Ancient school education has the characteristics of this period: 1. It has a distinct class nature, and the ruling class monopolizes education. School education in ancient China was mostly in slave society and feudal society. In these two social forms, the position of the ruled class is humble. It is the object of exploitation and oppression by the ruling class, which dominates the life of the country, slaves (farmers) and manipulates the operation of various institutions, making the class nature of education at this stage extremely serious. This is mainly manifested in the following three aspects: first, in the educational authority and object. The educators in ancient schools were mostly intellectuals of the exploiting classes, while the educated were mostly descendants of the exploiting classes of princes and nobles, enjoying special educational rights, while the children of working people were restricted by various conditions and lost many opportunities and rights to receive education. Second, for educational purposes. The purpose of education is to maintain and consolidate the position of the ruling class and its descendants, and to make the descendants who exploit the ruling class become new rulers. It is the so-called "learning to be excellent is to be an official". On the other hand, let the children of workers become a new generation of manual workers and continue to be exploited and oppressed. Third, in terms of educational content. The central content of ancient school education is the social and historical knowledge related to the ideology of the exploiting class, the words of sages and the teachings of ancestors, such as China's Four Books and Five Classics, and the "Three Cardinals" and "Five Permits" advocated by Confucianism. This series of educational contents has become a spiritual tool for the ruling class to control workers and the bottom people.

Because the social and historical background of ancient school education is mostly in slave society and feudal society, education mainly serves the ruling (exploiting) class and superstructure, which makes the scope of education narrow, the content of education limited and the educational methods dull. Therefore, the independence of education is not complete, and education is under the strict control of the ruling class, which makes the function of education not fully exerted, and sometimes even violates the essence of education. The prosperity and glory of ancient school education is short-lived, and its limitations, imperfections and unsystematic determine that it will be replaced by new educational forms and contents.