Other Middle Eastern Education

Civilization spread from Sumer and Egypt to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.** Certain tribes in this region each spoke one of the closely related Semitic languages. Between about 1500 ВС and 1000 ВС, these tribes developed the world's first alphabet and so gave education another valuable tool. Alphabetic systems make writing easier than picture systems because they require far fewer symbols.

Certain Hebrew*** Semitic tribes developed a remarkably democratic educational system. Other educational systems had been designed mainly for the sons of upper-class families. But the Hebrews required boys of every social class to attend school. The Hebrew schools were religious -schools conducted by priests called scribes. They taught boys to read the sacred writings of the Hebrew people, which were collected in a volume called the Tarah. Hebrew girls did not attend school but were taught at home by their mothers.

________________________

* awkward – неудобный, затруднительный

** the MediterraneanSea – Средиземное море

*** Hebrew – иудей; (древне)еврейский

Ancient Greek Education

Greek civilization flourished from about 700 ВС to about 330 ВС. During this period, the Greeks made the greatest educational advance of ancient times. In fact, Western education today is based on the ancient Greek model.

Ancient Greece was divided into independent city-states. The educational system of each city-state aimed to produce good citizens. Athens and Sparta, two of the most powerful city-states, had different ideals of citizenship. In Sparta, a citizen was judged largely by his political and military service. The government controlled education. Boys received physical and military training, but few learned to read and write. In Athens, unlike Sparta, a citizen was judged more by the quality of his mind. But Athenian citizens were also expected to develop their bodies and to serve the state.

Athens made the greatest educational advances of any Greek city-state. But Athenian education was far from democratic. Education was limited to the sons of Athenian citizens. Only about a fifth of the Athenians were citizens. Most of the rest were slaves, who were not considered worthy of an education.

Athenian boys started their education at about age 6. But they did not go to schools as we think of schools today. A trusted family slave simply took them from teacher to teacher, each of whom specialized in a certain subject or certain related subjects. Boys studied reading, writing, arithmetic, music, dancing and gymnastics. As the boys advanced, they memorized the words of Homer and other Greek poets. Boys continued their elementary education until they were about 15 years old. From about ages 16 to 20, they attended a government sponsored gymnasium. Gymnasiums trained young men to become citizen-soldiers. They emphasized such sports as running and wrestling and taught civic duty* and the art of war. Students held discussions to improve their reasoning and speaking ability.

Some Athenian gymnasiums became centres of advanced learning. By the 400s ВС, advanced learning in Athens consisted of philosophy and rhetoric. Philosophy included the study of logic, mathematics, morals, and science. Rhetoric included the study of government, history, and public speaking.

During the 400s and 300s ВС, Athens produced such great philosophers and teachers as Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. About 387 ВС Plato founded a school of philosophy that became known as the Academy.

_________________________

* civic duty – обязанности граждан

Some scholars believe the Academy was the Western world's first institution of higher learning. Aristotle founded a similar school called the Lyceum* about 330 ВС.

Most young Athenian women received no formal education. The Greeks believed girls could learn all they needed to know from their mothers – that is, how to prepare food, make clothing, and care for infants. However, some women belonged to religious organizations through which they developed skills in music, poetry, and dancing.

Ancient Roman Education

By 100ВС, the Romans had built the most extensive educational system of that time. Their system was patterned after** that of ancient Athens. But unlike the Athenians, the Romans provided schooling for girls as well as boys. The children of wealthy citizens were taught by a ludus (elementary-school teacher) from about the age of 7 to 10. They learned to read and write both Greek and their native language, Latin. Girls received only an elementary education. Boys from about 10 to 15 years old attended a secondary school run by a grammaticus (teacher of grammar). In secondary school, they continued their study of Greek and Latin grammar and literature. The Romans also established institutions of higher learning. These institutions were schools of rhetoric, which prepared young men for careers in law and government.

Assignments:

1. Give the English for:

происходить, изобретать, ученичество, приобретать, узы, связывать, иметь отношение к, сложный, включать, устно, запоминать, доступный, поведение, возникать, священник, переписывать, задача, племя, родственный, ценный, требовать, процветать, успехи, древний, основываться на, ограничивать, раб, делать упор на, рассуждения, предоставлять.

2. Form nouns from the following verbs:

invent, communicate, educate, perform, imitate, know, behave, calculate, discuss, develop, govern.

3. Form adjectives from the following nouns:

history, religion, emotion, east, west, value, education, alphabet, power, policy, democracy.

________________________

* the Lyceum – лицей

** to be patterned after – быть созданным по образцу

4. Join A and В in pairs of synonyms;

A. adults, to establish, talented, to arise,, hard, task, to complete, advances, ancient, to prepare.

B. difficult, gifted, elders, to appear,success, to found, to finish, aim, old, to train.

5. Complete the following sentences:

1) Young people in prehistoric societies were educated through...

2) The invention of writing was the second major milestone in...

3) Scribes were hired for any task that required a knowledge of ...

4) The Hebrew schools were religious schools conducted by

5) The educational system of each city-state aimed to produce ...

