The Greek Foundation of Modern Education

The roots of modern America's educational system and traditions are from the Greeks. They were the first to separate wisdom from religious control.

Two contrasting types of education appeared early in ancient Greece: that of Sparta, wholly controlled by the state, and that of Athens, left almost entirely to the home and to private schools. Up to the age of seven, the education of both boys and girls was left to the home; at the age of seven, boys were gathered in barracks, where emphasis was placed upon physical development through games, exercises, and the pentathlon (running, jumping, throwing the discus, casting the javelin, and wrestling) and upon memorizing the laws of Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver, and selections from Homer. The whole process was designed to develop endurance, resourcefulness, and discipline. At eighteen, definite training in the use of arms and warfare began; from twenty to thirty, service in the army and guarding the borders of the state were required, and even after thirty, men were required to live in barracks and assist in the training of the boys. Physical training was also emphasized in the education of girls and women, so that they might bear sturdy children. The whole purpose of education was to subordinate the individual to the needs of the state.

The ancient Greeks, interest in learning is evident in their art, politics, and philosophy. They had teachers live in their households; these teachers were often slaves from conquered states. Later, when the Roman Empire was at its height, its citizens also followed the practice of having teacher-slaves, usually Greeks, attached to their households. Several Greek writers served as the model for the educational systems of ancient Greece, which stressed gymnastics as well as mathematics and music.

Have you ever wondered where we got the subject divisions: literature, history, language? The Greeks divided God's creation into topics. When you divide life into topics you can separate the topic from the Creator.

The basic divisions of knowledge were: Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic - these were meant to help students communicate effectively, and included a study of literature and language - Arithmetic, Music, Geometry and Astronomy. These seven subjects later on became known as the Liberal Arts. They survive in one form or another in many universities today. Anatomy, Biology and Botany were also valid fields of study.

Education, in general was considered a leisure pursuit only available to the privileged few. The majority of the population, Greek or Roman slaves, received no education. The pursuit of literature was considered the ultimate goal--an idle life of leisure void of manual labor. This pagan goal of the idle rich is in America today.

The Greeks were history's first humanists, believing that man was the measure of all things. The Greek aim was to prepare intellectually well rounded young people to take leading roles in the activities of the state and of society. Greek concepts served as the basis for the liberal arts, the teaching of the various branches of philosophy, the cultivation of the aesthetic ideal, and the promotion of gymnastic training. There is a problem with the education system based on the philosophies of these non-believers!

Christendom

After the peace of the church, in the reign of Constantine, Christianity began to make converts of the educated classes. More than ever before, the church was brought into direct confrontation with the dilemma offered by pagan ideals of education and the perfect man. To a large extent the confrontation, took place over classical literature. A majority of citizens were of the literary/rhetorical tradition. The issue was entire classical world view. Was the church to discard all pagan culture, or was it to attempt a synthesis between Christian and classical thought.? Within the circle of orthodoxy many answers were given. That which, after long trail and debate, was finally settled upon has affected our intellectual culture to this day.

By the time the church confronted the issue of education on an institutional level, several important things already occurred:

The Church had transferred from Jewish to Gentile soil
The standard of orthodoxy was moving in a more theological direction.
The Judaic roots of Christianity were radically de-emphasized as the Gospel message was universalized.
The Biblical wisdom tradition was discarded in exchange of Greek education.
Wisdom was redefined in classical terms

As the Church became more and more Gentile, less and less Judaic, an education system arose. The Bible standards that would have caused friction with the classical paideia [education] had retreated into the distance. The Church had undergone a strange transformation. The Church begins to define itself apart from Judaism beginning about 160 A.D., the time of Justin Martyr. The Church began to turn arrogant and, during the second, third and fourth centuries, Greek thought swept into the Church like a flood. A whole series of events led to the de- Judaizing of the Church. Unfortunately, Christian hostility toward Judaism also developed hostility toward the Jews. Jews by Jews. In the second century, it became Anti-Jewish to win Gentiles by Gentiles. In the first place, we have Jews against Jews; in the second, we have Gentiles against Jews.

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