Why Study Ancient Civilizations?
The study of ancient civilizations may seem far removed from the life of a sixth grader. However, I believe that learning about ancient civilizations can provide students with a foundation of knowledge in which to build future knowledge upon. The roots of civilizations and the fundamental elements that make up civilizations are important and will be revisited in future humanities and social science classes. These elements include economic surpluses, specialization, class divisions, government, geography and religion.
More specifically, the ideas of a surplus product and job specialization are essential to the understanding of modern economic theory, particularly the theory of markets and the profit motive. The idea of distinct social classes and there rise from the pressures for job specialization is elemental in sociology and political economy. Anthropologists often study, so called hunter/gatherer societies that lived in a “pre-civilization” period, some ten thousand years ago (only a few still around today). Philosophy discusses ethical systems that developed from early religions like Judaism, Christianity, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Ancient civilizations also lend insight to how and why history has unfolded like it has. Without the musing of the early Greeks and Romans, there would not have been a Renaissance and Enlightenment. Without Hammurabi’s Code, legal and ethical restrictions may have taken longer to develop. Without the development of the Agricultural Revolution, well, we wouldn’t be here today.
All of these disciplines help students understand the world in which they live in better. To defend the utility of a course in ancient history is to defend the teaching of the humanities and social sciences in general. These disciplines help us understand people, cultures, the environment and the value of institutions in both economic and political spheres. By improving our understanding of the world and the people who live in it, we can, as philosopher Peter Singer would say, expand our circle of empathy. Only through education and understanding can we view others, who look and behave differently, as important moral beings worthy of life, liberty and happiness. From this idea, we can extrapolate that education in the humanities and social sciences could improve societies throughout the world. This may sound a bit optimistic and pompous; coming from a future social studies teacher, but this was the original ideal of the European Enlightenment, the idea to improve society through the expansion of education and understanding. Although many events have occurred since the Enlightenment that have caused people to give up on this project (two world wars, the Holocaust), I think it is an ideal that we should preserve and aspire to, for ourselves and the future inhabitants of this earth.
More specifically, the ideas of a surplus product and job specialization are essential to the understanding of modern economic theory, particularly the theory of markets and the profit motive. The idea of distinct social classes and there rise from the pressures for job specialization is elemental in sociology and political economy. Anthropologists often study, so called hunter/gatherer societies that lived in a “pre-civilization” period, some ten thousand years ago (only a few still around today). Philosophy discusses ethical systems that developed from early religions like Judaism, Christianity, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Ancient civilizations also lend insight to how and why history has unfolded like it has. Without the musing of the early Greeks and Romans, there would not have been a Renaissance and Enlightenment. Without Hammurabi’s Code, legal and ethical restrictions may have taken longer to develop. Without the development of the Agricultural Revolution, well, we wouldn’t be here today.
All of these disciplines help students understand the world in which they live in better. To defend the utility of a course in ancient history is to defend the teaching of the humanities and social sciences in general. These disciplines help us understand people, cultures, the environment and the value of institutions in both economic and political spheres. By improving our understanding of the world and the people who live in it, we can, as philosopher Peter Singer would say, expand our circle of empathy. Only through education and understanding can we view others, who look and behave differently, as important moral beings worthy of life, liberty and happiness. From this idea, we can extrapolate that education in the humanities and social sciences could improve societies throughout the world. This may sound a bit optimistic and pompous; coming from a future social studies teacher, but this was the original ideal of the European Enlightenment, the idea to improve society through the expansion of education and understanding. Although many events have occurred since the Enlightenment that have caused people to give up on this project (two world wars, the Holocaust), I think it is an ideal that we should preserve and aspire to, for ourselves and the future inhabitants of this earth.