A STUDENT'S TEXTBOOK IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN THE A STUDENT'S TEXTBOOK IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION BY STEPHEN PIERCE DUGGAN, Ph.D. FB0FE8SOB OF EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW TOBK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK CHICAGO Ml3 COPTBIGHT, 1916, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1^^ ^n"7o< OCT 16 1916 Printed in the United States of America ©CI;A438903 TO MY WIFE SARAH E. DUGGAN PREFACE Some years ago I prepared a syllabus in the history of education for the use of my undergraduate classes in the College of the City of New York and in an exten- sion course offered to teachers in the city. This volume is the result of a suggestion on the part of those pupils that the syllabus be expanded into a textbook. It is written primarily as a teaching instrument, for students who are preparing to teach or who have a cultural in- terest in the subject but who are unable at the time to undertake a deeper or more detailed study than the survey here presented. Certain characteristics which have been kept in view ought, perhaps, to be mentioned. 1. It is intended to be of practical assistance to the teacher in giving him a better understanding of present- day problems in education. Unless the history of edu- cation throws light upon the educational principles and practices of today, it has only an academic interest and should not be a prescribed subject in the training of a teacher. A series of questions and of topics for study has been put at the end of each chapter, therefore, to suggest further study in the relation of the content to the problems that confront us today, and to make clear the manner in which past experience may help to clarify present theories and practices. Each chapter is also prefaced by an outline to enable the student better to understand the facts of the text. Illustrations, where they have served to elucidate the text, have been inserted. vii PEEFACE 2. It emphasizes modern education without slighting any other period. Attention is directed to the rapid changes that have taken place in educational organiza- tion and practice since Rousseau, and particularly to the tendencies of the present day. Moreover, the longest chapter of the book is the one devoted to the develop- ment of American education. 3. It is a history of education, not a history of peda- gogy. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made to give an adequate view of classroom practices and of methods of administration in the evolution from the relatively simple systems of the past to the complicated and de- tailed systems of the present. To avoid burdening the memory with mere names and dates, attention has been concentrated upon the typical leader or leaders in each period; and to make an appeal to the understanding, the social background of each individual, institution, or movement studied has been carefully described. 4. It aims to explain how Western civilization devel- oped the educational ideals, content, organization, and practices which characterize it today. For that rea- son ancient systems like the Chinese or Hiadu, which did not contribute directly to Western culture and educa- tion, are not considered at all, and the Spartan receives but a passing notice. On the other hand, the Jewish system, from which Western culture received so large a contribution in the form of religion, ethics, and lit- erature, is treated somewhat fully. 5. It has for its primary purpose the explanation of the way in which each people has worked out the solution of the great problem that has confronted every people at all times, in all places, and in all stages of development, namely, the reconciliation of individual liberty with social stability; and of the way in which viii PREFACE each has organized its education to prepare the indi- vidual to live in accordance with that solution. When a people's political and social ideals changed, its sys- tem of education changed to conform to the new ideals. Similarly every great thinker who has written upon edu- cation has emphasized either social control, as did Plato in the ' ' Republic, ' ' or individual freedom, as did Rous- seau in the ''Emile. " One must always have this prob- lem in view if he is to appreciate the significance of the 1 evolution of modern education. I In the preparation of this I am greatly indebted to ] several of my colleagues in the College of the City of i New York. Professor Harry C. Krowl read the entire \ manuscript, and Dr. Barclay W. Bradley and Mr. Philip i R. V. Curoe read both manuscript and proof. Every opinion and statement made in the book are my own^ but the criticisms as to the content and its organiza- i tion made by these gentlemen have been most helpfuL Professor Paul Monroe's "Text-book in the History of Education," Professor Frank P. Graves' ''History of j Education," and Professor Samuel C. Parker's "His- ■ tory of Modern Elementary Education" have been at all times sources of suggestion which I gratefully acknowl- , edge. In spite of my effort to be accurate, errors may ] have crept into the text, for which I must beg the indul- I gence of the reader. If the book should impress upon the ' general reader the conviction that educating its citizens \ is the most important function of the state, and upon the | prospective teacher the conviction that he is destined to' ,1 engage in the noblest of professions, I shall feel repaid | for the labor spent upon it. ' Stephen Pierce Duggan \ CONTENTS PART I EDUCATION IN ANCIENT TIMES CHAPTER I. Introduction II. Jewish Education in. Greek Education IV. Greek Education (continued) V. Roman Education . VI. Early Christian Education PART II EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES VII. Education in the Middle Ages . PAGG 3 7 15 31 51 67 77 PART III THE TRANSITION PERIOD VIII. The Renaissance 113 IX. Religious Formalism in Education . . 131 X. Reaction Against Humanism: Realism in Education 156 xi xii CONTENTS PAGR CHAPTER XI. A New Defence of Humanism : Formal Dis- cipline IN Education .... 182 XII. Rationalism in Education: John Locke and the Enlightenment . . . 189 PART IV MODERN TIMES XIII. The Emotional Reaction Against Formal- ism in Life : Naturalism in Education : Jean Jacques Rousseau .... 203 XIV. Psychologizing Education: The Method- izERS, Pestalozzi, Herbart, Froebel . 222 XV. The Question op Educational Values: Sci- ence in the Curriculum : Herbert Spen- cer 271 XVI. Socializing Education Thru Philanthropy and Thru State Control . . . 286 XVIL Present Tendencies in Education . . 309 PART V NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION XVIII. The Development of National Systems of Education . . . . . . 329 Bibliography ...... 387 Glossary 389 Index 391 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Didascaleum , . . The Palestra ' . School Materials from Wall Paintings . Punishment ...... The Medieval System of Education Summarized A Page from the "Orbis Pictus" of Comenius Father Pestalozzi ..... An Eighteenth Century School . Showing the Child Some of the Human Activities Neces- sary for Life ..... The Monitorial System of Instruction , A London Dame School in 1870 . PAGE 17 17 58 58 83 177 240 240 261 292 299 PART I EDUCATION IN ANCIENT TIMES Characteristics: The submergence of the man in the citizen. Education for civic life, hence emphasis upon the arts of speech. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION MEANING OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Ow^Zwe.— Historically, education is the means by which nations have attempted to realize their social and spiritual ideals. These ideals are concerned primarily with the relative em- phasis to be placed upon the individual and upon social control. In the East the emphasis is upon social control; in the West, upon the individual. In the East education is pri- marily concerned with handing on traditional knowledge; in the West, with securing new knowledge. This book treats only the educational systems that have directly contributed to the ideals of Western civilization. From the standpoint of history, education is the means by which nations have attempted to realize their social and spiritual ideals. Every nation that has faith in its ideals wishes to have them transmitted for the benefit of its own posterity, and its system of education is the instrument by which it tries to do this. Because these ideals have been different in the several nations their sys- tems of education have differed. And because the ideals of the same nation undergo change its system of educa- tion will change. The Individual vs. the State. — Every child is born into society; no one is born unto himself. Society does 3 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION not consist of a mere aggregation of individuals but of individuals organized into institutions such as the fam- ily, the state, the church. The education of the indi- vidual, therefore, involves making him conscious that he is a member of a social group and that he must live in relation to others, i. e., within the restrictions of so- ciety's institutions. Therefore, to understand the sys- tem of education of any society, it will be necessary to understand its institutions. The individual feels that he must have a certain freedom in order to realize his being. Society on the other hand feels that it must enforce cer- tain restrictions in order to save itself. Thus arises the problem of the state : How much freedom shall be given to the individual, and how much shall be taken from him? Thus arises also the problem of education: How may it be organized to develop the capacities of the indi- vidual in such a way as to render the greatest service to society? Each nation of the past and of the present has had a solution for these problems, but the extremes of difference in the solutions are to be found in the East and the West. Characteristics of Eastern Society. — In the East the idea of the unity of society is tenaciously held; the individual is suppressed, his destiny is controlled by some force external to himself, e. g., ancestor worship in China, or the caste system in India. Society is con- servative, it holds rigorously to the past and views with dread any change. The individual is meditative: he turns his mind in upon himself, not upon what is ex- ternal to him. He asks why he is here, whence he came, whither he is going. The result is that the East has contributed all the great religions to civilization. Hence the culture of the East consists in its traditional knowledge accumulated in its literature. We find, there- 4 INTRODUCTION fore, that the content of its education is practically con- fined to the literary element, e. g., the classics of the Chinese, the Vedas of the Hindus, the Bible of the Jews. As the word in which the truth was conveyed be- came fixed and definite, the form of expression became as important as the truth itself ; hence the chief method of learning was memoriter, and memory was the mental power which subordinated the present to the past. The result is that society in the East is static. That this is a consequence not of race but of education is evident from the rapidity with which the Japanese transformed their social system after the adoption of the content and method of Western education. Characteristics of Western Society. — In the West so- ciety is progressive, because the individual is exalted, not suppressed. Tradition has a comparatively small hold upon society, and reverence for what the ancestors did has but slight influence. The individual is not medi- tative, but investigative. He turns his mind outward to things external to himself, to man and nature. Hence he has contributed science, both natural and social, to civilization. The aim of the education of the individual is to enable him to realize himself, to develop to the utmost what is best in him. The content of education, therefore, is not merely literature embodying the experience and ideals of the race, but also science, the study of the phenomena of nature and society as they present themselves today. And the method of learning is not wholly the memoriter, but that of observation and investigation. The indi- vidual is taught the traditional knowledge and customs of society, not merely that he shall conform to them, but that he shall contribute to improvement and progress. Education is to enable the individual to muke his place 5 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION in society, not to take the one into which he was born. The result is that society in the West is dynamic; it is there that civilization has witnessed its greatest progress. Aim of This Book. — It is impossible in the short sur- vey that this book makes to consider all the systems of society and of education that have appeared among men. Some principle of selection must be adopted. We shall, therefore, study only the systems of education of those nations which have contributed directly in some way to the ideals and educational methods of Western civilization. CHAPTER II JEWISH EDUCATION Outline. — The Jews contributed religion, moral ideals and literature to Western civilization. Their chief educative insti- tutions were religion and family life. The period from the Exodus, c. 1500 B.C., to the Exile, c. 586 B.C., was one of nationalization, in which the Temple worship and the Prophets played an important part. The education of the individual remained a purely family affair. After the return from Babylon, the Law became the great factor in the lives of the people. The scribes to teach it and the synagogue as the place of instruction in it became impor- tant institutions. In the second century before Christ the synagogue school arose to give elementary education with especial attention to the Law. Higher education was given in the Rabbinical schools. From the Jews "Western civilization has received the following contributions to its spiritual and social ideals : (1) its religion; (2) the basis of its system of ethics; (3) the most important part of its literature, the Bible. Institutions Which Were Educative. — The two institu- tions which received emphasis among the Jews were religion and family life. Religion was synonymous with patriotism. Jehovah was the God of Israel. Loyalty to Him was loyalty to the nation. Even after Jehovah as the greatest of all gods evolved into Jehovah as the only 7 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION universal God, the Jews remained His chosen people. Man was made in His likeness and personal holiness before Him became the end of man's existence. The attainment of character, not knowledge, was the aim of life. Chastity as an element of holiness resulted in a higher regard for woman than was found among any- other ancient people. The mother as well as the father was honored. Children were welcomed as blessings. Religion and the family both emphasized the moral side of life. Historical Survey. — There were three great crises in Jewish history: (1) the Exodus from Egypt, c. 1500 B.C.; (2) the exile to Babylon, 586 B.C.; (3) the de- struction of the Temple by Titus, 70 a.d. Before the Exodus the Jews were in the family stage of development, i. e., they consisted of an aggregation of families. The status of the father was, as with all early peoples, that of ruler, priest, and teacher. The first differentiation of function took place at the Exodus, when, according to the Bible, the tribe of Levi was set aside for various religious functions and the house of Aaron to furnish the priests and the high priests. But the teaching of the child remained in the hands of the parent and consisted solely in the training in family duties, secular and religious. The period from the Exodus to the Exile was a period of nationalization. The Jews went into Palestine organ- ized into tribes which fought among themselves when not united against the common foe. During all this period the great symbol of unity, and at the same time one of the chief educative influences, was the Temple and its worship. Three times a year every male Jew was expected to visit the Temple in person, and this practice had the same nationalizing influence upon 8 JEWISH EDUCATION the Jews as had the Olympic games upon the Greeks. The Prophets. — Towards the close of this period an- other educational influence which had arisen acquired its greatest influence, viz., the schools of the Prophets. Religion had become truly monotheistic and ethical, but because of the greater attractiveness of the sensual and non-moral religions about them, the Jews were con- stantly in danger of falling from the worship of Jehovah. The Prophets, who were laymen, arose as teachers of righteousness to recall the Jews from religious and moral backsliding. With their immediate followers they formed schools from which radiated many good influ- ences. For the Prophets taught not merely the necessity of personal holiness before the Lord, but the equally im- portant necessity of justice between man and man. They formed at times the opposition party in the state. As Jehovah was at that time emphatically a national god, the Prophets also had a strong nationalizing influence. They were religious seers and social reformers, who brought their followers together at various places to deepen their religious insight and fervor, before trav- eling among the common people to spread a greater knowledge of the religion of Jehovah and loyalty to it. It is in this sense only that the word *' school" is here used. The Exile. — The warnings of the Prophets were not heeded; and the Jews went into the Captivity, from which they learned a lesson of great national and educa- tional importance. They had been taken away from Pal- estine, and the Temple had been destroyed, and yet they had remained united. Why ? Because of the observance of the Law. Shortly before their removal to Babylon, King Josiah had caused to be reduced to writing the Pen- tateuch, which he made an authoritative code of laws. 9 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION This code was the bond of union among the people dur- ing the Exile, and many additions were made to it, especially from the teachings of the Prophets. After the return of the Jews to Palestine under Ezra, the Law became the central fact in their lives, and its study and observance the most important duty. Two institu- tions arose with which it was associated : 1. The scripture-scholars, or so-called "scribes," the professional class of teachers who were to have the Law in charge. 2. The synagogue, the institution established as the place for its exposition. In every village among the Jews this institution was now founded, where twice on the Sabbath the people were assembled to listen to an exposition of the Law. It can be understood readily what an educational influence this would have upon the people. The Sabbath itself was a unique institution in the ancient period, of incalculable benefit to all the people. As time went on the scribes and the priests were held in equal veneration. The duty of the scribes was threefold: (1) To ex- amine and teach the Law. (2) To apply the Law to the daily lives of the people. It must be remembered that the Jewish Law was a mixture of criminal, civil, sani- tary, and ceremonial laws. It can readily be seen how deciding the way it should be applied to the daily lives of the people gave the scribes enormous power. (3) To interpret the Law. When the Jews were supposed to have received the Law, at the time of the Exodus, they were a nomadic, pastoral people. They had mean- time become an agricultural people and had also engaged in trade and commerce. The Law that had been given to them had to be interpreted to conform to new condi- tions. These interpretations of the Law, with the com- 10 JEWISH EDUCATION mentaries written upon them in later times, form the Talmud, which, in the period after the dispersion, became almost of equal importance with the Law it- self. Elementary Education: The Synagogue School. — ^With the passing of time it became increasingly evident to the Jewish leaders that the existence of Israel as a nation would depend, not upon its ability to defend itself physically against foreign military forces, but spiritually against foreign social influences. The nation was to be preserved through a knowledge and practice of the Law, and transmitting it to the child could no longer be left to the parent, who might be careless or indifferent. A great reverence arose for the rabbis, i. e., the scribes who became experts in the Law. The necessity for schools in which the youths were to receive instruction in this bond of union was admitted by all, and in the second century before Christ elementary schools became attached to the synagogue in many villages. Finally, A.D. 64, the High Priest, Joshua ben Gamala, ordered the establishment of an elementary school in every village. Attendance was to be compulsory for male children, and the school period was between the ages of six and fif- teen. An education somewhat similar to that given in the synagogue school, tho not so intensive, was provided for girls at home, in addition to instruc- tion in household duties. This resulted from the relatively high position held by women among the Jews. Content and Method of Study. — Great care was taken by the Jews in the selection of teachers for these elementary schools. They were of necessity scribes, married men of maturity and character. They usually pursued some other vocation in addition to teaching and were willing 11 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION to give instruction gratis, tho accepting what their pupils could donate. They were held in the highest esteem among the people, being regarded as the real defenders of the nation, just as warriors were, among other peoples. The school equipment was very simple. The children sat upon benches facing the teacher who was supposed to have in charge a group of not more than twenty-five. The children were seldom provided with books, which were costly, but had wax tablets and a stilus with which to learn writing. The school day was from morning until evening with a recess at mid- day, and the only vacations were feast and fast days. The content of school work was instruction in reading, writing, counting, and the history of their people, the poetry of the Psalms, memorizing the Law as found in the Pentateuch, and the Mishna or oral law. In addition every boy had to learn some form of handi- craft. As with most peoples before the invention of printing, the method of teaching was chiefly oral instruc- tion and the method of study learning by heart. The teachers were skillful in correlating the various memories — ^visual, auditory, and muscular — upon a passage to be learned, and made extensive use of mnemonic devices and frequent repetition. The discipline was probably rigorous.^ Higher Education. — Even before the establishment of the elementary schools institutions for higher education had developed for the instruction of the scribes. These ''houses of instruction" were at first established in the homes of prominent scribes, and were of the nature of colleges devoted to an intensive study of the Law and, in the later period, of the Law and the Talmud. The * The student is advised to compare the work of the syna- gogue school with that of the Greek music school on page 22. 12 JEWISH EDUCATION method of teaching was that of exposition upon the part of the master and afterwards of question and disputa- tion on the part of the pupils. In all probability, how- ever, the work was quite dogmatic in character and the interpretation of the master was accepted without much question. The strained interpretations and quibbling necessary to make a passage render a meaning to con- form to new conditions and advancing moral ideals would naturally sharpen the wits and develop a habit of close study. After the introduction of Greek culture — that dissolvent influence upon the Eastern world — with elements of education, such as art, science, and phi- losophy, unprovided by the Jewish system, and with its skeptical attitude of mind, the unquestioning acceptance of authoritative interpretation seemed to the leaders of the patriotic party an absolute necessity. This had a very narrowing and formalizing influence on life and education. Results of Jewish Education. — Jewish education con- formed to Eastern ideals, but with a difference. The individual was subordinated and his destiny was de- termined by a power external to himself; that power was God. Education consisted in transmitting the re- ligious literature chiefly by a memoriter and unques- tioning method ; but the saving feature of the whole sys- tem was that the Jew was taught to make holiness before the Lord the aim of his daily life. If the Jew was not as free and versatile as the Greek, he was more moral and stable. The great lesson to be drawn from a study of Jewish history and education is that not any national peculiarity but a strict adherence to an educational system having a peculiarly high moral ideal has pre- served the unity of the race. The salvation of a people is dependent upon its education. 13 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION BIBLIOGRAPHY Article on Jewish Education in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education. Article on Education in the Jewish Encyclopedia. CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. Chap. VIII. Davidson, T. A History of Education, pp. 74-86. Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Book 1, Chap. II. Laurie, S. S. Pre-Christian Education. The Semitic Race, Leipziger, H. M. Education of the Jews. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. Compare the attitude of the Jews towards mnemonic devices with that of educators today. 2. What can be said in favor of the position taken by the Jews and by modem education towards the demand for maturity in a beginning teacher? 3. What requirements can modem education justifiably demand of a teacher in addition to those of maturity, scholar- ship, and character demanded by the Jews? 4. What is the value of committing to memory fine pas- sages of literature? 5. Compare the relative importance of moral education among the Jews and modem peoples. 6. Compare the influence of the rabbi among the Jews with that of the minister in early New England. 7. Compare the effect of a written constitution upon Americans with the effect of an inalterable law upon the Jews. 8. Give instances in nineteenth century history of nations realizing that "the salvation of a people is dejDendent upon its education." 9. Compare the work and influence of a Jewish prophet like Isaiah with that of a modern revivalist like Whitfield. 14 CHAPTER III GEEEK EDUCATION Outline. — The Athenians contributed more elements to West- em civilization than any other ancient people. Their insti- tutional life was highly educative, and at first their education aimed chiefly at service to the state. From seven to sixteen the Athenian boy received his physi- cal education in the palestra and his intellectual education in the didascaleum, both private institutions. From sixteen to eighteen he continued his physical training in the public gymnasium. His moral and intellectual education was ob- tained thru contact with elder citizens. From eighteen to twenty he rendered military service, and at twenty-one became a citizen. The changes in Athenian life resulting from the Persian Wars offered great opportunities for individual self -advance- ment. To secure this a different kind of preparation was needed. This was furnished by the Sophists, whose phi- losophy placed a great emphasis upon the individual and whose education emphasized the arts of speech. Greek Contributions to Western Civilization. — The Greek bequest to Western civilization is ^eater than that of any other ancient people. Greece bequeathed to us art, philosophy, the scientific spirit, and a splendid part of world literature. The careful study of no other social system will assist the modern man so much to a wise solution of his own social problems. The educa- tional theory and practice of the Greeks have most sug- 15 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION gestive contributions for us today. This splendid her- itage came chiefly from Athens and the cities whose ideals were nearly akin to the Athenian. As our study is confined to those peoples among the ancients that have directly contributed to Western civilization, we shall not consider the social and educational system of the Spartans. Moreover, the purpose of Spartan educa- tion was the same as that of the old Athenian education, viz., the education of the individual wholly for the service of the state. But in the manner of accomplish- ment, the Spartan omitted what was best in the Athenian system and never advanced, as did the Athenians, to a higher conception of individuality. Their system has few lessons for us beyond that of warning. The Problem of the Individual vs. the State. — The solu- tion that the Ionian Greeks made of the problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty with social stability differed from that of all other ancient peoples. Tho the individual lived for service to the state, it was recognized that the best service would be rendered by developing his personality in every direction. Freedom, therefore, characterized Greek life : political freedom, for the city state, though socially an aristocracy, was politically a pure democracy; intellectual freedom, for the Greek mind investigated without regard to the restraints of authority and tradition; moral freedom, for the action of the Greek was finally determined not by some ex- ternal authority, but by human reason. The Institutions Which Were Educative. — The institu- tions into which the Greek individual was born were in most cases highly educative in themselves. Among the more important of these were : 1. The Assembly. — Here he listened to the debates for or against the laws which he participated in making. 16 GREEK EDUCATION The Didascaleum The Palestra Reproduced from illustrations taken from old vases by Freeman in his "Schools of Hellas" 2. The Juries. — As every citizen sat on the juries, he obtained the education which came from seeing applied in practice the laws which he helped to make. 17 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 3. The Theater. — This was free to the citizens, and they saw played there some of the greatest dramas that the human mind has produced. 4. The Olympic y Isthmian, a7id Nemean Games. — These were religious ceremonies to typify the likeness of the human being to the gods. Greeks from all over Hellas flocked to listen to the finest products in ora- tory, drama, history, and poetry, and see the best that could be produced in art as well as to watch the con- tests in the games proper. 5. The Throhhing Life of a Greek City. — ^With its inquisitive, disputatious inhabitants, this was an educa- tion in itself. Not all the institutions of Greece, however, were edu- cative from the modern point of view. Greek Civilization Had Its Blots. — 1. The Economic Blot — Slavery. — The fine life described above was for but a small part of the inhabitants, about a tenth at Athens in the days of Pericles. Moreover, slavery re- duced all forms of manual labor to a contemptible posi- tion, tho a large part of the free citizenry was engaged in manual occupations. 2. The Social Blot — the Debased Position of Women. — Woman was regarded as having no social function in any other place than the home, to manage the household and to breed children. She seldom appeared in public, and participated little in the active life of the times. The Greek male lived in public and in the open and, like the modern club man, was seldom at home. His female intellectual companionship was found among the brilliant hetceroe whose very existence emphasized the low state of family life. 3. Lack of Humanitarianism. — Infant exposure, the contempt for the cripple, the treatment of the abnormal, 18 GREEK EDUCATION all illustrate this. Some of these defects were general in antiquity, but in the practice of others the Greek fell be- low the standard of the Jew. 4. A Non-Ethical Religion. — The Greek religion was largely ceremonial ; it was not definitely associated with moral instruction. Service to the city state was the chief sanction for good conduct. The deities in which the Greeks believed did not set them examples of moral action. Early Greek education, like that of most primitive people, was a family matter in which the child learned by imitation of his parent the work he was to do in life. Socially, tradition and custom held sway, and every individual was expected to devote his energy to the welfare of the state. But, unlike Eastern peoples, stand- ards advanced and changed as the result of the actions of individuals, until the social and educational system was developed which prevailed in the fifth century be- fore Christ. This development we shall now consider. THE OLD GREEK ESUCATIOK The Aim. — The aim of Athenian education of this earlier period may be best expressed as the production of individual excellence! for public usefulness. The training of the individual was for social service. The virtues of the Greeks were civic virtues. The Greek lived for his city state. But his education developed all sides of his personality. Attention was given to the training of the body as no less important than the training of the mind. And in the training of the mind attention was not merely directed to the intellectual processes but to the emotional and volitional as well. One of the finest characteristics of the Greeks was their sense of propor- 19 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION tion, and it was prominently in evidence in their edu- cation. The Organization of Greek Education. — Elementary education at Athens was not a public function. It was the duty of the father to have his boy educated, and the state in a general way saw that the duty was per- formed. But the school was a private affair and the pupil's parents paid the teacher for his services. As anyone could open a school and no special qualifications were demanded, incompetents and failures in other walks of life sometimes undertook, as in our times, the work of educators, with the result that the teacher was not always held in high esteem. Instruction was not given in a single building as with us. Physical training was given in the palestra, a kind of open-air gymnasium. Mental training was given in the didascaleum, or music school, probably situated in the immediate neighborhood of the palestra. It was usually in the home of the teacher or in a public building, depending upon the number of pupils. Instruction was all individual. The equipment was very simple. The teacher sat higher than his pupils. They stood, or sat on stools, and had neither tables nor desks. The walls were unprovided with blackboards, maps, or any of the apparatus we associate with the school of today ; but upon them hung reckoning boards, writing tablets, reading rolls, and lyres. The school day among the Greeks was long, last- ing from early morning until late in the afternoon, but mental tedium was probably relieved by alternating work between the music school and the palestra. There were no long vacations, but the frequent festivals in honor of the gods provided many holidays. Tho the discipline of the Greek school was probably not very severe, corporal punishment was used. The educational 20 GREEK EDUCATION period was from seven to sixteen for the average boy. The girl received a training in domestic economy at home. Her education did not usually extend beyond this. Home Training. — As in the case of most peoples, until the age of about seven the Greek boy stayed at home under the control of his parents and nurses. Greek women of the home were usually so ignorant that in all probability children were badly brought up, without proper attention to habit formation. During this period the child's mental acquisition consisted of a knowledge of the rudiments of religion, morals, and manners. Phys- ically he was developed thru play, and it is interest- ing to note that the games of the Greek children were practically the same as those of our children. The girls played jacks, jumped rope, played with dolls. The boys played ball and leap-frog, spun tops, rolled hoops. When the boy was sent to school at seven, he was put in charge of an old slave called a pedagogu\s, who went to school with him and stayed with him until his return home. The pedagogics was responsible for the boy's conduct. He was to see that he did not play truant, that he studied his lessons, and that he behaved himself prop- erly. Sometimes he was the chief moral force in the life of the boy; sometimes he was chosen for this duty because he was fit for nothing else, and in that case he probably had little beneficial influence on the develop- ment of the boy's character. The Palestra. — The aim of the training in the palestra was not mere strength of body, not even that in addi- tion to grace of carriage and movement. The Greek never forgot the intimate connections between mind and body. Physical training had as part of its aim to make the body an efficient instrument to express the dictates 21 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION of the mind. The various physical activities were organ- ized into the pentathlon, which consisted of running, jumping, throwing the discus, throwing the javelin, and wrestling. Wrestling