So I find a lot of a civilizations had a form of public education but it was mostly reserved for the rich and privileged. So when was public education first popularized? I guess very tribal civilizations taught more of their youth, but what about math literature science and history specifically. When were those kind of things first being taught on a large scale so that even poor people and peasants would receive an education.
To kick off the discussion and provide a first benchmark to be topped by other posters’ entries, I’m throwing in 7th century BC Sparta.
Only if you weren’t a Helot (or female), I don’t think that qualifies as including “poor people and peasants”.
The Vedic-era gurukula systems were open to everyone regardless of caste, and supported by donations, but I’m not sure they qualify as public education (which to me would imply state-funded).
That Spartan education was limited to males. Not sure if that’s what the OP had in mind. If truly universal education is desired, the Aztecs are the answer:
That sets a 1420s bar. Although the bulk of the Aztec curriculum was much more"trade school", not “elementary school”. I don’t know how much e.g. literacy formed a part of the general Aztec curriculum, but what I’ve read seems to indicate it wouldn’t have been, and their proto-writing was a scribal activity only (compare, say, the ubiquity of Roman graffiti across classes - I know of no Aztec equivalent, although Mayan graffiti is common.)
I’d say the medieval Islamic maktab system would have an earlier look-in, in any case.
The Talmud credits Joshua ben Gamla with organizing a public education system for Jewish children in 1st-century Israel.
The earliest known civilization, the ancient Sumerians, had schools and a structured curriculum including literature, math and science. This existed about 2500 BC. Archeologists have uncovered many authentic school tablets from that era and diary-type accounts of student and teacher activities.
These ancient school tablets indicate student exercises involving literature, grammar, botany, geography, and mathematics.
Relatively little is known about how these schools were funded or the the actual teaching methods. There was a teaching staff, not a single itinerant teacher like in the US 1800s. There are references to the parents donating money to the teachers, and statements the teachers were underpaid. Other references indicate tuition was required, likely expensive.
While education in Sumeria was advanced, it was not compulsory or universal. It appears anyone could attend regardless of social class – if they could afford it. Thus the greater part of students came from more wealthy families. The curriculum was evidently secular in nature, not religious. These items are discussed in “The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character” by Samuel Kramer.
So while available to the “public”, it was not public education as commonly described today. I think the same was true in ancient Rome and before than in ancient Greece; it was also tuition-based.
However it appears the ancient Greek city-state Sparta had true public education, although this was military-oriented. Unlike other ancient schools, Sparta also educated girls. This was probably around about 500 or 400 BC. If this is correct then maybe Sparta would be the first true public educational system.
Guru-dakshina (tuition contributions) were seen as a civic duty in the Vedic era, and that applied to kings and princes as much as anyone else; I suspect the “public donations” that supported the gurukala were mostly ultimately from the state.