and discourage child labor simultaneously. Once in school, attendance was further encouraged with the use of subject and attendance awards. Ben Franklin wanted more educational opportunities for all boys to attend school. In 1789, one year before his death, he attached this codicil to his will: "I wish to be useful even after my Death, if possible, in forming and advancing other young men that may be serviceable to their country." Because of Franklin’s association with the promotion of education, there have been many different kinds of educational awards named after him.Because of Franklin’s generosity, one of the awards given in his name today are silver medals for high achieving boys and girls. The Creativity Foundation of Boston has expanded the scope of their medals to include the whole nation. High school and college students from all over the country are nominated for Franklin’s Legacy Award. In the 20th century, attendance, conduct and scholastic awards sought to keep kids in school especially in the Farm belt where children traditionally helped their parents on the farm or ranch. This writer’s grandmother taught elementary school in a tiny rural Midwest town in 1918. The first annual photo taken of her and her class shows a group of smiling children in overalls, most with unkempt hair and almost all barefoot. In small town Oklahoma at that time, regular attendance was so uncommon that attendance awards were often given for just one month of perfect attendance without tardiness. The connection between school and life success was not commonly realized, therefore, school was not as important to the children or to their parents as it is today.Efforts by the American Legion definitely helped to make learning more of a priority for children. The national American Legion School Award was widely distributed by 1926 for outstanding 8th graders. At first girls were excluded and then received a smaller medal than boys, but today, the medal is identical for both genders. To qualify for one of these large medals, the boys and girls have to demonstrate “Honor, Courage, Scholarship, Leadership and Service.” In 1963, “Patriotism” was added to that list. American Legion medals are still awarded today, but span the school grade spectrum from elementary to college. Medal designs and sizes have varied over the years, making them an interesting collectible.Building a CollectionSchool medals are an important part of the world’s education history. The wide variety and international nature of these medals makes building a collection relatively easy. For those who wish to specialize, the tough part is deciding how. It is possible to build an international collection of only silver medals, or just bronze, or to concentrate on the school medals of one nation or one subject area.Exonumia dealers and some coin shops will carry school award medals, especially those made of silver. General online auction sites such as eBay and Yahoo! Auctions are also great places to shop. Prices begin under $10.00 for bronze medals and go up to $100.00 or more for a silver Franklin school medal or for one of the scarcer varieties of the British attendance medals. Helpful searching keyword terms include:· School medal· Attendance medal· King medal· Award medal· Conduct medal· High School medal· Music AwardSummary If it’s true that “80% of success is showing up,” as filmmaker Woody Allen once claimed, then the schoolchildren who were awarded attendance medals must have grown up and achieved great things. At the very least, school award medals fostered an attitude in this nation and around the world that education matters for all children. Today in the United States, school attendance percentages are much higher than they were one century ago. It is considered a form of neglect not to provide a child with an appropriate education either at home or in school. In fact, it is a crime not to educate a child, and more recently, a crime also not to insist on attendance. In some communities, the parents of chronically truant students can be fined or jailed.We know now that education is the great equalizer. Part of the reason that America is the land of opportunity is that a free education is available to all of the children who live here. School award medals can take a tiny bit of the credit for this national shift in attitude about the value of education, and the positive outcome it has provided for all of us.

Price: 25 USD

Location: Maumee, Ohio

End Time: 2024-12-20T17:18:17.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.95 USD