Education in the Middle Ages
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Orientation on Education and Curriculum
Significance
Education prepares people for their sociopolitical roles by cultivating reverence for ancestors and traditions; curriculum of ancient Chinese classics and Confucius’s Analects; (proverbial wisdom) highly selective examinations.
Confucianism influenced Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture and education.
Use of probing intellectual dialogue to answer enduring questions about truth, goodness, and beauty; education should cultivate moral excellence.
Socratic dialogue as a teaching method; teacher as a role model.
Reminiscence of latent ideas; music, gymnastics, geometry, astronomy, basic literary skills; philosophy for philosopher-kings.
Use of schools for sorting students according to intellectual abilities; education for universal truth and values.
Objective and scientific emphasis; basic literary skills, mathematics, natural and physical sciences, philosophy.
Emphasis on liberally educated, well-rounded person; importance of reason.
Rhetorical studies; basic literary skills; politics, history, rhetoric, declamation, public speaking.
Use of knowledge in public affairs and in political leadership; teacher education has both content and practice dimensions.
Basic literary skills; grammar, history, literature, drama, philosophy, public speaking, law.
Role of motivation in learning; recognition of individual differences.
Women should have a multidimensional education in religion, nature studies, and music.
Teacher as mentor and guide to the individual’s spiritual, natural, and moral development.
Education should be based on human nature, with appropriate studies for both spiritual and physical dimensions.
Teacher as moral agent; education related to universal theological goals; synthesis of theology and philosophy; dominant philosophy in Roman Catholic schools.
Education for literary elite that stressed criticism and analysis.
Role of secondary and higher education in literary and social criticism; emphasis on critical thinking.
Elementary schools to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, religion; secondary schools to prepare leaders by offering classics, Latin, Greek, and religion; vocational training.
Emphasis on universal literacy; schools to stress religious values, vocational skills, knowledge; close relationship of religion, schooling, and the state.
teaching, Scholastics used the syllogism—deductive reasoning—to create organized bodies of knowledge.49 Scholastic philosophy and education reached its zenith in the Summa Theologiae of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a Dominican theologian at the University of Paris. Seeking to reconcile Christian doctrine with Aristotle’s philosophy, Aquinas used both faith and reason to answer questions about God, the nature of humankind and the universe, and the relationship between God and humans.50 For Aquinas, the ultimate human purpose is to experience eternity with God in heaven. (See Overview 3.2 for the ideas of Aquinas and other educators discussed in this chapter.) John W. Donohue, St. Thomas Aquinas and Education (New York: Random House, 1968), pp. 76–89. Also, see Vivian Boland, St. Thomas Aquinas (Continuum Library of Educational Thought) (London: Continuum, 2008). 50 G. K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas: “The Dumb Ox” (Nashville, TN: Sam Torade Book Arts, 2010); Fergus Kerr, Thomas Aquinas: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009); and Francis Selman, Aquinas 101: A Basic Introduction to the Thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Notre Dame, IN: Christian Classics/Ave Maria Press, 2007). 49
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