Spartan boys, when they reached a certain age, were pried from their mothers and put into a special state-run school called “the agoge” where they were taught to be warriors. It almost had to be state-run because few parents would subject their children to such brutality.
By the time they were finished, they were Spartan warriors, and ready to defend their city from any attacker.
Today, most of us put our children in state-run schools as well…and the results aren’t anything like the agoge. In fact, they may well be the opposite of the agoge in many ways. While the Spartan school sought to turn boys into men, in many ways public education seeks to turn boys into girls. Continue reading “A New Agoge: Part 1”