Post by johnbc on Sept 16, 2020 15:21:40 GMT
Education in ancient Greece, whose undeniable success is amply demonstrated by the creativity in all fields of knowledge and art, was, above all, about preparing young people for the high places of public life: politics, the judiciary and education itself. If it is not, therefore, a formula that can be copied in the instruction of the masses in general, and if today it would be utopian to try to imitate it even for the formation of the ruling class, of politicians, business leaders, military commanders, bishops and cardinals, it remains, however, an excellent model for the education of the intellectual elite.
I do not pretend that it is possible or even desirable to set up a school, much less a national education system, according to the Greek format. It is not in this sense that I use the word “model”. I use it to designate only one unit of comparison and measurement that can serve for personal guidance, whether for some educators, for parents interested in homeschooling, or for students devoted to educating themselves or re-educating themselves.
Given this limitation, the first thing that should call our attention is the absolute priority that, in early childhood education, was given to literary and artistic training. After the basic moral instruction given by domestic education, practically all that was taught to children, as soon as they were literate, was to read and decorate the works of great poets, participate in theatrical performances, sing, dance and do gymnastics. That was all. The rest each learned by themselves or with private teachers.
Here’s how Plato describes this process:
“When students learn to read and begin to understand what is written, just as they did before with sounds, they are given to read on their stools the works of good [epic] poets, which they are obliged to memorize; works full of moral precepts, with many narratives of praise and glory from the illustrious men of the past, so that the boy will imitate them by emulation and strive to look like them… After having learned to play the zither, they make us to study the creations of other great poets, the lyrical ones, to which they accompany the lyre, thus working so that the boys’ souls take control of the rhythms and harmony, so that they become softer and, because they are more rhythmic and harmonious, become equally apt for both word and action. For, throughout its course, man’s life needs cadence and harmony. Then, the parents hand them over to the gym teacher, so that their bodies are better able to serve the virtuous spirit, without being forced, by weakness of constitution, to reveal cowardice, both in war and in similar situations..”
In her densely documented book, Arts Libéraux et Philosophie dans la Pensée Antique (Paris, Vrin, 2005), the German-French scholar Ilsetraut Hadot adds:
“Young people from wealthy families also received, this time for free, a complementary education taking part in a tragic or lyrical chorus, on the occasion of local cultural festivals. These demonstrations were often the first representations of a play or lyric poetry by a contemporary author; they were therefore an opportunity for young people to be brought into contact with all the new literary creations of their time and to learn them by heart. This kind of education was so important, that Plato, in the Laws (II, 654 ab), finds himself led to identify the cultured man (pepaidymênos) with the one who participated in a choir frequently enough (ikanos kekoreykôta) and, on the contrary, the man without culture with the one who was never part of a choir (akôreytos).”
There is no exaggeration in saying that young Greeks, long before entering public life, already had a literary culture superior to the average of our current Literature teachers.
The preparation for citizenship only started after the stage of school education ended:
“When they leave school, the city, for its part, obliges them to learn laws and to take them as a paradigm of conduct, so that they do not get carried away by fantasy and practice some wrongdoing.”
This has been the case since before the advent of sophists, traveling teachers who went from city to city teaching the art of public speaking and public debate. The sophists introduced these subjects to the education of students who already came not only with a good literary and artistic base, but with some knowledge of the laws and principles that governed social life, knowledge of which the sophist was just a more advanced technical complement.
I do not pretend that it is possible or even desirable to set up a school, much less a national education system, according to the Greek format. It is not in this sense that I use the word “model”. I use it to designate only one unit of comparison and measurement that can serve for personal guidance, whether for some educators, for parents interested in homeschooling, or for students devoted to educating themselves or re-educating themselves.
Given this limitation, the first thing that should call our attention is the absolute priority that, in early childhood education, was given to literary and artistic training. After the basic moral instruction given by domestic education, practically all that was taught to children, as soon as they were literate, was to read and decorate the works of great poets, participate in theatrical performances, sing, dance and do gymnastics. That was all. The rest each learned by themselves or with private teachers.
Here’s how Plato describes this process:
“When students learn to read and begin to understand what is written, just as they did before with sounds, they are given to read on their stools the works of good [epic] poets, which they are obliged to memorize; works full of moral precepts, with many narratives of praise and glory from the illustrious men of the past, so that the boy will imitate them by emulation and strive to look like them… After having learned to play the zither, they make us to study the creations of other great poets, the lyrical ones, to which they accompany the lyre, thus working so that the boys’ souls take control of the rhythms and harmony, so that they become softer and, because they are more rhythmic and harmonious, become equally apt for both word and action. For, throughout its course, man’s life needs cadence and harmony. Then, the parents hand them over to the gym teacher, so that their bodies are better able to serve the virtuous spirit, without being forced, by weakness of constitution, to reveal cowardice, both in war and in similar situations..”
In her densely documented book, Arts Libéraux et Philosophie dans la Pensée Antique (Paris, Vrin, 2005), the German-French scholar Ilsetraut Hadot adds:
“Young people from wealthy families also received, this time for free, a complementary education taking part in a tragic or lyrical chorus, on the occasion of local cultural festivals. These demonstrations were often the first representations of a play or lyric poetry by a contemporary author; they were therefore an opportunity for young people to be brought into contact with all the new literary creations of their time and to learn them by heart. This kind of education was so important, that Plato, in the Laws (II, 654 ab), finds himself led to identify the cultured man (pepaidymênos) with the one who participated in a choir frequently enough (ikanos kekoreykôta) and, on the contrary, the man without culture with the one who was never part of a choir (akôreytos).”
There is no exaggeration in saying that young Greeks, long before entering public life, already had a literary culture superior to the average of our current Literature teachers.
The preparation for citizenship only started after the stage of school education ended:
“When they leave school, the city, for its part, obliges them to learn laws and to take them as a paradigm of conduct, so that they do not get carried away by fantasy and practice some wrongdoing.”
This has been the case since before the advent of sophists, traveling teachers who went from city to city teaching the art of public speaking and public debate. The sophists introduced these subjects to the education of students who already came not only with a good literary and artistic base, but with some knowledge of the laws and principles that governed social life, knowledge of which the sophist was just a more advanced technical complement.
