Spartan boys left their homes and entered the public educational system whose purpose was to produce a well-drilled military machine composed of soldiers who were 'obedient to the word of command, capable of enduring hardships and victories in battle'. Each boy was assigned to a herd, or agela, where he lived communally with other boys. Under this system literacy was not a high priority, boys being only taught 'what was enough to get by with'.

At the age of eleven, the next level of education for the boys began. According to Plutarch: 'They no longer had a tunic, received one cloak a year, had hardened skin, and took very few baths and used practically no ointments, except on a few prescribed days of the year. They slept together according to platoon and herd on pallet beds made of rushes which they plucked with their bare hands from the River Eurotas -- no knives were allowed. In winter they added lycophon or thistle-down to their beds, since this was thought to provide warmth.'

Spartan girls also received formal education. Although it is not known whether they underwent a course of training similar to what the boys went through, the evidence is sufficient to indicate that an attempt was made to keep some similarities between the two sexes.