EARLY EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS

History as an academic discipline, is interested in looking to the back, no just for its sake, but so that we can learn from the past, and how the past has influenced the present. In looking to the past, history likes to dig to the very origin, to the earliest period that is relevant to the issue at hand. In the present circumstances, we can say that education really started as soon
as man was created. This is because the business of bringing up a young person involves his progressive education. Indeed, when we look at what we call education, we might not be wrong in describing it as the system by which one generation imparts the ideals and cultural practices of its society to the next generation in an unending process. In this first unit of our
module on history of education, we try to examine the very origin of what we have and cherish today.

Characteristics of the earliest educational systems
The oldest known educational systems in history shared two characteristics in common: they taught religion, and they promoted the traditions of the people. In ancient Egypt, there were temple schools, which taught both religion and the principles of writing, the sciences, mathematics, and architecture. Similarly, in India, the business of education was carried out mostly by the priests. India was the source and fountain of the Buddhist doctrines that were taught in its institutions to Chinese scholars. In turn, they spread the teachings of Buddha to the various Asian countries in the Far East. Ancient Chinese education emphasized philosophy, poetry, and religion, in accordance with the teachings of their great ancestors and
philosophers like Confucius and Laozi. Indeed, the Chinese invented a system of civil service examination, more than 2,000 years ago and which was found to be effective up till the present era. It was used to select the best scholars for important positions in the government.

Wow.... @op you are great. Your write up is always great.