Module 3

3. EARLY EDUCATION
Education started as soon as life existed on
earth. So we could say that education is as old as
life. Primitive cultures lives relatively simple.
The activities of the natives were first directed
toward satisfying their basic needs which were
food, clothing shelter and to protect themselves
from harm.

4. Secondly, they had narrow social and
cultural contacts since they were concerned
only with their own tribes. They were
prone to superstitious beliefs and because
their organization was tribal and not
political, the primary function of education
was to live closest to their relatives.

5. Aims of Education
The primary aim of early
education was security, to stay
alive and to protect oneself and
the immediate members of the
family from harmful forces.
The fear from any form of
danger stimulated the people to
group themselves intro tribes and
clans. Conformity of the
individual to a group is part of
learning.

6. Significance of Early Education
There are no methods of education
consciously recognized during this early
period and yet there were evident essential
characteristics of the educational process.
Fitting the child to his physical and social
environment was through the appropriation of
the experience of previous generations.

7. Practical Education
Training in the process of obtaining food,
clothing and shelter constituted the practical
education of the people. Knowledge was
obtained through conscious and unconscious
imitation. Boys and girls imitated the games
and sports of their adults. The boys shot a
mark with a bow and arrow while the girls
made utensils our of clay, to cook and prepare
food with.

8. Theoretical Education
Another phase of primitive life involved
practices connected with ceremonies, dances,
and incantations. These ceremonial practice
constituted religious worship. Primitive people
performed these rituals before the hunt, military
expeditions, planting and harvesting and other
important social activities. These myths,
legends and rituals were passed on as historical
traditions, bearing educational functions.

9. ANCIENT CHINESE EDUCATION

10. Chinese education consisted mainly of the
works of Confucius whom they considered great
religious leader and philosopher. Education
started as soon as the child was able to feed himself.
Boys were taught to respect elders and by ten,
the boys learned to write the different types of
characters and to calculate. At thirteen, they learned
music and when they became adults, they were
taught dance, archery and chariot-driving.

11. Likewise at ten years of age, girls were
taught to use pleasing speech and good
manners, to be docile and to be obedient. They
learned women’s chores to equip them for
marriage.
Chinese education is two-fold: the system
of school and the system of examinations.
These were conducted by the state which
controlled educational system.

12. School
The function of the school consisted of three
forms:
1. the mastery of language
2. committing to memory the sacred psalms
3. the study of the innumerable commentaries
to develop a literary style similar to that
used in sacred writings.

13. The Examination System
The Examination System was the central
feature of the Chinese educational system. There
were three governmental examinations for
various degrees and for office work. The degrees
were for:
1. flowering talents
2. promoted men and
3. entered scholar or fit for office

14. Ancient Egypt Education

15. Education in Egypt
Egypt was the cradle of ancient civilization
and influenced the present civilization to a great
extent.
The process of education consisted mainly
of apprenticeship where the father transferred his
skills to his son. It involved vocational training
and writing. Only knowledge and skills that were
deemed important were handed down.

16. Children in Ancient Egypt stayed with
their mothers until the age of four. During
these years, a strong respect for their mothers
was instilled in the children. At the age of four,
education of the boys was taken over by their
fathers.

17. The trades in Ancient Egypt had levels of
earnings and power associated with them.
Sons typically followed in the same trade that
their father practiced. Some children at this
time attended a general village school while
others attended a school designed for a
specific career such as a priest or a scribe.

18. Schools taught writing, reading, math, and
sports as well as morals and manors. At the age
of fourteen, sons of farmers or craftsmen joined
their dads in their professions. Those children
whose parents had higher status careers
continued their education at special schools
usually attached to temples or governmental
centers.

19. This higher level of education included
learning what was called “Instruction of
Wisdom.” The “Instruction of Wisdom”
included lessons on ethics and morality. This
higher level of education also focused on skills
needed for higher status positions such as
doctor or scribe. The educational track that a
student followed was typically determined by
the position that the father held in society, yet,
students who showed ability were able to
receive training for higher status jobs.

20. Very few careers were open to most women.
While most women trained for motherhood and
on how to be a good wife, some girls could
train to be dancers, entertainers, weavers, or
bakers. Only the daughters of wealthy nobles
received an education in reading or writing.
The majority of Egyptian women were trained
at home by their own mothers.

21. For higher education, the temples were the
Centers for advanced learning. Mathematics,
Astronomy, physics, architecture and embalming
were taught by the high priest.

22. About 3100 B.C., the Egyptians devised a
System of writing called hieroglyphics. Symbols
or pictures (pictographs) usually represented a
sound or a group of sounds. This development
paved the way for a group of men to be trained in
the arts of writing.

23. In the field of engineering and
architecture, the Egyptians
were considered superior as
shown in their great work-the
pyramids.

24. Ancient Jewish Education

25. Jewish education was ethical and religious.
Parents were obligated to educate their children.
The method of instruction was oral and learning
by doing and corporal punishment were regarded
as essential elements in training.
The goal of Jewish education was to prepare
man to know God and to live peacefully among
his fellows.

