Throughout the whole period of the middle ages the church sponsored and encouraged learning. This was done through teaching, copying of manuscripts and writing commentaries. These then became the basis upon which medical university developed.
However, the monopoly of education by the church during medieval time and for a long time afterwards these had the negative effect. This is due to the fact that church interests and the church doctrines set the limit of education practice. This had the meaning that any science or philosophy which could be seen to be incompatible with the wishes of Christianity was automatically excluded from the school curriculum.
This created intellectual wastage. therefore scholarship had to concentrate in harmonizing knowledge and doctrine in order to survive. The long term effect of this monopoly was that, considerable intellectual inquiry had to be developed in order to rediscover what had once been known but lost because of the exclusion from the curriculum of the time from a very long time.
Together with intellectual development in Christianity medieval education in the liberal art played an important role in the intellectualization of the medieval culture.
Although the education of this time aimed at the selected few nevertheless it provided the catalyst for a broad based intellectual change which became the foundation of the education of the letter generation .
The development of secular palace and the prominent cathedral schools in the 11c and the 12 c and then the establishment of the university from the thirteenth century can be compared with the awakenings commonly referred to as the medieval renaissance.
As it has already been stated, the major catalyst of education throughout the medieval period was the Christian theology, this was much more so in Italy and especially in Rome after the rise of papacy.
Throughout the middle ages, Italy continued to produce clergy of intellectual renown. Some of them included the following: Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the great ,Thomas Aquinas and Gregory of Rimin. Therefore, it was a frequent practice that Italians were sent out from Rome to teach in many parts of Europe of the time and indeed throughout the Christian world at large.
This flow to and fro Rome of these religious thinkers and intellectual helped preserve, reproduce and spread the leanings of the ancient time. In turn, this made Rome all important religious and educational centre of medieval era, and indeed for a long time thereafter.
Therefore it is obvious from the above that the clergy had a reason to study the classics. the reason was the need to understand the bible literature therefore the study of the classic was a means to an end.
JUDAISM AND EDUCATION.
The old testaments records that Moses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Research in area puts the exodus at some time after 1,400 BC. This is the time when Hebrew join other Semitic peoples.
For about 200 years, the Israelites live unsophisticated lives. They were twelve tribes which were loosely united by a common faith in one God called Yahweh/ Jehovah. They did not make much advancement in the art, science and technology.
In their wondering, they served as transmitters of other people’s cultures rather than their own. However their impact on world civilization is great. And may be their greatest contribution to world civilization in the concept of monotheism. This is the concept of the oneness of God. This was the revolutionary ideas of the polytheistic world of the ancient.
The concept of a one God, which implied a single moral power, formed the heart of a Hebrew religion. It was this concept which was transmitted to Europe through Christianity and to Africa and Asia through Islam.
Israel as a unified kingdom was founded in about 1,020 BC under the rule of king Saul . He founded this kingdom in the face of attacks by the Philistines. However, even through his rule even that of his successor David. Israel remained primitive in comparison to the civilization attained at the time by Egypt, Samaria and Canaanites (the Phoenicians) or indeed by the Greeks who were neighbours to the north.
Sumerians were called Phoenicians by the Greeks they were Semitic race and were the leading traders, sailors, explorers, metallurgists of their time. They also invented the first real letters of the alphabets
Under king Solomon (961-922 BC) Jerusalem flourished as a capital of kingdom of Israel. The Israelis captured the city from Canaanites during the rule of king David. It appears as if due to their strong religious convictions against graven images, the Israelites developed few skills as crafts men and therefore, they left few works of art.
Up to the time of exile in 856 BC, the Israelites educated their youths by apprenticeship method. There were un professional teachers. Parents and the older relatives instructed the young. This was so because, there was no formal schools. The family and the tribe were the centers of educational learning. However the ultimate responsibility for bringing up of the young lay with the father.
The essential purpose of education at the time was basically religious. The basic aim of education was the development of a sense of personal responsibility towards God and an obligation towards the law.
Boys were introduced to the law at the age of 3. They were expected to understand and in the end act according to the law by the age thirteen. They also learn to master religious ceremonies such as the Passover. Higher forms of education did not exist. But the priests and the prophets expounded the law to all adults. Accordingly, the priests and the prophets created the Hebrew literature. It is this literature that was passed on from generation to generation in the oral tradition.
