Abstract
The purpose of this study is to argue that formal education had multiple, independent origins in the emergence of ancient civilizations, for universally the same reasons. It uses socio-biological literature to outline the nature of human societies; ethnographic literature to show that no systems of formal education existed in small-scale hunter-gatherer communities; and evolutionary psychological literature, specifically the cognitive niche theory of human evolution, and domain-specific brain module theories, to show how children learn. The second section details the organizational changes that occurred in the emergence of civilization and why this required the development of formal institutions of education. The study uses four ancient civilizations—Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica—to provide evidence for the paper’s argument. The study offers a theory for the relationship between the structural organization of human societies and the implications this has for social learning. Overall, it provides a working theory for how and why formal education first emerged in human societies, due to the administrative tools needed to keep a state-level society functioning.
Highlights
For most of human history, people lived in small hunter-gatherer societies
2) Formal education first emerged in civilizations that developed the bureaucratic and administrative need for literacy, numeracy, and market pricing
3) The historical independent emergence of formal education in several ancient societies is a universal phenomenon because it arises from human nature and the structural organization of societies
Summary
For most of human history, people lived in small hunter-gatherer societies. The structure of these societies, and the environment they inhabited, had great implications for how children learned to become effective members of their society. As the ethnographic literature used in this study will show, no systems of formal education, or even direct instructional guidance was necessary to transmit these important skills and knowledge to the generation. This paper will answer how and why formal education first emerged in state-societies To do this, it will begin with an account of how children learn, and why formal education was not needed in small-scale communities such as hunter-gatherer societies. This study will detail the structural and organizational changes that occurred in the transition from small-scale hunter-gatherer societies to large, complex state-societies. Some implications this study has for our modern understanding of formal education
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