History of Education Part 6

In his death he fully exemplified the truth of his own philosophy. He was accused of corrupting the youth and denying the deities, and was condemned to die by drinking a cup of hemlock. He calmly submitted to his fate, refusing to avail himself of an opportunity to escape.

According to the account given in Plato's "Phaedo," he spent his last hours discussing with the friends who attended him the question of the immortality of the soul.

PLATO (B.C. 429-347)

Plato was a disciple of Socrates, and to him we are chiefly indebted for an account of the teachings of his great master. For twenty years he sat at the feet of the philosopher, and drank from the fountain of knowledge possessed by that wonderful man. He also traveled in other lands, particularly Egypt and Italy, in pursuit of knowledge. He became one of the most remarkable scholars and philosophers, not only of antiquity, but of all time. When forty years of age he founded a school at Athens, though it is not as a teacher that he is chiefly known, but as a writer and sage. "Plato among the Greeks, like Bacon among the moderns, was the first who conceived a method of knowledge." His great work is his "Republic," in which he pictures the ideal State and outlines his scheme of education, which is built on ideals of both Spartan and Athenian citizenship. From Sparta comes the thought of an education which shall be controlled by the State from birth; while Athens adds the aesthetical aspects to those purely physical.

In his scheme he divided the people into the following cla.s.ses:--

1. The _common people_. They should be allowed to rise, but no education is provided for them in his scheme.

2. The _guardians_ or _citizens_, who shall study music and gymnastics.

Music includes literature, that is, human culture as distinguished from scientific knowledge. Writing and arithmetic are also included under music, the latter not being studied for practical purposes, but to develop the reason.

3. The _rulers_, who, in addition to the preceding subjects, shall study geometry, astronomy, rhetoric, and philosophy.

The State is to have absolute control of every citizen; it shall arrange marriages, destroy weak and unpromising children, and remove the healthy babes at birth to public nurseries, where mothers may care for the children in common, but will not recognize or take special interest in their own children. Boys and girls are to be educated alike. Great care is to be taken that nothing mean or vile shall be shown to children; their environments shall be beautiful and enn.o.bling, though simple.

From birth to seven years of age the child is to have plenty of physical exercise. He shall hear fairy tales and selections from the poets, but careful censorship must be placed on everything presented to him.

Suitable playthings are to be provided, precaution taken against fear of darkness, and by gentleness combined with firmness a manly spirit is to be produced. Beauty of mind and body are to be harmoniously united.

From seven to thirteen intellectual as well as physical activity is required.

The special education begins at twenty by the selection of the most promising youths. At thirty another selection of those able to continue their education five years more is made.

Higher mathematics, astronomy, harmony, and science const.i.tute the work of the first ten years, and philosophical study that of the last five.

Fifteen years then are to be given to the service of the State, after which, at fifty, the student may return to the study of philosophy for the remainder of his life.

Education is to be compulsory, as the child belongs to the State and not to the parent.

Plato gave predominance to intellectual rather than to physical culture, as he said, "If the mind be educated it will take care of the body, for the good soul improves the body, and not the good body the soul."

He taught that it is the aim of education to bring all of the powers of man into harmonious cooperation.

It will thus be seen that Plato's scheme of education centers around the oriental idea that man belongs to the State, and the main purpose of education is to fit him to serve the State. And Plato clearly set forth how the education which he demanded should be attained, and therefore he is to be remembered as originating the _first systematic scheme of education in history_.

ARISTOTLE (B.C. 384-322)[17]

Aristotle was born in Stagira in Macedonia, and from this fact he is called the Stagirite. For twenty years he was a pupil of Plato, as Plato had been of Socrates. Aristotle was not only one of the greatest philosophers that ever lived, but he enjoyed the distinction of being the teacher and chosen counselor of Alexander the Great. Much of the greatness of the man who conquered the world and "wept because there were no more worlds to conquer" was due to his wise teacher. Alexander loved and revered Aristotle as much as his father, declaring "that he was indebted to the one for _living_, and to the other for living _well_." He a.s.sisted Aristotle in founding a school at his native place, Stagira.

It is not simply as the teacher of Alexander the Great that Aristotle is to be remembered in the history of education, though that would ent.i.tle him to lasting fame. After the education of Alexander was finished, Aristotle went to Athens, where he founded the Lyceum. Here he lectured for many years, in the morning to his riper pupils on philosophical subjects, and in the evening to the ma.s.ses on such topics as were within their comprehension and as would tend to elevate them.

His _pedagogy_ may be briefly outlined as follows:--

1. Education is a lifelong task, beginning at birth and continuing till death. The first seven years are to be spent in the home under the fostering care of the parents. During this period the child is to have no severe tasks, but chief attention is to be given to physical development. He must learn obedience, as the first step to an ethical life. His food and clothing are to be simple, and his toys and games of a character to stimulate wholesome activity. At the age of seven he is to enter upon the direct intellectual training, and nothing must interfere with this during the next seven years. From fourteen to twenty-one the education is to include such exercises as directly prepare for life. The diet is to be simple, the physical training severe, for the double purpose of counteracting the tendencies of the adolescent period, and of preparing for war.

