Education

Education is the process of facilitating

learning

, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals,

belief

s,

habit

s, and personal development. Educational methods include

teaching

,

training

,

storytelling

,

discussion

and directed

research

. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators; however, learners can also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings, and any

experience

that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Formal education is commonly divided formally into stages such as preschool or

kindergarten

,

primary school

, secondary school and then

college

,

university

, or

apprenticeship

. In most regions, education is compulsory up to a certain age.

There are movements for education reforms, such as for improving quality and efficiency of education towards relevance in students' lives and efficient

problem solving

in modern or future society at large, or for evidence-based education methodologies. A

right to education

has been recognized by some governments and the

United Nations

. Global initiatives aim at achieving the

Sustainable Development Goal 4

, which promotes quality education for all.

Etymology

Etymologically, the word "education" is derived from the Latin word ''

ēducātiō

'' ("A breeding, a bringing up, a rearing") from ''

ēducō

'' ("I educate, I train") which is related to the homonym ''

ēdūcō

'' ("I lead forth, I take out; I raise up, I erect") from ''

ē-

'' ("from, out of") and ''

dūcō

'' ("I lead, I conduct").

History

Education began in prehistory, as adults trained the young in the knowledge and skills deemed necessary in their society. In pre-literate societies, this was achieved orally and through imitation. Story-telling passed knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to the next. As cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond skills that could be readily learned through imitation, formal education developed. Schools existed in Egypt at the time of the Middle Kingdom.

Plato

founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in

Europe

. The city of

Alexandria

in Egypt, established in 330 BCE, became the successor to Athens as the intellectual cradle of Ancient Greece. There, the great

Library of Alexandria

was built in the 3rd century BCE. European civilizations suffered a collapse of literacy and organization following the fall of Rome in CE 476.

In

China

,

Confucius

(551–479 BCE), of the

State of Lu

, was the country's most influential ancient philosopher, whose educational outlook continues to influence the societies of China and neighbours like Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Confucius gathered disciples and searched in vain for a ruler who would adopt his ideals for good governance, but his

Analects

were written down by followers and have continued to influence education in East Asia into the modern era.

The Aztecs had schools for the noble youths called Calmecac where they would receive rigorous religious and military training. The

Aztecs

also had a well-developed theory about education, which has an equivalent word in

Nahuatl

called ''tlacahuapahualiztli.'' It means "the art of raising or educating a person", or "the art of strengthening or bringing up men". This was a broad conceptualization of education, which prescribed that it begins at home, supported by formal schooling, and reinforced by community living. Historians cite that formal education was mandatory for everyone regardless of social class and gender. There was also the word ''neixtlamachiliztli'', which is "the act of giving wisdom to the face." These concepts underscore a complex set of educational practices, which was oriented towards communicating to the next generation the experience and intellectual heritage of the past for the purpose of individual development and his integration into the community.

After the Fall of Rome, the

Catholic Church

became the sole preserver of literate scholarship in Western Europe. The church established cathedral schools in the Early Middle Ages as centres of advanced education. Some of these establishments ultimately evolved into medieval universities and forebears of many of Europe's modern universities. During the High Middle Ages,

Chartres Cathedral

operated the famous and influential Chartres Cathedral School. The medieval universities of Western Christendom were well-integrated across all of Western Europe, encouraged freedom of inquiry, and produced a great variety of fine scholars and natural philosophers, including

Thomas Aquinas

of the University of Naples,

Robert Grosseteste

of the University of Oxford, an early expositor of a systematic method of scientific experimentation, and Saint

Albert the Great

, a pioneer of biological field research. Founded in 1088, the University of Bologne is considered the first, and the oldest continually operating university.

Elsewhere during the Middle Ages, Islamic science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic caliphate which was established across the Middle East, extending from the

Iberian Peninsula

in the west to the

Indus

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