Ancient Education PDF

CHAPTER 1 The contents are broad, indefinite and unwritten ritualistic and prescriptive. No grades or grading system ANCIENT, ORIENTAL, SUMERIAN,...

CHAPTER 1 The contents are broad, indefinite and unwritten ritualistic and prescriptive. No grades or grading system ANCIENT, ORIENTAL, SUMERIAN, EARLY or levels of instruction given to learners. EGYPTIAN, AND JEWISH EDUCATION There was no financing involved since there was no teacher to pay, no learning materials to buy, and no Education has always been a social process by school building to construct because education was means of which a community, society or nation has strictly informal. sought to transmit to the emergent question, those traditional aspects of its culture which were considered Methods of Instruction fundamental and vital for its own stability and survival. 1. All instruction was done informally. EDUCATION DURING THE ANCIENT PERIOD Enculturation, that is imposing the group characteristics, skills, knowledge and attitudes upon the children. EDUCATION FOR CONFORMITY (Primitive Education) 2. Observation and imitation. Education was through show me or tell me methods. Aims of Primitive Education The main goal was merely to survive and to 3. Simple telling and demonstration. This is conform to the tribe to each it belonged. Education similar to lecture-demonstration nowadays. The parents among people was directed to ensuring the survival of told their children what they ought to do and then the group, clan, or tribe through training of the young in demonstrated how to do it. skills and arts necessary to maintain life. The people thought that the ways they were doing things were the 4. Participation. The children participated in the best and they wanted to preserve such and be transmitted work of their parents and they learned. Participation was to the incoming generation. Thus, another aim of almost obligatory for everyone in the performance of primitive education was preservation and transmission religious rituals and ceremonies. of traditions. Agencies of Education Some of the characteristics of primitive culture are: 1. Home. There was no formal agency for 1. Relatively simple; education, the family was the center for practical 2. Relatively narrow social and cultural contact; training. The father taught the boys duties of securing 3. Extraordinary conservative and prone to life, while the mother instructed the girls of household superstitions; management. 4. The organization of primitive life is tribal not political so that one function of education is to enable 2. Environment. The environment provided the one to live with his relatives, and primitive people a very good place of learning. For 5. Absence from primitive cultures of reading example, catching a fishing through a wooden pointed and writing. object. Making fire using stones or wood. Types of Education The Effects: 1. Vocational and Domestic Training. This 1. Culture was passed on and preserved for includes practical activities necessary to satisfy the generation. immediate needs to stay alive, for example, for food, 2. Tribes were able to meet their economic needs clothing and shelter. and were able to survive. 3. People was able to adjust and adopt to 2. Religion (animistic). Religious education political and social life. consisted in learning how to participate in ritualistic practices to please or to appease the unseen spirits Outstanding Contribution to Education roaming around. The primitive man started the rudiments of education from which evolved the modern educational system. 1  The concept of education for individuality furnished the first real conception of life. Stability was achieved but lacking in progressiveness. Education for Social Stability (Oriental Education) Education for Business Development Aims of Education (Sumerian Education) Education aimed to recapitulate the past in order Sumeria is situated in the plain of Shinar, that the individual may not vary from it or advanced adjacent to and containing the lower basin of the Tigris beyond it. and Euphrates rivers which flow into the Persian Gulf. This place was presently within Iraq. The Sumerians China: To preserve and perpetuate ancestral were Indo-Europeans. They settled first at the lower end tradition. of the rivers about 5000 B.C. At about 4000 B.C., the India: To preserve traditions of the caste system Sumerian settlers began the reclamation of the swamp and Religious beliefs. around the mouths of the rivers. Their priests were Egypt: To preserve religious traditions. commercial people. Their king called patesi was there Persia: To strengthen military traditions. temporal as well as spiritual leader. Types of Education: Aims of Sumerian Education Moral Training/Social Training of customs, To train the scribes to do ecclesiastical work in duties and polite behavior and ethical aspect of the temples that were mostly writing. The Sumerians discipline. Theoretical/Religious Training in language were commercial people and they needed bookkeepers to and literature and religious beliefs: It involves record their multifarious business transactions. Since the elementary and higher levels. Formal education is priests were also the business leaders, the scribes and the directed toward mastery of the languages that were bookkeepers were mostly the same persons doing the technically difficult. Mastery of the approved form of recording. conduct was embodied in a sacred literature and the imposition of conduct upon all the people. Types of Education (Calderon, 1998) Methods of Instructions Writing Education. Their system of writing was cuneiform. This consist of wedge-shaped Schoolwork is chiefly memorization of text; the characters. They different forms of wedges method is direct imitation. It consisted of being told conveyed ideas. The children pressed the what to do, to feel or to think. The methods, however, cuneiform characters into soft clay and which such trial and error, conscious imitation, indoctrination, were then baked in the sun to become tablets. emphasized what to think and not how to think. Many of these tablets were preserved and handed down to us contained many facts about Agencies of Education ancient history. Cuneiform writing was Sumeria’s outstanding contribution to education Home is the center for most ethical and social and especially to civilization. This form of training. Other agencies were pagoda, temple, under the writing was later used by the Akkadians, trees or covered sheds. