Education began long before humans walked the Earth.
Young wolves learn how to hunt from their parents. Young bears learn how to select and prepare a den for winter hibernation. Young primates learn to recognize ripe fruit, how to crack open nuts and even use simple tools to winkle termites out of their labyrinthian mounds.
This is one-on-one learning by demonstration, requiring no speech. One can imagine early hominids teaching their children how to survive in their environment. As speech developed, the teaching of more complex survival techniques, such as hunting in a group or planning for the coming season, became possible.
The earliest evidence of iron smelting was found in southern Nigeria dated around 2000 BC. In Europe, Hittites began smelting iron as long ago as 1500 BC. This skill spread rapidly. In Africa, iron smelting spread through blacksmiths passing on their knowledge from father to son, who set up shop in another village.
This type of teaching depends on close, personal contact. Thousands of years later, as writing developed, technology could spread beyond the village, to people living decades or centuries after an artisan’s death. That was the beginning of education as we understand it.
In Europe, teachers like Aristotle and Socrates are well known to us. Arabia, India and China also had their well-known (perhaps not to us) educators. Soon after Islam swept across North Africa and up the Iberian Peninsula, Muslim Caliphs began to establish “libraries.” These were set up in Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo and Cordoba, among other places.
Islamic “libraries” were not just shelves of books and scrolls. Scholars from “everywhere” were invited to these libraries, where they discussed physical science, philosophy, literature, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, etc. Material originally written in ancient Greek, Aramaic, Syriac and Sanskrit was translated into Arabic and kept for posterity. These scholars taught others in small groups, gradually spreading their knowledge.
Several hundred years later, as Europe emerged from the Dark Ages, their scholars began to retrieve lost material. Of course, that meant they had to learn Arabic. Islamic doctors began to modernize European medicine. Islamic mathematicians invented the concept of “zero” and, of course, Arabic numerals. If you doubt the importance of Arabic numerals, try carrying out any arithmetic operation using Roman numerals.
For hundreds of years, few Europeans could read or write. Education was limited to the clergy and very few others. Princes and dukes were schooled in theology, history and philosophy, but orally. If they needed to write something, they dictated to a scribe.
More than 1,000 years ago, free schools were set up in the Islamic world, India, China and other countries. By the 16th century, European schools began offering free education. Unfortunately, few poor children attended – their labour was needed by their families.
An important development were the Carnegie libraries established by Andrew Carnegie, a self-made multi-millionaire born in Scotland. Carnegie wanted to give youth the same opportunity to succeed he had after he acquired access to a library. From 1883 until his death in 1919, Carnegie endowed more than 2,500 such libraries, mostly in the United States and Great Britain.
Gradually, European and North American governments realized that educating “everyone” would benefit their countries. Public schools were built and, eventually, education became compulsory. Early schools concentrated on “the three R's” — readin’, ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic. As a result, by the mid 20th century, almost everyone in North America and western Europe had mastered basic arithmetic, plus reading and writing.
In time, this basic curriculum expanded to include history, geography, chemistry, physics, Latin, literature, woodworking, welding, physical education, and advanced mathematics. Schools now aimed to produce well-rounded graduates capable of finding their place in an increasingly sophisticated world.
Recently, Ontario’s minister of education talked about “going back to basics.” One wonders what that might mean. Which subjects would have more time allocated, and which would be cut down?
But, do we actually need “the three Rs”? How many people do basic arithmetic with a sharp pencil?
Although I would personally regret this, one could argue that operations such as long division or subtraction have been made obsolete by the pocket calculator – whether an actual device or a cellphone app. “Writing” with a pen or pencil is almost obsolete with personal computers now correcting spelling and grammar. Many youth, although capable of reading print, were never exposed to cursive script and cannot make sense of it. Besides, computers can now read to you.
In view of this, the meaning of “back to basics” needs clarification. Emphasizing “the three R's” calls for a rethink. In the 21st century, a science grounding must become “basic.” High schools need not graduate chemists, physicists or biologists, but graduates should understand the technology underpinning our modern lives.
Some 150 years ago, human lifespans averaged 30 years. By the early 20th century, this became 45 years, largely due to sewage systems and clean municipal water, which greatly reduced water-borne disease.
However, people in the developed world now live past 70. Widespread vaccination is responsible. Vaccines eradicated smallpox, and nearly did so for polio. Many other diseases (measles, variola, mumps, yellow fever, influenza, tetanus, etc.) no longer kill people in our part of the world.
Vaccination also protects people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. An epidemic cannot race through an immune population. A recent article in The Economist reports that the World Health Organisation (WHO) reckons vaccination saved more lives than any other medical invention.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for inventing the most widely used COVID-19 vaccine.
Against this background, it's astonishing how many demonstrated against mandatory vaccination.
Clearly, they never attended school with a student unable to play sports due to the crippling effects of polio. I saw a child watch team sports – longingly – from the sidelines.
We now understand that COVID causes long-lasting damage to previously healthy people. Why would people not wish to avoid that fate for themselves? The suggestion that vaccination secretly injects spy devices into your body is so ridiculous I cannot wrap my mind around it. This is one example of misinformation offered up by social media.
Denial of climate change and a (Chinese) “theory” that COVID started with a shipment of Maine lobsters to Wuhan. Our politicians add to the confusion by claiming Canada’s government is, somehow, responsible for the cost of gasoline and wheat price spike, neglecting a more obvious cause — Putin’s war on Ukraine.
Another is the implausible idea that building luxury homes on the Greenbelt might ease Ontario’s shortage of affordable housing ... the most recent piece of disinformation is the suggestion that Bitcoin “leaked” from a U.S. spy organization.
That’s why we need a fourth “R” in our basic education curriculum — reasoning, the ability to analyze information. High school graduates must able to recognize and reject “conspiracy theories.” They must be able to decide which information gleaned from the internet might be true and which should be rejected.
If we achieved that, peddlers of disinformation would find it tough to mislead voters by trumpeting nonsense.
Of all serious threats to our society, disinformation stands head and shoulders above the others. Our system of education must give our citizens the ability to protect themselves – the ability to recognize when they are asked to believe the impossible.
Reasoning is the additional tool our children need.
