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Introduction To Education  EDF 1005 Unit I Lesson V THE ORIGINS OF TEACHING: The Roman Legacy
Personal Information Joseph D. McNair Associate Professor, Senior jmcnair@mdc.edu		Links Ask an Expert Real Time Data Link Collaborative Project Data Link More Links
Introduction to the Lesson The purpose of this fifth lesson is to further extend the education student's exposure to the origins of formal teaching/ learning. In this lesson, the student will study the "Roman Legacy" or educational principles and practices derived from the Romans. The student will also focus on the philosophical writings of important Romans who influenced the development of western education in Ancient Rome. From http://www.crystalinks.com/romeducation.html The goal of education in ancient Rome was to be an effective speaker. The school day began before sunrise, as did all work in Rome. Students brought candles to use until daybreak. There was a rest for lunch and the afternoon siesta, and then back to school until late afternoon. No one knows how long the school year actually was; it probably varied from school to school. However, one thing was uniform - the school began each year on the 24th of March! In early Roman days, a Roman boy's education took place at home. If his father could read and write, he taught his son to do the same. The father instructed his sons in Roman law, history, customs, and physical training, to prepare for war. Reverence for the gods, respect for law, obedience to authority, and truthfulness were the most important lessons to be taught. Girls were taught by their mother. Girls learned to spin, weave, and sew. About 200 BC, the Romans borrowed some of the ancient Greek system of education. Although they did not add many subjects, they did begin sending their boys, and some of their girls, with their father's permission, to school, outside their home, at age 6 or 7. The children studied reading, writing, and counting. 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. At age 12 or 13, the boys of the upper classes attended "grammar" school, where they studied Latin, Greek, grammar, and literature. At age 16, some boys went on to study public speaking at the rhetoric school, to prepare for a life as an orator. Poor children couldn't attend as the schools were not free. Children, educated outside of the home, were sent to the house of a tutor, who would group-tutor. Children, educated in the home, were taught by intelligent and gifted slaves. Children, in poorer homes, did not have slaves to teach them; they were taught by their parents in early Roman days. From  http://education.umn.edu/EdPA/iconics/gallery1/incase3.html In Roman society the family formed the nucleus for the inculcation of moral and social education. The primary objective was the preservation of the status quo. Although the society was a class system comprised of patricians and plebians, conflict eventually paved the way for educational reform and opportunities amongst slaves and lower class citizens. The female education was essentially a domestic one, with knowledge passed on from mother to daughter, primarily instruction in domestic skills related to the management of the home. Mothers also instructed young boys until their education was turned over to the father who guided them in their vocational, physical, and military training. Military training included riding, fencing, javelin-throwing, discus, and weaponry. Less emphasis was placed on a literary education than the Greeks, however, rudimentary skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught. By the end of the 4th century, elementary schools, or ludus, appeared in Rome, presided over by a teacher or magister ludi. Corporal punishment was common disciplinary practice in the schools, used to break the free will of the student student, it was believed to be essential to the "hardening" process, in order to strengthen and toughen the youth to sustain the hard knocks that come with public life. Quintilian was a teacher of rhetoric whose Institutio Oratoria provided a systematic plan for oratorical preparation for all stages of education for the young boy. Quintilian, and notable other educators after him, philosophically opposed the use of corporal punishment practiced in the ludus. He believed that the practice broke the spirit of the impressionable youth, and that, in the end gentle guidance and nurture were of more long-term benefit in the development of the child. Severe punishment, he believed, robbed the child of genuine spirit essential to creativity and innovation. The orator served as the model of the educated man in Rome. Cicero's De Oratore (55 B.C.) was primarily concerned with the education of his own son, Marcus. Principally concerned more with higher education than elementary or secondary curricula, Cicero recommended that the orator have a knowledge of ethics, psychology, military science, medicine, natural science, geography, astronomy, and most importantly, history, law, and philosophy. The orator needed to be well versed in rhetoric, which meant he knew to choose his words carefully, and to structure his arguments to be persuasive. As a public figure, he was to live a life of action and purpose, truthful in speech and deed. He was raised up to be a demonstrative ideal and role model for other citizens, especially for the next generations of young boys.   