Deanna McKay, age 12, of Merrillville, Ind., for her question:
HOW DID THE EDUCATION PROCESS EVOLVE?
Western culture and influence have spread to nearly every part of the world today. The ideal of free, compulsory education has taken hold in almost every country. Most developing nations have established normal schools patterned after those of the Western nations which start with early childhood training and move up to elementary, secondary and higher education.
Education's process started to evolve in prehistoric times when man invented language. Then young people were educated through apprenticeship, imitation and rituals.
About 3000 H.C. th e Sumerians, vuhp lived in the Tigris Euphrates Valley, and the Egyptians each invented a system of writing. Both systems included a method of writing numbers as well as language.
Shortly after 3000 B.C., both the Sumerians and the Egyptians established schools to teach boys the newly invented arts of reading and writing. Only the most exceptionally talented boys could attend the classes which
were taught by priests. Girls were not allowed to attend school, but some learned to read and write in their homes.
Civilization and education spread to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea about 1000 B.C. when the Semitic language was developed and the world's first alphabet established. The alphabet made writing easier than using a picture system to spell out words.
Greek civilization and education flourished from about 700 B.C. to about 330 B.C. Today's western education is based on the ancient Greek model established during this period.
By about 100 B.C., the Romans had built the most extensive educational system to that time. Their system was patterned after that of ancient Athens but provided schooling for girls as well as boys. The Romans established secondary schools and even institutions of higher learning. Poets, historians and orators added to the educational treasure.
Adding to the evolution of the education process was religion. The religion of the Hebrew people, Judaism, became the parent religion of two other religions: Christianity and Islam. From about 200 A.D. onward, Hebrews, Christians and Muslims each developed scholars who helped the growth of education.
The first modern universities were established in Europe during the 1100s. In about 1440 a German metalworker named Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type and almost immediately large numbers of books and pamphlets became available to help education's evolution.
The Age of Reason, a period of great intellectual activity, started in the 1600s and lasted until the late 1700s. A scientific revolution served to boost the world's education standards.