Ancient Greece Spartan and Athenian education systems. Spartan education. Pedagogical system: features
Each family has its own traditions of raising children, which are passed down from generation to generation. Much depends on how parents want to see their children: intellectual, creative or physically developed. A particularly important task for any father is the upbringing of a son - the future man. Therefore, some prefer the so-called spartan education system based on harsh principles that temper the body, will and character.
Spartan education system
The glory of the warriors of Ancient Sparta is alive to this day. It is known from history that this small people conquered other larger tribes and kept them in subjection by force of arms. The military craft of this people was brought to perfection and was the main occupation of the representatives of the stronger sex.
The status of a warrior gave the ancient Spartan special privileges in society, but not every boy managed to achieve it. Until now, legends are told about how they got rid of weak children with physical defects.
It was necessary to make invincible warriors out of boys from childhood, for this a special method of spartan education. From the point of view of a modern person, its methods may seem excessively harsh, but in those ancient times the technique was very effective. The strict laws of military disciplines covered the whole life of boys and youths, making them invincible warriors.
Every newborn child in ancient Sparta had to be shown to the council of tribal elders. They examined the babies for defects. It is believed that sick children were deprived of their lives in infancy, although evidence of this fact has not been found. Perhaps the real meaning of this legend lies in the fact that underdeveloped children were simply deprived of the opportunity to enter the privileged class.
The upbringing of children in the Spartan spirit is distinguished by rigor and discipline. This technique has its advantages and disadvantages, it is important to strike a balance between them so as not to harm the child's psyche.
Military education for boys began at the age of 7 years. As soon as the child turned 7, he was taken away from the family where he had previously been brought up. Now the state-polis and he himself were responsible for his further development. Spartan education proceeded in three successive stages, during the growing up of a boy to a mature man:
- 7-15 years;
- 15-20 years;
- 20-30 years old.
After the first stage of training, fifteen-year-old boys became Eirens, young warriors. The tests of the second stage ended with initiation into real warriors and the issuance of a full set of weapons, the young men proceeded to Ephebia, military service. And only during the third period, when young people already took part in military campaigns, hardened fighters acquired the status of full-fledged representatives of the military community.
Although the physical development of the Spartan was in the first place, they were taught not only the use of weapons and martial arts. At the first stage, children were taught writing and reading, and at the second, music and singing. Particular attention was paid to the fact that children were able to express their thoughts very briefly and concisely, while spending a lot of time in complete silence. This skill teaches warriors patience and effective cooperation in combat.
Pros and Cons of Spartan Education
Raising children has always been a difficult task for parents. It is very important to maintain a balance, not to go too far, because a child's psyche can be so fragile and vulnerable. Even if the parents decided to try spartan education system should be introduced gradually. It will not be superfluous to also study all the pros and cons of this technique.
Among the main advantages of the system are the following points :
- children become hardened and hardy, they can endure pain and hold back tears;
- pupils develop independence;
- constant training instills discipline;
- physical exercise promotes health;
- trials, deprivations, and limitations teach children responsibility.
Of course, there are many advantages, but there are also disadvantages that can lead to negative consequences. Especially if the parents are too harsh on the child, deny him everything and do not encourage him for success. Of the undesirable manifestations of a strict educational methodology in children, especially adolescents, the following can be observed:
- excessive aggression;
- loss of understanding between generations;
- antisocial behavior;
- isolation, problems in communication with peers;
- inability to make decisions independently;
- unconscious reflexes in the form of stuttering or enuresis.
In other words, a technique designed to make a child strong will backfire if misused. A teenager can become either too cruel towards others, including parents, unconsciously wanting to avenge childhood insults, or there will be a complete suppression of his personality. He will not be able to live independently, as a full-fledged person, he will be indecisive and lack initiative. Complexes acquired in childhood will not be easy to eradicate in the future.
Spartan system of physical education
In the first place in Spartan education was the development of the physical body. Despite this, attention was also paid to elementary literacy, but the Spartans considered it more important to teach the younger generation to survive in any conditions, to endure hardships, cold, and pain. The body of the Spartan warrior, hardened over many years, should have been well developed and strong.
It all started with the fact that each father brought his newborn child to the elders for review. Council determined further fate baby: to be a full-fledged citizen and belong to the military estate, or to fall into the number of slaves. Both those and other children were brought up in their own families until the age of seven, after which they were taken away from there.
The custom may seem wild, but it was believed that the further development of the guys had to take place under the influence of older warriors.
The children were placed in the barracks, where they were attacked special Spartan system of physical and spiritual education. Health was tempered by the cold, since the guys did not have warm clothes, and they slept on thin straw mattresses laid on the floor. Humility was formed with the help of hunger and deprivation, and patience - through overcoming pain. Not every child was destined to cope with such trials.
