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A Historical Perspective on Education

History's Classroom

Christian Education in the Dark Ages (A.... (by Magevney, Eugene A.)
Emile (by Rousseau, Jean Jacques)
Christendom and Islam Their Contacts and... (by W. Wilson Cash)
A Plan for Improving Female Education (by Emma Willard)
The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (by Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
The Four Socratic Dialogues of Plato (by Plato)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, ... (by Franklin, Benjamin)
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (by Budge, Ernest Alfred Wallis, Sir)
Ancient Tales from Many Lands : A Collec... (by Fleming, Rachel Mary)

History's Classroom: A Historical Perspective on Education

The voices of mathematicians, scientists, philosophers are included in this virtual exhibit, "History's Classroom: A Historical Perspective on Education."

From ancient manuscripts to the unmatched selection of the world's much treasured children's picture books, the enduring importance of education and literacy is illustrated in the thousands of books contained in many collections joined to this exhibit. Subjects such as anthropology, religion, sociology, astronomy and Shakespeare are within. These books are vital to the continuation of mankind, as the sharing of knowledge, teaching and literacy are the cornerstone of everything we do, and want to accomplish. Perpetual pursuit of knowledge moves society forward.

Writing Systems and Societal Order

Educational systems have been instrumental in the spread of societal awareness, innovation, the compiling of knowledge and the creation and death of mighty empires. “History's Classroom: A Historical Perspective on Education," illuminates how educational systems have been used in different parts of the world and at different points in history to better direct humanity. From the development of the Sumerian logographic systems, cuneiform and pictographs, to the Phoenician Alphabet, the evolution of language and the transferring of ideas was highly important to the evolution of man. Language allowed mankind to apply the lessons of the past to the present in order to better our future. For many centuries, writing systems were instrumental in the passing of knowledge and maintaining societal order.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 years ago (1000-2000 B.C), Egyptian upper class boys were trained to be scribes who copied religious hieroglyphic-texts onto papyrus. They learned arithmetic and geometry to keep accounts and write reports. Religious texts such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, taught young scribes how to become priests (Egyptian Book of the Dead, Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge). Chinese sons studied the major philosophers, creation myths and cosmological principles of yin and yang to become civil servants. In the book Ancient Tales of Many Lands, by Rachel Mary Fleming, one can find the Chinese myth of Pwanku, the mythological first man who carved out the heavens and the earth. When he died, his body became the lands, his blood the rivers, and the tiny insects that crawled on his body became the people on earth (Ancient Tales of Many Lands: A Collection of Folk Stories, Rachel Mary). The myth of Pwanku taught Chinese students the origins of the celestial, terrestrial and human realms, the foundations of Chinese philosophy, religion and politics (T he Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Chinese Empire and Its Inhabitants : Volume 1, Samuel Wells Williams).

Skills in literacy also foster critical thinking. Socrates was an Athenian philosopher who lived between 470-399 B.C. When Athens fell to Sparta during the Peloponnesian War, there was a movement to increase government control over the population. Socrates did not agree with this and expressed his views through teaching philosophy. Taking students into fields and marketplaces, he challenged them to question their assumptions about the nature of reality. Socrates was quoted by his student, Plato, as having taught: “To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge” (“Socrates,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Plato compiled his lessons into the Four Socratic Dialogues of Plato. According to Sister Mary Basiline, these lessons and techniques are collectively called the "Socratic method" and it is still being used in classrooms today (The Aesthetic Motif From Thales to Plato, Sister Mary Basiline).

Rise and Fall of Empires and Access to Education

The teachings within classrooms of major civilizations affected the constriction and expansion of empires. At the fall of the Holy Roman Empire, Western Europe found itself in the Dark Ages. Monasteries, once sites of public spiritual and intellectual development, began to close. The uncertain future compelled remaining religious leaders to tightly control the preservation of books, limiting formal education to royalty and the lay people, and thus inhibiting the creation of new literary and cultural works (Christian Education in the Dark Ages A.D 476 - A.D. 1100, Eugene Magevney).

Around the same time, in another part of the world, the Islamic empire extended from the Arabian Desert, converting and ruling many lands and peoples across the Middle East, Europe and North Africa (C hristendom and Islam: Their Contacts and Cultures Down the Centuries, W. Wilson Cash). This process gathered much knowledge for the empire. Islamic rulers built universities in the major Spanish cities of Cordova, Seville, Toledo and Salamanca. Books and scholars from varying religions and countries were featured. Voices of mathematicians, scientists, philosophers and crop cultivators from India to Greece echoed throughout university walls (Jerusalem and Tiberias, Sora and Cordova, A Survey of Religious and Scholastic Learning of the Jews: Designed as an Introduction to Literature, John Wesley Etheridge). Future generations adapted to the emerging social orders by building upon available knowledge.