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Egyptians. The Effects Mathematical Education. There was a little Has influenced the inclusion of liberal education arithmetic most likely included counting and in all school levels. operations of low digit numbers. Stressed the complimentary development of the Language Education. There was little grammar human person for the social transformation of but the great bulk of the work was giving names the State. to many things, thus enriching their vocabulary. Intertwined the holistic integration of human personality for his cultural improvement. 2  Vocational Education. This was mainly so became one of the longest lasting civilizations in apprenticeship for the workers, most likely the history. slaves. Professional Education. The discovery of The mighty Nile River was the lifeblood of surgical instruments indicated that the ancient Egypt. Every year, it overflowed and deposited a Sumerians studied and practiced medicine and strip of rich, black soil along each bank. The fertile soil surgery. They also had law, astronomy and enabled farmers to raise huge supply of food. The architecture. Egyptian called their country Kemet, meaning Black Art Education. They had poetry, epics, essays, Land, after the dark soil. The Nile also provided water fables, music, jewelry designing, sculpture, for irrigation and was Egypt’s main transportation route. architecture, etc. For the reasons, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus Agencies of Education called Egypt “the gift of the Nile”. Archeology discovered that the school existed in Sumeria around 2000 B.C. It consisted of six rooms with walls 8 to 9 feet high. However, home was the first learning place for manual skills and social standards. Aims of Education Another school agency of education for the Sumerians is the temple schools. These schools were more elaborate To train the scribes was the most coveted than the lower schools. They had big halls where the profession at that time. Scribes were in great demand to scribes and young priests studied. On the other hand, the record the transactions of ecclesiastical and commercial effectiveness of the apprentice schools was evidenced business. Religion aimed to inculcate in the minds of the by the highly skilled craftsmen in beautiful art works in learners proper respect for the god and the pharaoh who gold, solver, and copper, sculpture, architecture, and in was also considered as god. There was also utilitarian. metal works. The father wanted to transfer to his son his skills in his occupation and the mother to her daughter the skills in Methods of Instruction keeping house. Preservation of cultural patterns was also another aim of Egyptian education. Those in charge The method of instruction was mainly imitation of Egyptian education, the nobles and the priests, wanted and copying. The students just imitated copying what to preserve their cultural patterns, the Egyptian the teacher had written. This was followed by minimal civilization. explanation. The main work of the learners was the preparation of tablets that dealt with their lessons. The Types of Education pupil who failed to prepare his tablets was flogged by the school teacher called “School Father” or umnia. Religious education as predominant as the They had stern discipline. The pupil was called school priests wanted to inculcate in the mind of the learners son. The brighter ones acted as assistant teachers or proper respect for the gods, moral conduct, and a monitors. preparation for life after death. Vocational-professional education was also predominant because they wanted The Effects perpetuate the artistic skills that embellished their temples and other buildings and their wonderful Through the cuneiform of writing, it conserved achievements in engineering and architecture. Military the early civilization’s origins beside being the medium Education, on the other hand, was only for the sons of of instruction and commercial language of the ancient the nobles. world. Education for public administration was for Education for Public Administration those who aspired for positions in the government (Early Egyptian Education) because the pharaoh needed many assistants to implement his desires. Priesthood education was for Ancient Egypt was the birthplace of one of the those who aspired to become priests. Their home arts world’s first civilizations. This advanced culture aroused education was largely vocational and offered to women. about 5,000 years ago in the Nile River Valley in The Egyptian woman was accorded higher regard than in Northeastern Africa. It thrived for over 2,000 years and other Eastern countries at that time. They could even inherit the throne. The writing, reading and language 3 education was another type of Egyptian education. The Built great cities in which many skilled Egyptians used the hieroglyphics form of writing (from architects, doctors, engineers, painters and the Greek word hieros “sacred” and glypho, to carve). sculptors worked. These were pictures or signs that represented ideas. The Built pyramid as tombs for their rulers. hieroglyphics were great in number but later they were simplified into what was called hieratic (sacred) and The Downfall of Egypt later still into a form of demotic. After centuries of progress, Egypt declined due Agencies of Education to refusal of the priestly class to change the accepted rules and practices. The old prevented the young from Education was under the control of religion. learning further because of apprenticeship. The This was a part of early Egyptian culture. The home incapacity of the Egyptian mind to ascend from the provided for basic education. Home skills and rudiments practical and empirical to scientific and universal was of right and wrong were taught at home. The temple the chief cause. Conceptual thinking, reasoning, creative schools were for higher education, especially for the imagination, and intellectual curiosity were foreign to professions such as engineering, architecture, medicine, them. They saw in knowledge only as a means of dentistry, surveying, etc. practical