With each stage of growing up, physical activity and tests only got tougher. In order to encourage young people to constantly train at the limit of their abilities, public tournaments and competitions were organized between the pupils. The winners were loudly glorified. Adults did not forbid children to fight and injure each other, they even incited them to do so.
While still teenagers or cryptia, as they were called, the young men took part in hostilities. This year, from the age of 15 to 16, was for them a kind of dedication and one of the most difficult trials. The youth participated in reconnaissance operations and raided enemy settlements. As a result, they learned to survive in any conditions, make their own decisions and provide for themselves.
Pupils who passed natural selection proceeded to a deep mastering of the art of war at the next stages of education. At the same time, further physical activity became an integral part of their lives. No wonder the harsh Spartan warriors in small numbers could crush huge armies.
The Spartan system of physical education was intended not only for boys, but also for girls.. It was believed that only strong-bodied women could give birth to healthy and full-fledged offspring. Gender equality was expressed in the fact that girls could, on an equal footing with young men, study military craft, practice weapons and combat, some even took part in military campaigns.
Features of Spartan education
Like any other technique, Spartan education has its own characteristics. It originates from ancient times, when the people of Sparta raised future warriors in this way. Nowadays, the technique is also popular, because some fathers believe that this is the only way to raise a real man. The main principles of the system are:
- strict discipline;
- raising children in a team;
- physical exercise;
- hardening of the body;
- Physical punishment;
- respect and unquestioning obedience to elders;
- mentoring;
- learning practical life skills.
One of the most surprising features of Spartan education for its time is the training of girls. The fair sex in this ancient society had equal rights with men, so the upbringing of girls was given no less attention.
The women of Sparta were distinguished by courage and patriotism, they were trained in the same military spirit as the young men, they perfectly wielded weapons and had good health and a trained body.
However, a Spartan woman was not supposed to be like a man. In order to fulfill her main tasks - to give birth to healthy children and inspire her man to exploits, the following qualities were valued in a woman:
- moral;
- the ability to manage a household;
- marital fidelity;
Thanks to this, the women of Spartan society were freer than in neighboring states. They took an active part in public life, were not deprived of their rights, but they were not dissolute either. The marital relationship between the Spartans was tinged with romance and chivalry.
Another feature of Spartan education deserves attention. This is the continuity of generations, which was expressed through mentoring. Each mature warrior had one or more apprentices whom he trained individually. He passed on his knowledge and experience accumulated over the years to them.
This was very useful for young men, as it formed in them respect for elders and humility.
The Athenian and Spartan education system Prepared by Perevalova E.M. In Greece, it is already very early times great attention was paid to the education of children. The Greeks sought to educate an intellectual and healthy person, well developed physically, to combine the beauty of the body and moral virtues. The system of education and the emergence of pedagogical thought Ancient Greece associated with the culture of cities - policies (VI - IV centuries BC). During the heyday of Ancient Greece, two city-states played a decisive role: Sparta in Laconia and Athens in Attica. Accordingly, two systems of education were distinguished - Athenian - aesthetic and Spartan - military. The ancient Spartans and the ancient Athenians took a very responsible approach to the issues of creating a family and raising the younger generation. Spartan education system The Spartan education system was predominantly military-sports in nature, since it was necessary to suppress the frequent uprisings of the disenfranchised majority of the population against the Spartans - slave owners, as well as military conflicts. The main goal of the Spartan education system was to train courageous, disciplined, seasoned warriors capable of keeping slaves in subjection. Only healthy children at birth received the right to life. Education in Sparta was the privilege of slave owners. Spartan education system From the age of seven, the Spartan boys who lived at home until that time were placed state institutions - Agellas, where they were brought up until the age of 18 under the guidance of a state-appointed person - a pedon. Boys were taught endurance by hardening the body, the ability to wield weapons, vigilant supervision of slaves, and discipline. Boys - Spartans wore light clothes, the same in winter and summer, ate simple food. Spartan system of education In Sparta, a system of physical exercises, the so-called pentathlon, began: running, jumping, wrestling, discus throwing and javelin throwing. With age, special military exercises began, training in hand-to-hand combat, they taught military music and recitation of poems about military prowess. Citizens who held government posts had conversations with pupils on political, social and moral topics, during which ideological and moral education was carried out, a short, concise speech was formed. Spartan system of education Spartan system of education Older teenagers took part in a kind of practical training - cryptia, night raids on slaves. Having reached the age of 18, the young men entered the ephebia, where they were trained for military service, participating in maneuvers, maintaining order in the cities. Spartan education system The Spartan education system included certain elements for girls: in addition to the traditional ones (housekeeping, child care, playing music), there was a special system of military physical exercises. In order to produce healthy and strong offspring in the future, the girls had to take care of strengthening and appropriate training of their