The education of the Mayans was characterized in foundations such as religion and daily activities related to agriculture, there being a great difference in the educational process for each social role of the people who made up this culture.
Mayan education emphasized their beliefs, customs and knowledge, punctually differentiating the role played by gender that strictly had to be fulfilled.
Daily life focused on three very relevant objectives for the Maya: service to their people, their religion and their family, always taking into account the sexual gender to which they belonged.
The most important characteristics for both men and women were love of work, righteousness, respect, and sexual restraint.
Places dedicated to education
In relation to the physical spaces available for Mayan education, Madrigal (2011) states that in the Classic and Postclassic period of the Maya, they maintained various sites, such as palaces, cornfields, temples, battlefields, pyramids and squares, among others that they were considered educational places.
Specifically in the palaces, they had specific sites where knowledge was imparted.
Gómez (1998) comments that in the post-classical period the Kambesaj Naj was established, “a house for teaching and learning. Elsewhere, the Popol Na, an authority, directed educational events.
Another relevant fact is that the Mayan language includes words and terminologies that deal with the educational process: Aj Ka'anbal (student), Aj Kambesaj (teacher), Ma'Ojelil (ignorance), Ts'iib (writing), K'aanbal (learn), E'saj (teach), Weet Ka'anbal (classmate)…
Women How were they educated?
They were shown what their occupation in life was going to be and they were instructed in such work. They combined children's games with the work the girls were to do later.
From the age of 9, they began to contribute to housework, mothers gradually transmitted knowledge about housework to them.
In turn, they were taught the moral norms that characterized the culture, especially in dealing with the opposite sex, respect and shyness continuously prevailed. Despite having fairly strict rules, this did not prevent them from being friendly and courteous.
The domestic tasks (weaving, cooking, grinding corn, cleaning the house and clothes, caring for children, and caring for domestic animals) of women were heavy and excessive, they had to be busy heavily throughout the day.
Drew (2002) points out that royal women were the object of a more thorough and careful education in which they were instructed in sacrificial and self-sacrificing ceremonies, also in rituals, diplomatic ceremonies, and in artistic areas.
Men How did they educate them?
The education of the children of the sovereigns was focused on the performance of relevant rituals such as birth or rituals related to death.
When they were 9 years old and up to 12, the children collaborated in planting, gathering, hunting, fishing, among other activities.
At the age of 12, they were baptized consecrating them for public life, meaning that from this age they left home to join educational sites that had a boarding school.
Such places were classified according to the origin of the children, that is, they did not mix.
The young Maya of the noble class were instructed in writing, calculus, liturgy, astrology, and genealogy.
Middle-class children were instructed in the military arts.
References
Madrigal Frías, Luis. (2011). Power Education. The Pre-Hispanic Mayans. XI National Congress of Educational Research / 12. Multiculturalism and Education / Presentation. Mexican Council for Educational Research, AC Mexico.
Gómez Navarrete, Javier (1998). "Construction of knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean." First International Symposium, University of Quintana Roo. Unpublished manuscript.
Drew, David (2002). The Lost Chronicles of the Mayan Kings. México: Siglo Veintiuno Editores.