International Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Studies

Website: https://www.ijahss.in/
ISSN(Online): 2582-3647
Volume 4; Issue 3; May-June 2022; Page No. 01-08
Open Access Original Paper

Plato’s Theory of Education: It’s Applicability in Teaching Methodology in Tanzania Secondary

Schools

Theophil Christopher1 & Adam Matiko Charles2*

1
Jordan University College, Department of Philosophy
2
Kampala International University in Tanzania, Department of Social Sciences
ABSTRACT
This study adopted documentary review method to examine how Plato’s philosophy of education is applicable to
teaching methodology in Tanzania secondary schools. A total of 89 published articles, books, and reports from electronic
databases, conference proceedings, and selected electronic journals were reviewed. The study discovered After seeing
Plato's contribution to the philosophy of education in Tanzania, it was discovered that for him (Plato), education is not
what some people call - putting knowledge into souls that lack it, similar to putting sight into a blind eye. The review
revealed that knowledge, like vision, necessitates the presence of an organ capable of receiving it. As a result, according
to Plato, education is a matter of conversion, a complete shift from the world of appearances to the world of reality. It is a
spiritual conversion.' According to Plato, the power of sight is not imparted to the soul's eye, which already possesses it,
but rather to ensure that, rather than looking in the wrong direction, it is turned in the right direction. Furthermore, Plato's
philosophy of education aims to prepare students for their future lives. Plato believed that without education, an
individual would make no more progress than a patient who believed he could cure himself with his loving remedy
without giving up his luxurious way of life. The review goes on to say that education should be divided into sections
based on the ages of children and adults. This implies that educators in Tanzania should teach what children can
understand at various ages. In addition, when it comes to the use of curriculum in formal education, each section or
division must have a curriculum and syllabus comprised of subjects appropriate to the age and situation of the society.

Keywords: Plato, Philosophy of Education, Teaching Methodology, Tanzania.

Citation: Theophil Christopher & Adam Matiko Charles (2022). Plato’s Theory of Education: It’s Applicability in Teaching
Methodology in Tanzania Secondary Schools. International Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Studies, 4(3), 01-08.

INTRODUCTION
Though education is an instrument for the overall development of individuals, there may be a narrow dimension to
this activity. In this, we see characteristics of the narrow dimension of education such as education is imparted through
institutions specifically designed for this purpose. Furthermore, it is the mature person's deliberate, conscious, and
systematic influence on the immature person or student. Furthermore, this type of education is intentional rather than
incidental; once again, this system of education considers knowledge and information as accumulations of details of
humankind's experiences throughout history [1].

The broad definition of education is a novel concept that refers to the expression of the dimension of education that
includes both scholastic and co-scholastic areas of learning and experiences. This type of learning broadens and deepens
our understanding of educational activities in classrooms and schools. This broader definition of education includes the
physical, mental, intellectual, cultural, ethical, moral, social, political, religious, and spiritual dimensions of an
individual's personality. Meanwhile, this broad concept of education is very helpful in achieving education's social and
national goals. However, these objectives are linked to a better understanding of society, a contribution to social good
through a sense of equality, and an understanding of the needs and psychology of others [2].

From antiquity, we see Socrates questioning whether man has any knowledge or that man can know anything, and as
a result, Socrates would employ his dialectic method, also known as the midwifery method, to ensure that man has innate
knowledge but that with the environment, man comes to realize what he already knows. As a result, Socrates believed
that man has innate ideas and knowledge, and that his method could assist one in bringing out the inner knowledge.
Without a doubt, his method was limited to ethical subjects only; thus, it included justice, virtue, knowledge, and
temperance, with the primary goal of such dialogue being to know one's own self [3].

