HISTORY OF EDUCATION
In this class, we aimed to understand the historical trajectory of Education, revisit the student journey, as well as develop in academics a critical spirit of all aspects addressed.
We can say that man becomes man, in the identification of the other as another of himself, he is a social, creative being, capable of interacting with each other and transforming nature. These transformations are reflected in Education in different periods; the changes that have taken place in our history are reflected in the pedagogical model.
The human being, as a creator and creative, shows the world the transformations that are taking place, both with society and with man himself, through art, telling his story, showing his anguish, anxieties and victories. In this way, we chose some images to illustrate such aesthetic representations. We can see such images throughout the text.
Education is the way to build knowledge and attitudes necessary for the integration of man into society. Therefore, it happens in two distinct moments: first, as family education, second, as erudite education.
It is necessary to go back in the history of education with the intention of understanding the pedagogical practice, observing that man is a historical being, who returns to his past to project the future.
Aranha (1989, p.12) in this regard says:
Thinking about the past should not be understood as an exercise in nostalgia, mere curiosity or erudite concern. The past is not something dead: in it are the roots of the present. It is by understanding the past that we can make sense of the present and shape the future.
Regarding education, we can observe different moments that are of fundamental importance for the history of our humanity: Ancient Period, subdivided into Primitive, Ancient and Medieval, Modern, highlighting the Renaissance. As something inherently human, education is transformed and the educational process follows the norms and standards of each historical period, responding to the needs of each society.
In order to contextualize this writing, we have divided the transformations undergone by Education into the following stages:
- primitive period
The rock art, made on the wall of the caves, exposed above, represents the period of 4000 BC. It is believed that they would have a ritualistic purpose.
The primitive period corresponds to prehistory. Prior to writing, primitive education aims to adjust the child to his physical and social environment through the acquisition of experiences. Knowledge, in this period, is available to anyone, there is no social division. The heads of households are the teachers.
The changes in education occur with the Neolithic revolution, where an educational division is established, parallel to the division of labor. (man Woman).
- Ancient Period
In the ancient period, fundamental transformations took place in our culture, making it increasingly scientific, more specialized in a differentiated way, both in terms of objectives and methods.
There are different models of Education, according to the period to which it corresponds and the geographical location; A fundamental characteristic is the emergence of writing and the State in Eastern antiquity, differing from each other.
Egyptian – These people develop writing from 3500 BC in hieroglyphics. Knowledge is reserved for high officials, priests and military. Subsequently, knowledge starts to be disseminated, but at the highest levels, to which only the ruling class has access. Schools are created for the people, for employees’ children. Its operation takes place in temples, it has a strong religious content, not forgetting the practical issues, thus training doctors, engineers and architects
Egyptian Art 3000 BC, represents the day-to-day of civilization, marked by different historical moments. The figure above shows the Egyptian god Anubis and mummification.
Babylon – The power of the priestly class predominates, for the Babylonians, they have libraries, astrology notions, they seek the practical application of knowledge. For these people, science mixes with magic.
India- It is a civilization marked by the social division into castes, where everyone derives from the body of God Brahma, Education happens in a discriminatory way, privileging the slabs; Sudras and Pariahs are denied any form of Education; It is also influenced by Buddhism.
China- Education is conservative, remaining until recently focused on transmission, supported by the interpretative books of Lao Tse and Confucius that date from the third millennium BC
Hebrews- Their education is marked by religiosity, professed by the prophets, takes place in synagogues, where they learn the truths of the Bible, specifically the Old Testament. They are polytheists, they value manual education.
The Eastern pedagogical proposals of antiquity are based on the sacred books, they have the objective of moral education according to the religious life, imposed by each civilization.
Greek Antiquity – the archaic period, from the 8th to the 6th century BC, brought great changes in the political and social field, with the emergence of the Pólis (city-states), commerce and, consequently, social classes and currency.
These transformations are fundamental for the emergence of philosophical thought, considered as the classical period (5th and 4th centuries BC). In this period, the pedagogical idea associated with the formation of the citizen appears, this model influenced the entire education of the West.
