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A Historical Perspective on Education

History's Classroom

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

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

Faust I (by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von)
The Canterbury Tales (by Geoffrey Chaucer)
Metamorphosis (by Kafka, Franz)
Les Misérables (by Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885)
The Red Badge of Courage (by Crane, Stephen)
Black Beauty (by Sewell, Anna)
The Pilgrim's Progress (by Bunyan, John)
Lorna Doone, a Romance of Exmoor (by Blackmore, Richard Doddridge)
The Man Who Was Thursday : A Nightmare (by Chesterton, Gilbert K.)
Allan Quatermain (by Haggard, Henry Rider)
The Man in the Iron Mask (by Dumas, Pere Alexandre)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman ... (by Hardy, Thomas)
The Sun Also Rises (by Hemingway, Ernest)
The Diary of a Nobody (by Grossmith, George)
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Co... (by Twain, Mark)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Beauty and the Beast (by Crane, Walter)
The Tale of Peter Rabbit (by Potter, Beatrix)
Just so Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Journey to the Interior of the Earth, A (by Verne, Jules)
Pollyanna (by Porter, Eleanor Hodgman)
The Coral Island (by Ballantyne, Robert Michael)
Moonfleet (by Falkner, J. Meade)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (by Mark Twain)
Water-Babies, The (by Kingsley, Charles)
The Count of Monte Cristo (by Dumas, Alexandre)
Wide, Wide World, The (by Warner, Susan)
Ivanhoe (by Scott, Walter, Sir)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (by Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (by Baum, Lyman Frank)
Jack and the Beanstalk and Other Stories

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

The Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book (by Caldecott, Randolph)
Little Bo-Peep; A Nursery Rhyme Picture ...
The Green Fairy Book (by Andrew Lang, Henry Justice Ford)
Little Tot's Picture Book (by Sheila Thibodeau Lambrinos Collection - York Unive...)
Little Mary; Or, The Picture-Book
Baby's Lullaby Book : Mother Songs (by Pratt, Charles Stuart)
Raggedy Andy Stories: Introducing the Li... (by Johnny Gruelle)
The Green Fairy Book (by Lang, Andrew, Ed)
Fairy Tales/By Hans Christian Andersen; ... (by Andersen, Hans Christian)
Baby's Abc Book
Three Blind Mice (by Ivimey, John William)
House that Jack Built, The (by Unknown)
Grimm's Fairy Tales (by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm)
A Book for Boys and Girls; Or, Country R... (by Bunyan, John)
The Story of Mankind (by Van Loon, Hendrik Willem)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ... (by Dr. Seuss)
I'm A Caterpillar : Preformed by Wally A... (by Jean Marzollo)
Stephanie's Ponytail : Preformed by Wall... (by Robert Munsch)
The Very Greedy Bee : Preformed by Wally... (by Steve Smallman)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
Curious George and the Pizza : Preformed... (by Margret and H.A. Rey)
The Wolf and the Lamb : Preformed by Wal... (by Eric Carle)
Where the Wild Things Are : Preformed by... (by Maurice Sendak)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
How Rocket Learned to Read : Preformed b... (by Tad Hills)
Loony Little: An Environmental Tale : Pr... (by Dianna Hutts Aston)
Cows Can't Fly : Preformed by Wally Amos (by David Milgrim)
The Treasure : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Uri Shulevitz)
The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type : Pref... (by Doreen Cronin)

Top 100 books on Education

Free Military School for Applicants for ... (by Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regim...)
William Shakespeares King Henry Iv, Part... (by Shakespeare, William)
Vocational education and guidance of you... (by Robison, Emily)
The Elements of Style (by Strunk, William)
Odyssey, The (by Homer)
Medea (by Euripides)
History of the Peloponnesian War (by Thucydides)
Tarzan of the Apes (by Burroughs, Edgar Rice)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
King Henry IV, Part 1 (by Shakespeare, William)
The Four Socratic Dialogues of Plato (by Plato)
The Divine Comedy : Inferno (by Alighieri, Dante)
The Gorgias (by Jowett, Benjamin)
Heroides (by Ovidius Naso, Publius (Ovid))
Oresteia, The (by Aeschylus)

Top 100 books on Banned Books

The History of the Valorous and Witty Kn... (by Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel De)
Faust (by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
Lysistrata (by Aristophanes)
Roxana, The Fortunate Mistress (by Defoe, Daniel)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Writings of Thomas Paine Volume Iv (by Paine, Thomas)
Mrs. Warren's Profession (by Shaw, George Bernard)
Candide (by Voltaire)
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling (by Fielding, Henry)
The Origin of Species by Means of Natura... (by Darwin, Charles)
Ghosts (by Ibsen, Henrik)
Areopagitica (by Milton, John)
A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Ind... (by John Stuart Mill)
The Golden Asse (by Apuleius, Lucius)
Mother Goose in Prose (by Baum, Lyman Frank)

DjVu Editions Classic Literature

The Third Part of Henry the Sixth (by Shakespeare, William)
The Poems of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor)
The Tragedy of Richard the Third (by Shakespeare, William)
French Ways and Their Meaning (by Wharton, Edith)
The Life of Tymon of Athens (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra (by Shakespeare, William)
Tess of the Durbervilles (by Hardy, Thomas)
The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmar... (by Shakespeare, William)
A Christmas Carol : In Prose (by Dickens, Charles)
The Prelude of 1805 in Thirteen Books (by Wordsworth, William)
Two Years before the Mast, And Twenty-Fo... (by Dana, Richard Henry)
The Prelude Or, Growth of a Poets Mind (by Wordsworth, William)
Walden Or, Life in the Woods (by Thoreau, Henry David)
Songs of Innocence and of Experience (by Blake, William)
The Bostonians (by James, Henry)

Historical and Literary Papers

The Villanovan : 1991-1993 Volume 1991-1993 (by Villanova College)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume 1862-1863 (by Maryland Agricultural College)
The Villanovan : 1953-1957 Volume 1953-1957 (by Villanova College)
The Summer School : Year 1939 Volume Year 1939 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The Summer School : Year 1940 Volume Year 1940 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The Summer School : Year 1938 Volume Year 1938 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
Asian and Pacific Island American Herita... (by Onizuka, Ellison Shoji)
The Villanovan : 1926-1933 Volume 1926-1933 (by Villanova College)
The Summer School : Year 1916 Volume Year 1916 (by Maryland State College of Agriculture)
The Summer School : Year 1921 Volume Year 1921 (by Maryland State College of Agriculture)
Ot101 : Old Testament : Tab10: Nov 7, 9,... Volume Tab10: Nov 7, 9, 10 (by Professors Patrick Miller)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume 1876-1877 (by Maryland Agricultural College)
Survey Information (by Miller, David)
The Summer School : Year 1929 Volume Year 1929 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
Salamon Dembitzer Collection 1908-1975 (by Dembitzer, Salamon)