Teaching Ancient History

Why do we teach ancient history in 5th grade? Well, why do we teach anything in any grade? An answer I often hear in mainstream circles is, “Because the children need to know it.” Usually there is some agenda behind such phrases.What history we teach is one of the most hotly debated topics in modern society, and not without merit. We want to raise children who will steward a common future that works for everyone. However, is the, “Because the children need to know it,” answer the only guiding light? If not, what is a better one? Before we answer, let’s look at the topics we cover in fifth grade Ancient Civilizations.

Topics in Ancient History

The Enkindle Academy Ancient Civilizations blocks begin in Ancient India, land of magic and mystery. We hear stories like Shiva catching the River Ganges as it fell from heaven. We hear likewise of the the Indian trimurti of Brahma – Vishnu – Shiva which illustrates for us the threefold nature of reality. Then, we hear of the Pandavas, Lord Krishna, the Buddha, and other heroes who felt a deep longing to return to the heaven from whence they came.

Next, the curriculum travels westward to Ancient Persia. There, we learn about Zoroaster and the duality of good and evil. Taking an earthward turn, the Ancient Persian life and religion became about nurturing the land in contrast to the heaven-seeking of the Indians. The Agricultural Revolution occurred during this time period, which leads naturally to our next stop: the Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians. These cultures advanced this earthward motion through their mastery of architecture, calendars, clocks, math, writing, and agriculture (especially in deserts).

Finally, we end up in Ancient Greece whose inhabitants not only reckoned with earth life but much preferred it to the spiritual world. “Better a beggar on the earth than a king in the land of shades,” the dead Achilles soul tells Odysseus who journeys to the underworld. The Greeks made many contributions to world culture like advancing geometry into theoretical spheres. They advanced the practice of philosophy. Athenian trailblazers also experimented with democracy and gave birth to drama. Finally, the Greeks mastered sculpture and began the Olympic games as a testament to the gods’ most beautiful creation: the human body.

From Myth to Legend to History

The further back we travel, the more the stories are mythical. Myths are not meant to be literally-materialistically true but symbolically true, much like the Biblical story of creation. The stories of Zeus and Mt. Olympus are great examples. Each of our Ancient Civilizations blocks therefore begin in the mythical consciousness and then progress to the next stage: legend.

Legends are stories that could be true but aren’t necessarily. For example, the story of the Trojan War could very well have happened, although there is not definitive archaeological evidence of it. Like myths, legends retain symbolic significance while carrying the possibility of literally happening.

Finally, we come to recorded history which is just what it sounds like: somebody observing and recording the facts. (For the moment, we will leave aside the question of bias which is certainly a part of it but not relevant to our discussion here.) The point in traversing the arc from myth to legend to history is that we trace the journey from a purely symbolic to a literal consciousness. That is exactly what we need to understand to answer why we teach Ancient History in 5th grade.

Foundations of Modern Culture

Before we answer that question, however, let’s provide some, “Because the children need to know that,” reasons. Ancient India inaugurated some vital concepts for world culture like cause and effect (karma) and purpose (dharma). They also created the science of yoga which, to do this, is practiced in many places worldwide. The Ancient Persians domesticated a great many crops we still use today, like wheat, the garden rose, and a number of stone fruits. All this they did out of their devotion to the earth.

We can thank the Babylonians for our watches, calendars, and irrigation ditches. Meanwhile, the Egyptians initiated the use of right angles in architecture and land surveying. Both cultures also developed advanced writing and number systems.

When it comes to Greeks, the legacy is too voluminous to express in a few sentences. Where do we begin? Modern science? Democracy? Literature? Students understand the titanic contribution of the Greeks to world culture before we even get to it in the curriculum. Nearly all the students I’ve taught in my career are incredibly excited about studying Greece. I have often wondered at this.

Why do we Teach Ancient History in 5th Grade?

Beyond the fascinating reasons noted above, the deeper reason is because the myth – legend – history arc recapitulates the fifth grader’s transformation from the pure imagination of early childhood, through the inspiration of middle childhood, to the approaching threshold of intellectual puberty and beyond. The fifth grader stands at a threshold, a golden moment when they finally get a grip on childhood before the chaos of puberty hits. Through the Ancient Civilizations curriculum, they get to look back to their early days as an imaginative babe, then as an inspired child. Finally, they reach a golden moment in their development that is nowhere better expressed than in the Ancient Greek ideal of balance and harmony. That is an outer picture of what the fifth grader is experiencing inwardly. Perhaps that’s why they all clamor to study Greece in fifth grade.

Oddly enough, my personal experience has shown me that by sixth grade, they are OVER it. They have moved into a new consciousness – the narcissism of Rome. It just blows my mind how well this works. It’s a curriculum of consciousness clockwork!

But, is this curriculum diverse enough?

Nobody said we have to only teach about these cultures or that they are somehow superior to other cultures. One of my favorite things in the Greek block is draw connections to the Taoist tradition which also emphasizes the sacred balance of yin and yang. We can and should make many such cross-cultural connections. That builds inner flexibility in the students and raises them naturally to be syncretists and not prejudiced.

If teachers are concerned about touching on more cultures, for example from Africa or Southeast Asia, etc. there are numerous places in the 1-8 grade curriculum to do so. For example, we teach a number of lessons in 6th Grade Astronomy highlighting the extraordinary navigational abilities of Polynesian peoples. Likewise, in the 7th Grade Age of Explorations block we draw comparisons between the Babylonians and the Mesoamerican high cultures like the Inca, Aztec, and Maya.

So, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, here. We need developmental, not political, reasons to teach what we teach. There are countless opportunities in grades 1-8 to give students reasons to love all cultures, not just some. If we ourselves love world culture, our students will, too. I argue that if we bring a healing education – in other words, by teaching the right thing at the right time – as well as draw cross-cultural comparisons (even if our focus is on one or another culture at a particular time), our students will naturally become stewards of a bright, common future. In that endeavor, how and when we teach is just as important as what.

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