Is going to school as normal as we think?
Is it alternative education or just education?
What is learning, really? Is it sitting in a classroom, taking notes, and preparing for tests? Is it dedicating hours to perfecting a new skill? Or perhaps it’s remembering a favorite poem or even song lyrics?
Cultures through the ages have considered all of these things as forms of education. The world of learning has diverse origins, from the ancient Maya, who valued songs and stories, to the Greeks, who prized athletic ability and philosophy. The modern education system is just one way to approach learning. But have you ever stopped to consider the others?
Maybe you were one of those kids who waited longingly for the bell to ring, or perhaps you were the student who did extra credit for fun. Either way, you have probably had an up-close and personal experience with education – inside and outside the classroom. In a world as diverse as ours, it’s not surprising that alternative education movements exist.
Learning in early cultures
Learning has been around as long as people have. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors may not have created elaborate written texts, but they had a complex learning system based on cultural transmission.
We often think of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle as primitive, but it was a culture filled with myths, rituals, and community values. Young children were actively involved in daily life and learned through experiencing social interactions within the community. Older boys underwent initiation and were separated from their families and taught about the cultural values, rituals, and skills they would need to grow into involved community members.
Education was not something that children did, but rather how they lived. These early cultures understood that they needed to work together to survive, and children gained the knowledge they would need by being included in daily life. With a strong oral tradition and a daily dose of experiential learning, early cultures educated their children holistically as they integrated into the tribal group.
Old world civilizations: Egypt
The earliest schools started with the creation of cuneiform and hieroglyphics in Egypt and Mesopotamia in 3000 BCE. These schools were run by priests who explored the humanities, mathematics, science, and medicine subjects.
Only boys from privileged families received formal education. Between the ages of 5 and 17, boys were taught to read and write so they could become scribes. After they turned 17, young men could attend the temple college as trainee priests. These schools were based on cultural transmission through discipline, memorization, recitation, and copying. These methods are not unlike the ideas behind modern school systems.
According to archaeological evidence, Egyptian classrooms shared many similarities with modern ideas of learning. Desks, rules, and punishments were common in Egyptian schools, just like the classrooms we grew up in.
New world civilizations: Maya, Aztecs, and Incas
The Maya, 1500 BCE Central America, are known for their ingenuity, architecture, mathematics, and astronomy. They were a religious culture that saw education as sharing the cultural history and preventing deviation from the established cultural norms. Learning was based on self-restraint, cooperation, moderation, and self-discipline. They used hieroglyphs and artwork but had a strong oral culture.
The Aztecs, 1300 CE Mesoamerica, also used oral transmission and memorization to teach their history, myths, and traditions. They had a school called the calmecac, which was devoted to native learning. Children would start an apprenticeship at the age of 10 and learn about their history through music, poetry, and stories.
In 1100 CE South America, the Incas had 2 types of schools to teach skills along with their oral history. The vocational education was for the average Incas, while the nobility received formalized training. It was a learning system focused on agriculture, subservience to the community, and government-supervised training.
The Mayan education system was based largely on oral transmission, while the Aztecs used experiential learning to enhance their oral culture. The Inca focused more on the practical application of knowledge and how stories could better serve the community.
Classical cultures: Greece
Classical Greece has some of the most well-known philosophers and educators, from Socrates and Plato to Homer and Herodotus.
Schools in Greece began as a way to train scribes to capture what had only been an oral history. The sons of Greek noblemen learned by spending time with an older mentor. They valued education as it meant that boys could grow into men who were patriotic warriors with military skills, morals, and a sense of cultural identity.
Sparta was one part of Ancient Greece that had influential philosophies around teaching. Spartan boys were raised from a very early age to be elite warriors. Their schools were all about fighting skills and devotion to the community. The state-controlled the education of all aged from 7 to 20 years. They didn’t just focus on physical abilities, though. Music and art were important parts of religious celebrations and were included in school life.
Herodotus mentions that the earliest schools existed in 496 BCE, although there wasn’t one place for learning. Children attended lessons in different places based on the subject. The Greeks considered school an enjoyable activity that allowed time to discover and reflect. The word scholē means ‘leisure,’ although kids today might argue that school is anything but leisurely.
16th to 18th century Europe
During the 16th to the 18th century, rulers began to see general education for its political power and as a way to encourage order and obedience. However, some believed that education had the power to improve the world.
Francis Bacon said, “knowledge is power,” and believed that educators of the time needed to use inductive reasoning and empiricism to prepare children for life. We have Bacon to thank for The Scientific Method that is used today. His notion that knowledge is gained through experience is something that modern education alternatives include in their teaching methods.
