Roman and Athenian Education (Reflection 15)

Since the foundation of Rome to the middle of the third century B.C., Roman education was mostly informal because children had their education at home where their parents taught them to be morally and civically responsible, and also children achieved agricultural, domestic, or military experience depending on their parents' interests and social status. However, with the Roman conquest of some Greek cities, Romans adopted some of the Greek practices in education as their own. Despite the fact that Roman education followed Greek education as a model, there were differences between both systems especially at higher levels of study. Athenian education for example had the main purpose to have a state with excellent citizens who had a general knowledge about arts and war. This type of general education was called rounded education because the students had a wide knowledge in different areas. It was responsibility of the parents to decide how to teach their children, and the only requirement by the state was a military training at the age of 18 in the case of the boys. Until the age of 7, Athenian boys were thought at home by their parents. Boys, no matter their families' wealth, attended elementary school since they were 7 until they turned 14. Athenian boys generally learned gymnastic, music, grammar, and literacy being literacy the most important. After they turned 14, only those with prosperous families could continue studies at most expensive costs. Affluent boys had their culminating studies with philosophers dedicated to teach like Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates and others. The education that students received at this upper level depended on the students' interests. For example, those who wanted to be a public figure had to learn how to speak properly and persuade others, so these students studied rhetoric and oratory while other students were interested in subjects like arithmetic, astronomy, and geometry. Girls did not attended school like boys. Instead, girls had their education at home where they learned about domestic labors, and in some cases they learned to read and write. Sometimes girls became a hetaerae who had a broader education than a regular woman, but hetaerae were prostitutes in a certain way. On the other hand, Roman children went to elementary school since they were 7 until they were 12. In the roman elementary school, children learned to read, write, and calculate. Unlike Greeks, Romans were not that interested in literacy; however, this does not mean that they did not review great literary works at all. After elementary school, only children with rich parents could continue to secondary school where they stayed for three years and learned Latin, Greek, and in some cases Geography and History. Then, at the age of 16, wealthy parents sent their children to the oratory or rhetoric school where students could learn how to speak in public in order to perform successful careers in juridical or political areas. Rhetoric was considered by Romans as the most valuable learning experience that a student could have being the only exception a student who opted for a career in the military field. Some Roman students traveled far from home to universities located in Athens and Alexandria. In these cities, Roman students could receive a classical education. In Roman cities, there were different opinions concerning girls' education; some families educated their women, and others thought that an educated woman lacked of feminine characteristics. In conclusion, Athenian education had an academic character, and knowledge was the main goal through the study of philosophy, while Roman education was more practical being its main goal to prepare students to occupy a high social position by persuading others through rhetoric or studying law.

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