What is the true meaning of the word School In Greek?
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Our education has nothing to do with school, the form that school has existed so far in our known history.
In order to understand what a school is really about, we need to explain the origin of the word “school”.
Understanding the meaning of a word means to see where the word first started its journey and what it meant for the people that first used it.
The word school comes from the Greek word “η σχόλη” (s-choli) which means leisure. Enjoyment. Free time. Fun. Calmness. Losing yourself in leisure time.
We have a kids’ songs saying:
«Κυριακή, γιορτή και σχόλη
να ‘ταν η βδομάδα όλη
κι η Δευτέρα τα ‘ταν μόνο
κάνα δυό φορές τον χρόνο»
“Sunday, celebration and leisure time
if only it was all week long
and Monday I wish it was only
only a couple of times during the year”
This is a recent kids’ song, but for people who lived during the Ancient Hellenic Times, school used to be a place where someone would spend their time doing something that was fun and knowledgeable at the same time. The kids admired their teachers and they got excited about the time that they spent together. The teachers were not exhausted like they are today, they carried the knowledge for the society and people knew that these people would lead to a bright future for their community and their polis*
School was something good for the day of the kid. It wasn’t a duty or a task that would force them to memorize with no critical thought and just repeat what the teachers said. They discussed about things and they lead to conclusions. They knew how to discuss.
To understand even deeper the notion σχόλη (s-choli) let’s take another word of this family of words. The word “απασχολώ” (apas-cholo)
Απασχολώ =απα-σχολώ it is a verb that means “I bother”. The Greek etymology is “I interrupt you from your leisure time” I bother you.
Συγνώμη που σε/σας απασχολώ=Excuse me to interrupt you and take your precious time.
Let’s take all the word together:
σχολ-είο
The ending –ειο is an ending that shows a place (φαρμακείο, μουσείο etc)
So now we have “the place of leisure time, great focus, the place where you lose yourself in stimulating the knowledge with great fun)
It is something that you don’t want to be interrupted from.
Deep knowledge and old knowledge can save our lives. Imagine how far we can go when we change the way we are programmed and start practicing knowledge and ways of life of different eras and philosophies.
The sophists (philosophers who lived in Ionia around 7th BC) were teachers with this kind of idea about school that we mentioned in this chapter.
The fun part is that they were such great teachers, that we don’t know their names, but we know the names of their students.
They lived in Ionia in the 7th and 6th century BC and then they moved to Athens creating the golden century of Pericles in the 5th century BC.
Imagine what you can create for your life with this change in the way we see the learning process and the hours we dedicate for our personal growth, leaving the manipulating part in the dark pages of Human History.
As Carl Sagan said:
“School should be so exciting for young humans, that they would feel sad when they finish it and they would try to find other sources of this kind of exciting knowledge in their lives after they finish it”.
I will add “people of all ages, not just young people”. I have to tell you, my best students are over 60 or 70 years old.
It took me ten years to realize this. I wasted ten years of doing nothing and believing I was just stupid. Why? Because I could’ t repeat what I was taught for around 8 years of my life.
The question is: are 8 or 12 years too many in a whole lifespan?
I hope you get the idea. Keep on practicing, but most importantly create a school with the real meaning of the word, the hellenic meaning and trust me you will enjoy more than one lives during your lifespan.
With Respect,
Teacher & Writer @ MyGreekTeacher.com
If you are thinking about taking up Greek I can suggest 2 options for you:
- Have you checked the amazing memebership Demetra Lambros has created? Get all the infromation you want here
- you can have a look at adult classes and we can arrange an online coffee so as to have all the time to reply to all your questions and then you can decide if what I do is a good fit for you or not.
