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A Historical Perspective on Education

History's Classroom

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

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

Frankenstein : Or, The Modern Prometheus (by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft)
Treasure Island (by Nor, Lisa)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman ... (by Hardy, Thomas)
Faust (by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von)
Robinson Crusoe (by Defoe, Daniel)
The Thousand and One Nights; Or, The Ara...
War and Peace (by Tolstoy, Leo)
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The (vers... (by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir)
Moby Dick, or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
The Prince (by Machiavelli, Niccolò)
House of the Seven Gables, The (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
The Odyssey (by Homer)
Crime and Punishment (by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor)
Brothers Karamazov, The (by Dostoyevsky, Fyodor)
Moby-Dick or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)

Top 100 books on Classic Children's Literature

Great Expectations (Version 1) (by Dickens, Charles)
The Railway Children (by Nesbit, Edith)
Through the Looking-Glass (by Carroll, Lewis)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (by Irving, Washington, 1783-1859)
Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit... (by Moore, Clement Clarke)
Blue Beard
Story of the Treasure Seekers, The (by Nesbit, E. (Edith))
Just So Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
King Arthur and His Knights (by Radford, Maude L.)
The Little Gingerbread Man (by Herbert, Robert Gaston, Ill)
Raggedy Ann Stories (by Gruelle, Johnny)
The Story of the Treasure Seekers (by Nesbit, Edith)
Ragged Dick (by Alger, Horatio, Jr.)
Midsummer Night's Dream, A (by Shakespeare, William)
Oliver Twist (by Dickens, Charles)

Top 100 books on Children's Early Learning

The History of Little Goody Two Shoes : ... (by Goldsmith, Oliver)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
The Story of Chicken Little: Rhymed and ... (by Kenneth Graham Duffield)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (by Carroll, Lewis)
Green Fairy Book, The (by Lang, Andrew)
Just so Stories (by Kipling, Rudyard)
Adventures of Sonny Bear (by Fox, Frances Margaret)
Pollyanna (by Porter, Eleanor Hodgman)
Baby's Abc Book
Aunt Friendly's Picture Book (by Baker, Sarah S.)
Harry's Ladder to Learning
Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit... (by Moore, Clement Clarke)
The National Nursery Book
Raggedy Andy Stories (by Gruelle, Johnny)
Anne of Green Gables (by Montgomery, Lucy Maud)

Top books on Contemporary Children's Literature

The Crayon Box that Talked : Preformed b... (by Shane DeRolf)
The Greatest : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Kenny Rogers)
Loony Little: An Environmental Tale : Pr... (by Dianna Hutts Aston)
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type : Pref... (by Doreen Cronin)
Love You Forever : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Munsch)
Jump, Frog, Jump : Preformed by Wally Am... (by Robert Kalan)
Curious George and the Pizza : Preformed... (by Margret and H.A. Rey)
How Rocket Learned to Read : Preformed b... (by Tad Hills)
Squashed in the Middle : Preformed by Wa... (by Elizabeth Winthrop)
The Cow Who Clucked : Preformed by Wally... (by Denise Fleming)
The Paper Bag Princess : Preformed by Wa... (by Robert Munsch)
Peter's Chair : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Ezra Jack Keats)
More Pies : Preformed by Wally Amos (by Robert Munsch)
The Rabbit and the Turtle : Preformed by... (by Eric Carle)
Where the Wild Things Are : Preformed by... (by Maurice Sendak)

Top 100 books on Education

Plutarch's Lives (by Plutarch)
The Iliad (by Homer)
Herodotus' Histories Vol 1 (by Herodotus of Halicarnassus)
History of Standard Oil: Volume 1, The (by Tarbell, Ida)
The Sixteen Satires of Juvenal (by Juvénal)
The Education of Henry Adams : An Autobi... (by Adams, Henry)
Rights of Man, Score Aor Rom Volume Vol. II (by Paine, Thomas)
Vocational education and guidance of you... (by Robison, Emily)
Christendom and Islam Their Contacts and... (by W. Wilson Cash)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)
Elements of Style, The (by Strunk Jr, William)
Dracula (by Stoker, Bram)
Moby Dick; Or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Dougl... (by Douglass, Frederick)
Free Military School for Applicants for ... (by Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regim...)

Top 100 books on Banned Books

The Tales and Novels (by De La Fontaine, Jean)
The Rainbow (by Lawrence, David Herbert)
The Satyricon of Petronius, Illustrated,... (by Arbiter, Petronius)
Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote N... (by Swift, Jonathan)
The Genius (by Dreiser, Theodore)
Gargantua and Pantagruel (by Rabelais, François)
Tartuffe (by Molière)
The Awakening (by Chopin, Kate)
The Sorrows of Young Werther (by Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang)
Pensees (by Pascal, Blaise)
The Scarlet Letter (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
A Tale of a Tub (by Swift, Jonathan)
Sister Carrie (by Dreiser, Theodore)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)
Notre-Dame de Paris Aka the Hunchback of... (by Hugo, Victor)

DjVu Editions Classic Literature

A Christmas Carol : In Prose (by Dickens, Charles)
The Life and Death of King Richard the S... (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedie of Julius C‘Sar (by Shakespeare, William)
Silas Marner (by Eliot, George)
The Scarlet Letter (by Hawthorne, Nathaniel)
Troilus & Criseyde (by Chaucer, Geoffrey)
Pride and Prejudice (by Austen, Jane)
Far from the Madding Crowd (by Hardy, Thomas)
The Life and Death of King John (by Shakespeare, William)
A Midsummer Nights Dreame (by Shakespeare, William)
The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra (by Shakespeare, William)
The Chimes (by Dickens, Charles)
French Ways and Their Meaning (by Wharton, Edith)
The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet (by Shakespeare, William)
Moby-Dick or the Whale (by Melville, Herman)

Historical and Literary Papers

Pennsylvania Grange News : Volume 3 (by Pennsylvania State Grange)
Catalogue Issue : 1865-66 Volume 1865-66 (by Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Mf Test Reel (Digital to Mf to Digital) (by Crowley)
The Summer School : Year 1943 Volume Year 1943 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The University Mirror. : Volume 1, No. 1... (by Bucknell University)
Elias Brady Papers, 1862-1864 (by Brady, Elias)
The Villanovan : 1926-1933 Volume 1926-1933 (by Villanova College)
President's Report for the Year Ending :... Volume 1896-1903 (by Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume 1869-1870 (by Maryland Agricultural College)
The Summer School : Year 1941 Volume Year 1941 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
Circular of the Maryland Agricultural Co... Volume 1862-1863 (by Maryland Agricultural College)
The Summer School : Year 1934 Volume Year 1934 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The Villanovan : 1988-1989 Volume 1988-1989 (by Villanova College)
The Summer School : Year 1928 Volume Year 1928 (by University of Maryland, College Park)
The Summer School : Year 1926 Volume Year 1926 (by University of Maryland, College Park)