The History of Education Part 1/2- The World Abroad

An old photo of a Japanese Classroom found here, demonstrating the history of education abroad.

     Education has had a long and storied history throughout time, one that begins at the start of human existence. The transformation of education, however, remained static for a large portion of this time.  Before writing, obviously, it was completely oral, and even after the invention of written language, social stratification restricted the passing of formal knowledge to only a privileged few.  The first evolutions in the field of education started in the Medieval era, albeit these changes were slight.  Nicholas Orme writes in his article "What Did Medieval Schools do for Us?", which can be found in History Today here, "In 1382 William Wykeham founded Winchester College - the first school to be a fully-endowed and self-governing institution. It provided education, board, and lodging for seventy scholars. Previous schools had been largely (though not totally) dependent on charging fees. Winchester offered teaching free of charge, but it was not available to everyone."  This college, Winchester College, is a landmark in the history of education in Britain, and in Europe in general.  These colleges began springing up throughout the continent, and similar institutions found elsewhere in the world, and advanced the ideas of education irrevocably.  

     Continuing throughout history, many eras come and go.  The Renascence, for example, had a massive impact on education as religion began to become less important to education, and theology was no longer intrinsic to education, though its importance was undeniable.  Decades later the printing press was invented by Johaness Guttenburg, which allowed knowledge to be imprinted, and then mass produced and distributed everywhere, whereas before Guttenburg books had to be hand written.   Moving on into the Victorian era, European influence spread across the globe.  Organizations such as the Jesuits spread education all over, and the more traditional values began to take hold through colonization.  This created some problems as well, however as a gulf between Europeans and "westernized" peoples began to uncover knowledge, and the indigenous people remained illiterate, the ill effects of which are still felt today.  Sylvia Schmelkes writes in "Adult education and indigenous peoples in Latin America", found here in The International Review of Education "In the case of Mexico, for example, the 2005 illiteracy rate of the non-indigenous population (6.7%) aged 15 and older must be multiplied by a factor of five to obtain the illiteracy rate of the indigenous population for that same year (36%)".

    In short, the evolution of the educational system has been a long and winding road, ending at multiple paths, depending on where one looks.  In the next segment, the history of American education specifically will be examined.