was considered the acme of phys- ical training because, in addition to bringing every muscle of the body into play, it supplied a mental train- ing thru the need of quick perception and judgment. Dancing was also taught because of its value in making movements gentle and graceful, and because of its use in religious exercises. It did not resemble modern dancing, however, but consisted of rhythmical move- ments of the whole body. Finally, open-air sports played as large a part in Greek as in modern English education. The Music School. — The aim of the music school was to give a knowledge of music, i. e., everything over which a muse presided. Music, in other words, was a synonym for our word culture. A boy began his school work, as with us, with instruction in reading, writing, and count- ing. Reading was a very difficult thing to learn and took a long time, as neither accenting nor punctuating had yet been introduced, and there was no spacing be- tween words. The attention given to the subject, how- ever, resulted in the Greek boy reading with remarkable accuracy and expression. Writing was taught by means of a wax tablet and a stilus. The stilus was an instru- ment pointed at one end with which to make the letters, and flat at the other end with which to erase them. After he had thus learned to write, the boy wrote on papyrus with pen and ink. Arithmetic with the Greeks, as with all peoples until the Arabs introduced the Hindu nota- tion, amounted only to counting. The Greek system of notation consisted of their alphabet modified by diacrit- ical marks, and like the Roman system was too cumber- 22 GREEK EDUCATION ' some for any of the higher arithmetical processes. All the ancients were skillful in using their fingers for arith- metical purposes. These elementary subjects were learned thru imitation. The important subjects in a Greek boy's mental educa- tion were literature and music jn the narrow sense. The textbook for his literary training was Homer, of which he was compelled to learn whole passages by heart. Homer was the Greek's Bible. From it the boy not only learned to speak, to read accurately, and to appreciate the choic- est passages of literature, but also received his moral in- struction. The aim of the literary training was to enable the boy to give expression to the feelings contained in the text, and it was in this way that the work was so closely associated with music. Music was not a distinct art as with us, but subsidiary to literature. The older boys had to improvise their own music to express the idea prop- erly. Gj::ea±_ emphasis was placed upon music as a source of moral training. Dictation and composition were probably other elements in the work of the music school. The important thing to notice is that, altho the method of learning was by imitation, the aim was always to develop the powers of expression, not merely those of receptivity. Higher Education for Civic Service. — Elementary edu- cation occupied an indefinite period, according to the financial ability of the parents to keep the boy in school. At the sixteenth year the sons of the wealthy passed on to higher education, which carried with it the probability of being elected to positions of leadership. This higher education was under state control and supervision, of two years duration, given in the gjrmnasium, and was a preparation for military service to the state. The ele- ments of the pentathlon were organized into a variety 23 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION of exercises of a more vigorous kind. The boys indulged in boxing and the pancratiuTn, a combat in which any means of winning was justifiable. But, altho the boy's direct training was wholly physical, he received an in- direct mental training of great value. The gymnasia were situated outside the walls of the city and in parks. These parks were rendezvous for statesmen, moralists, and exponents of new ideas. Between their periods of work in the gymnasium the boys went out into the park and listened to these men expounding their favorite themes. Too much emphasis can hardly be given to the value of the association of the boys with adult citizens engaged in their normal activities in their natural en- vironment. They thereby learned moral standards thru contact with living, real examples ; and were informally initiated into the customs, laws, and past experience of their people. Moreover, tho under strict supervision by an official moral overseer, the boys had a very wide liberty, attended the theaters and law courts, listened to discussions at banquets and in the market place, and participated in religious exercises. Citizenship. — At eighteen, as the result of an examina- tion into his physical and moral qualifications, the boy became an ephehos, i. e., a citizen novice. His father or, in case he was an orphan, the state, presented him with his arms and he took the ephebic oath of loyalty before the assembled citizens. For the next two years he re- ceived his direct military training, at first near the city in the use of arms, afterwards on the frontier in the duties of a soldier. He was also trained in the conduct of public affairs, and participated prominently in public festivals and religious ceremonies. At the expiration of that time, as the result of an examination upon the duties of citizenship, he became a full-fledged citizen and 24 GREEK EDUCATION participated in the institutional education spoken of in the beginning of this chapter. Results of Greek Education. — The results of Greek education were obtained by the use of a few subjects actively and intensively participated in by the pupils. The subjects that are considered so necessary to culture and discipline in modern education were not found among the Greeks in the best period of their history. There was little instruction in mathematics, none in foreign languages or in science. Even grammar and drawing were not introduced until later. It was, how- ever, a learning by doing : the recitation of epic poetry, the singing of lyrics and playing of accompaniments, the physical exercises, all involved motor elements; and the intellectual training of the two years of association with adults consisted of discussions and watching men in action. It is a question, whether, in intellectual acumen, emotional appreciation, and volitional accom- plishments, any other social and educational system produced a finer type of individual than the average Greek citizen of the Periclean Age. And, despite its many limitations, in what other society was there made a better solution of the problem of reconciling indi- vidual liberty with social stability? THE NEW EDUCATION—THE SOPHISTS Changes in the Social Life of Athens. — The Persian Wars resulted in a great expansion of all forms of human activity thruout Greece, but especially in Athens. Athens assumed the hegemony of Ionian Greece and became the metropolis of the Grecian world. Her trade and com- merce grew rapidly, and, as a result, foreigners in large numbers settled within her walls to take advantage of 25 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION the opportunities for acquiring wealth. These for- eigners brought with them diverse customs, religious and moral views, and ways of looking at social affairs. From the conflict between these and the customs and traditions of the native citizens there resulted a tendency to question and reason about that which before had been accepted unthinkingly. Belief in the gods and their control over the affairs of men began to yield to a search for a more rational explanation of phenomena. This change was reflected in morals which, having lost a religious basis, were now unprovided with any basis ; and in politics, where birth was yielding to wealth in the privileges of citizenship. Society was, in fact, in a state of flux. Moreover, the increase in governmental functions, the necessity of sending diplomats abroad and military and civil officials to the tributary states, offered a much greater number of opportunities for self- advancement to the individual, particularly to the keen- witted and unscrupulous. A parallel can be drawn be- tween the social situation in Athens after the Persian Wars and in the United States since the Civil War. Only, whereas the chief opportunities for self-aggran- dizement in our country since the Civil War have been in the world of industry, in Athens they were to be found in civil life, the only field of activity in which the Greek ->itizen engaged. And just as the great expansion in industrial life in our country caused a remarkable change in higher education resulting in the introduction of new subjects of study, many of them technical and vocational, so a similar change took place in the higher education of the Greek youth to prepare him for the changed conditions in social living. Moreover, just as with us the young men have flocked to the new teachers of science, causing the breakdown of the old classical 26 GREEK EDUCATION curriculum, so were the new teachers at Athens received with enthusiasm by the youth of that city. Character of the Sophists. — These new teachers were called Sophists. They were learned, well-traveled men, usually non-Athenians who were attracted to the me- tropolis by the opportunities to teach. They were dis- liked by the conservatives chiefly because they accepted pay for their teaching. It will be remembered that the higher mental education of the Athenian youth was indirect, received in converse with the best of the citi- zens in the groves of the gjrmnasia and elsewhere. The aim of this indirect teaching was the formation of char- acter, a process into which the old-fashioned Athenian believed there could enter no financial consideration. Another objection to the Sophists sprang from the con- tent of their teaching, which we shall consider below. Aim and Content of Their Work. — The aim of the edu- cation of the Sophists was to prepare the individual to conform to the changed social conditions and thereby secure his personal advancement. As there was no press in Athens, the chief way to secure influence as well as political and civic preferment was by speech. Hence the chief content of the education of the Sophists was the arts of speech, and Greek civilization owed much to them in the organization of these arts. They taught declamation and oratory, and out of the refinement of these as arts developed grammar and rhetoric. How- ever, these were formal studies, and in their application the Sophists took their material from politics and ethics chiefly. It was their point of view in these latter sub- jects which gave greatest offense to the conservatives. The Principal Source of Their Offense.— Protagoras, the chief of the Sophists, predicated as his fundamental principle, ''Man is the measure of all things.'' Knowl- 27 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION edge must be individual for it comes thru the senses; and, as the senses of no two individuals are the same, there can be no such thing as principles or truths of universal validity. Each individual, therefore, must determine for himself what his attitude towards his neighbor, the state, and society shall be. The Sophists' method of teaching was chiefly the lecture system, the one calculated to develop a habit of ready acceptance rather than of independent thinking. Social Results of Their Work. — The Sophists thus placed an extreme emphasis upon individualism. Whether the disintegration of moral standards which was synchronous with their work was the result of their teaching is a question. It might have been the result of the changed social conditions which tempted men into a scramble for self-aggrandizement. Men were, of course, glad to have a group of thinkers provide them with a philosophic justification for their views and ac- tions. There can be no doubt, however, that their teach- ing expressed the change in the relation of the individual to the state. The view that the entire energy and, if necessary, the life of the individual were to be devoted to the welfare of the state gradually disappeared. *What- ever may have been the result upon society, their work broadened the intellectual horizon and enriched the mental content of the individual. Influence ITpon Education. — Upon higher education the influence of the Sophists was profound. The em- phasis was no longer upon education for civic duties, but for personal advancement and pleasure. Hence the training of the body in the gymnasium gradually yielded in importance to the training of the mind in the lecture room. The Sophists first introduced the intellectual ele- ments into Athenian education. Tho they did not en- 2S GREEK EDUCATION gage in elementary education, this did not remain un- affected. Literature and music remained the staple of instruction, but the study of literature for its moral content gave way to the criticism of literary form, and music as primarily a training in morals to music for pleasurable effect. In the palestra the severity of the training was much relaxed, and aimed at esthetic ef- fects more than formerly. Education became more a matter of the schools, in which learning tended to super- sede doing. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. Contrast the place of play in Greek education with its place in modem education. Do athletics today hold a larger place in American education than did games in Greek educa- tion? What evils attend American athletics that were not present in Greek games, and why? 2. Compare the place of music in Greek education and in modem education. Is music taught as a science or an art in the elementary schools today? As which of the two should it be taught? 3. How did the length of the school day and school term of the Greeks compare with ours? Is our long summer vaca- tion justified? 4. Compare the education of the Athenian boy during the ephebic period (16-18) with that of a continental European under military conscription (21-23). 5. Compare the influence of immigration upon American social ideals with its influence upon Athenian social ideals. 6. Compare the influence of the Sophists upon higher educa- tion in Athens with the influence of the teachers of science in the United States after the Civil War. 7. In what respects did the methods of the Sophists resemble the coaching schools for civil service examinations today? 29 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 8. Compare the emphasis upon expression as a method in Greek education with the emphasis it receives in modem edu- cation. 9. What institution in American political life resembles the assembly in Athens? Upon whom have political institu- tions had the greater influence, the Greek or the American? 10. Does the state today exercise as much supervision over private schools as did the Greeks? What is the attitude of the state towards denominational schools? 11. Do modem social conditions justify the great emphasis upon knowing as compared to the emphasis of the Greeks upon doing? 12. What was the influence of the climate and topography of Greece upon the esthetic development of the people? 13. What, if any, social institutions or activities of Ameri- can life today have a bad educational influence? For Bibliography see page 48 at end of Chapter IV. CHAPTER IV GEEEK EDUCATION (Continued) THE SEARCH FOR A NEW SOLUTION Outline. — The Greek educational theorists, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, sought a new solution for the problem of recon- ciling individual liberty with social stability. Socrates found this in a morality based upon knowledge, the elements of which exist in the consciousness of every man. A new method by which to formulate this knowledge was necessary and this was provided by Socrates in his "conversational quiz." Plato maintained that the knowledge demanded by Socrates could be obtained only by the philosophers who could pierce behind what was phenomenal and attain to the real. He sug- gested a social system entirely controlled by the state, in which each individual would be educated for the place and work for which by nature he is best fitted. Aristotle suggested an education to prepare the individual to guide his conduct in association with his fellow men by reason. Up to seven, the education would be almost exclu- sively physical; up to fourteen it would be devoted to the irrational part of the soul and aim at good morals; up to twenty-one it would be devoted to the rational part of the soul and aim at intellectual advancement. After Aristotle, Greek education followed two lines of development: one resulted in the establishment of the rhetori- cal schools which prepared for the practical life; the other in the establishment of the philosophical schools which pre- pared for the speculative life. The schools in the course of time coalesced into the Greek universities, the chief of which were at Athens and Alexandria. 31 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION A. SOCRATES (469-399 B.C.) Problem of Socrates. — The Sophists, as we have seen, encountered the bitter opposition of the conservatives in Athenian society. And yet it was evident that the old institutional basis of jnorals had gone forever. It was equally evident, however, that the negative attitude of the Sophists could not adequately fill the void. The problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty with social stability and welfare had still to be solved, Soc- rates undertook to find a new basis for a solution in a morality founded upon knowledge. His Solution. — Socrates accepted the fundamental pos- tulate of Protagoras, * ' Man is the measure of all things. ' ' Before using a measure of any kind one should understand it. Therefore, said Socrates, ''Know thy- self. ' ' If one attempts to do that by reflection upon his own experience and that of others, he will soon discover that, however individual his perceptions may be, they have more points in common with the perceptions of everybody else than points of difference. In other words, the materials out of which are to be formulated ''whole thoughts" and principles of conduct of universal valid- ity and general application exist in the consciousness of the individual. The Aim of Education. — Hence when Socrates accepted the dictum, "Man is the measure of all things," it was not what was individual in man, but what was universal ; the truth was not the particular opinion of the indi- vidual man, but the knowledge that is common to all men. To lead the virtuous life it is necessary to have this knowledge of universal validity. Knowing the right will be followed by doing the right. Knowledge is virtue. The aim of education is: 32 GREEK EDUCATION 1. To show that knowledge is at the basis of right action in all the arts, including the art of living, which chiefly interested Socrates. Tho not everybody has the knowledge of the right, everybody has the power latent vnthin him to arrive at that knowledge. 2. To develop that power, viz., the power of correct thinking. His Method. — This cannot be done by the lecture method of the Sophists, which Socrates considered gave only information, second-hand knowledge. He substi- tuted, therefore, his conversational quiz: -, . -r^. , ^. S Ironic — destructive element Socratie Dialectic | Maieutic-constructive element In practice, Socrates would ask someone his opinion, usually about some chance event or matter of daily ex- perience which he could turn to account as illustrating a general principle of conduct. If the opinion were wrong, Socrates by a series of questions would lead the individual either to a reductio ad ahsurdum, or to a contradiction of his original statement. This was the Socratie ironic element. Often by another series of questions he developed in the mind of the individual the correct idea of which his original opinion was only a part. This was the Socratie maieutic element. (maieutic, giving birth to; Socrates called himself an intellectual midwife.) The individual was first led from unconscious ignorance to conscious ignorance and then to clear and reasoned truth. Results of His Work. — Socially the aim of Socrates was to rid society of the influence of mere opinion and re- place it by a knowledge of the general truths that under- lie right conduct in all the activities of life. In the indi- vidual he aimed to develop the power to think for him- 33 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION self, to arrive at his own knowledge, to attain to free personality. In education his work resulted in a great emphasis upon knowledge and, moreover, upon the prac- tical knowledge that leads to correct action in ^everyday life. To Socrates the study of nature and the natural sciences was fruitless; only man and his actions and productions were worth studying. His method became the dominant one in higher education. It is to be noted, however, that, as used by Socrates, the conversational quiz can be applied only to those subjects whose content is found in the experience of the individual. One can teach psychology or ethics in that way, but not litera- ture, history, or science. Moreover, there is a danger that its use, especially in unskillful hands, may lead to quibbling rather than to truth. This use of the method by Socrates led to his undoing. As the years went by the number of men convicted of hypocrisy by its use and held up to public ridicule increased until they were sufficiently numerous to bring about his downfall upon the false charge of denying the existence of the gods and corrupting the morals of the youth. B. PLATO (427-347 B.C.) Why We Study Plato. — Socrates wrote nothing, nor did he found any educational institution. What his educational views were are discernible by a comparison of the works of his two disciples, Xenophon and Plato. It is sometimes hard in Plato's work to determine what is Socratic and what is Platonic. But in the dialogue called the ' ' Republic, ' ' his work on the ideal state, Plato in his ripe manhood contributed the first systematic ex- position of the educational problem written in the West, an exposition which is for all times full of suggestive- ness from the standpoint of educational theory and 34 GREEK EDUCATION practice, an exposition in which it is predicated that education is not only a function of the state but the chief function of the state as well. In *'The Laws," a description of the best state, written in his old age, Plato rejected many of the political and educational ideas in the ' ' Republic ' ' and proposed a solution based upon the old conservative Greek view. The Philosophic Basis of His Educational System. — Plato accepted the fundamental principle of Socrates, viz., ''Knowledge is virtue." Socrates had been chiefly interested in the practical problem of developing in the individual the power to obtain knowledge. Plato was interested in the metaphysical problem of the nature of knowledge. What is knowledge ? That which conforms to reality. But what is reality? The answer to this brings us to the very heart of Plato 's philosophy. Real- ity cannot be the merely phenomenal, that which is transient and temporary, but must be that which is permanent, that which is not dependent upon sense perception for existence. Everything phenomenal is patterned upon an ideal, so that however much the indi- viduals of any class of phenomena, e. g., man, may differ in details, they are all alike in their resemblance to the ideal or idea upon which they were modeled and the real world as opposed to the phenomenal is the world of ideas. We come to a knowledge of the phenomenal world by means of our five senses, but to pierce beyond the world of phenomena and come to a knowledge of what is real requires the possession of a sixth sense. Only a very few, viz., the philosophers, possess this sixth sense; hence only they know what is real as against what is apparent. Only they, therefore, are fit to rule. From what has just been said, it is evident that any phenomenal thing functions properly when it attains 35 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION the gi-eatest possible resemblance to its idea. There is a specific good for every phenomenal existence, but the supreme good, the summum honum, is the abstract idea of goodness which is characteristic of all kinds of good things. The knowledge of the supreme good is virtue; to attain that knowledge is the aim of life; to develop the powers to attain it is the aim of education. Now an analysis of the idea of man shows that he is made of three elements: Elements Function Virtue Ma.n Appetites Passions Intellect Support Defense Control Temperance Courage Wisdom When these three elements act harmoniously, i. e., when they illustrate their accompanying virtues, when the appetites are devoted merely to support and not in- dulgence, when the passions are devoted to self-protec- tion and not foolhardiness, when the intellect is used exclusively for wise guidance, then the individual func- tions properly and attains to his end, virtue. Now ''the state is the individual writ large." Hence, if we analyze the idea of the state, we find three elements corresponding to the three elements in the composition of the individual. These are: Elements Function Virtue State Artisans Soldiers Rulers (Philosophers) Support Defense Control Productivity Honor Wisdom 36 GREEK EDUCATION The state will function properly, therefore, and attain its end, justice, when those three classes act har- moniously, i. e., when the artisan class supports society, the soldier class defends it, and the philosophers rule it. The Educational System in the "Republic." — ^What system of education should be organized to attain these ends, viz., virtue in the individual and justice in the state? Plato's answer to this question is to suggest an ideal society organized as an aristocratic socialism. The state must control everything. It determines who shall marry, marriage being a mating merely to breed citi- zens. Family life is abolished and the child at birth becomes the property of the state. The state decides whether or not it shall be permitted to live. It is not even nursed necessarily by its own mother. The or- ganization of education Plato took from Spartan prac- tice; the content from Athenian practice. Until seven years of age the child is developed physically thru play and learns morals and religion. From seven to sixteen it receives in the state school a training similar to that given to the Athenian youth in the palestra and music school, with slight modifications of content. Liter- ature is to be purified of everything tending to have an immoral or irreligious influence; gjonnastics and music are to be practiced primarily with the view to improve the soul. At sixteen, the first diifferentiation in so- ciety takes place. (Those youths and maidens — for the same education is given to both sexes — who have shown that they are governed chiefly by their appetites are drafted off into the artisan class. The rest continue to be educated until the age of twenty in physical training and military discipline, and then a second differentia- tion takes place. Those among them who have shown themselves governed chiefly by their passions are drafted 37 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION off into the soldier class. The remainder continue to be educated in the sciences, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, i. e., the quadrivium of the medieval period. At thirty a third differentiation takes place. Those who have shown themselves governed merely by their intellect are put in charge of the sub- ordinate positions in the state. The few remaining persons, who possess in addition the sixth sense for ideas, continue to be educated for five years more in dialectic philosophy, i. e., a knowledge of ''reality/' At thirty- five they enter the service of the state in their special work of ruling and continue until fifty. Then they retire from active service to devote their remaining years to study and reflection, the highest life of all. Value of Plato's Educational Ideas. — The scheme of education advocated in the ''Republic" is based upon the fundamental ethical conception that every person ought to be engaged in doing that which he is by nature best fitted to do. It follows that education should dis- cover in the individual what he is best fitted to do and then provide the training which will enable him to do it. The individual will thereby not only attain to per- sonal happiness but render his best service to society. The possibility of a wrong diagnosis is counterbalanced by the possibility of the elimination of the misfit. It is true that Plato's division into classes was a narrow one, and that the action of the human will in enabling the individual to make his place in society rather than to take the one assigned him is minimized. But the principle of selection was based upon worth and that must always be the basis for a stable and efficient organi- zation of society. Practically, the Platonic solution of the problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty with social stability would result in the suppression of 38 GREEK EDUCATION the individual ; but theoretically it would result in the best harmony of the two factors in the problem. Edu- cationally, his insistence upon the acquisition of the theoretical knowledge at the basis of every practical art and his assignment of an equal place to women in the educational scheme put Plato far in advance of his time. But in his overemphasis upon knowledge, in his neglect of the development of right feeling as neces- sary to make right knowing result in right action, Plato did not rise even to the ideas of his own time. It was, in fact, because he was out of sympathy with his time that the *' Republic" had practically no influence in his day. But in its emphasis upon the contemplative life as superior to the civic life it paved the way for Christian asceticism, and its vision of the world of ideas in turn provided the early Christian philosopher with a philosophic basis for many of his ** visions.'' C. ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.) We study Aristotle (1) because he had a greater influence on subsequent times both in the thought life and in education than any other man, (2) because he represents the culmination of Greek intellectual life. The theoretical side of Aristotle's views on education is found in the ** Ethics," but the practical and more important part is found in the * * Politics. ' ' These books are written as scientific treatises and have not, there- fore, the literary charm of Plato's dialogues. The ' ' Politics " is a fragment. The last part of it, that deal- ing with higher education, either was not written or was lost. His Relation to Plato. — Aristotle was a disciple of Plato, but he differs from Plato in his solution of the 39 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty with social stability. Aristotle denies the validity of Plato's fundamental postulate that ''knowledge is virtue.'* He insists that virtue is an accompaniment of doing, not of knowing. His denial of Plato's position is based upon his rejection of Plato's theory of reality. Ab- stract ideas for him have no existence save as forms, and we can attain to no knowledge of them save as they are embodied in concrete objects, and by the use of our five senses. Since reality does not consist of ideas, man 's highest possible attainment is not the possession of a knowledge of ideas, nor is the end of his education the securing of such knowledge. Virtue is attained when a thing acts in accordance with its highest function. Now the highest function of man is reason, hence to attain his end, his summum honum, he must live accord- ing to reason. But man is a social animal. Virtue and happiness will, therefore, consist with him in acting in association with his fellow men according to those principles of conduct which reason tells him are right. His System of Education. — ^What system of society and of education will best realize this desideratum? As the result of a comparative study of a very large number of the constitutions of states which existed in his day, Aristotle in the ''Politics" concluded that, tho mon- ^chy is theoretically the best form of government, democracy is the form most likely to be exercised for the general welfare. But it was democracy in the purely Greek sense, a city state based upon slavery in which the industrial classes should be excluded from citizen- ship. Altho a foreigner, Aristotle's conceptions both of society and of education approach much nearer the Athenian ideals than do those of Plato, who was a pure Athenian. Aristotle is one with Plato in making the 40 GREEK EDUCATION education of its citizens the chief means of securing the welfare of the state; but because he rejects Plato's con- ception of the ideal state, his educational scheme neces- sarily differs from Plato's. He condemns Plato's de- struction of the family and family life and also the system of identical education for men and women. As man and woman have each a different highest function, they must have different education. The maintenance of the family must have as a natural corollary the educa- tion of the child by the parents. His entire education until seven years of age is under their exclusive con- trol, and his moral education is always to be a part of their duty. After seven the child's general educa- tion is to be public and controlled by the state. "What is the nature of that education? Aristotle asserted that man was made up of two parts, body and soul, and that soul was composed of an irrational element, i. e., appetites, desires and passions, and a rational element, i. e., intellect. Hence education has a threefold aspect, physical, moral, and mental. Formal school training should continue from seven to twenty-one and be divided into two periods by puberty. The first period should be devoted to the training of the irrational side of the soul and the second to the rational. Aristotle was essentially practical in his point of view and borrowed his content and method chiefly from the prevailing system at Athens. Physical training, to which attention was first given, was to be secured thru gym- nastics and to have as its aim not merely strength and grace of body, but the development of habits of control, of self-restraint. Moral education, i. e., the education of the irrational element of the soul, to which attention was next given, was to be attained thru literature and music. In moral training practice is always to pre- 41 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION cede theory, doing the thing sought before reasoning about it. Then when habits of right feeling and acting have been generated, the individual must be taught the rational basis for them. Thus will goodness of charac- ter, which is based upon habituation and which is attain- able by all citizens, precede goodness of intellect, which results from the instruction of the rational element and is attainable only by the leisure class. "What the nature of instruction of the rational element would be we cannot exactly determine, as that part of the *' Politics" either was not written or was lost. But we judge from refer- ences in other parts that it would emphasize mathematics, the natural sciences, and dialectic. Influence of Aristotle. — Aristotle searched for truth in nature and society. He maintained that it was to be got thru observation of their phenomena confirmed by reflection. The practice of this inductive method made him the greatest scientific thinker that has ever lived, and he laid the foundation of the sciences of physics, mechanics, physiology, and politics. As a basis for thought in all these he developed his ' ' Organon, ' ' the sci- ence of the laws of thought, i. e., logic. Unfortunately for western Europe practically all his works except the *' Organon" were lost to it. Hence the Middle Ages, which revered his name, were controlled in intellectual life by his deductive logic, and deduction is a method of confirmation, not of discovery. This fact added to the emphasis which that period gave to authority and tradi- tion. But Mohammedanism, which was much influenced by his philosophy, brought it into western Europe via Spain. In the thirteenth century it was at first used by the schoolmen to justify existing beliefs, but its use led to an encouragement of reasoning dangerous to both authority and tradition. Upon his own time Aristotle 42 GREEK EDUCATION had no more influence than Plato. The day of the city- state, from which he drew his ideals, had passed, and with it went the old Hellenic ideal of the citizen-man. Man now existed for himself only, and social stability could be secured only by authority from without. RISE OF THE GREEK TTNIVERSITIES Triumph of Individualism. — Athens was ruined by excess of individualism. All efforts to control the tend- encies of the times proved futile and Aristotle's was the last attempt at a solution of the problem of the reconcili- ation of individual liberty with social stability. Phi- losophy, which had hitherto tried to formulate a practical ideal for social living, contented itself solely with the happiness of the individual. This is as true of the noblest Stoic as of the most sensual Epicurean. Edu- cation, which will always conform to a change of social and political ideals, now devoted itself to the develop- ment of the individual for personal happiness without reference to social relations. This was not accomplished without a struggle on the part of the finer spirits among the Greeks; however, it became a