bodies. The girls were also engaged in pentathlon: they ran, jumped, wrestled, threw a disc and threw a spear. The charters in force in Sparta excluded a pampered lifestyle for girls. The role of the family was insignificant. In the upbringing of children, which was a matter of state, all adult citizens, wise by life experience, took part. The Spartan system of education, which is the first experience in the history of human civilization of the stateization of the individual, was ineffective even in military and political terms. The cruelty and pragmatism of the Spartan system of education, its specialization aimed at the development of the physical nature and the overwhelming personality in man, the lack of a broad humanistic education and culture, and leisure caused the decline of Sparta. Spartan education system Athenian education system The purpose of the Athenian education system was to educate the ruling elite of the slave state in the spirit of kalokagatia - a combination of physical and moral virtues. Athenian pedagogy put forward as an ideal a combination of mental, moral, aesthetic and physical education. The content of education in the system of private and paid schools was subordinate to the formation of a harmoniously developed personality. They taught boys from the age of 7. At the grammar school, the boys received general fundamentals letters, and a little later they simultaneously studied at the cytharist school, where they studied music, singing, recitation. Athenian education system Having reached the age of 12 - 16, teenagers were engaged in gymnastics at school - palestra under the guidance of pedotrib (specialist in certain types of gymnastics). The main activities in this school were running, wrestling, jumping, javelin and discus throwing. Here, attention was paid to the civil training of teenagers, and discussions were held on political and moral topics. The Athenian system of education But more thorough training in this regard, young men of 16-18 years old from wealthy and noble families received in a state educational institution - a gymnasium, where they studied philosophy, literature, politics, and also physical development was carried out here in more complex forms. A higher level of education gave - ephebia. The Athenian system of education Continuing to engage in political science, the young men studied here the laws of the Athenian state and at the same time took a course of professional military training. The end of the ephebia meant that its graduates became full citizens of Athens. The Athenian system of education Girls were traditionally raised at home and educated in the female half of the house. Household was the woman's job. The Athenian education system, due to high tuition fees, was inaccessible to the children of financially incompetent parents, and the children of slaves were completely excluded from it. The Athenian system of education The aristocratic nature of Athenian education was also manifested in the fact that it was distinguished by complete contempt for physical labor, which from early childhood became the lifelong destiny of slaves. The sons of the demos were forced to learn from their fathers a trade that would give them security in life. In the field of moral education, the slave-owning aristocratic tendency was also strong: the children of rich and noble parents were protected from communication with slaves. The boy - an aristocrat was taught to realize the need to protect and protect the slave-owning state system, to respect his dignity, to the courage and bravery necessary for a free-born person. The Athenian system of education Thus, it should be concluded: The education of the Spartans pursued the main goal - to prepare a member of the military community. The ideal of Spartan education was a physically developed, strong-willed young man who was versed in military affairs. The state strictly regulated and controlled the system of raising children. Education was received in angels and ephebia. The goal of Athenian education assumed the all-round development of the individual in both physical, moral, mental and aesthetic terms. In fact, it was about the comprehensive formation of a personality, primarily with a developed intellect and body culture. The boys were educated at grammar schools and cytharist schools, then at palestra, gymnasiums and ephebia. Ancient Greece gave the world thinkers, the founders of philosophical teachings, who substantiated the system of education in their writings. The Sophists were the first professional teachers who offered their knowledge for a fee. They abandoned religion and gave a rational explanation of natural phenomena, human capabilities and the limits of human knowledge.
Features of the Spartan and Athenian systems of physical education of slave owners
The development of physical culture in ancient Greece.
in the classical period
Physical culture and sports reached their highest development in the 8th - 4th centuries. BC. during the heyday of slaveholding relations in Greece.
Taking into account the dependence on economic, political and cultural development, military organization and the system of education in a particular Greek state, the tasks, means, forms and methods of physical education were determined. The most typical in this respect were Sparta and Athens.
The physical culture of Sparta, stubbornly holding on to tribal traditions, reached its zenith in the 6th century. BC. The central task of physical education was the formation of the younger generation, capable of winning in any conditions, courageous, persistent and blindly obeying adults. The Spartan father had to show the newborn child to the council of elders. It was allowed to grow it further only if the council found it viable. Weak children were thrown into the gorge from Mount Taygetos. Children were not swaddled from birth to grow up tough. The system of physical education of Sparta is covered by the notes of Plato (427 - 347 BC). Children who reached the age of 7 were taken away from their parents and placed at the disposal of state educators. Educators hardened children, taught them to endure cold, hunger, thirst, endure pain, and carried out general physical training. Under these conditions, by the age of 14, each child got used to physical and mental trials and got an idea of the basics of gymnastics and orchestral.
