Plato's Education And Education

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Plato was the most brilliant and famous disciple of Socrates. He was born in May-June 428/27 BC in Athens to a noble and aristocratic family. His real name was Aristocles meaning the best and renowned. His nickname Plato was given by the term platys, because of his broad and strong shoulders. He was very good in the study of music, poetry, mathematics and rhetoric. It was at the age of 20 that Plato met Socrates and since then was mesmerized by him. So deep was his influence on him that he gave up the idea of becoming a poet. In 404 BC Athens witnessed an oligarchic revolution led by Plato’s relatives. Plato was very active at that time. But after the death of Critias, Charmides and the execution of Socrates, he left Athens and became a refugee.…show more content…
He believes that education should be spiritual in nature that can cut the roots of many evils prevailing in the society. He believes that if the state takes care of education only, all other things will take their own care. Thus education is of paramount importance. According to Plato, education has both individual as well as social aspects. In the first case its aim is to bring reality closer to the soul. Socially education was to promote social bonds and to ensure everyone performs socially useful duties and social values are fully developed. Plato’s system of education is based on the principle of compulsory education and full equality of opportunity for all citizens, with no discrimination on the grounds of birth or gender. Hence, all the new-born children, boys and girls, would be separated from their parents and placed in the custody of the state. Till ten years of age, the children would be given mainly physical education. The main subject of the curriculum will consist of sports. The main intention would be to make everybody’s health so strong that they will need no medicines in their future…show more content…
He was of the view that if private property was abolished without the abolition of family, then in one form or the other private property will exist and the whole idea would get frustrated. Family always claims greater importance than the state. The people always are more concerned for the welfare of their family rather than the broader interests of the state and the nation. Plato’s concept is applicable to the two upper classes of the society. It is intended for bringing unity in the state. He believed that since men and women are equal, there was no logic in the institution of permanent marriage. Everyone had a right to have sexual relationship with anyone. According to him, children are the property of the state and therefore, it should not be in the botheration of the parents to bring them up. On the other hand, it is for the state to bring up the babies in the manner it likes and deems fit according to the utility of the state as a whole. According to him, children should be separated from their parents from their birth itself so that they do not develop affection for a particular family and really become a national possession. Weak and disfigured children should be killed as they will eventually become a burden on the state. The children should live in common barracks to develop a sense of

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