THE CLIMB OF EDUCATION IN THE WORLD FROM PREHISTORY TO THE CONTEMPORARY ERA (Part 1- The evolution of education in the world from Prehistory to the 18th century)

Fernando Alcoforado*

This article is the first of two articles that address the climb of education in the world from Prehistory to the contemporary era. This article aims to present how education evolved in the world from Prehistory to the 18th century, while the second article aims to present how education evolved in the world from the 18th century to the 21st century. Two periods were considered in the rise of education in the world (from Prehistory to the 18th century and from the 18th century to the contemporary era), with the 18th century as the divider of two crucial moments in the development of education in the world. The 18th century was a landmark moment in the history of humanity because it was at this time that the Enlightenment emerged as an intellectual movement in opposition to the darkness of the Middle Ages whose foundations were built on the foundations of reason and empiricism. The Enlightenment was a revolution in the field of knowledge and a movement that culminated in a new way of conceiving the relationship between man and nature. The Enlightenment valued reason as the means to ensure humanity’s progress. The 18th century is also a historical landmark because it was at this time that the Industrial Revolution occurred in England, which transformed world society by leveraging the development of capitalism across the planet. It was also at this time that the American Revolution and the French Revolution took place, which were driven by Enlightenment ideals and the French Revolution represented the beginning of the end of absolutism in Europe. As could not fail to happen, all these events contributed to revolutionary advances in the field of education.

Part 1- The evolution of education in the world from Prehistory to the 18th century

1. Education in Prehistory

In primitive communities, at the dawn of humanity, there were already educational activities when children and young people learned group survival techniques and collective practices such as hunting, fishing, planting, in short, their culture. The child acquired his first education without anyone expressly directing him. In primitive communities, teaching was for life. To use the bow, the child hunted, to learn how to steer a boat, he sailed. Children educated themselves by taking part in community functions. There was no specific institution for education that actually took place at “home” and in living with your group or tribe, and was thus passed on from parents to children, confirmed through generations [1].

Prehistory began, according to some historians, around 3 million years ago and ended around 3500 BC when humanity’s first form of writing emerged, cuneiform writing, developed by the Sumerians. In Antiquity, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Indians, Chinese and many other peoples from the Near and Far East developed complex and efficient forms of education [2]. The history of pedagogy begins with education in the ancient East. In eastern civilizations, education was traditionally divided into classes and organized in closed and separate schools for the ruling class. During this period, a large part of the community was excluded from school and restricted to informal family education. The bases of educational methods in Egypt were memorization and vergasta, which means punishment. Education in Babylon, in what is now Iraq, had higher education reserved for the rich merchant class, combined with the warrior class. Its objectives were essentially practical, as in Egypt, but, on the other hand, the scientific aspect was more developed, and perhaps also the literary one. In India, the separation between castes was very rigid, and education was clearly differentiated. In ancient China, only the rich could afford to spend money on their children’s cultural preparation, usually in private schools, chosen based on the state exam [3].

2. Education in Antiquity (From the 8th Century BC to the 5th Century AD)

In the Far East, it is important to mention the influence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism on education [4]. In Confucian education, family formation (the individual’s first education) must serve the interests of the State. Confucian education is therefore designed to form an individual who should be useful to the community. This individual, the “wise man”, should educate himself in order to enter public service by participating in the state bureaucracy. He would be mobilizing his efforts for the balance and maintenance of society. The doctrine of Taoism represents an entirely different thought. The followers of Lao-Tse, the first sage who organized Taoist “lessons” in the famous text Tao-Te-Ching, were opposed to the excessively indoctrinating nature of Confucian teachings. For Lao-Tzu’s followers, Confucius represented the loss of the individual’s spontaneity, the curtailment of his actions in accordance with nature. Thus, in place of Confucian ethical prescriptions, Taoism seeks to reflect on natural movements, using extremely poetic, ambiguous and vague forms [4].

Buddhist ideals found fertile soil in China, later penetrating Korea and Japan. In Japan, their thought syncretized with Confucian and Taoist ideals, already imported from China, in addition to Shinto ritualism, which apparently originated in Japan itself. This synthesis gave rise to the schools of Zen Buddhism. It is possible to identify some pedagogical characteristics of this more philosophical than strictly religious doctrine, such as the emphasis on practice, rather than theoretical speculation, on inner evolution (that is, a form of education from the inside out, not from the outside in) and in the concept of enlightenment or spiritual awakening (satori), which emerges from “spontaneous discipline”. In many respects, this educational conception remains preserved in the Japanese educational system [4].