fact long before the Roman conquest. We shall now study that change. Course of Development of Greek Education After the Sophists. — The new education introduced by the Sophists started, two streams of influence which resulted in a re- organization of higher education. One flowed thru Socrates as a channel and resulted in the establishment of the philosophical schools. The other flowed thru Isocrates and resulted in the rhetorical schools. These two institutions became united in a loose manner in the course of time and to the institution thus formed the term ' ' University of Athens ' ' has been given by mod- 43 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION em writers, tho this name was unknown to the ancients themselves. The Rhetorical Schools. — The more important of these two institutions was the rhetorical school. The work of the Sophists was of a desultory nature. Each Sophist was a free lance who taught without reference to the work of any other. Isocrates, who flourished in the gen- eration after Socrates, organized the work of the Sophists Sophists c. 425 B.C. Rhetorical Schools Philosophical Schools University of Athens, c. 200 B.C. into an orderly, well-graded system. In his school the student was taught the same subjects as in the schools of the Sophists, but he passed from subject to subject as the result of careful preparation. Isocrates main- tained that his aim was to enable a man to think clearly and express his thoughts properly, not merely to win in argument, as was the aim of many of the Sophists. His school was very successful, attracted many of the men who afterwards became leading statesmen, and served as a model for others. Its fame helped to make Athens the intellectual center of the ancient world. The sys- tem that grew up was very similar to the system of pri- vate schools and academies that has grown up in almost 44 GREEK EDUCATION all large American cities. The school aimed to prepare a man for the vigorous public life which characterized the Greek citizen in the fourth century B.C. As the interest which is exerted in public life today by news- paper, pulpit, bar, and platform was exerted then exclu- sively by the public speaker, the power of effective speech and the imparting of the knowledge of the day to make a successful man of the world were the ends sought. Tho at first rigorous and thoro, with the loss of political independence the work of these schools became more and more formal and stereotyped. Nevertheless, they flour- ished thruout the whole classical period. The Philosophical Schools. — In the century preceding the Macedonian conquest the very turmoil of public life which attracted the active spirits of the day repelled the more timid and contemplative. The emphasis placed by both Plato and Aristotle upon the speculative life in sequence to the practical life, as the highest attainment, was now placed upon the specu- lative life without reference to any practical consider- ation. Four great philosophical schools were founded in the fourth century, viz. : The School of the Academy, founded by Plato, 386 b.c. The School of the Lyceum, founded by Aristotle, 335 B.C. The School of the Stoics, founded by Zeno, 308 B.C. The School of Epicurus, founded by Epicurus, 306 B.C. These became less and less concerned with the affairs of practical life and developed into kinds of religious brotherhoods which absorbed much of the devotion that had formerly been given to the city state. The schools at first consisted merely of the master and his disciples. But when the founders of these schools died, they be- 45 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION queathed their wealth and manuscripts to the schools and selected or arranged for the election of successors to the headship, called ' ' scholarchs. ' ' These endowments provided the bases for permanent institutions, ad- ditional income for the support of which was obtained by charging a fee for membership in the schools. The schools attracted adherents from all over the civilized world, many of whom upon coming to Athens found themselves unprepared to enter them. The result was that teachers engaged in preparing students for en- trance becEime associated with the schools. In most in- stances, after the death of the founder research and crea- tive work ceased. The aim became more and more to set forth the views of the founder ; and before the begin- ning of the Christian era the work had become as formal and artificial as that of the rhetorical schools. The University of Athens. — In the meantime great changes had taken place in the education of the Athenian youth. We have seen that, as a result of the emphasis placed upon intellectual education by the Sophists and of the trend towards individual self-seeking, the physical training in gymnastic and military drill looking towards service to the state began to lose its importance. The period of service was first reduced from two years to one ; and after the Macedonian conquest, when there was no longer an Athenian state to serve, attendance upon the gymnasium was made wholly voluntary. Admission to the ephebic corps was granted to foreigners and the corps became a kind of social institution with a military flavor. For the compulsory attendance formerly de- manded of the ephebes at the gymnasium there was now substituted compulsory attendance at the lectures of the philosophical schools in addition to voluntary attendance at the rhetorical schools. Finally when, because of the 46 GREEK EDUCATION danger due to the wars between Macedon and Rome, the schools of the Academy, the Lyceum, and Epicurus, which had been without the walls, followed the Stoics into the city, the Athenian Assembly granted public support to them and began to exercise a control over the selec- tion of the Sophists or professors. The union of the philosophical and rhetorical schools became more pro- nounced as the result of the practice of the early Roman emperors of endowing chairs of rhetoric and of philoso- phy. The years of attendance of a student were pro- longed often to six or seven ; and student life resembled college life today, especially in its extra-scholastic fea- tures. The University of Athens remained the stronghold of paganism after the advent of Christianity, and its de- cline was rapid after Constantine made Christianity the state religion. Finally, in 529 a.d., it was suppressed by Justinian. The TTniversity of Alexandria. — The University of Athens was not the only Greek university of the ancient world. As the result of the conquests of Alexander, Greek civilization spread thruout the East; and tho it was most apparent in its externals, such as temples, thea- ters, and baths, the Greek language and Greek culture conquered the minds of men more effectually than their arms had conquered governments. Greek universities arose at Rhodes, Pergamus, Tarsus, and Alexandria ; but of these only the University of Alexandria competed in influence and prestige with that of Athens. The first three Ptolemies were enlightened statesmen who did much for the advancement of learning. They instituted a movement for the collection of manuscripts such as has never been equaled in history except possibly dur- ing the Renaissance. As a result there was founded at Alexandria in 280 b.c. the library which was destined 47 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION to become the greatest in the ancient world : according to some accounts, it contained at one time more than 700,000 ' ' rolls ' ' of manuscripts ; and parts at least of it survived until Alexandria was captured by the Moham- medans in 640 A.D. This library attracted scholars from all countries. At about the same time the mu- seum was founded, an institution resembling the great scientific research institutions of today; and investiga- tors from all over the world were invited to study there at the expense of the king. Much of the work of Euclid in geometry, Archimedes in physics, and Eratosthenes in geography and astronomy was done there. The Ptole- mies also endowed numerous chairs of rhetoric and of philosophy which, with the library and museum, formed the university. Tho in its earlier period it was renowned chiefly for science, in the later period, especially after Christianity became a force, it was the center for phil- osophical speculation. This naturally resulted from its being the meeting place of Greeks, Jews, Egyptians, and scholars from the Orient. Here the Hebrew scrip- tures were translated into Greek (the Septuagint) c. 250 B.C. ; here Philo the Jew attempted to harmonize the Hebrew scriptures with Greek philosophy ; here the early Christian Fathers established their great ''Catechetical School ' ' ; and here most of the heresies that rent the new religion were developed. Nevertheless, in this later period most of the work, especially in grammar, rhetoric, and literature, was formal and artificial ; and in philoso- phy it consisted of fruitless commentary. BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles on Greek Education, Sophists, Socrates, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Athens, and Alexandria in the Cyclopedia of Education. 48 GREEK EDUCATION CuBBERLET, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. Chap. IX. Davidson^ T. Education of the Greek People. . Aristotle and the Ancient Educational Ideals. Drever^ James. Greek Education. Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. I, Chap. XII. Grote, G. History of Greece. Chapters LXVII, LXVIII. Laurie, S. S. Pre-Christian Education. The Hellenic Race. Mahaffy, J. P. Old Greek Education. Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. III. Walden, J. H. W. Universities of Ancient Greece. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. What was Socrates* error in his statement that "to know the right is to do the right"? 2. What better methods are used in education today than the Socratic quiz for the development of concepts or "whole- thoughts"? 3. Compare the state control of marriage in Plato's "Re- public" with that suggested by modem eugenists. 4. Compare the selective process to determine one's life work suggested in the "Republic" with the modern principle of vocational guidance. 5. Does the view of women's education held today conform more closely to the view of Plato or Aristotle? 6. In what respect did Aristotle advocate the modem principle of "learn to know by doing"? 7. In what respects does the multiplication of religious sects today resemble the founding of philosophical schools among the Greeks? 8. Compare the development of the University of Athens with that of an American university like Columbia. 9. How did the rhetorical schools among the Greeks resemble the academies of our countiy? 49 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION || A ^f thP use of the Greek language 10. Con^pare the J-J f ^^^ :^^\, ,,e of French in after the conquests of Alexander wit the eighteenth and '^-f ^^^eWian King Ptolen^y with ''• .''rfw clrl Set "he aTa^eement of learning, that of Andrew tamegie lu CHAPTER V ROMAN EDUCATION Outline. — The mission of the Romans was to organize in- stitutions whereby the ideals of the other peoples might be realized. The Jew furnished Western civilization with its religious ideal; the Roman organized it into an institution which saved Europe from barbarism. The Greek furnished the ideal of justice; the Roman made it concrete in a system of law upon which European civilization is today founded. Previous to contact with the Greeks the Romans gave their boys a practical and civic education. This was done infor- mally by means of the activities of the family, the forum, and the camp. After assimilating Greek culture, the Romans organized their education into: (1) elementary, given in the school of the litter ator; (2) secondary, given in the school of the grammaticus; and (3) higher, given in the school of the rhetor. A young Roman might afterward attend a university. Contributions of Rome to Western Civilization. — The Romans had the greatest genius for organization and administration of any historic people. Intensely prac- tical and without high ideals, their mission in history was to organize institutions whereby the ideals of other peoples might be realized. If from the Jew we have received our religious ideal, it was the Roman who organ- ized it into an institution which saved Europe from bar- barism. If the Greek furnished the ideal of justice, the Roman made it concrete in a system of law upon which European civilization is founded today. The universal 51 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION empire organized by Rome was the instrument by which Greek art, literature, science, and philosophy were spread among all peoples. The Eoman View of Life. — The Roman ^s point of view was objective, never subjective. He was impatient of abstraction and dealt only with the concrete. He meas- ured the value of everything by the utilitarian stand- ard of results. Every relation of life was to be organ- ized on practical principles. Even religion, which dis- closes man's highest aspiration, was with the Roman chiefly a bargaining with the gods, a practical device for everyday living. He was essentially a doer, not a thinker nor a man of emotion. He represents chiefly the life of the will as the Greek represents chiefly the life of the intellect and feelings. He lived for his state and was never able to think of the man as separate from the citizen. He solved the problem of the reconciliation of individual liberty with social security by emphasizing state control. But the surrender of the individual to the state was voluntary, not compulsory. Institutions of Rome Which Educated. — 1. The Fam- ily. — The very basis of Roman life was the family. In it the mother occupied as honorable a position as the father and woman's place in Roman life was far higher and more influential than among the Greeks. Unlike the Greek male, the Roman lived much at home; the hearth was his most sacred spot. All members of the family were strongly bound together and, while the Greek tried to make his son independent as soon as pos- sible, the Roman's control of the members of his family ceased only with death. The influence of this family life upon the development of character cannot be over- estimated. 2. The Camp. — The Roman was always at war and 52 ROMAN EDUCATION the first duty of a father was to prepare his son to take part in war. This was not an academic training in a gymnasium as with the Greeks. The Romans never had gymnasia. The father taught his son to ride, swim, and use the spear; and when the boy reached the age of manhood (sixteen), he learned the use of arms in the camp itself. When not engaged on the farm he was to be found in the camp. 3. The Forum, — Thruout the republican period the forum exercised a great educative influence upon the Roman youth. It was there he heard the ideals and duties of the citizen set forth. Unlike the Athenian youth, he heard no discussions on abstract questions of life, morals, law, or politics, but the concrete problems before the state. And it is to be noted that in the early period all free Romans participated in this life; for until the great conquests glutted the market with slaves, manual labor in agriculture was not despised. 4. Religion, — With the Romans religion was a differ- ent thing from that of the Greeks. Their gods did not have human attributes and wish to be housed in beauti- ful temples and placated thru such joyous activities as dancing and singing. Religion had no influence upon the esthetic or intellectual life of the people. There was a god for every human activity, mysterious, stern, and inexorable, demanding his tribute of sacrifice. But these impersonal deities, at least until they were identified with the gods of the Greeks, did not exemplify human weaknesses and had a distinctly ethical influence. The sense of duty, not beauty, was developed by the Roman religion. Periods of Roman Education. — The social and educa- tional history of Rome falls into two periods. Tho no date can be set as marking the division of the two 53 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION periods, for convenience the line may be drawn at 146 B.C., when Greece was conquered and made a Roman province. In the earlier period Roman life was as de- scribed above and education was controlled by Roman ideals and methods. Before the close of that period, as the result of the conquest of southern Italy, Roman life had become influenced by contact with the Greeks. In the second period Rome took over Greek culture nearly in totOy and the content and form of education, tho not its ideals, were Hellenized. We shall now consider the education of the first period. A. EARLY ROMAN EDUCATION The aim of Roman education was to produce a loyal Roman prepared for the practical duties of life. It was an affair entirely of the family, in which the father trained his son for the duties of the man and citizen, and the mother trained the daughter for the duties of the woman and housekeeper. As in all systems of family education the emphasis was upon the moral side of life, upon the development of character. The result was that the Roman was distinguished by the homelier and sterner virtues : piety, manliness, courage, gravity, honesty, pru- dence. Associated with this moral training was a physi- cal training to produce a hardy man and soldier. But the physical exercises of the Roman boy were never organized into a system and given in an institution, as with the Greeks; and to have aimed at beauty of form and grace of action would have been considered effemi- nate. The intellectual element in Roman education was small. The boy was taught to read, write, and count by his father. Biography had a most important place, and the stories of the lives of the heroes who had served 54 ROMAN EDUCATION Rome reinforced the work of the home in developing the Roman character. The Laws of the Twelve Tables, the fundamental legal code, had to be memorized by every Roman boy; but the influence upon him was not comparable to that of Homer on the Greek boy. Except for the Twelve Tables no literary element, and, except for the national songs and religious hymns, no musical element appeared in this education. Art, science, and philosophy were unknown ; culture for its own sake was scorned. The method of Roman education was direct imitation — first of the father, then of the hero. The Greek believed in placing the boy in an environment of beauty, refine- ment, and culture in word, deed, and object, and relied upon the assimilative power of the mind to assist towards the desired end. The Roman believed that the only way to learn any activity was to do it in imitation of a con- crete model and to do it often enough to form a habit. When that was accomplished the end was attained. To instruct afterwards in the rational basis of habits never occurred to them. The Period of Transition. — Such was the education of the Roman boy during the first period. But long before the date set for the closing of that period a change had begun to take place. Quite early in the period the ludus, a primary school, arose, to which some Romans sent their boys to learn reading, writing, and counting. In no wise was the emphasis upon family training lessened, for it was only these formal subjects that were learned in these private schools and not the habits and duties of the man and citizen. But this education sufficed only so long as Rome remained a local community. When it had conquered the whole of Italy and come in contact with alien and superior civilizations, a broader culture 55 THE HISTOEY OF EDUCATION was essential. But the change was a very slow one. Livius Andronicus, a Greek slave from southern Italy, opened one of the first schools of a higher grade than the ludus. As Latin literature had hardly begun, he translated the Odyssey into Latin, c. 250 B.C., and thereafter that was the textbook in reading and litera- ture for the Roman boy. Other Greeks followed his example and opened schools in which a knowledge of Greek literature by means of translations and an ele- mentary knowledge of the Greek language were im- parted. Gradually these translations — and eventually Greek literature itself — supplanted the memorizing of the Laws of the Twelve Tables as the intellectual element in the Roman boy's education. But these schools were all private undertakings without any generally accepted system of work, and they were attended by only a few of the youths of the upper classes. B. THE HELLENIZED ROMAN EDUCATION Absorption of Greek Culture by the Romans. — After the conquest of Greece by the Romans, 146 B.C., a de- light in things Greek spread thruout Roman society. The conquerors had robbed Greece of many of her treas- ures in books and art and brought them to Rome. Greek teachers of grammar, rhetoric, and even philosophy emi- grated in large numbers to the metropolis to open schools. In all history there is no instance of a more complete imitation of the culture of one people by an- other than that of the Greek by the Romans. They borrowed Greek religion, philosophy, art, and literature — at least in form. Naturally they borrowed the system of education upon which all this culture was based, but in doing so they organized it into a system superior to 56 ROMAN EDUCATION that of the Greeks. It must always be remembered, how- ever, that this assimilation was a slow process, due to the strong conservatism of the Roman character and the active opposition of many influential men. Unlike the rapid conquest made by the Sophistic education in Athens or by scientific education in our own country, the movement required a century to complete its work. The publication of Cicero's book, *'De Oratore," 55 B.C., marks fairly well its final triumph. The system of education as then organized remained with few modi- fications until the close of the empire. The following diagram is a graphic statement of the Roman system of education : Period of Education School Age 1. Elementary Litterator 7-10 2. Secondary Grammaticus ■ • to 16 3. Higher Ehetor 16 on The Elementary School. — The school of the litterator, i. e., teacher of letters, was the old Indus, to which the Roman boy was now sent to acquire the elements of learning, usually in charge of a pedagogue, as at Athens. Like all Roman schools of the republican and early im- perial periods, it was a private institution opened in a room of a building or held even on a porch. As no qualifications for teaching were demanded, it was usually presided over by a freedman who was poorly paid and had a low social standing. The equipment was poor and the teaching probably of the same quality. Reading, writing, and counting were taught by the same methods as in the Greek schools ; and as soon as the boy could read fairly well he was sent to a grammar school. No Greeks taught these primary schools ; and many Roman boys never went to them, but received their elementary training from a tutor at home. 57 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION The Grammar School. — The school of the grammaticus was so called because, as with us, grammar was the chief subject of study. But grammar had a much wider sig- ScHooL Materials from Waljl Paintings A — Wax tablet and capra, containing rolls or books. B — Wax tablet with stilus tied to it Punishment From a painting at Herculaneum nificance than with us. It included the study of litera- ture as well as language, and these schools were par ex- 58 KOMAN EDUCATION « cellence literary schools. At first they were maintained wholly by Greeks, who devoted themselves almost exclu- sively to giving instruction in the Greek language and literature ; but about 100 B.C. Lucius ^lius Stilo opened a Latin grammar school, and from'tEat time it was cus- tomary for the Roman boy to attend both. Reading, composition, and grammar formed the curriculum: grammar meant the study of the form and content of all Greek and Latin literature, didactic and artistic ; so be- sides poetry it included geography, history, some mathe- matics and natural sciences, music, and mythology. As to content, probably for the most part these subjects were superficially studied. Minute attention was given to the form of Greek and Latin writers as models for correctness of expression in writing and speaking. Quin- tilian considered the power of imitation and memory as the most critical evidences of ability in a prospective orator. Homer always remained the chief author to be studied in the Greek grammar school, and in the im- perial period Virgil was the chief author to be studied in the Latin grammar school ; but selections from a wide range of authors were used in both schools. Two sub- jects were not introduced from the Greek schools, viz., dancing and gymnastics. The method of teaching was by explanation and dic- tation, the method of study was chiefly the memoriter. The aim was to give a mastery of expression in reading, writing, and speaking to prepare the boy for the work of the rhetorical schools. These grammar schools were well- equipped institutions like those of Greece, and the teach- ers received good incomes and had a good social stand- ing. The discipline of all the Roman schools was severe, the rod being used freely. The school day was long, from early morning until late afternoon. But, in Italy 59 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION at least, there was a summer vacation from about June first until October first. Moreover, the Saturnalia cor- responded to our Christmas vacation, the feast of Min- erva to our Easter vacation, and there were no school sessions on many festival days. The Rhetorical School. — When he completed the gram- mar school, at about the age of assuming the toga virilis (the dress of a man), the education of the Eoman boy ended, unless he was destined for a public career. If that was so, he entered the school of the rhetor and remained there for a period depending upon his ability and interests, probably in most cases about three years. The rhetorical schools were much more slowly established than the grammar schools and became numerous only about the beginning of the imperial period. At first there were only Greek rhetorical schools; but during the first century b.c. Latin rhetorical schools were established, and in course of time superseded the Greek in importance, appealing as they did to a much wider constituency. In the late republican and early imperial periods it became customary among the higher classes to send youths to Greece for their rhetorical training. Aim, Content, and Method of Work. — The aim of the rhetorical school was to prepare the individual for the life of public affairs. During the republican and early imperial periods, before freedom disappeared, this train- ing for service to society was vigorous and effective. With the Roman the orator was the well-educated man. Therefore, tho the work of the rhetorical school was chiefly devoted to the arts of speech — rhetoric, declama- tion, and debate — yet, if we are to believe Quintilian, literary criticism, dialectic, music, geometry, astronomy, politics, and ethics were carefully taught. The method of work was first learning to declaim model selections; 60 ROMAN EDUCATION then participating in debate ; and then, after attendance upon lectures, writing orations according to certain types. Many of the subjects taken for declamation, de- bate, and oration were on subtle points of Roman law which developed ability in making fine distinctions. But in the imperial period they were usually set in highly imaginary conditions, taken from mythology or history, and very remote from the actual life of the day. Higher Education. — At first a Roman desirous of a more liberal education went to one of the Greek uni- versities, and that practice never entirely died out. But libraries grew rapidly in Rome in the Augustan era ; and when Vespasian about a.d. 75 established a great library in the Temple of Peace, the foundation of a university was laid. The history of the University of Alexandria was repeated. Professorships in the liberal arts were established in connection with the library by successive emperors and finally Hadrian, about 125 A.D., organized it into the Atheneum. Schools of law, medicine, architecture, and mechanics were developed gradually — the old method of study in those subjects by apprenticeship to an eminent practitioner being su- perseded, as with us, by formal work in the schools. Lit- tle work was done in philosophical speculation or in scientific research, both of which were foreign to the Roman temperament. This, moreover, was the only Roman university, for Marseilles, where was situated the only other university in the West, remained to the end a Greek city. Public Support of Schools. — It must be remembered that these various classes of schools grew up wholly under private auspices without either government super- vision or government support. So extensively did these schools spread that by the time of Marcus Aurelius there 61 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION was practically no provincial town without its grammar school nor provincial capital without its rhetorical school. Vespasian inaugurated the practice of paying the sal- aries of selected teachers of grammar and rhetoric and his successors extended it. Finally Antoninus Pius, c. 150, awarded to some teachers of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy many of the privileges of the senatorial class, especially exemptions from taxation and military serv- ice. These became the foundation of the privileges of the clergy, when the empire became Christian under Con- stantine, c. a.d. 326. In 376 Gratian established a fixed schedule of salaries for teachers thruout the empire. In 361 Julian had asserted the right of the em- peror to pass upon all appointments made by the munic- ipal governments. In 425 the establishment of schools was made an exclusive privilege of the state. But just when the imperial government might have developed a national system of education, the invasions of the bar- barians put an end to the schools and the empire as well. Decay of Koman Society. — The overthrow of the em- pire was not a difficult undertaking, for the government had become a mere shell. From the beginning of the third century it was a pure despotism. All pretense of maintaining the old practices of the republic was given up. Oriental forms of servility, including prostration before the emperor, became prevalent. The imperial court was large, luxurious, immoral, and servile. All power was centered in the emperor and in the bureau- cracy, which had become exceedinglj^ numerous and costly. The senatorial class, entrance to which was obtained by favoritism or bribery, had immense privi- leges and few corresponding obligations. There was no outlet for the abilities of senators in the state, and they shunned the army filled with barbarians. They led a 62 ROMAN EDUCATION life of luxurious ease — at best one of cultured leisure, at worst one of debauchery — wholly without interest either in the affairs of the state or of their wretched fellow men about them. The other free citizens, the curi- ales, had to bear the burdens of the army and the gov- ernment. As the result of plague, infanticide, and im- morality, there was a constantly diminishing popula- tion and a corresponding decrease in ability to support the . defenses against the barbarians. The Roman Em- pire fell because of lack of men and money. The slave class, enormously increased by the successive wars, was still further augmented from the ranks of the freemen, many of whom voluntarily entered slavery to escape the obligations of Roman citizenship. Decline of Education. — As stated before, whenever there is a change in social ideals and social life, there is sure to be a corresponding change in education. In this period of decline education became more and more a privilege of the senatorial class. It no longer aimed to prepare for the practical duties of a man of affairs, and became more and more a culture education to enable a man to shine in society. A desire for perfection of form, without reference to the real meaning and content of things, animated the school. With such a view of life and such an aim of education the period was naturally one of sterility. After Marcus Aurelius, d. a.d. 180^ no writer, artist, or philosopher of the first rank ap- peared, and but a negligible number of second rank. No pagan authors of this period had any influence on later times, save a few writers on technical subjects, like the grammarians Donatus, c. a.d. 400, and Priscian, c. A.D. 500, whose grammars were used during the Mid- dle Ages. Hence the schools of grammar devoted them- selves to a study of the old classics, especially Yirgil 63 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION and Horace; no longer, however, for inspiration and lit- erary appreciation, but solely for style, diction, and apt quotation. Similarly, as oratory was no longer to be used in the practical affairs of life, content was of no importance and form became everything. Hence to ac- quire a big vocabulary, a florid style, a bombastic speech was the aim of students in the schools of rhetoric. As orations were no longer delivered in the senate or forum, the orator or rhetorician took refuge in the home or theater, where he gave exhibitions to which the cultured flocked as they attend musicales today. Philosophy was no longer taught in any of the schools of the West, and law in but few of them. The schools of grammar and rhetoric flourished to the end. Their teachers remained honored and well paid, but their debased culture without the liberalizing virtues of the Greek education or the practical virtues of the Roman did not have any influ- ence in a period of stress and storm. Eoman Writers on Education. — As we have seen, the Roman, unlike the Greek, did not speculate on the aim of life or the meaning of education. To him education meant merely a practical preparation for practical life ; hence, as we should expect, any treatise on education by a Roman is largely an exposition of current practice. Our information concerning Roman education is ob- tained chiefly from Cicero's *'De Oratore," Tacitus' ''De Oratoribus," Suetonius' **De Gramma ticis" and *'De Rhetoricis," and particularly Quintilian's "De Institu- tione Oratoria" (''Institutes of Oratory"). Of these, however, only Quintilian gives an exposition of the en- tire field of education. Such problems as the relative advantages of tutorial and school training, discipline, interest, memory training, adaptation to temperament, and qualifications of the teacher are considered in the 64 ROMAN EDUCATION twelve books of his great work. But it is chiefly devoted to a consideration of literary values and methods of teaching subjects, from the alphabet to oratory, his suggestions in method conforming in many instances to the most approved of the present day. Tho a Spaniard by birth, for twenty years he was Rome's most distinguished teacher of rhet- oric, and he wrote his treatise only after he had retired from active service, a.d. 96. He was highly esteemed by his contemporaries and was the first teacher of rhet- oric to be subsidized by Vespasian. His treatise had a great influence upon the schools until the fall of the empire, and it was of much service to the humanists after its discovery in the early Renaissance. BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Roman Education, Andronicus, Quintilian, etc. Clarke, Geo. Education of Children at Rome. CuBBERLEY_, E. P. Syllabus in History of Education. Chap. X. Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. I. Chap. XIII. Laurie, S. S. Pre-Christian Education. The Romans. Mahaffy, J. P. Greek World under Roman Sway. Monroe, Paul. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. IV. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. What reasons are there why biography plays so dif- ferent a part in the education of the Roman and of the American boy? 2. In what period of our national life did the education 65 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION of the American boy resemble that of the early Romans? What influences have brought about the change? 3. In what period of our national life did public speech play as important a part as with the Romans of the repub- lican period? Why does it not play so important a part today? 4. The Roman began the study of Greek in early child- hood. In the American public school the pupil begins foreign languages in the high schools. Which practice is based upon sound principles of education? 5. The Roman emphasized secondary education; we em- phasize elementary education. Why? 6. In the aim and organization of education does our sys- tem resemble the Greek or the Roman? 7. Compare the " Wander jahr" of the Germans with the Roman practice of sending boys abroad to Greek schools. 8. Compare the imitation of Greek culture by the Romans with that of Western culture by the Japanese in aim, content, and method. 9. The average Roman completed his work in the rhetorical school at about nineteen or twenty years of age. Why do American students require two or three years more? 10. Compare the curriculum of a rhetorical school as out- lined by Quintilian with that of an American college. 11. Is there any evidence that the practice of the Roman emperors in subsidizing rhetoricians was for the purpose of controlling their freedom of speech? 