Outline some of the major values of classical Greek culture and indicate how you think they impacted on concepts of childhood.
In this assignment I delve into classical Greek culture, the day to day activities, schooling, extra-curricular activities and general behavior of all classes regarding treatment, education and raising of children, in the context of how they then, And how they now have impacted on modern and past concepts of childhood.
In this assignment I will pay particular attention to the Spartan, Athenians and the Hebrew methods and values taken from ‘The Rise and Fall of Childhood’ by John Somerville (1982).
In the past education was a very uncertain thing. People questioned whether or not school would suffice a child’s learning. Would life experience and gaining morals need to be addressed separately outside of school hours? As all societies were only building and developing all could be lost very quickly. Family ambition has always played a part in how much attention a child may receive. In Classical Greek times children attended school to avoid manual labor. Teachers were underpaid and bitter who ‘caned students for being late and for sloppy work’ (ch2 The Dawn of History and children already a problem, pg21).
School days lasted from dawn until dusk and only boys attended. Research does not specify what girls did while their siblings attended school but it is presumed they stayed at home and learned domestic tasks from their mother.
Egyptian civilization impressed the Greeks in many ways, the fact that they did not appear to practice infanticide and also the fact that they did not appear to swaddle their children. At this time Greeks along with most of the world, took this for granted -to keep the child warm, for a straighter frame.
However it was not Egypt or Mesopotamia that gave Western societies its distinctive character. Due to the records left regarding attitudes towards children which gave an easier understanding of...