1 Chronicles 25:8 - "And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike."

Romans 2:20 - "a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law of the embodiment of knowledge and truth"

The profession of teaching dates back to the third millenium B.C., and school texts dating from 2500 B.C. have been unearthed in the Euphrates River area. These texts included such topics as botany, geology, and mathematics. Classes were held from sunrise to sunset, and the discipline in these schools was extremely strict. For example, in one long lament of his school day tribulations, one student wrote, in part:

"The fellow in charge of Sumerian said:

‘Why didn’t you speak Sumerian?’ He caned me.

My teacher said:

‘Your handwriting is unsatisfactory!’ He caned …