Part 1

THE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION

General Objectives:
At the end of Part One, the student should be able to;
1.) Trace the historical development of education from ancient to modern times;
2.) Cite the contributions of the different periods;
3.) Discuss the implementation of the different historical movements as they influenced the
shaping of the Philippines education; and
4.) Cultivate the spirit of inquiry so that prospective teachers may become effective agents of
change both in school and in the community.

Introduction:
Part One of this text presents the evolution of education from its earliest beginnings to
contemporary times in a conventional, chronological approach. History has a three-fold purpose; to
give us knowledge of the past, to enable us to better understand the present, and to give us a means
of predicting the future.

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 CHAPTER 1

ANCIENT TO ROMAN EDUCATION

PRIMITIVE EDUCATION

To say just when education began is indeed difficult. Education is as old as life itself because
prehistoric man must have passed on to his offspring, consciously or unconsciously, organized or
unorganized, certain skills and attitudes that enabled them to service.

When a primitive culture is contrasted with a civilized culture, marked differences will be
noted. First, primitive culture was relatively simple. Primitive man’s activities were to feed, clothe,
shelter and protect himself and those dependent on him. Second, he had relatively narrow social
and cultural contacts. His tribe was small and occupied a small area, but the life of the tribe bounded
the world of his thinking and of his sympathies. Because of their limited cultural contacts, primitive
people were extraordinarily conservative and prone to superstition. They clung with great tenacity
to old ideas and ways of behavior. Belief in magic and the occult was universal among them. Their
world was peopled with unseen beings, ghosts, spirits. The safety of illness, famine, storms,
accidents, and failure were attributed to actions of ill-disposed spirits. The safety of the group
depended, therefore, on witch doctors and the faithfulness with which religious duties and
ceremonies were performed. Third, the organization of primitive life was tribal, not political, so that
one function of education was to enable one to live with his relatives. Lastly, the most significant
feature was the absence from primitive cultures of reading and writing. They possessed arts and
information but they lacked the methods by which these were collected and made available for use.
They had stories songs, implements and institutions but their educational activities were directed to
the transmission of learning not to be learner’s development, the increase of knowledge, or the
discovery of new skills.

Aims
The basic aim of primitive education was security since the fundamental problem then was to
stay alive, to protect oneself and his family from the destructive forces of nature, both human and
divine. Fear, therefore, was the greatest stimulus for action, and also the earliest motive for
education. Whether conscious of it or not the primitive man’s educational aim was to prepare the
young to secure himself and his family and to appease the gods or spirit that controlled his
existence. His respect for trees, rocks, the sun, etc,. gave risk to the earliest religion, animism. The
second aim of primitive education was conformity, since this was basic for social security.
Conformity brought together families, clans and tribes so that they could conquer common dangers.

Primitive people have been able to survive by subordinating the interests of the individual to
the interest of the group. Primitive education aimed at securing the continued existence of the
group by restricting the activities of its member, unlike in complex democratic cultures where

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education seeks to achieve social security by increasing the intelligence, skill and freedom of all its
member.
In ages past, education was simply enculturation, that is, the imposing of group
characteristics upon children. For a member to deviate from the customs and beliefs of his tribe was
unpardonable.

Types
Primitive education involved two types of people: the practical, which included the simple
forms of domestic, vocational, physical, moral and military training, and the theoretical which
covered the religious, musical and literary.

Content
The education of primitive people consisted of physical training to enable them to satisfy
their need for food and shelter, spiritual or ceremonial training necessary to deal with unforeseen
forces; and social knowledge to learn the customs, taboos, and traditions for harmonious living with
the other members of the tribe. The only educational program, therefor, found in primitive societies
was the participation of the young tribe. The only educational program, therefore, found in primitive
societies was the participation of the young in rituals and ceremonies and in the incidental
apprenticeship to the activities of the family and the tribe.

