Education in Classical Athens: Integrating Physical Development

“Education and training in the ancient world was all focused onpreparation for military service”. Discuss in relation to EITHER ancient Greece OR ancient Rome, giving dates.

Introduction:

In Classical Athens (508–322 BCE), education was divided into two categories: physical and intellectual, or "gumnastike" and "mousike," respectively (Gower, Timothy, 2008). Gumnastike was a type of physical education that embodied military values of strength, endurance, and war readiness Lynch. Aristotle's School. The Athenians placed great emphasis on maintaining a physically fit body. Boys will begin physical education during or shortly after starting elementary school. Initially, they will be taught by a paidotribe, a private tutor. The boys would eventually begin training at the gymnasium (Sienkewicz, Joseph, ed, 2007). Physical fitness was thought to be important for enhancing one's appearance, war readiness, and long-term health (Plutarch, 1927).

Classical Athenian educators:

Plato (428–348 BC), was a Greek philosopher who studied under Socrates and eventually became one of his most famous students. Plato left Athens in rage after Socrates' execution, rejecting politics as a profession and moving to Italy and Sicily Beck. Greek Education. He came back ten years later to found the Academy (c. 387 BCE), which was named after the Greek hero Akademos Beck. Greek Education. Plato outlines the difficult task of achieving true virtue and seeing the truth for what it is in his works Lodge. Plato's Theory of Education. According to Plato, elementary education in music, poetry, and physical fitness, two to three years of mandatory military training, ten years of mathematical science, five years of dialectic training, and fifteen years of practical political training were all needed for such achievement (Plato, 2013). The few people who are capable of reaching this level will become philosopher-kings, the rulers of Plato's ideal city Plato.

Aristotle (384–322 BC), was a philosopher from ancient Greece. Enrolled in Plato's Academy in Athens when he was in his late teens. He stayed for nineteen years, withdrawing after Plato's death (Anagnostopoulos, Georgios, ed, 2013). Aristotle left the Academy to join Hermeias, a former student who had become ruler of Atarneus and Assos on Anatolia's northwestern coast (present-day Turkey) (Anagnostopoulos, Georgios, ed, 2013). He remained in Anatolia until King Philip of Macedon invited him to become the educator of his thirteen-year-old son Alexander in 342 BCE. Aristotle accepted the invitation and relocated to Pella to begin working with Alexander the Great, a young man who would soon become known as Alexander the Great (Anagnostopoulos, Georgios, ed, 2013). When Aristotle returned to Athens in 352 BCE, Alexander aided in the funding of Aristotle's Lyceum (Anagnostopoulos, Georgios, ed, 2013). The study was an important aspect of the Lyceum.

In the Spartan system, all male citizens of Sparta were expected to become successful soldiers with the stamina and skills to protect their polis as members of a Spartan phalanx, according to Spartan society. It is a common myth that Spartans killed vulnerable children, but this is not the case. Plutarch, a Greek historian, began this rumour (Ed. Sienkewicz, "Education and Training," Ancient Greece, 2007). Following an assessment, the council will either find the child fit to live or deny him, condemning him to a life of neglect and exposure (Ed. Sienkewicz, "Education and Training," Ancient Greece, 2007).

Agoge system:

The Spartans of Ancient Greece valued military superiority above all else. As a result, the Spartans designed their educational system to resemble an extreme version of military boot camp, where they followed agoge (Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, 2005). Academic learning, such as reading and writing, was held to a minimum since the pursuit of intellectual knowledge was regarded as trivial. A Spartan boy's life was almost entirely devoted to his school, which had only one goal: to create an almost impenetrable Spartan phalanx. A Spartan male's formal education started at the age of seven, when the state took the boy from his parents' custody and sent him to live in a barracks with other boys his age (Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, 2005). For all intents and purposes, the barracks had become his new home, and the other males there had become his family. The boys would feed, sleep, and practise inside their barracks-unit for the next five years, until they were about twelve years old, and receive instruction from an adult male citizen who had completed all of his military training and had combat experience (Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, 2005).

The teacher emphasised discipline and exercise, ensuring that his students were given little food and clothes to compel the boys to learn to forage, steal, and withstand intense hunger, all of which would be useful skills in a battle Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece (2005). Those boys who made it through the first level of training advanced to the second stage, which included stricter punishments and near-constant physical training and participation in sports to develop strength and stamina Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece (2005). Fighting inside the unit was promoted, mock battles were performed, acts of bravery were celebrated, and signs of cowardice and disobedience were harshly punished during this stage, which lasted until the males were about eighteen years old Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece (2005).

