1. Education

2. Primary There was no state education.
Primary education was reasonably cheap and gave the necessary skills for most simple occupations (adding, subtracting, readin, writing).
Education began around age six and lasted about six years.
Ludi magister - school master/ Litterator - teacher of reading
Teachers rented spaces in tabernae for their classes.
Upper class children were accompanied by a paedagogus who also taught them Greek.
They worked on tabulae, writing tablets and much of the learning was merely copying.

3. Primary (2) Larger schools had an arithmetic teacher (calculator).
Beads, pebbles and abacuses were commonly employed.

4. Secondary
The secondary phase was usually the form of an apprenticeship.
Some education developed teenage Romans from wealthier backgrounds.
The secondary teacher was the grammaticus.
Often Greek, usually badly paid.
Most secondary education centred on poetry and words.
Elementary teaching in rhetoric was provided.
Horace thanks his father for paying for secondary education so that he could rise through the Roman ranks.

5. Rhetor
This teacher taught wealthy boys of sixteen-ish how to speak in public.
This was to prepare them for careers in politics and/or the law.
Pupils were taught to argue in hypothetical cases (controversiae)
They also learned speech-making for its own sake (suasoriae).

6. The Skinny No state education.
Primary education was cheap enough for most Roman families to afford.
Basics of reading, writing and arithmetic were taught.
Fewer took secondary education.
The elite used this stage to groom children for positions of power.
The rhetor provided a finishing education for those going on to political/ legal careers.

7. Sources
Taylor, David. Roman Society. Bristol Classical Press, 2001.