Introduction To Education EDF 1005 Unit I Lesson II THE ORIGINS OF TEACHING -- J. McNair |
Home Schooling and Apprenticeship in Ancient Civilizations
Study Notes
Egypt
Just as in modern times, children in ancient Egypt imitated adult behavior. The vast difference lies in the fact that in Egypt, more often than not, the children were learning their eventual trade or occupation by that very imitation. As they grew older, children took on more of the tasks on the farms, the workshops, the vineyards, and acquired practical skills and knowledge from their elders. Along with the skills also came moral attitudes and views of life. Parents instilled their ideas about the world, about folk rituals, their religious outlook, their viewpoints on correct behavior toward others, and toward the deities.
Some of these ethical principles can be found in the so-called Books of Instruction, or Wisdom Literature. The advice given in these texts may have been addressed by elders of the royal, noble and scribal classes to younger men of those same classes, but surely their concepts were familiar to all levels of Egyptian society. Truth-telling and fair-dealing were offered as social desirable and more advantageous than lying and injustice. Justice, wisdom, obedience, humanity and restraint were offered as components of the well-ordered life.
These texts also served as teaching texts for the schools of scribes.
Formal vocational training also existed along with scribal and at-home teaching. An official took on his son as an assistant, so that the son would have "on the job" training and the succession become almost automatic.
Young men did not usually choose their own careers, instead, they very often followed in the family trade or profession, even up to the highest offices in the land, with the blessing of the king, of course. Towards the end of the Middle Kingdom, for example, there was a virtually dynastic line of viziers, and in the Ramesside period of the 20th Dynasty, the offices of the high priests of Amun were passed on from father to son. By the end of the New Kingdom, officials began openly claiming their right to take over their fathers' jobs, and this led to the sale of offices.
There were exceptions to the profession by heredity, as for example when a man had no son to follow after him. But adoption was often used to ensure property inheritance and funerary provisioning, as well as succession in the profession.
The king was the only one who did not personally tutor his children. Senenmut, the vizier and royal architect for Hatshepsut, and a man named Idu at Abusir, were such royal tutors. The princes and princesses learned literature, mathematics, writing, and grammar.
Girls from less lofty families learned how to manage a household, and how to sing, dance and play musical instruments. These last would be important if the girl took on temple service as a singer or musician.
The children of farmers and fishermen had even less formal education. They learned how to sow, glean, and harvest, tending poultry and cattle, make nets and catch and prepare fish. Children were often included in scenes of harvesting, fishing, or caring for cattle.
A 19th Dynasty textbook, now called Papyrus Anastasi I, was used for teaching the geography of Asia and arithmetic sums in a military context. Foreign languages were not taught as a rule, nor were religious texts and rituals. Physical education may only have been taught to princes, since references are made to the physically weaker scribe. Yet in the story of Truth and Falsehood, the boy was "sent to school and learnt to write well, He practiced all the arts of war and surpassed his older companions who were at school with him." These arts of war might include riding a horse, guiding a chariot, the use of weapons
Students did their arithmetic silently, but they recited their texts aloud until they knew the texts by heart. Then they attempted to write it down, either from a teacher's model or from memory. Students most often used pottery sherds or limestone fragments called ostraca to practice their writing skills, though they did on occasion use and re-use papyrus sheets that had already been used before them.
There is evidence that at least on one occasion, a girl had been taught reading and writing. A 20th Dynasty letter from a man to his son says, "You shall see that daughter of Khonsumose and let her make a letter and send it to me." More evidence from Deir el-Medina indicates female literacy. Several letters on ostraca were addressed to, or sent by, women. Since the content of some of these letters regarded feminine matters, it is unlikely the sender or recipient sought out a scribe to read or write the letter. Tomb paintings of women occasionally show scribal artifacts under their chairs: the palette, the scribal kit and a papyrus roll.
There was no set length for schooling One high priest named Bekehnkhonsu recalls that he started school at age five and attended for 11 years, the last few of which he was in charge of the King's breeding stable. At age 16 he was then appointed a waab priest. Four years later he began to progress up the temple hierarchy until after 39 years he was appointed High Priest, retaining that office for another 27 years.