Sciences such as astronomy, geometry and mathematics appear. Man seeks a rational explanation that explains the origin, the first principle of all things; supremacy is given to reason.
Education has as its principle the formation of the citizen, complete and virtuous, for that it is necessary a model that covers body and mind; concomitantly with the emergence of philosophical thought, the word Paideia appears.
Around the 5th century BC, the word Paideia is created , which at first simply means ‘raising boys’ (pais, paidós, ‘child’). But over time, the word acquires nuances that make it untranslatable. Werner Jaeger, famous German Hellenist wrote a work with that name, says: One cannot avoid the use of modern expressions such as civilization, culture, tradition, literature or education; none of them, however, really coincide with what the Greeks understood by Paideia. Each one of those terms is limited to expressing an aspect of that global concept and, to encompass the entire field of the Greek concept, we would have to use them all at once (ARANHA, 1989, p. 37).
There are subdivisions in Greek Education. The period, known as Homeric, aims at the formation of the noble. The child remains with the mother until 7 years of age. Childhood was a passing phase, from that moment on the child started to frequent places suitable for their development, and there is an educational division by gender, so the girl stays at home learning the arts of the home.
The school remains the place of the elite, Greek culture is transmitted through social events.
Sparta and Athens are the main city-states of this period and present different models of Education; Sparta turned to the formation of the warrior, from the age of 7 the boy was removed from the family, passing into the care of the State. Education was public, rigid, focused mainly on physical activities, not neglecting the study of music, singing and dancing. As the child grows, discipline increases. The Spartan warrior is educated to endure pain and obey. Women are prominent in this period, participating in physical activities and festivities.
Athens spreads education to all free citizens, due to its great influence and, as it is the cradle of philosophy, the ideal of the Athenian people is worship, boys were instructed in letters and philosophy by the masters, in the first phase it was accompanied by the pedagogue (slave whose function was to guide the first letters and physical activity, around the age of 18 after a rite of passage he entered the citizen’s life, the masters are the philosophers.
The Pre-Socratics (7th and 6th centuries BC) are responsible for separating mythical and rational thought. In the Socratic period, known as the Classic (5th and 6th centuries BC), Philosophy was developed, the philosophical system of Socrates, with its unorthodox method of giving birth to ideas, inaugurating the search for the truth itself. This same philosopher repudiates the Sophists, the first philosophers who played the role of teachers, charging for their itinerant services, taught the art of rhetoric.
Plato, disciple of Socrates, develops his theory of knowledge represented in the Allegory of the Cave, where knowledge would be the possibility of salvation. He defends dualism, body and soul and would aim at the formation of the citizen. Aristotle turns to ethics, understanding man as an animal that has a political nature.
The fundamental influence of this period takes place in the field of Education from a pedagogical concern, encompassing body and soul.
Roman Education – has a practical character and civil and family formation. The citizen is aware of Roman law. The father is a central figure, the woman is valued in the family, having an educational role, for the formation of the future citizen. From the 2nd century BC, schools were organized according to the Greek model, there are also schools for the lower classes for professional training.
Greco-Roman art 700 BC This period influences the history of humanity, being the first period to value man. The above work represents the marriage of Peleus and Thetis . The goddess refused marriage to a mere mortal
The fall of the Roman empire creates a fragmentation in the world, Christianity is responsible for its unification.
The Middle Ages covers a period so extensive that it is difficult to characterize it without running the risk of simplification. After all, there are a thousand years between the fall of the Roman Empire (476) and the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (!457).
The High Middle Ages, the period that followed the fall of the Empire, is characterized by a state of degradation of the old order and by the division into several barbarian kingdoms, forming after successive invasions.
Until the 10th century there was a slow transformation, which consisted of the passage from slavery , the mode of production of Greco-Roman Antiquity, to feudalism, the new mode of production of the Middle Ages (ARANHA, 1989, p.80).