History of Education, Levi Seeley [short novels in english txt] 📗
- Author: Levi Seeley
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Emulation.—Emulation was employed to stimulate pupils to work and to secure good conduct. Prizes, decorations, rewards, titles, were offered as a means of attaining desired ends. Emulation is a natural instinct in mankind, and it may be utilized to stimulate endeavor and "foster ambition." The principle ever to be kept in mind should be excellency without degrading others. Schwickerath thinks that such was the spirit in which the Jesuits employed this incentive.[71] He admits, however, that there are dangers connected with prizes, and, on the whole, that certain methods of fostering emulation recommended by the Ratio Studiorum are less suitable to northern countries and less in accordance with modern taste.
While corporal punishment was allowed, it was generally administered by an official disciplinarian. It was seldom used, however, the discipline being mild and humane.
Criticism of Jesuit Education.—As to the efficiency of the instruction in the Jesuit schools, opinions widely differ. Bacon and Descartes indorse it in highest terms, while Leibnitz, Voltaire, and others are equally strong in its condemnation. Bacon remarks, "As to whatever relates to the instruction of the young, we must consult the schools of the Jesuits, for there can be nothing that is better done." Leibnitz, on the other hand, says, "In the matter of education, the Jesuits have remained below mediocrity." Ranke, in speaking of the success of the Jesuit schools, says, "It was found that young persons learned more under them in half a year than with others in two years."
Mr. Quick says: "I have said that the object which the Jesuits proposed in their teaching was not the highest object. They did not aim at developing all the faculties of their pupils, but merely the receptive and reproductive faculties. When the young man had acquired a thorough mastery of the Latin language for all purposes, when he was well versed in the theological and philosophical opinions of his preceptors, when he was skillful in dispute, and could make a brilliant display from the resources of a well-stored memory, he had reached the highest point to which the Jesuits sought to lead him."[72] Some critics of the Jesuits claim that they lack in originality of thinking, and that they neglect training in the power of forming correct judgments. They have produced, however, many great men.
Summary.—Summarizing the educational work of the Jesuits, the following would appear to us to be just:—
1. Their educational system was by far the most efficient and successful of any during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.
2. This, however, applies only to higher education, as primary education was not undertaken by them.
3. They made their schools interesting, and learning pleasant. Their work was thorough, their consecration complete, their success as teachers marvelous, they being the greatest schoolmasters of their time.
4. They produced a course of study, the Ratio Studiorum, which lays principal stress upon the humanities and religious instruction.
5. They taught the necessity of trained teachers, and developed a remarkable power and tact in the work of instruction and school management.
6. They made use of emulation as a means of stimulating ambition,—a principle that tends to arouse the baser motives, and which is therefore to be used guardedly.
7. They were indefatigable in missionary enterprise, and zealous in the propagation of their principles, both religious and educational.
8. They stimulated authorship, advanced learning, and produced many great men.
9. They exerted a powerful influence upon the intellectual, social, and political movements of their time.
THE PORT ROYALISTS
Opposed to the Jesuits was another body of Catholics, sometimes called Jansenists from the organizer of the movement, and sometimes Port Royalists, because their chief school was at Port Royal near Paris. Their purpose was to check the progress of the Jesuits, to promote greater spirituality in the Church, and to revive the pure Catholicism of St. Augustine. Among their great leaders may be mentioned Pascal, Nicole, and Launcelot. The purpose of the Jansenists was very different from that of the Jesuits, and their methods were more modern. They gave preference to modern languages, while the Jesuits gave chief attention to the classic tongues. Their discipline, like that of the Jesuits, was humane, but firm.
Their greatest contribution to education is the phonic method of spelling. They also laid stress upon the use of objects, the development of the sense perceptions, especially in early childhood. One of their axioms was, "The intelligence of childhood always being very dependent on the senses, we must, as far as possible, address our instruction to the senses, and cause it to reach the mind, not only through hearing, but also through seeing." This appears to be the first instance in which object teaching was taught as a principle, a principle which Bacon, Comenius, Pestalozzi, and Froebel worked out, and which has been one of the most important factors of modern educational progress.
FOOTNOTES:[63] "Jesuit Education," p. 77.
[64] See Hughes, "Loyola," pp. 46, 113, 156, 282. Also Schwickerath, "Jesuit Education," p. 415.
[65] "Jesuit Education," p. 105. See also Hughes, "Loyola," pp. 4, 14, 43, 46, 68, 72, 82, and 86 (lines 12-23).
[66] See Hughes, "Loyola," pp. 72, 151.
[67] "Educational Reformers" p. 26.
[68] K. Schmidt, Vol. III, p. 230.