By the late 1700s, European cities like Geneva were sites of technological innovation. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a famous French writer who lived in Geneva during this time. In his autobiography titled, The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, he describes how he was an apprentice to a master engraver that abused him (The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Rousseau). Perhaps this experience influenced his novel called Emile, which argued that children should not be forced into learning, but should be gently taught practical things and their natural talents encouraged.

Education in Early America

European settlers brought their educational values to the American colonies. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, wrote an autobiography entitled, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. People in the colony of Pennsylvania recognized the power of the written word and established many print shops (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin). Franklin found his first employment in these print shops. Amidst the print machines, Franklin observed how human ideals can be expressed in written form, and then copied and distributed. This experience foreshadows his own growth into a newspaper publisher, philosopher, inventor and diplomat. In the 1750s, Franklin established an academy to teach literacy, natural science, mechanics, drawing, foreign language, recent history, and geography (“Benjamin Franklin,” World Heritage Encyclopedia).

The value of invention continued to be recognized well into the 1800s. A woman named Emma Willard observed how women was not encouraged to access formal education. As late as the 1850s, most schools limited women to subjects such as art and home-making (“Emma Willard,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Willard used her own literary skills to write A Plan for Improving Female Education to encourage the higher education of women so they could contribute their leadership in society (A Plan for Improving Female Education, Emma Willard). She founded the Troy Female Seminary in 1814 for this purpose - to educate women (“Emma Willard School,” World Heritage Encyclopedia).

Works Cited

Basiline, Mary Sister. The Aesthetic Motif From Thales to Plato. Diss. University of Colorado, 1921. New York: Schwartz, Kirwin and Fauss, 1921.

“Benjamin Franklin.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Budge, Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis. The Egyptian Book of the Dead. World Public Library Association Edition. Blackmask Online, 1550.

Cash, W. Wilson. Christendom and Islam: Their Contacts and Cultures Down the Centuries. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1937.

“Emma Willard.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

“Emma Willard School.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Etheridge, John Wesley. Jerusalem and Tiberias, Sora and Cordova, A Survey of Religious and Scholastic Learning of the Jews: Designed as an Introduction to Literature. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1856.

Fleming, Rachel Mary. Ancient Tales from Many Lands: A Collection of Folk Stories. World Public Library Edition. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1922.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Chicago: R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Co., 1915.

"History of the Peloponnesian War, The." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Magevney, Eugene. Christian Education in the Dark Ages A.D. 476 - A.D. 1100. World Public Library Edition. New York: Cathedral Library Association, 1900.

Plato. The Four Socratic Dialogues of Plato. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1903.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Trans. W. Conyngham Mallory. Gutenberg Consortia Center. Web. 1782.

“Socrates.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Willard, Emma. A Plan for Improving Female Education. Middlebury: J.W. Copeland, 1819.

Williams, Samuel Wells. The Middle Kingdom: A Survey of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants. Volume 1. New York: Putnam, 1848.

Education Collections

If knowledge moves society forward, then education is a tool to make it happen. Influential teachers around the world existed in Egypt, China and Athens; during the fall of the Holy Roman empire, rise of Islam, and technological innovation of Europe; and in Early America. By recalling the historical events that moved them to teach, we can grasp the deeper meaning behind education.

The "History’s Classroom Exhibit" shelves thousands of digital works from collections all over the world including:

Top 100 books on Literature and Fiction

Black Beauty (version 2) (by Sewell, Anna)
Democracy in America (by Tocqueville, Alexis De)
Bleak House (version 3) (by Dickens, Charles)
The Holy Bible (by Various)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (by Irving, Washington, 1783-1859)
Heart of Darkness (version 2) (by Conrad, Joseph)
Pride and Prejudice (by Austen, Jane)
Silas Marner the Weaver of Raveloe (by Eliot, George)
Count of Monte Cristo, The (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Frankenstein (dramatic reading) (by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft)
Utopia (by More, Thomas)
The Diary of a Nobody (by Grossmith, George)
Canterbury Tales, The (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Villette (by Brontë, Charlotte)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

The Wide, Wide World (by Warner, Susan)
A Little Princess (by Burnett, Frances Hodgson)
Wide, Wide World, The (by Warner, Susan)
The Jungle Book (by Kipling, Rudyard)
A Christmas Carol (by Dickens, Charles)
Tom Brown's School Days : By Thomas Hugh... (by Hughes, Thomas)
Nicholas Nickleby (by Dickens, Charles)
The Magic Pudding (by Lindsay, Norman)
The Tempest (by Shakespeare, William)
Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates (by Dodge, Mary Mapes)
Black Beauty (version 2) (by Sewell, Anna)
Tom Brown's School Days (by Hughes, Thomas)
A Visit from St. Nicholas (by Moore, Clement Clarke)
Five Children and It (by Nesbit, E. (Edith))
The Blue Fairy Book (by Lang, Andrew)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