Agencies
The family accounted for the education of the young in primitive societies. The women of the
tribe taught the girls the female duties of child rearing and household management; the men taught
the boys hunting, fishing, fighting, making tools, and weapons and how to propitiate the gods. When
the youth equaled the elders’ knowledge, education was complete. When one person surpassed the
other in strength, physique, age or ability in council, or in making a better weapon, he became the
tribal chief. This special knowledge was passed on to a deserving offspring. Even spiritual training,
generally given by the elders of the tribe, later on became specialized; thus appeared the priest or
priestess, the medicine man or the witch doctors and the wise man or wizard. Their primary duties
were to appease the spirits and to instruct the others in ceremonies incantations and rituals.

Methods
Primitive children first learned by unconscious imitation of the activities of their parents and
other elders. Second, the children observed and later became participants. These were the
conscious method. Third, they learned by simple telling and demonstration of how things were done
and fourth, they learned by trial and error, especially those activities that did not conflict with
customs, taboos and rites. This way the children learned from experience to avoid those activities
which were dangerous and therefore should be abandoned.

Organization
Primitive education was mostly random and incidental with no grades or levels of instruction.
Children were required to follow customs and traditions through imitation of approved ways,
Initiation ceremonies for adolescent youth, though, were highly organized, and the youth were
taught the ancient secrets of the tribe often times in rigorous ceremonies that tested their strength,
endurance and willingness to suffer without complaint. This conformity to work and worship was the
means to attain security, the chief aim of primitive education.

ORIENTAL EDUCATION

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 When nomadic tribes finally settled down, civilization developed. The earliest civilization
developed along the region of Mesopotamia and the Nile. By settling, however, these tribes became
subject to conquest by nomadic tribes. The result was a mingling of the folkways of the conquerors
and those of the conquered; consequently, there developed a higher level of culture. These cultures
became more complicated as these regions developed the use of bronze and iron and acquired an
elaborate system of writing. This situation called for a powerful central authority which could
maintain that rigid social structure which characterized early oriental cultures. The leaders of the
dominant tribes became the kings and priests who organized a complex government which
demanded obedience from the people. Well-organized political, economic, and religious institution
developed, centered around the need for maintaining a way of life, This made necessary a longer
period of training for the member of the tribe to provide them with the skills needed to cope with
complex living.

This section will focus on the characteristics of education and life in the transition era
between the primitive and classical era. For this purpose, Egyptian education has been chosen as a
prototype of the era for elaboration. Egypt became the birthplace of many great ideas that have
made our civilization what it is today like the ideas of righteousness, character, conscience, the
concept of god, and art. Through the Jews, and later the Greeks, Egyptian ideas were transmitted to
the Western World.

Primitive man was tribal and nomadic, each group roaming and warring in search of food.
Countless, little steps of progress were taken and, during these thousands of years, man
domesticated animals, practiced Agriculture, developed arts and crats, made weapon, constructed
building and devised transportation which contributed increased knowledge and better social
relations. Man created basic institutions that expressed his relation to his fellows such as family life,
the priesthood, commerce, the state, and industrial organizations. Through these social relations,
man extended his language, created traditions and myths, devised symbols and signs to unfold his
thoughts and activities, and gave expression to poetry, music and dance. The development of higher
human relationships gave rise to the social institutions which are of importance to students of
education, namely: the family became the basic unit of society was divided into classes government
was transferred to despots who had absolute power; and religion transcended nature worship and
animism with its bewildering number of gods and goddesses.

EGYPTIAN EDUCATION

Egypt is one of the earliest civilizations settled by a Hamitic people who inhabited the valley
of the Nile 20, 000 years ago, and with a recorded history reaching back to the fifth millennium B.C
Egyptian culture was dependent on the activity of the Nile. Egyptian agriculture was
advanced. Egyptians had irrigation and they used astronomy to predict rain. Tribal groupings of the
population, however, became inefficient. A unified system of government became necessity until
Egypt was ruled by a series of dynasties of pharaoh kings whose powers, enhanced by supernatural
sanctions, were absolute. Religious or spiritual training was in the hands of priests whose belief and
practices complemented the rule of the pharaoh, who was descendant of a god. Education,
therefore, became a means to preserve the status quo.

Aims
The aim of education was both cultural and utilitarian: to preserve ad perpetuate culture;
Utilitarian, to transfer skills from father to son so that the son could run his daily life. Writing and
account- keeping were indispensable.