In order to make sure that children grow up to be brave, competitions were held in front of the open graves of the heroes of the past, thereby cultivating a sense of responsibility for the accomplishments of their ancestors.
From the tougher forms of tests before initiation into teenagers at the age of 15, a custom was developed - cryptia. It meant a probationary year, during which 30-40 future initiates underwent combat exercises in the region of rebellious villages. During these actions, youth
together with the leader made night raids, killing and taking away the intended victims. At the end of the probationary period, teenagers fell into groups of Eirens. Their training was based on combat training in mastering weapons, pentathlon, fisticuffs (Spartan gymnastics).
Those who reached the age of 20 were again tested and transferred to the ephebe group. Systematic military training lasted up to 30 years.
Before reaching the age of 20, girls were taught, like boys, so that they would ensure order in the absence of men, and also so that strong offspring were born from them.
Physical education was carried out differently in Attica with a center in Athens. Educational and educational systems in Athens in the 5th - 6th centuries. BC. were not limited only to the military-physical training of young people, as in Sparta, but gave a versatile education. The Athenians believed that the harmonious development of a person should consist of mental, moral, aesthetic and physical education.
Children under 7 years old were brought up in a family under the supervision of a slave or slave. After the age of 7, girls continued to be brought up at home, while boys until the age of 16 attended a public or private school. Οʜᴎ were trained in music (from the word ʼʼmuseʼʼ; gave mental, aesthetic and moral education) and gymnastic schools (gim-nose - naked). In gymnastic schools - palestra (pale - wrestling) - they studied from the age of 12, from the age of 14 they continued their studies at the music school.
From 16 to 18 years old, after gymnastic and music schools, young men were assigned to gymnasiums. There were three gymnasiums in Athens: the Academy, Lyceum and Kinosarg, where, in addition to classes physical education studied politics, philosophy and literature.
From the age of 18, young people were assigned to the state military organization ephebia, where they performed military service.
Features of the Spartan and Athenian systems of physical education of slave owners - the concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Features of the Spartan and Athenian systems of physical education of slave owners" 2017, 2018.
- 73.50 KbMoscow State University instrumentation and informatics
Abstract on pedagogy on the topic: "Spartan and Athenian education systems."
Performed:
Fedorina Y.S.
group EF-4 (Finance and credit)
Moscow 2010
Introduction
2. Spartan education system
Introduction.
The basis of the ancient Eastern system of education is the repetition of the past, imitation, mastery of writing. The ancient Greek system first proposed the idea of a harmoniously developed personality. In the ancient Greek education system, the idea was first formulated individual development: continuous improvement, striving for the ideal. It was at that time that the age of the beginning of purposeful and systematic training was determined - 6-7 years.
In Greece, already in very early times, great attention was paid to the education of children. The Greeks sought to educate an intellectual and healthy person, well developed physically, to combine the beauty of the body and moral virtues. By the 5th c. BC. there were no illiterate people among the free Athenians. Education has moved from home to school.
Since the Greeks paid special attention to education, this allowed them to create a culture that set the standard of beauty in architecture, sculpture, music, literature, which is fully preserved in our time.
Ancient Greece is truly the cradle of European culture and education, narrates the vast literature - philosophical, historical, scientific, artistic, reference. Philosophers Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and close to them Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes, known to us more as mathematicians, enjoyed great influence in Greece. In the Greek system of education, art, science and sport were inextricably linked. A frail body, lack of musical ear and illiteracy were condemned. The embodiment of the Hellenic spirit were Olympic Games which included sports, theatrical and religious performances.
The subject of close attention of historians of pedagogy is the education systems of the city-states of Sparta and Athens, their pedagogical views and the activities of ancient Greek philosophers. The differences between these two systems of public education were due to certain features of economic, geographical and political development, the state of culture of city-states. For the first time, the upbringing of the younger generation in ancient Greece was considered as one of the most important functions of the state.
1. Athenian education system
By the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Athens becomes the center of crafts and trade, the most beautiful city with magnificent monuments of architecture and sculpture, theatrical performances and sports, public performances of philosophers and poets, gymnasiums and a whole system of schools.
At the heart of Athenian education was the ideal of an aesthetically developed personality that could recite, sing, play, dance, and had an aesthetically beautiful body. For the first time, the goal of the comprehensive development of the personality was set - the ideal of a mentally, morally, physically and developed personality. Education was diverse (grammatical, musical, gymnasium).
Athenian education evolved in a dynamically developing, socially heterogeneous society, focused on the interests of various segments of the population, in its highest forms reflected the ideal of the slave-owning elite - the idea of "kalokagatii (a person with a beautiful soul and strong in body), "arete" (exemplary behavior of a citizen, politician).