[69] "Educational Reformers," p. 34.
[70] See Hughes, "Loyola," p. 141, for full description of this work and outline of the course. Also Schwickerath, "Jesuit Education," p. 191.
[71] See Hughes, "Loyola," p. 511.
[72] "Educational Reformers," p. 35.
Literature.—H. M. Skinner, The Schoolmaster in Literature, The Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire; Gill, Systems of Education; Quick, Educational Reformers; Williams, History of Modern Education; Besant, Rabelais; Monroe, Educational Ideal; Collins, Montaigne; Emerson, Representative Men; Vogel, Geschichte der Pädagogik; Carlisle, Two Great Teachers (Ascham and Arnold); Azarias, Essays Educational; Davidson, History of Education.
We have thus far discussed educators who were directly connected with the great Protestant and Catholic movements. There were others who were more or less independent of these movements. Among these we may mention Roger Ascham, Rabelais, and Montaigne.
ASCHAM (1515-1568)
Roger Ascham was the most celebrated English educator of the sixteenth century. He was educated at Cambridge, and studied three years in Germany. He had a thorough knowledge of the classic languages. For these reasons he was chosen tutor to Elizabeth, a position which he held for two years. Upon her accession to the throne, Ascham came to read with her several hours a day, and she retained her affection for her old teacher throughout his life.
His chief literary work is his "Scholemaster," which is the first educational classic in English. Dr. Johnson says of this book, "It contains, perhaps, the best advice that ever was given for the study of languages." This method was as follows, given in Ascham's words: "First, let him teach the child, cheerfully and plainly, the cause and matter of the letter (Cicero's Epistles); then, let him construe it into English so oft as the child may easily carry away the understanding of it; lastly, parse it over perfectly. This done, then let the child by and by both construe and parse it over again; so that it may appear that the child doubteth in nothing that his master has taught him before.
"After this, the child must take a paper book, and sitting in some place where no man shall prompt him, by himself let him translate into English his former lesson. Then showing it to his master, let the master take from him his Latin book, and pausing an hour at the least, then let the child translate his own English into Latin again in another paper book. When the child bringeth it turned into Latin, the master must compare it with Tully's book, and lay them both together, and where the child doth well, praise him, where amiss, point out why Tully's use is better.
"Thus the child will easily acquire a knowledge of grammar, and also the ground of almost all the rules that are so busily taught by the master, and so hardly learned by the scholar in all common schools. The translation is the most common and most commendable of all other exercises for youth; most common, for all your constructions in grammar schools be nothing else but translations; but because they be not double translations (as I do require), they bring forth but simple and single commodity; and because also they lack the daily use of writing, which is the only thing that breedeth deep root, both in the wit for good understanding, and in the memory for sure keeping of all that is learned; most commendable also, and that by the judgment of all authors which entreat of these exercises."[73]
Ascham often refers to his illustrious pupil in claiming merit for his system. He says, "And a better and nearer example herein may be our most noble Queen Elizabeth, who never took yet Greek nor Latin grammar in her hand after the first declining of a noun and a verb; but only by this double translating of Demosthenes and Isocrates daily, without missing, every forenoon, and likewise some part of Tully every afternoon, for the space of a year or two, hath attained to such a perfect understanding in both tongues, and to such a ready utterance of the Latin, and that with such a judgment as there be few now in both universities, or elsewhere in England, that be in both tongues comparable with her Majesty." Mr. Quick thinks that while Ascham may have thus flattered his royal pupil, there is no doubt that she was an accomplished scholar.
We have seen that Sturm made some use of double translation, but Ascham is entitled to full credit for the method, which he adopted from Pliny and perfected. Many teachers of language since that time have employed this method with excellent results.
RABELAIS[74] (1483-1553)
Though there is some obscurity as to the exact date of the birth of Rabelais, it is generally believed that he was born the same year as Luther, 1483. He was the son of a French innkeeper, and, after completing a classical course, was consecrated to the priesthood. His great ability and independent thinking, and his humanistic tendency brought reproof from his superiors, and he was ordered to perform works of penance in his cell; but through the influence of powerful friends he was freed and allowed to go over to the Benedictines, with whom, however, he did not remain long. He became an independent preacher, and as such had many friends among the reformers, chief among whom was Calvin. His intimacy with Calvin led the more radical reformers to be suspicious of him, and not without reason. Walter Besant tells us that, "One hears he is a buffoon—he is always mocking and always laughing. That is perfectly true. He laughs at the pretensions of pope, cardinal, bishop, and priest; he laughs at monkery and monks; he mocks at the perpetual iteration of litanies; he laughs at the ignorance and superstition which he thinks are about to vanish before the new day
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