Plato Allegory of the Cave and Educational System

In The Republic, Plato uses the analogy of the cave to help the reader understand his theories of the Forms and the Divided Line. There are four basic areas of Plato’s cave, each representing a different segment of the divided line, which in turn represent a different kind of knowledge and understanding. The journey out of the cave also helps to aide in Plato’s outline for an educational system. A system who’s output is a person with the highest level of knowledge, the philosopher. It is the philosopher who Plato believes to be the ideal ruler for the just republic. However, in order to understand why Plato’s educational system is successful and why the philosopher is the best leader, one has to start in darkness, deep in Plato’s grotto.
Each location in the cave represents a different part of Plato’s Divided Line and understanding of the Forms. The first parts Plato describes are: a wall of shadows with prisoners chained in such a way they can only see the shadows and a...