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A. Ancient Period

Modern-day education owes much of its system to the institutions established by the ancient civilizations of
Primitive, Sumerian, Hindu, Hebrew, Christian, China, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
a. Aims of Primitive Education
Security and Survival.
Conformity
Preservation and Transmission of Traditions.
b. Aims of Sumerian Education
Training of Scribes.
Training of Bookkeepers.
Training of Teachers.
Training the Learners to be Good.
c. Aims of Hindu Education

The main aim of the education of the Hindus was to prepare the highest classes of young men
for the religious and social duties later in life while the women and members of the lower
classes were given only informal instructions under the supervision of their parents or older

relatives.
Intellectual.
Religious.
Cultural.

d. Aims of Hebrew Education

Moral.
Preparation for Destiny.
Holiness.
Observance of Religion.

e. Aims of Christian Education

Relationship between God and Man.

Salvation.
Social relations based on Love..

f. Aims of Chinese Education

Selecting and training people for public service.

Ideological and Ethical (Moral) Learning.
Cultural Development.
Civil Service.

g. Aims of Egyptian Education

Training of Scribes.
Religious.
Utilitarian.
Preservation of cultural patterns.

h. Aims of Greek Education

Military.
Discipline.
Good Citizenship.
Individual Excellence.
Many-sided Development.

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i. Aims of Roman Education

Utilitarian.
Moral.
Military.
Civic and Political.
Religious.

b. Medieval Period

The fall of Rome in 476 A.D. is considered as the end of ancient times and the start of the medieval period. In
this period, four educational systems or movements emerged: monasticism, scholasticism, chivalry, and the
guild.
a. Aims of Monastic Education
Spiritual.
Moral. To attain the ideals of (1) chastity; (2) poverty; and (3) obedience
Spiritual Knowledge.
b. Aims of Scholasticism Education

Reasoned Faith.
Intellectual Discipline.

c. Aims of Chivalric Education

Morality.
Responsibility.
Horsemanship.
Gallantry.
Religiosity.
Social Graces.

d. Aims of Guild Education

Preparation for Commercial and Industrial Life.

Vocational Preparation.

c. Renaissance Period

It is the transition period between Medieval and the Modern times. This movement was marked by a
humanistic revival of classical influence expressed in a flowering of the arts and literature as well as the
beginning of the modern science.
a. Aims of Renaissance Education
Individualistic Humanism.
Social Humanism.
Ciceronianism.
Humanistic Realism.

Important educational event happened during the Renaissance Period

Although the Western Roman Empire had decayed and fallen, the Eastern Empire, also known as the
Byzantine Empire, endured into the 15th century when its capital of Constantinople finally fell to the
Ottoman Turks in 1453. When these Muslims closed the schools and libraries there, the Byzantine
scholars and artists moved West, bringing with them Greek manuscripts, arts and traditions which had
long been lost to the West. With the re-introduction of Greek literature, Western Europe had access to

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valuable scholarship at a time when it was best able to study these new texts, especially in Italy.
Interest in acquiring and studying old Greek scholarship resulted not only from the novelty of the

works, but also the European desire to re-acquire formerly lost wisdom.
With new advances in philosophy and mathematics, European thinkers had a much stronger
springboard for further advances in the sciences, and Galileo Galilei was one of the first to take
advantage. Among his many contributions, he developed new theories of physics, involving density,
momentum and even the gravitational and orbital relationship of objects in space. By experimenting in
the scientific method, Galileo demonstrated that natural phenomena could be explained scientifically

through the perfection of new principles in science, physics and astronomy.

One of the most defining elements of Renaissance thought were the principles of Humanism
introduced by Desiderius Erasmus. This thinker, inspired by the philosophy of Aristotle, posited that
human morals could be better understood and followed when founded and bolstered by higher
education. According to humanists, practical and scientific studies were of primal importance in order
to better engage people into society, where they could read, write and contribute in an educated way.

