David Moon, age 11, of Neridianville, Alabama for his question:
Where did schools originate?
Several early civilizations had schools of various kinds. More than 5,000 years ago, boys of ancient Babylon went to school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. At about the same time, there. were similar schools in ancient Egypt. Much later, the most renowned scholars of ancient Greece taught school. However, the classes were limited to only a few highly privileged boys.
The word education is coined from Latin words meaning to draw forth. No doubt it is meant to convey the idea of a two way operation in which teacher and pupil strive to bring forth skills and knowledge. However, human societies realized this excellent idea long before the Latin lan¬guage was invented. We do not know who started the first school. But we do know that certain boys of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and perhaps other early societies had a chance to attend classes.
The early civilizations of human history were ruled by kings and priests. The priestly class had time to study and hand on their accumu¬lated knowledge from generation to generation. The king needed to know all that went on in order to rule his realm. Naturally, a wise king looked ahead to when his son would take over the throne.
We cannot be certain of when or where this started. But no doubt several wise kings had the idea of schooling their princes. Naturally, the logical teachers were scholarly priests. We know that the boys of ancient Babylon attended a very strict school some 6,000 years ago. It so happens that modern archaeologists found a detailed diary written by one of the pupils.
This school in the lovely old city by the lazy river Euphrates may have been the first in human history. But this is not likely. The young student conveys the idea that going to school was nothing new. And when we think about it, we realize that schools of some sort were necessary from the beginning of all civilizations. Even in those days, the children were not born knowing everything they needed to know to carry on through the next generation. It was necessary to teach them.
The first schools were for princes and the sons of certain rich noblemen. They were taught basic reading, writing and arithmetic, history
and geography. Discipline was very strict. That boy of ancient Babylon often was whacked with a stick. Girls were not educated in these early schools, neither was the majority of children. In those days, only a few very highly privileged boys had a chance to go to school.
However, the education of the rest of the children was not altogether neglected. Mothers were expected to teach the girls their household skills; fathers were expected to teach their boys all they knew. Advanced builders, weavers and other skilled workers also taught and trained boys in various trades.
Nowadays, every young person is required to attend school. Sensible students learn all they can and dedicated teachers strive to bring forth the best. But this idea is fairly modern. Some of your great grand¬parents learned only what their parents could teach them.