The people of Phoenicia, who, in ancient times, occupied the region of present-day Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Israel, simplified the writing technique until they finally reached a purely alphabetical system. Education in ancient Persia had only one aspect in common with that of Phenicia: it did not completely annul individuality, it did not indulge in mechanical memorization, it did not tend towards the simple perpetuation of a constituted order, but it promoted, to a certain extent, forms of dynamic activism. Persian education paid little or no attention to literary instruction and the learning of writing itself, except with regard to the priestly class [2]. The Hebrew people, also known as Israelites or Jews, are part of one of the most important civilizations of Antiquity – the Hebrew civilization. Elementary schools emerged next to the synagogues, which spread to such an extent that in the year 75 BC this elementary instruction was made mandatory in Jerusalem, and nine years later, throughout the territory. The characteristic of Hebrew civilization and education lies, therefore, in the religious spirit that gives it shape, re-founds and molds into unity the rich cultural influences received from the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Persians and the Greeks. Hebrew education had the merit of having given importance to individual values (present in Phoenician and Persian education), but also of having called for a law of moral interiority proposed by Judaism that has as its only point of reference a universal God conceived as infinitely good and fair [2].

Since men began to live in society, education has been present, the practice of which first occurred in the family environment and that education is not the same as school, as it is an invention of humanity [5]. The first news we have about the school shows us that only children from privileged social classes had the right to attend. It was like this in Egypt, whose supremacy in education was recognized by the Greeks, educators of the Romans, and by later Christian manifestations. Greco-Roman and Christian cultures incorporated elements from the Near East, recognizing the origin of culture, wisdom and instruction in the Egyptians. Aspects of Egyptian education, although with its own characteristics, will be found in Ancient Greece, such as the predominance of the separation of educational processes according to social classes, but less rigid and with a tendency towards democracy. In Greek society based on slavery, we will find an educational model for the ruling class to train them for the tasks of power. On the other hand, for workers there was no school, just job training [5].

In Ancient Greece, writing was not used as a means of learning [5]. When it emerged, writing was reserved for other purposes, such as recording important and epic events, such as wars. For this reason, among sovereigns, it was not common to know how to read and write. To meet this need there were scribes. The oldest inscriptions in the Greek alphabet show that since the 8th century BC, writing no longer constitutes specialized knowledge, reserved for scribes, but a technique of wide use, freely disseminated among the public. Writing becomes the basic element of Greek paidea. After thousands of years, in Ancient Greece, education was revolutionized [1]. Much of Western education is due to Greek paideia, an educational complex of Gymnastics, Grammar, Rhetoric, Music, Mathematics, History, Philosophy, among other subjects for training citizens capable of playing an active role in society. The Greek education model aimed to train citizens. Education was for select students, excluding women, slaves and foreigners. Despite being a slave society, it was in Ancient Greece that the idea of a State school emerged, proposed at the end of the 4th century BC by the philosopher Aristotle because he understood that only with an equal education for all citizens under State and public responsibility would capable of achieving its objective of promoting the common good. Aristotle argued that education should be public and not private [5].

In Antiquity, the teaching method was based on memorization and repetition. The child was treated as an adult without a specific method for learning and when he did not meet the master’s expectations, physical punishment called “pedagogical sadism” was common. The Greek school model ended up prevailing in the Roman Empire despite resistance. In the same way as in Greece, in Ancient Rome, in the Roman Empire, there was prejudice against education with a practical purpose. The Roman Empire was the first to promote an official education system, from a centralized body under the responsibility of the State. This does not mean, however, that access to education was given equally to all school-age children. On the contrary, the Roman education system was a system of privileges in which few had access to school. Education varied, both according to social class and gender. Commoners grew up without education, not learning to read or write. On the other hand, children from the highest strata of society had wide access to school and complex training. The daughters of wealthy men and women also attended school, but had the right to more restricted knowledge. In their school curriculum, they learned basic lessons in calculation, reading and writing and attended school only until they were twelve or thirteen years old, when they were released for marriage. Boys were able to continue their studies until later and their knowledge was more complex. They studied grammar, literature, religion, history, geography, astronomy, mathematics, rhetoric and notions of agriculture [6].

Education in the Roman Empire was also divided into levels, starting with primary education and reaching higher education. The poorest, when educated, usually completed only primary education, which equipped young people for writing and basic calculations. Wealthy young people had broad access to education [6]. With the decline of the Roman Empire, Christianity began to strengthen, which became the official religion of Rome in the year 391, previously opposed by it, replacing the ancient religions of the Greco-Roman world. This event affected all forms of cultural manifestation, including education, and the result was the replacement of Greek paidea by the Christian vision. This was a long process marked by dialogue between the Greek tradition and the new religion that incorporated elements of ancient paidea, but preached a vision of anti-intellectual education since the curriculum began to be fundamentally based on the learning of texts considered sacred to the Christians. From this period onwards, education lost the political character inherited from the Greeks, which aimed to train citizens, and began to be taught by priests of the Catholic Church, who were the few literate people in largely illiterate Europe. All knowledge came under the control of the Catholic Church, which determined what could and could not be read. Cultural impoverishment at this time was widespread, also affecting the Eastern Roman Empire [5].