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Types
Domestic training, religious and vocational-professional types dominated Egyptian education.
The education of women was largely vocational, although daughters of the elite were tutored. In
higher social circle the boys were trained by scribes who taught them how to read and write.
Literary education was needed because of the organization of the state which was staffed by civil
officials. To hasten this training court schools were set up and the court officials taught a group of
boys. The court school was an apprenticeship in the duties of royalty.

Agencies
The home provided basic education for the Egyptian child. Household chores, religious and
moral training and reading and writing were taught by elders and priests. The motivation to do well
was done by appealing to the boy’s ambition of getting into government office. For higher learning,
the temples were the centers of advanced learning. The high priests taught applied mathematics,
astronomy, physics, architecture and embalming. Education in medicine, priesthood, and the
military was largely through parental apprenticeship. Among the elite, court schools also taught the
youth the duties of royalty, also through apprenticeship.

Organization
The home was the first school. Higher learning was dispensed by priests in temple colleges.
Apprenticeship was prevalent in the skill professions. Military and vocational schools also flourished.

Methods
Dictation, memorization and copying of texts were the chief methods. Imitation and
repetition of stories, myths and legends perpetuated their culture. Observation and participation
occurred in certain subject. Internship or apprenticeship was common in vocational levels while
practice was rigid for inculcation of religion and moral precepts.

After centuries of remarkable advancement, Egyptian progress declined. Some historians say
that the priestly class who took over the teaching became obstinately conservative. Fear of altering
accepted rules and practices possessed their minds. The Egyptian were also mentally lazy.
The old hampered the young in gaining new ideas and visions since learning was purely on
apprenticeship basis. The chief cause, though, was the incapacity of the Egyptian mind to ascend
from the practical and empirical to the scientific and universal. Conceptual thinking, reasoning,
creative imagination and intellectual curiosity were foreign to them. They saw knowledge only as a
means of practical advancement; they had no love of knowledge for its own sake. (Ebby and
Arrowwod p.101)

GREEK EDUCATION

To the Greeks, we trace the beginning of creative activity and logical thinking that have made
for genuine intellectual progress. One may say that the Greeks gave the era higher culture and
enlightenment.
The Greeks were a nation of at least two principal components- Aryan and the Germanic
peoples.
Because of the numerous natural barriers separating the various tribes, the Greek habitat made for
isolation and differentiation. The climate also fanned a superabundance of physical vigor. The
Greeks became the first and greatest sportsmen. Until today the Greek Olympic games are highly
esteemed.

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 The Greek state was always small. The terrain favored a small and separate political unit so
that citizen could participate directly in all civic and military affairs serving as soldiers, judges,
members of the assembly, or as state officials.
The Greek cities were totalitarian states; they claimed full authority over the lives of
individuals. The Greeks did not look at this as an invasion of their natural rights but considered it the
road to honor and glory Marriage was a duty to the state and a matter or religion and patriotism. To
fulfill the duties of citizenship was the chief essential of Greek morality.
There were many city-states but two of these rose above all others- Sparta and Athens. One
was a totalitarian soldier state where obedience and discipline reigned as the highest good and the
other was a free-functioning political entity whose citizens enjoyed self-expression. The difference
between the two modes of living put its mark upon the theory and practice of their education.

SPARTAN EDUCATION

To be Spartan was to be strong and hard, physically fit, terse of speech, austere, and full of
valor. The Spartans were conquerors. The government of Sparta was purposely ordered so as to
prevent the attention of the citizen from being centered upon any but public interest. The Spartan
was free from the cares of earning a living. He was not permitted to follow a trade or vocation nor
engage in commerce. Relieved of this, the Spartan had all the time for the art of war and the training
of a soldier-citizen. Spartans lived in the most rigorous simplicity and no laxity or change of habits
remained unchecked. Family life was reduced to a minimum because they believed that family
interest led to money-making. This resulted in social inequalities which endangered the safety of the
group. By taking the men out of the house and inventing public mess halls, every man was father
and school master to every Spartan boy.

Education was the supreme concern of the Spartan state; their Constitution read more like a
description of a military academy than that of a government. The life and interests of the individual
were absolutely subservient to the public welfare. Every detail of conduct was regulated; what little
there was of private and domestic life was employed as a means for preserving the state. Public
authorities decided whether marriage should be sanctioned or forbidden; and the children belonged
to the state, not to the parents.

