Plato’s
Academy
Plato’s Academy is thought by many to have been the first
University, open to both men and women. He founded The Academy in 387 B.C. a
philosophical school that remained in use until A.D. 526, when it was finally
closed down by emperor Justinian. Having run for 900 years it rivals any
current western university for longevity. Above its door were the words Do not enter here unless you know geometry, and he did see mathematics as
important training for the mind, along with the idea of proof and clear
hypotheses.
3 Rs
School, he proposes, should start
at six with the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. A strict curriculum is recommended in early years. The
educational system should also be designed to determine the abilities of
individuals and training provided to apply to the strengths of their abilities.
In other words, a severe form of streaming. These ideas were to be revived by
the humanists during the Renaissance and shaped the Western schooling system
with its focus on the 3 Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. Mathematics, in
particular, provides an education in sound reasoning towards the immaterial
Forms, simply amassing knowledge was seen as wasteful. However, and this is
where we should take note, he did not recommend that young minds should be
introduced the mathematics and abstract reasoning too early. This simply
induces rejection and rebelliousness. At this early stage one must develop character.
Censor fiction
Now here comes a recommendation
that sounds shocking to modern ears: censor fiction at this age, literature and especially poetry and drama. For
those who believe that education is about ‘story telling’ Plato has some salutary
warnings. Fiction can cloud a child’s mind and reduce their ability to make
judgments and deal with the real world. More than this, he thought that fiction
could lead to self-deception, in particular acting, where learners develop a
false-sense of themselves. He also thought that they may be tempted to emulate
some of the immoral behaviour in such texts. Morality was, for Plato, the bedrock
of the educational process and education was a structured and intense process.
Mind and body
Music and sports should then be
brought into the curriculum with more serious attention paid to military
training at the age of 18. The Greek ideal of body and mind is seen in an
educational context with a structured approach to education across one’s entire
lifetime. This idea lived on in the European tradition of education with its
focus on competitive sports, the revival of the Greek ideal of the Olympics,
even military cadets.. The Greek lettered fraternities in the US, the ‘classical’
education that so influenced 19th century schooling, still so influential
in Western Universities, show that this Greek tradition lives on.
Lifelong learning
We must remember that Plato doesn’t
see this as education for all, merely a minority destined to rule, although The
Republic analysis can be seen a an analogy for the individual mind. On the
other hand, his appreciation that people learn differently over time has been
taken up by those who see ‘andragogy’ as a theoretical construct. He does see
the mind developing over time with age as an important factor in education. The
child is not capable of sound reasoning and must be protected from harmful
cultural influences but in time, at 18 and 21, higher educational goals are
introduced, with philosophy at 30. It is only at the age of 50 that the
educated person should be allowed to rule – the philosopher king. There is a
sense of lifelong learning.
Conclusion
Plato’s lasting contribution to educational theory has pros and
cons. It led to severe, selective streaming, cast doubt on the use of
literature, poetry and drama and put an undue emphasis on abstract, academic
knowledge at the expense of the vocational. This last point is perhaps the most
pertinent, as it was based on a very abstract and metaphysical theory of
knowledge (Forms). On the other hand, it led to rigour in mathematics and
reason, laying the foundations for The Academy, the forerunner of the modern
University. Theoretically, he mapped out a developmental educational theory
that rested on the Greek ideal of mind and body but saw education as developing
at different ages, an early conception of lifelong learning.
Bibliography
Plato (1955) The Republic, London: Penguin (translated by
H. P. D. Lee).
Murdoch, Iris (1977) The
Fire and the Sun: Why Plato banished the Artists, Oxford University Press.
Hare, R. M. (1989) Plato, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Succinct introduction.
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