Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

In the lowest court the laity greatly
outnumbered the ministers; in all the others the two
were equal. This gradation of Church power, which
had its bases in the Kirk Sessions distributed all
over the land, found its unity in the General
Assembly; and the concentrated wisdom and
experience of the whole Church were thus
available for the decision of the weightiest causes.
The Reformer no more overlooked the general
tuition of the people than he did their
indoctrination in the faith. He sketched a scheme of
education more, complete and thorough than any
age or country had ever yet been privileged to
enjoy. He proposed that a school should be planted
in every parish, that a college should be erected in
every notable town, and a university established in
the three chief cities of Scotland.[2] He demanded
that the nobility and gentry should send their sons
to these seminaries at their own expense, and that
provision should be made for the free education of
the entire youth of the humbler classes, so that not
a child in all Scotland but should be thoroughly
instructed, and the path of all departments of
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