26. Children received education at home. Only the
father was expected to teach his son trade secrets.
During the New Testament period synagogues
were established and headed by rabbis who
assisted parents in educating the children. School
was a year-round activity. It was held daily from
sunrise till 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon.
Instruction was individualized and memorization
was emphasized.

27. Education in Ancient Greece

28. Greek Education was characterized by creative
activity and logical thinking. The Greeks gave us
culture and enlightenment. They also became the
first greatest sportsmen.
There were several Greek city-states and
among
these city-states, the most popular were Sparta
and Athens.

29. Spartan Education
The legal basis of Spartan Education
was their constitution which provided
military protection. Specifically, Spartan
education was designed to make Spartans
good citizens.
A Spartan was required to be strong
and hardy, physically fit,terse of speech,
austere and full of valor.

30. Spartan education was aimed at developing and
preparing their men for war and to defend their
country at all times. Their school curriculum
consisted of military exercises and practices to
serve the state.

31. Spartan training was characterized by:
1. The mother reared the newborn infant until seven
years of age.
2. At seven to eighteen years old, the child lived in
barracks-type schools. This training was called
paidonomos.
3. At twenty, he paid allegiance to the state and was
exposed to military camps for actual combat
training.
4. At thirty years of age, he became a full-fledged
citizen and was ready to marry.

32. Athenian Education
Another popular Greek city-state
was Athens. It was first state in the
history of the world that allowed the full
development of man’s capacities.
Athenian education aimed to produce
young men and women who would be
charming in person with graceful
manners.

33. Athenian education was family prerogative.
The training was physical and the primary
concern was to develop a well-rounded
personality and an ideal physique. The training
was supervised by a paidagogus, an educated
slave who accompanied the child under his
charge
and stayed with him in school.

34. A great variety of schools was established in
Athens. At the palaestra or public gymnasium,
Athenians obtained their physical training under
an instructor called paedotribe. Writing was
taught by a grammarian who used lox tablets and a
stylus.

35. Aside from what they learned in school, the
boys gained knowledge of the country’s laws and
customs. They also attended the theaters and the
courts, listened to discussions during banquets
and participated in religious rituals.
The girls received training from their mothers
concerning domestic issues, rearing healthy
children and other household matters.

36. The Athenians believed that between the mind
and the body there existed and intimate
connection that should be given due attention and
consideration, stressing individual excellence to,
and a rounded development of, both mind and
body.

37. Roman Education
Ancient Rome grew from a
small prehistoric settlement in
the Tiber River in central Italy
that encompassed the entire
Mediterranean world and
much of Europe and the Near
East.

38. The special genius of the Romans lay in
war, administration and law, but as inheritors of
Greek culture, they were able to transmit a rich
and rounded heritage that became the basis of
modern western civilization (Encyclopedia of
Knowledge Collier, p.157).

39. The development of the Roman educational
system took place in two great time divisions. The
first period started in 753 B.C., and the second
period, from 250 B.C. to 146 B.C.
The early Romans were practical people who
successfully managed their everyday affairs. The
Roman aim of education was utilitarian, a
practical application of learned theories.

40. The rearing of their children was directed
toward practical ends, preparing the boys for
everyday living while girls were taught to become
good housekeepers. The family dominated the
education of Roman life. It shaped the character
and determined the status of its members.

41. There were three levels in the Roman
educational ladder. First, the lowest level was
the school of “litterator,” where the teachers
were called “ludimajister.” This school focused
on the 3Rs, reading, writing, and arithmetic.
The second was the school of
“grammaticus” which taught literature and the
liberal arts.

42. The third level was the school of the
rhetoric for boys. The preparation was the
training
In language and literature, declamation,
and debate. This rhetorical school played a very
vital role in disseminating Roman culture.

43. Some important Roman personalities who have
influenced the school of rhetoric included Cicero
and Quintilian. Cicero put his educational ideas in
his “The Orator” which claimed that man’s natural
gifts for speaking must have a broad cultural
background. He stressed the idea that the ability to
speak and persuade people was to improve one’s
public career and leadership.

44. Likewise in 9 A.D. Quintilian in his book,
“Institutes of Oratory,” combined the discussion
of education with the principles, scope, and style
of oratory. He advocated that an orator must be a
man of integrity with a good memory. He further
recommended the use of games and play in
learning as well as the consideration of individual
differences. (Duka:1998).

45. The University of Rome was established in
1303 by Pope Boniface VIII through a papal bull
called “Suprema premincutia dignitatis.” Its
purpose was to serve needy students staying at
the
capital. Pope John II decreed in 1318 that the
university grant degrees only in canonical and
civil law. Under Pope Paul III the medical school
attained eminence.

46. The university likewise was famous for
physics,
natural history and botany. This was financially
supported by the state but enjoyed administrative
autonomy. (Colliers Encyclopedia, P.F. Colliers
& Limited Canada: Copyright 1995 p. 201).