Although Athens did not force mandatory schooling and the education of children in the same way that Sparta forced military training, the state still took some interest in the prevailing educational conditions. They provided elementary, musical, and physical instruction which Sparta did not. Considering this, the Athenians had a more diverse and overall better education than the Spartans.
At the young age of eight Spartan boys were taken away from their family and placed in a training system called the agoge to begin their training as future soldiers (Grant 1987: 297). From what we understand of Sparta, the agoge was the education. They had no daily lessons and most of their education “was directed towards responsiveness to command, endurance …show more content…
The main reason for providing physical education was for “the discipline of the body and with a view to give it a healthy development and a noble carriage” (Laurie, 1894: 491). Physical training “promoted the burgeoning of sport as an integral part of Greek upbringing” (Appelboom, Fierens, Rouffin 1988: 594). It was important for Athenian boys to learn multiple forms of sport and the “exercises were graduated from the easier to the more difficult” (Laurie, 1894:491). Eventually the boys were able to compete in contests like the “Pentathlon, in which five exercises [were] performed in succession by the same person [including] leaping, running, discus, throwing the spear, and wrestling” (Laurie, 1894: 492). Once the boys were eighteen years old they “no longer attended the Palaestra but the gymnasium [and] full grown men were also expected to continue their exercises” (Laurie, 1894: 492). This shows that in Athens athletic training was not a short term occupation, it continued on even after the boys were out of school providing them with life ling learning. In Sparta, the teaching of proper physical education was not considered important due to the fact that they were already learning to fight. With this said they did still train in athletics proven by Michael Grant who says, “these unquestioning and ruthless young men did no work, except training, athletics, and fighting” …show more content…
In certain exceptions “they sometimes learned a little reading and writing from their mothers and singing and playing on the lyre” (Laurie, 1894: 500) but they were not sent to a proper school. Their main education was being taught how to become a good wife which included learning “spinning, sewing, weaving, knitting [and] management of the household” (Laurie, 1984: 500). In Xenophon’s Estate Manager, he describes a fictional encounter between Socrates and Ischomachus, Ischomachus exclaims, “’Look here Socrates, she hadn’t reached her fifteenth birthday when she came to me. She had lived her entire life until that time under scrupulous supervision so that she should see, hear and say as little as possible’” (Joyal, Mcdougall, & Yardley, no. 3.6 = Xenophon, The Estate Manager, 7.3-6). As females they were meant to be seen and not heard and to run the household. Due to the fact that in Athens females had no “social or political influence” (Laurie, 1894: 500) they had a lot of time to spend at home perfecting their skills and becoming the best wife possible. In Sparta it was a little different; it was not important for women to get a proper education in schooling or how to become a wife. Their “productive life work was essentially bearing children” (Pomeroy, et al 2012: 166). Unlike in Athens, Spartans believed that “girls [who] take no exercise at all and sit working at their wool [cannot] be expected to bear
At the young age of eight Spartan boys were taken away from their family and placed in a training system called the agoge to begin their training as future soldiers (Grant 1987: 297). From what we understand of Sparta, the agoge was the education. They had no daily lessons and most of their education “was directed towards responsiveness to command, endurance …show more content…
The main reason for providing physical education was for “the discipline of the body and with a view to give it a healthy development and a noble carriage” (Laurie, 1894: 491). Physical training “promoted the burgeoning of sport as an integral part of Greek upbringing” (Appelboom, Fierens, Rouffin 1988: 594). It was important for Athenian boys to learn multiple forms of sport and the “exercises were graduated from the easier to the more difficult” (Laurie, 1894:491). Eventually the boys were able to compete in contests like the “Pentathlon, in which five exercises [were] performed in succession by the same person [including] leaping, running, discus, throwing the spear, and wrestling” (Laurie, 1894: 492). Once the boys were eighteen years old they “no longer attended the Palaestra but the gymnasium [and] full grown men were also expected to continue their exercises” (Laurie, 1894: 492). This shows that in Athens athletic training was not a short term occupation, it continued on even after the boys were out of school providing them with life ling learning. In Sparta, the teaching of proper physical education was not considered important due to the fact that they were already learning to fight. With this said they did still train in athletics proven by Michael Grant who says, “these unquestioning and ruthless young men did no work, except training, athletics, and fighting” …show more content…
In certain exceptions “they sometimes learned a little reading and writing from their mothers and singing and playing on the lyre” (Laurie, 1894: 500) but they were not sent to a proper school. Their main education was being taught how to become a good wife which included learning “spinning, sewing, weaving, knitting [and] management of the household” (Laurie, 1984: 500). In Xenophon’s Estate Manager, he describes a fictional encounter between Socrates and Ischomachus, Ischomachus exclaims, “’Look here Socrates, she hadn’t reached her fifteenth birthday when she came to me. She had lived her entire life until that time under scrupulous supervision so that she should see, hear and say as little as possible’” (Joyal, Mcdougall, & Yardley, no. 3.6 = Xenophon, The Estate Manager, 7.3-6). As females they were meant to be seen and not heard and to run the household. Due to the fact that in Athens females had no “social or political influence” (Laurie, 1894: 500) they had a lot of time to spend at home perfecting their skills and becoming the best wife possible. In Sparta it was a little different; it was not important for women to get a proper education in schooling or how to become a wife. Their “productive life work was essentially bearing children” (Pomeroy, et al 2012: 166). Unlike in Athens, Spartans believed that “girls [who] take no exercise at all and sit working at their wool [cannot] be expected to bear