Post by wordy on Dec 4, 2010 15:57:33 GMT 10
Education in Emelan
by rachy and elsceetaria
While both worlds created by Tamora Pierce have an excellent education system, the education provided by both worlds differs significantly. Emelan has a diverse education system, from a traditional societal education given in the temples to the specialised education for those with magic. Emelan’s education also differs between ambient and academic magic and also through apprenticeships in specific trades, for those both with and without magic.
Traditional education is something that all the Circle avoided by their move to Discipline, and is described as educating the students in the things worth knowing for their movement in society, in things such as mathematics, reading and writing or in needlework and embroidery for the wealthier girls. In other parts of the Emelan world, such as in Namorn, tutors are employed to teach dancing, etiquette, and other general knowledge, such as astronomy or history. The traditional type of education, especially for the wealthier classes, appears to be very similar to a finishing school or convent, rather than the more practical sort of education for those with magic, as shown by the dislike of Dedicates within the temples for excessive needlework or reading.
The two main branches of Emelan’s magic education are ambient and academic magic. Academic magic is most commonly detected by ‘magic sniffers’ through testing at the age of four, and people with academic magic most commonly display signs of magic, such as making objects move or glow. Those with academic magic attend Lightsbridge, in Karang, which is one of the two great schools of learning and magic, with Winding Circle being the other. Graduation from Lightsbridge gives the graduated mage the right to practice magic with a Mage’s License, which means they have the right to sell their magic in forms of potions, charms and the like, ‘plain street magic’. Ambient magic is more commonly found at Winding Circle, as ambient mages make up approximately half the mages in Winding Circle. Winding Circle appears to be made of those with either ambient or academic magic, who have either received accreditation from Lightsbridge or Winding Circle. Winding Circle specialises in ambient magic, but also has a very strong temple presence, and several of their Dedicates are great mages. As a temple, students finish at Winding Circle at sixteen, provided their education began when they were a child, and from then they can either leave the temple and pay for their education, or become a novice in one of the temples, Earth, Fire, Water or Air. Once they have completed their noviciate, they become dedicates and are presumably granted their mage’s credential or medallion, causing them to be answerable to the laws and governing mages of Lightsbridge and Winding Circle. It is possible that the mage’s medallion implies more than an accredited mage credential, but that has not been fully explained as yet. Further specialisation in their respective fields can also allow them to become Dedicate Initiates, specialised in temple magics.
As graduates of Winding Circle or Lightsbridge, mages have an obligation as part of their own education to teach any new mages that they come across, and to find them a suitable teacher that shares their talents. Initially, if a teacher cannot be found straight away, the mage teaches a curriculum very similar to how the Circle were taught, including mediation, control of their magic and some basic spells. If a teacher cannot be found, the curriculum becomes more in-depth to include specific requirements of their field, such as the types of tools and their applications, including types of rocks for stone mages, plants for plant mages, tides and weather for weather mages, and smithing tools for smith mages. Other parts of their education include teaching reading or writing if their student does not know how to, mathematics and astronomy, similar again to the education in the dormitories.
The area with most overlap in Emelan’s education system is found in apprenticeships in the guilds. These apprenticeships include those with ambient or academic magic, as well as people without magic, and can be taught by those with or without magic, such as Frostpine teaching Kirel, who did not have magic, and Daja, who did. Guilds are used to teach the students about their future trades, such as smithing, glass-making, carpentry, and begin as being novices or apprenticeships. Once they pass their apprenticeship, the students become journeymen. Only one in ten journeymen who intend to become mimanders survive to gain their accreditation, although mimanders are a different case to the regular journeyman, concentrating their magic in a single specific area. After the journeymen graduate, they are given their Mage’s License and are free to work under their own supervision.
Overall, Emelan's education system gives their mages the best opportunities for success in their respective fields, encourages integration with those that do not have magic and allows all their students to have a well-rounded education.