What is Education? Part 2

Over the course of human history, all societies have educated children. While the skills required today are quite different from those of the past, the common goal remains: survival. With the advent of technology, modern skills have become removed from the concrete world of our ancestors. A trend is underway to abandon ancient skills in favor of those that enhance survival in a hi-tech world, but some argue on behalf of their continued relevance in civilized society. In Part 2 of our What is Education? series, we review a number of early cultures and civilizations to examine what their educational goals were and where they might find common ground in a modern age. While Part 2 showcases a number of different cultures, feel free to jump to Part 3 for more direct comparisons between them.

Hunter-Gatherer Groups

Hunter-Gatherer groups existed primarily before the creation of large civilizations and did not include agriculture. A few small HG groups still survive in the world today, and their educational methods have changed little from those who walked the earth in the past. Skills considered necessary for children to acquire in those cultures were as follows:

• Finding food. The most important skill in HG groups revolved around the daily acquisition of calories via hunting or gathering assorted edible foodstuff.
• Edible foods. Determining which plants were safe to eat, and which animals were safe to hunt.
• Food preparation. The best ways to cook and prepare assorted foods.
• Childcare. How to care for infants.
• Shelter. How to build quality shelters.
• Egalitarian concepts. Respect for individual autonomy and learning how to share cultural knowledge.
• Developing a Cumulative Culture.The ability to build on existing knowledge and pass it down through generations.

Ancient Mesopotamia

In early Mesopotamia, one of the first civilizations, students entered school before the age of ten and graduated twelve years later having mastered the cuneiform script, the Sumerian and Akkadian languages, and a vast array of subjects including agriculture, architectural design, astronomy, botany, engineering, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, religion, and zoology. Education itself was invented to preserve the cultural invention of writing on cuneiform tablets with homework and classroom exercises. Formal education began in temples and was later transferred to school buildings, writing being necessary for trade and bookkeeping. Children began school as early as age 8 and attended from sunrise to sunset for at least 24 days a month before graduating in their early twenties as scribes. School was optional and funded by the elite. Only the elite could afford to attend, and students were mainly male. Slaves were occasionally sent to school so they could help their masters with scribal responsibilities.

Native American (pre-European)

In both Hunter-Gatherer and Agricultural tribes of America, native children were educated by their elders from an early age in practical ways. Boys were taken to the fields or on hunting trips, while girls were instructed at home in how to perform household chores and agricultural tasks. Much education was done through storytelling to prepare children for adult life and enable to them to behave and interact properly with members of the tribe. They were taught to work hard, survive, learn respect for the wisdom of their elders, and be autonomous. Tribes sought to create warriors who could act individualistically but still conform to the demands of a homogeneous, communal society. Children were taught through example from the age of three, usually after being weaned.

Viking Culture

The education of Viking children was primarily focused on practical skills and cultural traditions. There were no school locations or buildings. Education began at home and was embedded in daily life, with parents and extended family members playing a key role. Boys learned gender-based skills from their fathers and male relatives, while girls learned skills from their mothers and female relatives. All children learned through observation, imitation, and participation in daily activities like games and mock battles that mimicked adult roles. Some of the skills taught to sons by male members of the community included farming, shipbuilding, and trading, while skills taught to daughters included cooking, weaving, herbal medicine, preparing food and managing a household. Both boys and girls could learn crafts such as woodworking, metalwork, and textiles.

All Viking children learned by observing the adult activities around them, and participating in day-to-day tasks from an early age. Through play, they learned life skills such as teamwork, strategy, and problem-solving.

Storytelling was also highly essential to Viking education, and though literacy was not widespread, some children did learn to read and write with the use of runes.

African Tribal Societies

Traditional education in Africa, as with most indigenous groups, was very closely integrated with social, cultural, artistic, religious, and recreational life. ‘Schooling’ and ‘education’ were considered one and the same, and the learning of life skills, values, and norms were rarely separated from other spheres of life. The education of African youth tended to fit the rules of their specific ethnic group and the social roles girls and boys would have to fulfill in adulthood.

