Difference between revisions of "Education"

<p> In early times there were no schools such as we know them today, and most children were educated at home. It was the responsibility of parents to teach their children the history and social customs of their nation, to instruct them in right living and to prepare them for adult life. This preparation involved teaching and training in reading, writing, crafts, trades and household work (&nbsp;Exodus 13:8; &nbsp;Exodus 13:14; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 4:9-10; &nbsp;Proverbs 1:8; &nbsp;Proverbs 4:1-9; &nbsp;Proverbs 31:1). In the case of Israelites, parents had a particular responsibility to teach their children the religion given them by God (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 6:6-9). [[Christian]] parents have a similar responsibility (&nbsp;Ephesians 6:4; &nbsp;2 Timothy 1:5; &nbsp;2 Timothy 3:15; see [[Family]] ). </p> <p> People of higher social status often received a more formal education through private instructors who were appointed as the children’s guardians (&nbsp;2 Kings 10:1; &nbsp;Acts 7:22; &nbsp;Galatians 3:24-25). Institutions known as wisdom schools were later established for the teaching and training of upper class people in philosophical thought (&nbsp;Ecclesiastes 12:9; &nbsp;Ecclesiastes 12:11; &nbsp;Jeremiah 18:18; see [[Wisdom Literature]] ). [[Prophets]] also had schools for the training of their disciples (&nbsp;2 Kings 2:3; &nbsp;2 Kings 4:38; &nbsp;Isaiah 8:16; see [[Prophet]] ). </p> <p> For ordinary Israelites, the highest academic instruction they received was the teaching of the law of Moses. Originally the priests were the teachers, but by New [[Testament]] times the scribes had taken over most of the teaching activity (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:10; &nbsp;Ezra 7:6; &nbsp;Ezra 7:10; &nbsp;Nehemiah 8:1-4; &nbsp;Nehemiah 8:8; &nbsp;Matthew 23:2-3; see [[Scribes]] ). The power of the scribes had developed along with the establishment of places known as synagogues, which became centres of instruction for [[Jewish]] people in general (&nbsp;Matthew 4:23; &nbsp;Luke 4:16-21; see [[Synagogue]] ). </p> <p> Jewish men could, if they wished, receive a more thorough education in the Jewish law by becoming students of learned Jewish teachers (&nbsp;John 3:10; &nbsp;Acts 5:34; see [[Rabbi]] ). They usually sat at the feet of their teachers (&nbsp;Acts 22:3), and learnt by memorizing facts and having question-and-answer sessions with their teachers (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 31:19; &nbsp;Luke 2:46). These teachers often taught in the temple (&nbsp;Matthew 26:55; &nbsp;Luke 2:46; cf. &nbsp;Luke 19:47). (Concerning teachers in the church see TEACHER.) </p> <p> In addition to education in this traditional religious setting, education in a Greek philosophical setting was also common in New Testament times. This created difficulties for Christians, because of the conflicts between values taught in this kind of education and values taught in Christian homes and churches (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 1:20-25; &nbsp;Colossians 2:8). </p> <p> Such conflicts will always exist. [[Christians]] may consider that when a government accepts responsibility for the education of its citizens, it is fulfilling part of its God-given task. It is helping provide for society’s well-being (&nbsp;Romans 13:4). But this does not relieve Christian parents and church leaders of their responsibilities concerning the proper instruction, development and growth of those within their care (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:13-15; &nbsp;Ephesians 6:4; &nbsp;2 Timothy 3:14-17; &nbsp;Hebrews 5:14; &nbsp;Hebrews 13:17; see also [[Ethics]] ). </p>

<p> <strong> EDUCATION </strong> . In the importance which they attached to the education of the young, it may fairly be claimed that the Hebrews were <em> facile princeps </em> among the nations of antiquity. Indeed, if the ultimate aim of education be the formation of character, the Hebrew ideals and methods will bear comparison with the best even of modern times. In character Hebrew education was predominantly, one might almost say exclusively, religious and ethical. Its fundamental principle may be expressed in the familiar words: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge’ (&nbsp; Proverbs 1:7 ). Yet it recognized that conduct was the true test of character; in the words of Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, that ‘not learning but doing is the chief thing.’ </p> <p> As to the educational attainments of the Hebrews before the conquest of Canaan, it is useless to speculate. On their settlement in Canaan, however, they were brought into contact with a civilization which for two thousand years or more had been under the influence of [[Babylonia]] and in a less degree of Egypt. The language of Babylonia, with its complicated system of wedge-writing, had for long been the medium of communication not only between the rulers of the petty states of [[Canaan]] and the great powers outside its borders, but even, as we now know from Sellin’s discoveries at Taanach, between these rulers themselves. This implies the existence of some provision for instruction in reading and writing the difficult [[Babylonian]] script. Although in this early period such accomplishments were probably confined to a limited number of high officials and professional scribes, the incident in Gideon’s experience, &nbsp;Judges 8:14 (where we must render with RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘wrote down’), warns us against unduly restricting the number of those able to read and write in the somewhat later period of the Judges. The more stable political conditions under the monarchy, and in particular the development of the administration and the growth of commerce under Solomon, must undoubtedly have furthered the spread of education among all classes. </p> <p> Of <strong> schools </strong> and schoolmasters, however, there is no evidence till after the Exile, for the expression ‘schools of the prophets’ has no Scripture warrant. Only once, indeed, is the word ‘school’ to be found even in NT (&nbsp; Acts 19:9 ), and then only of the lecture-room of a Greek teacher in Ephesus. The explanation of this silence is found in the fact that the Hebrew child received his education in the home, with his parents as his only instructors. Although he grew up ignorant of much that ‘every school-boy’ knows to-day, he must not on that account be set down as uneducated. He had been instructed, first of all, in the truths of his ancestral religion (see &nbsp; Deuteronomy 6:20-25 and elsewhere); and in the ritual of the recurring festivals there was provided for him object-lessons in history and religion (&nbsp; Exodus 12:26 f., &nbsp; Exodus 13:8; &nbsp; Exodus 13:14 ). In the traditions of his family and race some of which are still preserved in the older parts of OT he had a unique storehouse of the highest ideals of faith and conduct, and these after all are the things that matter. </p> <p> Descending the stream of history, we reach an epoch-making event in the history of education, not less than of religion, among the Jews, in the assembly convened by Ezra and Nehemiah (&nbsp;Nehemiah 8:1 ff.), at which the people pledged themselves to accept ‘the book of the law of Moses’ as the norm of their life in all its relations. [[Henceforward]] the Jews were pre-eminently, in Mohammed’s phrase, ‘the people of the Book.’ But if the Jewish community was henceforth to regulate its whole life, not according to the living word of priest and prophet, but according to the requirements of a written law, it was indispensable that provision should be made for the instruction of all classes in this law. To this practical necessity is due the origin of the <strong> synagogue </strong> (wh. see), which, from the Jewish point of view, was essentially a meeting-place for religious instruction, and, indeed, is expressly so named by Philo. In NT also the preacher or expounder in the synagogue is invariably said to ‘teach’ (&nbsp; Matthew 4:23 , &nbsp; Mark 1:21 , and <em> passim </em> ), and the education of youth continues to the last to be associated with the synagogue (see below). The situation created by this new zeal for the Law has been admirably described by Wellhausen: ‘The Bible became the spelling-book, the community a school.… [[Piety]] and education were inseparable; whoever could not read was no true Jew. We may say that in this way were created the beginnings of popular education.’ </p> <p> This new educational movement was under the guidance of a body of students and teachers of the Law known as the <em> Sôpherim </em> (lit. ‘book-men’) or <strong> scribes </strong> , of whom Ezra is the typical example (&nbsp; Ezra 7:6 ). Alongside these, if not identical with them, as many hold, we find an influential class of religious and moral teachers, known as the Sages or the Wise, whose activity culminates in the century preceding the fall of the [[Persian]] empire (b.c. 430 330). The arguments for the identity in all important respects of the early scribes and the sages are given by the present writer in Hastings’ <em> DB </em> <em> [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] </em> i. 648; but even if the two classes were originally distinct, there can be no doubt that by the time of Jesus hen Sira, the author of [[Ecclesiasticus]] ( <em> cir </em> . b.c. 180 170), himself a scribe and the last of the sages, they had become merged in one. </p> <p> To appreciate the religious and ethical teaching of the sages, we have only to open the Book of Proverbs. Here life is pictured as a discipline, the Hebrew word for which is found thirty times in this book. ‘The whole of life,’ it has been said, ‘is here considered from the view-point of a pædagogic institution. God educates men, and men educate each other’ (O. Holtzmann). </p> <p> With the coming of the Greeks a new educational force in the shape of <strong> [[Hellenistic]] culture </strong> entered [[Palestine]] a force which made itself felt in many directions in the pre-Maccabean age. From a reference in Josephus ( <em> Ant </em> . XII. iv. 6) it may be inferred that schools on the Greek model had been established in Jerusalem itself before b.c. 220. It was somewhere in this period, too, that the preacher could say: ‘Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh’ (&nbsp; Ecclesiastes 12:12 ) reflexions which necessarily presuppose a wide-spread interest in intellectual pursuits. The edict of Antiochus [[Epiphanes]] at a later date ( 1Ma 1:57 ) equally implies a considerable circulation of the [[Torah]] among the people, with the ability to profit by its study. </p> <p> Passing now, as this brief sketch requires, to the period of Jewish history that lies between the triumph of the Maccabees and the end of the Jewish State in a.d. 70, we find a tradition there is no valid reason for rejecting it as untrustworthy which illustrates the extent to which elementary education, at least, was fostered under the later Maccabean princes. A famous scribe of the period ( <em> cir </em> . b.c. 75), Simon ben-Shetach, brother of [[Queen]] Alexandra, is said to have got a law passed ordaining that ‘the children shall attend the elementary school.’ This we understand on various grounds to mean, not that these schools were first instituted, but that attendance at them was henceforth to be compulsory. The elementary school, termed ‘the house of the Book’ ( <em> i.e. </em> Scripture), in opposition to ‘the house of study’ or college of the scribes (see below), was always closely associated with the synagogue. In the smaller places, indeed, the same building served for both. </p> <p> The elementary <strong> teachers </strong> , as we may call them, formed the lowest rank in the powerful guild of the scribes. They are ‘the doctors (lit. teachers) of the law,’ who, in our Lord’s day, were to be found in ‘every village of [[Galilee]] and Judæa’ (&nbsp; Luke 5:17 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), and who figure so frequently in the Gospels. [[Attendance]] at the elementary school began at the age of six. [[Already]] the boy had learned to repeat the <em> [[Shema]] </em> (‘Hear, [[O]] Israel,’ etc., &nbsp; Deuteronomy 6:4 ), selected proverbs and verses from the Psalms. He now began to learn to read. His only textbooks were the rolls of the sacred Scriptures, especially the roll of the Law, the opening chapters of Leviticus being usually the first to be taken in hand. After the letters were mastered, the teacher copied a verse which the child had already learned by heart, and taught him to identify the individual words. The chief feature of the teaching was learning by rote, and that audibly, for the Jewish teachers were thorough believers in the Latin maxim, <em> repetitio mater studiorum </em> . The pupils sat on the floor at the teacher’s feet, as did Saul at the feet of [[Gamaliel]] (&nbsp; Acts 22:3 ). </p> <p> The subjects taught were ‘the three R [Note: Redactor.] ’s’ reading, writing, and arithmetic, the last in a very elementary form. The child’s first attempts at writing were probably done, as in the Greek schools of the period, on sherds of pottery; from these he would be promoted to a wax tablet (&nbsp;Luke 1:63 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), on which he wrote ‘with a pointed style or metal instrument, very much as if one wrote on thickly buttered bread with a small stiletto.’ Only after considerable progress had been made would he finally reach the dignity of papyrus. </p> <p> For the mass of young Jews of the male sex, for whom alone public provision was made, the girls being still restricted to the tuition of the home, the teaching of the primary school sufficed. Those, however, who wished to be themselves teachers, or otherwise to devote themselves to the professional study of the Law, passed on to the higher schools or colleges above mentioned. At the beginning of our era the two most important of these colleges were taught by the famous ‘doctors of the law,’ [[Hillel]] and Shammai. It was a grandson of the former, Gamaliel I., who, thirty years later, numbered Saul of Tarsus among his students (&nbsp;Acts 22:3 ). In the <em> [[Beth]] hammidrash </em> (house of study) the exclusive subjects of study were the interpretation of the OT, and the art of applying the regulations of the Torah, by means of certain exegetical canons, to the minutest details of the life of the time. </p> <p> A. R. S. Kennedy. </p>

<p> [[Chiefly]] in the law of God (&nbsp;Exodus 12:26; &nbsp;Exodus 13:8; &nbsp;Exodus 13:14; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 4:5; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 4:9-10; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 6:2; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 6:7; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 6:20; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 11:19; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 11:21; &nbsp;Acts 22:3; &nbsp;2 Timothy 3:15). The Book of Proverbs inculcates on parents, as to their children, the duty of disciplinary instruction and training in the word of God. This was the ONE book of national education in the reformations undertaken by [[Jehoshaphat]] and [[Josiah]] (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 17:7-9; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 34:30). The priests' and Levites' duty especially was to teach the people (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 15:3; &nbsp;Leviticus 10:11; &nbsp;Malachi 2:7; &nbsp;Nehemiah 8:2; &nbsp;Nehemiah 8:8-9; &nbsp;Nehemiah 8:13; &nbsp;Jeremiah 18:18). </p> <p> The Mishna says that parents ought to teach their children some trade, and he who did not virtually taught his child to steal. The prophets, or special public authoritative teachers, were trained in schools or colleges (&nbsp;Amos 7:14). "Writers," or musterers general, belonging to Zebulun, who enrolled recruits and wrote the names of those who went to war, are mentioned (&nbsp;Judges 5:14). "Scribes of the host" (&nbsp;Jeremiah 52:25) appear in the [[Assyrian]] bas-reliefs, writing down the various persons or objects brought to them, so that there is less exaggeration than in the [[Egyptian]] representations of battle. [[Seraiah]] was David's scribe or secretary, and Jehoshaphat, son of Ahilud, was "recorder" or writer of chronicles, historiographer (&nbsp;2 Samuel 8:16-17); Shebun was Hezekiah's scribe (&nbsp;2 Kings 18:37). </p> <p> The learned, according to the rabbis, were called "sons of the noble," and took precedence at table. [[Boys]] at five years of age, says the Mishna, were to begin reading Scripture, at ten they were to begin reading the Mishna, and at thirteen years of age they were subject to the whole law (&nbsp;Luke 2:46); at fifteen they entered study of the Gemara. The prophetic schools included females such as [[Huldah]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 22:14). The position and duties of females among the Jews were much higher than among other Orientals (&nbsp;Proverbs 31:10-31; &nbsp;Luke 8:2-3; &nbsp;Luke 10:38, etc.; &nbsp;Acts 13:50; &nbsp;2 Timothy 1:5). </p>

<p> '''Education.''' There is little trace among the Hebrews in earlier times of education in any other subjects than the law. The wisdom, therefore, and instruction, of which so much is said in the book of Proverbs, are to be understood chiefly of moral and religious discipline, imparted, according to the direction of the law, by the teaching and under the example of parents. </p> <p> (But Solomon himself wrote treatises on several scientific subjects, which must have been studied in those days). In later times, the prophecies and comments on them, as well as on the earlier Scriptures, together with other subjects, were studied. [[Parents]] were required to teach their children some trade. </p> <p> (Girls also went to schools, and women generally among the Jews were treated with greater equality to men than in any other ancient nation). Previous to the captivity, the chief depositaries of learning were the schools or colleges, from which in most cases proceeded that succession of public teachers who at various times endeavored to reform the moral and religious conduct of both rulers and people. Besides the prophetical schools, instruction was given by the priests in the Temple and elsewhere. ''See '' [[Schools]] ''.'' </p>