Writing and School: Inseparable Entities
The two cannot be separated. The great expert on Mesopotamian texts, S.N. Kramer, emphasized this point in his book "History Begins at Sumer," where he stated, "the school came directly from writing." The oldest traces of writing come from the city of Uruk in southern Iraq, which was once Sumer, dating back to around 3200 BCE. Sumerian scribes wrote on clay tablets using pictograms or ideograms, a simple form of writing based on distinct signs representing specific objects or products.
Writing was supported by clay tablets. Although humble at its inception, writing evolved over the centuries, as did the educational system. Among the oldest human tablets we've discovered, some contain lists of pictographic words to be memorized. These lists reveal that the scribes who developed writing simultaneously created a method to transmit their knowledge through training and exercises; in other words, the school, an institution dedicated to teaching writing, was born.
The Organization of the School
- The Institution
The school was called "the house of tablets," and it wasn't until the second half of the 3rd millennium BCE, when Mesopotamian writing was being modernized (shifting from pictograms to cuneiform), that we can clearly identify buildings dedicated to education in most Sumerian cities. In Nippur, a religious capital, an entire neighborhood where scribes and students lived and worked was unearthed. Classrooms consisted of several rows of brick benches where one to four students could sit. The absence of tables is explained by the fact that students worked on their laps. Inside these rooms, there were likely shelves holding blank clay tablets ready for use, as well as texts to study.
- The Teaching Staff
The teachers of that time were not to be envied by our university professors. Many lived off their teaching salaries and dedicated their entire lives to passing on their knowledge and studying in their free time. The head of the institution was the "ummia" – "the father of the school" – who was also a teacher. He was assisted by an assistant teacher – "the big brother" – likely a former student of the school, whose role was to check the calligraphy of the signs and make students recite them. Among the teachers, there were also specialists like "the drawing instructor" (calligraphy, plastic arts?) and "the Sumerian instructor" (grammar, conjugation?). Supervisors and a very stern "whip master" oversaw student behavior and maintained school discipline.
- The Students
Students appeared to come exclusively from the highest social ranks. They were the sons of governors, diplomats, stewards, or wealthy merchants. Lists of student names found make no mention of women, neither among the students nor the teachers, indicating that women likely did not have access to education. The students' lives during their training were rather harsh and demanding. From dawn till dusk, they attended classes all day.
Educational Pedagogy
We know too little to clearly understand the full extent of the curriculum in Sumerian schools, except that teachers likely accompanied their exercises with oral comments and explanations. Archaeologists have unearthed thousands of "school" tablets, indicating that learning was conducted through daily practice of copying signs on tablets. After a few lessons where they learned the grammatical structure of sentences, students copied tablets with endless administrative lists, which helped them memorize the signs. This practice shows the ideological foundation of writing. Before producing magnificent poetic and literary works like the Epic of Gilgamesh, writing was a practical tool for compiling and preserving administrative and economic data.
A typical school day might go as follows: In the morning, the student studied the tablet prepared the night before until the "big brother" might have them recite it. Once finished, the student prepared a new tablet to copy and study immediately, continuing this process daily, with the tablets containing more signs and increasing in difficulty. Training took several years, but once "graduated," the new scribes served institutions or became teachers themselves.
The Curriculum and Subjects Taught
More intriguing than these thousands of copying "notebooks," we also have references and mentions of scribes/teachers in the content of several tablets, informing us about the oldest school curriculums and their goals. Initially, the Sumerian school aimed to train a professional elite of scribes to work in business offices, management, and administration of temples and palaces.
Around the mid-3rd millennium BCE, the Sumerian language was perfected, and the Akkadian language, influenced by it, emerged with the great empire of Sargon of Akkad. Later, at the end of the 3rd millennium BCE, coinciding with the end of Sumerian history, the Akkadian language split into two dialects: Babylonian in the south and Assyrian in the north. These changes were accompanied by an overhaul of the educational system. Gradually, writing became a formidable cultural tool. Indeed, ancient myths and stories of the peoples, which had been transmitted orally, were written down. The school then became an institution where great works were first written on tablets, then copied to be distributed and studied, to our delight, allowing us to read them today. The Sumerians were also great scientists who studied the stars, the earth, mathematics, and geometry. Writing enabled the treatment of theories and the creation of architectural plans for grand constructions.
The scribe profession was transformed. No longer just accountants or, at best, diplomats or palace secretaries, scribes could now be literary or scientific specialists in a particular field. Thus, the school broadened its range of subjects to teach, contributing to Sumer's intellectual and scientific prominence during the 3rd millennium BCE.
The Sumerian school seems surprisingly modern with its organization and staff. What differs from today's schools is the teaching method and the goals of the education students received. Indeed, although the lessons were difficult and the discipline extremely harsh, students graduated with training that allowed them to aspire to the highest positions. Finally, the Sumerian school underwent profound ideological and pedagogical changes. From a simple school training bureaucrats for the major economic centers of the cities, it evolved into an institution dedicated to the study of sciences and literature over time.
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