Another high official named Ikhernofret states that he became a courtier when he was twenty-six, after being educated as a foster-child of the king.
During the Old Kingdom, there is no evidence that any formal schools existed, except perhaps at court. Princes taught younger princes, and favored youths were tutored with the king's own children.http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/educate.htm
Mesopotamia
As a civilization contemporary with Egyptian civilization, Mesopotamia developed education quite similar to that of its counterpart with respect to its purpose and training. Formal education was practical and aimed to train scribes and priests. It was extended from basic reading, writing, and religion to higher learning in law, medicine, and astrology. Generally, youth of the upper classes were prepared to become scribes, who ranged from copyists to librarians and teachers. The schools for priests were said to be as numerous as temples. This indicates not only the thoroughness but also the supremacy of priestly education. Very little is known about higher education, but the advancement of the priestly work sheds light upon the extensive nature of intellectual pursuit.
As in the case of Egypt, the priests in Mesopotamia dominated the intellectual and educational domain as well as the applied. The centre of intellectual activity and training was the library, which was usually housed in a temple under the supervision of influential priests. Methods of teaching and learning were memorization, oral repetition, copying of models, and individual instruction. It is believed that the exact copying of scripts was the hardest and most strenuous and served as the test of excellence in learning. The period of education was long and rigorous, and discipline was harsh.
Apprenticeship can be traced back to Babylon, more than four thousand years ago. Hammurabi, a king of Babylon, developed the earliest written laws, called the Code of Hammurabi. Because apprenticeship was so important, it was covered in this code. According to the code, an apprentice was to be treated as an adopted son:
"If an artisan take a son for
adoption and teach him his handicraft, one may not bring claim for him.
If he does not teach him his handicraft, that adopted son may return to
his father's house."(http://www.smw9.org/apprenticeship/)
China
Ancient Chinese education served the needs of a simple agricultural society with the family as the basic social organization. Paper and the writing brush had not been invented, and the "bamboo books" then recorded to be in existence were of limited use at best. Oral instruction and teaching by example were the chief methods of education.
The molding of character was a primary aim of education. Ethical teachings stressed the importance of human relations and the family as the foundation of society. Filial piety, especially emphasizing respect for the elderly, was considered to be the most important virtue. It was the responsibility of government to provide instruction so that the talented would be able to enter government service and thus perpetuate the moral and ethical foundation of society.
Western Chou (1111 771 BC)
This was the feudal age, when the feudal states were ruled by lords who paid homage to the king of Chou and recognized him as the "Son of Heaven."
Schools were established for the sons of the nobility in the capital city of Chou and the capital cities of the feudal states. Schools for the common people were provided within the feudal states in villages and hamlets and were attended, according to written records, by men and women after their work in the fields. There were elementary and advanced schools for both the ruling classes and the common people. Separate studies for girls were concerned chiefly with homemaking and the feminine virtues that assured the stability of the family system.
The content of education for the nobility consisted of the "six arts"- rituals, music, archery, charioteering, writing, and mathematics. They constituted what may be called the "liberal education" of the period. Mere memory work was condemned. As Confucius..said of the ancient spirit of education, "learning without thought is labour lost."
Eastern Chou (770 255 BC)
This was a period of social change brought about by the disintegration of the feudal order, the breakdown of traditional loyalties, the rise of cities and urban civilization, and the growth of commerce.
The instability and the perplexing problems of the times challenged scholars to propose various remedies. The absence of central control facilitated independent and creative thinking. Thus appeared one of the most creative periods in China's intellectual history, when a Hundred Schools of Thought vied with one another to expound their views and proposals for attaining a happy social and political order. Some urged a return to the teachings of the sages of old, while others sought better conditions by radical change.
Among the major "schools" of this age were Taoism, Confucianism, Mohism, and Legalism. No one school was in the ascendancy. Each major school had its followers and disciples, among whom there was a vigorous program of instruction and intellectual discussion. Most active in the establishment of private schools were Confucius and his disciples, but the Taoists, the Mohists, and the Legalists also maintained teaching institutions.