12. The statement is often made that America needs a "leisure" class. The senatorial class fomied the Roman leisure class. Do social conditions today justify the belief that such a class would take a different attitude towards social living? 13. Compare the attitude towards foreigners of the Roman of the imperial period with that of Americans today. 14. Which of the great culture nations of today have not based their jurisprudence upon Roman law? Why? CHAPTER VI EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION Outline. — Christianity sought the moral regeneration of the individual and thereby of society, hence at first it gave its adherents a wholly moral and religious education in the catechumenal school. Later, when it spread among the upper classes, it gave a higher education in the catechetical schools, which became seminaries for the training of priests. Attached to the bishop's church there also developed cathedral schools, which became one of the chief instruments of the Church in which to train leaders of the faithful. How the Way Was Prepared for the Spread of Chris- tianity. — After the establishment of the empire, Rome imposed upon the civilized world the pax Bomana, the Roman peace. This permitted missionary work upon the part of the early Christians which would otherwise have been impossible. The necessity of governing all the different nations and peoples resulted in the develop- ment of the Jus Gentiumi (Law of Nations), which consisted of those principles of law common to all na- tions. This prepared the minds of men for the idea of a moral law common to all men and binding upon all, bond or free, rich or poor, learned or ignorant. The filling of the Roman armies with men of all nations, the gradual extension of Roman citizenship to men of all nations, the knowledge that they were controlled by a common law resulted in the gradual development in 67 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION the minds of the best, especially among the Stoic phi- losophers, of the idea of a genus humanum, a human kind, i. e., that despite racial differences man is essen- tially the same. This prepared the way for the Christian teaching that all men are the children of one Father, hence are brethren, and that among His children. He makes no allowance for distinctions of birth, wealth, or learning. Moreover, Christianity appeared at a time when the world was weary of itself, when men were con- vinced of sin, when there was a vain striving to dis- cover a moral support not afforded by the pagan relig- ions or even the pagan philosophies. A great vitalizing force was needed not only in the West, but even more in the East, where life and education as typified by Israel had become incrusted with a narrow and dogmatic formalism. This vitalizing force appeared in the person of Jesus Christ, a product of the Jewish family life, of the synagogue, and of the rabbinical school. But the founder of Christianity reacted forcibly against institutional suppression of the individual. The Christian View of the Relation of the Individual to Society. — The Greco-Romans never distinguished be- tween the man and the citizen. The only virtues they valued were civic, were in some form of service to the state. The idea of personality, of a human soul valuable in itself and worthy of development for itself, with such attendant iadividual virtues as charity, sympathy, or self-sacrifice for one's fellow men, found little place in their thought. The very appeal that Christianity made to what was common in all men implied that national liaes of cleavage were artificial. The denial of the exist- ence of national gods would inevitably bring Christian- ity into conflict with the state. The belief in the exist- ence of a future state and the belief that earthly exist- 68 EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION ence was but a preparation for it, the belief in the early return of the Master and the passing away of the world suggested the contemning of earthly interests and pleas- ures in consideration of a state of eternal salvation. Hence the ' ' otherworldly ' ' ideal of the early Christians ; hence their adherence to the institution which embodied it after their religion became organized, viz., the Church ; hence the withdrawal of many of the best from the con- sideration of mundane affairs. This was the very re- verse of the pagan viewpoint. The pagan lived for this world, found his happiness in it, and expected to live in no other. The problem of the reconciliation of indi- vidual freedom with social stability did not assume a great importance to one whose gaze was fixed upon an- other sphere and another life. Christianity a Moral Discipline. — Christianity sought the moral regeneration of the individual and thereby of society. Personal purity was the first essential for en- trance to the fold. To appreciate the magnitude of the task of the early Church, it is necessary to remember the debased condition of Roman society. Infanticide and child exposure, practiced by all classes, were to the Chris- tian simple murder. The ease of vice, the immoral pub- lic ceremonials under the guise of religion, the bloody gladiatorial displays were dreadful abominations. Even before the tremendous task of overcoming these evils had been accomplished, another great work confronted the Church, viz., the conversion of the barbarians in order to save the faith and civilization itself. It may well be asked, ''How much energy remained to be de- voted to education and culture?" Moreover, to the Christian there was no reason for saving the pagan culture. Its literature was full of impurities, its art associated with its immoral religion, its philosophy de- 69 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION voted to destroying the faith. As the school was the stronghold of the pagan culture, it gradually became re- garded as the enemy of the Church and its work anath- ema to the true believer. Hence the development of an education in which what the pagan approved — viz., bod- ily training, literature, art, science and philosophy — were omitted, and what the pagan neglected, moral train- ing and religious instruction, were emphasized. The Catechumenal School. — But this point of view did not prevail at once. The teaching that this life is but a preparation for another and eternal life in which rewards and punish- ments will be meted out according to conduct on earth, brought hope and inspiration to the millions of slaves and unfortunates who were neglected and subjected un- der the pagan civilization. It was among these that Christianity won its adherents during the first centuries. They had no education, did not feel the need of it, and in fact regarded with unfavorable eyes what chiefly distinguished their masters and persecutors from them- selves — the pagan culture. But some instruction was necessary for entrance to Church membership for the converts from Judaism and paganism, as well as for the children of believers. Hence at stated intervals during the week these met in some part of the church for religious instruction, moral training, and the learn- ing of psalmody. The teachers were at first the ablest members of the local church, and the office became a cleri- cal one only after considerable time had elapsed. At first the period of instruction necessary for baptism was two years, but as the children of believers became numer- ous it was extended to four. These catechumenal schools became universal among the Christians, and lasted long after Christianity had vanquished paganism. 70 EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION The Catechetical School. — For more than two centuries the catechumenal schools supplied most of the educa- tional needs of the Christians. During that time, how- ever, Christianity had begun to spread among the seri- ous-minded of the well-to-do pagans, who wished a higher education for their sons. The latter had been sent to the pagan grammar and even the pagan rhetorical schools, their parents relying upon rigid home training to over- come any evil that might result from the association with pagan influences. But towards the end of the second century and thereafter Christianity made converts among the teaching class, among grammarians, rhe- toricians, and even philosophers. These men naturally brought with them their learning and their love of learning. Moreover, as long as Christianity remained the religion of the poor and ignorant, it was treated by the learned merely with contempt. When it began, however, to make headway in their own ranks its doc- trines as well as its practices began to be attacked. To defend these doctrines an education different from that of the catechumenal schools was necessary. Hence some of the converted teachers opened schools for the Chris- tian youth. At first these were wholly private and un- connected with the Church. But in 179 Pantaenus, a converted Stoic philosopher, became head of the school for catechumens at Alexandria. He was one of the ' ' Apologists, ' ' as those who attempted to reconcile Chris- tianity with Greek philosophy were called. Under him, and particularly under his eminent successors, Clement (c. 160-215) and Origen (c. 185-254), this school, which was called catechetical, meaning ''to teach orally," i. e., to lecture, developed into an institution where the entire round of the Greco-Roman learning was taught. Gram- mar, literature, rhetoric, and philosophy were studied as 71 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION thoroly as in the pagan schools, tho always as the hand- maidens of the Scriptures ; and the students took advan- tage of the opportunities for study offered by the Uni- versity of Alexandria. At first scholars from all classes were admitted to the schools ; but gradually they devel- oped into a kind of seminary for the training of the clergy. Similar institutions, tho not so celebrated, were established at Caesarea, Antioch, Edessa, and Nisibis. The Church Fathers. — By the beginning of the fourth century the era of persecution was closed. Christianity was legally tolerated a.d. 313, and soon afterwards became the state religion. The Church had conquered the world, but in the conquest its adherents had lost much of the purity and simplicity of the early Chris- tians. It now paid to be a Christian, and numerous adherents of the faith were but nominally so. During the first three centuries the attitude of the Greek Church Fathers had been uniformly friendly to the study of the pagan culture. Clement and Origen were enthusiastic in its advocacy, maintaining that the pagan culture contributed to an understanding of the Scrip- tures and that it was justifiable and wise "to spoil the Egyptians.'' Even when this enthusiasm waned and a more critical attitude was adopted towards the pagan learning, such eminent Fathers as Basil (331-379) and Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 325-390) protested against its exclusion from the Christian schools. The attitude of the Latin Church Fathers had always been more un- friendly. It was the moral grandeur of Christianity that especially appealed to the Romans, and the Latin Fathers felt that the great mission of the Church was ethical. Moreover, the application of Greek philosophy to Christian doctrine had resulted in numerous heresies in the East. The native conservatism of the Roman 72 EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION would incline him to the traditional element in the faith, and his practical insight would suggest most forcibly the danger to morals in the study of the classical litera- ture. Hence, despite the fact that they had all been teachers and were steeped in the pagan culture, Ter- tullian (c. 150-230), Jerome (331-423), and Augustine (354-430) eventually discountenanced such study among the faithful. It was probably due to Augus- tine's influence that the Council of Carthage (401) for- bade the clergy to read any of the pagan literature. The Church thereby broke with humanism. This de- cree was contemporaneous with the invasion of the barbarians and the rapid disappearance of the pagan schools. Cathedral Schools. — Christianity spread primarily in the cities ; when the Church had grown in numbers and strength and was organized into dioceses, the chief cities became the sees or seats of bishops and also the sites of the cathedral churches. Schools similar to the catecheti- cal schools gradually became a necessity in each diocese to supply clergy, and promotions in the clerical ranks became dependent upon attendance in these schools. Naturally these schools fell under the supervision of the bishops and were called at first bishops' schools or epis- copal schools; but gradually in the West this name was superseded by the title cathedral schools, from their association with the cathedral church. After the disappearance of the pagan schools, the cathedral schools and the monastic schools divided between them the field of education during the entire medieval period. As their work was similar, a knowledge of the work of the cathe- dral schools can be obtained by the study of the monastic schools, to which we shall now turn. THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles in the Cyclopedia of Education on individual Chris- tian Fathers, Church, Catechumenal, Catechetical, Cathedral, and Bishops' Schools, Benedictines. Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. GRAVES; F. P. A History of Education. Vol. I, Chap. XIV. Monroe^ Paul. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. V, Sec. I. Parker, S. C, The History of Modem Elementary Edu- cation. Chap. II. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR ' FURTHER STUDY 1. Is Christianity as successful today in its appeal to the proletariat as it was in the first century? 2. What caused the emphasis upon the practice of the Christian virtues which characterized the faithful in the first and second centuries to give way to the emphasis upon belief which characterized them in the third and fourth centuries? 3. What would be the natural effect upon education of the difference between the pagan and the Christian attitude towards death? 4. Why did the incursion of the German barbarians strengthen the hostile attitude of the Church toward pagan culture and education? 5. Compare the work undertaken in the catechetical school with that of the Sunday school today. 6. Why would the ideals of Christianity more naturally lead to the establishment of hospitals, foundling and orphan asylums, and similar philanthropic institutions than those of paganism? 7. Compare the appeal made to the poorer classes of the Roman world by Christianity with that made to them today by Socialism. 8. Compare the fleeing of the Christians from the world before Constantine's conversion and after it. 74 PART II EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES Characteristics: The submergence of the individual in institutions. The ''otherworldly" aim of life, hence education essentially religious and under the control of the Church. CHAPTER VII EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES Outline. — Monasticism developed as a protest against the prevailing worldliness, and was organized in the West by St. Benedict a.d. 529. He prescribed two hours a day of reading for the monks; to enable the novices to secure which the monastic school was established, in which the curriculum de- veloped into the seven liberal arts. Because of the troubled conditions of the seventh and eighth centuries learning greatly decayed. Charlemagne did much to restore it by establishing the Palace School, with Alcuin as headmaster, and by improving the monastic and cathedral schools. In addition to the clergy, the other important class of the Middle Ages was the knights, who received an education in "the rudiments of love, of war, and of religion." The future knight was apprenticed to a lady as a page from seven to fourteen, and to a lord as a squire from fourteen to twenty- one, when he might be knighted. The Saracens in the East absorbed Greek learning and brought it with them to Spain. There they developed a splendid culture in literature, art, science, and philosophy. Christians were admitted to their schools and brought back to Christian Europe much of the Saracen learning. Avicenna in medicine and Averroes in philosophy were studied in the medieval universities. A number of causes combined to produce an educational revival in the twelfth century, which had scholasticism as its chief intellectual product. This was a method of philoso- phizing which aimed to reconcile faith and reason. It re- 77 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION suited in the organization of the limited laiowledge of the times into complete systems on the basis of Aristotelian de- duction. The medieval university arose as a specialized school of some one of the great professional studies — determined in each case by local conditions. The students, who came from many different countries, were divided into nations; the teach- ers were divided into the four faculties of arts, law, medicine, and theology. The nations and faculties elected representa- tives to the university council, which was the governing body, and which elected its executive officer, the rector. The content of study in all the faculties was taken from textbooks which were read and explained by the masters. In addition the students received a training in debate by means of disputations. The courses were narrow, but the methods developed acute reasoners. A. MONASTIC EDUCATION Nature and Growth of Monasticism. — As has already been stated, during the first two centuries the Chris- tians remained a distinct community within society, par- ticipating but little in its political and social activities. But as Christianity grew in strength and numbers its adherents entered into the secular life of the time and were distinguished from the pagans by their religious beliefs rather than by their attitude towards life. Hence many who believed that the spiritual perfection neces- sary to eternal salvation was only to be secured by re- maining distinct from worldly pleasures and activities fled society and took refuge in the wilderness of the desert or the forest, where they found fugitives from the persecutions. World-renunciation is the first essen- tial element in monasticism. The method of securing spiritual perfection thru bodily mortification was the 78 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES second essential element. The pagan exalted and beau- tified the body while neglecting the soul. The Christian exalted and beautified the soul by neglecting and even debasing the body. The early ascetics fled into the deserts of Egypt, where they lived as hermits or anchor- ites. But the social instinct prevailed in the course of time, and by c. 330 we find that Pachomius had organ- ized a monastery on the island of Tebernae in the Nile, where the monks lived apart in separate cells for con- templation, but came together for meals, prayers, and religious services. St. Basil introduced this cenobitic system into Greece c. 350, and Athanasius and Jerome transferred it to the West shortly afterward. For nearly two centuries each monastery in the West lived under its own regulations. But in 529 St. Benedict, a Roman patrician who fled the corruption of the city, founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in southern Italy. He drew up a rule or code, consisting of seventy-three arti- cles, which dealt in detail with the organization and ad- ministration of the monastery and the daily life of the monks. The ''Rule of Benedict" was gradually adopted by nearly all monasteries of the West, and every succeed- ing order that was established based its code upon it. Monastic Ideals. — The ideals of monasticism, which are best summed up in its three vows of poverty, chas- tity, and obedience, would seem to have slight connection with education. Poverty meant the renunciation of ma- terial interests; chastitj^, of family relations; and obedi- ence, of political organization. The monks neglected the three great aspects of social life, viz., industrial organi- zation, the family, and the state. The problem of recon- ciling individual liberty with social security did not exist where the individual voluntarily surrendered his liberty. But tho these ideals would seem to make the 79 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION institution of monasticism anti-social, they had a very great influence in the civilizing of the barbarians. The Eule of St. Benedict. — The social contributions of monasticism are largely the result of St. Benedict's code, especially of the forty-eighth article, which prescribed at least seven hours daily of manual labor and two of reading. The provision regarding manual labor rescued the latter from the disrepute into which slavery had brought it and furnished a densely ignorant population with leaders and experts in the manual arts. The monks became model farmers, draining swamps, introducing new crops, reducing forests. They became, moreover, model craftsmen in wood, iron, leather, silver, and gold. But the provision requiring at least two hours of reading had social and educational effects in which we are more directly interested. It made the monastery : 1. The publishing house of the Middle Ages. If the monks were to read, manuscripts had to be reproduced and multiplied. Each monastery had a scriptorium, in which not only the sacred writings, but even some of the Latin classics were copied. 2. The library of the Middle Ages. In the course of time practically every monastery had a library in which the copied manuscripts were placed. And tho it seldom contained more than half a thousand volumes, and those chiefly of sacred literature, there grew up the practice of exchange between libraries and even of circulating privi- leges for outsiders. 3. The center of literary activity of the Middle Ages. The monks not only copied manuscripts, they wrote vol- umes. The monastic chronicles are our chief source of knowledge of the institutions and customs of the time; and, tho sometimes unreliable in fact because of the monks ' desire to enhance the position of the Church, they 80 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES are more accurate than the court chronicles. Moreover, the monks wrote lives of the saints, sermons, moral tales, and commentaries on the Scriptures and Church Fathers. 4. The school of the Middle Ages. If the youths who joined the orders were to read two hours per day in the Scriptures, the Church Fathers and the missal, and participate in the copying of the manuscripts, they had to be taught at least to read and to write. Hence, tho nothing appears in the seventy-three rules about either schools or teaching, the monastic schools arose as the result of the prescription of reading. The Monastic School. — At first the education of the monastery was devoted wholly to the ohlati (those of- fered), i. e., the novices, and was almost entirely relig- ious. Reading and writing were taught as necessary to the study of the sacred books, singing for the religious services, and reckoning to calculate the church festivals. But in time one or other of the compendia or encyclo- pedias which contained in condensed form the elements of the classical culture was used for the higher educa- tion which began to develop. Even before the disap- pearance of the pagan schools Martianus Capella wrote, c. A.D. 420, a treatise called * * The Marriage of Philology and Mercury,'' which contains in a dry, allegorical form the teaching then given in the seven liberal arts. This was one of the favorite textbooks of the Middle Ages. Boethius, the ''Last of the Romans" (480-524), wrote brief treatises on logic, ethics, arithmetic, geome- try and music, which were extensively used as textbooks. His ' ' Consolations of Philosophy, ' ' the most widely read secular work of the Middle Ages, gave to the first half of that period practically all it knew of the ancient phi- losophers and moralists. Cassiodorus (490-585) in his 81 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION work, ''On the Liberal Arts and Sciences," introduced the term, "the seven liberal arts." Isidore of Seville (570-636), the bishop of that city, in his ''Origines" or ' ' Etymologiae, " which was an encyclopedia of all the knowledge of the day, used the terms trivium and quadrivium. Isidore became a chief authority in the monastic schools, and after his time the seven liberal arts became the traditional curriculum. The Trivium and Quadrivium. — Grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic (logic) formed the arts part of the curric- ulum; arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, the science part. The content of each subject is not well indicated by the name. Grammar included literature, and in the stronger monasteries not only Virgil but other pagan authors were studied. Arithmetic, on the other hand, consisted of nothing but calculating, until the in- troduction of the so-called "Arabic" notation, when its content was much increased. In fact, with each of the seven studies there was a growth during the Middle Ages from the very rudiments of the subject to a broad field. Geometry came to include not only the complete system of Euclid, but whatever was known of geography and surveying. Astronomy, at first devoted to the ar- ranging of feasts and fast days, came to include a con- siderable knowledge of both astronomy and phj^sics. Rhetoric, at first needed merely for drawing up official letters, gradually covered a good deal of history and some law. The importance attached to a subject de- pended upon the needs of the period. During the first half of the Middle Ages, when a knowledge of Latin was the greatest essential, grammar and rhetoric were most emphasized. When the Saracen learning began to spread from Spain, arithmetic, geometry and astron- omy received much attention. After the eleventh cen- 82 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES The Medieval System of Education Summarized From Cubberley's "History of Education Syllabus." Macmil- lan Co. tury, during the long scholastic controversy between nominalism and realism, dialectic was the chief subject. It must be remembered that in the ordinary monasteries only the rudiments of these subjects were given in the 83 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION early Middle Ages, and that the broader knowledge was confined to a few of the great monasteries, such as Cluny and Tours in France, St. Gall in Switzerland, Fulda and Beichenau in Germany, York and Canterbury in England, Monte Cassino in Italy. The study of the Greek language and the Greek literature rapidly dis- appeared on the Continent, but was continued with en- thusiasm in Ireland, the "university of western Eu- rope, ' ' as late as the tenth century. In fact it was from Ireland that scholars brought the love of learning which distinguished the monasteries of northern England in the seventh and eighth centuries and made Wearmouth and Yarrow, where the Venerable Bede wrote his Chron- icle, c. 725, two of the great centers of learning for Europe. Administration of the Monastic Schools. — No one could be admitted as a regular member of the order until he was eighteen ; therefore, as boys of ten were received into the monastery, the course often lasted seven or eight years, altho the required novitiate was only two years. In the later medieval period boys who did not intend to enter the order were also admitted. These were called externi, in distinction to the oblati or interni; it is doubtful whether they received such detailed instruc- tion as the ohlati. The chief method of teaching used was that of question and answer; but, because of the scarcity of books, the teachers had much recourse to dic- tation and the pupils to memorizing. The discipline was severe, the teachers making frequent use of the rod. It should be remembered that no instruction in the vernacu- lar was given in any of these schools, and that they were secondary schools rather than elementary. The only purely elementary schools were the song schools attached to the cathedrals, in which reading and writing 84 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES were taught, as well as singing. Another fact to be remembered is that many of the convents or nunneries had schools in which girls were taught reading, writing, reckoning, singing, and sewing and embroidery for the production of the altar cloths and other religious ma- terials. Charlemagne and the Revival of Learning. — The devel- opment of education during the Middle Ages was not a steady growth from the fifth to the fifteenth century. The status of learning depended to a great extent upon political conditions. It was far lower in the eighth cen- tury than in the ninth and higher in the ninth than in the tenth. This was chiefly due to the great impulse given to education by Charlemagne, who reigned 771- 814. Charlemagne had conquered many of the pagan German peoples to the east, and he was anxious to extend to them as much of the Roman culture as remained. Moreover, he felt that the different peoples of his domin- ions could never be brought into a real unity without a common language, culture and ideals. To attain this he adopted three measures which proved most suc- cessful. The Palace School. — First, he established the Palace School. He called together scholars of repute from all over Europe to teach in the school, with Alcuin of York, the greatest scholar of the day, as master. The members of the royal family, including Charlemagne himself, and the sons of the nobility were the students. By means of this school Charlemagne hoped to secure intelligent ad- ministrators both in church and state. Moreover it would serve as a model from which teachers could be sent to found similar schools thruout the empire. To maintain a constant supervision of the school, Charle- magne had it accompany him on his various circuits. 85 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION The Capitularies. — Secondly, Charlemagne made the greatest use of the instruments at hand, viz., the cathe- dral and monastic schools. Beginning with the capitu- lary or decree of 787, he issued a series of decrees di- rected, for the cathedral schools, to the bishops and, for the monastic schools, to the abbots, ordering them to see that every cathedral and monastery had its school, pre- scribing the studies that should be taught, and com- manding an earnest study of religious books by the regu- lar and secular clergy. The Missi Dominici. — Thirdly, Charlemagne as a great statesman knew that the decrees, to be of any value, would have to be enforced. Hence he empowered his official messengers, the missi dominici, without previous notice to enter any monastery and observe whether his orders were being carried out. An unfavorable report would bring upon the offending monastery the wrath of the emperor and probably result in the removal of its head. These measures necessarily caused an imme- diate and decided improvement in the number and char- acter of the schools. Nor did this educational activity cease with the death of Charlemagne. In 817 his suc- cessor ordered the establishment of schools for externi as well as for ohlati, and it was only after the troubled times following the division of the empire and the inva- sions of the Northmen that the cause of education on the Continent received a setback, from which it did not recover until the beginning of the twelfth century. In the meantime Alfred of England, who reigned 871-901, followed the example of Charlemagne in estab- lishing a palace school and calling learned scholars to his aid. In order to provide material for study and reflection and to spread learning as widely as possible, he translated into the vernacular a number of works, 86 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES the chief among which was Boethius' ''Consolations of Philosophy. ' ' Even the ravages of the Danes could not destroy all the good he accomplished. AlcuiiL (735-804). — Alcuin's service to the cause of education v/as not limited to his work as master of Char- lemagne 's Palace School. In 794 he retired from that position to become Abbot of Tours, the richest monastery of France, which he made a center of learning. Alcuin had not a creative mind, and his treatises on grammar, rhetoric, dialectic and arithmetic, written in the catechet- ical form, mark no advance in either thought or matter. In fact he was essentially a conservative and did not ap- prove of the advanced views of the Irish scholars. But he sent scores of scholars thruout Europe to teach, and he rendered an equally great service in editing the manu- scripts of early writings which in the course of repeated transcription had become filled with error as well as with barbarous Latin. Rabanus Maums (776-856). — The most noted pupil of Alcuin was Rabanus Maurus, who made the monastery of Fulda in Northern Germany as important a center of learning as Tours. He was a man of greater initiative than Alcuin and showed greater originality in his treat- ment of the same subjects. Moreover, he considered dialectic, not grammar, as the chief instrument of learn- ing and power. His greatest work was "On the Educa- tion of the Clergy," which contains his views on the seven liberal arts. Johannes Scotus Erigena (c. 810-875). — But the most virile intellectual work of the period was done by the Irish scholars. Their influence was greatly extended on the continent when Johannes Scotus Erigena was called (c. 850) to be master of the Palace School. This re- markable man brought with him a thoro knowledge of 87 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Greek and a love of the pagan authors. Moreover he had a more vigorous mind than any of his predecessors or contemporaries, emphasized the study of dialectic, and stimulated speculation upon questions of theology. He was really the forerunner of scholasticism. B. CHIVALRIC EDUCATION Nature of Chivalry. — The German warrior was char- acterized by a spirit of personal independence and vol- untary loyalty to a chief. When the dominions of the Roman empire were conquered, the land was divided among these warriors, and military service on horseback gradually became limited to those holding land. The ideals of obedience and service developed by these social conditions and refined by Christianity remained the ideals of the knight until he disappeared with the pass- ing of the Middle Ages. These ideals had the great- est influence in modifying the lawless selfishness of a time when might made right. The good social usage and social form developed in the maintenance of these ideals became known as chivalry, and, like every other institution, it slowly changed its character with time. While religion, honor, and gallantry remained always the springs of action for the knight, during the period before the Crusades, when chivalry became definitely or- ganized, the religious aspect was the most prominent. This was the period of the Chanson de Roland, the Arthurian legends, the search for the Holy Grail. After the Crusades the secular element became more promi- nent, devotion to one's lady superseding devotion to the Church in importance. This was the period of the trou- badours in Prance and of the minnesingers in Germany. In the course of time the customs and rules of chivalry, 88 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES which required a definite education for their acquisition, became fixed and formal ; and this led to the artificialities and absurdities which accompanied its downfall. Place of the Knight in Medieval Society. — Until about 1200 medieval society was divided into three great classes: serfs, clergy, and knights. The commercial and industrial towns had only begun to develop, the uni- versities had not yet been established, and the Crusades had not yet discovered the importance of the yeomanry. From the standpoint of education the serfs may be neg- lected, as few received any education beyond that in religion given by the parish priests. The education of the clergy has been described, and whatever education the yeomen received was obtained either as externi in the monasteries or in the schools attached to the churches. But the knight received a prolonged training which, the without much intellectual content, had profound in- fluences upon the individual and society. In the earliest medieval period it was customary for the inferior no- bility to send their sons and daughters as hostages to their overlords. Moreover, wardship by an overlord, i. e., the legal custody of orphan children, brought a considerable number of such children to the lord 's castle. It was necessary to provide proper training for these boys and girls, and for others, not wards, who were sent to the court by parents with a view to their making suit- able marriages. The Education of the Knig^ht. — Until the age of seven the sons of the gentry and nobility remained at home, being educated in morals and religion. At seven they went to the overlord 's castle and began the long process of training which was to end only when they were clothed with the armor of knighthood. From seven to fourteen a boy was practically apprenticed as a page 89 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION to a lady, from whom he learned good manners, reading, writing, singing, and dancing, and sometimes also to write verse, to play the harp, and to play chess. His chief function within doors was to perform the many personal duties that attached to his position as page. Outdoors he