EDUCATION IN SPARTA
HELPFUL OR HARMFUL?
Sparta is the strongest city-state in all of Greece. Their army could smash through their opponents with their battle formation, the phalanx. What made it so that this powerful city-state so strong? Their education, of course! In this essay, you will learn how the Spartan tutoring was helpful so that they could become the strong military city that they are. One way that proves the education of Sparta helpful was that they were prepared for gruesome conditions. In Document B in section 3-5, it states that Spartans are given less food, less clothing, and no shoes. That is not a harmful thing, but a helpful thing to do. When fighting in cold conditions, the Spartans are not cold and weary like the opponent is, and can fight just like they fight in the heat. When the ground is spiky and slippery, Sparta is prepared. They are used to those conditions because they have no shoes. On the battlefield, the army may not have much access to food. That could weaken an army. But the Spartan army is not affected by that. They're not given much food back at home, so they are used to having less food. That is one way that the training of Sparta helped.
…show more content…
That is actually a good skill to have if you live in the city of Sparta. In article B, it states, "He also allowed them to alleviate their hunger by stealing something." It also states, "That taught the kids to be sneaky and sly." When the kids grow up and become soldiers, they could be sent to go and raid an enemy's supplies. Their old instinct will help them not get caught, and get away with the supplies that they have stolen from a rival city-state like Athens. That is another way how the Spartans were taught was beneficial to their
Spartans military was a hard core and well rounded out military in its time. Part of the reason why they were so successful is because of their rigorous training each boy had to go through. Why I said boy is because the Spartan military training would start at age 7 for a chosen boy. The boy gets chosen to live in spartan society at birth. If the Spartans did not believe that the boy would be rounded out for their society they would leave the boy to die. During the boys training hazing and fighting was encouraged to help improve strength among the boys. During spartan training each boy was mainly taught mathematics, music, and how to fight. Also during their training, they would learn how to steal but without getting caught. If they were caught they would not be punished for stealing but only for getting caught. This type of training continues until the boys would become men. Which is at the age of 20 for the Spartan's. At age 20 Spartan men would have to pass a series of demanding
After an embarrassing defeat at the battle of Hysiai Sparta went through great military change, these changes dramatically changed all other areas of Spartan life, turning Sparta into a military focused state. This militaristic influence impacted greatly on Spartan education, essentially aiming to mass produce the perfect solider. The education and training of Spartan boys aged as young as 7 in the agoge became the crucial
Sparta’s poor education is a big weakness and reason why the civilization collapsed after 300 years. The Spartan education was very bland and their children were only taught how to read, write, and count. This affected the Spartans short and long term with many things and they really didn't discuss subjects that were government related. I say this because their only focus was on war and not education related things like science, math, and english/literature. Those aspects could have helped them in agriculture, health, and diplomacy. If Sparta had not only been able to enhance its education but have it’s citizens learn and pursue arts then they could have allied with other city-states like Corinth and Thebes. The reason why is because most of the other city-states had a relation in education and arts. That is why they were normally peaceful between each other. Who knows how the development of Sparta could have skyrocketed if they resolved conflict with Athens!
To begin with Spartans lacked formal education.In Document D the text states,” [The Spartans] learned to read and write for purely practical: but all forms of education they banned from the country,”.Spartans were not aloud to read books or treatises. They could not travel outside of Sparta or have foreign teachers. They could not write, watch, or perform in plays. They never taught to have an opinion or think for themselves. Spartan’s only focus was on the military education which did not help their society survive.
In several lands and cultures have many pros and cons but the Spartans were known for being a perfectionist society, but as you may not know, as the Spartans had multiple amounts of strengths as they also did with weaknesses. During the time of 5th century in Sparta emerged a tiny powerhouse in the eastern Mediterranean, rivaled against Athens. As so for the educational system performed a major factor between both civilizations taking over each other. And both had their very own benefits and unbeneficial side, but for Sparta, did the strengths outweigh their own weaknesses? Yes, strength did outweigh their weakness because them being well structured to having the utmost of military power and also including their own emphasis on teamwork/
To begin with, Spartans had little to no education taught to any of its people. In Document D, the text states that “Spartans learned to read and write for purely practical reasons.” This caused the Spartans to be poorly educated. They were not allowed any other forms of education other than reading or writing. Spartans were also not allowed to read. This will not allow Sparta to grow and
Their warriors trained for several years to become the most powerful they could be. Their government was an oligarchy, which means “run by a few.” These oligarchs were always strong military generals. Which brings me to my question, Did the strengths of spartan education outweigh the weaknesses? I strongly believe that Sparta’s educational strengths outweigh the weaknesses because of toughness, self-discipline, and obedience.
