History of Education

Education in the Classical Era

• Module focuses on education in the Greek and Roman periods.
• Examines historical influence on present education and lessons from the past.

Early Educational Systems

• Early systems taught religion and traditions.
• Ancient Egypt: Temple schools taught religion, writing, sciences, ${\text{mathematics}}$, and architecture.
• India: Priests led education, teaching Buddhist doctrines.
• China: Emphasized philosophy, poetry, and religion based on ancestors' teachings.
• Chinese invented civil service exam system.

Education in Ancient Egypt

• Priests controlled culture and education, teaching humanities and practical subjects.
• Formal schools for scribes and priests' trainees.
• Writing schools started at age five, practical training at 13 or 14.
• Priestly training began in temple colleges at 17.
• Teaching was rigid, aiming for uniformity; drill and memorization were common.

Education in Mesopotamia

• Similar to Egypt: practical, aimed to train scribes and priests.
• Extended to law, medicine, and astrology.
• Schools for priests were numerous.
• Priests dominated intellectual and educational fields.
• Methods: memorization, oral repetition, copying, individual instruction.
• Long, rigorous education with harsh discipline.

Education in North China

• Secular, aimed to improve morals and duty.
• Curriculum: harmonious human relations, rituals, and music.
• Formal colleges and schools existed by 1000 BC.
• Learning from bamboo books, moral training by example.
• Education seen as individual development.

The Hindu Tradition

• Religion was central, influencing prayer, worship, philosophy, morality, law, and government.
• Vedic literature study was crucial.
• Stages of instruction: elementary at home, formal schooling marked by ritual for higher castes.
• Preceptor gave free education, pupil tended fires, did housework, cared for cattle.
• Study: Vedic mantras, phonetics, sacrifices, grammar, astronomy, prosody, and etymology.
• Education varied by caste; priestly class had syllabus of Hindu scriptures.
• Students wore simple clothes, ate plain food, and lived a celibate life.
• Learning lasted 12 years or more; advanced students joined philosophical discussions.
• Women were generally taught at home.
• Methods included parables, catechism, and memorization.

The Jewish Education

• Predominantly familiar, with mothers playing a key role.
• Children often followed parents' vocations.
• Moral and religious education emphasized.
• Parents taught children about commandments at all times (Deut. 6:6-7).
• Education was rigid, often with corporal punishment (Proverbs 13:24).
• Discipline was seen as love and guidance.
• Great masters had disciples who learned from them, moving from place to place.

Education in Sparta

• Military exploits were highly valued, with less emphasis on culture and beauty.
• Education from age 7 to 20.
• Girls prepared for roles as wives and mothers with severe discipline.
• Sickly children were eliminated.
• Boys enrolled in formations, subjected to garrison life and military preparation.
• Lightly clothed, slept on bare ground, poorly fed, encouraged to steal.
• Rigorous discipline hardened them for combat.
• Apprenticed to military craft, using arms and maneuvering in formation.
• Trained to obey superiors, lie, steal, and dissimulate towards foreigners.

Lessons from Spartan Education

• Promoted military prominence and discipline.
• Trained youths to endure a severe life.
• However, lacked cultural and intellectual achievements.
• A nation focused solely on war may not survive.

Education in Athens

• Shift from military training to civil life.
• Military was secondary to civil and cultural aspects.
• Reflected increasing democratization.
• Athenian education mainly for boys.
• Girls were taught moral and domestic training at home.
• Three types of schools for boys:
  • letters school (reading and writing)
  • music school (lyric, poetry, lyre)
  • gymnastic school (physical training)
• Learners attended letters and music schools in the morning and gymnastic school in the afternoon.
• Moral aspect of education was highly valued.
• Poems of Solon and Homer were standard texts.
• No texts; teachers dictated lessons, pupils wrote on wax tablets.
• Pedagogue escorted boys to school and maintained discipline.
• Curriculum: reading, writing, music, poetry, ${\text{mathematics}}$, and gymnastics.
• Schooling till 18, then military training till 20.

The Coming of the Sophists

• Sophists were itinerant teachers who sold knowledge.
• They were the sole source of higher education in advanced Greek cities for about 70 years.
• Taught men how to speak and argue in public debate.
• Sophistic education was sought after due to changes in Athenian society.
• Contributed to grammar, rhetoric, and logic.
• Initiated a method of higher education anticipating the modern humanistic approach.

Education in Sparta and Athens Compared

• Sparta aimed at military superiority; Athens shifted to civility.
• Sparta's militarism was common then: survival of the fittest.
• Athens developed nobility, creating a need for peace to enjoy wealth, sowing democracy's seeds.
• Sparta was utterly destroyed; Athens survived the holocaust.
• Athens produced great scholars, poets, historians, and mathematicians.
• Knowledge is superior to force; morality builds a nation.

Lessons for Present Day

• Sparta shows value of training and early athletic identification.
• Lack of morality destroys society (Sparta).
• Killing/abandoning disabled children is evil.
• Athens: Moral education and accommodating others' ideas are critical.
• Free atmosphere essential for education and civilization to thrive.