Reflection Paper #9

In the article The First Schools and Education in Ancient Egypt you will find many similar things. In Ancient Egypt the children imitated the parents/adults. They went to school and learned a trade or the occupation of their parent. The work they would usually learn was in farms, workshops and vineyards. They learned skills and knowledge that were practical from the adults. The parents also taught them their religious views and moral attitudes and they taught them how to be good people. Schools were filled with males only and the well to do children were the privileged ones that would get an education. The children of the less fortunate families did not have a formal education. The worked the fields with no goal to ever be in charge. The girls of the less fortunate families learned to manage a household, dance, sing and play a musical instrument and the dancing; singing and instrument playing took on a very important role if the girl would take on a temple service as a singer or a musician. The school year did not have a set length time. They started school at the age of five and went till they were sixteen years old. The school day was from sunrise to sunset.
In The First Schools article they spoke of the Sumerian school system. There original goal of the Sumerian system was a “professional” school where the purpose was to train the scribes so they can go and work in the economic and admistrative areas of the temple and palace. These students came from wealthy families because the poor could hardly afford the cost. The education here was very well prepared that you could hardly tell the difference between the students and the professors. Discipline was very strict, and they disciplined without a problem.
When you compare the education from Ancient Egyptian times and from the article The First Schools to today’s education you see that there are several similarities as well as some differences. Now a day’s both male and females have the same opportunity to get an education regardless of their families financial situation. We get to choose what we want to study as a profession once we graduate from high school. The school year runs for ten months out of the year and we get a break in the summer. And, of course as time went on and all the improvements and training teachers are much more equipped to teach children.