Hispanic Jewish Curriculum - Essay Example

On one hand, the Hispano-Jewish curriculum of the 12th century is an innovatively liberal of education, which imparts upon a general body of knowledge useful in all aspects of their personal and professional lives. On the other hand, the curriculum fits within a tradition dating back to the 6th century A.D. in a system known as the “liberal arts”, which formed the basis of the Western medieval university. There were numerous much-defined subjects in the liberal arts education of the medieval period, and were broken up into seven subjects, all of which are replicated and represented in the Hispano-Jewish curriculum. Grouped according to their theoretical and practical importance, philosophers and other pedagogical theorists thought the necessary subjects of education were grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The experts believed that each of these subjects contributed and developed the university student’s intellectual and rational faculties. Moreover, all of these subjects can be seen in the Hispano-Jewish curriculum, with a few additions. However, these additions make it clear that the curriculum is not merely one that belongs in the 6th or 7th centuries. The incorporation of philosophical and metaphysical subject matters into the curriculum demonstrates some degree of innovation in the subject matters believed to contribute the most to a student’s intellectual development. However, it is best not to view the Hispano-Jewish curriculum outside of its proper context as the product of a pedagogical evolution through the medieval history of Europe The curriculum given makes it clear that many, more traditional subject matters are to be covered in the course of a student’s studies. Reading and writing of course form the base of any lettered person and any liberal education. Teachers are instructed to use the Assyrian script repeatedly so that the children know with certainty how to use language on the page. Another important aspect of the reading and writing curriculum is the calligraphy of the student: the quality (or legibility) of their written script. Mastery of reading and writing gives rise to more advanced subjects in the curriculum, particularly religious studies of religious texts and stories. Students’ grammar is perfected through the study of traditional Jewish texts, namely the Penteuch, Prophets, and Hagiographa. A key aspect of studying these texts is for not only the purposes of reading and writing, but also the correct pronunciation of many of the texts’ complex accents. Students, up until the age of 10, continue to learn the Mishnah until the teacher deems them ready to move on. Grammar rules follow these studies in order to prepare the students for more advance courses in written and spoken language arts. Fifteen years of age provides another convenient period in the child’s life to move on to a new, but still traditional, subject: the Talmud. Teachers are told to give them practice in reciting and reading the Talmud until the students are fluent in its language. Reading certain parts of the Talmud are said to encourage independence and understanding not only of its religious significance but also of linguistic investigation and grammar skills. This traditional emphasis on grammar moves to other traditional studies in rhetoric and logic as the child enters into an adult-level education. Rhetoric and logic are two sides of the same coin, and are encompassed by the “philosophic studies” and “logic” portions of the curriculum. Logic illuminates philosophy and contains the rules of correct reasoning and truth. Like logic, mathematics and arithmetic are also traditional subjects, along with geometry, optics, and astronomy, which flow together in terms of the progression of classes students are required to take. In each of these cases, the subject is divided between theoretical and practical aspects of the sciences, such as the applications of geometry, the applications of optics, and the applications of astronomy (in astrology). And clearly each of these subjects is substantively tied together, such as the necessity of mathematics in geometry and the necessity of optics in astronomy. Each of these subjects emerge out of the much older liberal arts tradition However, this is not to diminish some of the innovative inclusions made to the Hispano-Jewish curriculum. Most of the innovative aspects of the subject materials have to do with the combination of philosophy and religion. Part of the curriculum is devoted to “philosophic observations on religion”, which cements the students’ knowledge on their childhood studies. Unlike in the Christian medieval universities, where the religious foundation of the education was assumed and a perquisite for the rest of the student’s education, religion in the Hispano-Jewish curriculum formed a kind of core material in which the students expanded their knowledge of childhood topics like the Talmud and the Torah. Inherent in the explanation of this course of study is the Talmud’s inextricableness in the student’s life: “when the Talmud has become so much a part of them that there is hardly any chance of its being lost… then the teacher is to impart to them the third necessary subject”1. This thorough integration of religion into the university studies is unique in two respects: first, it is unique in the context of the traditional university liberal education that was perhaps more secular. The place of a philosophical study of religion in the university represents maybe the greater importance of the Jewish faith in the Hispano-Jewish community. Secondly, it gave students the opportunity to think critically about their religion, even if the subject of their critical, philosophical inquiry were the “errors” of various heretics2. What is also unique and innovative to the period was the presence of an Aristotelian study of metaphysics. Usually, when one deals with religion, the religion’s metaphysics make any additional inquiry redundant. However, the use of Aristotle in a separate look into metaphysical questions demonstrates a unique liberality in the Hispano-Jewish curriculum. Although Aristotle is known primarily for his contributions to logic and his teachings are no doubt used in the instruction of logic, his teachings in the metaphysics, as well as the natural sciences, are utilized as well. Students are encouraged to understand their world through metaphysical investigations and the art of science and medicine. Like in the other subject areas, the curriculum for the natural sciences is divided between the science and the practice. Thus, this curriculum appears to be innovative and unique with respect to its emphasis on not only theory and building the intellectual capacities of the learners, but also on the actual use of the knowledge is practice. This diverges away from the tradition of liberal education of which this curriculum seems a part. The document should suggest to the common reader and to the historian that 12th century Spain was a place that valued both intellectual development and religious faith, and probably saw no distinction between them: that although the content of the religious doctrine was behind all worldly phenomena, it was still useful to learn about and apply the principles learned by education to the real world. The document also shows the increasing role of Aristotle and similar thinkers in the 13th century curriculum, with the use of such subjects as logic, science, rhetoric, metaphysics, astronomy, and philosophy in general. Perhaps the most certain thing we may ascertain from the document is, however, the approach the pedagogical theorists took toward a religious education: teaching the children about religion, about grammar and language usage all in one: integrating the two such that language and grammar both have a kind of divine aspect to them both. Accordingly, using language and good grammar connects one to the religious texts he learned as a child reciting and reading the Torah, the Mishnah, and the Talmud. Nevertheless, the source limits the historian by not explaining how the principles of each subject were to be taught. Instead, the document goes through the what, in generality, but not about whether principles of teaching were set and strict. Read More