was taught to swim, ride, box, wrestle, and to joust at a dummy man called the ''quintain." At fourteen the page became a squire, and his chief service was now with his knight or lord. He still waited upon his lady, with whom he hunted, sang, and played chess and the harp, but his pleasures consisted chiefly in hunt- ing and hawking with his lord. His duties were most numerous, for he waited upon his lord's table, made his bed, groomed his horse, kept his armor perfect, attended him in the tournament or in actual warfare, and inci- dentally learned all the arts of war, especially how to fight with sword, spear, and battle-axe. At twenty-one he was knighted in a most elaborate ceremony, tho some individuals, because of lack of property, remained squires all their lives. The ceremony itself was pre- ceded by weeks of religious preparation and by a night 's solitary vigil in the church. In the morning, after par- taking of the sacrament, his sword was blessed by the priest or bishop ; he took the oath ' ' to defend the church, to attack the wicked, to respect the priesthood, to pro- tect women and the poor, to preserve the country in tran- quillity, and to shed his blood in behalf of his brethren ' ' ; and he was then knighted by his lord. Sometimes a squire was knighted on the field of battle for some act consid- ered particularly commendable. Education of the Girl in the Castle. — ^While the young man was receiving the education described above, his sister was receiving a training similar in practically all of its features except the physical and military. In ad- 90 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES dition, a knowledge of household duties and of sewing, weaving, and embroidery was given. It was probably a broader education than that given in the convent; at least it included social features usually neglected there. Effects of Chivalric Education. — The training in "the rudiments of love, of war, and of religion" had a most beneficial influence in softening and refining the habits and customs of a harsh age. Tho faults and even vices still characterized the average knight, he had a higher regard for vv^omanhood, for the sacredness of an oath, for courtesy to his fellow men than he could possibly have had except for the training he received in the castle in the ideals of chivalry. Moreover, tho this was some- times an education merely of worldly refinement, it was a foil to the ''otherworldliness" of the monk and nun. It is to chivalry also that we owe the beginning of the vernacular literatures, in the tales, ballads and lyrics that were sung during the long winter evenings in the castle. Finally the ideals of obedience and service upon which chivalry was based had a splendid effect in modi- fying the extreme individualism of the German. For this was as necessary as a modification of the excessive state control of the ancient world, to secure a wise solu- tion of the problem of reconciling individual liberty with social stability. C. SARACEN EDTJCATION The Arabs in Contact with Greek Culture. — ^We have seen that the greatest of the catechetical schools were de- veloped in the East at Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, and other places, and that for more than a century after their establishment they showed a liberal attitude to- wards the Hellenic culture. By the fifth century, how- 91 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION ever, the Eastern Church had become characterized by a narrow orthodoxy which caused the expulsion of all suspected of the various heresies that had resulted from the attempt to amalgamate Greek philosophy with Chris- tianity. The most important of these expulsions, educa- tionally, was that made by the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, when it proscribed the Hellenized theology of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople. The Nestorians fled to the cities of Syria, especially to Nisibis, Antioch, and Edessa, beyond the control of the Eastern Church. There they developed splendid schools where the study of Greek science and philosophy was carried on, not only by means of translations into Syriac, but from original Greek treatises. Hence when, after conquering the ignorant and superstitious tribes of Arabia, Moham- medanism moved westward into Syria (635), it came into contact with a people of very different intellectual cali- ber, for whom Mohammedanism had to be rationalized before it could be accepted. By the end of the next century a great educational movement had commenced thru the influence of the Nestorians, having for its ob- ject the translation into Arabic of the works of the Greek scientists, philosophers, and physicians. The movement continued to grow in vigor during the next two centuries, and the tenth century found Damascus, Bagdad, and other Saracen cities renowned for their learning. The Arabs were assimilators rather than crea- tors and absorbed not only from Greek but from Hindu and other sources. Avicenna (980-1037) wrote treatises on mathematics, medicine and philosophy; and to his influence is due the encyclopedia arranged at Basra by the ''Brothers of Sincerity." This encyclopedia is an exposition of the entire Arabian learning, and closes with an attempt at harmonizing faith and reason. But 92 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES the orthodox Mohammedans were greatly opposed to the Greek learning and its influence on their religion; and finally, c. 1050, its adherents were driven out and found refuge among the liberal Moslems of Spain and western Africa. Saracen Education in Spain. — A splendid culture re- sulted from the introduction of the Eastern learning into the West. In the twelfth century a well-organized sys- tem of education was developed thruout the Mohamme- dan dominions in Spain. In all towns and cities were established elementary or mosque schools, where were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, gram- mar, and religion. In the large cities like Cordova, Granada, Seville, Toledo, and Salamanca universities were founded, where not only was the existing knowl- edge taught by Moorish and Jewish scholars, but bril- liant applications of it were made in mathematics, science, and philosophy. The Moorish scholars intro- duced into arithmetic the Arabic notation which they had borrowed from the Hindus. They made remark- able advances in physics, physiology, medicine, surgery, and pharmacy. They taught geography from globes, and astronomy from observatories. They made inventions, such as the pendulum clock, and discoveries, such as ni- tric and sulphuric acids. They used the compass and gunpowder, raised cotton and cultivated the silkworm, and in navigation, commerce, and industries were far in advance of Christian Europe. Influence of Averroes upon European Thought. — But it was not in these directions that their greatest influence was exerted upon western Europe, but in the domain of thought. It is hard to overemphasize the influence of Averroes (1126-1198) upon the thinkers of the later Mid- dle Ages, Christian and Jewish. He was the greatest 93 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION commentator Aristotle that appeared from the fall of Rome to the Renaissance. He freed the master's thought from the Neo-Platonism with which it had be- come overlaid and introduced a spirit of rationalism into Moslem theology which eventually proved his undoing. His commentaries on Aristotle were translated into Latin and became authoritative with the schoolmen, wielding a great influence upon such distinguished scholars as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Hence after fanatical orthodoxy among the Moors drove learning out of Spain at the end of the twelfth century, the philosophy of Averroes and the medicine of Avicenna continued to influence the thought of Christian scholars for centuries. D. THE EDrCATIONAL INFLUENCE OE SCHOLASTICISM Origin of Scholasticism. — The early Middle Ages, from A.D. 500-1000, foraied an age of faith, in which men ac- cepted their beliefs without question. Towards the end of the period a number of conditions arose which pro- foundly affected that attitude of mind. The attacks of the Norsemen ceased entirely and gave opportunity for the development of civil and intellectual life. The learn- ing of the Saracens began to percolate into Christian Europe, challenging the Christian to defend the doc- trines of his religion ; and in the twelfth century many of the Crusaders returned from the East, influenced in- tellectually by what they saw and heard among Greeks and Arabs, and seeking a solution of the doubts that had arisen. Hence the necessity of showing the reasonable- ness of the Church doctrines and restating them in a more rational and systematic form. This, then, is the essence of scholasticism — the harmonizing of faith and 94 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES reason. It soon resulted in a conflict between authority and reason, but its characteristic attitude was one of conciliation. Scholasticism in fact is not a system of philosophy so much as a method of philosophizing. Nature of Scholasticisin. — Whenever a new intellectual impulse arises among men it will naturally be directed to that aspect of human thought or activity in which men are at the time most interested. Hence the educa- tional renaissance of the twelfth century, resulting, as it did, in the intellectual product called scholasticism and in the institution known as the medieval university, where scholasticism found lodgment, was naturally con- cerned with religion. Religion was what men were in- terested in. Religion imposed its language and thought upon every other activity of man, whether architecture, music, or literature. The Church, the institution in which religion was embodied, became chiefly interested in giving its great doctrines proper philosophical state- ments and reducing them all to a harmonized system. In performing this task there broke out among its in- tellectual leaders the great controversy over the nature of knowledge, the problem of universals, which divided the schoolmen for centuries into the two camps of the realists and the nominalists. The Controversy Between Realists and Nominalists. — Anselm of Canterbury (1034-1109), often called the father of scholasticism, based the realist position on the Platonic doctrine that ideas constitute the only real existence. The concept, or general term, is the archetype in the divine mind upon which the phenomenal thing has been modeled. Rosceilinus of Compiegne (1050- 1106) based the nominalist position on an interpretation of Aristotle to the effect that ideas, concepts or uni- versals are only names which can be applied to a class 95 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION of individual things and that reality consists in the indi- vidual concrete objects. The realists contended that as the human senses are deceptive, revealed truth alone is reliable and human experience and human reason may be trusted only so far as they support it. The nominalist position implied that truth can be reached only thru investigation by means of reason. Realism became the orthodox view of the Church, and Roscellinus was com- pelled to recant. His fate discouraged nominalism for two centuries, but his critical work was continued by his pupil, Abelard (1079-1142), the best known of the early schoolmen. Abelard 's position, conceptualism, was a compromise between the other two. He held that a concept or universal or class term had no objective ex- istence. Nevertheless it was not merely a name ap- plicable to a number of individual objects, but the sum total of the qualities those objects have in common. Tho Abelard 's philosophical position was a conciliatory one, his great influence as a teacher and his writings were distinctly critical of the orthodox position. Moreover, in his influential work *'Sic et Non'' he maintained that reason was antecedent to faith and the true fountain of much of Christian doctrine. Tho he was twice con- demned, his influence continued, and when in the early thirteenth century, as the result of the Crusaders' con- quest of Constantinople, Aristotle's *' Ethics," ''Phys- ics, ' ' and ' ' Metaphysics ' ' were recovered to the West, the tendency started by Abelard received a great impulse. The Church itself adopted Aristotle and made him her chief bulwark of defense. Philosophy and theology be- came allies, and during the thirteenth century scholasti- cism reached its zenith in the organization of theological views into perfectly logical systems by a number of deep and subtle thinkers. The greatest of these was 96 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), whose *'Summa Theo- logiae" has remained the authoritative presentation of the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. It is not only that, however, but also the most complete exposi- tion of the knowledge of the times, all organized into a logical system culminating in theology. The harmony in the scholastic world following the work of Aquinas was destroyed as the result of the revival of nominalism by William of Occam (1280-1347). He denied any ra- tional basis to theological doctrines and asserted that they were entirely matters of faith. In other words, he asserted the existence of two types of truth, the results respectively of revelation and reason. The tendency after him became more and more to adopt the truth which was supported by reason, and that meant the pass- ing of scholasticism. The Method of Scholasticism. — The early schoolmen were usually associated with cathedral or monastic schools, which in some cases developed into universities as the result of the intellectual awakening involved in scholasticism.^ The method of presenting subjects most generally used in the schools ^ was now superseded by the method of logical analysis. The entire subject or textbook was divided into appropriate parts, each of which was subdivided into heads, which in turn were divided into subheads down to the particular proposi- tion. In the universities the analytical method was ap- plied to the form of argumentation as well as to subject matter. First the problem was stated, then the argu- ments and authorities for the unorthodox solutions were given and refuted, then those for the orthodox solution were presented, and finally the several objections to it ^See p. 99. *See p. 81. 97 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION were answered in the same systematic manner. The chief textbook for use in the schools was the * ' Sententiae " (Opinions) of Peter the Lombard (1100-1160), a pupil of Abelard who taught at Paris. In the latter part of the scholastic period the *'Summa Theologiae" of Thomas Aquinas was equally popular. Influence of Scholasticism. — The method of scholasti- cism produced minds as keen and subtle as are met in any period of history. The attention of these minds was directed towards abstract and metaphysical ques- tions, not towards the world of man and nature ; hence comparatively little actual progress was made in widen- ing the boundaries of knowledge. But their analytical method showed that there were two sides to every ques- tion ; and, with the revival of nominalism under Occam, the insistence upon experience as a source of truth paved the way for the Renaissance and the development of mod- ern science. Moreover, scholasticism gave a great im- petus to intellectual pursuits, and resulted in the main- tenance of a large class of learned men at a time when the fighter was exalted. In fact it was only in its de- cay, when the schoolmen's discussions degenerated into endless and profitless quibbles over the use of terms, that scholasticism lost its educational value and signifi- cance. E. THE MEDIEVAL UNIVERSITY Rise of the Universities. — The thirteenth century was a period of remarkable progress in human history. The last of the pagan Teutons, the Northmen, had accepted Christianity and thereby given western Europe a period of comparative peace in which to develop. The Crusades destroyed the isolation of feudalism, stimulated the growth of cities and commerce, and greatly broadened 98 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES the horizon of the western European. Contact with Saracen learning and the securing of copies of Aris- totle's works gave a great impulse to intellectual pur- suits. The numbers of students who attended the more prominent cathedral and monastic schools increased. In some of these schools distinguished teachers began to lecture on the new interests that had arisen, and at- tracted increased numbers of students. This in turn made a demand for additional teachers, and then the elements of a medieval university were present, viz., teachers and students. There were for a long time no buildings, libraries, or other appurtenances. In this way the University of Paris, the greatest of the medieval universities, was developed from the cathedral school of Notre Dame, chiefly as the result of the brilliant work in philosophy of Abelard and of his pupil, Peter the Lombard. Paris was not the first of the medieval uni- versities, however. Already a vigorous school of medi- cine had arisen at Salerno, near Naples, a place noted for its salubrious climate, at which invalids sojourned to take advantage of the mineral springs that were found there. It is supposed to have received its chief impulse from the labors of a monk, Constantius Africanus, who had traveled extensively in the East and translated into Latin the best of the Greek and Arabic authorities on medicine. About the same time a great interest had arisen in the study of law in northern Italy. This was due to the struggles of the cities there to retain their privileges against the encroachments of the German em- perors, privileges which depended upon charters, edicts, and grants running back to the time of the Roman em- perors. There were several cities in which the new study was undertaken, but Bologna became preeminent as the result of the work of the great jurist Imerius (c. 1067- 99 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 1138). It is evident, therefore, that no specific dates can be assigned for the beginnings of the earliest uni- versities. They had existed for years as professional schools for the study of some special subject before they received charters from popes or sovereigns. Salerno never received a charter but was united to the school at Naples which the Emperor Frederick II chartered as a university in 1224. Bologna was, therefore, really the earliest of the medieval universities, having received a charter from Emperor Frederick I in 1158. Paris re- ceived official recognition in 1180 from Louis VII. As already stated these institutions at first taught but one subject and, even when they received a charter, did not always undertake lectures in each of the four facul- ties — arts, law, medicine, and theology — which consti- tuted the work of the medieval universities. Many of the later universities were started as secession move- ments from the early institutions, e. g., Oxford from Paris, Cambridge from Oxford, Padua from Bologna, Leipzig from Prague (which was the first German uni- versity) . But after the early thirteenth century the civil and ecclesiastical authorities vied with each other in the establishment of universities, so that by the end of the fifteenth century there were at least seventy-five in existence. It is well for the student at the outset of his study of the medieval university to understand the essential differences between a university and a school. They are : 1. The university was chartered by pope, emperor, or king and, therefore, was independent (a) of local ecclesiastical authority — the bishop or the abbot — and (b) of local political dominance — the feudal overlord. 2. Students came from afar. This resulted in break- ing down, for higher education, local or provincial ideas. 100 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES 3. The individual teacher or his doctrine was the drawing power, not simply education in the abstract. 4. The university was for comparatively adult stu- dents. 5. Each student took what he wanted instead of a fixed course. The learning offered in the university was rather heterogeneous and not so well organized as in the schools. Organization of the University. — Students came from all over Europe to hear distinguished teachers, and therefore the entire body of students was known as the studium generate. Outside the place of lecture, where all the students met in common to hear the master lec- ture in Latin, they naturally grouped themselves accord- ing to their place of origin, and such groups were called the ' * nations. " In an age when the foreigner was looked upon with suspicion and usually badly treated it was essential that the students thus group themselves for protection, and at first it was to these "nations'' that the civil or ecclesiastical authorities granted privileges. In fact the students imitated the gilds, as is shown by the complete name of their body, JJniversitas Magistrorum et Sckolarium (the corporation of masters and scholars). The term universitas meant corporation or chartered company and was applied to any legal association that had certain privileges. It was not until the fourteenth century that the term was restricted to the one kind of corporation that devoted itself to study. The real gov- erning power of the university resided in the ' ' nations, ' ' each of which chose a representative every year, called a councilor or procurator, who was to safeguard its rights and control the conduct of its members. The masters did not become organized into the groups called faculties until later, when it became necessary to give a more 101 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION systematic organization to scholastic procedure. At first the term facultas meant a special department of knowl- edge, e. g., law, medicine, theology, arts; but later it was applied to the group of masters who taught that special department of knowledge. Each faculty an- nually elected a dean, and these deans with the coun- cilors of the ''nations'' formed a "university council" which annually elected the rector, the official head of the university. The rector, however, could exercise only the powers delegated to him. In the South, where the majority of the students were mature and were study- ing the professional subjects, the rector was for a long time a student, and the ''nations" remained in the con- trol of the students. In the North, where the majority of the students were attending the arts courses and were therefore younger, the rector was a master and the ' ' nations ' ' much sooner lost their authority. The Church was represented in the university organization by the chancellor who, however, had no power and appeared only at the public conferring of the degrees. Privileges of the University. — Generally speaking the privileges granted to the masters and students of a university were the privileges of the clergy which had originally belonged to the teaching class under the Roman Empire. They were: (1) exemption from taxa- tion; (2) exemption from military service; (3) exemp- tion from civil jurisdiction, i. e., the members of the university could be tried in civil and criminal cases only by their own officials ; (4) the right to grant the de- gree, and thereby the right to teach anywhere without further examination; (5) the right to suspend lectures if the university privileges were infringed. If the latter wrong were not at once redressed the university might emigrate. 102 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES Effect on Student Life. — The privileges of the univer- sity extended not only to the masters and students, but to their attendants and practically everybody employed in the university. Hence when we read of the large numbers of students that attended a medieval university due allowance must be made for this fact. The posses- sion of their privileges, especially the exemption from civil jurisdiction, which resulted in conflicts between town and gown, made the students a very inde- pendent body and enabled them to indulge in excesses which in course of time compelled monarchs to inter- vene and restrict their privileges. Moreover, many priv- ileges belonged to a student not only while he was in residence at a university but while he was going to and from it. The custom grew up among many unam- bitious and rollicking students of wandering from uni- versity to university, begging their way and leading any- thing but an exemplary life. These vagantes even formed a mock gild and were called goliardi, and have handed down to us a considerable literature of Latin student songs voicing their love of the reckless and unrestrained life they led. They became so numer- ous and riotous that by the fifteenth century some of the towns which they frequented were compelled to pass ordinances for their supervision. Career of a Student. — Apprenticeship was the method by which a man in the Middle Ages normally attained his vocation. The squire was apprenticed to a feudal lord, the would-be artisan to a master in a gild. So, when the young student went to a university at about fourteen, he was enrolled under a master who was re- sponsible for his studies. Under the supervision of this master he pursued his arts course for a period of from four to seven years, until he could *' define and deter- 103 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION mine*' terms, which in reality meant to be efficient in reading, writing, and speaking Latin. When he was able to do this to the satisfaction of masters other than his own, he became a baccalaureate, i. e., one who is beginning his candidacy for a degree. In other words the baccalaureate was at first not a degree, but merely a kind of matriculation for a degree ; in course of time it was sought as an honor by those who did not intend to teach and it became a degree. When the student had become a baccalaureate, he continued his studies under the supervision of a master and in turn taught younger boys under his supervision. But he might study under a number of masters, and usually did so for a period of from four to seven years until he was able ''to dispute,'' i. e., to defend a thesis in public against the masters. He then completed his apprentice- ship, like the journeymen of a gild, by presenting his ''masterpiece," his thesis, which, if successfully defend- ed, entitled him to the degree which carried with it the prize of university scholarship, i. e., the licentia docendi, the license to teach anywhere. Master, doctor, and pro- fessor were synonymous terms in the early university period; when any distinction was made between the master's and doctor's degree it was merely in the man- ner of acquiring them. The master's examination was private and formal ; the doctor 's took place immediately afterward in the cathedral into which crowded all the candidate's friends and fellow students, where, after publicly defending his thesis, he was invested with the degree with much ceremony. He was now admitted to the gild of teachers and could teach in competition with all the other masters. Content of Study. — Early in the thirteenth century the course of study had become thoroly organized. In 104 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES the arts faculty ^ammar was studied from Donatus and Priscian. The works of Boethius provided the major part of the material for study in rhetoric (which re- ceived, however, very little attention), dialectic, arith- metic, and music. Euclid was studied in geometry, and Ptolemy in astronomy. Many additional texts in mathe- matics and philosophy were obtained from the Arabs. The study of logic overshadowed all others and Aristotle —whose ''Ethics," ''Politics," "Physics," and "Meta- physics" were added to the "Organon" previously pos- sessed by the schoolmen — was the master whose author- ity was not to be disputed. In the faculty of theology, to which most of the arts students afterwards went, the greater part of the time was given to Peter the Lom- bard's "Sententiae" or to Thomas Aquinas' "Summa Theologiae." In the faculty of law the course was di- vided into two parts, civil and canon. In the former the "Corpus Juris Civilis" was the authorized text, and in the latter the "Decretum" of Gratian. In the faculty of medicine the Greek treatises of Hippocrates and Ga- len, the ' ' Canon ' ' of Avicenna, and some of the medical works of the Saracen, Jewish, and Salernian doctors were the chief texts studied. The authorized texts in all the professional schools were accompanied by many commen- taries. Methods of Study. — The aim of teaching in a medieval university was to impart a knowledge of the subject matter and an ability to debate about it. Because of the lack of manuscripts the lecture method was used to impart the subject matter, and it usually took the form of dictation. The training in 'debate was given by means of the formal disputation, in which one student or group of students was opposed to another. This re- sulted in the development of keen and subtle debaters; 105 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION but it is a question whether the disputation and the study of a limited number of texts of unquestioned au- thority in each field could develop free and profound thinking. The effect of the scholastic method, which was the method of the medieval university, has been discussed above, under scholasticism. Influence of the Medieval University. — The influence of scholasticism — which has also been considered — was one of the chief influences of the medieval university, wherein scholasticism found lodgment. But there were other great influences resulting from the existence of the universities. The gathering together of hundreds of young men from all over Europe had a most beneficial effect in modifying national prejudices among them, and when they returned home the}^ became agents for the distribution of a spirit of tolerance as well as of 'learn- ing. Moreover, the university symbolized the supremacy of mind over brute force. Directly, it had a most per- vasive influence upon education. It sent out large num- bers of well-equipped teachers at a time when they were most needed, and it compelled the lower schools to im- prove their work in order that their graduates might enter the university. The self-governing organization of the early university permitted a freedom of discussion on many problems, political and theological, which enabled it often to be the arbiter in controverted questions of church and state. It was in recognition of this political influence that the university was given representation in the parliaments of France, England, and Scotland. In fact it was the opinion of the university that was most feared by rulers in church and state. The Universities and the Friars. — A discussion of the medieval universities cannot be closed without a brief consideration of the remarkable influence exerted upon 106 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES them by the new orders of mendicant friars, the Domini- cans and the Franciscans. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries there had been an increasing decay in the Benedictine monasteries and in the monastic schools attached to them. In the following century St. Francis of Assisi founded his order of gray friars (1212) and St. Dominic his order of black friars (1217), to go out and work among the people, living on charity, preaching the gospel, and, by setting an example of piety and self-sacrifice, awakening spirituality among the faithful. The fact that these orders were primarily preaching orders, as previous orders had not been, would result in an emphasis upon the education, first of their own members in order to preach, and then of their auditors. In their desire to spread their work among all classes they soon saw the necessity of becoming as- sociated with the newly established universities, and be- fore the close of the thirteenth century they were in control of higher education. All the great schoolmen were friars — Albertus Magnus and his great pupil Thomas Aquinas were Dominicans, while Duns Scotus and William of Occam were Franciscans. At first they were united in their efforts, but soon a rivalry sprang up between the two orders and each sometimes accused the other of teaching heretical doctrines — a healthful condition, since it aroused discussion and inquiry. On the whole the Dominicans were the guardians of orthodoxy, the Franciscans the initiators of new move- ments in philosophy and theology. BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles in the Cyclopedia of Education upon Monastic, Chivalric, and Moslem Education, Scholasticism, the Medieval Universities, and individual schoolmen. 107 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. Chapters XIII-XX. Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. II, Chapters I-IX. Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. V. Parker, S. C. The History of Modem Elementary Edu- cation. Chap. II. Rashdall, H. The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. West, A. F. Alcuin and the Rise of the Christian Schools. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. Is monasticism peculiar to the Christian religion? 2. Does the pagan or the early Christian attitude towards the body conform more closely to that of education today? 3. Compare the seven liberal arts with the curriculum of an American high school. 4. Did the seven liberal arts conform to the modem aim of education as "adjustment to the social environment"? 5. Explain why learning remained vigorous so much longer in Ireland than on the Continent. 6. Compare the part played by Charlemagne in the revival of learning in the ninth century with that of Horace Mann in the public school revival of the nineteenth. 7. Compare the work of the Palace School with that of a state normal school today. 8. Compare the work of the missi dominiei of Charlemagne with that of a county or district superintendent in the United States. 9. Compare the training of the body given under chivalry with that given by the Greeks. 10. Compare the ideals of the ephebic oath with that taken by a knight on the day he was knighted. 