The History of EducationAs long as

The History of Education
As long as we live we continue to learn, and the education we receive when we are young helps us to continue learning. We are taught to read and write, and are taught many of the essential facts about the world and shown how to sort them out so that later in life, we shall be able to find out things without asking other people.
The first teachers were fathers and mothers, but very early in the history of man children began to be taught by people other than their fathers and mothers. It is thought that schools first started in Egypt 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, and that the invention of writing made them necessary. Reading and writing were quite different from the skills used in everyday life, and writing made it possible to store up knowledge which grew with each generation. Specially trained people were therefore needed to teach it.
Sparta and Athens were two Greek states. The Spartans gave a purely military education to their children. At the age of seven all boys of noble families were taken from their homes and sent to live in schools. They were kept under a very strict discipline and were taught hunting, military scouting, swimming and the use of weapons. The Spartans despised literature, and some people think they could not even read.
At the same time the Athenians were building what we call liberal education. They thought it important to educate the body as well as the mind, and had a programme of physical training. As time went on they paid special attention to reading, writing and literature and these were taught by a special teacher. Common people were not educated; they were trained in craftsmanship, workmanship and trades.
Greek philosophers always discussed what education should try to do and what it should include.
The Romans were very good at organizing, and they were the first people to have schools run by government free of charge. Throughout their great empire there was a network of these schools which provided for three stages of education.
In Great Britain the first teachers we read about were craftsmen. They taught children to read, write and count, to cook and mend their own shoes. In the early 19th century the main system of teaching was the "Monitor" system*. The teacher could manage a class of 100 or more by using older pupils or "monitors" to help him. The schools had long desks which were sometimes arranged so that the teacher could see every child in a large class.