In middle school I learned that civilization began in Mesopotamia and Egypt around 3000 BC.

In high school I was told civilization was a problematic term, and that we should talk about urbanization, which was a slow process that took thousands of years, and there was nothing uniquely significant about 3000 BC other than the development of writing. And that it is the start of writing which privileges that date in our minds.

So is there any meaning to the naive statement that "civilization began around 3000 BC", or is that just something they used to tell kids?