ffiw&wwffiKK Educationin the Early Cultures ducation is, in its broadestsense, the processof transmissionof culture from one generationto the next.l what is culture but the way the membersof the group think, believe,and live; what they do, say,and hold as values.There has been some sort of education ever since human beings existecl.First was the qreat human achieve- ment of spoken language,followed by learning how to muke anJ use rools. hunt and gather food, and make fire. Then the first societiesdeveloped and humans lived in yil- lages,farming, and making pottery and things from copper and bronze.2 Education in primitive society was informal. It consisted of teaching the young to survive by hunting for food and (eventually) by planting crops; to secureshelter; to ,ouk. tools and other utensils; and to learn the tribes' values and rules. Boys learned to make tools, to hunt, and fish. Girls learned to gather and prepare foocl. primitive education knew nothing of books and schools.It was motivated by the ,reedfor self,preservation;it was direct and effective;and it was carried on by the active participation of the learner as he imitated adult activities or was shown how to make tooli, engagein the hunt, or fish. Parents were, from the beginning, the primary educators of theli children. They were helped by other members of their tribe who taughr children the practical skills needed, , and who told them stories that explained the customs (mores) of the tribe.r Moral educa- tion was thus an integral part of the educativeprocess from the beginning. Language:The Mark of Civilization Language,the ability to communicateorally, is the mark of civilization.Educarion enr- phasized languagelearning by using songs, stories, and rituals that formecl the groul. cultural inheritance.Unique to human beings is the ability to use abstractrh..lril:: conceptualize,and communicate in oral and written languagelthis has truprr,p.l-.- ')^ - u-Ar tr|1 I educzrtionalconsequences. As primitive man beganto scratchrough picturcs.rr iir.' u-rrri.: around him on the walls of caves,he was laying the basisfor a processthat u'ould latcr culn-rinateiu written svrnboisoI cotnmunication. Educationin the Near East It is impossibleto determinethe exactdate that schoolsfirst cameinto existence.Hou - ever, \4/eknorv that written langr-ragewas developedaround 4000 l.c. Once there was a written language,there u,:rs a needfor a more lormal liind of education.aThe earliestcivr- iizations that left rccords were a group of city-statesformed in the Tigris-EuphratesRiver valleyin Mescpotamia(now lraq; seeN{ap 1.1 ol the NearEast). Knor.r'n as Sumeria, the-se city statesbecame the basisfor later socialand educationaldevelopments in China,India, and Egypt. Althongh the Snmeriansdicl not have an alphabet,thev developedsymbols that came to be known as cuneiformthat were made by pressingir wedge-shapedstylus into a soft clay tablet.ln Babylon(and later in Egypt), this processat first took the form of picturerr,ritrng or pictttgrams.The picture rel'errednot onl,vto the objectportrayed but alsohad meaningbeyond the actualobject. Recentdrscoveries in Iraq ha\.eturned up cuneifonnmathematics textbooks used by schoolboysin Sumeriaas early as 2000 B.t.- L)necan assumethat some form of schools ffili'Jl,.;;:l";;:l::itff .I:n'ilHi::tff :f :il:.ll*',,:':,i:T;.::,:lT; Map 1.1 Ancient Civilizationsand Trade Routes of the Near East uJo\ toil .lrt,ch - llr] ,, ,u -r.. ARABIAN '\''ot DrsI&r \\ --- lgvptian trader()utes '' , I I '-!,*ou I <b Pyramidsabout t'P '1,\l 't- I 2(i5{}u.r . * 3{}00tr.t.. t, '-,-- -t i / (,atsracts \";\L !.. ''v \ \ o nri ?w 3(n)Mits FrrT-+----r \ 0 1{f.1?t$ 30* Kilenrerc.} \ {!r' Source: From Anthony Esler, The Human Venture,Combined Volume:Frcm Prehistory to the Present,sthedition, 2004. Reprinted by permissionof PearsonEducation. I EDUCATIONIN THE EARLYCULTURES the education ol priests, scribes, and civil ser\-ilnts.The Phoenicians clrrglt,pc.l i !\>lcnr ot 22 signs, each of which represented a consonant sound, around 1000 n.r. ThLs ..ii. thc beginning ol thc cleveloplnent of :rn alphabet as $,e knou' it toda),. Females could attend school and a woman could uranage her husbands brr.rncs. ,rr-L.l household alfairs when he was away. In the Old Babylonian period, women cr)Ll]cl;rri.r> r,r,'itnessesancl be scribes. There arc even reports of rvomen phy'sicians. EarliestWritten Literature By 2700 s.c.,cuneiform was alsoused lor works of literature.The Epic o/ Gilgarne.shis tht- earliestknown u'ritten work of literature. It dealsr'vith the profound thernesof friendship. the leality o[ death,ancl the questlor eternallifc. Educationin China China hasalso been a civiiizedsociet). lor a r,erylong time. There is cvidenceto suggest that forrnal schoois existed