EVERYTHING ABOUT EDUCATION IN ATHENS

Athens was another Greek city-states, just like Sparta. Greece as we know it today as a country did not yet exist then. Rather, small city states like Sparta, Corinth, Megara and Athens were to be found in what is today the Greek peninsula. What bound these city-states today was the common Greek language.

Originally, Athens was like Sparta in its approach to the education of the citizens, with a heavy orientation towards the military training. However, beginning at a date difficult to fix precisely (at the end of the 7th or during the 6th century), Athens, gradually renounced the type of education oriented towards the future duties of the soldier. This did not mean that

military life was totally excluded from the life of the Athenian youth. Rather, it meant that the military no longer dominated the life of the youth. ‘The Athenian citizen was always obliged, when necessary and capable, to fight for the fatherland, but the civil aspect of life and culture was predominant: armed combat was only a sport.’

This shift reflected to large extent the shift in the city towards increasing democratization. More and more, the common people were being given a say in the affairs of the state; and all free citizens would gather together at a common centre to take vital state decisions. In short, democracy as we know it today was taking shape. This trend towards democratization,

although relevant to just a minority of the people, since about 90 percent of the people remained disenfranchised, meant that the Athenian culture was continually oriented towards noble life. Thus, apart from some indulgence in the elegant sports such as horsemanship and hunting, military practices were drastically played down.

Athenian education was mainly for boys, as there was no specific type of education for girls who were entrusted to their mothers for moral and domestic training. So, unlike boys, girls did not attend school as such. For boys, however, the whole educational system was structured. There were three types of schools for boys. These were:-

(a) the letters school for reading and writing, analogous today’s primary and secondary schools;

(b) the music school for lyric, poetry and lyre, including learning and recitation of poems;

(c) the gymnastic school for physical training.

The foregoing did not mean that a boy would attend just one type of school and specialize in it for life; rather, what obtained was that learners attended the letters and music schools in the morning and the gymnastic school in the afternoon. Thus, it was like having different institutions for different aspect of the same curriculum. From this explanation you would see that our schools today have merely combined all these functions under the same institutions.

However, whether in a letters school, a music school or a gymnastic school, the moral aspect of education was held in high esteem. ‘The Athenian ideal was that of the kalos k’agathos, the “wise and good” man. The teachers were as much preoccupied with overseeing the child’s good conduct and the formation of his character as with directing his progress in the

various subjects taught him.’ Besides, much of the morals were learned through poetry, as the content of the poems contained a lot of the intended moral lessons. Thus it was that the poetry of two great Athenians, Solon and Homer, became standard texts in the schools. 

Solon’s poems had much to do with statecraft while Homer’s poetry concerned itself with competition and heroic exploits.

Teaching was much more difficult than, and very different from what it is today. There were no texts as such, and only the teacher had his manuscript to teach from. The teacher in most cases dictated his lessons while the pupils wrote the notes down on their wax tablets for memorization. Meanwhile, apart from the teacher, there was the pedagogue, a man-servant

employed by each rich parent to escort the boy to and from the school, and stay around to keep him from any mischief. In case the boy was disobedient or wayward, the pedagogue applied the whip.

There were no distinct subjects as we know them today, but much of what we learn today was beginning to emerge and take shape. The curriculum consisted of reading, writing, music, poetry, mathematics and gymnastics. Such subjects as religion, social studies, government, etc., did not exist separately as they were taught in embedded form in writing, poetry, music,

etc.

Schooling continued till the age of eighteen. Between that age and twenty years, the boys received military training, after which they were free to choose which career to specialize in. However, in most cases, the Athenian boys preferred a career in state affairs. This seemed logical enough since there were very few free educated people to start with, and since most of

the students were the children of the noble who could afford such luxury as formal education.