Plato, as a philosopher, introduced a concept of education that is inextricably linked to his broader concept of virtues
such as prudence, courage, temperance, and justice. Plato's educational ideals are based on providing educators with a

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clear understanding of the meaning of various concepts that have appeared in the history of education discourse. As a
result, ideas, reason, goodness, metaphysics, dialectics, sense perception, representation, virtue, motivation, and truth are
all concepts. As a result, if one looks closely at these concepts, one can easily see how Plato's philosophy aids us in
understanding these terms in any discourse on educational philosophy. Plato's philosophy of education, which he
presented, aids us in understanding these terms. As a result, Plato presented education in his book titled "The Republic."
Therefore, for Plato, education was more about rediscovering previously acquired knowledge [4]. Moreover, the goal of
education as knowledge rediscovery was based on Plato's metaphysical philosophy about man and his soul. That is, each
man's soul previously existed in an ideal world, which Plato referred to as the world of ideas which had complete
knowledge of everything in this world.

Only mental or spiritual power is ultimately real for idealists. For them, the act of knowing takes place within the
mind. As a result, idealist knowledge is founded on the recognition or recall of talent and ideas that already exist in the
mind. Plato and other idealists held that knowledge is merely a matter of recall. Ideas are essences that exist on their own
[5]. According to idealists, the educational method should be oriented toward achieving the complete development of the
child's innate abilities and training him for self-realization. However, the specific methods suggested are as follows:
instruction is the most important tool for imparting information, and it does not mean, as idealists believe, a tool for
stiffening the child's mind with junk material. As a result, it implies mental modification and refinement in the child.
Furthermore, it must be implemented with guidance and idealists emphasize that all types of education must be provided
in schools.

In the meantime, idealists, like naturalists and pragmatists, advocate activity-based teaching and learning. As a
result, the students must learn through their actions. On another hand, the lecturer must be followed by questions raised
by students, and more importantly, creativity [6]. On the subject of creativity, we must understand that activity must be
organic, continuous, and progressive. As a result of this student's innate tendencies manifesting, the students will be
closer to self-realization. Therefore, we see this effect in Tanzania, where proactive skill-based learning should be
promoted over outdated practices like rote memorization at all levels of the education system.

This is due to the fact that employers are now looking for graduates who are entrepreneurially minded and have
analytical and problem-solving skills [7]. Furthermore, "Plato's analysis of education is such that candidates would be
assigned in a particular field based on their capabilities" [8]. Meanwhile, another issue is experience, and the teacher's
task is not to cram his own experience into the student's head, but to provide the child with some insight through his own
experience. In a similar vein, Plato stated that "the function of education is not to impart knowledge but to bring out
talents in the student" [9].

Tanzania's education system was based on Nyerere's education for self-reliance philosophy, and the curriculum was
designed to equip students with the skills needed for self-sufficient, rural livelihoods rather than further academic
education [10]. Tanzania's education system, on the other hand, is based on a two-seven-four-two-three years of studies,
whereas two years of pre-primary school, seven years of primary school, four years of ordinary secondary school, two
years of advanced secondary school, and at least three years of higher education are required.

Tanzania's national education system is textbook and examination based. Whereby, every single subject in the entire
country has a recommended textbook. Teachers, on the other hand, use this book as a source of knowledge to impart to
children across the country, and at the end, they are given a similar exam [11]. As a result, our educational model
encourages students to cram and retain what they have been taught until the exam. In addition, the education system has
long been described as shambolic and directionless. This also implies that it has lost its direction, as each new leader
introduces a new idea that frustrates students and educators [12].

Meanwhile, despite overwhelming evidence that quality has been steadily declining, there is widespread reluctance
to accept the truth. Indeed, the primary school leaving examination and the secondary school certificate. Despite many
years of implementing strategies and well-meaning primary and secondary education development programs, the
examination results confirm a consistent decline in performance. As a result, a number of factors have contributed to this
situation. The first is the country's national and educational policies, which have clearly defined a set of goals for
achieving high-quality education. Nonetheless, many institutions are still far from realizing them. Priorities are muddled
as a result of the muddled policy-making process. However, successful implementation of the curriculum – the syllabus
institutional program necessitates the presence of a supportive context and environment, the availability and effective use
of inputs in teaching and learning, as well as effective management and supervision, monitoring, and evaluation, all of
which determine the quality of outputs and outcomes [13]. As a result, the quality of education in Tanzania is dependent
on good teaching methodology in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning materials. Thus, we want to see
Plato's philosophy of education in solving the challenges of teaching methodology in Tanzania secondary schools,
keeping in mind that Plato recommends that students learn by doing at the basic level. And as he or she advances in

