EDF1005-Reflection #7

Early Egyptians were sometimes trained in the home relating a lot to the modern home schooling that exists today. Many of the sons took on the inheritance or profession of their fathers, a lot like we do today with family businesses. All parents tutored their children except for the King. Their lives were a lot like the adults and they didn’t have much of a childhood. They had to take on responsibilities early. The less wealthy were taught craftsmanship, fishing, and so on. For the girls it was sewing, spinning, and cooking. You would ensue whatever occupation your guardian did and if you were less wealthy you learned how to harvest, sow, and catch fish. They would be sent out on apprenticeships to learn all these tasks and they were taught by colleagues. If they failed, they had to return any payment made by the father. The students that were learning to be scribes however had it tough. They were disciplined by being hit, had to sit Indian style, attended school from morning to afternoon, and learned different styles of writing. The Egyptians had many temples that had been discovered but none of them were public or open to everyone as they are today. Only the priesthood or King was allowed to enter the sanctuary or ceremonies. They all had a particular duty. The Sumerians which settled in Mesopotamia developed the cuneiform style of writing. On the other hand, Egyptians developed something called hieroglyphics. The temple schools for the Mesopotamians were where the children learned how to write cuneiform since it was very difficult to learn. In Mesopotamia the main people that they wanted educated were the priests and scribes. They learned everything from writing to medicine and religion unlike the Egyptians. Apprenticeship was covered in the Code of Hammurabi. The Mesopotamians recorded everything as soon as they began to write. The teacher would write it on one side of the clay tablet and the child would copy it the same exact way on the other. This is very familiar to what elementary school teachers do nowadays for children to learn how to write their name or what not. They either write it on the board and they have to copy it or they write it in their notebook for them to trace. This is how the school for scribes worked out.