Education in the World of Avatar

In the World of Avatar, education is an important topic. In the Fire Nation, for example, education plays a significant role in the daily lives of children, especially those of the upper class and the Royal Family.

Air Nomads
Spiritual enlightenment was central to the Air Nomad culture, as all of its members regularly meditated, in addition to practicing airbending. Furthermore, they were taught to value all forms of life and considered it to be sacred, regardless of whether it was good or evil. For children, there existed the Air Scouts, an organization that taught young Air Nomads several useful skills, such as how to tie proper knots around the horns of a sky bison.

Water Tribes


Besides basic skills such as reading and writing, a warrior's battlefield skills are also highly valued, as the city maintains a fairly large army and armory. Waterbending is also regularly taught, with waterbenders like Master Pakku instructing and testing male waterbending students during regular dueling sessions, while female waterbenders frequently attend healing classes. Due to the North Pole's sexually segregated culture, female waterbenders are forbidden to learn any waterbending beyond healing.

Prior to its near-destruction at the hands of the Fire Nation, the Southern Water Tribe hosted regular classes for its students, as the tribe once consisted of several large villages. Unlike the North Pole, it also regularly taught waterbending to members of both sexes, and gender discrimination was not an issue for budding benders. Sadly, this art was virtually lost when the Fire Nation killed or captured the South Pole's entire waterbender population, except for Katara. Like the North, the South maintains a strong regard for its warrior culture. In spite of the South's dire state and its lack of contact with the outside world, the South's tribesmen are quite literate, as Sokka and Katara were capable of both reading and writing without any difficulty.

Earth Kingdom


The most notable and only known college located in the Earth Kingdom is Ba Sing Se University, where young scholars, seemingly young adults, attend a variety of typical college-level classes such as anthropology. However, during the Conspiracy of Ba Sing Se, teachings on the Hundred Year War were strictly forbidden in the university, as displayed by Joo Dee when she silenced a student who was asked about the conflict by Team Avatar. At the peak of the Dai Li's power, public knowledge of the War was forbidden in the city as a whole.

Fire Nation


In the Fire Nation, education was very strict during the Hundred Year War. There were no forms of movement or expression whatsoever, as such actions were considered a threat to the Fire Lord's unquestioned authority during the War. Many common arts such as dancing were thus banned from the school curriculum. There was also very strict censoring to make the students believe that the Fire Nation's war against the other nations was in fact a justified one, as Sozin's official reasoning for the Hundred Year War was to spread his nation's prosperity to others. At the beginning of every day, the students must stand up and pledge loyalty to the Fire Lord, and promise to serve him for as long as they live. The Fire Nation also altered events to make it seem as though they are fighting for the greater good. An example of this is when a Fire Nation textbook stated that the Air Nomads had a formal army system, when in actuality, they did not.

Education, especially military knowledge, is also valued much for the children of the Royal Family, as shown in Princess Azula and Prince Zuko's case.

Notable educators

 * Monk Gyatso
 * Master Pakku
 * Yugoda
 * Professor Zei
 * Master Yu
 * The Headmaster
 * Ms. Kwan
 * Fire Nation music teacher
 * Piandao
 * Katara
 * Toph Beifong
 * Iroh
 * Zuko
 * Kunyo

Notable educational institutions

 * Ba Sing Se University
 * Fire Nation school
 * Royal Fire Academy for Girls
 * Master Yu's Earthbending Academy
 * Beifong Metalbending Academy
 * Master Kunyo's Firebending Dojo
 * Republic City University