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education, his or her reasoning will be trained in the process of thinking and abstracting. Furthermore, the review of the
literature clearly indicated that there are different methodologies in teaching in the Tanzanian educational system, one of
which is the learner-centered method. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training
recommends this learner-centered method, it is still teacher-centered, and the banking system has become a major
provider of skills and inspirations rather than the learner center. As a result, the researcher using Plato's theory of
education can contribute to the teaching methodology of Tanzania's education system, because Plato was the first to
formulate a complete education system; thus, Plato's philosophy of education simplifies it by introducing dialect method
to make learners active in learning. In this way, the dialectic method can facilitate debate on issues, the exploration of
ideas, and the application of higher thinking. Because the goal of learning is to be able to discern and make decisions
based on knowledge, the dialectic method is critical for knowledge growth.

Objective of the Study:

To examine how Plato’s philosophy of education is applicable to teaching methodology in Tanzania secondary
schools.

METHODOLOGY
Study Design:
This used a documentary research method which refers to the analysis of documents that contains information about
the phenomenon we wish to study [14]. The documentary research method is used in investigating and categorizing
physical sources, most commonly written documents, whether in the private or public domain [15]. This research method
is just as good as and sometimes even more cost effective than the social surveys, in-depth interview or participant
observation.

Data collection tools and procedures

Documentary review was done by examining existing data and information on how Plato’s philosophy of education
is applicable to teaching methodology in Tanzania secondary schools. The examined documents included mainly
published journal articles, unpublished dissertations, scholarly books and reports. They were reviewed to help the
researcher be conversant with the existing situation in other contexts and help in providing the findings related to how
Plato’s philosophy of education is applicable to teaching methodology in Tanzania secondary schools. Secondary
research is a common approach to a systematic investigation in which the researcher uses existing data in the course of
the research process. In a time where vast amounts of data are being collected and archived by researchers, all over the
world, the practicality of utilizing existing data for research is becoming more prevalent [16, 17].

STUDY FINDINGS
Administration and Education System
In order to effectively teach in our Tanzanian schools, we require a strong school administration and education
system. Plato explains how education should be organized and administered. That is, the entire education system must be
led by a supervisor of education, who would be far and away the most important of the highest offices in the state,
overseeing all aspects of education for children of both sexes [18].

He must be at least 50 years old and the father of a legitimate family, preferably of both sexes (Laws, 765-e).
Meanwhile, these are the people who have true knowledge and can communicate true opinions to the people. As a result,
according to Plato, these are the men who possess moral and intellectual qualities. As we all know, this can be applied to
our educational and administrative systems in order to improve teaching and admiration in our schools, particularly
secondary schools, where we find a lack of commitment among school administrators, heads of schools, and school
inspectors in terms of supervising and monitoring school programs. Furthermore, there is a lack of pre-service and in-
service training for both principals and teachers. This acts as a barrier to meeting the Ministry of Education's
requirements for vocational training, and the result is a vicious cycle of management and staff who continually fail to
complement each other in their daily duties and responsibilities due to a lack of necessary skills. As a result, school heads
must be men or women of good knowledge, like the philosopher king, who can think of new solutions to problems that
face the school, as well as be capable of abstract reasoning, in order to improve Tanzania's effective teaching
methodology, particularly in secondary schools. However, we need such a leader who can adopt the idea of the
philosopher the king so that they can solve the problem and also practice supervising instructional programs so that there
is adequate classroom space and the teaching and learning process can take place without interruptions, and also be able
to monitor students' progress and teacher performance.

