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Social historian Prof. Hugh Cunningham explains why, in the Western world, schooling became universal and compulsory in the second half of the 19th century. He says that imparting knowledge was actually quite low on the list of priorities and that – contrary to received wisdom – schooling was rarely a route to pupils' empowerment.

Photo: Children having a lesson at a London Infants School in 1890. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)