Most societies that focus on one specific thing is pretty much setting themselves up to crumble to the ground. One example is Sparta, Sparta lacked many many things to be a successful society, which is why they only lasted 300 years. Sparta lacked education, they abused their children, and took them away to harsh army training at such a young age. Sparta banned all foreign education from their city-state, and they only taught reading and writing for purely practical reasons, they also never let in any foreign teachers into Sparta to teach. They abused their children too, every time a child was caught stealing food, which they encouraged and said it was ok, they would whip them almost to the point of death. The strengths in Sparta never even had a chance at outweighing the weaknesses for those reasons. To start off, Spartans were never taught formal education, Sparta focused on their military almost all the time, they were taught practical reading and writing, and were never allowed foreign teachers and were never allowed to travel to other places. It says in Document D that “all other forms of education were banned from the country”. They felt that if they allowed other people from other areas into their country, …show more content…
As it says in Document B, boys were whipped to the point of death when they were caught trying to steal food. This is a weakness because it can kill innocent kids, the reason they are innocent is because they are encouraged to steal, plus the people in the agoge starve them half to death! This is completely wrong and kids starve because of the harsh conditions in the agoge system of Sparta, also there is a competition every year called The “Flagellation”. The Flagellation was extremely stupid because kids were whipped and beaten senseless, while their families told them that if they died or passed out that they weren’t proud of them! Both of these reasons play a huge part in why Sparta fell to the
Ancient education was filled with a lot of harsh and rough training, but it was necessary. Spartan education was very tough for This is because they were an extremely militaristic community that focused on physical training rather than reading and writing. They were training them in such a way that would bring upon them unbearable pain and agony. The strengths of Spartan education far outweigh the weaknesses, this is because women were equal to men, Spartans were vigorously trained to be strong, and that everyone was taught to be respectful and obedient.
In many ways, Sparta's weaknesses overweigh the weakness. It’s cruel, sexist, wrong, unfair and not equal. Spartan boys were forced to learn military education and the system was cruel document A Boys were taken at age 8 to 21, document B One garment no shoes starving, Document D basic education was illegal If you never learned math, writing, reading, art, music, science, and history what would it be like?
Although, Sparta had weaknesses they did have the strongest military of their time. The Spartan army perfected a battle formation called the phalanx that is still talked about today. Sparta’s weaknesses still outweigh the strengths because of the reasons I listed above, they lacked education, they didn’t last over 300 years and they abused their
On Document D it says, “The boys of sparta were lashed with whips during the entire day at the altar of Artemis Orthia. Frequently to the point of death.” The boys weren't allowed to eat either. They were starved and given a very minimal amount of food. They were encouraged to steal food to satisfy their hunger. But if they were caught while doing so, they were whipped. They also gave the boys one garment a year, and they
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 was a small culture both in size and number that eventually revolutionized into a powerful city-state. It is located on a small peninsula in Southern Greece called the Peloponnese. Sparta was based on its strong military that helped it continue to be dominate even with a small population. The education in Sparta helped develop this culture to its dominant state. Did the education system serve the overall best interest of the Spartan people? The education in Sparta did serve the best interest of the Spartan people because their education prepared them for their future, the rigorous military training taught the boys how to adapt to limited resources, and their education also helped them defeat the helots.
The government in Sparta followed a very different coarse than that of the Athenians. It was controlled by an oligarchy in which the power was held by a group of five men called ephors. Working below the ephors was the Council of Elders and an Assembly. Male citizens over age sixty could serve on the Council while anyone, male or female, over the age of twenty could be a member of the Assembly. Though the citizens had little say in the decisions made by the government, the system worked effectively. Over the years, the Spartan's brutal reputation in war grew so great that other nations and city-states were too frightened to attack Sparta even though the Spartan army was no larger then eight thousand men. The Spartan Constitution called for all men to begin their military education at the age of seven, where they were trained to be tough and self-sufficient. Every man in the army fought with a great deal of passion for his country. Life in Sparta may have been rough, but the rest of the Greeks envied the Spartans for their simplicity, straight forwardness, and fanatical dedication. The beliefs of Sparta were oriented around the state. The individual lived and died for the state. The combination of this philosophy, the education of Spartan males, and the discipline of their army gave the Spartans the stability needed to survive in Ancient Greece.
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.
Sparta was ruled by a king or at some point two kings. These two kings were from two separate families of royalty and neither of them had absolute power. The king or kings had to be consulted by the Ephors. The Ephors had a lot of power and authority in the Spartan government. They were a group of five elders, men over the age of 30 who would serve in this position for a year. They had the power to bring up charges against anyone in Sparta, including the king. Unlike Athens who was set on trying to establish a peaceful democratic atmosphere; Sparta was a lot more militaristic and strict. One of the Spartan government’s main priorities was the strength of the Spartan army. They believed that strength, endurance and numbers were a key part in a successful and powerful army. Therefore every Spartan boy at the age of seven would be taken away from their mothers and put into training for the next 13 years.
Imagine being taken away from your family at the age of seven and was forced to fight someone that was older than you and was trained and skilled in fighting, and they didn’t go easy. That would not be fun. The Spartans were known for their army but the army wasn’t very big. It wasn’t very big because they were very cruel during their training and some people died from it. They also didn’t have a good mental education system. Some things that they did for fun was senseless murdering. With this evidence of senseless murder, lack of mental education,and their cruelness, I think that the weaknesses beat the strengths.
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 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.
My colleagues, supports, we are here today to not only worship thy almighty Athena, but to debate on the education of our soon-to-be authoritative, strongest city-state in all of Greece. Education was very different in Sparta than it was in the other Greek city-states. In Athens, and in hundreds of other Greek city-states, the purpose of education was to produce good citizens. All citizens (remember, citizens were only men - women, children, and slaves were not citizens) were also trained to be good soldiers. But they were also trained in music, art, literature, and politics. In Sparta, the purpose of education was to produce good soldiers. Like I have assumed, In ancient Athens, the purpose of education was to produce citizens trained in the