There are many schools in Athens. But among them there are no state. Schools are privately owned. The law in the time of Pericles says that children belong less to their parents than to the state, and parents should not be allowed to decide whether or not to send their children to a teacher. However, in practice, education was still not universal. Plato says that boys
visiting Palestine, most belong to aristocratic families.
The school program included reading, writing, literature, vocal and instrumental music, physical training, arithmetic and drawing. In the beginning, they wrote on boards rubbed with wax, with the sharp end of a metal or bone stick (style), rubbed the other end if it was written incorrectly, and again smoothed the wax on the board. There were special alphabet clay plates with syllables written on them. Gradually, children learn to accurately copy the writing samples received from the teacher. Then the tablet is replaced by papyrus, and the style is replaced by a reed pen. The ink he uses is extremely durable. Before use, they must be ground in water.
Arithmetic was taught visually and tirelessly, with the help of apples, fingers and other aids. Most of all, the abacus helped - a kind of counting board, with recesses that delimited units, tens and hundreds. Pebbles having one or another nominal value were placed in the recesses, and arithmetic operations were visually performed with them not only with integers, but also with fractions.
They came to school early - at sunrise, and stayed until sunset. Adults were not allowed not only to enter the school, but even to wander about it, except when they were invited to school holidays, which were held periodically in honor of the Muses or Hermes, the patron of eloquence. Exceptions were made only for the son, brother and son-in-law of the owner of the school. Holidays at the Greek school were in early spring.
All free Athenians under the age of 7 were brought up at home and received family education. When the boy from a wealthy family of free citizens turned 7 years old, he began to study in private and public educational institutions. The girls continued to receive family education, learning to run a household. The Athenian tradition provided for the girl exclusively home education. In the family, an Athenian girl received elementary reading and writing skills, as well as musical training.
Primary education (from 7 to 13 - 14 years old) the boys received in the schools of grammar and cytharist. Classes in schools were taught by didaskaly teachers (“didasko” - I teach or teach). The child was accompanied to school by one of the slaves, who was called a teacher (from the words "pais" (paidos) - a child and "ago" - I lead), literally a guide. At the grammar school, boys were taught reading, writing and counting. At the school of cytharist, children received literary and aesthetic education. The main subjects were music, singing, recitation. The alpha and omega of learning was the study of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. The schools of the grammarian and cytharist were called the musical schools. Typically, students attended both types of schools at the same time.
The next stage in the training of the ancient Athenian came at the age of 13 - 14, when the boys entered the gymnastic school - the palestra (the school of wrestling). In the palestras, the essence of education was the development of body culture. Here, for two years, the students were intensively engaged in pentathlon, which included: (swimming, running, jumping, javelin and discus throwing).
For the wealthiest part of the youth, the next stage of education could be public institutions - gymnasiums. In the gymnasiums, young men aged 16-18 improved their education, where they studied philosophy, politics, literature, rhetoric, and dialectics. In these educational institutions, students have always had the opportunity to listen to popular politicians and philosophers.
The education of Athenian youths aged 18-20 was completed in ephebia - public institutions for the improvement of military skills. For two years, young people studied military craft: building fortifications, driving military vehicles, serving in city garrisons, horseback riding, archery, throwing darts, etc.
The Athenian democracy took care of education and education of citizens. Starting from Pericles, i.e. from 40-30 years. 5th century BC, the authorities began to distribute special tokens to poor citizens, which could be used to go to a theatrical performance. Thus, Athenian democracy was based on the broad participation of various categories of citizens, ensured its social activity, created conditions for the development of the political self-consciousness of the Athenian citizen.
However, Athenian democracy also had its shortcomings. First, Athenian democracy was slave-owning, i.e. slaves, as well as meteks (foreigners), permanently living in Athens, did not have civil rights and did not take part in government.
4th century BC e. was marked in ancient Greece as the century of the creation of various schools, although education was very expensive. For example, learning rhetoric from the most prominent, along with Demosthenes, Greek orator of that era, Socrates, was almost more expensive than learning from the sophists, and was available only to the wealthy elite of the townspeople. Increasingly numerous philosophical schools also focused only on the social elite. Intensive intellectual, creative life was increasingly focused on one of the poles of society. It is characteristic that the art of the theater addressed to the broad masses, which received such a clear development in Athens in the 5th century. BC e., no longer played the same social and educational role in the next century. Tragedy was on the decline, comedy was undergoing significant changes. But if poetry has descended from the heights it reached in Pericles' Greece, then prose, on the contrary, has risen to an unprecedented high level. Oratory IV century. BC e. until the last centuries of antiquity, it remained an unsurpassed example of literary skill, correctness, purity and beauty of style. An even greater influence was exerted on subsequent generations, and not only in antiquity, by the philosophy of the 4th century. BC e., represented by the names of Plato and Aristotle.