advancement and love knowledge for its own sake. Military schools were only for those sons of the nobles purposely for defense and aggression. Those aspiring for a public office and for those taking up law, it was taught in court school by a corps, Pharaoh’s corps of Education for Discipline (Jewish Education) public officials, part of function of priesthood. Vocational schools were schools of arts and trades. The keynote of Jewish education appears as early as Genesis 18:19 in the revelation made to Methods of instructions Abraham: “For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep Apprentice was the dominant method especially the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement.” The in the lower and vocational schools. Dictation, same note runs throughout the Old Testament in various memorization, copying, imitation, repetition were injunctions: “Train up a child in a way he should go, standard practices in the teaching especially in the lower and when he is old, he will depart from it.” (Proverb grades. Observation and participation were also standard 22:6) and “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of practices of teaching in the vocational courses. Although wisdom,” (Proverb 9:10). some lay teachers allowed to teach in the lower schools, the teacher in the temple and higher schools were always The aim of education was ethical and religious. priests and scribes. Flogging was used to penalize failure The education of the youth was an obligation of the to learn. parents, and was intimately associated with the performance of ritual observances with learning the Effects/Contributions Mosaic Law, both from which were regarded as essential to the survival of the Jews as a people. The Ancient Egyptians made outstanding contributions to the development of civilization. The method of instruction was oral and They created the world’s first national learning by practice, corporal punishment was regarded government, basic forms of arithmetic and a as an essential element in training, “He that spareth the 365-day calendar. rod hateth his son.” (Proverb 13:24). Development of geometrical measurement and surveying. CHAPTER 2 Invented a form of picture writing called hieroglyphics. ANCIENT CHINESE EDUCATION Invented papyrus, a paper-like writing materials EARLY HINDU EDUCATION made from the stems of papyrus plants. EARLY HEBREW EDUCATION Developed the first religions to emphasize life after death. ANCIENT CHINESE EDUCATION 4  Ancient China followed a policy of isolation; between father and child; between husband and wife; they have no fear for invasion, for they have no intention between older brother and younger brother, and between to conquer. This country did not care to associate with older friend and a younger one. His doctrine of the rest of the world but instead, desired to live unto self. submission are subject to sovereign; son to father; wife The Great Wall of China was built for protection against to husband; younger brother to older brother, and invaders. Their education was mainly concerned with younger friend to an older one. His five cardinal virtues memorizing the works of Confucius, a great religious are benevolence or universal charity; justice; conformity leader, who gave the Chinese people rules for right to establish usage; prudence or rectitude of heart and living. He wanted to prove his teaching by practice. mind, and fidelity or pure sincerity. Another aim of Virtue is learned by careful observance of ceremony and China education is cultural development. This is to by practice of the golden rule, which Confucius phrased: maintain their cultural pattern and usages. Civil service “What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do is one of the China education’s aims. This to prepare the to other.” Gradually, over the centuries, Chinese turned students to take the state examinations to qualify for to Confucius, first as wise teacher, then as religious higher status in life and for positions in the government. prophet, and finally as god. The teachings of Confucius Civil service examination was considered outstanding lived on and increased in influence, especially among contribution of early China. Almost all countries of the educated class of Chinese. world have adopted this today. When the child is able to feed itself, it is taught Types of Education to use the right hand. When able to speak, a boy is taught to respond boldly and clearly; a girl, submissively and 1. Ideological and moral education. This where low. At six years, the child is taught the number... at the Confucian relationships, doctrine of eight, when going in and out at the gate or door, and submission and the cardinal virtues. going to their tablemats to eat and drink; they are 2. Language education. The Chinese language has required to follow their elders; teaching of yielding to to be mastered and memorized for it has any others is now begun. At ten, the boy goes to a characters. schoolmaster outside his house where he learns to write 3. Vocational and Domestic education. Trade the different classes of characters and to calculate. At skills had to be acquired by men while women thirteen, he learns music, repeat the odes, and dance the focused on domestic skills for they have to serve Ko. When a full-grown lad, he dances the Hsiang and men and bear children. learns archery and chariot driving. At thirty, he takes a 4. Civic education. This type of education was for wife and begins to attend to the business proper. A girl, those who would like to serve in the at the age of ten, ceases to go out. Her governess teaches government. her to use pleasing speech and correct manners, to be 5. Military education. This was for defense and docile and obedient, to handle the hempen fibers and the aggression purpose. China at one time was a big cocoons, to weave silks and fashion filets. She learns al empire due to its neighboring territories. women’s work, to make garments, to watch the sacrifices, to serve the liquors and saucers, to fill the Methods of Instructions various stands and dishes with pickles and brines and at twenty, she is married. 