3. Education in the Middle Ages (From the 5th to the 15th Century)

The transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages occurred with the implementation of the feudal system of production replacing slavery and with the consolidation of Christianity as a new vision of the world replacing the previously dominant Greco-Roman vision. From the sixth century onwards, the Catholic Church was the sole political authority through the papacy. As for the teaching method, medieval Christian education inherited from the Hebrew custom the boring and obsessive didactics of memorization and choral repetition, of learning by heart [5]. For transgressions and deficiencies in study, or mistakes made in singing prayers, correction was not carried out only with words, but with punishments. In the Middle Ages, Catholic monasteries were responsible for teaching, although they were still very select, with elite students and studies extremely linked to religion. The monastery was the first space for organizing and preserving knowledge in the Middle Ages. The design of a place especially intended for the systematization of teaching and knowledge was born from the Christian idea of evangelization present in the monastery and Christian schools of that time. The word Escolare gave rise not only to school, but to the philosophical concept that guided teaching throughout the Middle Ages, which derives from this systematization of knowledge. Because of this, it received the name Scholastica [1].

The Middle Ages are considered the “dark” ages. Despite this, it was during this period that the University was born in the year 1000, in Europe. Universities emerged when there was a meeting between the two parties interested in knowledge, a corporation of students and teachers functioning inside the cathedrals. Universities were born in Europe under the power of the Catholic Church, which granted authorization to teach (teaching license) with prior examination of study titles. The first three fields of knowledge that were constituted in faculties were liberal arts, medicine and jurisprudence. The latter, which contained Roman or civil law, included canon law from 1140 onwards. Later theology was added. This was the basis of medieval instruction [5]. Regarding higher education, the oldest historical records report its existence in Italy, in Bologna to be more exact, in the middle of 1088. In the 12th century, the University of Paris was founded in France. Both institutions, completely unrelated to the Catholic Church and the State, were responsible for teaching medicine, astronomy, mathematics, laws, and served as a reference for the development of higher education throughout the world [1].

In the medieval period, a large part of the population at the time still did not have basic educational skills such as reading, writing and mathematical calculations, until commerce began to grow, and these skills became a necessity for merchants, forcing the bourgeoisie to invest in a school, an institution dedicated to practical teaching that would help them grow even more financially, running their businesses with greater wisdom. In other words, the development of the school as an educational institution is closely linked to the bourgeoisie and capitalism [1]. In addition to the university, another type of education emerged in the Middle Ages from the 1000s onwards: trade guilds. Craft corporations are related to new modes of production in which the relationship between science and manual operation is more developed and specialization is more advanced. It differs from school training by the fact that it takes place in the workplace in which teenage apprentices receive guidance from master shoemakers, jewelers, bakers, etc. to whom they were under their tutelage. From the 13th century onwards, there was the emergence of free masters in a society that diversified with the emergence of merchants and artisans in the cities. These schools were free in large cities. At the end of the Middle Ages, we have a variety of masters (self-employed masters, associated masters in cooperatives, capitalist masters who hired other masters, masters paid by the communes, etc.). This variety reflects a school of a mercantile society that begins to be completely free from the Church and the Empire, sells its science, renews it and revolutionizes teaching methods [5].

At this same time, an innovative philosophical movement emerged, Humanism, which gained strength in the 15th century and boosted the Renaissance, a cultural, economic and political movement, which emerged in Italy in the 14th century and extended until the 17th century, and later, the Protestant Reformation. All of this contributed to the emergence of the Enlightenment in the 16th century, an intellectual, scientific and philosophical movement. Humanism had an aversion to medieval culture and its form of transmission, the school, under the aegis of the Catholic Church. In his criticism of the medieval school, there was a pedagogy contrary to the physical punishments that prevailed at the time and to educate children considering their young age and to educate them according to their own nature. In the 16th century, in the transition from feudalism to the consolidation of capitalism, in the context of the philosophical movement of Humanism and the Renaissance, reformist movements emerged in opposition to the Catholic Church, which began to form their own churches, resulting in initiatives that began the quantitative expansion of the school. Two education proposals emerged: that of the Protestant Reformation and that of the Counter-Reformation led by the Catholic Church. These were the main conceptions of education that were in force from the 16th century and following centuries [5].

