Elementary and Secondary Education in the Roman Empire

Abstract

"Elementary" and "secondary" are terms regularly applied to the Instruction of the grammatistes and the grammatiaus respectively; and scholars accept as prevalent a pattern whereby children began attending the former from the age of six or seven for the 3 R's, and then progressed to the latter at the age of eleven or twelve for more advanced linguistic and literary studies. Such a system is certainly attested, but, since the evidence is sparse, scholars must invoke the conservatism typical of education that they may assume its general currency. Yet the situation with elementary and grammar schooling in England between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, where no lesser opportunity for uniformity existed, may enjoin caution. In this era, certain grammar schools demanded competence in the elements for admission, but "there are far more references to suggest that the stratification of education had not proceeded very far even by the beginning of the sixteenth century." Again, the evidence, which is as plentiful as, and more precise than, that from Antiquity, permits only the most tentative conclusion on the subject of age-limits: "It seems therefore likely that boys usually set off for grammar school between the ages of nine and twelve, though this probably varied according to circumstances, the abilities of the pupil, the interest and resources of his parents or patrons and the existence of suitable schools. T h a t similar variation obtained in Antiquity would seem a reasonable expectation, but m o d e m preconceptions about elementary and secondary stages have caused neglect of evidence which attests alternatives to the grammatistes-grammatious progression.