Reflection#16

Education in Rome was generally taught in the home with primary emphasis on being a good citizen and traditional practices. Education grew as reading in Greek became fashionable. The education of children that was taught outside of the home had three different types’ levels of teachers. The rhetor was the last level of teacher who trained their student to make speeches on various themes and how to engage in debates regarding said theme. Rhetoric was a type of sophist who specialized in making the bad case seem good and the best case seem bad. They were very popular in Roman education. This was due to both the popularity of Greek and speaking publicly about important views. There was not one language taught in Roman schools. The bilingual languages taught were roman as well as the Greek language. To speak Greek was seen as a great accomplishment because although everyone wanted to learn Greek not everyone could afford to be taught Greek. When the Romans began to speak in Greek it was done to show off there wealth of knowledge and social standing within their society. Those who taught public speaking to the wealthy were the sophist or in Roman society the Rhetoric. Rhetoric taught the youth in speech making which was key to winning an argument. They were paid to teach men of Roman how to speak publicly on important matters. Those important matters where usually revolving around politics. Unlike the philosophers of Greece who were interested in knowledge sophist were concerned more with winning the argument. Later on the rhetoric became known for their close association with written text. Not only were their students trained in speech making they were also trained in literacy. Hence they studied grammar and writing to perfect these skills. Many of these Roman scholars however were lost in the Middle Ages as Christianity began to spread.