Education

• Slaves attained functional literacy (reading/writing) that would help them make a living. Citizens and aristocracy spent years learning various skills.
• Young children would be taught basic reading and writing by their mother or tutor until the age of seven. At seven, boys would attend a class taught by a ludi magister
• Each ludi magister would teach about 30 students, where they would learn to read and write in Latin and Greek and perform simple mathematics. Classes would be held in a rented room or in the forum.
• Classes focused on rote memorization. Grammar was taught by studying classical texts/parsing its words, math was learned using an abacus, and writing was learned by using a wax tablet and stylus
• Wax tablets (tabulae) were wooden frames covered with a thin layer of wax. A stylus was used to write on the wax. The back of the stylus was used to smooth out mistakes
• Punishment was used as "educational encouragement," often utilizing the ferula. The punishment was most usually meted out by the student's paedagogus
• The Paedagogus was a slave assigned to take the child to school and guard against evil. They did not teach the child, but rather accompanied them
• At eleven, a Roman boy would begin studying with a Grammaticus. The Grammaticus would focus on teaching grammar and studying classical texts.
• Typical School Day: Rise before dawn, don clothing, greet parents/leave with paedagogus, enter school/kiss teacher hello, write assigned sentences, review and parse sentences, have lunch
• At sixteen, boys would begin studying with a Rhetor. The Rhetor would continue literary study and begin focusing on public speaking. Boys had to prepare for studies in law and government, and learn how to speak in court/senate/elections