Fine arts, especially sculpture, glorified even at that time the masterpieces of Praxiteles and Scopas, which were not inferior to the great works of Phidias, Polycletus. A magnificent monument of ancient culture of Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" (VI century BC). Once upon a time, Athenian youth memorized them, which was part of their education. Homer's poems were not only great value, as works of art, they were also given an important state, social and moral significance. These poems are about human relations, about good and evil, about honor and dishonor, about freedom and destiny. At all times they were read as profoundly modern.
The poems teach a calm attitude towards death as a natural necessity. With many valuable observations. For example, about the fact that a strong feeling is two-faced: grief both separates and unites; crying at the same time brings enlightenment, etc.
It is curious that all Greek education is built on the transfer to the future citizen of a number of skills that he will again need for personal participation in public affairs. This implies Education not of a professional in any field, but of a person. It is significant that some of the skills are transferred to the child by a slave, i.e. their use is not programmed in advance according to a certain pattern (after all, a slave could not be a model of life for a citizen). As the most important factor public life, the personal abilities of citizens are highlighted in his speech by Pericles. Solon evaluates the reforms he carried out as his personal achievement.
In order to protect their interests, a member of the policy has to reckon with the multifaceted conditions of civic activity.
In the face of the law, all citizens were in an equal position, while the state did not interfere in private affairs. It was not possible to protect one's own interests without participating in the political struggle. The political struggle itself took place against the background of uniform polis regulations expressing the interests of all citizens united by law.
2. Spartan education system.
The task of Spartan aristocratic education is to prepare a member of the class military community. Spartan education is a strict and harsh upbringing full of hardships, but tempering the body and the will of the pupil.
Even ancient authors laid the foundations for the tradition of opposing Athens and Sparta as two policies that differed sharply in the degree of freedom granted to citizens. If some explained the glory of Athens as the largest economic and cultural center of Hellas by the fact that Athenian citizens had the greatest possible freedom at that time, others praised the harsh system of restrictions in Sparta as a guarantee of the military power and stability of this state. Since then, "Athens - Sparta" has become an invariable attribute of a wide variety of philosophical and political concepts, the authors of which were concerned not so much with a reliable reconstruction of concrete historical realities as with the interpretation of the problems of contemporary political life.
The state in Sparta exercised total control not only over the public, but also over the private life of citizens, interfering in domestic issues, in marriage relations and the upbringing of children. The life of a citizen was entirely subordinated to the interests of the state.
State control over education began from the first days of life. Newborns were examined in a special place - "leskhe" - by senior members of the phylum, and only healthy children were transferred back to the hands of their father. The fate of sickly children is not entirely clear. The corresponding message of Plutarch (that such children were thrown into the Taygetian abyss) is not entirely reliable. In any case, sickly children grew up outside the closed Spartan community.
Healthy children up to 7 years old were left in the family. Plutarch notes the virtues of Spartan wet nurses. They “did not kiss children, gave complete freedom to their members and the whole body in general, taught them not to eat a lot, not to be picky in food, not to be afraid in the dark or not to be frightened when left alone, not to be capricious or cry. On this basis, even foreigners prescribed Spartan wet nurses for their children.
Work description
The subject of close attention of historians of pedagogy is the education systems of the city-states of Sparta and Athens, their pedagogical views and the activities of ancient Greek philosophers.
The differences between these two systems of public education were due to certain features of economic, geographical and political development, the state of culture of city-states. For the first time, the upbringing of the younger generation in ancient Greece began to be regarded as one of the most important functions of the state.
(Document)
n1.doc
MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY OF INSTRUMENT-MAKING AND INFORMATION
abstract
On the discipline "Pedagogy"
On the topic
"Spartan and Athenian systems of education"
Moscow, 2009
Education systems in Sparta and Athens
Strict education in Sparta…………………....5
Art education in Athens………………….. 9
List of used literature…………………………….14
Introduction
Pedagogy(Greek "children's science, children's education") - the science of upbringing, training and education of a person.
In ancient times, two great cities competed - Athens and Sparta. The Athenians considered their city "the heart of Hellas." And Sparta was famous for its invincible warriors, the harsh upbringing of young men and peculiar laws. It was in these two centers of Ancient Greece that two completely opposite in their directions, meaning and methodology systems of educating the younger generation were formed.
FROM 
the partan system of education was distinguished by rigidity and cruelty in the pedagogical approach. From an early age, children were subjected to the most severe selection and the most difficult tests. The purpose of this was to select the strongest and weed out the weakest. Only the strong, brave and courageous could become a full citizen of the Spartan state. Particular attention in Spartan schools was paid to the ability to accurately and briefly answer the questions asked. According to legend, the inhabitants of Laconia (the region of Sparta) were especially famous for this art, hence the well-known expression "laconic style" came from. The main law was the equality of all the inhabitants of Sparta, from the king to the ordinary citizen. Therefore, in Sparta they did not collect luxury items, they did not collect art objects.
