From the earliest recorded times, the Altlandic people have always prized learning and held those who possess it in the greatest respect. Even greater respect is had for those who, in addition to possessing learning, are willing to devote their time and energy to diffusing it and passing it on to others, especially to the rising generation. Hence, provision has always been made for education, which is held to be one of the most sacred tasks of humanity. Further, Altlandic custom has always recognized that the primary responsibility for the education of the rising generation rests in the hands of parents and is a part of their more general responsibility to give their children a suitable upbringing. This is consonant with the general conviction that the most important aspect of education is moral, and that a clever person armed with great knowledge and sharp skills but without a sound moral training and the wisdom it inculcates is bound to become, far from an asset to the community, rather a menace to it. Nonetheless, the cultivation of intellect, being essential to the prudence required for the effective application of moral courage and wisdom, has never been neglected. Indeed, moral and intellectual education are seen as being indispensible to each other and are never separated from one another or made to compete for time and resources, for a sound character is certainly necessary for the acquisition of knowledge and skill, while knowledge is needed to inform the moral judgement and skill is required to carry the results of such judgement into practice in the direction of affairs, both in the state and in the daily life of its ordinary citizens, all of whom eventually bear responsibility for their own welfare and that of others.

         Altlandic tradition has always recognized, however, that not all education, not even all cultivation of intellect, is necessarily academic, nor best carried out in schools. Therefore, schooling forms only a part of the general educational scheme which prevails in this country. Since Altland is governed primarily by custom, positive law being enacted only in those instances when the reliance upon custom alone seems inadequate to secure the common good, such laws pertaining to education are few in number and general in scope. These laws presently require all Altlanders to submit to and pass three examinations known as "Scrutinies." In about half the provinces, the form of these scrutinies is determined by a central authority for the whole province; in the other half it is determined locally. In both cases, custom favors adapting the actual administration of the examinations to the particular circumstances of those to be examined. Thus, for example, in some cases certain parts of the Scrutinies are conducted in written rather than in oral form, although oral examinations are the rule.

         The First Scrutiny: For the last one hundred and fifty years, the law has required that all children of normal intelligence be taught to read at some time before the age of eight. Parents may choose to fulfill this repsonsibility as they see fit, but local authorities have by custom and law the authority and the duty to see that it is somehow carried out, and hence require all childred to exhibit their reading skills to persons in the commuity designated as "Assessors of Literacy." Since the vast majority of Altlandic citizens profess one form or another of institutionalized religion, most often Assessors appointed from among the clergy to examine the children of the adherents of their religion. For the children of those few Altlandic people who do not profess any socially structured religion, similarly unaffiliate persons of sufficient knowldege and sound judgement are whenever possible appointed the Assessors. The principal reason for this is that another subject upon which children are examined at both assessment is ethics, their grasp of the standards of personal behavior which are a part of their relgious traditions and which are required for the perpetuation of public peace and the security of persons and property. At the first scrutiny, it is required that they know the difference between right and wrong, that they are away of the probable consequences of certain types of behavior, and that they understand the principle of fairness.

         The Second Scrutiny: In addition to this, all children of normal intelligence are required to have mastered all arithmetic operations by the age of fifteen, at which time they are examined on this subject by officially appointed Assessors. In the moral education part of the Second Scrutiny the children are expected to exhibit a more developed and nuanced kind of moral reasoning than in the first, one which proceeds rationally from sound general principles and is able to arrive at defensible judgements which apply these princples to particular cases. Further, they are expected demonstrate a solid grasp of their duties to their communities and their nation, as well as of their natural rights as human beings and their legal privileges as Altlanders who live within a particular social and geographical setting.

         The Third Scrutiny: During the twenty-second year of life or shortly thereafter, finally, all young people must submit to a third and final scrutiny, in which young men and women, as a condition of assuming the status of legal adults, are required to show that they have a fundamental knowledge of Altlandic history and government, of the financial system, and of the rights and obligations of marriage and parenthood. At this scrutiny they are also required to show evidence that they have been prepared for and are capable of engaging in some form of gainful employment, and that they are also capable of rendering assistance to their local governing authority or to the sovereign in the event of local or national emergency. For healthy males, this usually means the capacity to serve in the Forces; for females, it means the ability to render auxilliary services to the Forces or to move into and exercise, for the duration of the emergency, certain economic and social roles normally carried out by men; for those whose health prevents them from rendering those forms of service normally required of their sex, it means that they must have identified and prepared themselves for some form of alternative service which their physical, mental, or psychological limitations do not preclude.

