Saturday, September 26, 2009

First Schools


It seems that throughout time, the darwinian principle of the survival of the fittest has transcended not only the physical adaptation of survival, but the cultural and psychological aspects of society. The ones who have the mean to survive and are the top class will undoubtedly rule the unadapted.

In the case of the Sumerian first schools, the individuals with the highest of class wee the ones receiving the education. The major point in the first schools was of course the training of scribes. Teaching the sumerian language and how to scribe it was the main goal. Students learned to write by repetition and there have been archeological findings of what appeared to be schoolhouses with rooms full of repeated lines thought to have been practiced by the students. There was no search for knowledge or truth in the schooling of the Sumerians.

By the time that the Egyptians advanced as a civilization, the matter of schooling and what was taught had evolved from the Sumerian’s style. Teaching had now developed into a skill, morality, and idealogical way of passing down information that the elders of the society deemed important. Ethical principles were now taught along with religion. Home schooling became a sort of apprenticeship with a father taking responsibility for the son’s education. Sons and daughters followed their respective family’s trade and eventually passed that knowledge down to their children. Formal scribe education continued in Egypt but with the inclusion of moral and vocational lessons. Formal education still belonged to the well-to-do families in the society.

This form of societal difference ensured that the educated ruled over the less educated and for thousands of years, education was reserved for the high class. Only today do we see a major change in the way of schooling. It has become almost rare to have an illiterate individual in a developed world. Although education is freely available to anyone that seeks it, the most expensive and most reputable centers for education are still considered something reserved for the members of high society.

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