108 EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE AGES i I 11. Why did not the remarkable advance in science made i by the Saracens in Spain have a greater effect upon Christian j Europe? \ 12. Does the work of Thomas Aquinas in organizing j knowledge into encyclopedic form resemble in any way the similar work of Herbert Spencer? ^ 13. In what respect as to origin do the medieval univer- i sities, the philosophical schools of Athens, and the schools \ of the Prophets among the Jews resemble each other? ' 14. Compare the gradual growth in organization of a medieval university with that of an American university, \ such as Columbia. | 15. Is the " Wander jahr'' of the Germans a survival of < the practice of the wandering students of the Middle Ages? i 16. Is the preceptorial system at Princeton a survival, via 1 Oxford, of the system of apprenticing students to masters in I the medieval university? ■< 17. Compare the influence of the medieval university upon : public opinion with that of the university in Russia today. I PART III THE TRANSITION PERIOD Characteristics : The emergence of the individual from institutional control. The ''humanities" vs. the "di- vinities. ' ' The rise of secular interests and the increas- ing demand for secular control of education. CHAPTER VIII THE KENAISSANCE Outline. — After the Crusades European society gradually became more interested in secular affairs. There resulted the Renaissance, the revival of an old, long-forgotten way of look- ing at life, i.e., the pagan view, with its joyous, self-reliant attitude towards present as against future life. Hence attention was directed to the literatures of Greece and Rome, which were termed the "humanities" as contrasted with the "divinities" of the prevailing education. The Renaissance first developed in Italy where it was char- acterized by its appeal to the esthetic emotions. The movement was greatly accelerated by the patronage of the tyrants of the cities who established court schools, the finest of which was that of Vittorino da Feltre at Mantua. The way for the Renaissance in the North had been pre- pared by the fine work of the Brethren of the Common Life who were interested in social as well as educational reform. The movement in Teutonic countries took on a reform aspect, as illustrated in Erasmus, and gave much attention to Chris- tian literature. Both in the North and the South, the early Renaissance movement, characterized by an enthusiasm for the classical literatures, degenerated into a fixed and formal study of the structure and style of the classical languages. This was known as Ciceronianism and was best typified by Johann Sturm who standardized the work of the German gymnasium. The Passing of the lOddle Ages. — The thirteenth cen- tury was the heyday of the medieval period. The unity 113 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION of life and of ideas — political, religious, and intellectual — and the dominance of authority, which characterized it, began to give way in the fourteenth century, as the result of the new forces which were springing into life. The necessity of transporting thousands of crusaders and their equipment had resulted in the revival of sea- ports and cities. The burgher class which thus arose, composed of the merchants and the masters of the gilds, formed a caste distinct from nobles, clergy, and serfs, into which medieval society had been divided. The needs of this new class were different from those of the other classes, and this fact was reflected in their education. In the later Middle Ages there arose gild schools, which usu- ally gave elementary instruction in the vernacular as a foundation for the industrial education received by the apprentices in the gilds themselves. Chantry schools, founded upon bequests left by wealthy patrons to sup- port priests who were to chant masses for the repose of the souls of these patrons, also increased in number in the later Middle Ages. As these priests had much un- occupied time, they were expected to give instruction to the children of the neighborhood, and sometimes, thru a union of chantry foundations, strong schools of large size flourished in the big towns. As the result of the growth in numbers and influence of the burgher class and of their acquiring control of the government of the cities, these various kinds of schools were often united into hurgher schools. Tho these schools were usually un- der religious influences, the teachers were generally sec- ular priests, not monks, and the number of lay teachers gradually increased. Moreover, the burgher schools were supported and often controlled by the public authorities and gave instruction in subjects of a more practical na- ture than had hitherto been the case. As a result of the 114 THE RENAISSANCE rapid establishment of these various kinds of schools in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it can justly be stated that quite generous provision was made for ele- mentary and secondary education. Nature of the Renaissance. — The crusaders had dis- covered that the people of the East were not only more intelligent, but also they lived better and had better things to eat and to wear. As a result of the contact there grew up a demand for the products of the East which caused not only a growth of commerce but a taste for the good things of this life. In fact men became interested more and more in the life of the present world. The joy of living, the interest in the beauties and won- ders of nature, the wish to know more of man's social relations, of his real desires, ambitions, and duties grew with every year. The life of the monk became relatively less valued. ''Otherworldliness" began to give way to the interests of this world. That was the first char- acteristic of the Renaissance. It was a rebirth, indeed, a revival of an old long-forgotten way of looking at life, the ante- Christian way. Where was a knowledge of things human as against things divine to be found? Surely not in the literature of the past thousand years. That was devoted to the other world; to divinity, not humanity. In the ancient literatures of Greece and Rome humanity and the things that interest and con- cern humanity in this life were discussed. Hence atten- tion was directed to the classical literature. From this source have arisen the terms humanities, liumamsm, and humanists, which have become associated with this move,- ment. With the revival of the classical models, how- ever, the humanists slowly developed national litera- tures of poetry, drama, and romance, which eventually rivaled the models. A second characteristic of the 115 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Henaissance was the emphasis upon individuality. In the Middle Ages the individual counted for nothing. He had no rights except as a member of a group or institu- tion, such as the gild, the university, or the monastic order. During the Renaissance the old Athenian em- phasis upon personal worth and excellence was revived. The opportunity for personal self-realization as against rigid institutional control was demanded and realized. The Invention of Printing. — Fortunately, when the Renaissance movement had become well established, printing was invented (c. 1450) . This gave a very great impetus to the spread of the so-called "New Learning." The multiplication of books resulted in the lowering of their price to one-fifth of what it had been and brought them within the means of multitudes who had been without them. A perfect mania for ancient manuscripts spread thruout Europe. Monastery and castle were ransacked to find them, and then they were immediately reproduced upon the printing presses. As a result libraries arose in many of the large cities, e. g., the cele- l)rated Vatican library at Rome. These increased facili- ties for learning led naturally to a comparative study of accepted authorities, and the historical criticism which resulted was very destructive to accepted belief in all domains of thought. The Scientific Discoveries. — This result was accen- tuated by the scientific discoveries resulting from the spirit of investigation which had been aroused. The ex- plorers showed that the earth was round and not flat. Copernicus demonstrated a little later that the sun, not the earth, was the center of our system. Authority had been mistaken upon these things; might it not be mis- taken upon others? The old unity of life and ideals could not stand the onslaughts of skeptical criticism. 116 THE RENAISSANCE Men rejected the authority of abstract conceptions and demanded proofs of a concrete and real nature. These tendencies did not dominate at first, but they were ap- parent from the beginning. The mistake is sometimes made in textbooks of associating the Renaissance in time with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Tho the move- ment was greatly accelerated by that event which pro- vided western Europe with a literature of far greater value and beauty than the Latin, nevertheless the Latin revival was in full swing before that event happened. Petrarch (1304-1374), who is usually referred to as ''the first modern man," and who was the embodiment of the early Renaissance, died eighty years before the fall of Constantinople. By that time the spirit of modern times was not only ushered in but was in process of gaining control. A. THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY To no country had the Crusades been of so much bene- fit as to the cities of Italy. The commerce that had re- sulted made them rich and intelligent. Tho suffrage was restricted they were nevertheless democracies, and po- litical activity made them keen and wide-awake. In Italy, moreover, the classical literatures had never en- tirely disappeared, tho there had been little apprecia- tion of their beauty or content. Now a mania for every- thing that had to do with the Greco-Roman period swept thruout society. The revulsion against the ' ' otherworld- liness'^ of the medieval period became so pronounced as to cause a reversion to paganism in many adherents of the New Learning. The greatest admiration for the Greek view of life prevailed, and devotion to the classical literature and delight in its esthetic appeal were char- acteristic of the Renaissance in Italy. It was essentially 117 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION an individual and personal matter. Men studied the classical literature devotedly for the personal pleasure it gave them, not in order that they should thereby be better enabled to improve society. Hence it was an aristocratic movement. The movement, moreover, went thru several stages. The early period was marked by the revolt against tradition and authority, and an emphasis upon individualism in all its phases. As the number of scholars familiar with the New Learning in- creased, it gradually became organized for purposes of instruction. Unfortunately with organization it became more and more formal and devitalized until, by the be- ginning of the sixteenth century, it had degenerated into the inconceivably narrow educational system known as Ciceronianism. Petrarch (1304-1374) was the very embodiment of the early Renaissance spirit. No one attacked tradition so boldly or satirized the scholastic work of the schools and universities so successfully. He had a marked fourfold influence in spreading the New Learning. First, he de- voted himself during his extensive travels to collecting manuscripts of the old Latin writers, which he caused to be copied and widely distributed; secondly, in his numerous letters he tried successfully to inspire every friend with a love of the New Learning; thirdly, he wrote a number of Latin works — including his ' ' Letters to Famous Men, ' ' addressed to the ancient worthies such as Homer, Virgil and Cicero — which had a great effect upon his day, tho they were soon superseded. Finally, in his condemnation of scholastic and patristic writings, he delivered the final great blow to the master, Aristotle. ''I am confident," he writes, ''that he was in error all his life." For Aristotle he substituted Cicero. It is his sonnets, however, which were written in the vernacular, 118 THE EENAISSANCE that give him his place in the history of modem litera- ture. The Recovery of the Greek Heritage. — Petrarch and his contemporaries for the most part knew no Greek, but toward the close of the fourteenth century Greek scholars came to Italy to teach. The greatest of these was Manuel Chrysoloras (1350-1415). H^ had been sent in 1393 by the Byzantine emperor to secure aid against the Turks and was urged to stay in Italy. Later he returned and started schools for instruction in Greek in the principal cities of northern Italy. Moreover, he made translations of some of the Greek authors, and wrote a work on Greek grammar which became the standard in Italy. Among his pupils were some of the most renowned scholars of the succeeding generation, who did great service in spreading knowledge of the Greek language and litera- ture thruout Europe. Vittorino da Feltre (1378-1446).— One of the most potent influences in the spread of the New Learning was the increase in the number of tyrants who held control of the governments of the Italian cities in the fifteenth century. Desirous of making some return to the people for the latter 's loss of political power, they vied with each other in making their cities illustrious as centers of the New Learning by the collection of manuscripts, the es- tablishment of libraries, the support of distinguished scholars, and the founding of new schools. The new schools were necessary because the existing schools and the universities were at first strongly antagonistic to the New Learning. The most important of these schools was that which was founded by the Prince of Mantua and placed under the control of Vittorino da Feltre, one of the most scholarly men of this time, who was thoroly im- bued with the New Learning. 119 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION The Court School. — The court school aimed primarily to train the young nobles of the court for political and social life, but Da Feltre invited to his school the sons of friends and neighbors and even children of the poor. The organization of the school was much influenced by Athenian ideals ; hence we find that physical training re- <3eived great attention, in the form of swimming, fencing, boxing, riding, and dancing. Emphasis was placed also "upon deportment and manners, and they were developed under strong moral and religious influences, for Da Fel- tre was a devout Christian. However, it was the litera- tures of Greece and Rome that received most attention, and they were taught for an appreciation of their beauty as well as for the knowledge they gave of the institutions and ideals of the classical peoples. In his work Da Feltre realized some .of the finest principles of modern education. He adapted the training of each individual to his particular needs and capacities, thereby arousing in- terest in the studies and eliminating the harsh discipline so prevalent in his day. Da Feltre had a profound in- fluence upon his own time. It was only after his death that the narrow and formal training known as Cicer- onianism gained control. As this decay characterized the whole later Renaissance movement, we shall study it after considering the Renaissance in the North. B. THE RENAISSANCE IN NORTHERN EUROPE The Brethren of the Common Life. — ^While the Renais- sance was taking place in Italy, an educational move- ment of deep significance was making headway in the North. In 1376 there was established at Deventer, Hol- land, an organization of pious and social-minded men called the Brethren of the Common Life, or the 120 THE RENAISSANCE Hieronymians. Tho the members lived in communities^^ they were not bound by religious vows or rules and could, leave the organization at will. They supported them- selves chiefly by copying manuscripts. Their aim was to combat the ignorance of the lower classes and to in- spire in them, thru a knowledge of the Scriptures, a higher ideal than that of mere physical existence. Their purpose at first, therefore, was chiefly religious and their purely educational work was confined to helping poor scholars at the various schools to maintain themselves. They soon undertook to teach backward students so as to enable them to benefit by the school work. In this they were very successful; owing to their willingness to meet the needs of the students and their disdain of the rigid and formal methods of the established schools. Their success attracted attention and they were invited to take charge of existing schools and to open new ones. They broadened the content of study and improved the methods of teaching. In a comparatively short time they spread over a large part of northern France, Ger- many, and the Netherlands, founding numerous schools which outshone those already in existence. Wandering scholars from Italy bringing the treasures of the New Learning with them were received with enthusiasm by the Brethren and soon their schools became the centers from which the new education radiated. Many of them went to study in Italy and returned to give instruction in the New Learning in their schools. For example, Ru- dolphus Agricola was very successful in inspiring a love of the classics, and Johann Reuchlin virtually gave Hebrew the standing of a third classic. The way for the Renaissance in the North was well prepared, therefore, by the Brethren, and the two aspects which it assumed in the North, the pious and the educational, were incarnated 121 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION in the life and works respectively of Thomas a Kempis and Erasmus, two of their most distin^ished prod- ucts. The introduction of printing deprived the Breth- ren of their chief means of support, and the competi- tion of the Jesuits and the religious troubles of the six- teenth century drove them out of the educational field. The New Learning in France. — It has already been mentioned that wandering scholars from Italy carried the New Learning with them to the northern countries of Europe. An even greater result followed the attempt on the part of the French king, Charles VIII, to con- quer northern Italy. In this he failed, but he and his nobles were brought into contact with the new culture of northern Italy and they invited scholars to return with them to France. The result was that the New Learning made a rapid conquest in France and institu- tions so far removed as the College de Guyenne at Bor- deaux and the College de France at Paris, founded by Francis I (1515-1547), became centers of great influence. For a generation, in fact, Paris was the chief center of the New Learning in the North and from it, largely thru the work of the Brethren of the Common Life, it was carried into the Teutonic countries. Characteristics of the Renaissance in Teutonic Coun- tries. — In the Teutonic countries the Renaissance as- sumed a different character. The appeal to the esthetic feelings was not so emphatic as in Italy. The New Learn- ing was valued not only as a source of individual happi- ness, of personal self-culture, but as an instrument of social reform. Hence not only the pagan literature of the ancients, but also the works of the Church Fathers had a place in the new education. The interpretation of the Old Testament for purposes of moral and religious 122 THE KENAISSANCB reform required a knowledge of Hebrew, and this followed quickly in the wake of Greek. The move- ment in the North assumed far more the nature of a crusade against ignorance as the mother of all social evils than in the South, and was necessarily- more democratic in its appeal. As the Church was the dominant institution of the times, it was naturally blamed for the ignorance, greed, and corruption that prevailed. The emphasis upon individual freedom as against institutional control that characterized the whole Renaissance movement took on in the North the char- acter of a revolt against authority in religion, and the Renaissance was the parent of the Reformation. Erasmus (1467-1536). — Erasmus was the incarnation of the Renaissance in the North and represents the union of the biblical and classical elements in the New Learn- ing. He had received his early education from the Brethren of the Common Life at Deventer, but deepened his knowledge of Latin and Greek literature at Paris, at Oxford, and in Italy. He spent many years of his life as an itinerant scholar, in universities in England, France, Germany, and Italy, and he was everywhere received with acclaim. He exercised an influence upon his day with which only that of Darwin upon the nine- teenth century is comparable. This influence he used during his long scholastic career to fight ignorance and hypocrisy everywhere, but especially among the monks. Nevertheless he expected reform to come as the result of a campaign of education and was opposed to the rup- ture with the Church made by Luther, though the latter maintained that he was merely realizing the teachings of Erasmus. Influence of Erasmus. — Erasmus' influence was exer- cised in several ways: (1) in his teaching in the uni- 123 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION versities; (2) in his vast correspondence with scholars everywhere; and (3) in the numerous books that he wrote. His written works, which are all in the Latin language, fall iuto two general classes: religious and educational. In order to provide men with an ac- curate knowledge of the Scriptures and of the Church Fathers, he published first an edition of the New Testa- ment in Greek and later a translation into Latin, and also edited the works of St. Jerome and some of the Greek Fathers. Even his educational writings were intended for reform purposes, and some of them were satires. His ** Colloquies, " which was used as a textbook in the new schools that were arising, consisted in part of dia- logues that satirized social evils existing. His *' Praise of Folly ' ' was a satire directed against the corrupt prac- tices that prevailed among the monks. ''The Cicero- nians'' was another satire upon the narrow humanists who were already restricting the New Learning to a formal study of Cicero and his works. Not all his educational works were satires, however. In his "Liberal Education of Children," and *'0n the Order of Study, ' ' Erasmus makes admirable suggestions in regard to the education of children. The importance of studying the character of the child, the place of play and games, the opposition to brutal discipline, the methods of teaching grammar and literature, all receive careful and wise consideration. The importance of keeping education in vital association with the needs of society and of securing the necessary knowledge to that end by the study of a large number of classical authors was strongly urged by Erasmus. Finally he was one of those who believed that women should have the same educational advantages as men. His fine influence upon the content and method of teaching prevailed thru- 124 THE RENAISSANCE out Europe and was reflected for a long time in the works put forth by scholars in every country. The German Gymnasium. — An educational movement of such extent and influence as the Renaissance in the North would inevitably become organized into an in- stitution. In fact schools of various kinds arose at first in Teutonic countries before they became standardized in the Gymnasium. Of the other schools the most important were the FilrstenscJmlen (princes' schools) modeled upon the court schools of Italy and intended to educate leaders in church and state. They in turn were merged in the Gymnasium system, which became the very core of the educational organization of Teutonic countries and has remained so to this day. With organization the spirit of the Renaissance movement underwent a great change. The early Renaissance scholars were enthusi- astic over the classical literatures chiefly because of the value and beauty of the content. The Latin and Greek languages were to be studied as a means to an end. But with the necessity of organizing school classes and of grading subject matter in difficulty, an undue emphasis was placed upon the linguistic side of the classics, which resulted in a formalizing of school work ; and had a very deadening influence upon education. Lists of Latin words and phrases, a careful stud3| of the intricacies of grammar, syntax, and prosody became the first burden of the pupil. The boy entered the Gymnasium at about nine years of age without a knowledge of the vernacular grammar and was at once plunged into a study of the grammar of a foreign language, and, what is more, a grammar written in that language. The resulting bur- den upon the memory is evident, and learning by heart, of necessity, became the chief method of study. Instead of the wide range of classical authors recommended by 125 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION the early humanists, the work of the Gymnasmm was confined to the thoro study of a few. In fact in some places the aim of education was to develop in the indi- vidual the ability to read, write, and speak Latin with Cicero as a model. A fine style, a correct form of ex- pression, was the desideratum, and by the end of the sixteenth century the old scholasticism with Aristotle as master and dialectics as content had given way before a no less narrow scholasticism with Cicero as master and linguistics as content. To treat the child mind as an adult mind, to organize grammar in the purely logical manner fit for the latter, meant to kill interest in study and to enforce discipline by harsh measures. This system prevailed thruout Europe in the Protestant Gymnasium and in the Jesuit college during the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries and made a dreary period, indeed, in the history of education. Johann Sturm (1507-1589). — The Gymnasium in most cases was not a boarding school, but a pay school organ- ized under municipal control. It developed independ- ently in a number of places, but the Gymnasium founded by Johann Sturm at Strassburg in 1537 is typical. Sturm was one of the narrow humanists who did more than any other individual to standardize the work of the new school. He had a great influence thruout Ger- Ik many as the result of the publication of his textbooks and the training of teachers in his Gymnasium, and his advice was frequently sought by princes and cities in the organization of institutions. His school was attended by large numbers of students, many of them nobles, and became a model that was freely imitated. It was organ- ized into ten classes — the Gymnasium was afterwards re- duced to nine — and attention was devoted almost exclu- sively to Latin and Greek. The vernacular was wholly 126 THE RENAISSANCE neglected as was also physical training ; no mathematics or natural science found a place in the curriculum and no attempt was made to relate the school to the social needs of the time. Emphasis was laid upon the life of a past era with the difference that formalism had killed the esthetic spirit which had characterized that life. The Eenaissance in England. — The New Learning had been received with enthusiasm in England. Some fine English scholars visited Italy to study Greek, and upon their return brought with them other distinguished scholars, like Erasmus, who was the first professor of Greek at Cambridge. The court of Henry VIII was strongly affected by the movement and humanism re- ceived powerful support from Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Wolsey. Eoger Ascham. — One result of the movement in Eng- land was the educational treatise of Roger Ascham, pro- fessor of Greek at Cambridge and tutor in the classics to Queen Elizabeth. This book, called "The Scholemas- ter, ' ' gives the typical humanistic view of education, but condemns some of the practices prevailing in the schools, such as brutal corporal punishment. It is chiefly de- voted to a description of the best method of teaching Latin and Greek. Ascham 's method was an improve- ment upon the one prevailing in English schools, its chief characteristic being the "double translation. ' ' The pupil was required to translate a passage into Eng- lish and then an hour later to retranslate it into the original. The master then compared it with the text. Ascham 's book had practically no influence upon the schools either in discipline or methods of teaching. John Colet. — One of the most influential of the human- ists in England was John Colet, dean of St. Paul's. In 1509 he founded, upon a humanistic basis, St. Paul's 127 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION School, which was typical of the best results of the Renaissance in the North, emphasizing religion and the classics in its curriculum. Colet had hoped to secure Erasmus as its first headmaster; but Erasmus recom- mended William Lilly, who later wrote a Latin grammar that was used in England well into the nineteenth cen- tury. Some of the aristocratic private schools of Eng- land — known as ''public schools" because independent of both Church and state — and many of the grammar schools which survived the Reformation, as well as many new foundations, were modeled upon St. Paul 's. But by the beginning of the seventeenth century the work of these humanistic schools had become more narrow and formal than that of the Gymnasium in Germany and they remained divorced from the affairs of practical life until the investigation of the Royal Commission of 1864. More- over, when the colonists left England to settle in Amer- ica, they naturally brought with them the educational institution with which they were familiar. We find a Latin grammar school in Boston as early as 1635 and similar secondary schools spread thruout the colonies. Like their prototypes in England they gave an educa- tion in the classics and the New Testament in prepara- tion for the college course which was to train their stu- dents, in the northern colonies at least, for the ministry, -. BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles in the Cyclopedia of Education on the Renaissance, Brethren of the Common Life, the Gymnasium, the Court School, Cieeronianism, and individual educators like Da Feltre, Erasmus, Colet, Ascham, etc. Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. Chaps. XXI-XXII. 128 THE RENAISSANCE Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. II, Chaps. XII-XIV. Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. YI. Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chaps. I-III. Russell, J. E. German Higher Schools. Chap. II. Woodward, W. H. Education During the Renaissance. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. Compare the influence of the Sophists in Greece with that of the wandering hiunanistic scholars from Italy in northern Europe. 2. Compare the influence upon intell-ectual life made by the Revival of Learning in the fifteenth century with that made by the scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century. 3. Compare the absorption of Hellenic civilization by the Romans with the absorption of Greco-Roman civilization by western Europe in the Renaissance. 4. Compare the school of Isocrates at Athens in 390 B.C. with that of Vittorino da Feltre at Mantua a.d. 1440. 5. In what respect can Erasmus and other humanistic students of the Bible and of the Church Fathers be considered the forerunners of the higher criticism of today? 6. To what extent can the Renaissance in Italy be con- sidered a patriotic revival? 7. What reasons can be adduced to explain why the Renaissance movement in the North should have been char- acterized by a reform aspect so much more than in Italy? 8. Point out the resemblances and differences between the Renaissance movement in northern Europe and the movement for social reform in the United States at the present time. 9. Compare the views of Erasmus with those of Quintilian on the early education of children. 10. What elements of his curriculum did Da Feltre borrow from the Greeks? From the knights? From the Church? 129 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 11. Compare the influence of the sojourn of American students at German universities today upon culture and edu- cation in the United States with the influence of the sojourn of English students at Italian schools during the early Renaissance upon English culture and education. 12. Compare the attitude of the Church towards the New Learning in the fifteenth century with the attitude today of the Church (Protestant and Catholic) towards such biological theories as evolution. 13. Is there much likelihood that vocational subjects will drive the humanistic subjects out of education today as the humanities drove the divinities out of education in the Renaissance? CHAPTER IX EELIGIOUS FOEMALISM IN EDUCATION Outline. — The Reformation emphasis upon a knowledge of the Bible as necessary to eternal salvation had as an educa- tional corollary an ability at least to read it, and this was a stimulus toward universal elementary education. To secure that end Luther in his letters and sermons advocated state- supported schools, which should have new elements in their work. Melanchthon aimed to make the Reformation acceptable to the learned of Germany and first organized Protestant educa- tion in the Saxony school plan. The educational ideas of John Calvin had great influence in Switzerland, the Nether- lands, Scotland, Huguenot France, Puritan England and America. The Jesuits organized Catholic secondary education in their "inferior" colleges upon a narrow humanistic basis, and higher education in their "superior" colleges with philosophy and theology as content. The "Ratio Studiorum" prescribes in detail the content and method of work, the discipline, the training of teachers, etc. Adherence to its prescriptions re- sulted in remarkable success. But it delayed the Jesuits in organizing their schools to meet new conditions. The Jausenists of Port Royal appealed to the understanding rather than to the memory, hence they taught in the ver- nacular. They also added mathematics and logic to the curriculum, and made reforms in methods of teaching and in discipline. Elementary education was well organized for the Catholics by the Institute of the Christian Brothers founded by La 131 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Salle m 1684. They also introduced the class recitation system and provided for the training of elementary school teachers, two notable reforms. A. THE PROTESTANT REVOLT The Reformation the Outcome of the Renaissance. — The complaint of Luther that he had but hatched the egg laid by Erasmus and the retort of Erasmus that he had laid only a hen's egg but that Luther had hatched a game-cock indicates the close relation between the Renaissance and the Reformation. The Renaissance leaders emphasized the individual's place in life. Social control as exercised through human institutions had gone so far, they found, as to leave little opportunity for the free expression of individuality in any direction. The humanists emphasized human reason as the individ- ual's guide in life. They adopted a critical attitude to- wards whatever rested upon mere authority, and showed scant respect for tradition. The Reformation completed the work of the Renaissance in exalting the intrinsic worth of the individual. It was impossible that an insti- tution like the Church, which had guided and controlled the lives of men for a thousand years, should escape the critical and investigative spirit of the times. The Church had acquired great wealth and power and undoubtedly abuses existed in its administration. We find, therefore, that even before Luther 's revolt practically every human- ist had made insistent demands for reforms in the Church. At first the reforms demanded were of a moral nature : that the clergy lead better lives, that high church- men perform the duties that were attached to their big incomes, that the monasteries especially give some evi- dence of social utility. But with the zeal of the human- 132 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION ists, with their mania for the study of original sources of the Old and New Testaments and the Church Fathers, it was inevitable that the doctrines and practices of the Church should be questioned. The Reformation Principles. — All the reformers, there- fore, were humanists, Luther the least of them. In the new education religion was to provide the purpose, hu- manism the content. Whatever their divergences of be- lief might be, the reformers at first agreed upon two things: (1) that the Bible, not the Church, was the infal- lible rule of faith and practice, the guide to what one should believe and how one should live ; (2) that the indi- vidual must interpret for himself what was in the Bible. This placed a splendid emphasis upon human reason and, had the Protestant leaders remained true to their first principles, western civilization might have been advanced a century beyond what it is today. But the promise of the Reformation was not realized. With the multiplica- tion of sects each hating each other as much as they hated the old church, with social excesses like the Peasants' Revolt, which it was claimed was the fruit of the reform preaching, the right of reason to determine faith became more and more denied until it existed nowhere in Europe, among either Protestants or Catholics. The in- terference of the Church continued in things extra-relig- ious, in questions of politics, science and philosophy, where reason alone should guide. Nevertheless a door had been opened which could not be shut, ideas had been promulgated which were destined eventually to have great results, and there were some immediate effects of direct and lasting benefit. The Educational Significance of These Principles. — The principle that eternal salvation, which was the chief concern of people in the sixteenth century, depended 133 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION upon following the precepts of the Bible had certain natural educational consequences, (1) The first of these was that people were able to read the Bible. This meant an enormously increased reading public receiving their culture chiefly from that book. The invention of printing advanced the cause of the reformers immensely, as it had that of the humanists. It is to be noted that, whereas previous to the Reformation nearly all the books printed were in Latin and Greek, after it the majority were in the vernacular tongues. (2) A second conse- quence was an emphasis upon the vernacular languages, for the Bible had to be rendered into the vernacular in order to reach the people. There were other German edi- tions of the Bible printed before Luther 's, but in dialects not widely spoken. Luther set the standard for the literary German of the future. Calvin's ''Institutes of the Christian Religion" helped make the standard for French prose, and Tyndale 's New Testament for English. (3) A third consequence was a demand for the extension of elementary schools in which at least the ability to read the Bible should be given — ^to girls as well as to boys, since they also had souls to save. It can hardly be questioned, however, that the generation after the Refor- mation in Germany was not so well provided with ele- mentary schools as the generation before, because the first necessity was to train religious leaders and that meant to turn attention to the Latin schools. But a new and compelling basis for elementary education was pro- vided. These consequences were the natural outcome of the life and work of Martin Luther. Martin Luther (1483-1546). — Luther was a miner's son. His father was able to give him a good education and sent him at eighteen to the University of Erfurt to 134 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION study law. But at twenty-two he became a monk and at twenty-five was appointed a teacher of philosophy at Wittenberg. It was during his incumbency of this posi- tion that he worked out his doctrine of justification by faith, viz., that man cannot be saved by ''good works,'* such as penance and fasting, but by faith alone in the merits of Christ. He came to this conclusion thru a study of Augustine and primitive Christianity, and at- tacked the scholastic theology and Aristotle with great vigor. It can hardly be doubted that Luther had no in- tention at first of breaking with the Church, but was led by circumstances from one radical step to another. In the latter part of his career he became exceedingly con- servative. Whereas he maintained in his early days that ''surely what is contrary to reason is contrary to God," after he had established his position he held that "the more subtle and acute reason is, the more poisonous a beast it is. ' ' Educational Work of Luther. — Luther's first educa- tional influence was thru his translation of the Bible into German, his publication of catechisms, one for chil- dren and the other for adults, and his composition of hymns. These provided the entire German people with material for reading and devotion in church and at home, and had a pronounced cultural effect. More spe- cifically his influence upon education was made thru his "Letter to the Mayors and Aldermen of All Cities of Germany in Behalf of Christian Schools" and his "Ser- mon on the Duty of Sending Children to School." In these two statements we find definite opinions in favor of positions which mark a real advance. (1) The first of these positions was that the state should support and control elementary schools, to which parents should be compelled to send their children. This was as 135 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION necessary for the welfare of the state as for the salvation of the child. In order that all children — boys and girls — might attend these schools, they were to be so organized that the children might attend an hour or two a day and devote to their practical duties the rest of the day. (2) The second progressive step which he advocated was that the work of these schools should be carried on in the vernacular, and in addition to imparting the ele- ments, they should have as their chief aim to give a direct knowledge of the Bible. (3) The third was that the brighter pupils, *'who give promise of becoming ac- complished teachers, preachers, and workers, ' ' be given a humanistic education in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. But he improved upon the practice of the humanists by demanding that history, natural science, music, and gym- nastics also have a place in the curriculum. Moreover, he made some excellent pedagogic suggestions, such as to teach a foreign language by practice rather than thru grammar, to allow for the natural activity of chil- dren, and to deal with concrete things. Nevertheless, his suggestions about schools were by no means gen- erally realized in practice. Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560). — Luther's work was primarily religious and only incidentally educational. His educational views were realized in part by his dis- ciples, especially by Philip Melanchthon. Melanchthon was a grand-nephew of the Hebrew scholar Reuchlin, and he had a splendid training in the New Learning, be- coming, indeed, its chief exponent in Germany. So great was his influence upon educational development that by general consent he received the title of Praeceptor Ger- maniae, i. e.. Instructor of Germany, This title was fully deserved, (1) for Melanchthon was the most popular pro- fessor at Wittenberg and his lectures on Protestant the- 136 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION ology, which he was the first to formulate, drew hun- dreds of students to the University. (2) His students became teachers in most of the universities and Gymna- sien of Protestant Germany, for no one's advice on edu- cational matters was sought by princes and cities so much as his. (3) His textbooks on Latin grammar and Greek grammar were almost universally used in German schools, and his texts in other subjects, especially dialec- tics, rhetoric, and ethics, were highly valued. (4) Finally, in 1528, he was requested by the Elector of Saxony to organize the schools of that state. The Saxony school plan which he formulated provided for a Latin school in every town and village of the Electorate. From these municipal schools, modified by Sturm ^ and others, eventually was evolved the Gymnasium, which, as has been said, became the very core of the German educa- tional system. The Saxony school system, which was the first state school system in history, was much improved upon by the Wiirtemburg plan of 1559. For while the Saxony plan dealt only with secondary schools, the Wiirtemburg plan provided a comprehensive educational system, from vernacular schools teaching reading, writ- ing, counting, sacred music, and religion, thru Latin schools of six classes teaching the classics, up to the uni- versity. The Wiirtemburg plan was gradually adopted with modifications by the other German states. It is to be remembered that the narrow humanism elaborated by Sturm at Strassburg differed only in extent from that of Melanchthon. Melanchthon was the best representa- tive of the union of humanist and Protestant in northern Europe. He succeeded in making the Reformation ac- ceptable to the learned as Luther had made it acceptable to the common people. 'See p. 126. 137 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Influence of John Calvin. — Luther's influence was by no means so international as that of John Calvin, who was the first Protestant to organize an elaborate system of theology. Geneva under him became a Protestant Rome to which exiles from France, England, Holland, and Scotland fled. They brought back to their home countries the Reformed instead of the Lutheran faith, as well as the educational ideals which prevailed at Geneva. Calvin established colleges at Geneva and else- where in Switzerland and succeeded in inducing Cor- derius, one of the most distinguished humanists at Paris, to go to Geneva to help organize and to teach in them. These colleges were similar to the humanistic secondary schools of Germany, combining the teaching of religion and the classics. They were widely copied by the Hugue- nots in France and by the Dutch. The greatest educa- tional influence of Geneva, however, was upon Scotland thru John Knox. He succeeded in establishing the free elementary schools under the control of the parishes, which have done so much for the enlightenment of the Scotch people. The Keformation in England. — Tho the English hu- manists like Sir Thomas More and John Colet had de- manded reforms in the Church, the Reformation in Eng- land was far more a political than a religious move- ment. Henry VIII never accepted the religious princi- ples of the Reformation; and the Puritans, not the Church of England, were its true exponents and spiritual representatives. Hence the destruction of the monastic and chantry schools, which accompanied the suppression of the monasteries, was disastrous for education in Eng- land. Not all of the wealth secured in that way by Henry VIII and Edward VI was used for the establish- ment of Protestant schools. Tho some repair of the evil 138 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION was made in secondary education in the reign of Eliza- beth and the first two Stuarts by the founding of new grammar schools, practically nothing was done in ele- mentary education. England remained two centuries behind other Protestant countries in providing ade- quately for either secondary or elementary education. This was partly due to the fact that, whereas Germany tended toward a state educational system, England tended toward a church educational system. The schools that withstood the shock of the Reformation and the new schools that continued to be founded, until the Civil War put an end to the movement, retained the old admin- istrative machinery, adopted the narrow humanistic cur- riculum, and substituted the Anglican for the Catholic faith. In America the Puritans who settled New England and the Huguenots and Dutch Reformed who settled in other colonies north of Virginia realized Protestant prin- ciples by the establishment of both elementary and sec- ondary schools which were thoroly religious in char- acter. The secondary schools, as already stated, com- bined religious with classical training and aimed at the preparation of Christian ministers. In the Southern colonies, where the Church of England was supreme, comparatively little was done for the cause of education. Formalisiii in the Protestant Schools. — The formalism which even previously had begun to characterize the humanistic schools was much intensified by the Reforma- tion. Christianity became identified again with theology. Subscription to a creed rather than right living was the evidence of a man's religion. To inculcate that creed in the young was the first task of education, and the cate- chism was added to the Latin grammar as an instrument of torture upon the helpless schoolboy. To memorize it, as well as large parts of the gospels and epistles, was as 139 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION necessary as to know by heart large portions of the classics. The methods of teaching became even more rigid, the discipline even more severe, the divorce from practical life in content of study even more pronounced. As a rule, the Protestant school of the seventeenth cen- tury was a place of gloom and even terror for childhood. The religious scholasticism differed from that of the thir- teenth century in content but not in spirit. B. THE CATHOLIC REACTION The Council of Trent. — Luther's revolt accelerated the attempts at reform within the Catholic Church, which culminated in the Council of Trent (1545-1563). This council did a remarkable piece of work in eliminating the abuses which had given most offense, in carefully defining articles of faith with respect to which there had been any uncertainty, and in making regulations regarding education. The work of the Renaissance had been essentially a campaign of education against the pre- vailing ignorance. The Reformation leaders had relied upon education as the chief instrument to advance their cause. The old church determined to use the same in- strument in its work of rejuvenescence. Several teach- ing congregations were founded, the most important of which was the Society of Jesus. Origin of the Jesuit Order. — Ignatius Loyola (1491- 1556) , the founder of the Society of Jesus, was a Spanish nobleman who, while convalescing from a wound received in battle, was converted to a religious life by reading the lives of Christ and the saints. He determined to become a soldier of Christ, and in order to secure the necessary education spent eleven years in schools and universities, finally securing the master 's degree at Paris. 140 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION While at Paris he interested the six men who formed the nucleus of his order. In 1540 two of them accom- panied him to Rome, where they secured the approval of the Pope for the organization of the society. The principle of the Reformation had been the exalta- tion of the individual; that of the Jesuits was his sup- pression. The Reformation, tho it did not in fact ad- here to the principle, had at least proclaimed the re- lease of the individual from institutional control ; the Jesuits demanded his complete subjection to institutional control. Loyola had been a soldier and he organized his society upon a military basis. Unquestioned obedience to authority was the fundamental doctrine. The consti- tution, which was prepared by Loyola himself, places at the head of the society a "general," who is elected for life, has immense powers, and who resides at Rome. The countries in which the society works are divided into provinces, at the head of each of which is a "provin- cial" appointed by the general. Each college in a prov- ince has at its head a rector, appointed by the general but responsible to the provincial. Responsible to the rector but appointed by the provincial are the prefects of study and of discipline, who supervise the work of professors and preceptors. The organization, like the Constitution of the United States, is one of checks and balances intended to make change difficult of attainment. The "Ratio Studiorum." — The aim of the society is best expressed in its motto ''Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" (A. M. D. G.), i. e., everj^thing to the greater glory of God. As the Church was God's chosen instrument, the motto meant, humanly speaking, everything to the greater glory of the Church. This was to be accom- plished by three methods : preaching, teaching, and con- fessing. The order was organized to perform these func- 141 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION tions primarily among the heathen and in Catholic coun- tries, but in practice it not only accomplished its work in those places, but became the chief instrument of the Church in regaining lands and souls lost thru the Protestant Revolt. The constitution consists of ten parts, of which the longest is the one dealing with educational matters. In 1584 the general appointed a commission to organize a plan of work which, when completed, was to be submitted to the ablest teachers of the provinces. This commission studied the best educational systems of the times, Catholic and Protestant, and its work received the most careful revision as the result of the criticism of the teachers of the order. When the ' * Ratio Studiorum, ' ' i. e., the method of studies, was published in 1599, as an expansion of part four of the constitution, it embodied not only the best thought, but the results of forty years of experience in educational work. It provides in great detail for the administration of the college, the content of study, the methods of teaching, discipline, in fact, everything that has to do with education. The Jesuit Colleges. — The Jesuits did not engage in elementary education, their purpose being to train lead- ers. Their colleges were divided into lower and upper colleges. The lower college gave a humanistic education similar to that given in the Protestant Gymnasium. The study of Latin from the narrow Ciceronian point of view formed the chief content, there being but little Greek. History, geography, science, and mathematics were given under the title *' erudition, " but only as necessary to understanding of the classical authors studied. Boys were admitted to the lower college at the age of ten to fourteen, and the course was usually six years. In the upper college, which corresponded to the existing uni- versity, the first three years were devoted to philosophy, 142 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION with Aristotle as guide, and the last four to theology, with Thomas Aquinas as master. An additional two years could be elected by those intending to prepare a thesis for the doctor 's degree. This organization of work remained practically without change until the suppres- sion of the order in 1773. When the society was revived in 1814 the need of a new content was manifest, and the ** Ratio Studiorum" was revised in 1832. Altho the classics continued to be the important element of the course in the lower colleges, provision was made for mathematics, the sciences, modern languages, and physi- cal training. Since 1906 the *' Ratio Studiorum" is not binding uniformly in regard to content and method of work, but each province is to decide upon the curriculum according to its peculiar needs. The educational success of the society was almost in- stantaneous. The Jesuits were besought by bishops everywhere to open colleges in their dioceses. Within a century they had a practical monopoly of higher educa- tion in Catholic countries and had made great headway in Protestant countries wherever they were permitted to reside. When the society was suppressed in 1773 it had more than seven hundred institutions, two hundred thousand students, and twenty thousand members. From the very beginning the graduates of the Jesuit colleges occupied the highest positions in the Church, in the state, and in the professions ; and the Jesuits were feared and hated by the Protestants as their most dangerous en- emies. They chiefly were responsible for the reconquest of southern and western Germany to the Catholic faith and for its maintenance in France and in other countries. Causes of Their Success. — The great success of the Jesuits was due to certain well-defined causes, among which were the following : 143 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION 1. Their splendid organization, which resulted in the education that they gave being thoro. This was true of certain of the Protestant Gymnasien, like Sturm's, but it was true of all the Jesuit colleges. Moreover, their organization made for uniformity. A Jesuit teaching at Lisbon in the seventeenth century might be trans- ferred to a similar class at Cologne and continue the work there as if he were still teaching in Lisbon. 2. Their gratuitous instruction. Education was abso- lutely free to all. A good Protestant Gymnasium in de- batable territory had to pay decent salaries to its excel- lent teachers, who might have families to support. This necessitated charging high fees. If a Jesuit college was established there, as usually happened, the advantage it had over its opponent is obvious. Even many Prot- estants would send their children to it. 3. Their excellently trained teachers. The Jesuits were always on the lookout for particularly able youths to become novices of the society. Before such a selected youth became a teacher in the lower college, he had to complete at least the course in philosophy in the upp^r college ; and to teach in the upper college, he must have completed the course in theology. As early as 1565 the society caused to be established in each province one semi- nary for the training of teachers, which the future teacher attended two years. When teaching in the lower college he was under the careful supervision of the pre- fect of studies. 4. Their methods of teaching. These aimed at doing at any one time a small amount of work intensively and making sure it was well done and retained. It resulted in their emphasizing: a. Oral Instruction. This was called the *' prelection*' and consisted in a lecture in the upper college and an 144 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION explanation in the lower. A short passage of an author would receive a first explanation to obtain its general meaning; a second for its grammatical construction; a third for ''erudition," i. e., to explain historical, geo- graphical, or other allusions ; a fourth explanation of its rhetorical elements ; a fifth of any moral influence to be drawn ; and a sixth, ' ' a comparative study of the Latin- ity." It should be noted that the Jesuits wrote most of their own textbooks and used carefully expurgated edi- tions of the classics. b. Memorizing. The emphasis upon this is evident from what has been said of the "prelection." ''Repe- titio mater studiorum est" (Repetition is the mother of studies), was one of the mottoes of the society. c. Reviews. Constant reviews attended their work. Each day began with a review of the work of the day be- fore ; each week ended with a review of the work of the week; and the last month of the year was given to a review of the work of the year. 5. Their methods of discipline. At a time when cor- poral punishment was the favorite method of securing good conduct and the chief stimulus to study, the Jesuits practically abolished it in their schools. It was used only as a last resort and never inflicted by a teacher. In its stead they used prizes and emulation. They carried emulation to such an extent that every pupil had his * * rival, ' ' with whom he was to compete in lessons and in conduct. Often the boys were divided into sides and engaged in a * ' concertation, " i. e., a debate upon some feature of the lesson in grammar or rhetoric; and the side that won would be given some prize or granted some privilege. Voluntary societies called "academies" exist- ed in each college, to which the most virtuous and tal- ented students were admitted, and in which orations, dec- 145 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION lamations and debates were practiced. Dramatics, to train in speaking and acting, which were also a feature of the best Protestant schools, were much emphasized in the Jesuit schools. Games and physical training were en- couraged for physical welfare. Criticism of Jesuit Education. — To describe the con- duct of work of a Jesuit school is to state its good side. Briefly the work was thoro, systematic, efficient. The teachers aimed to make school work pleasant and they succeeded. Without question they were the best teachers of the seventeenth century and continued to be so as long as the humanistic content of schools remained socially useful. But their system was so rigid that they were not so able to conform to new conditions as the Protestant school systems — which is saying very little. They were doing practically the same thing in the same way in 1773, when they were suppressed, that they had been doing a century and a half before, at the height of their influ- ence. In the paucity of content, i. e., almost exclusive devotion to Latin, and in their formalism in method they erred in common with the Protestant schools. And their emphasis upon memory work at the expense of an appeal to the reason was characteristic of all Ciceronian- ism. But their excessive use of emulation must often have aroused bitter feeling ; and their concertations and disputations must have appealed powerfully to the love of display. The Jansenists of Port Eoyal. — Tho the Jesuits secured a practical monopoly of higher education in Catholic countries during the seventeenth century, this monopoly did not exist without opposition. The most important reaction against the Jesuit system was that of the Jansenists of Port Royal. These were followers of Bishop Jansen, a Dutch bishop whose studies of St. 146 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION Augustine had led him to a statement of doctrines re- sembling those of Calvin. Tho his doctrines fell under the ban of the Church, his followers remained within the fold. A number of the most prominent and distinguished of these, under the leadership of the Abbe de St. Cyran, settled at Port Royal, near Versailles, to devote themselves to prayer and study. In addition to their religious devotions, manual labor, and works of charity, these solitaires engaged in educational labors which were marked by a number of distinct advances over the prevailing methods. The "Little Schools" of Port Royal (1637-1660).— De- spite their acceptance of the rationalistic philosophy of Descartes they held to the belief that human nature is essentially bad. The child left to his own inclinations and impulses tends to evil, hence he must be brought up in an atmosphere of piety and in constant association with his teacher. Only thus can the sole end of educa- tion be attained, viz., to develop the moral and religious character of the child. For this reason the ''little schools'* never numbered more than fifty pupils, usually not more than twenty-five; and a teacher seldom had charge of more than six pupils. These ''Gentlemen of Port Royal ' ' had associated with them a number of rare women who gave an education to girls similar to that received by the boys. Pupils were usually admitted to the schools at about ten and remained until sixteen or seventeen. The schools existed altogether but twenty- four years. The first was established at Port Royal in 1637, and all of them were suppressed in 1660 by Louis XIV, at the instigation of the Jesuits. Educational Principles of the Jansenists. — The Port Royalists did not rise above the prevailing practice of overemphasizing the literary element in education. They 147 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION neglected science and made no place for physical train- ing. But they predicated as their fundamental principle that children should study only what they understand. From this principle certain practices naturally followed, among which were : 1. Instruction must begin with the vernacular, in the teaching of which they made a great advance by using phonic methods in reading instead of the prevailing alphabetic method. 2. Giving an introductory survey of classical litera- ture by means of translations. After study of the Latin language was begun a wide selection of authors was made, to get the content of the classics ; and only so much grammar as was necessary to an understanding of them. 3. Teaching mathematics as a good training for the understanding. This was followed by the study of logic. 4. Compiling new textbooks to carry out their idea of appealing to the reason instead of the memory. The *'Port Royal Geometry" and the ''Port Royal Logic" were used in schools long after the suppression of the *' little schools." 5. Relying entirely upon the affection of the child and the zeal of the teacher as a method of discipline. The Port Royalists not only rejected corporal punishment but condemned the emulation of the Jesuits even more se- verely, as not consistent with the development of a moral and pious character. The practices just described were distinct advances upon those in use at the time. It was a pity that they were made use of in an atmosphere of excessive piety which must have chiUed a good deal of the natural spon- taneity of childhood. The great influence exerted by the Port Royalists came not so much thru their school work as thru their activity after their suppression. They 148 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION produced many treatises on various aspects of education, which had a profound influence. When we mention the names of Pascal, La Fontaine, Rollin, and Racine as some of the many eminent Port Royalists, we can understand why their influence was so disproportionate to their num- bers. La Salle and the Christian Brothers. — The Jansenists, like the Jesuits, were primarily interested in secondary and higher education. As already stated, this was char- acteristic of the period of religious controversy. By the end of the seventeenth century the Protestants in Ger- many, Holland, and Scotland had organized systems of elementary education which gave a knowledge of the rudiments at least. In Catholic countries, tho desultory attempts at providing elementary education had been made, real progress dates from the foundation of the Institute of the Brethren of the Christian Schools by Jean Baptiste de la Salle in 1684. The "Conduct of Schools." — La Salle had become deeply interested in the education of poor children in Rheims, where he was a canon of the cathedral. In 1684 he organized his Institute, which was to be devoted to the gratuitous teaching of the poor and to be composed of lay brethren, tho they were bound by the usual monastic vows. In order to attach his followers per- manently to the education of the poor. La Salle forbade them to teach Latin. La Salle, like Pestalozzi, was in- spired to educational reform by love of the poor. The schools at Rheims were so successful that the movement spread rapidly to Paris and other cities of France, tho because of opposition by interested parties it did not receive the Papal sanction until 1725, six years after La Salle 's death. The ' ' Conduct of Schools " is the ' ' Ratio Studiorum ' ' of the order. It was drawn up by La Salle 149 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION himself, and describes in minute detail the org-anization and management of the school, the content of work, the methods of teaching, and the discipline. It leaves no more to the initiative of the individual teacher than did the ' * Ratio Studiorum. ' ' This detailed prescription was necessary at a time when elementary teachers were with- out either knowledge or training ; but it became a menace in the course of time. Work of the Schools of the Christian Brothers. — The content of study in the schools of the Christian Brothers consisted of reading, writing, elementary arithmetic, and religion, of which the most important was religion. The atmosphere of the school was as deeply pious as that of a Jansenist school and had as repressive an influence upon the pupils. At a time when the chief characteristic of the ordinary elementary school was noise, the Christian Brothers went to the other extreme in enforcing silence. Written work was emphasized, signals used instead of commands, and corporal punishment freely inflicted as a form of discipline. But because of two great improve- ments the work of the schools was superior to that of other elementary schools. These were : 1. The training of teachers. The ordinary elemen- tary school teacher of the seventeenth century was a broken-down soldier, church sexton, or poor artisan, who eked out his meager income by whatever he could get ''keeping school." He usually had little intelligence, no training of any kind, and often a bad moral influence upon the children who went to him. Almost from the beginning La Salle organized training courses for teach- ers, and nobody was permitted to teach who had not at- tended one of them. 2. The class method of teaching. Ever^nvhere at the time the method of teaching used in the elementary 150 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION schools was individual instruction. In fact the teacher did practically no teaching, he simply heard children recite. In reading they sat in their seats and memorized as much as they could of the lesson and then repeated it individually to the teacher. In writing they imitated the copies set by the teacher until he was satisfied. In arith- metic they mechanically applied rules which they had memorized. Most of the time and effort was wasted. The Christian Brothers graded pupils into classes, ac- cording to their ability, and then provided all the chil- dren of a class with copies of the one book and a single teacher taught them simultaneously. Tho this great movement had already been suggested by Comenius, the Christian Brothers deserve the credit of applying it in practice on a large scale. Success of the Christian Brothers. — These improved methods account for the rapid success of the schools of the Christian Brothers in France. When the order was suppressed during the French Revolution, the Brothers numbered nearly one thousand, in one hundred and twenty-five houses, and educated over thirty-six thousand pupils. Moreover, La Salle had established before his death boarding-schools, industrial schools, and reforma- tories (protectories), which also slowly increased. Since the restoration of the order in France in 1803 its schools have multiplied with astonishing rapidity over the entire world. The ''Conduct of Schools" always admitted of easy revision, and the Christian Brothers in the nine- teenth century have made their work conform to the needs of the districts in which they settled. Moreover they have engaged not only in elementary, but in sec- ondary, collegiate, and even technical, commercial, and professional education. Nowhere have they been more successful than in the United States. 151 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION The Education of Girls. — It has already been stated that the Protestant reformers extended to girls their demand that all should be taught to read the Bible. The Wiirtemburg plan adopted in 1559 provided for elemen- tary schools for all children — ^boys and girls. Weimar made elementary education compulsory for all in 1619, and in 1642 Duke Ernest the Pious, of Gotha, established a comprehensive system of education which foreshadowed the German system of today. By it all children, boys and girls, were compelled to attend school daily from the fifth to the twelfth year and parents were fined for non- attendance of their children. Girls received some elemen- tary education also in most of the other Protestant coun- tries, England being the most notable exception. No pro- vision of the same extent was made in Catholic coun- tries. Girls continued to be sent to convents, and in 1535 the Ursulines were founded as an order whose pri- mary purpose was the education of girls. The Port Royalists provided some educational opportunities for girls, but they were by no means equal to those which were provided for boys. The best book up to that time, and one of the best of any time, on the education of girls was Bishop Fenelon's **0n the Education of Girls." Fenelon (1651-1715) had been placed in charge of the Convent of New Catholics, in which were taught girls converted from Protestantism after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. While engaged in that work he wrote this treatise, which contains suggestions that were not only eminently practical, but founded upon a sound child psychology. It had very little influence, however, on the education of the day, which for girls as for boys continued to be repressive and dogmatic. Decline of Interest in Education. — As stated, the di- vision of Protestantism into rival sects quarreling over 152 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION trivial points of doctrine and disputing upon abstract and speculative matters not susceptible of proof foisted upon higher education a new scholasticism which became as much the enemy of educational progress as the old had been. As practically the whole of men's thought and energy was given to religious controversy, little remained to be devoted to the investigation of the problems of nature and society. As a knowledge of Latin was con- sidered by Catholics and Protestants a necessary prelim- inary to the study of theology, the formal study of the structural side of that language was made the chief work of the secondary school. The vernacular and the ele- mentary school everywhere, among Catholics and Prot- estants alike, found very subordinate consideration. "With the success of the Jesuits the bitterness between the adherents of the old and the new faiths increased and finally resulted in the Thirty Years' War. This was a most severe blow to education. Not only were schools by the hundreds ruined or closed and the resources nec- essary for their support destroyed, but enthusiasm for education itself waned. The period of the religious wars was essentially a period of educational stagnation. BIBLIOGRAPHY Articles in Cyclopedia of Education on Reformation, Luther, Melanchthon, Jesuits, Jansenists, Christian Brothers, etc. Catholic Encyclopedia. Similar articles. CuBBERLEY, E. P. Syllabus in the History of Education. Chaps. XXIII-XXV, XXVII, XXVIII. Graves, F. P. A History of Education. Vol. II, Chaps. XV-XVI. Monroe, P. Textbook in the History of Education. Chap. VII. Painter, F. V. N. Luther on Education. 153 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Parker, S. C. The History of Modem Elementary Edu- cation. Chap. II. Paulsen, F. German Education, pp. 79-88. Quick, R. H. Educational Reformers. Chaps. III-IV, XI. ScHWiCKERATH, R. Jcsuit Education. QUESTIONS, COMPARISONS, AND TOPICS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. In what respect did the individualism of the Sophists in the fourth century B.C. differ from that of the Protestants in the sixteenth century a.d. 2. Compare the influence of the Bible as the chief reading matter of the people of the sixteenth century with that of the daily newspaper as the chief reading matter of the people today. 3. Compare the influence of Homer upon the Greeks with that of the Bible upon the English. 4. Had Luther^s emphasis upon the performance of domestic work at home by children any relation to the modem movement in favor of industrial education? 5. Compare the organization and curriculum of the Prot- estant Gymnasium with those of the Jesuit college. 6. Why have the mass of the people of Scotland during the past two centuries been so much more intelligent than those of England? 7. In what respects did the work of St. Benedict and of Loyola resemble each other? 8. Arrange in the order of preference the following stimuli to study: corporal punishment, interest, desire to please parents and teachers, prizes, love of learning for its own sake, emulation. 9. Is the modem emphasis on dramatization as a method of development of self-expression the result of the Jesuits' practice in giving plays? 10. In what respects did the Port Royalist practice of 154 RELIGIOUS FORMALISM IN EDUCATION teaching Latin from translations differ from the modem prac- tice of using "ponies"? 11. Why did not the Renaissance, the Reformation, or the Counter Reformation have better results in the higher educa- tion of women? 12. State the arguments for and against giving religion a place in the public school cuniculum. Does the Gary plan effect a compromise? 