First, besides their strong military, Sparta was known for providing women with a decent amount of rights. In these rights, education was provided. According to Plutarch(Document E), women had to be educated and trained in order to produce healthy offspring. Women were trained in many things such as “wrestling running, and throwing the quoit*, and casting the dart”(Document E). These activities were meant to strengthen women in order to produce “healthy and vigorous offspring”(Document E). By producing healthy and vigorous offspring, Sparta had a better chance at winning battles. Therefore, women being provided with an education had highly contributed to the strengths of a Spartan education.
Sparta’s strong education helped their city-state but it hurt Sparta in more ways. The Spartan education had some good ideas but there were more bad ideas about it. It was a risk to use that way of education because they would get strong but they could die in the process. That’s a weakness. People have been wondering did the strengths outweigh the weaknesses in the spartan education. I think no because there are way more weaknesses than strengths. Their education killed many Spartans over the years.
The Spartans lead the military efforts because of their extensive military expertise. Their military fortitude comes from their spartan culture. In Spartan culture, military was the focal point of there society. It was this military regimented mentality that allowed Sparta to become rulers of ancient Greece and a dominant fighting force of their time. However, to maintain this strong presence in Greece you had to prepare the future generation to continue current success. This is exactly what Sparta did.
Sparta made its every male into a soldier, they trained starting at a young age into late ages. This system limited Spartans contact with the outside world. As it says in the Spartan Society and Values, no man is proved to be a good man in war unless faces the blood if slaughter. This shows the ruthless ways of the Greeks with the men. They had to train for the military regardless of what they desired for the honor of their family.
Sparta valued physical strength, military strength and emotional strength. It was very important for them to have a strong military. It was so important, that they would kill new born babies if they had any disabilities that would prevent them from being part of the military or helping it in any way. They would take the boy from a young age of 7 to start training. These boys were faced with many difficult tasks such as having to walk barefoot and deprivation to make them strong. They would even mention a story of a boy who followed the Spartan Code when he hide a fox under his shirt and did not show any sign of pain when the fox was eating his stomach. They strongly believed that you shouldn’t show any sign of feeling specially not pain or weakness. They also believed that you shouldn’t be in love with the person who you marry. You are just married to help Sparta produce more boys to serve the military or girls to train and bring more healthy baby boys to Sparta. If you were in love you had to hide it, since
Sparta had the geographic advantage above Athens. Sparta is better because, according to Document G, “The Eurotas River provided much-needed water, while the nearby plains allowed the ancient Spartans to grow all the food they needed.” Sparta was already provided with enough supplies on their own and didn’t have to trade things with other city-states. Having rivers, mountains, and rivers gave the Ancient Spartans the right environments to grow many things such as figs and wheat, the Ancient Spartans also had enough room to raise cows for meat, milk, and cheese. Another reason why Sparta has the geographic advantage is shown in Document F, which states, “Sparta thus came to control some 8,500 km² of territory making it the largest city state
One answer is in the the system of agoge, or could be called as Sparta military school. However, many people think that the Agoge is an awful and harsh environment. Well, in this essay, I will explain how the agoge strengths outweigh the weaknesses. Physical Fitness is very important for a soldier, Spartan education decided to use it in their lessons. Instead of learning Science,
Sparta was, above all, a military state, and emphasis on military fitness began at birth, imprinted through society and the political system. The education of the Spartan male children prove that the military and war was constantly a huge part of Spartan society, and the laws and systems that Sparta was governed by, only enforced the militaristic attitude into the society of Sparta. That the Spartans needed to be ready for war is proved by the discord between the Spartiate and the helots, who outnumbered and under ranked the Spartans.