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Pandemics and education: A historical review
Author(s) -
Spielman Andrew I.,
SunavalaDossabhoy Gulshan
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/jdd.12615
Subject(s) - plague (disease) , pandemic , smallpox , quarantine , public health , public education , empire , covid-19 , history , health education , political science , economic growth , medicine , geography , ancient history , virology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , vaccination , public administration , nursing , disease , pathology , economics
Major pandemics have tremendous effects on society. They precipitated the early decline of the Western Roman Empire and helped spread Christianity. There are countless such examples of infectious diseases altering the course of history. The impact of epidemics on education however is less well documented. This present historical account of the past 800 years looks specifically at how some aspects of education were shaped from the early medieval epidemics such as leprosy and the Black Plague to the Spanish Flu and COVID‐19. Leprosy changed religious education, and the Black Plague may have contributed to the rise of medical schools, hospitals, public health education, and led to the implementation of lazarettos and the quarantine. The smallpox epidemic helped usher in public health education for immunization, while the 1918 Spanish Flu precipitated the rise of education by correspondence, and recently COVID‐19 has catapulted remote digital learning to the forefront of higher education.