Little Almond Blossoms : A Book of Chine... (by Knox, Jessie Juliet)
The National Nursery Book
Pets and Playmates
Rhymes for the Nursery (by Jane Taylor, Ann Taylor)
Ozma of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
The Baby's Own Aesop : Being the Fables ... (by Crane, Walter)
The Tale of Buster Bumblebee (by Arthur Scott Bailey, Harry L. Smith)
The Marquis of Carabas Picture Book
German Fairy Tales (by Andersen, Hans Christian)
Velveteen Rabbit, The (by Williams, Margery)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
The Three Bears
The Tale of Buster Bumblebee (by Arthur Scott Bailey, Harry L. Smith)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)
The Book of Nonsense (by Lear, Edward)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

The Very Greedy Bee : Preformed by Wally... (by Steve Smallman)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
Calabash Cat : Preformed by Wally Amos (by James Rumford)
Stephanie's Ponytail : Preformed by Wall... (by Robert Munsch)
The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ... (by Dr. Seuss)
Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors : Pre... (by Norman Bridwell)
The Crayon Box that Talked : Preformed b... (by Shane DeRolf)
Curious George and the Pizza : Preformed... (by Margret and H.A. Rey)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type : Pref... (by Doreen Cronin)
Giggle, Giggle, Quack : Preformed by Wal... (by Doreen Cronin)
The Lion and the Mouse : Preformed by Wa... (by Eric Carle)
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
The Treasure : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Uri Shulevitz)

Top 100 books on Education

Ancient Tales from Many Lands : A Collec... (by Fleming, Rachel Mary)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
History of the Peloponnesian War (by Thucydides)
Go Rin No Sho : A Book of Five Rings (by Musashi, Miyamoto)
Leviathan (Books I and II) (by Hobbes, Thomas)
Moby Dick, or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
The Montessori Method (by Montessori, Maria)
The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle (by Aristotle, Frank Hesketh Peters)
Walden (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Dracula (by Stoker, Bram)
Christian Education in the Dark Ages (A.... (by Magevney, Eugene A.)
Montessori Method, The (by Montessori, Maria)
Odyssey, The (by Homer)
Laddie (by Stratton-Porter, Gene)
The Divine Comedy : Inferno (by Alighieri, Dante)

Top 100 books on Banned Books

Salammbo (by Flaubert, Gustave)
The Odyssey (by Butler, Samuel)
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seing... (by Casanova, Giacomo)
A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Ind... (by John Stuart Mill)
The Decameron Volume 4 (by Boccaccio, Giovanni)
The Essays of Michel de Montaigne : Volu... (by Montaigne, Michel De)
The History of the Valorous and Witty Kn... (by Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel De)
Sons and Lovers (by Lawrence, David Herbert)
The Decameron, Volume I (by Boccaccio, Giovanni)
Three Weeks (by Glyn, Elinor)
Fanny Hill Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasur... (by Cleland, John)
The Genius (by Dreiser, Theodore)
Mother Goose in Prose (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Advancement of Learning (by Bacon, Francis, Sir)
Man and Superman : A Comedy and a Philos... (by Bernard Shaw)

DjVu Editions Classic Literature

Samson Agonistes (by Milton, John)
Songs and Sonnets (by Donne, John)
Much Adoe about Nothing (by Shakespeare, William)
Anna Karenina (by Tolstoy, Leo)
A Shropshire Lad (by Housman, Alfred Edward)
A Christmas Carol : In Prose (by Dickens, Charles)
The Merry Wiues of Windsor (by Shakespeare, William)
All's Well, That Ends Well (by Shakespeare, William)
Measure, For Measure (by Shakespeare, William)
The Golden Bowl (by James, Henry)
Sense and Sensibility (by Austen, Jane)
The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida (by Shakespeare, William)
The Famous History of the Life of King H... (by Shakespeare, William)
To Build a Fire : And Other Stories (by London, Jack)
The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmar... (by Shakespeare, William)

Historical and Literary Papers

The Villanovan : 1978-1981 Volume 1978-1981 (by Villanova College)
The Villanovan : 1977-1978 Volume 1977-1978 (by Villanova College)
The Villanovan : 1966-1970 Volume 1966-1970 (by Villanova College)
Survey Information (by Miller, David)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume Year 1859 (by Maryland Agricultural College)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume 1862-1863 (by Maryland Agricultural College)
Historical Papers Read at Meetings of th... Volume Vol 1 (by Clinton Historical Society)
The Summer School : Year 1934 Volume Year 1934 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The Villanovan : 1946-1953 Volume 1946-1953 (by Villanova College)
The Summer School : Year 1935 Volume Year 1935 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The Summer School : Year 1926 Volume Year 1926 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The Summer School : Year 1936 Volume Year 1936 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume 1876-1877 (by Maryland Agricultural College)
The Villanovan : 1986-1988 Volume 1986-1988 (by Villanova College)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume 1866-1867 (by Maryland Agricultural College)