The young men were organised into phalanxes during the simulated battles to learn how to manoeuvre as if they were one force rather than a collection of individuals (Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, 2005). Students were also taught how to dance and play music to be more productive and successful during manoeuvres, as this would improve their ability to move gracefully as a group Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece (2005). The trainees were supposed to track down and kill a Helot, a Greek slave, near the end of this period of the agoge (Ed. Sienkewicz, "Education and Training," Ancient Greece, 2007). If captured, the student will be found guilty and disciplined—not for the murder itself, but for his failure to carry it out without being detected.

The students will earn the title of ephebes after graduating from the agoge at the age of eighteen (Ed. Sienkewicz, "Education and Training," Ancient Greece, 2007). The male will pledge strict and full allegiance to Sparta and enter a private organisation to continue training in gymnastics, hunting, and success with expected battles using real weapons after becoming an ephebe (Ed. Sienkewicz, "Education and Training," Ancient Greece, 2007). This training was completed after two years, at the age of twenty, and the now-grown men were officially recognised as Spartan soldiers (Adkins and Adkins, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, 2005).

Conclusion :

Higher Education did not become common in Athens until about 420 BC (Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays, 2002). Philosophers such as Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE) and the sophistic movement, which resulted in an influx of foreign teachers, ushered in a transition from Old to Modern Higher Education Lynch. Aristotle's School. Higher Education broadened formal education, and Athenian society began to value intellectual ability over physical ability Lynch. Aristotle's School. The change sparked debate between those who hold traditional and modern views on education. Traditionalists argued that educating "intellectuals" would undermine Athenian society and put the city-state at a competitive disadvantage in war (Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays, 2002). Those in favour of the reform, on the other hand, believed that while physical strength was necessary, its importance in comparison to Athenian power would erode over time.

References:

Anagnostopoulos, Georgios, ed. (2013). "First Athenian Period". A Companion to Aristotle. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 5.

Aristophanes, Lysistrata and Other Plays (London: Penguin Classics, 2002), 65.

Beck, Frederick A.G. (1964). Greek Education, 450–350 B.C. London: Methuen & CO LTD. pp. 201–202.

Downey, "Ancient Education," The Classical Journal 52, no.8 (May 1980): 340.

Lynch, John P. (1972). Aristotle's School: A Study of a Greek Educational Institution. Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 33.

Lodge, R.C. (1970). Plato's Theory of Education. New York: Russell & Russell. p. 304.

Matsen, Patricia; Rollinson, Philip; Sousa, Marion (1990). Readings from Classical Rhetoric. Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 43.

O’pry, Kay (2012). "Social and Political Roles of Women in Athens and Sparta". Saber and Scroll. 1: 9.

Plato (2013). Republic. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p. 186.

Plutarch (1927). "The Training of Children". Moralia. Loeb Classical Library, p. 7.

Plutarch The Training of Children, c. 110 CE (Ancient History Sourcebook), 5–6.

Plutarch (1960). The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives. London, 168–9.

Sienkewicz, Joseph, ed. (2007). "Education and Training". Ancient Greece. New Jersey: Salem Press. p. 344.

Introduction:

The Civil Rights Movement drew adolescents, teens, and young adults into a maelstrom of gatherings, marches, abuse, and, in some cases, incarceration during its heyday in the 1960s. Why have so many young people chosen to become social justice activists? In an interview with the Civil Rights History Project, Joyce Ladner responds to this issue, citing her elders' strong support in guiding her future path: “The Movement was the most exciting thing that one might participate in. He also said that the word "Emmett Till generation" was coined by him (Thomas, Scott 1995). There had never been a more exciting time to be born at the time and place that movement, young movement, people were born to. When they joined the civil rights movement, most demonstrators interviewed for the Civil Rights History Project were in grade school. When Freeman Hrabowski was 12, he was inspired to march in the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade. His ears perked up one Sunday as he sat in the back of the church, listening to a man talk about a march for integrated schools. Hrabowski, a math nerd, was ecstatic at the prospect of engaging academically with white kids. Photographs of police and dogs targeting the children attracted widespread attention when he was in custody for several days after being arrested at the march (Lodge, Tim 2011). What you do now will affect children who are yet to be born was told by Dr. King to Hrabowski and the other children at the jail, according to Hrabowski. “I'll never forget that,” he adds. “I didn't know what it was, but I knew it was powerful, very powerful.” Hrabowski went on to become the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he has made significant progress in assisting African American students pursuing math and science degrees (Ottoway, Marina 1993).

