The separation of school education and productive labor began in slave society. Due to the low level of productive forces in primitive society, education has not yet differentiated from productive labor and social life and has become an independent form. School education in slave society is divorced from and opposed to productive labor.

The slave society in China has always been called school, order, school, school, school. In the later period, a system of traditional Chinese studies and rural studies was developed, which integrated politics and education. In the west, Sparta and Athens in ancient Greece produced grammar schools, string piano schools, gymnastics schools and youth military training regiments and other educational institutions. At the end of the ancient Egyptian kingdom, court schools appeared.

In slave society, with the improvement of productive forces and the emergence of surplus products, education through labor and production alone can no longer meet the needs of society. As a result, education began to differentiate from daily social life, and there appeared such specialized educational institutions as schools and staff specialized in education, and mental work and manual work began to separate.

At the same time, schools in slave society despised working people and did not teach production knowledge. The main content of school education is six arts, the purpose of which is to let the children of slave owners learn etiquette, art of war and other skills of governing the country. Therefore, the separation of school education and productive labor began in slave society.

Characteristics of school education in slave society;

School education has obvious class nature. During the Xia, Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties, "learning from officials" was limited to princes, princes, sons of princes and doctors of officials, and only sons of slave owners and nobles entered officials. Learn "Six Arts" and train national officials, large and small. Schools in ancient Greece, Sparta and Athens were designed for the aristocratic class.

Palace schools in ancient Egypt only recruited princes, grandchildren and aristocratic children. The children of working people can only receive education in a natural way through the words and deeds of their elders or teachers in production and life activities, and grow into a labor force suitable for the needs of slave society. The separation between education and productive labor, and the school's contempt for manual labor have contributed to the opposition of "those who work hard manage others, and those who work hard manage others".