In most of the modern world, education is a staple of life. It is considered a mark of civilization, as it is thought that a person needs to be educated to be successful. Education is how people learn the skills required to live a full, happy, and meaningful life. Today, those skills seem obvious; you learn math and science to understand the world around you and to deal with financial and business problems. English, language, and History are taught for communication and the lessons they provide. Music and arts are a way to have fun and express yourself while practicing creativity. In the ancient world, similar skills were taught, although the schools themselves were different. The first kinds of government organized educational systems …show more content…
The question is, how did the ancient methods develop into our modern day schools?
The very first government-enforced public education was created in Sparta. There is much debate over when this system began and who is credited with its creation, and the true answers remain unknown. It is generally agreed that the system first began around 750 B.C., and by 700 B.C. it had become the efficient system that helped Spartan society become the military powerhouse of Greek legend. The schools were mandatory and free for all citizens, although the requirements changed person to person. For its time, Sparta had progressive gender equality, as both male and female children were required to go to school, although the skills they learned were different. Boys were drafted at the age of seven, and were brought into their assigned barracks. This would be the center for their training, education, and life in general. They would live in the barracks, and the bonds with other members was stronger than family. They would learn all of the requirements of survival and combat, such as tactics, swordplay, and hunting. Their school
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Philosophy was the main pursuit of many scholars all across Greece, with the biggest congregation of philosophical minds in the heart of Athens, under the shade of the porches and near the center of the city. It was a way for the greatest minds of the civilized world to get together and discus the workings and meanings of the universe. Yet, philosophy is rarely taught in modern times and is considered a frivolous class. Although philosophy itself is no longer taught in most educational systems, the methods of teaching used in ancient philosophy classes inspired many of the modern day teaching methods in subjects from math to history to english. The most famous teachers and scholars of the time were philosophers, the most famous of whom are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Philosophy was not taught in schools; students had to seek out lessons from private universities or tutors. Socrates is known as the father of philosophy, and created a teaching style called the Socratic Seminar, which is used in many schools; including our own. Lessons rarely involved students memorizing given answers; lessons were taught with questions instead. They were presented with controversial opinions, debates, and moral dilemmas while Socrates guided the discussion towards the more productive points. Risks and mistakes were encouraged, as they often taught more than success. His
Spartan women were allowed to own and control land. “Yet it does seem to be the case that Spartan daughters received as dowries one-half the amount of their parents’ property that their brothers received as inheritance.” (Pomeroy, Sarah B., Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. "Becoming a Spartan Woman." Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. 143. Print) Whereas Athenian women only received one-sixth the amount that their brothers inherited. Spartan women inherited three times as more than their Athenian sisters. Spartan women were also allowed and even encouraged to be educated, whereas the education of Athenian girls was almost nonexistent. In Athens the majority of girls “… received merely a basic training in how to run the household, generally from their mothers. Girls may even have been discouraged from becoming literate in order to keep them “unspoiled.”( Garland, Robert. "The People." Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. 103. Print.) Whereas in Sparta the girls were educated at the state’s expense. “Specific lines of development were prescribed for Spartan girls as much as they were for boys. The educational system for girls was also organized according to age classes. (Pomeroy, Sarah B., Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. "Becoming a Spartan Woman." Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. 141. Print) Spartan women were also allowed more freedoms in the way that they dressed than their Athenian counterparts. “In earlier times Athenian women wore the peplos, a long heavy woolen garment which revealed little of the figure beneath. In the middle of the sixth century B.C., the peplos was replaced by a lighter and finer garment made of linen called
The weaknesses of education in Sparta outweigh the strengths because boys wore no shoes in public, they stole food, and schedules were harsh at 12 years old. Article 2 said,” Instead of softening the boys feet with sandals, [Lycurgus] required them to harden their feet by going without shoes” (Document b), If boys do not wear shoes, they could get some very severe disease that could kill them. Article 1 said,” Boys were encouraged to go out and steal food for the mess, but if caught stealing they were whipped” (Document A). People should not get whipped for stealing something important; they should get a harsh punishment because stealing is something terrible to do. Article 1
But Spartan society itself changed, evolving into a city-state. The state determined whether children, both male and female, were strong when they were born, leaving the weak in the hills to perish. At the age of seven, every male Spartan was sent to military and athletic school teaching discipline, endurance of pain, and survival skills. At twenty, the Spartan became a soldier spending his life with his fellow soldiers to live in barracks with his fellow soldiers. Only at the age of thirty, did the Spartan become an "equal," and was allowed to live in his own house with his own family, although he continued to serve in the military. Military service ended at the age of sixty.
Kennell, Nigel M. The Gymnasium of Virtue: Education & Culture in Ancient Sparta. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1995. Print.
Firstly Lycurgus 'toughened' them up by 'making them run and wrestle and throw the discuss and javelin'. It is later said that this is so that their children would develop better and so that their pregnancy would be 'successful' and 'relaxed'. The women were educated in some of the same ways as the men, which shows some sort of equality but for what purpose did they receive such training? According to Plutarch, it was in order to produce strong children; strong warriors to fight for Sparta. It is know that Spartan women received some sort of education, however it was for the greater good of Sparta, not specifically for the women, but for the production of strong, capable warriors. Despite this, women took pride in the education and training they received and preformed the tasks required to the best of their
English culture considered twelve-year-old boys old enough to swear allegiance to the king. Similarly, The Spartan Army trained boys at the age of seven. This training caused Sparta having the strongest army in Greece. Performing in the army gave young Spartan boys a heavy responsibility. These cultures robbed children of their childhood and pushed them right into the harshness of adulthood.
My claim is that the strengths did not exceed or outweigh the weaknesses. I will support my claim with evidence and references from the documents. I am going to explain that the Sparta education system was too harsh, and that is my main reason why the strengths didn’t outweigh the weaknesses. To begin with, I will first describe the strengths of the Sparta education system. One of the main strengths of the Sparta education system is toughness of the children.
One part of the education system in Sparta that separated it from other Greek city-states is it allowed their women to receive an education. Similar to how the boys would leave the house at age six or seven to attend the Agoge, girls were also required to attend a school of sorts (Children). Although it is unclear exactly what the girls learned, it is common to believe they learned poetry, history, reading and writing, along with gymnastics and combat skills. With the education they received, Spartan women were able to hold a position in society that no other women in Greece could even imagine holding (Spartan
Philosophy can be defined as the pursuit of wisdom or the love of knowledge. Socrates, as one of the most well-known of the early philosophers, epitomizes the idea of a pursuer of wisdom as he travels about Athens searching for the true meaning of the word. Throughout Plato’s early writings, he and Socrates search for meanings of previously undefined concepts, such as truth, wisdom, and beauty. As Socrates is often used as a mouthpiece for Plato’s ideas about the world, one cannot be sure that they had the same agenda, but it seems as though they would both agree that dialogue was the best way to go about obtaining the definitions they sought. If two people begin on common ground in a conversation, as Socrates often tries to do, they are far more likely to be able to civilly come to a conclusion about a particular topic, or at least further their original concept.
Prior to the creation of state maintained schools and academies in Greece, higher education was mainly reserved for the elite persons of a community (Handbook: Greece 253). Training for these citizens consisted of instruction in the areas of music, poetry, numeracy, and religious ritual (Handbook: Greece 253).