All I really need to know I learned at recess

Today while contemplating the different ways and means we as human beings learn, I began thinking about elementary school. Not necessarily what is learned in the classroom, but what is learned outside, during recess. What do little children today learn from other little children? It may be strange to think about the ignorant instructing the unknowledgeable, but that in itself may be a type of learning—the student and teacher exploring unknown areas of thought together. There are no written texts or even necessarily previous experience. The children just go and do and explore and discover. This is the flavor of folk knowledge that colors playgrounds and schoolyards.

A few things I thought of that children teach each other (some may be good and some may be not so much.) are:

· First secrets/secret telling and keeping

o Not keeping confidences

o Trust vs. distrust

· Telling each other how “things” work—true or not

· First “show me yours and I’ll show you mine”

o Boys and girls are different

· Dirty jokes

· Dares

o Tell that boy you like him

o Ask that girl out

o Do a trick on the monkey bars

· The desire to be “cool”

o What your limits are to try to be “cool”

· Kissing tag

· Name calling

o Learning consequences

o Learning charity, patience

o Learning hatred

§ Children aren’t born hating, they have to be taught it

· Communal bathrooms…?

· Hall passes

· Raising your hand

o Not talking “out of turn”

· First playground fights

· How to love, how to hate, how to have crushes

After brainstorming this list, I began to wonder how children in ancient societies learned from each other. Some research on Greek schooling, specifically Sparta and Athens, led me to some fascinating discoveries.

In Sparta, boys were taught to be tough, well-trained members of the military. They were taught discipline, self-denial, and simplicity, as well as survival skills, tolerance of pain, and the art of warfare—including stealing without getting caught. They were taught to obey all orders and endure all hardships.It was disgrace to show fear or pain—they learned that these two emotions were “wrong” and that you can’t show them—which may be the roots of men today thinking it's "unmanly" to cry. While in training, the students were divided into groups, called packs, by older boys. Within these packs, they were required to wrestle and fight each other. In this way, Spartan boys taught each other to be animals. Rather than learning good social skills that today's children develop, the "packs" of animals learned to fight to get what they want when they want without getting caught. The children were taught with harshness, even cruelty, so that is what they learned. Children aren't taught just the lessons, but they learn how the lessons are taught. Generally, if you teach with patience, love, and kinds, the children will develop those traits as well.

Athens' teaching system was much different than that of Sparta. The Athenian children learned many things, but all were required to learn two important things—the words of Homer and how to play the lyre. The male teacher (it was always a man) could also teach additional subjects which he chose, such as drama, public speaking, art, reading, writing, math, or how to play the flute. This folk knowledge was passed through the generations of teachers, because the teacher could only teach what he learned from his own instructor. I wonder if there were localized areas of expertise, like if different cities had fabulous flautists or public speakers because of the way the knowledge was passed on.

The goal of Sparta's education system was to raise a strong generation of perfect soldiers. This goal influenced the way the teachers taught. They left the boys to their own resources more, to work together, or rather fight amongst themselves, to develop the traits desired in a warrior. The Spartan boys, on their own, learned how to fight. The Athenians, however, had a little more guidance from their teachers. The goal of Athen's education system was to raise not perfect soldiers, but perfect citizens. They wanted the children to grow into wise and decent men. To do this, the instructors focused more on the arts, such as lute and writing, in a more cultured environment.

The Greek boys mostly learned orally, and in the folk knowledge tradition, since books were very expensive and rare. In Athens, subjects were read aloud or lectured, and boys had to memorize everything. In Sparta, they learned by watching older boys and instructors and by practicing.