         Whenever a young person fails to pass these any of these three universal scrutinies, the local governing authorities intervene to assist such a person or his parents to remedy the deficiency. This assistance is rendered until the person in question is able to pass the scrutiny, or until it is determined that he or she is permanently incapable of doing so. Those, however, who never pass all three scrutinies are never permitted to assume full adult legal status in Altlandic society, and may in some cases actually become permanent wards of the local governing authorities or of the Crown. Succesful completion of the Third Scrutiny has come to be the Altlandic culture's primary rite of passage, and is accompanied by various ceremonies and celebrations specific to different parts of the country. However much local customs in this regard may vary from place to place, one component of these observances is nonetheless invariable: the public taking of an oath of allegiance to Crown and Country and the consequent conferral of "The White Ribbon," an emblem of full adulthood which is worn whenever Altlanders are engaged in publicly carrying out their civic duties.

         Hence, basic standards for literacy, numeracy, ethical judgement, and the capacity for effective participation in adult society are clearly set forth and universally applied. The means, however, by which these standards are met by individuals and the extent to which any particular individual exceeds them are left to the discretion of the parents and, eventually, of the individual himself. Hence, under Altlandic custom and law, many different kinds of educational instituions and programs flourish, including very exacting academic programs and apprenticeships independently organized, administered, and regulated by recognized masters of the various crafts, trades, professions, and academic disciplines. Formal academic education carried on for those who have passed their Second Scrutiny is also organized as the activity of a guild, even when it is purely academic. Hence, those who have reached the age of fourteen (and passed the Second Scrutiny) are classed as apprentices; those who have reached the age of twenty-one (and have passed the Third Scrutiny), as journeymen; and those who have attained the age of twenty-eight, and have produced work in their calling whose quality satisfies the requirements of the guild of masters, themselves are accorded the status of masters.

         According to this system, therefore, anyone who proves satisfactory to the parents of a child may instruct that child up to the time when he passes the Second Scrutiny; thereafter, by custom, journeymen (called bachelors in the academic guilds) instruct apprentices, and masters supervise and instruct journeymen. Those engaged in instructing children and apprentices stand in loco parentis in all that pertains to their charges while under their care or supervision, and masters retain considerable authority over journeymen both in what pertains to their work and in what pertains to their peronsal conduct, at least insofar as such authority does not abridge the privileges of legal majority, which all journeymen (or bachelors) must have attained before being admitted to that status.

         Guilds of masters and journeymen providing instruction in academic fields to persons who have passed their Second Scrutiny are commonly referred to as "colleges." Associations of such guilds providing academic instruction to those who have passed their Third Scrutiny are commonly called "universities." Hence, colleges which are constitutent parts of a university may also have under their care and tutelage a number of young people preparing to pass their Third Scrutiny, even as they are also pursuing more purely academic courses of study. Such institutions therefore may admit and instruct two kinds of student: pupils in the status of apprentice, striving to be admitted to the status of bachelor, and those with the status of bachelor scholars who are striving to be admitted as masters. The degree of doctor is awarded by universities in recognition of a master whose eminence in his field, in the judgement of his peers, warrants the belief that he has much to teach even other masters. It is therefore conferred rarely and only on truly oustanding scholars. A similar distinction, that of "Past Master" is awarded in the commercial craft guilds, while in some of the professional guilds (law and medicine, for example) the title of "Doctor" is also conferred in accordance with the learned nature of these professions.

         In view of these arrangments, it is normal for Altlandic youth who are intent on an academic career to go to a university at around the age of fifteen for the purpose of embarking on a seven-year course of study leading to the passing of the Third Scrutiny and the attainment of the status of bachelor. As a result, there is practically no "college preparatory" education given outside of the university colleges, although there are several distinguished special schools throughout the country whose purpose is to train up the most intellectually promising children for admission as pupils at the colleges after they have passed their Second Scrutiny. Further, because many parts of Altland are sparsely populated and devoted largely to agriculture and husbandry, many of these schools are necessarily boarding schools, or at least have large boarding departments housing children between the ages of eight and fifteen.

         There are at present eleven universities in the country, three of them -- two the oldest and all three the most highly respected -- "royal universities" under the special patronage and protection of the crown, with His Majesty, George II Victor (himself admitted master at Komdn), filling the role of Chancellor, exercising his authority through appointed Vice-Chancellors, Of the eight remaining universities, four are under religious auspices and serve as training centers for the clergy as well as offering instruction in secular subjects. In addition, there are two institutes of applied science which are free-standng colleges and function in many respects like universities, and two military academies (one for naval and one for land forces) similarly structured.