The Athenian system of education relies for the most part on the development of the inner world, the perception of beauty and the desire for it. Of course, it cannot be said that the Athenians were pacifists and did not know how to hold weapons in their hands, no. They were excellent warriors - brave and brave, but for them there were other values than wars and the conquest of new lands. They loved music (every educated Athenian had to be able to play musical instruments and sing), furnished their houses with luxury, decorated them with statues and chic vases. The Athenians loved life and did everything to live it with pleasure.
Education systems in Sparta and Athens
Strict education in Sparta
Sparta (Laconia, Lacedaemon) is one of the most powerful and famous states of Ancient Greece, famous for its army, which never retreated before the enemy. An ideal policy, Sparta was a state that did not know unrest and civil strife.
In this amazing country there were neither rich nor poor, so the Spartans called themselves a "community of equals." The creator of the Spartan state, legislator and commander-in-chief was Lycurgus (IX century AD) - a strong, powerful, strong-willed and cruel ruler who established his laws of "equality" in Sparta. In Sparta, there was a law according to which no one had to wear clothes of the wrong color and be fuller than necessary. All Spartans, from the king to the common citizen, had to live in exactly the same conditions. Special instructions indicated which can build houses, what clothes to wear, and even food had to be the same for everyone. Spartan citizens did not know the peace of home life, they could not manage their time at their own discretion. Their whole life from birth to death passed under vigilant control.
All the men of Sparta were required to be warriors, strong and courageous, ready at any moment to give their lives for the sake of the fatherland. For this everything inhabitants of Sparta males (non-indigenous people did not go through this system of education), starting from infancy, were subjected to rigorous selection, training and testing. Thus, Lycurgus wanted to create an ideal state in which only excellent and strong wars would live. Lycurgus called his system of military education the “Agoge System”.
At birth, the boy was taken and carried to the edge of the Apotheta abyss ( a crevice in the Taygetus mountains), where they examined it for a very long time and carefully. If the boy was sick or weak, then he was thrown into the abyss. And those who were left alive were subjected to various tests, despite the fact that they were infants. The cradles in which the children slept were very rough and hard. It was believed that boys would be taught endurance and pain.
At the age of 7, boys were taken away from their parents and sent to special military camps. There they went through a complex system of education, learned to survive. Those who did not cope - died. They slept on straw bedding, and they were allowed to wear clothes only from the age of 12, which was issued only once a year. Some boys put nettles in their beddings to keep them warm by burning them. Boys were also allowed to bathe only once a year. The children were fed poorly. All this was done to accustom to difficult conditions during hostilities. The boys worked hard exercise, practiced swordsmanship, javelin throwing. They had to look for food for themselves - steal, rob, and if necessary, kill. If one of the boys was caught stealing, then they were beaten mercilessly - not for theft, but for awkwardness. Thus, young men from an early age were forced to behave harshly, cruelly and mercilessly - in order to survive. But in this system, not only physical and combat training took place, but also learning to read and write. Boys were taught to be silent for a long time and speak briefly and clearly (succinctly). Adults, watching the children, purposely quarreled them, causing a fight, and watched who was smarter and bolder in a fight. This harsh system of education was mainly aimed at making them strong, obedient and fearless.
But still, future warriors were sometimes allowed to "have fun", that is, to arrange the so-called cryptia - the boys ran to the neighboring villages of helots (farmers who are in an intermediate position between serfs and slaves). During the day, young Spartans hid in secluded corners, and at night they went out to hunt helots. They plundered and burned the village, and the strongest men were taken away with them and their intestines were torn out, watching them die. These raids made it possible to keep the helots in constant fear. Even the “rest” from hard physical training was aimed at fostering cruelty and at perceiving human life (the life of a non-warrior) as the cheapest and not very important.
At the age of 15 to 20, young Spartans received musical education (choral singing), without stopping enhanced physical and military training.
At the age of 17, when the young Spartans were supposed to return home, the last test awaited them - they needed to get to the temple of Artemis (goddess of the hunt, goddess of fertility, goddess of female chastity), located very high in the mountains. Once there, the Spartan had to "sacrifice" on the altar of Artemis. The priests of the temple tied the young man over a large sacrificial bowl and publicly began to whip him with wet rods until the first drops of blood. So it was, if the young man did not make a single sound, but as soon as he made at least a sound, he was beaten even harder, until he was silent. The priests could beat them unconscious and even to death. So the weak were weeded out. Having passed the test, recognized warriors received weapons, became full-fledged Spartans and began to take part in the systematic beating of slaves in order to keep them in constant fear. By the age of 20, young men became men, warriors who, without hesitation for a minute, could beat and take life.