Aims
The Spartan Constitution aimed at training a powerful body of soldiers making the state a
perpetual military camp. To develop conformity, endurance, strength, cunning, and patriotic
efficiency was the Spartan ideal of good citizenship. Spartan education aimed to develop a nation of
unequaled military skill with citizens absolutely devoted to the state.

Spartan education aimed to develop the capacities of men only for war. Trained to conform,
Spartan citizens were prepared to defend themselves and their country at all times. Courage,
respect for elders, subjection to the state, loyalty and obedience to authority were rigidly inculcated.
The finer sentiments of civilized life were rejected.

Types
Physical education and military training predominated Spartan education. Spartan moral
training was a product of group living and traditional ceremonies. Instruction in music and dance

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was physical training to build an attitude for war. Domestic training was suppressed since household
duties were done by slaves.

Content
The Spartan curricula consisted of military exercise and practices essential to a life devotion
and service to the state. The state provided for the complete control of the training of children
which began at birth. The newborn infant, if healthy, was returned to the mother, who was in reality
a state nurse. Her boy was cared for until he reached seven; she reared him in the most austere
discipline. Boys were trained to keep absolute control of their feelings, appetites, habits and they
were taught to be obedient and respectful, modest and reserved. Girls were trained to be healthy
and courageous so that they could bear healthy children, their greatest contribution to the state.
Reading and writing were taught to a very limited extent.

Agencies and Organizations

The state was the dominant educational agency. The state controlled the education of the
individual from birth to death. Family life, including marriage, was controlled by the state; all
children belonged to the state.

From seven to eighteen years of age, the Spartan boys lived in a barrack-type of school under
the training official called paidonomus. They had rigorous training in games and drill under a youth
supervisor. The boys slept on bare floors or straw, without blankets; they had no shoes, and were
given very little food. They were encouraged to forage for food and not to be caught. At twenty,
after taking an oath of allegiance the boys were disperse to military camps or actual combat. At
thirty they became full-fledged citizen and were required to marry. The home served as the school
for the girls.

Methods
Education in Sparta was achieved by training rather than by school instruction. Learning was
facilitated by activities and ceremonies led by elders and military leaders. Discipline was cruel and
very harsh. Even inattention, lack of awareness and moral delinquency were punished.

ATHENIAN EDUCATION

Athens was another Greek city-state. One of the great law givers of all time. Solon (639-
559BC) who belonged to one of the noble families; brought order to Athens and the attitudes
toward education sprang from his influence. He instituted reforms in government and made it a true
democracy unlike Sparta which was founded on slave economy. He encouraged learning and
formulated the ideals upon which it was based.
The social scale was simple. At the top stood the citizens who owned the land, below them
were the aliens who engaged in commerce and manufacturing, and at the bottom were the slaves.
The citizens ran the affairs of government. The government was a direct democracy-every citizen
took part on an equal footing in the conduct of government. Every citizen served on the jury, acted
as judge and fought as a soldier.

Aims
Athenian education aimed to develop individual excellence which means a full rounded
development of mind and body and public usefulness, the ability to take active part in the business

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of state. Athenians sought beauty and grace of body, knowledge and things of the spirit. The idea of
manhood embraced external and internal beauty, physical and mental harmony.

Types
In Athens, civic training was the dominant type; physical training developed grace and
harmony, moral training emphasized old virtues, intellectual training was the type needed for the
activities of the assembly and the market place. Music, poetry, and dancing were taught to develop
personality and ennoble the intellect.

Content
The Athenian boys were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Selected verses were
dictated memorized and chanted. They studied music, art, poetry, games and sports. As a boy
matured, he acquired military skills and practiced civic virtues necessary for his role as a citizen in a
democratic state.

Agencies
Education in Athens was supervised by the state. The house did very little because the
women were not life and intellectual discussion of the upper class males.
The schoolboy was assigned to the care of a paid agogus, once a slave, but very learned. This
paidagosus was changed with teaching the boy the intricacies of manners and morals and assuring
the safe delivery of his ward. The first schools were private, and secondary and higher education did
not yet exist so that by the age of 14, education was over for most boys.