6) Gymnasiums emphasized such sports as ...

7) Students held discussions to improve their ...

8) Unlike the Athenians, the Romans providedschoolingfor ...

9) The Romans also established institutions of ...

10) These institutions were schools of rhetoric which prepared...

6. Ask 10–15 questions about the text. Be ready to answer them.

7. Prove the following statements:

1) Today, in all societies, young people still learn through apprenticeship, imitation and ritual.

2) As a society grows increasingly complicated, teachers and schools take on more and more responsibility for educating the young.

3) Alphabetic system makes writing easier than picture system.

4) Athenian education was far from democratic.

5) By 100 ВС, the Romans had built the most extensive educational system of that time.

8. Speak on the major milestones in the history of education. Give the advantages and disadvantages of each of the discussed educational systems.

9. Say what elements of ancient educational system you'd like to introduce in our system of education and why.

THE PEN STORY

A sharp flint... a finger dipped in blood or plant juice,.. these were the tools used by primitive man to record his experiences on cave walls and rocks. As he became more intelligent, man developed more complex writing systems – pictures, symbols' alphabets ... and more efficient writing instruments.

Twoof the earliest implements were the brush, employed in China, and the stylus. The stylus, a sharp instrument made of bone or metal, was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to inscribe signs and words on wax-covered tablets.

Meanwhile, the ancient Egyptians were writing on papyrus with pen and ink. The ink was basically a mixture of bamboo, soot, water and gum; the pens were made from the hollow tubular stems of reeds, split and sharpened.

Papyrus and parchment spread to other countries. So did the reed pen. The Romans made their version from bamboo but instead of splitting it, they cut one end t« a nib-shape, filled the hollow stem with ink; then squeezed it to force the ink onto the nib. That was one of the very first fountain pens.

The stylus was in fashion for some three thousand years; the reed pen for only three hundred because, with the introduction of paper, a much finer instrument was needed. It came in the form of a quill feather taken from the wings of swans, crows or, more often, geese. The new implement inspired the word "pen" (taken from "penna," the Latin term for feather).

From the sixth to the eighteenth century, the quill was the writing instrument of the western world.

The next major step in the pen story was taken in 1809 by Joseph Bramah, an English engineer. He invented a machine for manufacturing quill nibs which were then inserted into holders. Soon this type of pen was in common use. Within twenty years quill nibs had been replaced by steel ones.

The next chapter in the pen saga begins in 1884 in America... A young insurance agent, Lewis Waterman, tipped his inkwell over a contract just at the moment of signing and consequently lost a sale worth one hundred thousand dollars. This misfortune determined Waterman to design a pen containing its own supply of ink – the fountain pen.

While the fountain pen was gaining in popularity, another invention hit the writing public. The ballpoint. Although patents on ball-point pens date back to the 1880s, the world's first workable version was developed in 1943 by Lazlo Joseph Biro, a Hungarian living in Argentina.

Assignments:

1. Translate the text using a dictionary.

2. Give a summaryof the text.

THE MIRACLE OF WRITING

Among all the achievements of human beings, the invention of writing is one of the greatest. But perhaps the time will come during our lives when reading and writing become out of date.

Writing was not invented once, but perhaps, six different times, in places as far apart as China and America. Each time it started with simple pictures and lines or dots – these were good enough to record objects or numbers. But something more flexible was needed to record language.

A kind of writing which had this flexibility was invented in Mesopotamia, in about 3000 ВС. The writing was made of triangular shapes* and we now call it "cuneiform"** writing. Like picture writing, it was used in trade, but it was also important for recording ideas about religion and philosophy. Though we don't know what the language these people spoke sounded like, we know a lot about them from their writing.

Meanwhile the Egyptians had developed another kind of writing – "hieroglyphics."*** These were a mixture of pictures and signs which were used by the kings and priests, Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is one of the most beautiful and complicated ways of writing that has been invented. But it was too complicated to become as widely used as cuneiform writing.

Around 1200 ВС writing began to make the last and most important step in its development; the beginning of the alphabet, signs which stand for sounds and which can be used to write any of the words we speak. Nobody knows when, where or by whom the first alphabet was invented. But by 1000 ВС Phoenician traders, from the area we now call Lebanon, were spreading their alphabet writing throughout the Mediterranean world. The Greeks, and later the Romans, changed it, and it grew into the alphabet of letters you can see on this page.

With the alphabet it was possible to write down anything that was said. There were all sorts of stories, myths and traditions waiting to be written down. The invention of paper and ink helped the alphabet to spread quickly, and many more people learned to read and write, though trie vast majority of people were illiterate until long after printing was invented. However, there was one great problem that lasted from Greek and Roman times until the Middle Ages– everything was written by hand. So it was slow and expensive to produce copies of books.

__________________________

* of triangular shapes – в форме треугольников

** cuneiform – клинопись

*** hieroglyphics – иероглифы

Assignments:

1. In a few sentences give a short survey of the history of writing.

2. Translate the text using a dictionary.