The Spartan education system was also used for girls. True, of course, in a lighter and shorter version than that of young men. In addition to traditional duties, which included housekeeping, childcare, playing music, there was a special system of military physical exercises for girls. In order for their future children to be healthy and strong, they had to take care of strengthening their health by appropriately training their bodies: run, jump, wrestle, throw a discus, throw a spear.
Art education in Athens
BUT 
Finland was an important city during the great period of the highest flowering of Greek culture. G the main deity of the country and the city of Athens, the patroness of the Athenians was the goddess of war, wisdom, the patroness of sciences and crafts Athena. During the Golden Age of Greece (circa 500 BC to 300 BC), Athens was the center of culture and intelligence, and was the cradle of Western civilization. It is the ideas and practices of Ancient Athens that are based and rooted in the culture ancient city are now called "Western Civilization".
More complete and developed, compared to the Spartan, was the Athenian system of education. A large role in the Athenian education system was given to art, literature, and music. Athenian education in boys' schools consisted of the study of three groups of subjects: verbal sciences, music and gymnastics. In Athens, there was a classification of schools: a grammar school, a cytharist school, a palette school, a gymnasium and an ephibia (only children from noble and wealthy families had the right to study in the last two).
Children in Athens up to the age of 7 were in the sphere of home education. Girls were taught to cook, sew, clean, run a household, play music, and sing. Their upbringing was limited to this area. And boys from the age of 7 studied in private and paid schools. At the grammar school, they learned the basics of literacy. And a little later, they simultaneously studied music, singing (including choral), recitation at the cytharist school. The boys were taught by the citharist to play the seven-stringed, then the nine-stringed lyre and cithara. The Greeks attributed to music the ability to have a special influence on the mind and thinking of a person. Plato argued, for example, that this art inspires a person with a desire for virtue.
From the age of 12-16, teenagers at the palette school were engaged in gymnastics and pentathlon (running, wrestling, jumping, javelin and discus throwing). To strengthen not only the inner world, but also to develop physical strength.
Young men from the most noble families from the age of 16-18 continued their education in gymnasiums, where they studied philosophy, literature, and politics.
The highest level of education was given by ephibia, where young men entered at the age of 18-20. In ephibia, the young men continued to study political science, studied the laws of the Athenian state and at the same time took a course of professional military training. The completion of two years of study at ephibia meant that its graduates became full citizens Athens. It was these citizens who made up the "top", the "cream" of society.
The aristocratic nature of Athenian education was manifested not only in the fact that only very rich people could pay for it, but also in the fact that it was distinguished by complete contempt for physical labor, which was only the lot of slaves. Rhetorical school Mark Fabius Quintiliana one of the first to receive the status of a state educational institution. Quintilian (Roman rhetor, teacher of eloquence) professed the principles of humanistic non-violent pedagogy. He substantiated and applied in his pedagogical practice three methods of teaching and education:
Imitation;
Instruction;
An exercise.
Conclusion
Pedagogical thought and pedagogical practice reached a true flowering in Ancient Greece and Rome. In ancient Greece, two systems of education were especially distinguished: Spartan and Athenian.
In the Spartan system, the fundamental factor was physical education and the education of fortitude. The Spartans raised warriors who were supposed to protect and protect their lands from other peoples. After all, the Spartans were a very closed and conservative people who considered their state structure the only correct and possible. Any warrior of Sparta had to have excellent physical fitness, excellent command of weapons and speak briefly and clearly. Even now, we often say "Spartan upbringing" or "he grows up in Spartan conditions", which means that the child is brought up in strictness and humility. The Spartans did not recognize luxury goods, because they believed that all citizens should live in the same conditions and no one could stand out from the crowd, even the king.
The Athenian system was not so cruel and merciless, but quite demanding. The Athenians assigned a big role to accustoming the younger generation to the beautiful, instilling a love for art, music, and literature. Every citizen of Athens had to play musical instruments, sing, be a good speaker and be able to support any conversation. The Athenians were also famous for their combat training, battle tactics, which they also learned. Every Athenian aspired to live better, to surround himself with luxury items, to furnish his home luxuriously. The rationality of education through art is obvious. This method of education is the most effective, reasonable and universal in terms of the spiritual development of children and society as a whole.
Thus, we have before us two absolutely opposite systems of education: one based on tyranny and rigor, the other on the study of art, science and music.
Bibliography:
Kuznetsova T. I., Strelnikova I. P. “Oratory in ancient rome» M., 1976.
Kuzishchina V. I. "History of Ancient Greece" M., 1996.
Vinischuk L. "People, customs and customs of Greece and Rome" M., 1988.
"Pedagogical dictionary" M., 1995.
