After Aristotle’s death in 322 BC, it did not take long for the world to forget his contributions to educational theory. His idea that the purpose of life is happiness received attacks from all sides. His definition of virtues as “habits leading to happiness” fell into oblivion. His view of education as a process of teaching virtues became a minority opinion. In the Middle Ages, education became deeply dominated by religion. Its contents became anti-Aristotelian, even if the ideas put forward by Aristotle had remained in the curriculum. The revival of Aristotelian education began in the sixteenth century, where scholastic professors such as Francisco Suarez (1548-1617) attempted to combine faith with reason. Suarez and the other scholastics at Salamanca University loved to quote at the same time theologians such as Augustine (354-430) and Aristotle’s “Categories” and “Metaphysics.” Their attempts resulted in a mishmash of logic, classicism, and mysticism. By the time Francisco Suarez wrote his book “Metaphysical Disputations,” he had gained access to all of Aristotle’s works thanks to Arabic and Byzantine sources. In contrast to Aristotle’s educational advice (“teach students to become virtuous, so that they can achieve happiness”), the education in ensuing centuries concentrated on learning facts and acquiring skills. For instance in the Middle Ages, the educational curriculum revolved around the “Trivium” and the “Quadrivium.” Pupils were taught the trivium before starting the quadrivium. The trivium consisted of grammar, rhetoric and logic, which medieval teachers regarded as the most basic subjects. Today, we would categorise the trivium as humanities or liberal arts. In contrast, the quadrivium contained subjects that today we categorise primarily as science and technology. The medieval quadrivium encompassed arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Compared to the trivium, the quadrivium was regarded as advanced learning. One of the main problems of medieval education is the very limited number of schools. In ancient Athens, Plato (428-347 BC) had operated his school “The Academy” and Aristotle had opened his school “The Lyceum.” In medieval Europe, schools were mostly located at monasteries and mixed education with religious proselytism. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/opponents-to-aristotles-views-on-education/