From  http://library.thinkquest.org/22866/English/Romday/School.html #lager All Roman boys, poor and rich, went to the primary school from their 7th till 12th year. The girls stayed at home and let their mothers teach them how to run the household in the future. After the primary school the children of poor parents had no chance to learn more. After the primary school the boys from rich parents went to the secondary school. They stayed there till they where 15 years old. A small and select group of boys from the highest social circles of the Roman Empire went to the orator school after they left the secondary school. These boys got high functions in the politics or juridics. The Primary School At the primary school the boys were taught by the magister, the schoolmaster. The trade of magister had no good reputation. A schoolmaster earned very little, and he always had rough times. There were about 30 boys in the class, all ages mixed together. For that reason the magister had to keep every boy apart at work and instruct each boy individually. It is comprehensible that it could get out of control sometimes. Very often the students had no respect for the teacher, so the teacher had to punish a lot.  Corporal punishments were the usual way of punishment. A few raps on the knuckles or back with a birch were almost the only weapons of a magister. On the primary school the boys learned to read, to write and to calculate. They sat on small stools, and the magister sat on a chair. They wrote on wax-boards, wooden boards with a thin layer of wax, with a sharp stylus. The handy thing of these boards was, that you could use them over and over, by spreading the wax evenly and smoothly over the board. Other writing-methods whom used by the Romans: With ink on papyrus With ink on parchment Papyrus Papyrus descended from the papyrus-plant. This plant grew on the banks of the Nile in Egypt. It had an angular stalk, from which you could cut out very thin strips. These strips were placed next to each other, and after that, there was a second layer put over it, squared on the first layer. This was pressed all together, and then you had a charta, a sheet of papyrus. A few of these chartae were stuck together. The result was called a volumen, a book-roll. Parchment  Parchment was comparatively much more expensive then papyrus, but you could keep it much longer. Parchment was made out of specially treated animal's skins, mostly sheepskins. In the beginning, the people made a volumen of parchment too, but later, in the 1st century BC, they invented the codex. The pieces of parchment were now folded and cut, and together with a jacket they formed a book (the codex). The Secondary School As told before, the boys of rich parents went to the secondary school after the primary school, till their 15th. There a grammaticus taught them. He taught them in Latin (see chapter: Language) and Greek. When the students knew their own language, Latin, a lot better then before, and they knew the principles of the Greek language, the big authors were read. For Greek they started for example with the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer. Subjects like Geography and History came up for consideration too, but only when the texts of the education of literature gave occasion to it. Like this, the students became familiar in the Greek world, and they learned a lot about the Roman history. The Orator School A small and select group of boys from the highest social circles of the Roman Empire went to the orator school after their successful career at the primary and secondary school. These boys were predestined to have great success in the political or the juridical world. These boys had very rich parents, because the orator school was very expensive. At the orator school they learned how to speak well in public.  To reach that, you had to build op your oration well, put up your arguments at the right time and in the right order, and speak the whole message with cogency. You also had to learn a few important and famous political orations by heart, so you could quote pieces of it in the future. (from http://myron.sjsu.edu/romeweb/SOCIAL/art3.htm) Education of young people in the Roman world was done much differently from the way we educate our own children, yet some things were done very much like in our society. A father would never dream of having his son sit in a group of twenty five or thirty other youngsters to learn math, but athletic training and sports were done in groups like we do today. Also, we must remember that the "Romans" were not just one group of central Italian people with their own Latin customs, but encompassed cultures, languages, and educational systems from the entire Roman world. This spread from the misty isle of Britain to the Egyptian desert and encompassed all cultures in between. In general, education of children of the families of Senatorial class would follow either the Greek model or the traditional Roman model, and sometimes drew on both systems. Also, education varied with social class, as it does today despite the efforts of some to provide a uniform education to all citizens. A son of a rich merchant of the Equestrian class would receive an education that included much hands - on business management while a noblewoman's education might prepare her for administration of a large manor and hundreds of slaves during her husband's absence. The sons of craftsmen would be apprentices, either in their father's shop or in the shop of another craftsman of the same trade. Education of a Young Man of the Senatorial Class The father in the traditional Roman home was a stern figure, and believed his sons shouldn't be coddled but must build character. It was important that the young man develop gravitas, a serious and stern sense of purpose. What little comfort and physical love the child was allowed came from his mother or his nurse, who might be either male or female. Often, the child was given into the care of a wet nurse soon after birth, and this person often remained the boy's loyal servant even after he had grown up and throughout the rest of his life. From early childhood, the boy might never see his mother and father except in the evenings to