Education
Early in the novel we learn that though the people of Nowhere are learned there is no formal schooling for children. Although Oxford still exists as a place to study the ‘Art of Knowledge’, we learn that people are free to choose their own form of education. As for educating children, we learn that children in Nowhere ‘often make up parties, and come to play in the woods for weeks together in the summer time, living in tents, as you see. We rather encourage them to do it; they learn to do things for themselves, and get to know the wild creatures; and you see the less they stew inside houses the better for them.’
Here Morris breaks away from the traditional institutions of 19th century England. Learning through nature is the best suited lifestyle for this agrarian society.
Read more about this topic: News From Nowhere
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—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
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—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)