Teaching Methods
We see Socratic teaching as an interactive method of teaching in which students and teachers collaborate in the
pursuit of knowledge through dialogue. Another method of teaching is dialectic, in which the teacher uses questions to
get the students to think. As a result, we can call this type of teaching, in one way or another, the dialogical system of

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education, because it is all about the student and his or her capacity to know through the mediation of the teacher. It is the
students who are the focus of this dialogical education, with the teacher serving as an auxiliary. This is known as
knowledge center teaching. That is, it links the teacher to the student and the student to the teacher. Furthermore, the
teacher is there for the student, and the student is there for the teacher. As a result, the interaction between teacher and
student demonstrates that the focus of education is not deposits or narrations, but rather the relationship between two
human beings, two subjects, rather than a relationship between human beings (the teacher and object) (the student). The
teacher should not regard the student as a blank slate or as useless, but rather as a human being with a proclivity to learn,
a human being with some rudiments called skills to develop and from which to begin [19]. As a result of these methods,
we know that the students will not be lazy; they will work together with their master so that he or she can contribute the
most to the growth of knowledge while also being able to solve problems. Meanwhile, since we have already seen the
challenge of lack of interaction, we can adopt this teaching mode in Tanzania, particularly in secondary schools. That is,
there is a lack of interaction in the classroom, as well as between students and teachers. Thus, in order for Tanzania
secondary school to be realized, we must employ Plato's dialectic methods of teaching, which can encourage students to
realize their full potential by analyzing, asking and answering questions, and cooperating with teachers so that they can
acquire sufficient skills and knowledge. Plato's teaching methods can thus be adapted to our secondary school education
system in Tanzania.

A play method at the basic level is also mentioned and suggested by Plato. He encourages students to learn by doing.
When students reach a higher level of education, his reasoning will be trained in the process of thinking and abstracting.
In this way, we can see Plato's desire for motivation and interest in learning. He opposes the use of force. The most
effective type of education is for a child to play among beautiful things. Plato, on the other hand, places a premium on
early childhood education. According to him, nursery education is very important in people's education because it affects
their entire life.

However, when it comes to our educational system, from primary to secondary schools, we have a strong desire to
pass our exams. We do not create a good background from the start. Plato began to demonstrate the importance of
education from the primary level to the secondary level, as he began to demonstrate the significance of education from
the bottom up to the higher level of abstract reasoning. As a result, parents force their children to study and attend tuition,
and teachers force their students to attend extra classes in order for them to excel in their exams. In this way, private
supplementary tutoring is widely used; however, this private tutoring is a mechanical drill designed to help students pass
exams without critically internalizing a body of knowledge and skills. Thus, according to Plato, scholars were prepared
from the beginning, that is, from the primary level of education to the philosopher the king.

The Necessity of Language, Music and Games

Plato recognized the importance of language in education at the primary level, and this was followed by supervised
play instruction for both boys and girls, despite the fact that they were supposed to learn the same disciplines. "At the
primary level, all boys and girls should be educated together." They should study math, literature, poetry, and music until
they reach the age of eighteen" [20]. We can see how Plato emphasized the use of language as a medium of instruction
from the beginning, which is in contrast to our educational system, in which teachers have difficulty delivering
knowledge due to the background of the language, particularly English, because there is no good basic foundation of
English language from the beginning, particularly in public schools. As a result of the language limitations that some
teachers face, they are unable to communicate effectively or teach effectively. As a result, if we begin learning English in
primary school and place more emphasis on it, we will undoubtedly succeed in teaching. As we all know, the ability to
read and write encourages a more abstract way of thinking; it allows us to be more precise in our definitions of terms, it
allows us to refer back, think about our thinking, and weigh arguments. To supplement memory, organize the future,
communicate with others, and learn autonomously [21]. However, in order for our teaching methodology to be effective,
we must begin at the primary level and work our way up to the secondary level, as Plato did. Furthermore, the
introduction of a music class into our educational system is another method of learning the language. Plato recognizes the
value and necessity of music, so he incorporates it into the early stages of education.

"We would be entitled to describe as perfectly musical and harmonious the person who best combines physical,
musical, and poetic education, and who introduces them into his soul in the most balanced manner" [22]. However, there
is no music class in our curriculum, particularly in public schools, and only in religious schools. According to research,
those who learn music perform better in academics and language comprehension. Thus, the sense of rhythm that we all
have in different ways is primarily located in the right hemisphere of the brain (for right handed people), but musical
intelligence has some interesting links with other forms of intelligence. Learning musical notation requires children to
use skills related to their linguistic abilities (this maybe why early learning of musical notation has been associated with
acceleration reading ability). Furthermore, it is intimately related to bodily movement, both in the physical performance
of playing an instrument and in bodily responses to rhythm and melody.

