Lecture 2

EDUCATION IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS.

Explain the role of education in Ancient Societies and Civilizations

INTRODUCTION
In our second lesson, we had overview of the development of education through
phases in history from the pre-historic period to the present time. We went further
to show how education in every period of history has tended to respond to the
needs of its society. In this lecture, we are going to look at the education during
ancient civilization.

Early societies and Education

The way in which early societies educated their young and thus how future
generations were educated is a milestone in cultural history. Thus, the education
and cultural antecedents are significant, for present values are rooted in those of
the past. Inevitably, there is all the reason for being made aware of the main
avenues of action in ancient times. This demands knowing and to understand the
ideals that shaped ancient education, together with the men that laid them down,
including the policies and practices that were set to realize them.

Our emphasis on the study of education in ancient times lies in those societies
whose influence has become more or less a permanent feature of their approach to
education. This is because the present Kenyan education system emerged out of
these formal systems of education. Indeed our education has since independence
largely developed along western lines. The Egyptian education of about 4,000 BC
aimed to foster a proper understanding of religion and vocational skills that were
needed for trade and agriculture, and mathematical and geometrical for surveying
and measuring out plots which were flooded annually by the Nile.

The Chinese education of 2,000 years ago sought to preserve the past, their
education concerning itself with human relationships, order, duty and morality.
The greatest Chinese philosopher was Confucius (557 BC-479 BC). The Hindus,
on their part, endeavoured through their education to prepare themselves for the
life to come and maintain the caste system. The Jewish education was immensely
colored by religious faith, an attitude towards their national history, a sense of
godly appointed mission.

The Greeks were the first to realize that society can be best enriched by
development of the talents and personalities of the individuals which make up the
society. They were also the first to recognize that the preservation of the status quo
alone was inadequate, but rather that education of the individual society was to
progress and grow. Socrates (469-399 BC), Plato (428-348 BC) and Aristotle
(386-322 BC) tried to find the solution to the problem of developing a stable
society which also fostered the creative talents and freedom of the individual
within it. Consequently, from Greece the model for the educated citizen was
transplanted throughout the Hellenist World.

The Roman’s part was to absorb the spread of Hellenistic culture rather than to
remodel it entirely into some higher cultural synthesis. Their acquisition of Greek
learning was to be highly selective; they left out many structural elements and
modified others. Thus while sharing Hellenistic attitudes, they still honoured their
tested traditions and tried to build a formal educational system that sought to
achieve two objectives; culture and utility. The Romans were determined to
produce decently educated men, both cultured and practical. Their most influential
educational thinker was Quintilian (AD 35-95). Quintilian took up questions of
educational methodology, discussing problems of techniques and their application.

Characteristic feature of Education during the Ancient

It is worth reminding us that the evolution of man’s culture in education extends in
time to obscure origins before the dawn of recorded history. This is so even of
western man, and in fact the religion, the economy, the values of society and the
lifestyles arising from near Eastern societies produce a succession of formal
education systems, while Western Europe was still a vast wilderness populated by
primitive savages dwelling in caves. An examination of educational phenomena of
early historic societies suggests certain general conclusions as to the nature of
education of these earliest civilizations.

Education seen as cultural transmission imparted informally, without schools,

dominated up to the time complex demands of society became too great for it.
Once the informal educational practices had been thus outstripped and found
wanting, there was no stopping the emergence of educational institutions to meet
the compelling needs of the man’s earliest civilizations: the principle of division of
labour apparent in the ancient civilizations soon led to similar specializations in
education.

The explosion of knowledge meant that the family and society were unable to cope
with the emergent specialisms, therefore paving the way for formal training in
reading, writing and arithmetic. Home and society needed something to
supplement them; what schools taught was supposed to be relevant to the needs of
home and society.

The supportive principle of division of labour that followed the agricultural,

technological and urban revolutions of historic societies saw a class of teachers
arising. Initially teachers imparted historical and religious knowledge to a selected
few. Teachers thus supplemented the family and society in teaching what was
considered relevant for the commercial, administrative and literary needs of the
evolving communities that became early historic societies.

The discovery of writing was an important stimulus towards the establishment of

schools. The skills of reading, writing and arithmetic were useful for commercial,
administrative and record-keeping purposes. Hence the limited oral tradition based
on memory was surely being phased out by the enduring authoritative recorded
tradition of the written word. Schools became a necessity, to teach people how to
read and write. Paradoxically, the authoritative recorded tradition produced a
conservative, status quo, orientation that was against change.

