This research is summarized in Waetzoldt and Cavigneaux 2009. Much research has been undertaken on the Mesopotamian school since the 1990s. These studies focus not on the scholarly aspects of literacy, but rather on functional issues, such as the minimal number of signs that one needs to know (actively and passively) to be an effective scribe. On the other hand, students of cuneiform literacy have emphasized that the ability to write was wide spread, in particular in the Old Babylonian period. These scribal programs tended to be extensive and learned, focusing on the construction of an imagined past and on the complexities of cuneiform, imparting a learned elite identity to its graduates who acquired a set of skills that was very rare. Much work has been done since the 1990s on the reconstruction of the teaching materials and curricula of formal schools of different periods. Recent research on Mesopotamian literacy and scribal teaching has developed in two different directions. One may assume, therefore, that the great majority of scribes throughout Mesopotamian history were educated through apprenticeships, but the actual evidence we have in the form of exercises and school texts derives from formal education. By design, however, an apprentice practiced by helping his master to write real-life documents, so that “exercises” are much more difficult, if not impossible, to identify. In an apprenticeship, literacy was acquired in the same way as one would learn to be a potter or a farmer. Apprentices, on the other hand, almost immediately started to write documents, following the example of the master. Formal schooling followed a more or less set curriculum that consisted of copying traditional textbooks. For a proper evaluation of the evidence it is important to distinguish between two types of teaching: formal schooling, which was probably first introduced in the early second millennium (Old Babylonian period), and apprenticeship, which may have been the most common road to literacy throughout Mesopotamian history. This evidence consists of exercises of various kinds as well as archaeological remains that indicate the use of a particular house or room as a locus for teaching. Some houses, where particularly large numbers of school tablets were unearthed, have been interpreted by archaeologists as "school houses" or homes in which scribal education almost certainly took place.Throughout the history of cuneiform ( c. 3200 BCE–100 CE) evidence exists for scribal training, the teaching of scribal skills, and the transmission of values, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for being a proper scribe. ![]() ![]() ![]() School tablets have been found in private residences in many sites across Mesopotamia. If he happens to misbehave during classes, he's caned by his teacher. Not unlike students these days, a pupil of ancient Sumer was also afraid to be late for school and feared the punishment. There are some striking similarities between the students of the ancient period and those of modern times. There is evidence of young girls being educated as scribes, but the majority of students were young boys. ![]() Unfortunately, only wealthy or elite families had the means to send their children to school. Eduba which translates as "tablet house" were scribal schools that played an important role in the education of children as well as adults during the late third or early second millennium B.C. Learning how to write and read was an important process in ancient Mesopotamia.
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