Transcript Greek and Roman Education

Greek and Roman Education
A time of political education
or educational politics?
Presented by: Meixia Ding and Courtney West
Greek society
• Male dominated.
• Desired unity, logic, harmony, balance,
design, order, and structure.
• Religious – humanistic – not based on
supernatural afterlife.
• Greek tragedies integrated past,
present, and future.
• Believed human reason powerful
enough to find meaning of existence
and nature.
• Sought universal truths to live the
good life.
Athens and Sparta united? Not exactly.
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~atlas/europe/static/map07.html
• Recognized the
relationship
between the
individual and the
community.
• Polis furnished
educational aims.
• Peloponnesian
War (431-404) the turning point
and the demise of
the polis.
Polis
• City-state promoted common welfare and
security.
• Served to integrate every dimension of the
citizen’s life.
• Reciprocal relationship between good
person and good society.
• Cultivate virtues rather than specialized or
technical skills.
• Athens affected by 4th century commercial
growth – grew more independent in private
affairs.
Homeric Epics
• The Iliad and The Odyssey.
• Embodied wisdom, traditions, beliefs, and
values.
• Educational purpose - conserve culture,
instill identity based on mythic and
historical origins, shape character, and
teach morality.
• Heroes spoke elegantly and poetically,
combined wisdom, action, and glory,
performed warrior arts, and observed
religious rituals.
Pursued Arete - excellence
• Homer – pioneering figure in moral
education. Actions of characters have
consequences that affect not only them but
those that depend on them. Ex: Odysseus
• Greek education devoted to epic poetry –
life’s heroic dimensions and the ideal of
glory.
Athenians
• Humane,
dynamic, and
rational
(humanistic).
• Earthly activities
rather than life
after death.
Athenian Education
• Goal was to produce an ideal well-rounded,
liberally educated individual.
• Both formal and informal aspects cultivated
a many-sided person who was an excellent
man and contributor to general welfare.
• No attendance mandates.
• Minimal regulation that children learn to
read and swim.
• Greater variety of formal educations
patterns than in Sparta.
The Spartans
• Code of Lycurgus – Spartans to
soldiering.
• Who was Lycurgus? Nobleman who
applied to the oracle at Delphi and
was told gods would support him in
his endeavor. Banished gold and
silver, divided land, and made the
Spartans agree to an oath to follow
his laws until he returned (Ripperton,
2000).
Spartan Societal Roles
• 10% of the population were the ruling
military elite called the Spartiales.
• Perioikoi included the common class who
had economic not political rights
• Helots – slaves.
• At birth, babies were taken to Ephors for
visual assessment, at 7 to military school
for 11 years, at 18, received two additional
years of military training. From age 20-30
were on active duty.
Spartan Model
• Rejected humanistic education, wanted practical
and military training.
• Courage was portrayed by planned and executed
savagery.
• Made city-state focus of human life and endeavor.
• Collected hero obeyed commands and followed
orders without question.
• Loyalty and discipline was the key.
• Intellectual content minimized - only rudiments of
reading and writing were taught.
Hellenic worldview
• Rational inhabitant of a purposeful and
orderly universe.
• Alternate experience of reality –
Philosophers.
• Practical formulation of educational
methodology – Sophists.
Greek Education Theory
• Greek’s colonization • In 4th century B.C.,
accelerated rate of
(800-550 B.C) --commercial growth--social changes --riches sought political cultural crisis--Philosophers sought to
power--- Sophists
reconstruct, integrate,
appeared to satisfy the and order cultural life.
need.
• Socrates (469-399 B.C.)
• Sophists(470-370B.C) • Plato (427-347 B.C.)
• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
• Isocrates (436-338B.C.)
Who were the Sophists?
• Sought education to lead to political power
and social status.
• Concerned with making policy (special
interests) rather than finding truth.
• Claimed that they taught virtue and charged
a fee for their services.
Educational Agenda of the Sophists
• Acquire intellectual and interpersonal
characteristics and skills needed for success in a
changing society --- strategies of practical politics
• Master the discussion, persuasion, and
argumentation skills that contributed to social,
political, and legal success---grammar, logic, and
rhetoric
What were the Sophist’s contributions?
• Extended educational opportunities to more
students, contributed to class mobility, and
furthered democratization.
• Developed the trivium (logic, grammar, and
rhetoric) of Later Roman and Medieval education
Protagoras of Abdera
• Highly regarded Sophist teacher.
• Believed in changing reality and special
interests (relativism)
• “Known primarily for three claims (1) that
man is the measure of all things (2) that he
could make the "worse (or weaker)
argument appear the better (or stronger)"
and (3) that one could not tell if the gods
existed or not” (Poster, 2006).
So what is the difference in values?
Traditional Values
• Courage
• Justice
• Self-restraint
Sophist Values
• Individualism
• Subjectivism
• Hedonism –
when behavior is
motivated by the
desire for pleasure and
the avoidance of pain
(Wikipedia, 2006).
Socrates – Governed by rationality
• Philosophy: the person’s only reason for being is
to experience moral excellence. Sought to
discover universal principles of truth, beauty, and
justice.
• Epistemology: Believed genuine knowledge
exists and needs to be brought to consciousness.
• Education: The goal is to build moral
predispositions. The method is to ask leading
questions to stimulate students to inquiry truth.
• Discussion: Socrates method
is a way of teaching or
learning?
Plato – A founder of Idealism
• Philosophy: Encouraged searching for the
essence of goodness, truth, and beauty. Plato’s
theory of ideas. The Republic (3 classes).
• Epistemology: Knowledge is eternally valid
and that values are unchanging. Learning is to
rediscovery of truth.
