Plato's educational system is based on an ideal aristocratic society. According to Garth Kemerling's website, www.philosophypages.com (2002), Plato's aristocratic government is one that is ideally efficient. Under such a society, its guardians, the potential leaders of society, are "the most genuine examples of true justice at the social and personal levels" (Kemerling, 2002). These "guardians," both male and female, should be give equal educational opportunities. Plato felt that those persons who have the greatest potential to engage in philosophical inquiry should receive the best possible education, "engaging in a regimen of mental discipline that grows more strict with every passing year of their lives" (Kemerling, 2002).
             Society's guardians, according to Plato, will naturally be disposed toward philosophical thought. Their early education will have "an emphasis on achieving the proper balance of many disparate components-physical training and musical performance along with basic intellectual development" (Kemerling, 2002). Higher education, however, will begin with mathematical studies. The purpose of arithmetic will be the development of theoretical notions. From there, the student will progress to geometry since it is "especially valuable for its careful attention to the eternal forms" (Kemerling, 2002). The study of astronomy and harmonics will enhance the student's abstract thinking and reasoning. It is only then that the pupil can begin his or her philosophical education.
             The study and use of philosophy in education in the present day, however, is not a simply defined topic. According to Edward Rozycki's article entitled: "Philosophy and Education: What's the Connection", www.newfoundations.com (1999), the term "philosophy" is broken down into three categories: (1) wisdoms, (2) ideologies and (3) critical inquiry. I
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