What is history about Plato’s?

                    PLATO'S

 Plato’s Philosophy of Education and the Common Core debate.. 🖤 

EDUCATION IN ANCIENT GREECE 

In Greece we find the origins of many of our educational policies and systems as it 

is the originating sources of Western civilization. Greek ideas about education and their 

educational practices have been very influential to other cultures. One of Rome's greatest 

service to mankind is that it carried the Greek tradition to all the Western lands. Greek 

civilization developed between 1200 and 490 B.C. It is in the Age of Pericles, around 500 

B.C., that we see the first organized effort in a Western society for formal education. 1

The study of ancient Greek civilization provides valuable lessons on citizenship 

and civic education that illustrates the important role of education in shaping good citizens. 

Textual analysis of his various dialogues reveals Plato’s views on the purpose of 

education, what it is that should be taught to others and how the teacher should impart this 

knowledge. Plato’s educational thought illuminates many problems today’s educatorsface: Who are worthy models for children to imitate? How does education help to shape

good citizenship? How does education serve humankind’s search for truth? In particular

we will extrapolate Plato’s response the current common core debate.

PLATO’S LIFE AND FAMILY

We know about Plato and his family from the comments he makes in his

dialogues. Plato was born in 427 B.C., the son of Ariston and Perictione, both of whom

were descended from distinguished Athenians of royalty. His father died when Plato

was a few years old and his mother remarried a friend of the great Athenian statesman

Pericles which meant that Plato was familiar with Athenian politics from childhood and

was expect to take up a political career himself.2

 Plato received the typical education of a youth in Athens, where the education of

the young was looked at as a public rather than a private matter and was entrusted

exclusively to professional hands. In the Republic, Plato outlines the normal education of

a Greek boy, which he also received – learning to read and write and study the poets.

Education began in Athens around 640-550 BC with Solon's edict that every boy should

be taught to swim and to read in schools and palestras, or the gymnastic schools. Solon

did not define the curriculum or the methods but only the age and rank of students and the

qualifications of the pedagogues, that is the slaves who tutored each student. Athenian

citizens were expected to be able to read and write, to count and sing or play the lyre.

Schools in Athens were not a creation of the state but a private enterprise with the teacher

supported by tuition payments. School was not compulsory in Athens, nor was it open to

all, but only to the male children of the citizens. Between the ages of eight and sixteen

some Athenian boys attended a series of public schools. 3

The Athenian educated ideal was a well-rounded, liberally educated individual who was capable in politics, military

affairs and general community life and could take part in the direct participatory

democracy.

Education of Athenian women

The aim of education for Athenian women was more at the level of training,

enabling them to master domestic tasks rather than intellectual. Most Athenian girls were

only educated in the home. A few women's schools existed. Sappho of Lesbos, most

notably, operated a school that taught women of rank such subjects as singing, music,

dancing, and sports.4

 Most characteristic of Athenian life was the general opinion that

education – culture and civic education– was an art to be learned by each individual. 5

This is particularly strong in Plato’s philosophy of education. He was the first to suggest

equal education for men and women; based on their natural ability. He was perhaps

influenced by the system of education developed in the south of Greece in Sparta.

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 We see the influence of this Spartan philosophy of education in the system worked out by

Plato in his Republic.

For Plato grew up in a city at war; the Peloponnesian war began before he was

born and lasted until he was 23 years old. The demoralization of Athens due to defeat

during the war led to an oligarchy revolution, followed by a savage tyranny that finally

gave way to the re-establishment of a democratic constitution. During this turmoil,

Socrates was put to death on a charge of impiety and corrupting the youth. Some

scholars maintain that Plato served as the "defense attorney" for Socrates during his

trial. The fact that he lost the case and his beloved mentor had a profound effect on him

made him anxious to preserve the memory of Socrates. 7