Education of Boys (3) - Traditional Societies

In traditional societies, boys began working as soon as they developed adult strength. At the age of twelve or thirteen they were expected to begin contributing to the income of their family. This had several benefits.

1. If they did not work hard, their entire family suffered, so they developed good work habits at a young age.
2. Young men usually worked alongside other adult men who were a strong influence on their lives.
3. They learnt to cooperate with a team to get a difficult task done. They see the benefit of submitting to those with wisdom and skills.
4. Their education was part-time and related to the work they were doing, often in the form of apprenticeship training. Their learning was relevant to their doing, so they did not get bored.
   Hard physical work harnessed their enormous energy to productive purposes. When they finished work, they were usually too tired to get into mischief.
5. A young man would usually begin working on the drudge jobs that no one else wants to do. He quickly realises that if he does want to be stuck on drudge forever, he had better gets some skills that make himself more useful to his community. Education was the key to escaping from drudgery, not a time of drudgery as it is now.

By the time he is twenty, a young man would have developed good work habits, established some good skills, learned to take responsibility for himself and others. He may have developed some leadership skills and may have built up some savings toward a home or a business.