Education in Ancient Greek and Rome. Modern Education and Its Theories free essay sample

According to the the journal published by the Institute of Education, at Yale University, education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. Many people agree that formal education has its roots in ancient Greece with Socrates, and then past to other civilizations, others credit Roma. It is not our intention to say who land may be considered the motherland of education, but to answer questions such as: How was education in ancient times? What is the impact ancient civilizations have had in modern education? What contribution did they make to education in our days? Part I Ancient Greek education. The goal of education in the Greek city-states was to prepare children for adult activities as a citizen. Greece was divided in city-states and two of them developed a high level in education: Sparta and Athens. The nature of the city-states varied greatly, and this was also true of the education they considered appropriate. Both daily life and education were very different in Sparta and Athens or in the other ancient Greek city-states. Sparta. The goal of education in Sparta, an authoritarian, military city-state, was to produce soldier-citizens. â€Å"The purpose of education was to produce a well-drilled, well-disciplined marching army. Spartans believed in a life of discipline, self-denial, and simplicity. Spartans were educated to be fierce warriors, Spartan military force was regarded as terrifying. Bennet, Allan (2006, page. 135) Athens. On the other hand, the goal of education in Athens, a democratic city-state, was to produce citizens trained in the arts of both, peace and war. Spartans and Athenians had school to train children for them to become citizens, they were trained separately, boys were educated at school to become strong warriors, while girls were educated at home. †Å"Athenians were trained in war, gymnastics, arts, music, philosophy, geometry, astronomy, harmonics (the mathematical theory of music), and arithmetic, primarily oratory and rhetoric. † Bennet, Allan. 2006, page 203) Greece contributed greatly to our education specially in fields such as: philosophy, rhetoric, art, architecture and mathematics. Part II ROME. In the early Roman society, before the 6th century B. C. children were taught by their parents. The mothers taught their sons before the age of seven, they taught their daughters to do housework and anything else the mothers thought might be useful. After the age of seven, boys moved under the control of their fathers who would decide what his son needed to know in order to succeed in life, and would give his son lessons. They received both, latin and greek education but only children from the wealthiest families would receive a fully bi-lingual education, they spent a lot of time with a Greek servant or slave and therefore would learn Greek before Latin, they also learned to read and write, again with Greek coming before Latin. the poor in Ancient Rome did not receive a formal education, but, many still learned to read and write. Romans borrowed some of the ancient Greek system of education, they read scrolls and books,they wrote on boards covered with wax, and used pebbles to do math problems. They were taught Roman numerals, and recited lessons they had memorized, attended Grammar classes to studY Latin, Greek, grammar, literature and public speaking at the rhetoric school, to prepare them for a life as an orator. The contributions of ancient Rome to education are more in the field of arts such like architecture, painting and latin language. Part III From ancient time to modern. Modern western education finds its origins in the practices, systems and schools of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Joyal, Mark. Greek and Roman Education: A Sourcebook G. J. Reece, American University, Choice, Vol. 46, No. 09, May 2009. Education has developed throught years and many theories have been formulated. Modern education is closely related to psychology and most of the theories on education come from psychologists,the followings are some: Pragmatism:developed by John Dewey, cosidered the father of modern education, states that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that impractical ideas are to be rejected. Behaviorism : primarily developed by B. F. Skinner who stated that environment shapes behavior and the way people learn. Cognitivism: states that the memory system is an active organized processor of information and that prior knowledge plays an important role in learning. Constructivism: views learning as a process in which the learner actively constructs or builds new ideas or concepts based upon current and past knowledge or experience. Socio-cultural psychology: founded by Lev Vygotsky. A basic distinguishing feature of cultural-historical psychology is that the species-specific characteristic of human beings is their need and ability to inhabit an environment transformed by the activity of prior members of their species. Psychodynamic theory: developed by Sigmund Freud. Is the systematized study and theory of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, emphasizing the interplay between unconscious and conscious motivation.