13. State the arguments for and against appropriation of public moneys for sectarian education. CHAPTER X EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM— EEALISM IN EDUCATION Outline. — Formalized humanism was constantly opposed by reformers who demanded that education deal with the realities of the present life and prepare for its concrete duties. These realists may be classified for purposes of study into the fol- lowing groups: 1. Humanistic realists, who wished to secure a knowledge of human society and its institutions and of nature and man's reactions to nature chiefly thru a study of the classics for their content, not their form. Milton's "Tractate on Educa- tion" represents this view. 2. Social realists, who emphasized modem foreign lan- guages and travel for mtercourse with men, and social subjects like history and politics, rather than grammar and rhetoric. Montaigne, in two of his essays, "Pedantry" and "The Edu- cation of Children," represents this view. 3. Sense-realists, who demanded a new content and a new method in education, viz., the study of things, especially nature, and the inductive method. Francis Bacon in "The New Atlantis" foreshadows this view. Comenius is the best representative of sense-realism. The principles which he advocated were set forth in his "Magna Didactica," which practically remained unnoticed. But he was successful in introducing some of them into his Latin texts,^ which were very popular. Social realism had a direct influence upon the RitteraJcade- mien in Germany, and humanistic realism and sense-realism upon the academy in England and America. The greatest 156 EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM influence of sense-realism was upon the pietists' schools, and it was finally incorporated in the Bealschule. Meaning of Realism in Education. — It cannot be too strongly emphasized that none of the movements de- scribed in the last chapter had any effect in diminishing the formalism into which humanistic education had fallen. Being all religious in nature, they intensified that formalism and added to it a respect for authority and tradition which was alien to the spirit of true humanism. But, altho institutional education tended strongly to suppress the free expression of individuality, the human spirit found vent outside of official schools and schoolmen. Narrow humanism held sway in educa- tion for nearly three centuries, but not without protest and opposition. In whatever respects its opponents dif- fered they all agreed upon one fundamental principle, viz., that education should deal with the realities of the present life and prepare young men and women for its concrete duties. The prevailing education was one of books and words, not one of things and ideas. It exalted the pupil's memory and made him dependent, whereas he needed to have his judgment and reason developed in order to meet courageously the exigencies of a changing environment. Classes of Realists. — What reforms were necessary in order to organize education as a preparation for actual living in contact with the realities of life? It is in the answer to this question that the realists differ. Some, like Rabelais and Milton, wished merely to hark back to the position of the early Renaissance scholars, viz., to study the classical literature for its content, not its form, to emphasize its literature, not its language. Realities to them meant ideas, and the best ideas ever conceived by 157 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION the human mind were to be found in the classical litera- tures. These men have been called ''humanistic real- ists." Others, like Montai^e and Locke, maintained that the only way to know the realities of life was by actual intercourse with men in society. Education, there- fore, should be practical and aim to prepare the youth for social living. Modern foreign languages to enable him to travel and secure a wide experience should be emphasized instead of ancient languages ; social subjects like history and politics to develop a sounder judgment, rather than grammar and rhetoric. These men have been called by Professor Monroe "social realists." A third group reacted against the prevailing education more vio- lently than either of the others. They demanded a new content and a new method in education, viz., the study of things, especially of nature, and the inductive method. The only realities are things with which one comes into contact thru the senses. Men like Bacon and Come- nius have generally been called "sense-realists," and with them we have the beginning of modern science. It is to be noted that in studying realism in education we are studying men, not schools nor systems of schools. The prevailing methods of education were too deeply intrenched to be affected by the principles of these ' ' in- novators," as they were called. Most of them were not engaged in school work, but were writers. Their books or pamphlets against the prevailing education were often merely side issues in lives devoted to other affairs, tho their detachment enabled them to see its absurdities better than those engaged in its daily routine. Their principles had to wait for generations and in some cases for several centuries before they were realized. It is sometimes difficult to classify an innovator, because he partakes of the characteristics of more than one group ; 158 REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM in fact he is placed in one group rather than another as a matter of emphasis. A. HUMANISTIC BEALISM The ideal of the men of the early Renaissance was to reestablish Rome on earth. Being Italian they had a strong national pride in ancient Roman history. The humanistic realists wanted to understand human society and its institutions, nature and man 's reactions to nature, so that the individual might be properly adjusted to the environment in which he was going to live. But this knowledge in the domain of thought and of action could be gained only thru a study of the classical litera- ture, "Whether one wished to study literature, phi- losophy, science, agriculture, architecture, or medicine, he must turn to the ancient authors upon those subjects. The education of the humanistic realist, therefore, was just as bookish as that which he opposed, but his was an intelligent use of books to get at their meaning, not pri- marily to study their structure and style. This was the view of the more thoughtful of those who believed that the classical languages and literatures were the sole means to an education. Tho represented early in such works as the "Gargantua and Pantagruel" of Rabelais (1483-1553), it can probably be understood best by a brief study of a later representative, John Mil- ton (1608-1674). l^ltcn's "Tractate on Education." — Milton's definition of education, ''that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimouslj'^ all the offices, both pri- vate and public, of peace and war, ' ' sufficiently indicates his belief that education must prepare for actual living in a real world. To do this it must give a knowledge 159 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION of the thoughts of the ancients upon the various activi- ties in which men engage. Hence the years spent by boys in formal grammar, and later in acquiring elegant and showy information, are wasted. Milton, not satisfied that a student shall know the content of the classical litera- ture, gives Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Italian a place in his curriculum. Moreover, he demands that practi- cally all the natural and social sciences, applied mathe- matics, philosophy, in fact the whole gamut of learn- ing be studied. But all these subjects are to be studied out of books and, moreover, out of books in foreign languages and chiefly in the classical tongues. Milton provides a curriculum fit only for little Miltons. He reacted not only against the content of the prevailing education, but also against its organization. He sug- gested that the entire education of a boy from twelve to twenty-one be given in an academy instead of being divided between the secondary school and the university. Great care is to be given to his moral and religious, as well as to his intellectual training, and a fine course of exercises is described for the boy 's physical welfare. The scheme of education described in the ' ' Tractate on Edu- cation" is purely ideal. It is of little service to the schoolmaster and had practically no influence. It has been mentioned to give an idea of the conception of education which the humanistic realists advocated. B. SOCIAL EEALISM The social realists were men of affairs, interested in the proper education of the young aristocrat who would in all probability participate in public life. They were not likely to view with favor the prevailing education, char- acterized by so much pedantry and formalism, and 160 REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM divorced from practical affairs. They had little sym- pathy even with the humanistic realists, who, they con- sidered, aimed to prepare young men for the life of the past. Of all the realists they placed the greatest em- phasis upon individualism. They preferred the educa- tion of the individual by a tutor to group training in schools. They had in view individual success as the aim to be sought and hence demanded a practical and utilitarian guide in the choice of subject matter and of method. They insisted that the training of the prac- tical judgment, not the cramming of the memory, would best enable the individual to be efficient and successful in life. Only sufficient learning was necessary to assist in attaining these ends and to enable the individual wisely to enjoy his leisure hours. Above all, the educa- tion of the ''man of the world" could best be secured thru travel, for by means of travel one is brought into direct contact with people and their activities, and that is the kind of experience which is most worth while. Of all the writers who held this point of view, the most rep- presentative was Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592). Character of Montaigne. — Montaigne's own education was carefully supervised by his father. He was taught to speak Latin before French and was sent at an early age to the College de Guyenne at Bordeaux. This insti- tution was one of the first fruits of the Renaissance move- ment in France and had maintained a fine reputation as a seat of humanistic learning. As Montaigne reacted unfavorably to the education given there, he naturally had little patience with what was done in the abodes of humanism generally. He afterwards studied law and held a number of public offices, being twice mayor of Bordeaux. But he early retired from public affairs and led a life of leisure, during which he wrote his celebrated 161 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION ** Essays." Montaigne was essentially a skeptic and Epicurean, a man of worldly wisdom and tolerance ; and tko his morality is essentially utilitarian and perhaps even materialistic, he is a most lovable figure in an age of bigotry, pedantry, and general intolerance. His Educational Essays. — ^Montaigne wrote essays on a great variety of subjects, but his educational opinions are found chiefly in two, ''Pedantry" and ''The Educa- tion of Children" — especially in the latter. Holding the view that education is to prepare the individual for the practical affairs of real life, he has only scorn for the belief that the mere study of books will be adequate. Thereby the individual obtains a knowledge of words, not "things" — by which, like all social realists, he meant ideas. Ideas are gotten thru experience with others, therefore the boy must come in contact with others first in his own country, then by travel in other countries; and for the latter purpose he must study modern foreign languages. He should profit, moreover, by the experi- ence of others; therefore Montaigne places great stress upon the study of history, which contains the experi- ence of others, and should be taught as the philosophy of human conduct. In these ways a young man will ac- cumulate real knowledge and wisdom, not merely in- formation; and he will find discipline of the judgment, the mental power, of most value and use in life. How far better is this than the method then prevailing, of cramming the memory with mere verbiage! "To know by heart only, ' ' says Montaigne, ' ' is not to know at all. ' ' * ' A boy should not so much memorize his lesson as prac- tice it." And all his learning should be done under pleasant conditions, not under terror, and with proper provision for the care and training of his body. It can be readily understood that an educational ideal so far 162 REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM removed from that which prevailed in his day would have little influence upon educational institutions. But upon the class for whom he wrote and upon succeeding thinkers, e. g., Locke and Rousseau, Montaigne's influ- ence was undoubted. Institutional Results of Social and Humanistic Realism. — Tho the views of education expounded by human- istic and social realists had little influence upon the con- duct of humanistic schools either in Protestant or Cath- olic countries, those views in conjunction with other in- fluences did result in the founding of new institutions. Towards the close of the sixteenth century French court life began to have a profound influence upon the German nobility, and the desire to know the French language, literature, and ways of life spread rapidly. This, com- bined with the desire to have a more practical education that would prepare for civil and military affairs, led in Germany to the foundation of institutions known as Bit- terakademien, i. e., schools for nobles. Physical train- ing and accomplishments, modem languages, particularly French, political history and geography, mathematics, and military science, formed the main part of the work. Latin grammar, rhetoric, and religion were not wholly neglected, but they received only secondary considera- tion. After the Thirty Years' War there was a great extension of these institutions in Germany and, tho they were afterwards absorbed into the Gymnasium sys- tem, for nearly a century they were the most influential educational institutions in the country. Similar insti- tutions were established by Richelieu in France, but they never had the same influence there as had the Bit- ierakademien in Germany. The English Academy. — But it was in England that humanistic and social realism resulted in the most dis- 163 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION tinctive institutions. When the Act of Uniformity was passed by Parliament in 1662, more than two thousand nonconformist clergymen were thrown out of their liv- ings, and the universities and secondary schools were closed to dissenters. Some of these ministers of neces- sity, and others by choice, turned to teaching to support themselves; they found a large constituency in the chil- dren of the dissenters. Influenced in all probability by the description of the "Academy" in Milton's ''Trac- tate, * ' the schools established to meet the new need were given that name. Because the first necessity was the education of ministers for the nonconformist churches, Latin and Greek became the backbone of the curriculum ; but modern languages were also taught and the medium of all instruction was English. Moreover, history, geog- raphy, mathematics, and natural philosophy had a place beside rhetoric, logic, and metaphysics. Despite the intensely religious atmosphere of these schools, their curricula and methods were determined by a pur- pose to make education a practical preparation for real living. The Academy in America. — The academy eventually found its way into the American colonies. From almost the very beginning the humanistic grammar school in many seaport towns had added practical subjects to the curriculum. But it was not until the middle of the eight- eenth century that an effort was made to break almost completely with the prevailing humanistic education by the establishment of an institution denominated an acad- emy. In 1751 there was founded at Philadelphia, as the result of the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin, * * The Academy and Charitable School of Pennsylvania, ' ' which later developed into the University of Pennsylvania. So desirous was Franklin of establishing a school that would 164 EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM prepare for life — especially for life in a new country — and not merely for college, that he at first wished to exclude all foreign languages from the curriculum. Tho this was not done, the emphasis was placed upon the teaching of history, geography, drawing, mathematics, the natural sciences, and English grammar and composi- tion. In fact, Franklin 's Academy was more the product of sense-realism than of either humanistic or social real- ism. Similar institutions were founded, especially in New England ; and by the close of the century the acad- emies were rapidly displacing the Latin grammar schools as the secondary schools of the country. We shall re- turn to them later when discussing the development of education in the United States. C. SENSE-KEALISM Scientific Discoveries in the Seventeenth Century. — One of the first fruits of the early Renaissance movement was the new attitude taken by men toward nature, the delight in its beauty, the joy of living in it, the desire to understand it. This interest in nature early had such results as the heliocentric theory of the solar system of Copernicus, the explanation of the motions of the planets by Kepler, and the discovery by Galileo of new celestial phenomena by means of the telescope he had invented. The wonder is that more rapid progress had not been made ; but the explanation of that fact is given in the overshadowing place of religion in the life of the sixteenth century. Before the Reformation the Church was not friendly to the exposition of new ideas concerning nature that did not harmonize with Aristotle, and after it men's time and thought were given almost wholly to disputes over matters of religious belief. 165 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION Nevertheless, in the seventeenth century such a remark- able series of discoveries in science was made as seriously to affect the ecclesiastical control of men 's opinions in the domain of natural phenomena. To understand the im- mense advance made in the domain of natural science during the seventeenth century, one has but to enu- merate Napier 's 'logarithms, Descartes ' analytical geom- etry, Newton's law of gravitation, Leibnitz' calculus, Torricelli's barometer, Boyle's theories of the vacuum and of gases, Harvey's theory of the circulation of the blood, Malpighi's use of the compound microscope. In fact, just as the fifteenth century brought with it a great literary revival and the sixteenth a great religious re- vival, so the seventeenth brought a great scientific re- vival. It was in reality the final stage of the Renais- sance movement. These discoveries did not result from the reading of books, but from the deliberate applica- tion of men 's powers of observation to the phenomena of nature. Moreover, some of them were in flat contradic- tion to the dicta of the Greek authorities who had been venerated for centuries. They were the fruit of the determination of men to think for themselves, to rely upon their own reason, and to use their own judgment. It can readily be understood that knowledge, and a method of securing it which widened men's mental hori- zon and resulted in real advancement of human welfare, would not lack advocates demanding for them places in the activities of the school. And tho this early scientific movement had very little influence upon the schools of the time, the educational writings in which it was set forth secured its very slow but gradual intro- duction into school practice. Fundamental Principles of the Sense-Realists. — Like the earlier realists, whose views have already been de- 166 REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM scribed, the sense-realists condemned the following prac- tices that then prevailed : 1. The excessive emphasis upon the literary element in education ; 2. The cramming of the memory with material that was not understood; 3. The divorce of school work from the practical needs of daily life ; 4. The harsh discipline, based upon the rod, which made the school a place of gloom and even of terror ; 5. The neglect of the body and of the physical wel- fare of the individual. But, in addition to opposing these wrong practices, the sense-realists advocated others which make their movement a far more important and emphatic reaction against the prevailing narrow humanism. Among them were the following: 1. That education should conform to nature, and that the laws upon which it should be based could be discov- ered in nature. They were not clear themselves as to what this implied; and they certainly had very little understanding of the development of the child mind. 2. That the proper order of procedure in teaching is things, ideas, words; and this meant that education is primarily a training in sense-perception thru con- tact with objective material. 3. That instruction, to be understood, must be in the vernacular tongue. 4. That an education based upon the perception of natural objects must have a new method, viz., the induc- tive method. 5. That by the proper application of this method and by the correct organization of material the quantity of knowledge to be absorbed by the individual was much 167 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION to be increased. This led to an excessive emphasis upon the place and value of knowledge in life. In the application of these principles — for they were nearly all applied in school work — the enthusiastic sense- realists often honored them more in the breach than in the observance, and gave ample opportunity for hos- tile criticism. But most of their principles — tho they knew it not — were in harmony with a sound child psy- chology and, therefore, were destined to be realized in the course of time. Richard Mulcaster (1546-1611). — The man who pro- vided a philosophic basis for what is known as the sense- realistic movement was undoubtedly Francis Bacon, and he is often referred to as the first sense-realist. But a number of writers who preceded him maintained the principles of the sense-realists in part and unconsciously advocated what he formulated into the method of induc- tion. One of these, Richard Mulcaster, showed such re- markable prevision that his work demands a brief study. That he should have advocated the raS^ical views he did is all the more remarkable when one remembers that he was successively the headmaster of the Merchant Tay- lors' School and of St. Paul's, two of the most famous humanistic schools of England. Yet in his two books, the ' * Elementarie ' ' and the ' ' Positions, ' ' he insisted that education should be according to nature, that is, should secure the expression of childish tendencies and not aim at their repression ; that the first consideration in educa- tion is the care and training of the body ; that elementary education is worthy of as much consideration as higher ; that it should be for girls as well as boys ; that the study of the vernacular is far more important than the study of Latin or of any other language ; that teachers require university training as much as lawyers, physicians, or 168 REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM ministers. It is evident how much more radical are Mulcaster's positions than those of any other writer considered so far, and wh}^ some of them waited until the nineteenth century for fulfillment. Francis Bacon (1561-1626). — Nevertheless, Mulcaster did not lay much stress upon what is the most distin- guishing feature of the sense-realists, viz., that education must be based upon a training of the senses by means of the study of the objects and phenomena of nature. Neither did Bacon, who had comparatively little inter- est in education. But the revolution his work caused in men's ways of thinking inspired others who were inter- ested in education to base their educational views upon principles he formulated. It is necessary, therefore, to consider those principles before studying their appli- cation to education by his followers. "The New Atlantis." — Bacon had been carefully trained in the education of the day, but even while a student at Oxford he condemned the education he was receiving. He opposed scholasticism and humanism with equal vehemence, the one as dealing only with worthless speculation, the other with useless verbiage, and both as valueless for human welfare. Knowledge that cannot function for the advancement of the human race is not worth having. Bacon lived in the days of Utopias and he also wrote one, ''The New Atlantis." This is a de- scription of an ideal society, in which there dwell peace and contentment among the inhabitants. These ideal conditions resulted from an investigation of nature, the discovery of her laws and the harnessing of nature to man's needs and purposes by the invention of machines in conformity with her laws. The most important fea- ture of ' ' The New Atlantis " is ' ' Solomon 's House, " a re- search institution given up exclusively to the scientific 169 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION investigation of natural phenomena. '*The New Atlan- tis" is typical of what should exist among men in our own society ; and * ' Solomon 's House, ' ' of the kind of uni- versity needed for the realization of such an ideal. The Baconian Method. — Knowledge of nature, then, is the only real and fruitful knowledge ; but it cannot be obtained by the syllogistic reasoning of the schoolmen or by the use of the deductive logic, which was supposed to be Aristotle 's sole method of reasoning. In the ' ' Novum Organum" Bacon proposed a **new method," namely, induction, to supersede that given by Aristotle in the **Organon" (viz., deduction). As a matter of fact the method formulated by Bacon was neither a new method nor the true inductive method. He sneered at the "an- ticipation of nature ' ' whereby an investigator frames an hypothesis to explain certain facts and then tests the validity of his hypothesis by comparison with other facts. Yet that use of scientific imagination was just what en- abled the scientists mentioned in a previous paragraph to obtain their splendid results. Such results could never have been secured by Bacon's method, which can be briefly described thus: the investigator must first re- lieve himself of all "idols," i. e., prejudices; then as- semble the materials resulting from his observations, and draw his general principle from a comparison of the cases where a certain effect took place and where it did not. Moreover, Bacon believed that anybody who fol- lowed his method would arrive at the true conclusion ; no special mental power was needed. In fact, some of the realists were so enamored of the Baconian method that they maintained that by its proper use in education the individual would be enabled with comparative ease, and in much less time than was supposed possible, to obtain all the knowledge that was to be had (pansophia). De- 170 REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM spite the fact that Bacon did not discover the true in- ductive method of reasoning and that he exaggerated the results to he obtained by the application of his own method, his eminent i>osition in the social and political world and his ability to present his ideas attractively combined to give his writings an influence which went far to convince men that not reliance upon tradition nor the dicta of authorities, but careful observation and ex- perimentation were what are necessary in order to arrive at an understanding of the truths of the natural and social worlds. Jolm Amos Comenius (1592-1670). — Bacon was inter- ested in the subject matter of knowledge, not in how the individual acquires it. He did not concern himself with the psychological significance of the inductive method. If we get knowledge with certainty only by in- duction, it would seem to follow logically that we ought to teach inductively. But the educational application of his method Bacon left to his followers. While Come- nius was not the first of these to attempt a realization of Baconian principles in teaching, he was the most influ- ential and successful, and is by far the best representa- tive of the sense-realistic movement. Comenius was not only the greatest educator of the seventeenth century, but one of the greatest educators of all centuries; and this is true whether we regard him as a practical teacher and administrator, a writer of textbooks, or a theorizer on educational principles. He was born in Moravia, studied for the ministry, and afterwards became the last bishop of the Moravian Church. Owing to the death of his parents when he was quite young, his early education was neglected, and he did not enter the Latin school until he was nearly seventeen, mature enough to understand the badness of the method used in teaching Latin. Come- 171 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION nius' first interest in life was religious, and his strength and energy were largely given to caring for his perse- cuted coreligionists, who had been driven from their native land and were scattered everywhere thruout Protestant Europe. His religious work, however, brought him among men who were interested in educa- tion and who to some extent influenced his educational views. His second interest was philosophy, and this prompted him to attempt the complete organization of human knowledge into an encyclopedic form (panso- phism) . This had been done by some of the great school- men, but with Comenius it was to be based upon Bacon- ian principles and to result from a study of the familiar facts and phenomena about one, which were to be ar- ranged according to general laws. This done, the in- vestigator could proceed to the unfamiliar and unknown, until he had covered the whole ground of knowledge, each part of which would find its natural place in the whole and lead inevitably to the next. The acquisition of this knowledge was for the purpose of functioning for social welfare and progress. Comenius' third interest was in the reform of education, and it was in this he achieved something of permanent value. In the history of education Comenius is really a transition figure from those who subordinated everything in education to re- ligion to those like Locke and Rousseau, who considered religion merely one element in a secularized system. The "Great Didactic" (1657). — Tho Comenius wrote a great many books and pamphlets on education, the principles which he advocates are best explained in his treatise on the philosophy of education, the ^' Great Didactic.'' This theoretical exposition of his beliefs he wrote in his early manhood, and his later school activities are but an application of the ideas set forth in it. The 172 EEACTION AGAINST HUMANISM book consists of thirty-three chapters, covering the whole ground of education : its aim, purpose, proper organiza- tion, content of study, methods of teaching, discipline, textbooks. In fact, no topic of importance is omitted from consideration. It is a splendid summing up of the views of the realists, and is characterized by so much sanity and wisdom that it can be profitably studied by the student of education today. But the teachers of Comenius' generation were interested in the teaching of Latin ; hence, while his Latin textbooks achieved an im- mense popularity, the ' ' Great Didactic, ' ' one of the few really excellent treatises on education, received practical- ly no recognition. It remained in oblivion until brought to light by the German educators of the mid-nineteenth century. Then it was discovered that many of the sound principles of education which had been adopted by the reformers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- turies had already been formulated by Comenius in the seventeenth. A very brief idea of the contents of the *' Great Didactic" is given in the exposition of his views which f oUows : The meaning, content, and method of education. — The religious aim of education dominated with Comenius. Education is to prepare the individual for eternal happi- ness with God by means of the acquisition of knowledge, virtue, and piety. In the exposition of this aim the pansophic fallacy of overemphasis upon the value and place of knowledge in human life is evident. Eternal happiness with God is the reward of right living, and that in turn is the result of knowing how to live in the world of nature and society. Hence the content of education must be primarily a knowledge of the facts and phenomena of nature. It is here that Comenius was most successful in carrying out Baconian principles, for he 173 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION filled his textbooks with material from nature. He was too much of a theologian, however, to appreciate fully or to apply properly the inductive method. He states that we get knowledge by means of the senses, reason, and. divine revelation; and even sometimes proves a conten- tion by a quotation from Scripture. While he insists that teaching shall be * * according to nature, ' ' he seldom means according to the method of experiment, but of an- alogy; and he constantly finds the clew for the teacher's method in the bird, the chick, the seed. But tho his psychology was defective, he was the first to apply the new method successfully to the practical problems of classroom teaching, and his textbooks owe their great success to the fact that they were written in accordance with it. Organization of Education. — Comenius demanded that all persons, boys and girls, rich and poor, be educated not merely so that they might read the Bible, but that they might really develop as rational beings created in the image of God. This education of the individual was to be 'divided into four periods of six years each. (1) In the first of these the child should be taught in the school of the mother's knee, i. e., the home. During this period he should not only be cared for physically and morally, but should learn facts of nature and geography, without books. (2) The second period was that of the vernacular school, which was to be free and compulsory for all. The work of the school was to be conducted en- tirely in the vernacular tongue and to include material from all kinds of human experiences, so that not only religion and the three R 's but history, geography, draw- ing, and mechanical arts should find a place. (3) The third period was that of the Latin school, the work of which was similar to that of the Gymnasium, but was to 174 REACTION AGAINST HUMANISM include, in addition to languages, science and the seven liberal arts. Because of the training given in the ver- nacular school and because of the better method of teach- ing languages adopted, the same ground could be cov- ered in six years for which nine was needed in the Gym- nasium. (4) The last period was devoted to the uni- versity, to which admission should be granted upon ex- amination, so that only men of ability would attend. Provision should be made for every branch of human knowledge, so that a student would be enabled to study not only his profession but other subjects in which he might be interested. Beyond the university, which was to be a teaching institution, there should also be a ''di- dactic college ' ' devoted to scientific research. Comenius, therefore, provided an educational ladder which was in a way a suggestion of what has been worked out in America more than two centuries later. Comenius' Latin Texts. — Comenius was known to his own generation as the man who had invented a new and better method of teaching Latin, and it was in his Latin textbooks that he was most successful in applying the principles of the sense-realists. He objected strongly to the way Latin was then taught, i. e., by beginning with grammar and using texts which had no natural interest for the child and made no attempt at grading the diffi- culty of the material presented. To overcome these ob- stacles he wrote the " Janua Linguarum Reserata" (The Gate of Languages Unlocked ) . The idea underlying this was to use the Latin names of common and familiar ob- jects and arrange them into sentences increasing in diffi- culty, but arranged so as to give a clear knowledge of some topic. There were one hundred chapters of little more than a page each, covering a wide variety of sub- jects. The Latin was given on one side of the page and 175 THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION the vernacular on the other, so that the child could get the Latin vocabulary by comparison and so that a knowl- edge of grammar could be developed inductively by the teacher. The two chief defects of the book were that he violated a fundamental principle of language teaching by using each word but once — there were eight thousand different Latin words in the ' * Janua ' ' — and he indulged in his pansophic fallacy of crowding in too much knowl- edge. Nevertheless, the book was such a remarkable im- provement upon any text then in use that in a short time it was translated into sixteen different languages and be- came the standard Latin primer in general use. Come- nius was encouraged thereby to write several other text- books, one of which must be briefly considered because of its immense popularity and its importance in the his- tory of school textbooks. This was the *'Orbis Pictus" (The World in Pictures), the first illustrated textbook for children. It was an adaptation of the ''Janua," but at the head of each chapter there was a picture to represent the text, each part of which was numbered to correspond to the words in the text. This was an at- tempt to introduce the principles of dealing with things by means of pictures, of arousing interest in the subject matter, and applying comparison and inference, the very basis of induction. The ''Orbis Pictus" was even more popular than the ''Janua," and was used not only as the beginning text for the study of Latin, but also as a means of learning to read the vernacular. Comenius maintained that by the use of such textbooks and of the inductive method of teaching, the school would become a place of joy instead of gloom, and interest in work would supersede the rod as a means of discipline. Influence of Comenius. — The Latin textbooks of Co- menius continued to be thumbed by the boys of Europe 176 The TaSolr. LXIV- Sartor. Ti^r Tailor, I. 4md/tnoitb it togethtr with J ff^dleiaitJdoQhle Thread,4i Tien he preffstk the Scams nxntka Preflng-tron, 5» . Atid ih»s ht maketb Coaits, 6* 4Vf/^ Plaits. 7. iyr nv^/^^ thgBotder^SJjMwf