2. Education includes the development of the body, the character, and the intellect. Courage, endurance, self-denial, temperance, truthfulness, and justice are essential characteristics to be sought.

The purpose of instruction is to develop the imperfect, untrained child into the well-rounded, intelligent, and patriotic citizen.

3. The course of study, which begins seriously after the seventh year, includes music, gymnastics, drawing, grammar, rhetoric, and mathematics.

Later, dialectics, philosophy, and political science are to be added.

4. Woman is to have part in education that she may properly train her children, and may, by an intelligent understanding of the laws, uphold the State.

5. Aristotle considered education as the most important and most difficult of all problems. He based his pedagogy upon a knowledge of the individual.

6. His method was the a.n.a.lytical. He began with things and advanced from the concrete to the abstract.

The foregoing will show that Aristotle began the study of problems that still occupy the minds of educational thinkers, after more than twenty-two centuries of search for the truth. Some of the problems he discussed have found their solution, and the seed sown by the great thinker has come to fruitage. Karl Schmidt says, "Aristotle is the intellectual Alexander. Rich in experience and profound in speculation, he penetrates all parts of the universe and seeks to reduce all realities to concepts. He is the most profound and comprehensive thinker of the pre-Christian world,--the Hegel of cla.s.sical antiquity,--because, like Hegel, he seeks to unify all knowledge, brings together the scattered materials of the present into one system, constructs in a wonderful intellectual temple the psychical and physical Cosmos, the universe and G.o.d, proclaims the destruction of an earlier culture epoch, and sets in motion waves in the ocean of history that are destined to influence the intellectual life of all centuries to come.... Aristotle stands for the highest intellectual summit of antiquity,--the bridge which binds the Grecian to the modern world,--the philosophical mouthpiece and the intellectual master of twenty centuries."

FOOTNOTES:

[17] Brother Azarias, "Essays Philosophical."

CHAPTER X

SPARTA

=Literature.=--(See general literature for Greece.) _Sankey_, Spartan and Theban Supremacies; _Smith_, History of Greece; _Plutarch's_ Lives; _Mombert_, Great Lives; _Spofford_, Library of Historical Characters.

=History.=--Sparta was the capital of Laconia, the southern province of Greece. Its inhabitants consisted of:--

1. _Citizens_, composed of nine thousand families of n.o.bles, who ruled the other cla.s.ses.

2. _Perioeci_,[18] composed of thirty thousand families of freemen who lived in the territory surrounding Sparta, but who were subject to the n.o.bles.

3. _Helots_,[19] about three hundred thousand in number, who were slaves.

The Perioeci and the helots, with the love of freedom characteristic among the Greeks, chafed under their yoke of subjugation, and eagerly watched for opportunities for revolt. Only by an exercise of superior force could the n.o.bles maintain their supremacy, and they were obliged to seek by martial training the strength they lacked in numbers. Hence the education of the Spartan youth was of necessity military, and every citizen was trained to become a warrior.

The Spartans were dignified, austere, and of few words, "laconic" in speech. The young were expected to be silent in the presence of their elders except when addressed. They were taught to give way to their seniors, especially to old men, whenever they met upon the street or in a public place.

=The Home.=--The child was left in charge of the mother until six or seven years of age. Toys inciting to warlike sports were provided, and childhood was made happy. The father usually superintended the child's training, but sometimes an aged relative a.s.sumed the responsibility. The treatment was humane and intelligent. From the first the child was taught implicit obedience and modesty.

The _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ have been called the Bible of the Greeks, and children early learned extracts from the works of the great poet, Homer. The Spartan mother was highly respected by her husband and her children, and she was noted for her chast.i.ty and n.o.bility of character.

She entered fully into the Spartan idea, and cheerfully gave her sons to her country, while she often inspired them to deeds of bravery and patriotism. The lofty and self-sacrificing patriotism of the Spartan mother is ill.u.s.trated by her words upon sending her son to battle,--"Return either with your shield or on it!"

It is said that weak and unpromising children were either killed as soon as they were born, or abandoned to the wild beasts upon the mountains.

This was because the State would a.s.sume the training only of strong children, such as were likely to make good soldiers. It is probable that many of these abandoned children were rescued and reared by the lower cla.s.ses, which would partially account for the fierce resistance so often offered by these cla.s.ses to those who deprived them of liberty.

If such an inhuman practice had been encouraged by other nations of the world, many of the greatest benefactors of the race would have been consigned to an untimely death, for some of the n.o.blest men that have ever lived were weak in infancy.

=Education.=--At six or seven the boy was taken from the home, and the State had entire jurisdiction over his education. The boys were placed in groups in charge of young men who were responsible for their education, which was almost wholly physical. They lived on very simple food, and were often obliged to appease hunger by theft. They were taught that crime did not lie in the commission of the offense, but in its detection. Their dress from seven to twelve consisted of a long coat of very coa.r.s.e material, the same for summer and winter. They were taught to bear blows without a murmur, and instances are related of boys being whipped to death without crying out.