International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications October 2014 Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Article: 04 ISSN 1309-6249 Copyright © International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications / www.ijonte.org 42 PRIMARY EDUCATION IN ANCIENT ATHENS AND TODAY Assist. Prof. Dr. Evren ŞAR İŞBİLEN Istanbul University, Hasan Ali Yucel Educational Faculty Department of Elementary Education, Istanbul- TURKEY Assist. Prof. Dr. Gülşah BATDAL KARADUMAN Istanbul University, Hasan Ali Yucel Educational Faculty Department of Elementary Education, Istanbul- TURKEY ABSTRACT The main purpose of the study is to draw a picture of the education system in terms of the curriculum, the physical condition of schools, the attitudes of the teachers and the perspective of the society towards education in ancient Athens and today. Education was an important issue for free Athenian citizens. Athenian children were taught at home, sometimes under the guidance of a master or a paidagogos, until they began elementary education at approximately seven years of age. At school, the children were taught how to read and write, to count and draw. In this study also the importance of the paidagogos and the family structure in the education of the primary school students is investigated. In doing so, the body of the study is based on a literature review, where available the modern sources has been supported by the ancient sources. In this study is compared the ancient times and today's education system. Many similarities and differences were observed. Key Words: Education, History of education, Ancient Age, Athens, Ancient Greece, Primary School. INTRODUCTION Greek children had learned primarily by watching the world around them and imitating respected elders. Few people in antiquity knew how to read, and most formal education involved listening and reciting from memory. But the circumstances of life were different for boys and girls. Boys were seen as being the means of continuing the family, while girls could build connections between families through arranged marriage and they were expected to be good wives and mothers (Joyal, McDougall, Yardley, 2011), . Actually it is unclear if they attended the same schools or received education in the seclusion of their homes. Most girls were denied any sort of education other than the running of a household. Therefore, often childhood was very short for girls; they could be married as young as 13. In this context mostly, a girl’s education would end at the point her brother starts school (Lacey, 1968: 163). Girls tended to be taught domestic skills such as the arts of spinning and weaving cloth at home by their mothers and they would learn finer points of manners and the skills required to run a household from the slave girls. And in addition to that, it is known that parents sometimes had daughters instructed in basic reading and writing skills in case they needed this knowledge to supervise household accounts or to manage temple properties if they became priestesses. (Pomeroy, 2004: 189; Powell, 2001:252-256) For the sons of wealthier citizens, the options are far more appealing. The little children both girls and boys were getting education at home before start to school. When he is about seven, the boy is removed from his nurse and given to the care of a paedogogos, a selected household slave (Plato, Lysis, 208cl-d2,223al5) who accompanies him everywhere as well as the school (he stays with him at school to ensure he pays attention to his lessons and works hard) and is permitted to punish the boy if he behaves badly (Adkins, 197: 275). Each family had one paedagogos no matter how many children there were. For example in Euripides’ Medea there is one for Medea’s two children and Themistocles’ two children. (Herodotos, Historiai, VIII, 75) So the “Paedagogos” had a big importance in pupil’s life. Although the slave position (Friedell, 2004:187) paedogogos and nanny had an important and respectable place in the house and except to watch over the children they instruct them at a basic level. Also there are plenty of hints in the theatre plays that Paedogogos and nannies