1. The Confucian method. Teaching was not confined in the classroom. Outdoor teaching was Ancestors worship was also one important part prevalent. of their lives. The method of learning consisted of 2. Direct and exact imitation. This was especially repetition and memorization, or “backing the book.” The true in writing many Chinese characters. selection for government employment was made by 3. Memorization. Under some teachers, the whole rigorous system of examinations. Through this system, time was devoted to memorization. the civil service examination was originated. In order to hold any official position, the Aims of Education following books had to be mastered: One of the aims of early Chinese education is The Classics: ideological and ethical or moral learning. Education was 1. The Shu King (Book of History) – an outline of focused on Confucius five fundamental relationships. history before the time of Confucius. These are relationships between sovereign and subject; 5  2. The Shi King (Book of Odes) – an outline of the ancient law books, the epics Ramayana and the poetry. Mahabarata, and the Puranas firmly established the 3. The Yi King (Book of Changes) – an outline of Hindu tradition in India. Each of these texts was prophecy and augury. compiled over hundred of years. 4. Li Ki King (Book of Rights) – an outline of social etiquette. The Six Schools of Philosophy 5. The Hsiao King (Book of Filial Piety) Many schools of Hindu thought have developed The Four Books: in India. The six most prominent schools are: 1. The Ta Hsio (Great Learning) 2. The Chung Yung (Doctrine of the Mean) 1. Nyaya – deals with logic 3. The Lun Yu (Saying of Confucius) 2. Vaisheshika – concerns the nature of the world 4. The Meng-Tze (Sayings of Mencius) 3. Samkhya –examines the origin and evolution of the universe Taoism (Path of Reason) was the second Chinese 4. Yoga – is a set of mental and physical exercises philosophy for living. This was attributed to Lao-tse. His designed to free the body so that the soul can only works, the Tao Te-Ching, translated “The Book of unite with Brahman the Way and the Virtue that comes therefrom,” consists 5. Purva-mimamsa – interprets the Vedas of eighty-one stanzas, or brief aphorisms which 6. Vedanta – interprets the Vedas scrutinize life and its purposes. Contents To Be Studied EARLY HINDU EDUCATION 1. Literature for the Brahmans. Vedas is the oldest History Hindu scriptures and the oldest sacred writings of any major religion. Veda means knowledge. The Excavations in the Indus Valley in the 1920s Vedas are as follows: revealed the existence of an ancient civilization which 1.1 Rig Veda – Veda of Psalms and Verses flourished between 3000 and 2000 BC at Mohenjo-Daro 1.2 YajurVeda – Veda of Sacred Formulas and Harrapa, now in Pakistan. The ancient Indus Valley 1.3 Sama Veda – Veda of Chants people probably worshipped a Mother Goddess and a 1.4 Atharva Veda – Veda of Charms male deity, the forerunner of Shiva in later Hinduism. 1.5 The Angas – volume of Hindu scientific and When tribes speaking in Aryan language settled in philosophical knowledge northwest India in about 1500 BC, the Indus cities were 1.6 The Code of Manu – a compilation of ethics, probably in decline. The new settlers probably adopted customs, and traditions. some religious ideas from the earlier inhabitants and 2. Dancing associated with religion. incorporated them into rituals. 3. Sports such as wrestling and archery. Yoga was also practiced for it involves exercise in posture and The Aryan-speakers worshipped spirits of breathing. nature. What is known of their religion comes from the 4. Linguistics, Philosophy and Theology for candidates hymns of the Rig-Veda, composed in stages from around for priesthood. 1500 BC, which praise the spirits controlling natural 5. For Military Training, the use of the horse, elephant forces. The Vedic deities were mostly male, and the and the chariot in war. Mother Goddess concept may have been taken from the 6. Astronomy, History, Grammar, Law, Medicine, Indus Valley people. Among the Vedic deities, Indra, and Mathematics are being studied in college or Mitra and Varuna were important, along with the parishads. Contemporary arithmetical notation including Adityas, Rudra, and Prajapati. In time the first three gods the symbol “O” originated in India. As early as 500 BC, were forgotten but the others gave rise to the Trimurti of the Hindus had developed an algebra even superior to modern Hinduism. Prajapati became Brahma, Rudra that of the Greeks and later disseminated by the Arabs. became Shiva, and one of the Adityas became Vishnu. This has become the outstanding contribution of the These gods came to be represented as a single image. Hindus to education. The Upanishads are the earliest books of Hindu Aims of Education Philosophy, and were begun over 2,700 years ago. During the next 2,000 years, important compositions like 6  ▪ Dharma (Religious and Social Duties) – it is the 2. At 5, the child attended higher schools. Children most important aim that provides value system of Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Pariahs were not for each individual. admitted to intellectual education. ▪ Artha (Livelihood) – earning livelihood by 3. The women were given only domestic education honest means. as their role was only housekeeping, serving ▪ Kama (Good Life) – enjoying good things in life their husbands, bearing children. in moderation. ▪ Moksha – leading the soul toward God and The methods of instructions are more of imitation and achieving release from the cycle of rebirths. memorization. The teachers uttered the words to be learned and the pupils imitated. They repeated the Social Division process until the words to be learned were mastered by the pupils. Likewise, the Vedas that were written mostly India has an ancient system of social divisions in verse lent themselves to memorization. Although the called varna, which may have existed even before the learning was slow, memorization was used extensively references to it in the Vedas. The word varna in and intensively. Hinduism signifies a social category. Early Hebrew Education Social Categories The Hebrews appeared about 4000 BC near □ White Varna (Brahmans/Brahmins) – priests or Sumeria. They were nomadic Semitic tribes who moved scholars with their flocks from oasis to oasis in the Arabian □ Red Varna (Kshatriyas) – rulers, administrators, desert. They first dwelt near Shinar (Sumeria). During soldiers Abraham’s time, they