Here we will outline a short sequence of important events in the development of education, such as the people, concepts, and pedagogical tools which aided in its spread from the elite to the masses:

Prehistory

Sulawesi Cave– this the earliest discovered cave art, although it lacks the clear narrative quality of the Chauvet Cave that could have been more evidently used as a tool for conveying knowledge to students.1

Ishango Bones- discovered in the Congo in 1950, these leg bones were used as counting devices. Whether their purpose was pedagogical or merely as accounting aids is uncertain, but still represent some of the earliest examples of mathematical thought in human history.2

Cuneiform Tablets– the earliest known writing script, which accompanied the rise of the world’s first civilization of Mesopotamia. Students learned to read these in schools called “tablet houses.” These places constitute the first formal schools in history, but were unfortunately accessible only to the wealthy.3

The Greeks

  1. The Socratic Method
Socrates conducted forums in a public spaces called “The Agora” in Athens, where he would employ the Socratic Method.

2. The Lyceum

Like Socrates, Aristotle would conduct teaching largely by way of discussions and in public spaces, this time in “The Lyceum.” This school was for adults and centered around high level philosophical and scientific topics, however grouped under the larger name of “philosophy,” which at the time meant simply “the study of knowledge.”4

Al-Qarawiyyin and the First University

  • In Fez, Morocco
  • Founded by Fatima al-Fihri and her sister Miriam using inheritance money
  • First degree-holding institution
  • Has an attached library and mosque
  • Originally focused on religious education5

Medieval Universities, The Liberal Arts, and Doctorates

A Stroll Around the University of Bologna | ITALY Magazine

The Medieval Universities represented a significant leap in higher education.6 The school was organized according to the principles of Scholasticism, which sought to reconcile religion and scientific reasoning, and the seven liberal arts, themselves taught in two sections:

  1. The Trivium- taught grammar, rhetoric, and logic
  2. The Quadrivium – taught math, music, and astronomy

The rise of the university system corresponded with the rise of capitalism and is often credited with spawning the Renaissance.7

Universal Education: America and Elsewhere

  1. Johann Comenius
Comenius focused on child’s education, and is known as the “father of modern education.” He focused on the acclimation of teaching to the educational level of the students being taught, a focus on worldly knowledge and the association of words with images, and inculcating a thirst for knowledge in students.8

2. Horace Mann

Mann was a major advocate of publicly administered education, allowing children of all economic levels to receive schooling. He believed it to be a prerequisite of American liberty and the equality of opportunity, and advocated for well trained teachers, strict schooling practices, and a secular curriculum.9