ABSTRACT
Grammar schools were financed with public funds granted by the Riksdag. Elementary schools were financed with local taxes and state subsidies, whereas girls’ schools depended on private donations and fees paid by the parents. Everyday life in elementary school was, to begin with, not scheduled according to the same detailed timetables as in grammar school. The class teacher system of elementary school also allowed for a greater amount of flexibility than the specialist teacher system of grammar school. A similar mental spatial disciplining also took place in girls’ school and in elementary school. In this respect the male grammar school teachers who taught in girls’ schools did not make a distinction between the girls in girls’ school and the boys in grammar school. The Bell-Lancaster system applied in the early undifferentiated elementary school was characterized by knowledge hierarchies. The words “power” and “discipline” often imply that the upper classes use force against the lower classes.