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 Plato, on the other hand, saw the importance of play in schools as a source of new insights as well as methods of
grasping knowledge and language. And, despite the fact that children learn language informally, by the time they reach
school age, they are able to communicate effectively with their peers and the adults around them, despite the fact that the
standards of their language reflect the wide range of their individual backgrounds. Experience and language development
are inextricably linked, as evidenced by the way children verbalize as they touch things and act out their experiences in
play. As a result, informal methods of teaching reading make more of these facts than formal methods, and they make
more effort to stimulate a desire in the child to read before attempting to teach him to read. This is accomplished through
storytelling and story reading by the teacher, as well as consulting books to find out information, so that the child comes
to associate books with both pleasure and utility. As a result, a book corner with pre-readers can be used to entice
children to learn alongside the teacher and to go make their own books. Children who are taught in this manner gain a
better understanding of the relationship between written and spoken language, as well as the fact that there is information
within written language to which they can respond [23].

The Application of the Allegory of the Cave and the Education

The cave allegory, as we know, can be found in Book 7 of the Republic. It depicts the main aspects of Plato's idea of
education throughout the allegory. The allegory depicts the relationship between ignorance and comprehension. We call
education what it is because of the gap between ignorance and understanding. Furthermore, in order to better understand
what the allegory tells us about education, we must interpret what it means. The prisoners in the cave do not want to be
free because they are content with their ignorance. When the freed prisoners return to the cave, this is demonstrated in the
allegory. Plato suggests that the people in the cave represent society, and that we are the prisoners simply looking at the
shadow of things. The process of getting out of the cave can be compared to getting educated, but getting out of the cave
is difficult because we are frequently blinded by light. The process of exiting the cave necessitates assistance. This refers
to the fact that assistance is required throughout the cave. This also implies that there is sometimes a struggle involved in
our education. As a result, the primary function of education is to guide us toward the truth rather than to provide us with
the truth. According to Plato, education allows us to see things from a different perspective. Meanwhile, as people's
perceptions of the truth shift, so does education. As we know in our teaching, it is the teacher's responsibility to assist
students in coming up with and solving problems, from zero to concrete situations, and it is not a matter of repetition on
what the teacher has taught, but of being able to understand and come up with good knowledge.

"Education is not what some people claim it to be, namely instilling knowledge in souls that lack it, similar to
instilling sight in blind eyes." That is what they say. Then education is the craft concerned with doing this very thing,
with turning around, and with how the soul can be made to do it most easily and effectively. It is not the art of seeing into
the soul. Education assumes that sight exists but that it is not turned in the right direction or looking in the right place,
and attempts to redirect it appropriately" [24]. When some teachers with new and imaginative ideas try to implement new
methods, they face serious frustration from their superiors. The reason for this is that older teachers and principals can
easily get stuck in ruts and become resentful of any kind of change. Similarly, our teaching style must adopt Plato's
allegory of the cave concept in order to aid both the teacher and the students in the delivery of knowledge. However, we
require the following attitudes from teachers in order for them to support the students:

a) Admit you don’t know and can make mistakes.

b) Trust the child to make his own decisions.
c) Encourage collaborations and discussion with others.
d) Intervene only when appropriate.

However, students must be assisted in expressing the meaning of the problem in their own terms; sometimes students
are unclear about the purpose of the problem, so it is the teacher's responsibility to help them understand what is
preventing them from reaching solutions. Furthermore, research shows that increasing a child's confidence improves his
or her ability to solve problems. As a result, the cave allegory was born. Plato is vivid and can be applied to teaching in
our secondary schools and even at the university level.

