694 paul f. grendler
Jesuits to teach in it. however, independent masters continued to domi-
nate brescian education and may have done the same in Verona.57
this is the outline of Venetian pre-university education over four centu-
ries. there are few substantial disagreements or differences in interpreta-
tion, because there are relatively few studies. Much remains to be learned
about the catholic Reformation religious order schools in Venice, notably
those of the Somaschans, as well as those of the medieval religious orders.
practically nothing is known about the state sestieri schools in the years
between the late 16th century and the late 18th. the same is true for the
Scuola di San Marco. and as noted earlier, the vernacular literature and
abbaco schools and their curricula have been largely ignored. above all,
there is a large question that may be nearly impossible to answer: what
did students take from school into life?
Jewish Schoolingthere is very little information about the education of linguistic and
religious minorities. the Jews are an example. the only quantitative
data about teachers in the Venetian ghetto comes from a 1797 census. it
listed eight male school teachers and six female teachers among the 1626
inhabitants but offered no information about their pupils and what they
taught.58 nevertheless, bits of information from earlier centuries suggest
the pattern of Jewish schooling.
it is likely that Venetian Jews relied chiefly on independent masters,
men and a handful of women, from the 16th century onward. While asso-
ciations may have sponsored some schools, the government of the Jewish
community did not, so far as is known. teachers taught both hebrew and
italian grammar and reading at the elementary level, and most boys prob-
ably left school at the age of about 13. those wishing to pursue advanced
training in hebrew studies had to find a rabbi or scholar to teach them. a
proposal in 1604 to establish an advanced talmudic academy in conegliano
57 for brescia, see agosti, “la tradizione pedagogica,” pp. 326–27, 331–33; for Verona see
Marchi, “istituzioni scolastiche,” p. 55; and orlandi, “Scuole ecclesiastiche,” p. 294.
58 Marino berengo, “Gli ebrei veneziani alla fine del Settecento,” in Italia judaica. Gli ebrei
in Italia dalla segregazione alla prima emancipazione, atti del iii convegno internazionale,
tel aviv, 15–20 giugno 1986 (Rome, 1989), pp. 9–30, p. 12. although Gino luzzatto first
discovered this census, his account is brief and differs somewhat from berengo’s fuller
account. luzzatto, “un’anagrafe degli ebrei di Venezia del settembre 1797,” in Scritti in
memoria di Sally Mayer (1875–1953), saggi sull’ebraismo italiano ( Jerusalem/Milan, 1956),
pp. 194–98.