Public-domain ebook
by Levi Seeley
Language: en7,453 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: History - Schools & Universities·Teaching & Education
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #27963.
The work is a scholarly survey of educational thought from antiquity onward, and it begins by situating Aristotle as the pivotal figure whose pedagogy shaped both his famed pupil Alexander the Great and the broader Greek tradition. The opening passage outlines Aristotle’s lifelong view of schooling, the stages of a child’s development, and the subjects he deemed essential, from music and gymnastics to rhetoric and philosophy. It then moves to contrast the Spartan system, describing the state‑run, militaristic training of boys and the austere virtues it cultivated, before turning to other classical educators such as Lycurgus and Pythagoras. Throughout, the author intersperses footnotes and references, grounding the narrative in historical sources and offering a critical appraisal of each system’s strengths and shortcomings.
Written in the measured, expository style of a late‑19th‑century academic, the book reflects the period’s reverence for classical scholarship and its penchant for exhaustive citation. Its voice is formal yet accessible, appealing to readers who enjoy a methodical exploration of ideas rather than a dramatized account. Historians of education, philosophy students, and anyone interested in how ancient curricula echo in modern schooling will find the detailed analyses and comparative approach rewarding.
The opening · free to read
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 assisted 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 entitle 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 masses 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 analytical. 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 classical 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 God, 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."
=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 nobles, who ruled the other classes.
2. Perioeci,[18] composed of thirty thousand families of freemen who lived in the territory surrounding Sparta, but who were subject to the nobles.
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 nobles 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 assumed 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 chastity and nobility 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 illustrated 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 assume 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 classes, which would partially account for the fierce resistance so often offered by these classes 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 noblest 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 coarse 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.
Children sat at table with older men and listened to their conversation, but they were never allowed to speak except in answer to questions. Thus they absorbed wisdom and were incited to deeds of bravery by the stories of heroism related by their seniors.
The State furnished barracks poorly provided with the comforts of life, in which the boys slept in severe weather; at other times they slept in the open air. They were wholly separated from their homes, and completely under control of the State. The purpose was to secure strong, beautiful, and supple bodies, inured to hardship, as a preparation for the life of the soldier. The only intellectual education was music, which consisted in playing the lyre as an accompaniment to the dance. Reading and writing were despised as being fit only for slaves.
At the age of twelve the boy exchanged the long coat for the mantle, thereby entering upon manhood. From this time until the age of thirty, much the same form of training was continued, though it became more definitely military. At thirty the Spartan youth became a citizen and was expected to marry. Girls also received gymnastic training, in many cases with the boys. The purpose of this was to develop strong and beautiful wives and mothers. The effect of this coeducation of the sexes was in the highest degree salutary, impurity among women being unknown in Sparta. We have already noted the patriotism of the Spartan mother. Woman was highly esteemed in the home. Her praises and her reproofs were alike respected, and all her opinions bore much weight.
=Criticism of Spartan Education.=--1. It produced men and women of beautiful physique.
2. It inculcated obedience, politeness, modesty, sobriety, respect for the aged, courage, and patriotism.
3. It checked luxury and extravagance.
4. On the other hand, it gave little attention to intellectual training, hence it produced few men of lasting fame.
5. Its aim was martial supremacy, and this attained, the State fell into a hasty decline because of the instability of such a foundation.
6. It excluded a large part of the inhabitants from its benefits, only the nobles being included.
7. It was selfish because it trained for Sparta and not for Greece, or for humanity.
8. It taught the duty of man to the State, and not the duty of man to man.
9. It took boys at an early age away from the influences of home, thus robbing the parents of the sacred prerogative of directing the education of their offspring.
10. It produced men cruel in battle and revengeful in victory, men incapable of cultivating the arts of peace.
2. Children sat at these tables, but were required to maintain silence save when addressed. They were not allowed to ask for food. The object was to teach them good manners, to inculcate implicit obedience, and to impart to them the wisdom of the Spartan fathers.
3. The food was of the simplest kind.
4. Sparta was divided into nine thousand parts, a part for each of the nine thousand citizens, or noble families. The provinces under Spartan rule were divided into thirty thousand parts, a part for each Perioeci family.
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