Greatest contributions of the Greek philosophers in the field of education

Thales of Miletus. One contribution of Thales of Miletus is the bit of information that he did in

geometrical research, which enabled him to measure the pyramids.

Anaximander. He believed that the original world-stuff is a kind of spray and mist which is an infinite

and living substance which he called the Boundless.

Pythagoras of Samos. In his view, our world was governed by numbers, and therefore essentially

harmonious.
Heraclitus. His philosophical work consists of a series of cryptically pronouncements that force a
reader to think. It seems certain, however, that he thought that the basic principle of the universe was
the logos, i.e. the fact that it was rationally organized and therefore understandable. Fire is the physical

aspect of the perfect logos.

Anaxagoras. He taught that the world is a mass of particles of every kind of body found in the

universe. This mass was motionless and inert.

Parmenides of Elea. Parmenides pointed out that the endless variety and eternal changes were just an
illusion. In a long poem, which partially survives, he opposed 'being' to 'not being', and pointed out
that change was impossible, because it would mean that something that was 'not being' changed into

'being', which is absurd.

Democritus of Abdera. According to him, matter is made up from atoms. There was no real evidence
for this idea, but it explained why change was possible. The atoms were always moving and clustering
in various, temporary combinations. Therefore, things seemed to change, but 'not being' never changed

into 'being'.
Socrates. He was interested in ethics. It was his axiom that no one would knowingly do a bad thing.
So knowledge was important, because it resulted in good behaviour.

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Antisthenes. Like his master, he tried to find out what words mean, but he was convinced that it was

not possible to establish really good definitions.

Plato (Usually called a pupil of Socrates). Plato accepted the world of the phenomena as a mere
shadow of the real world of the ideas. In Plato's political philosophy, only wise men who understand
the dual nature of reality are fit to rule the country. He set up his schools called the Academy in

Athens.
Diogenes of Sinope (Student of Antisthenes). Both men are called the founder of the school that is
known as Cynicism. The essential point in this world-view is that man suffers from too much
civilization. We are happiest when our life is simplest, which means that we have to live in accordance

with nature - just like animals.

Aristotle of Stagira (Plato's most famous student). He studied biology and accepted a position as
teacher of the Macedonian crown prince Alexander at Mieza. His main works are the Prior Analytics
(in which he described the rules of logic), the Physics, the Animal History, the Rhetoric, the Poetics,

the Metaphysics, the Nicomachean Ethics, and the Politics.

Pyrrho of Elis. He argued that we cannot fully comprehend nature, do not know for certain whether a
statement is true or false, and are unable to build an ethical system on so weak a fundament. Pyrrho's

world-view is called Skepticism, and may be compared to the postmodernist philosophy of the 1980's.
Samian. We live happiest when we are free from the pains of life, and a virtuous life is the best way
to obtain this goal. In his opinion, we are unable to understand the gods, who may or may not have
created this world but are in any case not really interested in mankind. Nor do we know life after death
- if there is an existence at all after our bodies have decomposed. Therefore, we must not speculate

about gods and afterlife.

Zeno of Citium. He ignored traditional values like prestige and honor, and focused on man's inner
peace. In his view, this was reached when a person accepted life as it, knew that the world was
rationally organized by the logos. A man's mind should control his emotions and body, so that one

could live according to the rational principles of the world.

Chrysippus. His contributions to the development of philosophy can especially be found in the field
of logic, where he studied paradoxes and the way an argument should be constructed. He also reflected
upon the use of allegoresis, which is a way to read a text metaphorically and find hidden meanings (or

construct them).
Apollonius. He gave a new interpretation to Pythagoreanism, which was essentially a combination of

ascesis and mysticism.

Epictetus. When he was old, useless and therefore "freed" from slavery, he had to make a living and
started to teach the Stoic philosophy, first at Rome and at Nicopolis in western Greece. Because
Epictetus was able to explain Stoicism in a systematic way and with an open eye to its practical
applications, he had many students from the rich senatorial order. Epictetus wrote a Handbook, which
is arguably the most popular book on philosophy that was ever written.

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