Platonic Academy Vis-A-Vis Contemporary Indian Education System

Education is a process through which we equip ourselves with knowledge. Anything that can have a formative influence on the way a person thinks, acts and feels may be considered as education. Undoubtedly, Plato�s Academy has been the most prestigious and most influential of all educational institutions in antiquity. Plato laid the foundation of this academy in 385 B. C. E. in Akademeia, then a northern suburb six stadia outside of Athens. Many influential personalities of pre-20th century weren�t educated in academies but had developed interests as well as excellence in diverse disciplines. These people laid the foundations of science through self-learning. Aristotle, Newton, Jabir-Ibn- Hayan, Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Faraday, Nikola Tesla, and numerous others excelled in versatile fields. Today, unfortunately, auto-didacticism or self-directed learning is looked down upon in the mainstream world. Through the medium of this research paper, we will study the platonic academy�s education system vis-�-vis contemporary Indian education system. The paper will cover the era of inception of Platonic academy, its study pattern and then it will move to the present time education policies and study pattern. Also, this paper discusses how Plato�s theory of education has influenced the modern-day education system in India.