take a formal supper with the family. As the boy grew, he was given a pedagogue or private tutor. The pedagogue was responsible for teaching the child basic reading and laying the foundation for learning the art of rhetoric, or public speaking which would come later. There were three phases to a proper Roman education, primary instruction, reading of literature (called grammar by the Romans) and formal schooling in rhetoric. Rhetoric was considered the most important art the young man could acquire, except if the family came from a military tradition. In this case, it was important to teach the boy the arts of war, swordsmanship, hand - to - hand combat, and about life in an army camp. Athletic training in these cases was often harsh, the boy having to endure cold and hunger in order to teach him to survive while on campaign. Some of the later rich Senatorial families looked down on this type of upbringing, preferring to concentrate on the political arts. On the other hand, rigorous military training was part of the Roman experience during the early Republic and was valued by all Romans. Reading and writing were taught by the pedagogue to children of Senatorial class, at times just to boys and at other times to both boys and girls. There was no hard and fast rule concerning the education of girls. Some families provided an education to their girls and others considered an educated woman to be lacking in the feminine virtues. Reading itself consisted of the classics. Mythology was popular, and the works of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek scholars were important in the education of the young Roman. Writing was done on a wax tablet with an ivory, bone, or metal stylus. One end of the stylus was sharp to make a clean mark in the wax, while the other end was often shaped like a little spatula for smoothing away mistakes so they could be corrected. The wax tablets were made like a little wooden frame or tray into which hot melted wax was poured. A pigment was often added to the wax to make the letters stand out. A nice personal wax tablet could be quite elaborate, with several hinged, folding sections and ornately decorated covers. When one really wwnted to clean them off and make them like new again, he just remelted the wax and poured it back into the wooden frame to harden with a pristine surface. These were the same writing tools employed by adults. Papyrus, especially the finely woven grade suitable for legal documents, was expensive and parchment from cow hides was only beginning to be used and even more expensive. Everyday words could be erased when we were finished with them. Roman wax tablets were a lot like our modern floppy disks, only they held a little less text.  The Grammaticus In the cities, the grammaticus often taught the sons of craftsmen and merchants after they had grown out of their tender years. The lessons were often memorizing passages they had read and writing them down from memory. Correct sentence structure and spoken form were emphasized. the grammaticus would often reinforce his lessons with cruel blows from a stick he kept for the purpose. An error in pronunciation or forming of his letters on his wak tablet often earned the boy a swat across the back. The profession of teacher was not always a highly respected one in Roman society. Several times during the Republican period, the Senate banned all philosophers and grammatici from Rome on the grounds that they corrupted the minds of young Romans by teaching them to be lazy and overly clever. As Rome progressed into the Imperial period, the role these people played in educating the citizens was more fully acknowledged and they were encouraged to follow their profession. Higher Education Great universities were an old and time honored institution by the time the Romans inherited the Mediterranean world. Universities existed at Athens and alexandria, as well as Rome itself. Often, the sons of wealthy senators went to live, study, and spend Daddy's money in Athens just as the children of well to do families still do today. In Athens, you could get a classical education studying Greek dramas, poetry, logic, mathematics, or philosopy. In Roman and Greek times, philosophy included the study of natural sciences, mathematics, and other branches of knowledge rather than being as narrowly defined as it is today. For the study of law, the city of Rome herself provided the best schools. Of all the contributions to scholarship made by the Romans, their greatest gifts to the world were in the area of law and government. The law schools of Rome were the finest available for preparing a young man for a career as a magistrate in government service. This lesson was developed to address elements of competency #3 and competency #4 on the functions of the educational process (teaching and learning) and schooling for education majors who are taking EDF 1005 in partial fulfillment of the graduation requirements for an Associate of Arts degree in Teaching (Elementary), Teaching (Secondary), Early Childhood and Exceptional Education. Competency #3 reads (in part) as follows: "The student will demonstrate knowledge of the significant ideas, events and people that have shaped American Education by Describing trends from antiquity to the present in terms of educational opportunity of various groups, compulsory attendance, curricular emphasis and teacher training, between enculturation, education and schooling. Competency #4 reads (in part) as follows: "The student will examine the various functions of the educational process and schooling by Explaining the difference between enculturation, education and schooling. (A complete list of all the competencies for EDF 1005 is provided below by clicking on the link titled competencies)
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