Tea at Trianon: Etiquette at School

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Etiquette at School

A teacher insists on good manners in class with spectacular results.

Soon, however, Ivanyi was schooling the 10th-grade boys on how to seat their female counterparts at their desks, by pulling out their chair and sliding it underneath them as they sat. As a show of respect, the boys were encouraged to stand any time a girl entered the room.

Behavior that was once utterly foreign has become routine. "Ninety-eight percent of the boys stand now when a girl enters the room, and the girls love it," Ivanyi said.

As a result of the emphasis on politeness, the overall mood in the classroom has changed markedly.

"There's a different tenor in the class, a gravity attached to the girls. They've been more feminized in the boys' eyes," Ivanyi said. "These girls are reading Jane Austen novels in class. For them, chivalry hasn't gone out of style."

MadMonarchist said...: When I was in school we actually had to attend an etiguette class, it wasn't the most professional thing but better than nothing I suppose. It was also a private school which is always a different kettle of fish. I also grew up with a mother and a sister who would have thought any man barbaric who did not open doors for them.; March 3, 2010 at 4:16:00 AM EST
Enbrethiliel said...: +JMJ+

I work with high school and elementary school students every day, and I second the return of etiquette classes in schools! If other basics like good grammar and good study habits aren't picked up by osmosis, then why do we imagine that good manners will be?; March 3, 2010 at 10:06:00 AM EST
Julygirl said...: I just saw in my local paper a photo of one of the local Brownie troops having just completed a class in etiquette. Never too soon, and long overdue!; March 3, 2010 at 12:02:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: Wonderful! If only all teachers insisted on civility in the classroom.

Juliana
mercifuljuliana.wordpress.com
teaandetiquette.wordpress.com; March 3, 2010 at 1:16:00 PM EST