lived in Ur, then Harran in the □ Yellow Varna (Vaisyas) – peasants-farmers, Crescent in 2000 BC and later entered Canaan near the merchants edge of the Mediterranean Sea. They were forced to live □ Black Varna (Sudras) – these were the skilled in Egypt because of famine in Canaan. Through the artisans such as potters, weavers, and basket leadership of Moses, they escaped their slavery from makers, and servants Egypt and languished for many years in Sinai Desert, □ Panchamas/Pariahs or “Untouchables” – ranking now Negev. Then under Joshua’s leadership, they below the sudras, these people did the dirtiest entered Canaan, conquered the people of Jericho and jobs. The upper varnas treated them badly and took land along the Jordan River, a land “flowing with even avoided touching them. They were the milk and honey,” for this land is good only for pasturage most oppressed people in the society. and honey bees. This in now Palestine where the □ Untouchability was abolished by law in Hebrews developed a flourishing culture, which reached India in 1950. The Indian leader and teacher its peak under King David and his son, Solomon about Mahatma Gandhi named the “untouchables” 1000 BC. Harijans (children of God), but they prefer to call themselves dalit (depressed). The countless Due to dissension, apostasy, and misrule by castes of India probably began as occupational weak kings the kingdom was divided. groups. They were gradually placed within the □ The Assyrians conquered Israel, the section held varna system, and ranked according to the by the ten northern tribes. Its people was dignity of work done. Originally each caste had dispersed and banished from history. specific duties, but today people from the □ The Babylonians took Judea, home of the tribes different castes do jobs very different from the of Judah and Benjamin. traditional occupations. In modern times, the □ Sumerians, who drove the Jews to their capital caste system has weakened. Educated Hindus in the Euphrates. nowadays mix freely with people from different □ The Hebrews remained “by the waters of castes. But caste continue to be an influence on Babylon” until the overthrow of Belshazzar by Indian life. Persian and Medean arms in 539 BC. In Babylon, the prophet David bested the King’s Organization of Grades Chaldean diviners and the children were thrown into a fiery furnace. But King Cyrus the Great of 1. The child was taught at home till the age of 5. Persia allowed the remnants of Israel to be 7  repatriated to Jerusalem and to rebuild the The Bible, that fountainhead of so much temple of Solomon. Western tradition and literature. Hebrew’s deliverance or Exodus from Egypt (1250 BC); The Babylonian Exile or Captivity (586 BC), and The CHAPTER 3 Destruction of the Temple of Solomon (70 AD) and the Diaspora (Dispersion of the Jews) are the three great EARLY GREEK EDUCATION crises in the history of Hebrews. They were always ROMAN EDUCATION invaded by their more powerful neighbors, like Rome which conquered them. Their revolt resulted in severe Ancient Greece was the birthplace of Western punishment by Emperor Titus (70 AD). civilization about 2,500 years ago. The magnificent achievements of the ancient Greeks in government, The cultural history of the Jewish people covers about science, philosophy, and the arts continue to influence four millennia during which they experienced both our lives today. prosperity and adversity. They developed ideas, mores, and concepts that made them cling together and endure Greek civilization developed chiefly in small whatever befell them. These ideas, mores, and concepts city-states. A city-state consisted of a city or town and are: the surrounding villages and farmland. The Greek city-states were fiercely independent and often quarreled An omnipotent and righteous Creator, God, who among themselves. But their small size and constant selected the Hebrews as his chosen people. rivalry had certain advantages. Citizens of a city-state A coming of Messiah who would restore the were strongly patriotic, and many citizens took part in Jewish exceptional position lost through public affairs. The most advanced city-states established faithfulness. the world’s first democratic governments. The Holiness and obedience on the part of the Jews best-known city-states were Athens and Sparta. as a condition of their restoration. The methods of instruction were compulsory, SPARTAN EDUCATION oral, memorization, exposition and temple worship. Education was compulsory. The boys were taught in Sparta, also called Lacedaemon, the capital of school and the girls at home. In the elementary, the Laconia, was at one time the most powerful city-state of spoken word was used for lack of writing materials. an ancient Greek. It was famous for its military power Writing was done on was with stylus. Pupils were and its loyal soldiers. The greatest honor that could come required to memorize passages and sentences learned. to a Spartan was to die in defense of the country. They used extensive mnemonic devices for memorizing. Endurance, a scorn of luxuries, and unyielding firmness They also used audio-visual devices. In higher are still spoken of as Spartan virtues. The people education, the teachers used exposition followed by belonged to three classes. The Spartans themselves were questions. A part of the Jewish education was temple descended from the Dorians, a people who invaded the worship but it was compulsory for all males to visit the Greek peninsula in the 1100’s BC. They were the ruling temples at least three times and that was during the class of Sparta and were the only ones who had full festivals of the Passover, the Shabuoth, and the rights of citizenship. They enslaved the earlier Greek Tabernacles. The school day was long. It started early in peoples of Laconia, the Acheans and Ionians. These the morning and lasted into the evening with a short enslaved Greeks, who were called helots, outnumbered recess at noon. There was a vacation only when there the Spartans. Some of the non-Spartan Greeks escaped was a festival. enslavement. They were not citizens but they lived in Sparta as free people. This group was known as perioeci. Humanity is primarily indebted to the Jews. The The numbers of the three classes varied widely during following may be considered their outstanding the Sparta’s long history. Some authorities estimate that contributions to education and humanity. at the height of Spartan power there were about 25,000 Monotheism, the concept of one and only one citizens, an unknown number of perioeci and as many as God, a principle shared by Jews, Christians and 250,000 helots. Muslims. The Ten Commandments, the general guide to Aims of Education ethical conduct that has set a standard for social living for several thousand years. 