When conventional schooling ceased, his education began; he participated in activities of city
life; he we went to assemblies and heard skillful debates; he learned the laws, excercised and
interpreted them; at the theater, he listened to the classics and histories of people; and in the
Olympic Games, he came in contact with Greek culture. The state provided for public gymnasiums
called palaestra. Here the youth trained until he reached 18 years of age and was thus ready for
military life. He became an ephebos, an apprentice militiaman. A variety of schools existed, each
taking care of a certain aspect of development. There were three types of teachers, the Kitharist or
teacher of music, the grammatist or teacher of letters; and paedotribe or teacher of gymnastics.

Organization
Until the age of seven, an Athenian boy lived at home, usually under the care of slaves. From
seven to sixteen the boy divided his time between the didiscaleum (music school) and the palaestra
(gymnasium) usually accompanied by his slave tutor (pedagogue). After sixteen he continued his
physical education at the palaestra. He was trained by a drillmaster called paedotribe and was under
the supervision of a state moral sensor, the sophronist. As an ephebos (18-20 yrs.) he spent his days
in military service and was given the privilege of full citizenship.

Methods
Much of the learning was by imitation, usually of a living model. Reading were memorized.
Most of the education came from participation. Discipline was severe and corporal punishment was
used extensively.

After the fifth century B.C greater emphasis was placed upon the teaching of the sophist or
wandering scholars who came to give instruction to the Greeks for fees. They gave intensive training
in speech emphasizing grammar, rhetoric, and oratory. They also emphasized the development of

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reasoning and critical thinking so that the Greek youth left the gymnasium and followed the
sophists. This resulted in the development of two institution of higher learning, the rhetoric schools
and the philosophical schools. The rhetorical schools continued the sophist idea of preparing young
men for public careers while the philosophical followed the traditions initiated by Socrates and later
by Plato and Aristotle (Pounds)

ROMAN EDUCATION

Rome traces her beginnings to 753 B.C and twelve centuries of history were to be her
destiny. Six centuries before Christ, she had expanded into a massive, imperial colossus. In another
hundred years, the monarchy was overthrown and the affairs of state put under the sovereignty of a
republic. In two and a half centuries more, the entire Italian peninsula was under her sway and, 150
years after that, the city was the queen of the Mediterranean.

The Romans were practical, pragmatic people who absorbed themselves in the successful
management of their everyday affairs. The Roman language became the instrument of commerce,
her coins were circulated far and near, her civil service was honorable. And her law elevated to the
dignity of a science. The church arose within the Roman Empire, under the Empire, western
imperialism developed.

The history of Roman education falls into five great periods. The periods and the
characteristic achievements of each are as follows:

1. From 753 B.C (traditional founding of the city) to 275 B.C. Children were taught
principally at home by their parents and servants (usually educated captured slaves)
Entry to public life was by participation in civic, religious and military affairs. Schools were
only on the elementary level.
2. From 275 B.C until 132 B.C the Romans developed a literary culture and a system of
higher education patterned after the Greeks.
3. From 132 B.C to 100 A.D. Latin literature and grammar were perfected. Medicine and law
were taught on a systematic basis. Roman treatises on architecture and oratory were
produced. Schools were private but a beginning was made of public subsidies to
education. The government became an empire, Jesus Christ was born, lived and was
crucified and the Christian church was established.
4. From 100 A. D to 275 A. D law became a university subject. Medicine took form and it
kept this for 1400 years. Government increased its subsidy for learning.
5. From 275 A.D to 529 A.D. The government established a monopoly of education.
Teachers were required to be licensed. Christianity became first tolerated, then it
became official religion of the Empire. Textbooks were written. The ancient world went
to pieces and the Middle Ages were ushered in.

