poor within its parish, such that all able-bodied people would be able to find work, and the church would provide for the needy. Most particularly, the ideals expressed in The Book of Discipline had a lasting impact in the area of education reform. At the time, Scotland was considered to be one of the more educationally backward nations in Europe. If the proposals in The Book of Discipline had been adopted, it would have become the first European nation to introduce compulsory universal basic education.