Mesopotamian education
Hoda MP1
Mesopotamian education
Research question: What was school like?
Education in Mesopotamia was very strict. It took place in temples or at academies or homes of priests. Only boys attended school and very few girls. If so, the girls needed to be very wealthy because most people went to school to get a good job. And that job was usually a scribe. If you became a scribe you would become very powerful and much respected!
The principle of the school was called a father or an Unmia which translates to expert. Every Unmia had two assistants. These assistants were usually called big brothers. He was in charge of most of the teaching which would usually be language, economics, farming law, biology space, astronomy and math. The textbooks back then were clay cuneiform tablets. School would start at daybreak and often wouldn’t end until sunset. The Unmia was also in charge of discipline. It was very common that you would see children getting whipped at school. Mostly they would get whipped because they could not speak without permission.
The Sumerians were the first to develop a written language and educational system (now called school). They invented writing at about 3500BC.They Sumerians wrote on clay tablets. They called the language they had created cuneiform. Cuneiform had six hundred letters in total. Students and school were expected to learn all of them! They did so much writing, the schools ended up being called tablet houses. Cuneiform was first symbols but as time went by in changed in to kids of wedges. To become a scribe children had to know cuneiform and how to write in cuneiform, because this was the language used to record things.
When you became a scribe you were not only a very respected person, but you were also very wealthy. Scribes were one of the most powerful people in Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamian education
Research question: What was school like?
Education in Mesopotamia was very strict. It took place in temples or at academies or homes of priests. Only boys attended school and very few girls. If so, the girls needed to be very wealthy because most people went to school to get a good job. And that job was usually a scribe. If you became a scribe you would become very powerful and much respected!
The principle of the school was called a father or an Unmia which translates to expert. Every Unmia had two assistants. These assistants were usually called big brothers. He was in charge of most of the teaching which would usually be language, economics, farming law, biology space, astronomy and math. The textbooks back then were clay cuneiform tablets. School would start at daybreak and often wouldn’t end until sunset. The Unmia was also in charge of discipline. It was very common that you would see children getting whipped at school. Mostly they would get whipped because they could not speak without permission.
The Sumerians were the first to develop a written language and educational system (now called school). They invented writing at about 3500BC.They Sumerians wrote on clay tablets. They called the language they had created cuneiform. Cuneiform had six hundred letters in total. Students and school were expected to learn all of them! They did so much writing, the schools ended up being called tablet houses. Cuneiform was first symbols but as time went by in changed in to kids of wedges. To become a scribe children had to know cuneiform and how to write in cuneiform, because this was the language used to record things.
When you became a scribe you were not only a very respected person, but you were also very wealthy. Scribes were one of the most powerful people in Mesopotamia.