Since her mother, Marilyn, was the leader of the NAACP Youth Council in Oklahoma City, Clara Luper attended many meetings as a child. She was eight years old at the time, and they were attending an NAACP Youth Council meeting, she recalls (Minter, William 1994). That's how she knew she wasn't ten years old at the time And she proposed, made a motion that we go down to Katz Drug Store and just wait, just sit, until they serve us.” The lunch counter of an Oklahoma City drug store was desegregated as a result of this protest. Luper goes on to tell more stories about growing up in a family that was still active in the movement (Mataboge, Mmanaledi 19 March 2010).

From heading local civil rights groups to working as counsel on school segregation cases, many women played significant roles in the Civil Rights Movement. Men, who continue to receive more recognition and credit for the movement's achievements in mainstream historical narratives and commemorations, frequently overshadowed their attempts to lead it. Many women in the movement were subjected to gender inequality and sexual abuse, prompting them to join the feminist movement in the 1970s (du Toit, Pierre 2001). Interviews with leaders in the civil rights movement provide both displays of pride in women's accomplishments and candid evaluations of the challenges they encountered within the movement (Louw, P. Eric 1997).

Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons was a field organiser for the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project and a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She was one of three women selected (Powell, Jonathan 2015). She talks about the challenges she faced in this position and how gender equality was not something that came naturally to her but had to be fought for: “I had to deal with a lot of problems when it came to becoming a project director as a woman. You know, we had to fight for the resources. We had to battle for a decent car because the guys still got first dibs on everything, which was unfair. It was difficult to be taken seriously by the leadership and your male coworkers.” “One of the aspects that we often don't speak about, but there was sexual abuse that often occurred against women,” she adds. And so that was one of the things she stood firm on, saying, "It was not – we're not going to reach an agreement on this." There will be no sexual abuse of any of the women working on this project or in this culture Minter (William 1994).

Lonnie King was an Atlanta-based member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). As SNCC became a national group in 1960, he recalls meeting other students from the Nashville movement (McKinley, Dale, 2015). He echoes Simmons' critiques of male privilege and dominance, recalling his surprise that Diane Nash was not elected as the representative from Nashville: “In my opinion, Diane Nash was the Nashville revolution, and by that, I mean that although others were present, they were not Diane Nash. Diane was articulate; she was a stunning woman who was photogenic and dedicated.” And he was intelligent and well-liked. He had never known how [James] Bevel, Marion [Barry], and, for that matter, John Lewis, sort of leapfrogged over her, except perhaps for sexism. That was always perplexing to him because she was, after all, the city's leader. Diane was the one. The others were her acolytes. To be honest, had had never known that. She's an unsung, a true unsung hero of the Nashville revolution (David M. Sibeko March, 1976). Ekwueme Michael Thewell was a student at Howard University and a representative of the Nonviolent Action Group, which later merged with the SNCC. Only in retrospect does he realises what a high price his sisters paid for being as devoted to the fight as they were, he says.

Dig deeper into Educate, Explore, and Conserve: Integrating Citizen Science into Ukrainian School Curriculum with our selection of articles.

Conclusion :

Reflecting on the sacrifices that women college students at Howard made in entering the struggle and the constraints they faced afterwards. It said they weren't interested in homecoming queen events. They weren't interested in the typical Howard lady's action. That they were uninterested in the frills of fashion and dressing-up. They were beautiful women who looked after themselves, but they weren't trophy wives for med school students, and they weren't—some of them may have been members of Greek-letter groups, but I suspect the majority of them weren't. As a result, they shared a space that was distinct from the rest of the university student body's social norms.

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Levy, Norman (18 June 2015). "The Freedom Charter by Norman Levy | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 29 June 2020.

Louw, P. Eric (1997). The Rise, Fall, and Legacy of Apartheid. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. pp. 121–124.

Minter, William (1994). Apartheid's Contras: An Inquiry into the Roots

Morton, Stephen (2013). States of Emergency: Colonialism, Literature and Law. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 94–96.

Ottoway, Marina (1993). South Africa: The Struggle for a New Order. Washington: Brookings Institution Press. pp. 23–26.

Powell, Jonathan (2015). Terrorists at the Table: Why Negotiating is the Only Way to Peace. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 146–147.

"Percy John "Jack" Hodgson | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2020.

Thomas, Scott (1995). The Diplomacy of Liberation: The Foreign Relations of the ANC Since 1960. London: Tauris Academic Studies. pp. 202–210.

"The Defiance Campaign". South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid Building Democracy. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.

Tom Lodge, "Action against Apartheid in South Africa, 1983–94", in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds), Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 213–30.

Ugorji, Basil (2012). From Cultural Justice to Inter-Ethnic Mediation: A Reflection on the Possibility of Ethno-Religious Mediation in Africa. Denver: Outskirts Press. pp. 65–66.