Girls were socialized to assume the roles of motherhood, wife, and other gender-appropriate tasks, while boys were taught to be hunters, herders, farmers, blacksmiths or other specific jobs depending on how the ethnic group they belonged to derived its livelihood.

In pre-colonial African states, children learned the skills, values, responsibilities, and norms of their communities by observing and assisting older household members and members of the community at large. Older children received more advanced education in the form of apprenticeship, whereas younger members learned skills from older members of the community.

Common skills/duties learned included: dancing, farming, fishing, winemaking, cooking (mostly for girls), and hunting. Some children also learned how to practice herbal medicine and how to carve stools, masks, and other furniture.

Storytelling also played a significant educational role. Parents, older household members, and griots used oral storytelling to teach children about the history, norms, and values of their states, households, and communities.

Festivals and rituals were also used as a means of teaching children about the history of their regions.

India

Religious institutions played an important role in promoting indigenous education. Temples, mosques, and gurudwaras were the main locations for schooling, especially in rural areas. These locations were vital for preserving cultural practices. Religious leaders and scholars served as teachers, instructing children in religious texts, rituals, and cultural traditions. While education in these settings was often free or low-cost, it remained closely tied to religious and caste-based systems.

Education in India was most commonly reserved for males, particularly those from higher-caste families. Girls, in rural areas especially, had limited access to education, and when they did receive instruction it was usually centered around domestic skills and religious rituals.

Upper-caste students, especially Brahmins, had access to the best education which focused on classical languages, religious texts, and philosophical inquiry. Lower-caste and Dalit communities, by contrast, were often excluded from formal education.

Thousands of schools called pathshalas existed across the country, in which education was usually organized into four stages:

1. Learning the local language alphabet.
2. Reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.
3. Advanced arithmetic and problem-solving.
4. Writing letters, petitions, and bookkeeping.

While this was not a standardized system, it equipped students with the skills they would need for trade, administration, and daily life.

India also had institutions of higher learning, known as vidyapeeths, which were akin to modern colleges. These offered education in the fields of:

• Medicine
• Law
• Astronomy
• Mathematics
• Hindu philosophy

Vidyapeeths were fewer in number compared to elementary education since most professions relied on apprenticeship-style training rather than higher education.

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was one of the few early cultures that practiced formal education. As with most civilizations of the time, however, education was typically only available for boys.

Life began on a similar footing with both sexes at home. Until the age of 4, all children remained with their mothers, learning manners, morals, hard work, and respect for their elders, particularly their mothers. Slothfulness and disrespect were harshly punished.

At the age of 4, boys were taken to work by their fathers to begin learning the family trade while girls remained at home. At age 7, boys from all social classes began formal education at local schools that taught reading, writing, mathematics, sports and the social graces. In wealthier families, girls also received this education, though it was likely given at home.

At the age of 14, middle and lower class boys left formal education to work as apprentices to their fathers, becoming farmers, stone masons, carpenters, jewelers, etc. Upper-class boys moved from the lower school to the Prince’s School, where their education continued in subjects like music, history, mathematics, medicine, science and geometry. Upward mobility between classes in Egypt was rare with the occasional exception of Scribes, who served as record-keepers and historians.

Lower and middle-class girls remained at home with their mothers, learning child-rearing, household management, cooking, baking, and simple medical skills. Few occupations were available for girls in this class, except for work as dancers, bakers, weavers, or entertainers.

Girls of higher birth were afforded greater opportunities, being taught to read, write, do mathematics, learn history, the arts, politics, how to supervise a household, entertain high-ranking visitors, and conduct family business when necessary.

The only career choice enabling upward mobility was that of a Scribe. Scribes had to be intelligent, meticulous, and able to memorize over 3000 hieroglyphic symbols. Girls were usually forbidden to pursue this occupation, but exceptions were made. All children of every class were provided with religious instruction.

Medieval Europe

Formal education was highly restricted in the Middle Ages, but there were schooling options available by the 15th century. Monasteries offered education to middle class boys, while royal children were given tutors or trained for different roles depending on gender and order of birth.

