As a child, Augustine viewed schooling as something that was forced upon him by the adults who he was taught to obey. “Short of being driven to it, I certainly would not have learned.” While he did not enjoy it, it was something that he had to do, and he did it well. During his adolescence, he became a leading scholar in the School of Rhetoric and was arrogant with his achievements, and in his adulthood, he became a teacher of rhetoric in Carthage and then Rome. “I was studying the books of eloquence; for in eloquence it was my ambition to shine… for the satisfaction of human vanity.” As he grew older, he recognized education as a tool for gaining honor and glory amongst men. Although he claims that good was done to him, by God, by being forced to learn to read and write so that he could express himself, his “earthly intentions” were not as pure and grand.
