Education in the Roman Empire (Page 2/2 ◄Return to Page 1)

 

Other essays and articles in the History Archives related to this topic include : The Definition of Virtue in Plato’s Meno  •  Roman Class Structure in "The Satyricon" by Petronius   •   Extended Critical Biography of Alexander the Great  •   Explanation of the Theory of Moral Virtue by Aristotle

 

The education and trades for which the Roman empire became famous, among them architecture, engineering, astronomy, and geometry—were not taught in institutions during the Roman empire; rather, a system of apprenticeship or autodidactic learning achieved through the use of a manual was more common (Corbeill, 2001). Individual study, one-on-one training, or small group learning was the norm for students who were adolescents or young adults. For small children, however, the parents were the first, most important, and only teachers (Corbeill, 2001). Interestingly, as Greeks arrived in Rome, many Roman parents of the upper classes hired private tutors to instruct their children in the Greek language and in other subjects, many of which the larger Roman culture itself rejected in favor of more practical knowledge and skills (Corbeill, 2001). This practice had a significant influence on the development of a Roman education system, both in terms of its content and in terms of its delivery. Roman education became more philosophical at this juncture, and it also developed an oratorical and rhetorical tradition (Lamberton, 2001).

 

Ultimately, then, the Roman Empire’s educational philosophy came to embrace a notion of the ideal citizen as an individual who was not only trained in practical skills that were needed to build and sustain an empire, but who was also thoughtful, articulate, and aware of the ways in which words could be used in the service of society and nation building as well. Over time, it would be this second set of skills—the “soft” skills of philosophical thought and persuasive speech—that would become critical for establishing the physical and organizational infrastructures that would be necessary for a formal educational system to be developed.  The goal, both in the early days of education in the Roman Empire and as the educational system became more formalized, was always directed towards serving society. Although individual students would obviously gain knowledge and skills through their learning process, the expectations of the Roman educational paradigm were that students would use those knowledge and skills not for themselves, but to building the empire.

 

Today, centuries later, many of the ideas and pedagogical strategies that were so important to the Romans remain important to our own conceptualization of what an education is and what function it should serve. While modern Western education does tend to emphasize the individual gains the student will make as an educated person, there is the expectation that the education one receives will prepare one for model citizenship, both in one’s personal life and in one’s public and professional lives. We have retained many of the most cherished core values of the Roman Empire’s educational system, and can trace many of our own accomplishments and ideas back to the Romans and to their own predecessors, the Greeks. 

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References

Corbeill, A. (2001). Education in the Roman Republic: Creating traditions. In Too, Y.L. (Ed.) Education in Greek and Roman antiquity. New York: Brill. 261-288.

Lamberton, G. (2001). The schools of Platonic philosophy of the Roman Empire: The evidence of the biographies. In Too, Y.L. (Ed.) Education in Greek and Roman antiquity. New York: Brill. 433-457.

Rouselle, A. (2001). Images as education in the Roman Empire. In Too, Y.L. (Ed.) Education in Greek and Roman antiquity. New York: Brill. 373-404.

 

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