History of Education

I

Introduction

History of Education, the theories, methods, administration, and problems of schools and other agencies of information, both formal and informal, throughout the world from ancient times to the present. Education denotes the methods by which a society hands down from one generation to the next its knowledge, culture, and values. The individual being educated develops physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, and socially. The work of education may be accomplished by an individual teacher, the family, a church, or any other group in society. Formal education is usually carried out by a school, an agency that employs men and women who are professionally trained for this task.

II

Early Educational Systems

The oldest known systems of education in history had two characteristics in common: they taught religion, and they promoted the traditions of the people. In ancient Egypt the temple schools taught not only religion but also the principles of writing, the sciences, mathematics, and architecture. Similarly, in India, much of the education was carried out by priests. India was the fountainhead of the Buddhist doctrines that were taught in its institutions to Chinese scholars; they, in turn, spread the teachings of Buddha to the various countries of the Far East. Education in ancient China stressed philosophy, poetry, and religion, in accordance with the teachings of Confucius, Laozi, and other philosophers. The Chinese system of civil-service examination, which originated more than 2,000 years ago and was used in China until the 20th century, made it possible to select the best scholars for important posts in the government.

The methods of physical training that prevailed in Persia and were highly praised by several Greek writers apparently served as the model for the educational systems of ancient Greece, which stressed gymnastics as well as mathematics and music.

The Bible and the Talmud are the basic sources of information about the aims and methods of education among the ancient Jews. Jewish parents were urged by the Talmud to teach their children such subjects as vocational knowledge, swimming, and a foreign language. Today, religion serves as the basis for education in the home, the synagogue, and the school. The Torah remains the foundation of Jewish education.

III

Basic Traditions of the Western World

The educational systems in the countries of the Western world were based on the religious tradition of the Jews, both in the original form and in the version modified by Christianity. A second tradition was derived from education in ancient Greece, where Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates were the influential thinkers on education. The Greek aim was to prepare intellectually well-rounded young people to take leading roles in the activities of the State and of society. In later centuries, Greek concepts served as the basis for the arts, the teaching of the various branches of philosophy, the cultivation of the aesthetic ideal, and the promotion of gymnastic training.

Following the Hellenistic period, Greek influences on education were transmitted primarily through such writers as Plutarch, who urged the education of parents as the first essential step in the education of children.

Roman education, after an initial period of intense loyalty to the old religious and cultural traditions, approved the appointment of Greeks as teachers of Roman youth, both in Rome and in Athens. The Romans considered the teaching of rhetoric and oratory important. According to the 1st-century educator Quintilian, the proper training of the orator was to be organized around the study of language, literature, philosophy, and the sciences, with particular attention to the development of character. Roman education transmitted to the Western world the Latin language, Classical literature, engineering, law, and the administration and organization of government.

IV

Christianity as a Guiding Force

As the Roman Empire declined, Christianity became a potent force in the countries of the Mediterranean region and in several other areas in Europe. The earliest types of Christian education were the catechumenal, or neophyte, schools for converts; the more advanced catechetical, or question-and-answer, schools for Christians; and the episcopal, or cathedral, schools that trained priests. The early Fathers of the Church, especially St Augustine, wrote on educational questions in light of the newly adopted Christian concepts.

Many monasteries or monastic schools as well as municipal and cathedral schools were founded during the centuries of early Christian influence. Collections, or compendiums, of knowledge centred on the seven liberal arts: the trivium, composed of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. From the 5th to the 7th century these compendiums were prepared in the form of textbooks by such scholars as the Latin writer Martianus Capella from northern Africa, the Roman historian Cassiodorus, and the Spanish ecclesiastic St Isidore of Seville. Generally, however, such works disseminated existing knowledge rather than introducing new knowledge.