• Education: “Functionalist” model, designed to
produce competent adults to meet the needs of
the state. Plato’s plan provided education for 3
groups: worker, soldiers, and rulers.
Aristotle – A founder of Realism
Founder of the
Western
philosophical
realism.
• Philosophy: Human defining quality
(soul, mind, or intellect) provides
the potential for rationality. Asserted
the existence of an objective order
of reality.
• Epistemology: Knowledge begins
with external objective - the quest of
happiness.
• Education: Gave education a major
role in developing virtue and
excellence. Asserted liberal arts.
Isocrates – Intellect is a priority.
• Philosophy:. Critical of the sophists who taught
rhetoric as “practical” gimmicks. Orator has a
civic responsibility to be trustworthy.
• Epistemology: Didn’t believe people could
discover absolute truths. Knowledge is useful
because it improves character and prepares one
for life.
• Education: Effective and well-organized educator.
Like many modern thinkers, tends to view
education as the savior of the world” (Willis, 2006).
Believed in importance of educating virtuous
leaders to be models for citizens.
Commonalities
• The Greek philosophers speculated about human
nature and hoped to find the universal patterns
(truth) that governed reality.
• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all believe
reasoning.
• Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates conceived of human
nature as a duality of the mental and the physical.
• All recognized that education is directly related to
both the healthy individual and harmoniously
integrated society.
Differences
• Ways in discovering universal truth by the Greek
philosophers
• Philosophy: While Plato shut his eyes to the
sensory word and used his reason, Aristotle used
his senses as well and thought nature is real
world.
• Epistemology: For Socrates /Plato, knowing is a
matter of recognizing ideas already lodged in
consciousness. For Aristotle, knowledge begins
with external objects.
• Education on women: (Athens, Sparta, Plato,
Aristotle, and Rome)
Stoics and Epicureans
• Stoics (Zeno, 340-265BC): What happens to body
is unimportant. Each person is to fulfill practical
social duties and also preserve independence --have great significance for Roman culture.
• Epicureans (Epicurus, 342-270BC): Only object
in life is to secure pleasure and to avoid pain.
• Both had roots in the teaching of Socrates. (Gaarder,
1991)
• In contrast to Stoics, the Epicureans showed little
or no interest in politics and the community
(Gaarder, 1991)
The Roman Empire
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/%7Evandersp/index.html
Roman Education - In Early Republic
• Function of education is to transmit
traditions to the young.
• Values (e.g., duty, self-control, temperance)
were to be exemplified by the parents especially by the father.
• Purpose was to produce a highly practical
man, who knew how to manage his land
and superintend his slaves.
Roman Education – After cultural change
• Necessity of governing as an empire --- rely
on Greek as an international language --Greek culture mastered the Romans.
• Political transition--- traditional value is not
enough--- sophisticated political and
managerial competencies are required.
Institutional Patterns of Roman Education
Roman Capriccio, Oil on Canvas
painted by Giovanni Paolo Pannini,
1734
http://www.eliki.com/coliseum/
• Influenced by Greek culture and the formal
educational system.
• Elementary school, Ludus
• Secondary education, Grammar school
• Higher studies (16-18), Rhetorical school
• Church school eventually acquired educational
significance.
Roman Conception of Education
• Orator is the model of
an educated person.
• Isocrates had an
impact on Roman
educational theory.
• Well-educated men
who demonstrated
interest in affairs of
the republic were
Cicero and Quintilian.
Cicero – The compromiser
• Combined the best of both – older Roman
practicality and newer Greek utility or
humanism.
• Practical ethics and logic.
• Should possess grace and wit, be quick to
reply, and competent of speaking styles.
• Most important subjects were history, law,
and philosophy.
Quintilian – The Chair of Latin Rhetoric
•
• Had more of a
systematic educational
theory.
• Thought grammar and
rhetoric should be
taught separately.
• Speaking and personal
excellence are
reciprocal.
• Learning should be
appropriate to learner’s
abilities and readiness.
Identified significant
stages of human
development.
• 0-7 impulsive –
immediate
satisfaction of needs
and desires.
• 7-14 learns from
sensory experience –
forms clear ideas and
develops memory.
• 14-17 reasoning –
liberal arts in
grammaticus.
Students’ questions after reading
Transcontextual Concerns:
•Western and eastern
•Practice in other country
What do we want to
know more?
Developmental
trajectories:
•Influence on current
Education
Special issues:
•Woman education
•Why, who, and how
One of our concerns
• Greeks saw a
reciprocal relationship
between the good
person and the good
society, placed a
priority on cultivating
virtues common to all
citizens.
• Confucianism sought
political harmony by
trying to achieve the
moral harmony in
man himself, aiming
at the restoration of a
rationalized feudal
order.
What is your opinion?
Discussions of other questions
References
• Gaarder, J. (1991). Sophie’s world. New York:
Berkley Books.
• Gutek, G.L. (2005).. A history of the western
educational experience (2nd ed). Prospect Heights,
IL: Waveland Press.
• Lin, Y.T. (1938). The wisdom of Confucius. New
York: The Modern Library.
• Noddings, N. (2006). Philosophy of education.
Westview.
• Poster, C. (2006). Protagoras. The Internet
Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/p/protagor.htm
References
• Ripperton, L. (2000). Lycurgus and the Spartan
Laws.
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=
morris&book=greek&story=lycurgus
• Vanderspoel, J. (1997). The Roman empire at its
greatest extent.
http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/%7Evandersp/index.ht
ml
• Wikipedia. (2006). Hedonism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism
• Willis, W. (2006). Isocrates (436 - 338 B.C.).
http://people.moreheadst.edu/fs/w.willis/isocrates.html