The overwhelming day-to-day goal of the average peasant in antiquity (and even many who live in some parts of the Third World today) was survival.  Daily concerns included: An enemy shouldn't sack my village, rape my wife, kill me, and burn my house down. My wife shouldn't die in childbirth; my children shouldn't die young from all kinds of diseases. My crops shouldn't fail or a drought or plague hit my village. Those were some of the things people worried about. The average man labored from dawn to dusk -- no weekends, no vacations, no retirement. Life painted a pretty bleak picture.

With the goal of survival, who could afford to send their children to school? The youngsters who survived were needed to work in the fields. In addition, while both Greece and Rome had schools, education wasn’t free. Who had the leisure time and the financial resources to educate their children? Certainly not the average peasant. Historians estimate that the literacy rates in Greece and Rome were between 10%-15%. By our modern standards that’s horrible, but compared to other societies of antiquity, it’s fantastic! Only the ruling minority, the nobility, and landowners could afford to educate their children. Yet, even many of them didn't bother. More than a few noblemen and monarchs, especially in the Middle Ages, were illiterate. (Note: The one exception to this rule was the priests [not only Christian ones]. In many cultures, the priest served a dual function as religious leader and scribe. His status was also above that of the common man.)

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