H.I. Marrou is a fine writer of history. He's definitely a product of an earlier era, but his tone and style make reading about even the bureaucracy of education interesting. But his speculations aren't always entirely clear.
At the end of the chapter about "The Primary School," he speculates that primary education in Hellinistic Greece must have been more individualistic than our own. Why? Because there had been no sign of blackboards in any known sites of school buildings.
This makes sense, sure, but it doesn't necessarily follow that just because the equipment for communal teaching wasn't present, education was individualistic. Teachers could after all, focus on their favourites, and leave those whom they deemed to be slower than the rest to their own devices.
Or could they?
Like professional musicians and athletes, teachers were regarded as tradespeople in Hellinistic Greece. They were people who had to go around asking people for money in exchange for their services, and thus were regarded as socially low. Marrou puts it quite succinctly: "The teacher of old was essentially a man of good family who had gone down in the world." Even then, though, to teach in this period of history required no training, you just had to be able to read and write (at least at the primary level).
But, as a teacher you'd still need to get paid. Since you'd be working for parents (who, during holiday-heavy months, might not use your services at all), maybe there is something to Marrou's speculation. Though, even if individualistic education was a hallmark in the Hellenistic age could be the result of dear old drachmae rather than ideals.
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