Except for the Jews, the art of reading and writing was limited to a very small
number of people in the early historic communities. Those in the higher sectors of
society, with a birthright, were at an advantage in receiving formal education.
Being literate resulted to a rise in an important position in society. An individual
who could read and write possessed a skill that was scarce and of great value to the
community. Indeed, the acquisition of the art of reading and writing was further
glorified by being accompanied by religious mysticism. Religious mysticism
replaced the informality of pre-literate education. However, the education of the
masses still took the form of apprenticeships and oral education. Again, except for
the Jews, girls and women were considered inferior to boys and men. The
education of women was therefore neglected.

The approach of teaching and learning was in its infancy. Memorization and
repeating word for word what the teacher had taught was rampant. There was no
encouragement for the learner to relate what had been taught to everyday life. No
allowance was made for the students to apply what was learnt to problem solving.
Teachers neither explained their lessons, nor saw lack of learning as the teachers’
fault. Lack of understanding was due to the laziness of the students. Severe school
and class discipline was the order of the day. Education was a means of producing
submissive, conforming and yet productive citizens of a cohesive society.

Summary

So far we have outlined how Egyptians, the Chinese, the Indians, the Jews, the
Greeks and the Roman have permanently influenced western educational practice.
Further, we have pointed to the main features of education in classical societies.
These characteristics included the fact that education was a means of cultural
transmission, among many others.

Activities.

 Discuss the evidence we have that Egyptian civilization existed and

influenced the course of human.
 Identify and discuss six ways in which education in ancient Egypt has
influenced modern.
EDUCATION IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Examine the education system of ancient Egyptians

Introduction.
In the last lesson, we defined history of education, discussed the rationale for
studying the subject and the scope of the unit from the ancient times to the present.
In this lesson we shall look at the foundations of modern education in ancient
Egypt.

Objectives:

By the end of this lessons, you should be able to:

 Identify the origins and development of ancient Egyptian

 Identify the aims and structure of ancient Egyptian
 Discuss the contribution of Egyptian education to modern

Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Egyptian civilization is the oldest in the long history of man. It pre- dates the
Chinese, Indian and Graeco-Roman civilizations. Egyptian civilization reached its
peak between 4,000 B.C. and 1,000 B.C. It is also the earliest civilization with a
recorded history. This civilization was a product of the agricultural activities
centered on the River Nile, political unity between the upper and lower Kingdoms
under Pharaoh Menes in 3100 B.C. and the resulting centralized autocratic
theocracy, which managed to maximize the existing agricultural economy.

Note: All civilization in the history of mankind revolved around a central

feature, economic activity at perceived challenge. This is true of societies even
in modern times.

Question: What was Egyptian civilization a product of?

Activity: Using your own knowledge of history or referring to this book,

identify the major factors behind the Chinese, Indian, and Greek and Roman
civilization.
Religion and Social Classes
In Ancient Egypt, all things were inseparable from religion. This made Herodotus
(484 B.C. – 425 B.C.), the Greek father of History, to describe the Egyptians as
extremely religious. The total number of deities was in excess of two thousand,
with the Pharaoh being considered and treated as a deity on earth, or the god king.
The Pharaoh ensured that the gods were worshiped and sacrifices made to them.
All land belonged to the Pharaoh and there was intimate link between the religious,
the economic, the social, the political, the artistic, the scientific and the
technological; practices.

The Egyptian believed in physical life after death, which was considered as a kind
of transient sleep. Because of this, the Egyptians developed mummification or
conservation in death into a highly sophisticated science.

Egyptian society was stratified into three classes. The upper class included the
royal family, the nobles and the priests. The middle classes were the professionals
and scribes. The lowest class included the fellahin or serfs and the slaves.
Egyptian priests had a very powerful position politically, socially, economically
and educationally. They both directly and indirectly controlled the entire
educational system.

Note: Herodotus description of Egyptians as extremely religious echoes

Mbithi’s view that Africans are notoriously religious. Both views underline
the importance of religion in African society.

Question: What are the three classes into which Egyptian society was divided?

Activity: Using the example of ancient Egypt, discuss the role played by religion
in your own community.

Explain the aims and structure of Ancient Egyptian Education

The Aims and Structure of Ancient Egyptian Education.

AIMS
Egyptian education aimed at perpetuating social stability and the status quo.
Education perpetuated a socially stratified society by slotting the various classes
into their social, political and economic riches in society.

The education aimed at producing professionals and labour oriented personnel to

support the social structures. For this reason, Egyptian education was practical,
technical, professional, and utilitarian.

The River Nile being at the heart of Egyptian civilization, education was designed
to foster the development of a complex agricultural science, creating irrigation and
flood control networks, which made Egypt the granary of the ancient world.