The Protestant Reformation emerged with Lutheranism, which was the religious movement that most influenced the school at the beginning of the 16th century. Luther, who was a monk in the Catholic Church, broke with Catholicism and created his own church in Germany. The expansion of schools began in Europe with religious reforms, especially Lutheran reforms, which required the presence of boys and girls at school without distinction of class. The Protestant Reformation was very important for the development of capitalism, as demonstrated by Max Weber in his work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism [7], but it was also important because it defended its conception of a public school for the training of citizens. In 1549, Emperor Charles V of Germany anticipated the initiatives of the enlightened sovereigns of the 18th century, advocating that schools be maintained by the State [5].

In turn, the Counter-Reformation was an initiative of the Catholic Church with the purpose of uncompromisingly maintaining the dogmas questioned by the defenders of the Protestant Reformation and its prerogative over education. As a response to the Lutheran reform, the Catholic Church established seminaries designed to religiously educate and instruct new priests in ecclesiastical disciplines and a youth study program. The Jesuits stood out in the fight against Protestantism. Catholic countries were late in implementing the State school thanks to the power of the Catholic Church. There are countries that followed the Lutheran orientation and Catholic countries that followed the Jesuit orientation [5]. It is important to note that the first teachers in Brazil were Jesuit priests. They arrived in the 1540s with the unsuccessful objective of teaching adult Indians to read and catechize them and then changing their strategy to teach indigenous children to read and write. It should be noted that, at this time, in opposition to movements in several countries promoting schools maintained by the State, the Catholic Church and the Jesuits acted to keep schools under their control with the aim of training Christians and not citizens as advocated by Greek paidea [5].

4. Education in the Modern Age (From the 15th to the 18th Century)

In the 16th and 17th centuries, education gained momentum, acquiring a new appearance with school classes divided by age and the proposal for boys and girls to attend school, which were achievements of that time. In the 16th century, the beginning of the end of the Catholic Church’s hegemony in education began as it began to no longer be taught only in monasteries and cathedrals. At this time, churches created by religious reforms, especially the Lutheran reform, played a fundamental role in education with its emphasis on families sending their children to school. In the 17th century, although the tendency was for the State to take over education, religion still maintained its hegemony in it. In Catholic countries, the State did not intervene in education, which was provided by individuals and, mainly, by religious orders. In the 17th century, there was a pedagogical renewal proposed by Jan Comenius to “teach everything to everyone” based on empiricism (direct observation of things). Comenius proposed a school for life that, divided into degrees, would teach everything to everyone completely. Comenius is the founder of didactics and, in part, of modern pedagogy. He is one of the biggest names in Western education and pedagogy. It is the precursor of the objective method, of the most perfect teaching materials possible and of experiments carried out directly by the teacher. It was in the 17th century that pedagogical renewal began. The pedagogy of the countries that joined the reform followed the inspiration of the new Protestant churches and, on the other hand, the pedagogy of Catholic countries was Jesuit until the 18th century [5].

REFERENCES

1. SERENNA, Nathalia. História da Educação no Mundo e no Brasil. Available on the website <https://www.jusbrasil.com.br/artigos/historia-da-educacao-no-mundo-e-no-brasil/605451719>. 
2. FORMAÇÃO.FIKAKI.  A Educação no Oriente Antigo. Available on the website <https://formacao.fikaki.com/educacao-no-oriente-antigo/#google_vignette>.
3. SOPEDAGOGIA. História da Educação – Período Oriental. Available on the website <https://www.pedagogia.com.br/historia/oriental.php>.
4. BLOG DO RAFAEL MORI. Educação no Extremo Oriente – Confúcio e Buda. Available on the website <https://blogdorafaelmori.wordpress.com/2021/09/22/historia-da-educacao-3-educacao-no-extremo-oriente-confucio-e-buda/>.
5. BITTAR, Marisa. A História da Educação. Da Antiguidade à Era Contemporânea. São Carlos: EduFScar, 2009.
6. ANDRADE, Ana Luiza Mello Santiago. Educação na Roma Antiga. Available on the website <https://www.infoescola.com/historia/educacao-na-roma-antiga/>.

* Fernando Alcoforado, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, of the SBPC- Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science and of IPB- Polytechnic Institute of Bahia, engineer from the UFBA Polytechnic School and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, college professor (Engineering, Economy and Administration) and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning, urban planning and energy systems, was Advisor to the Vice President of Engineering and Technology at LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company from Rio de Janeiro, Strategic Planning Coordinator of CEPED- Bahia Research and Development Center, Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, Secretary of Planning of Salvador, is the author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017),  Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019), A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência (Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021), A escalada da ciência e da tecnologia e sua contribuição ao progresso e à sobrevivência da humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2022), a chapter in the book Flood Handbook (CRC Press,  Boca Raton, Florida United States, 2022), How to protect human beings from threats to their existence and avoid the extinction of humanity (Generis Publishing, Europe, Republic of Moldova, Chișinău, 2023) and A revolução da educação necessária ao Brasil na era contemporânea (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2023).