8  The aims of education for the Spartans are Outstanding Contribution to Education military and discipline. This is to make every citizen invincible in war, possessing physical perfection and The development of patriotism, discipline, and complete obedience to the state and to develop a people military education were the outstanding contribution to unequalled in military skill and absolutely devoted and education by the Spartans. loyal to the state. Moreover, discipline had been instilled to develop conformity and obedience, courage, strength, ATHENIAN EDUCATION cunning, endurance, and patriotic efficiency and to produce an ideal Spartan citizen who was capable of Ancient Athens was the leading cultural center enduring hunger, thirst, torture, even death without of the Greek world. Many of the most gifted writers of flinching. The State was the sole agency of education. Greece lived there. They wrote works of drama, history, Every phase was controlled by the State. All financing lyric poetry, and philosophy that have influenced was shouldered by the State. literature up to the present time. The famous playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; the comedy writer Methods of Instruction Aristophances; the philosophers Socrates and Plato; the historian Thucydides, and the orator Demosthenes - - 1. Education was training, not school instruction. these are just of the personalities of ancient Athens. 2. The learned by participating in the activities. Athenian architects, such as Phidias, designed and built They learn by doing. There were no books. masterpieces of classical beauty, and the ruins of many 3. Testing was not for memory but for moral life of these structures may still be seen. The government of and endurance. ancient Athens provided an example of democracy that 4. Discipline and training were severe, food was has inspired lawmakers ever since. The ancient Athenian scanty, theft was encouraged to supplement food statesman Pericles called Athens the “school of Greece.” but thieves should not get caught; there was In many ways, the city was the birthplace of Western corporal punishment for moral delinquency and civilization. Likewise, there were three agencies of lack of alertness. education considered in Athens. Private schools were the 5. Motivation was enhanced by rivalry, emulation first schools of their mothers and slave nursemaids of great men and great deeds, and most of all taught boys while the girls at home. Boys before 7 were fear of public disapproval. also taught at home. Education was supervised by the State although education was not compulsory. It was not Types of Education clear, however, if the State maintained public schools. Physical education was rigid to make the Aims of Education Spartan strong, especially in combat. Military education was rigid. Al the skills in 1. Good citizenship was the foremost aim of combat known at that time were learned to the Athenian education. utmost. It was said that any enemy combatants 2. There was a stress on individual excellence in could not pierce the Spartan military phalanx. wisdom, beauty, and strength public usefulness. Moral training was taken in connection with 3. Athens was the first state where there was group living. Stealing was not a crime but if freedom to develop all human capacities (many caught, the thief was severely punished. sided-development). There was very little intellectual training just enough to understand the laws of Lycurgus and Types of Education some Homeric writings. Music education was to arouse patriotism. Civic training was dominant aim because of the Gymnastic education was for the girls to make desire to serve the state. them strong to bear children. Moral training was an emphasis on the virtues of There was no vocational education because the Homeric heroes as well as those for service of slaves called Helot or Perioeci (dwellers the states. around) who numbered almost thirty to one Physical education was taken not to develop Spartan did all the non-skilled labor of the strength but to develop grace and harmony of Spartans. The Helots were not considered the body. citizens. 9  Intellectual education was needed in the military life and citizenship, acquired through participation in the Assembly and in discussions memorization of the laws of the twelve tables and the in the market place. historical tradition of Rome. It was not until the Romans Art, Music, poetry, and dancing were taken not succumbed to the cultural influence of the Greeks that for pleasure and entertainment but for the they began to provide formal schooling. The lowest ennobling influence on the intellect and morals, Roman school was the “ludus” or the school of the and good cultural training, and Apollonian ideal. “litterator,” where the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught. Aims were also moral, religious, Outstanding Contributions to Education civic, and political, to produce good citizens who knew how to exercise their rights, fulfill their duties and The Olympic games and the free development obligations, and acquire virtues such piety, obedience, of all human capacities were the outstanding manliness, courage, bravery, industry, honesty, prudence, contributions of Athens. earnestness, sobriety, dignity, fortitude, and gravity. Romans were train to be participative and wise in ANCIENT ROMAN EDUCATION politics. They were also train to have reverence for the gods. The story of ancient Rome is a tale of how a small community of shepherds in central Italy grew to Types of Education become one of the greatest empires in history – and then collapsed. According to Roman legend, the city of Rome Physical and military training was imperative for was founded in 753 B.C., it controlled most of the Italian the training of good soldiers who would be Peninsula. At its peak, in