Greek Philosophy of Children and Education - Essay Example

Running head: Education and Philosophy Greek Philosophy of Children and Education Introduction Philosophy is the origin of every sort of knowledge. It deals with the existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, language etc. “Philosophy is considered to be the child of Greek wise men and its birth is attributed to the father of dialectic method, Socrates. Socrates was the first one to suggest that when one realizes that he does not know anything, he starts to gain knowledge” (Siddique, 2005).

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are the pioneers who formulated a sound philosophy of education. Greeks believed that the children are approaching their master or teacher with an empty mind and it is the duty of the master to fill their minds with wisdom. Spartans, people belong to ancient Greek city Sparta, believed that the purpose of education is to make a healthy future generation for the protection of the country. This paper briefly explains the Greek philosophy of children and education. Greek Philosophy of Children and Education ‘The aim of the education was to make soldier citizen as per the ancient Greek authoritarian city Sparta.

In ancient Sparta, 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. They were very loyal to the state of Sparta. Moreover, they only healthy children were allowed to grow and the weak children were killed without any mercy by the Spartans’ (Ancient Greek Education, n.d). Wars and encounters were common in the ancient world and the muscle power was dominating during ancient times rather than diplomacy.

Every conflict was decided in the battlefield rather than around the discussion table. Diplomacy has no meaning at all during ancient period which forced the Greek to formulate the aim of education purely on the basis of the military requirements. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle have other ideas about the aim of education. They stressed the importance of wisdom rather than muscle power to education. They believed that wisdom has more power than muscles. They also argued that a person without wisdom can be considered as a person who is searching something in the darkness.

Wisdom wins where the muscle power fails as per the thoughts of these Greek philosophers. Conclusions It is difficult to accept the Greek education models at present because of the changing concepts about life. At present everything is analyzed on diplomatic means and diplomacy has more meaning than muscle power at present. In order to be effective in diplomatic means, a student must acquire wisdom rather than a healthy body. The current children are not approaching their teachers with empty mind.

In fact the technology has developed so much that the children are learning more from their surroundings than from the classrooms. Greek philosophy of education, especially the one formulated by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle can be considered as the base for all the later changes in philosophy of education. Greek was the first civilization who succeeded in defining education and giving a structured approach to education. References 1. Ancient Greek Education, (n. d.), Retrieved 5 November 2009 from http://www.

crystalinks.com/greekeducation.html 2. Siddique Zainab, (2005), The Impact of the Greek Philosophers on Modern Education, Retrieved 5 November 2009 from http://www.chowk.com/articles/9349