What the early schools were like can be seen only in outline from scattered records. The late Shang oracle-bone inscriptions already contain the character for learning, and dedicated places where noble youths practised archery and studied ritual appear at this time.
Later ages called such places xu; that is, the name xu was given to them afterwards.
The Western Zhou followed the principle that learning resided in government offices: knowledge was held by the government and schools were run by it. State schools stood in the capital and local schools in the districts, forming the system of xiang and xu schools, and education was reserved for the nobility.
The names xu and xiang refer to the early schools; this class is about how the school grew from a place into a system of state schools and local schools standing side by side.
Schooling Roots is the class in the chapter on Education on the origins of schools. It covers the late Shang oracle-bone inscriptions that already contain the character for learning, with dedicated places where noble youths practised archery and ritual appearing and later called xu; and the Western Zhou principle that learning resided in government offices, when a system of state and local schools took shape and education was reserved for the nobility.
