Jessica Brown

Professor Kimberly Lark

History 134
04/22/2018

Education in History

As an historian of the ancient world, I have learned a great deal from the history of my

ancient ancestors. I am now able to take what I have learned from the history of my ancient

ancestors and apply my knowledge to my own role in contributing to and acting responsibly for

the betterment of society. We spoke and learned about many individuals during this course and I

feel that many of these people were influenced by education. Alexander the great, Siddhartha

Gautama, and Muhammad all stood out to me being as being impacted by education.

Alexander the great was greatly influenced by his education. When learning about the

Hellenistic world in this class I learned that Alexander’s father Philip chose Aristotle as a tutor

for Alexander. Philip provided the Temple of the Nymphs at Mieza as a classroom for Alexander

and Aristotle. Wikipedia mentioned that Alexander the great attended school with children of

Macedonian nobles like Ptolemy, Hephaistion, and Cassander (Wikipedia, "Alexander the

great"). They eventually became good friends of Alexander and are referred to as his

companions. Aristotle taught Alexander and his companions about medicine, philosophy, morals,

religion, logic, and art. I find it interesting that Alexander and the children of other nobles were

provided the best education offered at that time. According to Ryan Master's discussion post "If

another ice age were to occur, the education that we currently receive would not help us survive

at all." I felt this was relevant to Alexander the great because he was only taught what would be

useful to him at his time. He was taught how to be a leader and he became one.
 Education played a big role in Siddhartha Gautama's life as he spread the teachings of

Buddhism and became the Buddha. "Beginnings" on patheos.com mentions that Siddhartha

Gautama became enlightened and has a realization about his own true nature (Patheos,

"Beginnings"). He became the awakened one and began getting past desire and suffering. He was

able to find peace. The Buddha's first sermon is where he preached the four noble truths. These

were: 1) that suffering is characteristic of human existence; 2) that suffering is caused by longing

for pleasure and avoidance of pain; 3) that it is not necessary to suffer; and 4) that there is a path

to end suffering. Buddhism had five precepts: not to take human life, not to lie, not to steal, not

to take intoxicants, and not to participate in illicit sexual activity (Patheos,“Beginnings”).

According to Michael Postma, history gives us meaning. It allows us to think critically about

narratives that have developed over time and, in doing so, provides us with a format to develop

the meaningful interpretations necessary to examine the events that shape modern society

(Postma, “What Can History Teach Us Today?”). So many people practice Buddhism today and

this helps give meaning to their lives.

Muhammad's life was affected by education because he educated people and spread the

word of Islam. Muhammad is the profit of Islam. Muhammad would communicate with heaven

and created the Koran. "Why study history?" (1985) mentions that "history, our collective

memory, carefully codified and critically revised, makes us social, sharing ideas and ideals with

others so as to form all sorts of different human groups"(McNeill). Many people practice Islam

and belong to this group because of history.

Learning about Alexander the great, Siddhartha Gautama, and Muhammad taught me a

lot about history. They were all very influenced by education. Alexander the great had an

outstanding education provided by his father, and Siddhartha Gautama spread the teaching of
Buddhism. I am now able to take what I have learned from the history of my ancient ancestors

and apply my knowledge to my own role in contributing to and acting responsibly for the

betterment of society.

Works Cited

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great#Adolescence_and_education.
“Beginnings.” Patheos, Patheos, www.patheos.com/library/buddhism/origins/beginnings.

Masters, Ryan. “Ocelot Scholars.” Ice Age Education Discussion, Ocelot Scholars,

ocelotscholars.org/discussions/ice-age.html.

McNeill, William. “‘Why Study History?" (1985).” Why Study History? (1985) | AHA, American

Historical Association, 2017, www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-

archives/historical-archives/why-study-history-(1985).

Postma, Michael. “What Can History Teach Us Today?” ASCD Express 6.22 - What Can History

Teach Us Today?, ASCD, 2018, www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/622-postma.aspx