Egyptian education also preferred a religious view of the world by seeking to

enhance the people’s religious and moral development and piety to the gods.
Education was considered both a preparation for life and a vehicle for life after
death. Education thus contained religious and philosophical studies to achieve the
society’s polytheist ideals.

STRUCTURE

 Elementary Education.

Elementary schools were first established between 3,000 B.C. and 2,000 B.C: in
response to the basic needs of Egyptian society. They were established to offer
training in various vocations rather than literacy. The latter was initially restricted
to the clergy, with only their sons being exposed to reading and writing under
priests in temple schools.

Schooling for the few lucky boys began at four years of age and lasted up to the
time they were 14 yeas, when they were considered ready for the world of work.

The curriculum included mastering the symbols and signs of writing unique to the
respective social classes, professions or vocations; elementary science, arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, music and dancing. The last two were taught for
recreational, moral and religious training.
The dominant methods of teaching were dictation, memorization, copying of texts,
imitation, repetition, participation and observation, the last particularly in physical
education. These methods did not encourage higher-level thinking, problem-
solving, or the spirit of inquiry, with teachers hardly explaining their lessons.
School discipline was severe and ruthless. Laziness was highly discouraged and
severely punishable. Good manners, physical fitness through swimming and
archery, cleanliness and moral uprightness were highly valued. To Egyptians
bodily hygiene was of religious significance, and may well have originated the
adage that cleanliness is next to godliness.

Those boys who did not go to elementary school were trained informally by their
fathers in skills other than the 3Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic. Through
apprenticeships and oral traditions the masses were taught to fit into their
prescribed positions in society. Girls only received training in domestic roles under
their mothers at home. Slaves were not offered any formal education.

 Secondary Education

Secondary education was conducted in the same premises as elementary education.

It was mainly a continuation of improvement and consolidation of the elementary
school learning, with particular attention being given to refining the style and
composition of the art of writing and craftsmanship. Boys of the upper class
informally participated in learning activities that enhanced their etiquette and code
of behaviour.

 Higher and Professional Education

This education took place in temples, colleges or universities. On the East bank of
the Nile, at Tell-el–Armana, there was a kind of university, the House of Life.
Higher education was mainly for the instruction of priests and professionals.

This education was guardedly, secretly and informally passed on to immediate

relatives, colleagues and social equals. It was thus restricted to those recognized as
heirs by virtue of birth. This was particularly in regard to priesthood and medicine.
Other professionals included teachers and scribes who used their homes, offices,
business premises and temples to impart the relevant knowledge and skills to
selected boys.
Note: It is important to note that education in ancient Egypt was closely
modelled on the stratification of the society into classes, and that there was
rampant gender inequity in addition to the class inequality.

Question: What were the aims of ancient Egyptian education?

Activity: Discuss how the aims of ancient Egyptian education were achieved
through the established structure and content of education.

Explain the contribution of Egyptian Education to Human Civilization

Contribution of Egyptian Education to Human Civilization

The Egyptian educational achievements and contributions to human civilization are
many. In art, modern painting and sculpture borrowed much from Egyptian
models. In architecture, Egyptians were the first to successfully use mass with
stone in copying the massive desert cliffs and mountains to build the pyramids, are
of the enduring wonders of the world. In literature, the Egyptians used proverbs,
similes, aphorisms, etc, to teach moral conduct, methods that are in extensive use
in today’s teaching. In mathematics, the Egyptian method of multiplication was
until recently used in Eastern Europe and Asia. In medicine, the Egyptians had
knowledge of physiology, surgery and blood circulation, and are the originators of
the Hippocratic oath.

In writing, the Egyptians developed hieroglyphics and invented the earliest known
writing materials. “Paper: is an abbreviation of “papyrus”, which was a plant
cultivated in Egypt and used for writing.

However, there are critics of Egyptian citizens who argue that these achievements
were not built upon due to the stagnation and decline that followed the end of the
old Kingdom. That as it may be, but the foundations of modern western world
developments in science and technology in ancient Egypt civilization are not in
dispute.

Summary
In this lesson, we have learned that the ancient Egyptian educational system sprang
out of the agricultural activities around the River Nile; that Egyptian education was
highly religious; utilitarian, class and gender-based; and has had a rich legacy for
modern education.

Note: The contributions of Egyptian education to modern education are

relatively easy to identify because of their civilization was recorded in written
or graphic form. This was not always the case with other civilizations with no
records.

Question: What evidence do we have that Egyptian civilization existed and

influenced the course of human civilization?

Activity: Identify six ways in which Egyptian education has influenced modern
education.