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... for the religious ceremonies. Attendance at the cuicacalli was mandatory and absences were punishable by law. Boys not of noble background would then go on to attend the telpochcalli, house of youth where they would receive their military training. This was taken very seriously, as they would even engage in real battles. The boys were also taught such subjects as history and religion and were responsible for maintenance of the school.
They stayed at the school overnight and would return home in the morning in order to work with their fathers. The sons of noble men attended a different school called camera, which was headed and run by the religious authorities in the society. Just like the telpochcalli, boys would endure in military training but they were also taught subjects such as law, astrology, painting, and religion. This would prepare them for professions in more prestigious jobs in their society. The education in the Aztec society was for everyone. There were not many societies at that time that gave every child, rich or poor, the opportunity to attend school and learn.
This aspect of their schooling is very similar to mine. Everyone in my society has the chance to attend school regardless of your social status. The last cultural education we will compare to that of the western civilization is that of the Native Americans. Their education deals mainly with a Supreme Being and a persons mind, body, and spirit living in harmony. Education of Native American children is mainly through observation of the surrounding adults, especially their parents. Children play games that imitate their fathers, such as bow and arrows that will teach them different needed skills such as hunting.
All aspects of their society such as religion, hunting, behavior, and survival are all taught with the emphasis on harmony. When the body, mind, and spirit are in harmony, a person is experiencing total wellness, whereas illness brings disharmony to the person. Children basically learn how to live life and how to be a human being. (Regan, 89) Elders play an important role in the teachings of rituals and ceremonies. The Native Americans form of education was much like the Africans, with a large portion of the teachings done orally. Just as the Africans, Native Americans hold initiations to bring the child into adulthood. When thinking back to my educational experience, I have come to see how differently I was schooled compared to these three societies.
In a traditional western education, children started school around the age of five with all the teachings done in a designated building. Subjects were taught throughout the day such as reading, math, history, and art. Class lengths were always divided equally and at the end of the day children would go home to their parents. In order to test ones knowledge, exams were given and after a half of year, report cards were issued. The report card would reflect ones hard work and performance in each subject. While not in school, most children are at home with their parents or out with their friends partaking in such activities as sports and drama.
My cultural background was not an important role in my education as it was to these other societies. I was not taught of my heritage and rituals that took place when my ancestors were alive. This was common in suburb America. Parents went to work during the day while kids were at school. At night, the family would eat together, watch television, and then retire to bed only to wake up to another day of school or work. As a person got older, he / she would move along in grade levels.
The levels began with kindergarten and continued all the way up to grade twelve. After completion of grade twelve, a person then had the choice of attending an institute of higher education known as college. This type of structured grade system was not found in these other three cultures, but in fact, the cultures were able to exist and survive on their different types of education. As a person made their way through the grade system, courses such as math and English would become more challenging in preparing one self for the real world that they would enter upon completion of school. As I aforementioned, exams were given and report cards handed out. If a person was to do an unsatisfactory on their report card they were unable to move on to the next grade.
However, our punishment for failure is quite different then those of the Aztecs, Africans, and Native Americans. Upon failure, a person was not be physically punished but forced to repeat the grade over until their grades were satisfactory. The classroom setting during my education has been very organized and planned out. Teachers teach the same subjects year after year and students are all brought through the system learning the same subjects. Besides learning history or math in school, I was also taught proper behavior. This proper behavior was not directly taught in class, as behavior was to be taught at home by a persons parents.
This proper behavior was to continue on in school and if a child was misbehaving, punishment within the confines of school was assessed, as well as, possible punishment at home. When school was finally out for the day, many students, including myself, made our way to our after school job. Sometimes this job would be a specific trade that would further assist a person in their preparation for the real world. The trade would be, in most cases picked by the student and not by his / her parents which is different from those of the other three cultures. Upon completion of grade twelve, a student should have the intelligence and skill to enter the work force and earn a living or the person can attend college. As we have seen throughout the paper, different cultures have different educational practices.
There are many distinctions between the three cultural's, which would explain why each has a different way of teaching the youths. My own educational experience was extremely structured and quite different from these other educational traditions. It was quite interesting to learn about these different cultures, their educational systems and how they came to be. Though education comes in many different forms around the world, it can not be distinguished which one works the best since cultural's use their own education to exist in their own cultural.
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Research essay sample on Educational History Of Non Western Cultures