Another form of educational activity was the practice of the contending feudal states of luring to their domain a large number of scholars, partly to serve as a source of ideas for enhancing the prosperity of the state and partly to gain an aura of intellectual respectability in a land where the respect for scholars had already become an established tradition. The age of political instability and social disintegration was thus an age of free and creative intellectual activity. Conscious of their importance and responsibility, the scholars developed a tradition of self-respect and fearless criticism. It was this tradition that Confucius had in mind when he said that the educated person was not a utensil to be used, and it was this spirit that the Confucian philosopher Mencius described when he said that the great man was a man of principles whom riches and position could not corrupt, whom poverty and lowliness could not swerve, whom power and force could not bend.
The teachings of the Hundred Schools and the records of the feudal states meant a marked increase in literature and, consequently, in the materials for instruction. The classical age of China, the period of the Eastern Chou, left an intellectual and educational legacy of inestimable value. Its scholars propounded theories of government and of social and individual life that were as influential in China and East Asia as the Greek philosophers of almost contemporary age were in the Western world. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
Ancient India
The Hindu tradition
India is the site of one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. About the 2nd millennium BC , a section of the intellectuals, the Brahmans, became priests and men of learning; another group, nobles and soldiers, became Ksatriyas; the agricultural and trading class was called Vaisyas; and finally the dasas were absorbed as Sudras (Shudras), or "those who perform services". Such was the origin of the division of the Hindus into four varnas, or "classes." By about 500 BC the classes became hardened into castes..
Religion was the mainspring of all activities in ancient India. It was of an all-absorbing interest and embraced not only prayer and worship but philosophy, morality, law, and government as well. Religion saturated educational ideals, too, and the study of Vedic literature was indispensable to higher castes. The stages of instruction were very well defined. During the first period, the child received elementary education at home. The beginning of secondary education and formal schooling was marked by a ritual known as the upanayana , or thread ceremony, which was restricted to boys only and was more or less compulsory for boys of the three higher castes. The Brahman boys had this ceremony at the age of eight, the Ksatriya boys at the age of 11, and the Vaisya boys at the age of 12 years. The boy would leave his father's house and enter his preceptor's a srama, or home, situated amid sylvan surroundings. The acarya would treat him as his own child, give him free education, and not charge anything for his boarding and lodging. The pupil had to tend the sacrificial fires, do the household work of his preceptor, and look after his cattle.
The study at this stage consisted of the recitation of the Vedic mantras, or "hymns," and the auxiliary sciences-phonetics, the rules for the performance of the sacrifices, grammar, astronomy, prosody, and etymology. The character of education, however, differed according to the needs of the caste. For a child of the priestly class, there was a definite syllabus of studies. The trayi-vidya , or the knowledge of the three Vedas, the most ancient of Hindu scriptures, was obligatory for him. During the whole course at school, as at college, the student had to observe brahmacharya .
-that is, wearing a simple dress, living on plain food, using a hard bed, and leading a celibate life.
The period of studentship normally extended to 12 years. For those who wanted to continue their studies, there was no age limit. After finishing their education at an a srama, or forest school, they would join a higher centre of learning or a university presided over by a kulapati (a founder of a school of thought). Advanced students would also improve their knowledge by taking part in philosophical discussions at a parisad, or "academy." Education was not denied to women, but normally girls were instructed at home.
The method of instruction differed according to the nature of the subject. The first duty of the student was to memorize the particular Veda of his school, with special emphasis placed on correct pronunciation. In the study of such literary subjects as law, logic, rituals, and prosody, comprehension played a very important role. A third method was the use of parables, which were employed in the personal spiritual teaching relating to the Upanishads,, or conclusion of the Vedas. In higher learning, such as in the teaching of dharmashastra ("righteousness science"), the most popular and useful method was catechism-the pupil asking questions and the teacher discoursing at length on the topics referred to him. Memorization, however, played the greatest role. (Encyclopedia Brittanica)