Descartes
DescartesQuestions I & III
It seems evident that due to it's limited access via social castes as well as it's provincial ideology once attained, education before the 1800's played a limited role in the history of Education. From the rhetoric-based Greek age of Plato and Aristotle to colonial America, education was mostly an elitist institution that was inaccessible to most and, if one was so privileged as to attain it, full of hackneyed, non-progressive ritual; thus making its' impact evident mostly in history textbooks.
In Greek times it is clear that true education was limited those with much free time and/or the means to pay for private tutors. Due to this, the vast majority of those who were educated were among the small upper class. Elitist "education" was largely based on the ability to speak and persuade; a tool only truly necessary to those who were socially powerful. The later Roman education system was, although theoretically more accessible due to more schools, very similar to that of the Greeks. Those who were "truly educated" were well versed in Latin and were able to speak efficiently. However, when the Roman power system shifted from political to military, the valued vocation changed in correlation with the valued focus of education. The role of the orator diminished as the role of the soldier increased. In the Greco-Roman times education as an institution was geared to those with time and money, therefore few were able to partake. Clearly if only a small percentage of the populace, in any culture or time-period, has access to information, the impact of that...
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