Written records for the Israelis appeared by 6th century. It is therefore from around this time that a distinct class of scribes and teachers begun to emerge.
The major part of the old Testament was most likely written between the Exile and the 2nd C. BC. Whether in its oral form or written, the old testament was the ‘national book’. It formed the basic text of the Jewish instruction. It was therefore, the centre of the Jewish life and education.
After the death of King Solomon 922 BC , Israel split into rival kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The declining power of the Jewish further diminished by the attacks from the Assyrians about 800 BC. And then by the Exile of 586 BC the Jewish state disappeared until it was re-established in 1948.
JEWISH EDUCATION.
Until the exile into the Babylon in 586 BC . Jewish education was the responsibility of the father and the family in general. It was during the exile that Jewish synagogue developed a centre for adult learning. It was in the synagogue where the scribes who had become new learned group or class among the Jews interpreted the sacred book and taught the law.
There were no school for the young. Jews were generally suspicious of the secular education such that when a Greek gymnasium was developed in Palestine in the 3rd c BC . it was not accepted by the Jews, This was because it was not familiar with the Jews it was Greek and therefore worldly. The Jews in the then roman empire resisted Greek culture. The Jews remained God’s centered as what they viewed as man centered learning. Therefore, they were the exception to the colonization of the Roman empire,
however it was Christianity, religion developed by the Jews which ultimately prevailed in the Greco-Roman world .
Therefore, to the Jews of the time religion which was a personal loyalty to the jealous God dominated the national and the private lives of the Jews and the key to wisdom. For example, they strongly believed in the following dictums:
That, all wisdom comes from the lord and is with him forever
That, the world of God most high is the fountain of wisdom
That the fear of the lord is a crown of wisdom.
in this connection for the Jews religion provided the aim, it established the curriculum, it dictated the method, it excluded girls from education. And determine the qualification and the conduct for teachers.
The Jewish school system was in reverse of what we knew or what is the general practice in our school system. That school system begun with adults downwards. Simon Ben Shetch founded school for the youth of 17 and 17 during the 2 CBC. the aim and the Saul objective of Jewish school system was the study of the scripture this was due to the increased need of training to perpetuate Judaism or the Jewish national identity .
Emperor Titus ordered the distinction of Herod temples of 70 AD coupled by Thadrian’s ordered that Jewish must not live in Jerusalem. Jewish came to accept their dispersal as inevitable. Which this realization, they begun to establish Jewish communities whenever they were. This meant that the teaching in the Jewish school system had to undergo a modification . This led to the establishment of the community or elementary public schools wherever they happen to be. Joshua, the high priest ordered that teachers be appointed to teach the boys in all Jewish community and that education levy be made so that buys from poor home should get education freely.
By the end of the 2nd C AD Jewish state had ceased to exist. All the Jewish had at this time been scattered throughout Arabia, Egypt and Italy. This scattering continued to Spain and northern Europe therefore, the school maintain religious identity rather than national one. The elementary schools were located in the synagogues and they were called the houses of the Book. Theses schools took in boys of ages between 6 and 13.
The books of psalms and the prophets and proverbs were added to the Jewish curriculum during the 3 C AD. Before this time, the learning of the boys was wholly devoted to the written torah.
However, for all those Jews who had adopted foreign languages as their first language had to learn Hebrew, or just as a mother tongue so that they may be able to learn sacredness of the Jewish people.
Discipline in the Jewish schools was enforced by the corporal manner of the age. Corporal method of enforcing discipline was justified by many Jewish proverbs such as ‘ He that spareth the rod hateth his son. the manner of the study in the house of study for the both from 13-17 concentrated by the oral rather than the written law.
The general methods used in this study were:
-Memorization
-chanting of texts from teachers
-The mastery of mnemonic devices
But, learning in the house of study also employed the discussion and the disputation or critic as a method.
The qualification for the teacher as set out in the Talmud, was that the teacher should be:
-A man
-Should have enough knowledge of the law as well as other holy scriptures
-The should be of exceptional character
-Should be married
However, in spite of the above few but seemingly strict code, there was a general public recognition that the teacher carried great responsibilities for the promoting and maintaining the continuity of the Jewish way of life.
Titany answered the question on August 30, 2021 at 07:44