The Nature and Purpose of Spartan Education (for males)

The Nature and Purpose of Spartan Education (for males)

Spartan education took a drastic turn many thousands of years ago. There once was a laid back lifestyle enjoying the arts but the objective of the state's system was changed dramatically and Sparta was then know as a military state. With the emergence of a military state came the new system of education. The importance for the arts and literature was no longer the emphasis but instead the training and disciplining of the population of males to produce well drilled, self disciplined and strong men that were to be members of the army until their old of age of 60.

The process of turning a young boy into a soldier started at the age of seven years. Although the boys only entered the proper start to training at seven, when they were newly-born they were judged. Weak and deformed babies were exposed, this got rid off the children that wouldn't be capable of becoming a soldier.

Once they moved into the barracks, they would live, eat and train in that same very place for the next 24 years of their lives. In the young boys first years of training they learnt the basics to becoming an outstanding soldier, this was not battle skills but instead working as a group and more importantly respecting their elders and taking orders with no complaints. This set the benchmark of their learning and from this point on, their training always involved some form of taking orders and having respect for their elders, this was one of the important and beneficial factors of war and that is why it is so highly regarded.

The purpose of the Spartan education was not to produce smart boys with knowledge in the literature and the arts but rather to...