Children of this culture were treated as miniature adults and expected to be dutiful. Children born into peasant families had lives shaped by the rhythms of the seasons and the natural world. They were taught in various ways such as at home, in school, and occasionally in the houses of strangers. Education at this time placed heavy emphasis on religious instruction along with reading Latin, writing, chanting, arithmetic, and using a sundial to tell time.

In the Medieval era, teaching methods focused on retention and mechanical memory (primarily of the catechism). Given the influence of knightly culture, ideals of self-sacrifice, obedience, and personal freedom were instilled. For upper-class boys, education was provided at a monastery, in a cathedral school, or at home. Boys who were destined to become knights were fostered in other knights’ homes in order to learn martial skills. The Seven Knightly Virtues included riding horses, swimming, spear grasp, fencing, hunting, playing chess, poetry composition, and musical instruments.

Peasant girls stayed at home and were taught housekeeping, needlework, and Bible basics, while girls from noble families could receive instruction at home or be sent to convents where they learned Latin, reading and writing, bible study, and good manners.

The Maya

In Mayan society, as in previous civilizations, upper-class children received a formal education while children who were commoners did not. A special class of priests was responsible for teaching the children of nobles. They were taught at home or in small groups, and learned such subjects as math, science, astronomy, medicine, writing, and more.

All Mayan children were educated in social ethics and family values from a very early age, as the society relied heavily on family structure.

Children of the commoner class did not attend school, but were taught by their parents and involved in household activities. Girls learned from their mothers while boys learned from their fathers. If a parent had a specialized profession, boys learned this profession regardless of talent. Over time, children were given more and more difficult tasks until, at the age of 15, they were considered adults and fully trained for their life’s work.

All Mayan children were exposed to mythic stories passed down through generations that provided invaluable knowledge for navigating the forest. These stories depicted animals as fully sentient beings engaging in seduction, mischief, providing sustenance, and caring for one another.

The Maori of New Zealand

It was important to the survival and success of Maori communities for children to learn a positive attitude toward work and practical skills including gathering, harvesting, preparing food, weaving, carving, and warfare. These activities were learned with a mixture of formal and informal learning, very similar to an apprenticeship. Games that mimicked adult activities were also important to this process.

Rituals were included in education, and usually included some form of test for the student. Group learning was the norm also, as well as cooperative teaching that included uncles, aunts and grandparents playing important roles.

Religion was important in Maori society as the main form of social control. It was important, therefore, for children to develop a respect for and knowledge of its operation. Songs, proverbs, history, stories, and genealogy were important tools for transmitting Maori history, values, and models of behavior.

Most children were informally educated, but exceptions were made for a select few of chiefly lineage who were educated in the Whare Wananga or House of Learning, a traditional education institution. These children were required to possess the mental aptitude to learn the vast repertoire of values and traditions that enabled them to assume their chiefly roles.

Ancient Rome

In Ancient Rome, only wealthy families were able to afford formal education. Roman children in general were raised with strict discipline. The paterfamilias (father) had absolute authority over the family, and respect for elders was very important.

Most Roman children learned at home first, especially from their mothers. They were expected to learn the Roman values of courage, duty, and seriousness, obey their parents without question, and help with the family business or farm as they got older. Roman children were also raised with a deep sense of responsibility toward family, city, and gods.

Girls were primarily educated at home. Lower-class girls were taught weaving, household management, and sometimes reading and writing, while those of the upper classes could also learn music, poetry, and literature. Roman girls were essentially prepared to be wives and mothers.

Roman boys of the lower classes were trained to become citizens and soldiers, and to help with the family farms or businesses. Boys from the upper classes went to schools known as ludus at age 7 to learn reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. Later they studied Greek, rhetoric, and philosophy if they wanted to enter public life.

Teachers were often Greek slaves or freedman, and classrooms were simple, being held either outdoors or inside shops.

Education in Ancient Rome was not a time of freedom, but of preparation. Each game, lesson, and ritual had a purpose to create future citizens who would serve Rome, honor their ancestors, and uphold tradition.