First among the traits in the Roman moral ideal was manliness, and its most prominent
components were courage and strength. A second Roman trait was reverential regard for
one’s ancestors, for the divine powers, and for sacred customs. The Roman character
expressed itself to advantage in the sense of professional, family, and public responsibility.
Aims
The aim of early Roman education was the development of the vir bonus- the good citizen,
the good soldier, the good worker. The vir bonus was the man possessed of all the virtues essential
for the exercise of his rights and the discharge of his duties and obligation. Utility rather than

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harmony or grace was most important to the early Roman. The Greek virtues such as aesthetic
enjoyment, intellectual activity for its own sake, personal satisfaction and happiness were frowned
upon by the Romans since they judged everything by its serviceability and effectiveness. In the latter
period of the Roman Empire, Roman education aimed for linguistic facility and perfection in public
speaking and debate. The orator, who was considered the ideally educated man, was to be the first
vir bonus. The orator used his learning by putting it to practical use in public service.

Types
Early Roman education was essentially practical training for the affairs of life. Since the
Romans held a moral view of life, moral duties and rights were clearly defined by law, both moral
and civil, and were tied up with religious training. Vocational education, disdained by the Greeks,
had a respected place in early Roman education. In the latter years, a few leaders were getting
broad intellectual training, while the great mass of the population were getting the narrowest
vocational training with less and less oral training. These brought about moral decay. The Romans
were only interested in material things that satisfied their senses and their appetites.

Content
The content of early Roman Education was practical and moral in character. The boys learned
the laws of the Twelve Tables, Roman history, the procedures of court and the senate, conduct of
war, business, agriculture, sports and the use of weapons; the girls prepared for domestic life and
religious functions. Every activity of life was governed by a god and these gods had to be propitiated
by sacrifices and ceremonies. Thus, children chanted legendary ballads and religious songs, including
the laws of the Twelve Tables.

At the home child played vigorously. As a boy grew older, he went about in the company of
his father. If plebian he joined his father in the duties of farm and shop; if patrician, he went with
this father to banquets, and forums listening to discussions and debates.

In later Roman times, elementary education included education included the rudiments of
the 3R’s. In the Sunday school, grammar, which included literature and language, was the chief
subject. The practical character of Roman life was stressed while history and geography were taught
only for functional importance. In the higher schools, rhetoric was emphasized. It consisted of
debates, extemporaneous speaking and declamation.

Agencies and Organizations

Education in Roman life was dominated by the family. The Family shaped the character and
determined the status of its member. The father was the head and his authority was absolute
although wives were held in high esteem. The father’s power was recognized by sacred customs, by
judicial decisions and by imperial code. Religious activities were headed by a priest and each
member of the household performed particular religious functions assigned by customs.

In the later days of the Empire, Rome had schools of the Greek type, the Greco-Roman
schools which put Rome on the thresfold of the golden age. There were three levels. The first level
was the elementary school where reading and wiring were taught. The teacher was the
ludi_magister. The next level was the grammar school, a school teaching the liberal arts, the teacher
of which was called gramaticus. The third level was the school of rhetoric in which boys were
prepared for careers as orators. Their teacher were called rhetors. To be a good orator, a student
exercised oratory, declamation, and debate. He practiced posturing and pronunciation. To add
melody to his voice, he studied music. To prepare for debate he studied logic and law and, to defend

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the right, he tackled ethics. To equip him with general knowledge, he reviewed grammar and
literature, arithmetic and geometry, philosophy, and astronomy.

At first, there was no institution beyond the schools of the rhetor and, for a Roman to obtain
university education, he had to study abroad at Athens, Alexandria or Rhodes. Vespasia in 75 A.D.
put up a library and developed a school of learning called Athenaeum which would constitute higher
education.

The Romans had an organized educational ladder: on the elementary level, the school of the
literator, on the secondary level, the school of the gramaticus and the school of the rhetor for
higher education. In the school of the literator, each of these schools in the beginning was privately
owned and maintained by tuition fees. Attendance was voluntary and the school catered mainly to
the wealthy. Since no qualifications were maintained for teachers, salaries were low and teachers
were held in low esteem. However, the Roman held the grammatical and rheotical school in higher
esteem and teachers were paid better.

Methods
At the elementary level, memorizing and imitation were used. Pupils sat on the floor and
school hours were from sunrise and sunset. Writing was done with a stylus on a wax tablet.
Punishment was severe. At the secondary level, the method was largely one of exercise in good
literary discourse and moral habits. Declamation was emphasized in the rhetorical school. All types
of public speaking were perfected, eulogies, exhortations, funeral orations and lectures.