Learning by Discovering in Teaching

As we all know, due to the challenges we face in our teaching methodology, we must adopt the system of discovery
learning, which we see in Plato's dialogue of Meno, where the boys discovered the answers without any teaching.
Socrates “do you observe, meno, that I am not teaching the boy anything, but only asking him questions; and now he
fancies that he knows how long a line is necessary in order to produce a figure of eight square feet; does he not?” [25].
As a result of discovering in learning, students can be active in thinking and reasoning without relying heavily on the
teacher; additionally, teachers are facilitators, and their roles are those of leaders, helpers, and partners. Because learners
are assumed to be self-directed, a facilitator serves as a resource person who views learning situations as a collaborative
effort between himself or herself and the learners. He or she does not simply disseminate information or knowledge;
rather, he or she creates a learning environment in which meaningful learning can occur. Teachers strive to facilitate

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natural learning without imposing their will on how learning should proceed [26]. Furthermore, according to Nyerere, a
mother does not give her child walking or talking; walking and talking are not things that she has and that she gives a
portion of the child. Rather, Nyerere contends that the mother assists the child in developing his or her own potential
ability to walk and talk. In this sense, teachers' roles are to assist students in developing their own potential and capacity,
rather than to give learners what they have [27].

Discovery learning, as opposed to receptive learning, entails making content available and accessible, as well as the
method of acquiring this knowledge. Competences should never be viewed solely as a means of disseminating
information; rather, they should be embedded in a discovery-based approach. As a result, learners discover theories,
rules, and patterns as they interact with their surroundings, peers, and teachers [28]. However, in this methods of
discovering, Bruner in the cognitive school spoke about work and the teacher, he says that the class teacher has the
responsibility of ensuring that methods of teaching are realistic in that they allow discovery activity, purely expository
teaching on its own is of little value; Bruner in helping students acquire the capacity to think creatively and critically. A
student learns concepts and relationships while deciphering the meaning of principles.

According to Burners, the activity of discovering has four advantages. First, there is an increase in intellectual
capacity—the student gains the ability to devise strategies for approaching and analyzing patterns in his or her
environment in an organized manner. Second, intrinsic motivations are preferred over extrinsic rewards because the
student gains satisfaction from discovering solutions on his or her own. Third, a student who has mastered the techniques
of discovering learning can apply them to the solution of real-world problems outside of the classroom [29]. Fourth,
memory enhancements appear to be linked to the organization of one's knowledge retrieval of information stored in
memory.

The Necessity of Ethical Education

Plato's central educational doctrine was founded on justice and the good life. Plato believed that education entailed
more than simply imparting knowledge. It is a total personality redirection. This is what is missing in our curriculum and
teaching: we do not place a premium on ethical education and instead place a premium on imparting knowledge.
Discipline is essential in academic settings. According to Plato, each class in the state has its own virtue: the common
people have temperance, the soldiers have courage, and the governors have wisdom. Each represents a unique
development of some fundamental soul characteristics.

Socrates proposes that its justice will be that what remains after its wisdom, courage and self-discipline have been
identified (427c). The city’s wisdom is located in its ruling class (428b), its courage is located in the army (429a) and its
self-discipline consists in the fact that its subjects are willing to be ruled by those best suited to rule (430), its justice,
finally is a matter of each class performing its proper function (432b)-434.The quality of the state therefore depends on
the kind of education that its component group receives [30].

We can see from the foregoing that Plato emphasizes the importance of moral upbringing of the young through
education, as this will enable them to play an effective and vital role later in life as adult members of the society to which
they belong.

Furthermore, in Tanzania, moral teaching is done at home rather than in public schools because we do not have a
syllabus in our teaching, except in religious schools, and as a result, we find some misconduct in teaching between
teachers and students, leakage of examinations, and exploitation of school or government resources. Therefore, in order
to improve our teaching, we require a secondary school curriculum that includes moral instruction. It is past time for our
government to implement moral instruction, which is geared toward the development of good morals in children,
particularly in secondary schools. So, by incorporating Plato's philosophy of moral education into our curriculum, we are
addressing the problem of moral decadence in Tanzanian communities.

On Gender Discrimination
Plato fought against gender discrimination. Women were not treated the same as men in Greece at the time, so they
were not educated because they stayed at home to care for children.

