Every person who once had to get up early in the morning in the middle of a cold winter day and go to school, must have had two questions with no answers:
God, why me?
Who was that maniac that came up with the idea of schooling?
We all know how frustrating and boring some of the classes can be and children around the globe have to suffer through them because someone thought it was a good educational decision. Let us carry out a little investigation, so that we could find out who we are to blame for this horrific invention. As you will see, it is difficult to name a single person responsible for the crime of making millions of youngsters suffer from daily homework assignments and complicated tests.
Crime Scene #1: Greece
Now we are going to reveal the name of the first suspect in this case to you. He lived in the times of ancient Greece and help lectures for the students who gathered in the main learning area. It was Plato. This wonderful and well-known philosopher developed a school not far away from the area called Academia. This term was used for the educational areas back then and is still very popular among the scientific community of the modern era. The students discussed numerous philosophical questions about the sense of life and cryptic features of our perception of the reality.
Crime Scene #2: Byzantine Empire
This is the birthplace of the modern education system. But not everyone had to go to school back then. It was a strict requirement for military personnel. Unlike the guys from the Greek Academia who were concerned primarily with finding the purpose of our existence during constant debates, the Byzantines focused on specific disciplines like Math and History. We will never know how this system would have evolved due to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 A.D.
Crime Scene #3: United States
The first schools that emerged on our continent date back to the 17th century. The oldest existing one we know about is the Boston Latin School founded in 1635. It was the first case of a public school in the country. Soon enough, the Massachusetts Bay Colony turned a basic education into an obligatory thing. Again, those schools were made not for everybody. They were exclusively for boys and seeing a girl studying there was a great rarity.
The Main Suspects
Horace Mann is the one who invented school as we know it today. He was a college professor teaching Latin and Greek. His idea was to invent an education practice with professional instructors teaching children according to a specific schedule. Mann became the president of the college and his method of educating children spread out.
One more suspect is Harry P. School. In 1369, he came up with a brilliant idea of gathering the children who misbehaved under one roof and hiring adults to watch for them. We can’t state that those children learned a lot thanks to this invention, but Mr. School tried to give them a place to meet and get involved in some social activities under a supervision.
Now you know whom to blame. Sometimes going to school can be unbearable but there’s one thing we need to keep in mind. Passing the knowledge of the previous generations has always been a significant part of our existence. This is something that helped us develop into the modern society we now have. The modern schools might not be perfect but they should be a part of our lives.
If you also want to know the name of the person who made another great invention – homework, you might want to read our article on this topic.
