Plato's Educational Theory

     Plato's Educational Theory

Brief Introduction of Plato's life

Plato was born in 428-BC and lived up to 347-BC, around 81 years of life, in Athens city of Greece. He was a philosopher of classical Greece and founded his academy in Athens, which is considered the first institution of the western world that imparted higher learning. He was the most influential and pivotal person in the development of western philosophy.

  Plato’s educational theory:

Plato held education in high esteem and gave utmost importance to education to transform one’s life. According to Plato, education was the only great thing in the world to bring positive changes in one’s behavior as well as in one’s outlook of life. He set higher objectives of education and supported state-controlled education.

i. The objectives of Plato's educational theory

As a philosopher, he has his lofty thought about everything and, indeed, he thought very highly of education in terms of its objectives. According to his views, the primary function of education is not only to put knowledge in one’s soul but to bring out his hidden talent and make him useful to the state and society. The purpose of education is to prepare those bodies with souls directed towards the good and well-being of his ideal state.

ii. State-Controlled education

Plato considered buy and selling knowledge as a heinous crime, and that is why he was against private education. He proposed that the government must take children in its custody and raise them in an environment conducive to their nature and needs where they could cultivate physical and moral health to achieve virtue (virtue means excellence in an ancient Greek) and to become the just member of the state. The primary purpose of this policy was to negate the notion of individualism, incompetence, immaturity, and establish an effective and efficient rule.

iii.  Influence on Plato's Educational theory

In Athens, where Plato lived, education was private, but in Sparta, it was controlled by the state. He was very much influenced by this notion of state-controlled education and adapted it in his theory. Spartan’s education system was, however, only limited to physical competence and lacked literacy. He, then, mingled both Spartans and Athenian's system of education to produce both physically and intellectually healthy people to run the state.

iv. Characteristics of the theory

Plato’s education was for all and sundry, regardless of gender and it was a state-controlled education. The education aimed to provide future servants for the state and to produce virtuous intellectuals among future rulers. It also glorified courage and military skills among warriors and to develop competent, obedient, and temperate workers. It tried to create social disposition among all citizens and to train the character of citizens to control their appetites and subordinating the senses to reasons.

v. Organization and curriculum of the theory  

Plato’s education was tertiary as it was divided into three stages.

·       Elementry

In this stage of education, both boys and girls would study together until the age of 18, where they will study mathematics, literature, poetry, and music.

·    Secondary    

The secondary phase of education included military training. For the next two years, the student has to attain physical education and the best students would be selected for the higher studies to become the ultimate and just rulers.

·   Higher Education

In this category of education, only students from 20 to 35 years would be enrolled, and those who have gone through the first two stages successfully. These are the future guardians who would receive education in mathematics music and literature. At the age of 30, they would start studying philosophy and 35 they would enter upon a minor administrative post before a major one.

vi.  Teaching Method

At the elementary level, Plato proposed that teaching should be as close to playing as possible while upon reaching the higher level, the reasoning faculty of the students should be through the process of thinking and abstracting.

    Criticism on Platonic Theory of Education

According to critics, Plato proposed education for all at the elementary and secondary levels. Still, for higher-level, only those students can qualify whom he considered being fit for the job of guardianship which is profoundly undemocratic. He also thought of the working-class inferior to the ruling class, which is against the fundamental human right to equality and human dignity.

Along with this, he thought that Greek literature is unsuitable and improper for the educational source and desired to curb excessive freedom of speech. This thought was also against human nature as human nature celebrates literature in its all forms and want to find escape in it. Again, the curbing of freedom of speech is a fundamental human rights violation.

Critics also termed his theory unpractical as he laid more stress on mathematics alone, while ignoring basics and much-needed subjects like law, military principles, and finances.