the A.D. 100s, the Roman conquerors in life. empire covered about half of Europe, much of the To make men know their rights and obligations middle east, and the north coast of Africa. The empire to the states civic training was also exercise so then begun to crumple partly because it was too big for that they could participate wisely in politics. The Rome to govern. In A.D. 476, warlike Germanic tribes good citizen was obedient to authority, pious, overthrew the last Roman emperor. frugal, and honest. Moral training was for the development of moral The millions of people who lived in the Roman virtues. Empire spoke many languages and followed many Religious training was tied up to moral and civic different customs and religions. But the Roman Empire training. Children were trained in religious bound them together under a common system of law and ceremonies and usages. government. This remarkable achievement has aroused Vocational training for livelihood was very interest and admiration from ancient times right up to the important to the Romans. present day. Ancient Rome had enormous influence on the Agencies of Education and Contents Studied development of Western civilization because the empire was so vast and lasted so long. The language of the The school of “grammaticus,” or grammar ancient Romans, Latin, became the basis of French, school taught grammar, literature, and the art of speaking Italian, Spanish, and the other Romance languages. correctly. The most advanced education was given in Roman law provided foundation for the legal systems of rhetorical schools, which gave a broad training in most of the countries in Western Europe and Latin language and literature, and in declamation as America. Roman principles of justice and the Roman preparation for management of public and private affairs, political system contributed to the building of which required the art or oratory. The rhetorical schools governments in many countries. Roman roads bridges played an important part in disseminating Roman and aqueducts – some of which are still used and served culture. The encouragement of such schools was as models for engineers in later ages. encouraged by the government subsidies and by the exemption of teachers from taxation and military service. Aims of Education Children of both sexes learned the rudiments of The aim Roman education was utilitarian, not knowledge, morals, and religion at home. The girls theory but application, not learning but practice. Early learned all house chores like cooking, weaving, sewing Roman education emphasized a practical training for and the like. The boys, on the other hand, went with their 10 father to shops and farms to learn the trades of their were also urged to imitate the heroes whose exploits fathers. Military camp was the place where the boys were related to them. learned the art of warfare like the use of the battle-ax, lance, and chariot. Forum was the place where boys When training was carried in the home, in the father’s learned the science of politics and government. The shop or farm, in the forum (an open market place/the Greek set up private schools. The pupils had to pay for center of Roman Government), or in the military camp, some learning such as reading, writing, and counting. the learners did not pay any fee. But when they entered These schools had little prestige among Romans. the private schools put up by the Greeks, they had pay. Ballads and song glorifying traits esteemed by Some of the Roman Traits the Romans, the Laws of the Twelve Tables, Religious ceremonies and usages, physical and military exercises, ✔ Romans were not truly interested in the cultural domestic chores taught by mothers to their daughters and aspects of life, although some of finer aspects of vocations were some of the contents studied by the Hellenic culture were taken as a means of Romans. shows. ✔ Wealth became the objective of most citizens Two of the most influential teachers and thinkers and vulgar displays became the essence of in Roman education were Cicerio and Quintilian. wealth. Luxury, corruption, extravagance, and Cicero’s writings provided the ideal for the education of vice became commonplace. the Middle Ages. His educational ideas were put in his ✔ The Roman lacked drive for clean competition; orator not only as well-rounded man of affairs but as a they did not see nakedness of performance, and man of integrity in character. Quintilian stressed memory they did not see the value of play as an and used memorizing as main basis of motivation. He enjoyable pastime. made use of plays and games for relaxation, and to ✔ They prefer to be spectators rather than stimulate interest in consideration with the individual participants. They preferred professionalism differences. He suggested competition and awards as than amateurism. The rewards of some bases for motivation rather than corporal punishment. individuals who engaged in chariot races and gladiatorial combats were enormous. The youth memorized the laws of the twelve tables, which defined private and public relationships The fall of the Roman Empire in the West about 476 AD and human and property rights. Among the right were: resulted in a period of history that is frequently referred the rights of a father over his children; the right of a to as Dark Ages. This period, however, was anything but husband over his wife; the right of a master over his dark in respect to the physical; rejuvenation brought slaves, and the right of a man over his property. about by the Teutonic barbarians overrunning the Roman Empire. One of the most outstanding causes for the With regard to religious ceremonies and usages, breakdown of the Roman Empire was the physical and all activities were under the auspices of gods who have moral decay of the Roman people. to be placated always by sacrifices and ceremonies. Among the gods were Jupiter, the Roman guardian; Juno, Jupiter’s wife and the symbol of womanhood; Causes Effects Janus, the twin-faced god of beginnings and ends of activities; Saturn, god of agriculture, Minerva, goddess Divorce, games and Decrease in population of husbandmen; Mars, god of war; Vulcan, god of forge suicides and industry; Venus, garden deity and goddess of love; Lares, spirit of ancestors; Penates, household spirits, and Extravagance, doles, Moral