Educational History Of Non Western Cultures
Educational History Of Non-western Cultures
Education is a common practice throughout the world that is the basis for a child’s upbringing. Different cultures teach their children education in many different ways that respond to their respected traditions. We are going to look at the education practices of three different cultures compared to that of the one that I experienced here in the United States. The education practices we will be talking about are the African education, the Aztec education, and the indigenous education.
Africa is a large continent consisting of many countries and thousands of different cultures. Although there are many cultures, the educational experience is somewhat the same. The African educational experience is more of a natural process where a child gradually acquires skill and knowledge over time through oral traditions and life experiences. A traditional African education is divided into seven goals. These goals are “to develop a children’s latent physical skills; to develop character; to inculcate respect for elders and those in position of authority; to develop intellectual skills; to acquire specific vocational training and a healthy attitude towards honest labor; to develop a sense of belonging and to participate actively in family and community affairs; and to understand, appreciate, and promote the cultural heritage of the community at large.” Individuals that complete these goals will be looked at as adults that are respected and honest.
This type of schooling is more of a life school than a traditional school that I attended when I was young. In the African experience, people learned all the time. There was no certain time that a child would attend a certain school and stay there for the day learning about history or math. Instead, every adult in the community was looked at as a teacher that could have some important lesson that could be shared with a child. The most influential teachers in a child’s life were their parents. Children would play games that imitated the adults as if they were playing “grown up.” In Africa it was difficult to distinguish between learning and playing when observing a child.
As I mentioned before, oral tradition played a major role in the African educational experience. Children would be taught using proverbs, riddles, word games, or arithmetic puzzles. When playing word games, children would quiz each...