Which movement argues that education is an instrument for societal regeneration?

• A. Renaissance
• B. Humanism
• C. Chantry schools
• D. Northern or Social Humanism

Answer: (D)

The idea being tested is that education can reform society by shaping moral character and civic virtue. Northern or Social Humanism champions this view, arguing that schooling should go beyond personal knowledge to renew the whole social order—transforming individuals to cultivate better leaders, citizens, and institutions, and reformed religious life and social practices in the process. This emphasis on education as a tool for societal regeneration distinguishes it from the broader Renaissance focus on reviving classical learning for its own sake, and from Chantry schools, which were mainly concerned with training clergy rather than driving wide social reform. By pairing humanist study with Christian ethics, Northern or Social Humanism places education at the heart of rebuilding society.