Socrates begins with an argument that female members of the guardian class should perform the same tasks as male
guardians. Against the objection that women should be assigned different tasks from men because they differ from men
by nature (453b) he responds that this natural differences is not relevant when it comes to running city (453e) [31].

It is because of this idea and thought that we discovered the importance of educating girls in our education. It has
been crying for our country for a long time, particularly in public schools, where most girls are forced to drop out, marry,
and do domestic work. This is because children come from illiterate parents, and the majority of teachers are

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uncomfortable involving them in their children's educational matters because of their parents' lack of schooling.
However, it is believed that sex differences are irrelevant in the construction of a society. He believed that males and
females had the same right to receive education from the state because the state's interests were paramount, and that the
type of education that produced good men would also produce good women. However, he was completely opposed to
gender and religious discrimination and proposed that education be provided to all without regard to race, gender, or
religion. Education for women raised questions in order to overcome this mistreatment of women in Greece; however,
Plato says natural gifts can be found in both sexes to overcome this problem. So women and children were supposed to
go to school and not just stay at home for education. Therefore, our education system and our community in general
should not discriminate against gender.

Government Controlled Education

The state was built entirely around the idea of education, with the belief that if the state did its job of conducting and
supervising education properly, it would succeed. Plato was so impressed with the results of state-controlled education in
Sparta that he replicated it in Athens. Plato regarded the state as an educational institution and referred to it as the "one
great thing." However, the emphasis on education stems from Socrates' assertion that virtue is knowledge. Meanwhile,
Plato advocated for a state-controlled, compulsory, and all-encompassing education system divided into two stages: basic
education and higher education. In that case, he advocated for two goals: first, universal literacy, and second, adequate
and proper training for members of the state's ruling class. While basic education made the soul more sensitive to its
surroundings, higher education enabled the soul to seek truth, which illuminated it.

To ensure effective secondary education, the government should take steps to control the education system, both
public and private. This will allow the government to address the challenges that the education sector, particularly
secondary education is facing, as well as promote a sense of belonging to our country. Nowadays, education has become
a commodity due to the fact that there are many institutes and secondary schools, both of which are private, which have
become sources of income rather than sources of knowledge. As a result, if the government can control the educational
system, it can address the issues of private tuition, exploitation of schools and government resources, teacher retention,
teacher motivation, children from illiterate and poor families, school infrastructures, the quality of students admitted,
overcrowding, and class management. Plato's concept of education is that it is one of the primary concerns of the state,
which must train citizens to behave appropriately for the class to which they belong and to make fair choices in the
context of life that best suits nature. Only when our government, in our opinion, is assigned to the speech will internal
reconciliation and unity be restored. Plato believed that education is critical to achieving a city's harmonious functioning
and that if a city neglects education, its other activities will lose significance [32].

CONCLUSION
Plato emphasizes formal education in his contribution to the teaching methodology in the secondary education
system, stating that if education is to be treated as an organized business, it must be formal. As a result, education should
be divided into sections that correspond to the ages of children and adults. This implies that educators taught what
children can understand at various ages. However, when it comes to the use of curriculum in formal education, each
section or division must have a curriculum and syllabus comprised of subjects appropriate to the age and situation of the
society.

According to Plato, education should be provided by specially trained teachers who have specialized in their field. In
order to meet those demands and standards of quality education, the current educational system and modern society
require high quality teaching and learning from teachers who must have a wide range of knowledge and skills in both
teaching and assessment practices. Furthermore, Plato believed that formal education should be provided to students in a
specially designed setting known as a school, where the atmosphere is entirely academic.

Plato, on the other hand, suggests that in order for education to be worthwhile, its principles of behavior as upheld by
citizens of the state or government should be in ethics. He stated that mere knowledge and skills would not suffice for a
person because, in the absence of ethics, such a person is likely to use acquired knowledge and skills from schools to
undermine the goals of the state and its citizens. This is evident in our society today, where students, teachers, and other
educated citizens have resorted to destroying government and private property and lives due to a lack of ethics.

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