The three types of private schools in Athens, ancient Greece, included grammar schools, music schools, and gymnastics schools.

Children in Athens were carefully selected after birth.

Before the age of seven, he was raised by his parents at home.

After the age of seven, girls continue to be cared for and educated by their mothers, allowing them to learn skills in textiles, sewing, embroidery, etc., and do not go to school to learn culture.

From the age of seven, boys attend both The Grammatist School and The Music School (also known as the String School).

Grammar schools teach children literature and simple knowledge, while Xianqin schools teach children how to play and sing.

These schools are all private and fee-paying.

The children of freemen could afford the tuition and enroll in school.

Children of slave owners were accompanied by "Pedagode" when they went to school.

Most of the teaching servants were captured slaves with knowledge.

Teachers were free citizens with political rights, and many were redeemed slaves.

Therefore, the status of teachers at that time was very low, just like buskers on the street, and they were not respected by others.

Grammar schools do not have a clearly defined fixed curriculum, and students generally only learn basic knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic.

Reading, that is, literacy reading, letters first, then words.

At that time, there was no stress (reading), punctuation, and no gaps between words, so it was very difficult to learn how to read.

When they reach a reading level, they will mainly read "Homer's Epic" and "Aesop's Fables".

Writing is not easy either. I first use a hard pointed pen to follow the teacher's handwriting on the wax tablet, then I put the wax tablet on my knees to write, and finally write on the parchment with ink. Writing is very slow.

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Arithmetic teaching is not very common. The teacher gives a little guidance, and the students just use their fingers or pebbles (sometimes something similar to an abacus) to practice. It is extremely simple.

The Xianqin school first practiced musical instruments, then taught simple religious poems and lyric poems, and then used musical instruments to accompany the poems and sing them.

Finally, we have to learn to sing excerpts from Homer’s epic poem.

Music education is mainly about cultivating students' character and moral quality, not about becoming a singer.

Because this was considered a despicable occupation, the children of slave owners disdained it.

Teenagers aged 12 to 13 continue to study in music schools or grammar schools, and at the same time they begin to study in the gymnastics school (The Palaestra).

Gymnastics school, also called "wrestling school", is a higher-level school.

In fact, the so-called gymnastics school is usually just an open field near the music school.

As the name suggests, gymnastics schools focus on physical training.

In the previous grammar schools or music schools, there were also some preliminary sports activities, such as playing, running, games, and posture training of standing, walking, sitting, etc.

However, after entering a gymnastics school, you have to focus most of your time on gymnastics training under the guidance of wrestling teachers.

The contents of gymnastics training include: running, jumping, wrestling, discus throwing, javelin (pentathlon); as well as swimming, dancing and other events.

These five sports, including athletics and swimming, are the most common sports in Athens and Sparta, and they are also consistent in the purpose of setting up courses, that is, they all focus on developing students first.

physical strength to become a strong person.

But Athens had further demands.

In the eyes of the Athenians, this kind of gymnastics is certainly very important and indispensable for physical exercise.

But it is more important for the training of skills and the exercise of mental will.

Gymnastics, in terms of skills and skills, requires brisk and agile steps, soft and beautiful postures; in terms of mental willpower, it requires always being tough and resolute, brave and enterprising, and being good at suppressing temper and controlling emotions.

Because the Athenians paid more attention to the training of spiritual will than the training of skills and techniques.

Therefore, in order to coordinate gymnastics activities with the learning in grammar schools and harp schools, various gymnastics exercises are often accompanied by the playing of harp instruments.

Therefore, gymnastics schools do not simply carry out sports activities. They also cooperate with grammar schools and harp schools to continue students' learning of cultural knowledge and music and art (including literature).

In addition, in gymnastics schools, more attention is paid to the moral education of slave owners. Officials or the most respected and prestigious citizens of slave-owning countries often come to the school to have various conversations with students, or host important activities such as gymnastics exercises.