Schools were founded in Europe in the 12th century. This is if we consider the school model we have today, with a teacher and children as students. In ancient Greece, children were educated, but informally, without division into grades or classrooms. Already in medieval Europe, knowledge was restricted to members of the Church and a few adult nobles.
The word “school” comes from the Greek school, which means, believe it or not, “place of leisure”. That’s because people went to school in their spare time, to reflect. Several teaching centers popped up in Greece, on the initiative of different philosophers. The schools were generally led by the philosopher-founder’s disciples and each one valued an area of knowledge. The school of Isocrates, an excellent orator, for example, was very strong in teaching eloquence, which is the art of expressing oneself well. But multi-thematic schools, which cover the basic subjects we have today, such as mathematics, science, history and geography, only emerged between the 19th and 20th centuries.
1-2-3 DO ABC
First forms of teaching appeared almost 2400 years ago
4000 BC
Around 4000 BC, the Sumerians developed cuneiform writing, considered one of the earliest forms of writing. Knowing how to write was taught at home, from father to son.
387 BC
The Greek philosopher Plato created a kind of school where disciplines such as philosophy and mathematics were studied through questioning. The prototype school was located in the gardens of Academos, in Athens – hence the term “academy”.
343 BC
In richer families, it was common to pay a preceptor, a teacher with more knowledge who would guide the children in their studies. In 343 BC Aristotle, for example, became tutor to Alexander the Great, king of Macedon.
4th century BC
The first “schools” appear. They were places where masters taught grammar, physical excellence, music, poetry, eloquence, but classrooms in the current sense did not exist. This model lasts for centuries, right up to modern schools.
859
The University of Karueein appears in Fez, Morocco, which still exists today. It is considered the first university in the world in the modern sense of the term – an institution divided into departments with knowledge from different areas.
12th century
The first schools along the lines of the current ones appear in Europe, with children at desks and teachers in classrooms. They were works by Catholic charities that taught reading, writing, counting and, together, transmitted the lessons of the catechism.
1158
The Holy Roman Emperor Frederico Barba Ruiva founds the University of Bologna, in Italy, the first in Europe. In most parts of the continent, knowledge was limited to the clergy – Bologna was an exception.
1549
The first school in Brazil is founded, in Salvador, by a group of Jesuits, who also found the second, in 1554, in São Paulo – the date also marks the foundation of the city. People were taught reading, writing, mathematics and Catholic doctrine.
1792
The Royal Academy of Artillery, Fortification and Design is created, which, over time, added other specialties and ended up becoming the Polytechnic School of UFRJ. It gains the name of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1920.
1808
Dom João VI founds the first college in Brazil, the Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia. Rita Lobato Velho Lopes graduated there, the first Brazilian doctor to graduate in the national territory. She threw her hat in the air in 1887.
1827
The first two law schools appear in Brazil. In a single stroke, Dom Pedro I founds the Faculty of Olinda and the Faculty of Largo São Francisco, in São Paulo. São Francisco trained Brazilian presidents, such as Washington Luís and Jânio Quadros.
1912
The Federal University of Paraná is founded, the first in Brazil to have this status.
CONSULTANCY: CARLOTA BOTO AND CECILIA CORTEZ, PROFESSORS AT THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AT USP