Roman Education
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.
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| Figure 7: Juvenal, Satire
VII "The Hope and Encouragement of all the Learn’d" |
Figure 8: Satire VII, Juvenal |
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Last Modified: 02/12/04