The Reformation changed not only the European political and religious landscape but also the educational one. In 1517, Martin Luther pushed for the expansion of schooling and wanted compulsory elementary schooling for girls and boys. Other German protestants created a schooling system copied by European countries. They believed in mass schooling for everyone, including women and enslaved people. Protestant involvement in the education system lessened in the 19th century as the state became more involved.
However, there is still no denying their impact on education as we know it.
Massachusetts and the war on Satan
The Puritans of Massachusetts passed the Old Deluder Satan Act in 1647. This was the foundation of public schools, as each village with 50 or more families was required to hire a teacher. Towns with 100 or more families were large enough to support Grammar schools. This act was less about education than literacy as a way of saving souls. These schools were community-run, and elementary and secondary levels were separated.
At this time, Dame schools were started by women, usually in their kitchens. They offered a tutoring service and helped supplement the town’s educational needs. Traveling schoolmasters were also common as the push for literacy continued. This academic momentum had a religious motivation, but it also laid the groundwork for the idea of public schooling.
The rise of industry
Before the industrial revolution, schools were scarce and predominantly based on religious ideals. But the growth of industry meant a widespread push for mass schooling. The British government passed the Factory Act in 1833, which made 2 hours of schooling per day compulsory for children who worked in factories. As industry grew, so did the need for a skilled workforce. Factories created jobs which meant more families could afford schooling.
‘Factory Schools’ began in Prussia in the early 19th century and were designed to create students who would obey rules and authority figures. Although this was for military purposes, the model quickly spread to the Western world. It was an age-based learning system run by the state to increase literacy and state obedience.
Many supporters of alternative education say that modern public schools are based on this 19th century model. Although large schools have a controlled process with measurable outcomes, this isn’t entirely true. It is a question of scale. Mass schooling requires order, results, and strict systems to work.
Colonialism
After the First World War, the colonial map was redrawn. Mission schools were started in British and French colonies as a form of cultural assimilation. This colonial education was designed to replace indigenous knowledge and culture with that of the colonizers. It was a system of dominance and power, and education was used for political ends. These mission schools introduced European-style learning to other countries to the detriment of indigenous culture.
Colonial education was meant to create skilled people who would work with the colonizers. It is an education system that has had severe consequences in countries globally. For example, colonial education almost eradicated the traditional learning system in Zimbabwe. With the introduction of a foreign currency and a money-based exchange economy, the indigenous people were forced to pursue colonial education to survive. This education was controlled by the state and was of a sub-par standard. This is because it was not learning for the betterment of the students but rather a blanket approach to spread a new religion, language, and political ideals.
Horace Mann and public education
By the 19th century, public schools in America had deteriorated under community leadership, and educational reformer Horace Mann advocated for change. He called for universal education in the form of “common schools” that were state-run and state-funded. Mann’s non-sectarian approach to education caused a stir, but that didn’t stop him, and a state board of education was established in 1837.
Mann held 6 core beliefs about education, some of which were met with resistance. He believed a country could not be free and ignorant, so universal education was vital. Education should be supported by the community and paid for with public taxes. After being founded on religious principles, Mann said that education should be non-sectarian and accept children from different social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. He also advocated for schools based on the ideals of freedom, run by well-trained teachers.
World War 2 and an emphasis on education
World War 2 saw state school funding being diverted to the war effort and a huge dropout rate as students and teachers enlisted. Military enrollment required academic testing, and young soldiers failed to meet the academic standards. Because of this, progressive education lost ground after the war, and more emphasis was placed on formalized curriculums. The war created more educational opportunities for women, though, particularly in the teaching field. After the war, high schools introduced additional classes like agriculture, home economics, and vocational training.
In the United Kingdom, the Butler Act was passed in 1944, which advocated for a structured education system that offered free and compulsory education to children aged 5–15. The tripartite system was split into grammar, modern, and technical secondary schools. By clearly defining the levels of education, the Butler Act was the start of the modern UK school system.
Education as we know it
Schools today don’t look so different from schools in the past. Large class sizes, underfunding, bureaucracy, textbooks, and exams are as common today as they were 50 years ago.
But things are changing. The educational landscape is shifting as more research is done on how children learn best and governments develop new ways to provide quality education. The world is developing rapidly, and people realize that the education system needs to evolve with it. For many people, ‘rote learning’ and memorization won’t cut it anymore. The world is moving towards a skills-based economy, and children may need to be independent and creative thinkers. In the eyes of many, schools need to teach kids how to learn, not what to learn.
