Western Education’s Roots and the Jewish Legacy
If thinking back is one of the best ways to think ahead, then a historical perspective could be refreshing, especially when education reform and “a new model” are all the rage.
Hence, this brief synopsis on the early education of a people to whom we are so indebted, by whom we have been so influenced, and from whom we can still learn so much …
The famous Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who lived at the time of Christ, said, “Our ground is good, and we work it to the utmost, but our chief ambition is for the education of our children.” Another Jewish leader said, “The world exists only by the breath of school children.”
Even a cursory perusal of ancient education in Israel leaves one convinced of the Hebrew people’s insoluble commitment to their children and the instructional disciplines. Said one author, “No nation has ever set the child at center stage as did the Jews.”
The evidence is overwhelming. We could look, for example, at the fact that Jewish tax-supported schools existed in every town and village throughout first-century Palestine. It is even readily concluded by some historians, because of the strict Jewish compulsory attendance laws, that Christ himself probably attended a Jewish school as a child.
Interestingly enough, it became the custom to build a room next to the synagogue for educational use. The expectation was that each synagogue should have its own school. In fact, at the time of Christ, there were 480 synagogues in Jerusalem and every one of them had a school.
“The synagogue was the earliest, the most widespread and the most enduring of all the educational institutions after the Babylonian exile. It was the first institution to offer systematic instruction to both sexes. Furthermore, it was the parent of the scribe college and the elementary school. Out of it arose the movement which resulted in universal education.” (Fletcher H. Swift, Education in Ancient Israel)
We could also look at the year-round schedule of the early Jewish schools, or even their daily educational regimen which began at sunrise and ended at sundown! Said author Lewis Joseph Sherrill, “... there was a saying that children must not be kept from going to school, not even for the building of the Temple.” In fact, he says, school was not suspended even on the Sabbath.
This abiding Judaic passion for education was best reflected in how the teachers of the land were esteemed. Some of the well-known “sayings” of their culture at the time included: “Respect your teacher as you would God” … “If one’s teacher and one’s father is in captivity, one must ransom his teacher first” … “What does God do during the fourth quarter of the day? He sits and instructs the school children.”
Teachers at any age level had status among the highest levels of society, and in Jerusalem, a teacher was second in social standing only to a rabbinical scholar. Said Sherrill, “The true protectors of the people were regarded as being, not the political leaders, but those who instructed the youth.” No surprise then that it was the goal of Jewish students to become exactly like their teachers, so much were they revered.
Noted one observer of educational history, “Where ever there has been a corresponding respect for teachers, there has been a sustained successful system of schools.” (Conversely, where the same is missing or deteriorating, one could conclude, the opposite would eventually emerge.)
Suffice it to say, for the historic people of the Holy Land, the schooling of their children was much more than a social obligation – it was the very catalyst and symbol “of all that education meant to the Jew.”
Their reverence for learning (a spiritual thing for them) was unparalleled by any people in the history of the world. And contrary to many present-day prejudices and hostilities, theirs is a legacy worth revisiting and remembering.
Brian Schroeder is the former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction, an ordained minister and founder/president of The ChrisCorps Commission (bschroeder081858@gmail.com)