Two of the most influential teachers and thinkers in Roman education were Cicero and
Quintilian. Cicero’s writing provided the ideal for the education of the Middle Ages. His educational
ideas were put in his The Orator. He said that the ability to speak and to persuade people was of
greatest importance in professional and public life. An orator should have a well-rounded education
and be exposed to a wide practical experience in order to have a basis for his philosophy. The whole
focus of education was on the art of leadership in public life.

Quintilian, in his Institutes of Oratory, pictured the orator not only as a well-rounded man of
affairs but as a man of integrity in character. Quintilian stressed memory and used moralizing as a
main basis for motivation. He talked (predictively) about the necessity for teachers to consider
individual difference; he made use of plays and games for relaxation and to stimulate interest. He
suggested competition and awards as a basis for motivation in place of corporal punishment. He also
felt that group instruction was preferable to individual tutoring. Quintilian and, to some extent.
Cicero tied education fairly close to life’s affairs.

The organizing genius of the Roman expressed itself in a complete educational system.
Roman education contributed methodology through Quintilian.
Emperor Vespasia ordered the subsidy for teachers. Emperor Trajan gave scholarships t
bright but poor youths. Hadrian started pensions for retired teachers while Antonius exempted
teachers from taxes and military service. Gratian established a salary scale for teachers and in 425
A.D the establishment of schools became a state prerogative. Before Rome’s decline, women were
admitted to all schools in all levels and were allowed to function in some of the professions

Summary
Security was the basis aim of primitive education since problem of primitive people was
survival for themselves and their families in the midst of the forces of nature and hostile spirits. The

11
fear of danger united the preliterate people into families, clans, and tribes so that the conformity of
the individual to the group constituted the major part of his education. For centuries, education was
nothing but the imposition of group characteristic upon the children in order to insure group
security. For the children to learn, they had to observe, imitate, receive individual instruction, and
try out for themselves.

Where nomadic tribes finally settled down, civilizations termed oriental-type civilization
develop. The earliest appeared along the Nile River, along the Indus and Ganges Rivers of India and
the Yellow River of China. Oriental-type civilization had the following characteristic.

1.A strong centralized rule which demanded the complete obedience of its people;
2.A written dominant language which developed a culture to maintain itself,
3.A relatively higher level of culture and living condition; and
4.A prevailing attitude opposing any kind of culture change.

As a rule, therefore, oriental education recapitulated the past in order that an individual
could fit into the establishment order of things. Oriental education dictated to the individual what
he should do, how he should feel, and what he should think. In short oriental education was used to
preserve social stability. In Egyptian life, education was concerned with perpetuating national ideals.
The most important characteristics of education among the Greeks was the emphasis it gave
to individual excellence. The Spartans interpreted this ideal of individual excellence as military
excellence for state usefulness; while the Athenians stressed individual excellence that meant a full
and rounded development of mind and body. In, Sparta the ideal was a man of action; in Athens, a
man of wisdom. Spartan education aimed to give each individual such physical perfection and habits
of complete obedience as to make him an ideal soldier. Athenian education aimed at developing all
sides of an individual’s personality useful for public affairs.

Early Roman education was distinctly a training for practical life. It aimed to develop the vir
bonus, a man who possessed the virtues essential for the exercise of this rights and the discharge of
his duties and obligations. Later Roman education was mainly in the direction of intellectual
development and speech training. From Rome, the western world inherited the arrangement of the
educational system into lower, middle and higher schools. The Romans were the first to study
foreign languages and to put women in schools. Under them, education was put under the
regulation and support of the state.

Guide Questions:

1. Is primitive man’s search for security any different from that of modern man’s? Why or why
not?
2. Religious practices affect education. Can you cite examples of this in school?
3. Which educational system, Spartan or Athenian, would be more effective in meeting present-
day conditions and problems in Philippine life? Why?
4. What are the educational values of participation in extra-curricular activities?
5. Do you believe that the problem of juvenile delinquency would be less serious today if the
home played the same part in education as it did in Rome? Explain your answer.

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