About the distinction ancient and medieval education

On the basis of documentary sources and specialized literature, a historical and comparative study of the transformation of education in the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages in Europe was carried out. The essential content of the term “education” is analyzed as a kind of “picture of the world” of a certain person with his own understanding and perception of the environment.

The political, ideological and cultural conditions that determined the specifics of the educational process, which influenced the nature of the education of the population, are traced. The destruction of the ancient Roman state and the achievement by Christianity of the status of the main religious ideology in Europe are named as the main (defining) prerequisites. It is shown that during the existence of the Roman Empire, an educated person was considered to have special knowledge, skills and abilities to replace (if necessary) one of the positions in the governing apparatus of the slave state. And in the education of a medieval person (especially at the initial stage), scientific and rational components were completely absent. Its level was directly connected with the religious and ideological worldview of the individual. The inviolability of faith in Christ (as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind) and knowledge of the essence of the most important Christian worldview values. As a result of the study, the author came to the conclusion that the most important indicators of influence that determined the specifics of a person’s education in the period of antiquity and the Middle Ages were the “content richness” of upbringing and education, the “form of organization” of the educational process, and, of course, the direction (“purpose”) social training of the younger generation during the transition to adulthood.

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