The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the ChildChrisman, Oscar
History
The Historical Child: Paidology; The Science of the Child
Chrisman, Oscar
Children; Manners and customs
openings not only won the game for his side, but was entitled to the
cloaks of all present, and the haste with which the spectators scrambled
off in order to save their garments is said to have been the most
amusing part of the entertainment. A feat so difficult was, of course,
rarely accomplished, save by chance, and the successful player was made
as much of as a prize-winner at the Olympic games, nor did he omit to
present thank-offerings to the god of the game for the good fortune
vouchsafed him."[16]
=Education.= Annexed to the temples were buildings devoted to the
purpose of education for boys, youths, and young women. The education of
the males was in the hands of the priests and of the females in the care
of the priestesses. Thus the priesthood were enabled to mould the young
in their own way. They brought the young so well under their sway that
they were never able in after life to free themselves from such nor did
they seem so to desire to do.
The sexes were not educated together nor was any intercourse allowed
between them, and if such occurred the transgression was severely
punished. The morals of both sexes were very closely looked after.
Offenses were severely punished, sometimes by death. Love did not lead
the Aztec youth in education, but terror.
The children of the common people and those of the higher classes did
not attend in the same buildings. Both classes were taught such things
in religion, music, painting, and the like, as belonged to their
stations in life. The boys of the common people did the heavier and more
menial work about the temples, such as the attending to the getting of
fuel for the sacred fires and preparing the material for the repair of
the sacred edifices. The young nobles attended to the higher duties,
such as caring for the fires of the sanctuaries, keeping the upper parts
of the temples clean, and decorating the shrines of the gods with
flowers. The children of the common classes were obliged to sleep in the
school buildings but they took their meals at home while the young
nobility remained in the buildings for meals as well as for sleeping.
For the most part the girls who attended the schools belonged to the
nobility. They attended to the lower part of the temples, prepared the
offerings of meats to the idols, and wove and embroidered the fine
cloths for the altars. They were strictly guarded so that no intercourse
could take place between them and the youths. When they went out they
were accompanied by their teachers and they were not permitted to pay
any attention to any one, and if they did so they were severely
punished. They were instructed in religion, household arts, spinning,
the weaving of mantles, the making of feather-work, and the like.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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