The ancients knew the value of practical education

The welfare state was designed to serve everyone’s needs. But those needs were defined by the state. So schools teach fronted adverbials (but what about hindmost ones, eh?) and trigonometry, and may (absurdly) have to teach maths to all up to 18. Do these really fulfil the needs of all our children, far too many of whom are not (apparently) leading happy, useful lives?

In the ancient world education was for the sons of the elite, to prepare them to run the country. But some elite Romans did without it. When Marius, who early on made his mark in battle and was picked out as a likely leader of men, became consul in 107 bc, the historian Sallust put a speech into his mouth in which he contrasted himself, the outsider, with the educated elite. They learned from books, he said, he learned on the battlefield; they were masters of words, he of deeds; and so on.

The ancients were practical people: they had to be. Families who had run the country from way back and made a success of it continued to do so, though that did not prevent the occasional newcomer making the grade. As for the remaining 98 per cent of the population, they made their own way to the best of their ability. For the majority that meant learning how to farm their own land and selling the surplus to provide them with goods they could not make themselves.

Those goods would be made by families who had developed the necessary skills and passed them on to their children. We hear of some 160 jobs e.g. blacksmiths, butchers, armpit hair-pluckers, launderers, carpenters, bakers, potters, builders, dancers, merchants, carpenters, fishermen, metal workers and so on, all requiring assistants and those willing to learn a trade.