in China during the Hsia and Shang dynasties,perhaps as earlyas 2t)00n.c.o (see NIap 1.2 of China).Religion has irlways been one of the fundamen- tal lhctorsin Chineselife and eclucation.The Chinesehave a greatdevotion to tradition. This in evidentin the family,where the fatherhas absolute powcr to enforceobedience to himselfas the carrierof tradition.The statewas but an enlarsemer-rtof the familv.and tire Map 1.2 China Source: From Anthony Esler, Ihe Human Venture,Combined Volume:From Prehrstorvlc Present,5thedition, 2004. Reprinted by permissionof PearsonEducation. :_i,TER 1 il5:Tiil::T'.1 :'.:H,";'tff :l:'":: :li,:T i.,'::*:.T:',ilTifl:tT:,:: tain thinss as traditionclictated. ^lili'i TheChinese Curriculum Around the seventhcentury B.c,, rve see the Chinesecurriculutn leaning heavily on tradi- tion. Classicalsubjects were studieclin a prescribeclcurriculum: history, poetr)',literature of antiquiq', governnrentdocrtments, ar.rd law China had no state system of schools nor public education.Formal educationwas stricily for men, anclonly thosemen who could pay for it. In general,the educationof women was lirnited to thar which they'needed in order to be polishedin socialsituations. but therearc repoltedincidents of women receiv- ::1ilffii""Hl;:l'J:TlJl:l;ihffi ilil;li:.:.'lilT"?ffi sff1H{i::'3; power when their husbands were awayi ChineseEducational Institutions There were three levels of ancient Chineseeducation: elenentary.. acadetnies, and exami- nations.The elementaryschool met in the teachershouse. The hours were long and the work severe.The privateacaclemies were m(lrelike "cram" or "dlill'" scl.rocllsin which the youth studicd the Chincseclassics, grammar, and prosein orclerto passthe examinations. The rnethodologyat ever;'level of Clrinesecclucation was extrertelyformal, emphasizing memorizationand an exactreproduction o[ textr.ralrnaterial. The classroorn\&'as a scene of confusittn and ear-splittingnoise as thc children studied lheir lessonsancl recitecl aloud. To Inotivatestudents to this rote memory and absoluteimitation, the teacherl.rad to exertharsh discioline. Chinese education has alu,ays been characterizeclb1. tradition, moralitv. and conformity-all designedto help the studentsto becomethe kind of human pcrsonenvi- sioned by oriental thought. We traditionally credit the philosophersand rhinkers of Greece and Rome with establishingthe foundations of our intellectualeducational thought. Hoq'- ever,it is interestingto study Easternthought to seethat, in the sametime period, a similar system of ldeas was establishedin China. Eastern thought is different from \A/estern thought in that it is cyclical,ernphasizing harmony while alsojuxtaposing oppositcs. Confuciuswas the first privateteacher in China who taught men the value of teach- ing itself. It will do us well, therefore,to begin this book of educzrtionalwritings lvlth a work frorn one of China'sgreat thinkers. the famous philosopher Confucius, who wrote about the ilnportance of education for society This r,villhelp us to seethat educationalis- suesare perennial and crosscultures, civilizations,and time periods. For FurtherResearch on the lnternet Sltewith information on ancient Babylonia.Egl'pt, anclother ancient civilizations. httpl/ home. echo-on.net /-srnithda./ Irrforrnationon the Sumeriansof Babyloniaand other ancientcivilizations. http://rvw'w .eliki. com,/ancient/civilizations/ Lessonplans on the ancientcivilizations. http://lessonplans.com \lanr'links to ancient China. Egvpt,and India. http://wwwcrystalinks.com,/ancient.html EDUCATIONIN THE EAF.V CI-.'TURES Notes 1. EclwardPou'er,PhilosophyoJEdutation:-StudicsiirPhilosophres,Schoolin.gdrl.JEJlirrltrr)r,ri/ Heights,IL: WavelandPrcss, 1990). 2. Nlarvin Pern er al.. '|4/cslrnCir'iij:afion: Ideas. Politics f's{).icl'y (Boston:HoughtrrD \lt1ii::; . 2000). 3. Tinr Megarry Societl,'irr Prchisalv; The Origin oJ HumanCulfure (New \brk: Neu \brl< L nirtr. l 996). Yun Lee Too, The PedagogicalCont,?rct: fhc EcorromiesoJ Teuchingand Lcarningin rLc {ttcttrtl \\,,ri,i - Arbor: Universityof MichiganPrcss,2000). l EleanorRobson.Mesopotdmian,\{alllmutics, 2100-1600 s.c. (Oxford:Clarenclon Prcss. lt)t)9). 6 Ray Huang, China:A MacroHi.storl' (;\rnronk, N.Y: M.E. Sl-rarpe,1997). 7 Conrad Schirokaurer.A BrieJHi storl,ol ChineseCit,ilization (Ne u' York: Harcourt BraceJolrrnovich. I 9q i l Sectionl.l: Confucius (552-479 s.c.) Proverbsand maxims are one o[ the most effective ways of teaching moral principles becausewhen learnedyoung, they stick with y,6llall your 1ife.We all rememberour parents'quoting: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Confucius was the great moral teacher who taught using maxims. Confucius'Life and Times Confucius (born Kung Chiu, meaning Chiu oi the Kung family,