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Introduction This book analyzes education as practiced in countries throughout the world. It considers issues involving diversity, gender, literacy, religion, and several other issues that are addressed in different countries. Education can be defined as the process of providing or obtaining systematic, organized instruction that provides those receiving this instruction skills needed to participate meaningfully in society. Education takes place throughout the life cycle, beginning with infancy and continuing into adulthood. In this book, we focus on the education of children and teenagers. In the United States, the term “K-12 education” is used commonly to describe the process of teaching these young peo- ple. “K-12” refers to formal schooling beginning with kindergarten and continuing through the completion of 12 grades after kindergarten and culminating with the completion of high school. Although specifics vary, this structure is used in devel- oped countries and an increasing number of less developed countries worldwide. Ancient and Medieval Education The process of education dates back thousands of years. In all cultures, parents and other adults provided children skills needed to survive and succeed within these cultures as adults. This training predated the invention of writing, which is believed to have emerged in various civilizations more than 5000 years ago. The invention of writing likely coincided with the development of agriculture. In contrast to hunting and gathering, farming allowed people to settle in one place rather than being forced to move constantly from place to place in search of game or edible plants and other foodstuffs. As people settled in one place and grew crops in that place, populations increased rapidly. Towns and cities developed, and people had the opportunity to accumulate property because they were no longer forced to move all of their possessions as they had while hunting and gathering. However, people also needed a means by which property ownership, including land ownership and amounts of crops produced, could be known unambiguously. Some anthropologists believe, in fact, that writing was developed and used initially so that people could keep records of crop production and distribution. As it became necessary for people to keep records and to be able to understand these records, it became necessary for them to learn to read and write. However, in most societies in ancient times only a small minority of people were taught these skills. Recording the levels of production of crops and other goods and interpreting these records was important to government officials who used this information in