Plato repeatedly speaks of the need to provide a first-class education for the young guardians. The education process goes along with a selection process, in which the young guardians are tested both for their intellectual ability and for their commitment to promote the good of the city. They are to be under constant observation and “deprived” of false beliefs. If they fail in any significant way, they are eliminated from their cohort, perhaps to be relegated to the auxiliary class.[30] If, on the other hand, they pass all their tests, both intellectual and moral, they become part of the ruling class, where they will receive continued education along with assignments to manage the ideal state. If they do well in their practice as well as their studies, they will, presumably, emerge as philosopher-kings. And philosopher-queens: let us not forget that both sexes are represented in the ruling class.[31]
Not content with generalities, Plato goes on to sketch the curriculum to be followed by the trainee guardians in Book VII. When they are school age, they will be trained in arithmetic, geometry, and perhaps logic. Plato specifies that they should learn through play rather than by compulsion, presumably of rote memorization and the like; they should find their education pleasurable and exciting rather than burdensome.[32] When they are 18-20 years old, the promising students will receive intensive physical education—at the time specified by Athens for the training of army cadets. At the age of 20, those chosen as guardian trainees will move on to intellectual pursuits which aim to give them a perspective of their place in the world, so presumably they will study, among other things, philosophy.[33]
At age 30, the trainees will be exposed to serious philosophical examinations, which seem to be of a Socratic sort, asking them to understand virtues and the like. The practice of dialectic is dangerous: the trainees will be tempted to become sophists, devoted to winning arguments rather than to discovering the truth. At age 35, those who excel at dialectic with the right objective in mind will advance to becoming managers. They will be sent down to “the cave” to apply what they have learned to situations in the real world.[34] Then, at age 50, when the guardians have completed their compulsory duties as managers, perhaps as mid-level bureaucrats, they will become senior fellows. They will be encouraged to reach the pinnacle of philosophical knowledge (to be specified later) and to be philosopher-kings and -queens, the executives of the city-state and advisors to all the junior managers.[35]
All of this depends on the possibility of producing guardians who are dedicated to the welfare of the city-state with no thought of honors and perquisites for themselves. With the proper breeding and the appropriate curriculum and oversight, Plato seems to believe, it will be possible to create altruistic leaders for whom the welfare of the city is more important than their own advantage.
[30] Plato Republic III, 412d-413d.
[31] As Plato himself reminds us: Plato Republic VII, 540c.
[32] Plato Republic VII, 536d-537a.
[33 Plato Republic VII, 537b-c.
[34] Plato Republic VII, 538d-539e.
[35] Plato Republic VII, 539e-540c.