depravity and Genius, spirit of the father of the home. slaves labor, and misuse enormous ruin of public funds Methods of Instruction Luxurious living, vices Poor health and Direction imitation, memorization, and physical discipline were the methods of instruction of the early and excesses deterioration Roman education. The boys imitated their fathers and the girls their mother. Reading, writing, and counting LATER ROMAN EDUCATION were learned by imitation from parents or teachers. They 11  Roman is the capital city of Italy and one of the Athenaeum was in the university level developed world’s great historic cities. It has been important center as the center of learning around the library established of civilization for over 2,000 years. Because of its long by Emperor Vespasian in 75 AD. history, Rome was called the Eternal City. It is also one At the age of 7-10, boys and girls entered the of the world’s most beautiful cities, its historic center litterator. They learned reading, writing, and calculation. standing on seven hills. Its ancient monuments and Arithmetic was primitive because of the cumbersome magnificent churches and palaces stand as reminders of Roman notation. The Twelve Tables later gave way to Rome past glory. Gleaming new buildings are a sign of the Latin translation of Homer. modern-day importance. At the age of 10-16 years old, grammar was the Aims of Education chief study with the inclusion of literature, prose, poetry, and language. Greek and Latin authors reflecting the The chief aim of Roman education is oratorical. new literary attitudes were studied. Geography, history, The vir bonus (morally virtuous), gifted in oratory was mythology and natural sciences were studied the ideal educated man. The educated man must have the superficially, only to enable students to recognize such moral character, broad knowledge, and ability to speak. allusions in literature. Civic was the ideal aim of the Roman school system to train the student for public service. Cicero, Tacitus, and At 16, boys entered the school of the rhetor. Quintilian recognize that the ideally educated man was This included debates on point of Roman law and moral an orator who used his learning for public service. principles, especially ethical and cultural content, history of one’s country, music, arithmetic, astronomy, Types of Education geometry, and philosophy. ✔ Speech training was the outstanding type. Public Those who hurdles the school of the rhetor went speaking or oratory and debate were given much to the Athenaeum for a professional course. In the attention. university, applied science and professions such as law, ✔ Civic training was coupled with speech training medicine, architecture, and mechanics were in the with the expectation that the good orator would curriculum. use his talent for public service. ✔ The presence of many inscriptions and epitaphs Methods of Instruction on tombs, election posters, shop identifications, and public notices indicated that there was a Memorization, drill and writing exercises and good literacy education. public speaking practices were the method of instruction ✔ Vocational education was for the great mass of for the early Romans. Memorization was used in the the people because there was no universal elementary level. The pupils sat on the floor and rested education. their tables on their knees. Class sessions were from sunrise to sunset. No class was held during summer and Agencies of Education and Contents Studied holidays. Writing and reading were taught from dictation and writing was on wax with stylus. Discipline was The school of litterator (teacher of the rhetoric) severe and flogging was used. Letters of the alphabet was in the elementary level, an outgrowth and successor were memorized and pronunciation, enunciation, and to the ludus attended by both boys and girls. Ludus self-expression were also taught. mean sports or play where the term ludi or private schools were taken. Drill and writing exercises was in the secondary level. There was intensive drill on grammatical elements School of grammaticus (teacher of grammar) such as parts of speech, syntax, pronunciation, and the was in the secondary level attended by boys only. Greek like. There was so much practice in writing paragraphs, grammar school and Latin grammar school were the two themes, compositions, and poetic expressions. types of school grammaticus. Grammar and literature were taught in these schools. Public speaking was strong emphasis in all types of the rhetorics. There was strong emphasis in all types School of the rhetor (teacher of the rhetoric) was of public speaking such as declamations, eulogies, in the higher level. funeral orations, exhortations, and extemporaneous 12 speeches after lectures on articulation, modulation, emphasis, and the like. The schools established in Rome did the fees of the students support private schools. Thus, only the children of the well-to-do families could attend school. Classes were conducted in the homes of some pupils or in some vacant public building. Later, Quintilian advocated the establishment of a public school system. The first emperor to answer the call was Vespasian who ordered the payment of salaries of the Greek rhetoricians. Emperor Trajan provided for scholarships for poor students. Antonius Pius exempted teachers form paying taxes and military services. Marcus Aurelius ordered the establishment of a salary scale for teachers. Earlier, Hadrian started paying pensions to retired teachers. Starting 425 AD, only the State could establish schools. Outstanding Contributions to Education and Civilization One of the contributions of the Roman to education and civilization was their methods of organization, management, and administration. They had constructed a carefully organized education ladder which probably became the forerunner of many ladderized educational system of today. Another was the Roman’s organized body of civil law which became the basis of the legal systems in many countries including the Philippines. The Romans believed that there should be empathy in the teacher-pupil relations, and that teachers should be properly selected, even setting forth the qualities that a teacher should have. The validity of these educational principles is recognized in the present time. 13