Report on the History of Education and its Cultural Influences: Presentations

The purpose of this report is to inform people how education has been developed over the

time considering its cultural background from a global perspective. Hence, you will be able

to appreciate the major issues that involved education according to the presentations the

students arranged in class.

First, In Ancient Greece, the distinctions among men and women were remarkable;

although Ancient Greek education prepared people to be good citizens, women’s main

purpose in life was to become good housewives, and consequently, women education was

limited to their gender. Despite this fact, it’s essential to mention that in Ancient Sparta

things were slightly different; women had more rights and were better educated so they

moved to a higher position in society acquiring knowledge at the same level as men.

Next, in the Middle Ages, women’s role was similar as in Ancient Greece, they were

considered to be inferior to men hence, they have little or no access to education. The

educational system was tied to religion, therefore, teaching reading and writing (mostly

Latin) was fundamental. It was monks and bishops’ duty to educate pupils but just the ones

that belong to the upper class; pupils were expected to become part of the novelty whereas

lower class’ children (peasants, farmers and craftsmen) had the chance to be taught by their

parents if they knew how to read or write.

Then, in the early 19th century, education was mainly based on instruction; students were

seen as a product that must be shaped in order to provide the expected result: the formation

of good citizens. In the late 19th century, education was led by the government and within

that, different reforms appeared creating public schools and leading free education to
everybody. By the end of the 19th century there was a noticeable growth of public schools

as well as the attendance of boys and girls that helped reducing the amount of illiterate

people.

Finally, the 20th century showed how education went through a series of events and could

still maintain its position. In the early 20 th century, the educational system was still

traditional but the conditions changed immensely. Child labour was abolished, the school

leaving age was raised up to the age of fourteen, literacy increased in adult people and

coeducation helped decreasing sex discrimination. By the end of the 20 th century, different

pedagogical models were developed with the aim of changing the traditional education

system and improving different ways of teaching future generations.

All in all, the analysis of how education changed over time allows us to see how it

increased leading people to grow intellectually building a new society able to break

boundaries as gender discrimination and social stratification.