The most important point is that education originated from children's unconscious imitation of adults in their daily lives.

This view is different from the theory of biological origin, but it is not far away from the theory of biological origin after careful consideration.

Because if education originated from the "unconscious imitation" of adult behavior by children in primitive society, then this "unconscious imitation" is definitely not acquired, but inherited, innate rather than acquired, that is, instinctive rather than cultural and social. However, this instinct is a human instinct, not an animal instinct.

The above three theories of the origin of education roughly reflect the historical process of people's understanding of the origin of education: from the origin of myth to the origin of biology to the origin of psychology, which has certain historical progress. However, these three theories are not based on scientific methodology and do not reveal the internal motivation and social reasons of the origin of education.

The labor origin theory of education, also known as the social origin theory of education, was formed under the guidance of Marxist historical materialism and on the basis of directly criticizing the biological origin theory and the psychological origin theory. Most educational historians and educators in the former Soviet Union and China agree with this view.

The direct theoretical and methodological basis of labor origin theory is Engels' book The Role of Labor in the Transformation from Ape to Man.

The main viewpoints can be summarized as follows: first, human education originated from the needs of labor or labor process; Second, education is a unique social activity of human beings; Thirdly, education comes from labor under the development of human language and consciousness;

Fourth, the function of education from the day it came into being is to transmit the social production and life experience formed and accumulated in the process of labor; Fifth, the category of education is the unity of historicity and class nature.