Describe the ancient Hebrew Education System

The early beginning of the Hebrew is rather cloudy. It is carried in legends. But there are records to show that Isaac, Abraham and Jacob were Hebrew tribal leaders who lived in migratory existence.
From the Old Testament, it is well known that mosses led the children of Israel out of land of Egypt. This is given the date of 2,400 BG. The exodus led the Hebrew to join the other Semitic people in their new home in the land of Canaan.
The Israelites lived unsophisticated pastoral lives of twelve loosely united by a Common faith in one God called ‘Yahweh or Jehovah’. They made no significant advances in the art, science and technology.
In their wondering, they served as transmitters of other people’s cultures rather than their own. However their impact on world civilization is great. And may be their greatest contribution to world civilization in in the concept of monotheism. This is the concept of the oneness of God. This was the revolutionary ideas of the polytheistic world of the ancient.
The concept of a one God, which implied a single moral power, formed the heart of a Hebrew religion. It was this concept which was transmitted to Europe through Christianity and to Africa and Asia through Islam.
The kingdom of Israel was founded by Saul in about 1020 BC. This kingdom was established in spite of great attacks from philistines. But even in the rule of Saul and that of his successor David, life in Israel remained primitive in comparison with civilization of Egyptians, the Sumerians or even their neighbours,, the Canaanites. The Canaanites were also called the Phoenicians by the Greeks.
The Phoenicians were the leading traders, sailors, explorers, metallurgists of their time. They also invented the first real letters of the alphabets.
Jerusalem flourished as the capital of the kingdom of Israel under the rule of Solomon in 961-922BC. The Israelites captured the city from the Canaanites during the rule of David. The temple of King Solomon was the work of Phoenicians.
Hebrew education was mainly through apprenticeship. This was the method up to about the exile in 586BC.There were no professional teachers. Parents and the older relatives acted as educational guides for the youths. Therefore, there were no formal schools. The family and the tribes formed educational institutions.
Basically the actual responsibility for bringing up the children in properly accepted manner lay with the father.
The objective of education was basically religious. It was mainly to develop a sense of personal responsibility towards and an obligation towards the law. Boys were introduced to the laws of the people from about the age of three. By the time the boys were thirteen, they were expected to understand lawfully and to act upto on its teachings. They also learned to master religious ceremonies such as rites of Passover.
Higher education did not exist, But, the priests and the prophets expanded the law to all adults. It is these priests and prophets who created the Hebrew literature, which was passed on from generation to generation in the oral tradition.
After the death of king Solomon in 922BC. Israel begun to decline such that it was split in two rival kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The Hebrew declining power was further diminished by onslaughts of the Assyrians about 800 BC the Hebrew state disappeared until it was re-established as a new state in 1948.
Therefore there was many other highly developed cultures in various parts of the world. the ones given here above simply serve as an example of all those ancient civilizations and their educational principles and practices. The light of education, which these example provide, is that schools appeared almost contemporaneously with civilization.
further more we note from these examples that schools developed as a practical response to the need to write. Therefore, they were originally professional schools for the purpose of training scribes.
The connection between ancient education and religion manifested itself in many different ways. Schools often developed as parts of the appendages to the temples. This was due to the fact that, the priest needed to be literate in order to keep temple records. Therefore, potential priests were of necessity students of the art of writing.
For that reason, priests continued to be the teachers even long after a class of secular scribes had came up, Religious marks like the Vedas often formed the basics of school curriculum. Therefore, religion, or the transmission of religious knowledge, frequently provided the fundamental objective for the formal instruction.
Finally, ancient students or teachers were just as human with responses similar to those of their contemporary counterparts. And ancient education, like modern ones had their limitations usually school instructions were restricted to the boys or young men of the upper classes. Discipline was harsh and the methods of instructions were routine and repetitious. and the curriculum was sometime dedicated to the past rather to the present or to the future.

---

Titany answered the question on August 30, 2021 at 06:51