History of Education Part 19

TROTZENDORF (1490-1556)

Valentine Trotzendorf was born in poverty and beset by many difficulties in boyhood. His mother was a constant inspiration to him, and when he was disposed to give up the struggle, her words, "My son, stick to your school," led him to continue until he overcame the obstacles. When ready for the university he went to Leipsic, where he studied Greek and Latin for two years. In 1515 he became a teacher in a village near Leipsic, a position that he retained for three years. He then went to Wittenberg, where he studied under Melanchthon for five years, and became very intimate with that great teacher. His fame as a teacher was made at Goldberg, where he was thirty-five years rector of a school. Like Melanchthon, he believed that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that the school is an adjunct of the Church. With Sturm, he laid great stress upon the cla.s.sic languages, and insisted that his pupils should speak in the Latin tongue. As a teacher he possessed remarkable power. He loved to mingle with his pupils, converse with and question them, and he had great skill in drawing them out. In his instruction he employed many ill.u.s.trations, and proceeded from the concrete to the abstract.

His discipline was unique and original. He introduced a practice before unknown, namely, that of self-government on the part of the students, an experiment that has been tried in recent years with excellent results in many American inst.i.tutions for higher learning. Trotzendorf established a senate of twelve students, a consul, and other officers, who were made responsible for the government of the school. These const.i.tuted a court of which he was president. Offenders were brought before the tribunal and tried with great formality and dignity. This body sentenced the culprit to such punishment as his guilt merited, the master reserving to himself the right of being a court of final appeal. Besides the officers above named, there were others who were in charge of the boys in their domestic relations,--such as keeping guard over their punctuality, table manners, diligence in study, etc. It was considered a high honor to hold one of these offices. The scheme worked well under Trotzendorf; it taught self-government, and inculcated the spirit of freedom as well as an intelligent submission to law. Trotzendorf thus gives an example of school government which is quite in accord with the spirit of modern times. He also had his best pupils instruct the lower cla.s.ses under his supervision, and thus prepared them to go forth as teachers. Teachers from his school were sought for by intelligent patrons of education in all parts of Europe.

NEANDER (1525-1595)

Michael Neander was another of Melanchthon's pupils who became great as a teacher. Neander was for forty-five years the sole teacher of a Latin school at Ilfeld. Though he never had many pupils, his school was p.r.o.nounced by Melanchthon as "the best seminary in the country." He was a most successful teacher, and the students whom he sent to the university were found to possess the very best preparation, and always stood among the first. He was well versed in medicine and chemistry, and was one of the best Greek and Latin scholars of his time. Contrary to the practice of his contemporaries, he favored the teaching of geography, history, and the natural sciences. His position in regard to the sciences places him in advance of other educators, and in this he was a follower of Melanchthon, who also believed that science should be taught.

Neander is celebrated also for the Greek and Latin text-books which he wrote. Speaking of these books, Paulsen says, "What he especially emphasized is: as few and as short rules as possible, and these rules are to be progressive; at the proper time they are to be committed to memory. The pupil must also commit words, phrases, and sentences to memory, which is equally important." Lastly, he gave a careful outline of the work of a boy for every year from the sixth to the eighteenth.

This was especially valuable for that period when parents and teachers alike had nothing to guide them except the monastic course of study, and when the world was giving birth to new theories in education as well as in religion.

Neander's whole life was concentrated on the work of teaching, and in the schoolroom he found his greatest joy. Here, also, he made a lasting impression upon his pupils and upon mankind. His father was mistaken when he addressed the boy, "Into a cloister with you; you will amount to nothing in the world."

Other great teachers in the schools and in the universities carried forward the educational work begun by the great reformers. Many cities had founded schools, and several of the German states had established school systems. The educational ideas of the Protestant Reformation had taken deep root, and were destined to spread over the whole world, gaining in force with each succeeding century.

The practical outcome of this great movement was the establishment of schools in every village in Germany under the direction of the pastor, and where he was unable to teach, under his clerk or a.s.sistant. As the chief purpose was to prepare the children for entrance to the church by confirmation, religion was the center of the school course. But reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing were also taught.

The clerk of the church gradually became the schoolmaster, and while the relations of these two offices have materially changed, there is still a close official connection between the two, particularly in the country.

In many cases the pastor is the local superintendent of the school, and the teacher is the clerk and chorister of the church. As fast as Lutheran churches were organized, schools were also established in connection with them. Nor were boys alone included in the work of education. Girls' schools were organized and an effort was made at universal education. Many provinces adopted advanced school laws, and the principle of compulsory education was recognized, though by no means successfully carried out.

Thus was born in the middle of the sixteenth century the common school, and thus was recognized the right of all men to an education, and a practical ill.u.s.tration of the means of securing it was given to the world.

FOOTNOTES:

[56] Though Sturm was not a Lutheran, he was a Protestant, being a follower of Calvin.

[57] See Quick, "Educational Reformers," and Williams, "History of Modern Education," p. 88.

[58] "Geschichte des Gelehrten Unterrichts."

[59] Sturm's school course appeared in 1538. It was not the oldest school course of the Protestants. The oldest school course for a German school was prepared by Johannes Agricola and Hermann Talich in 1525 for the school at Eisleben, Luther's birthplace. Indeed, Paulsen thinks that Melanchthon had a hand in its preparation. He says ("Geschichte des Gelehrten Unterrichts," p. 182), "This is the oldest published school course of the Reformed Church, which, if not composed by Melanchthon, was without doubt outlined, or at least approved, by him." This was discovered in 1865 by F. L. Hoffmann in the Hamburg city library.

[60] See Ascham, p. 191, and Ratke, p. 210.

[61] "History of Modern Education," p. 91.

[62] "Geschichte des Gelehrten Unterrichts," p. 197.

CHAPTER x.x.x

THE JESUITS AND THEIR EDUCATION

=Literature.=--_Draper_, Intellectual Development of Europe; _Durrell_, A New Life in Education; _Dyer_, Modern Europe; _Fisher_, History of the Reformation; _Guizot_, History of Civilization; _Ferris_, Great Leaders; _Lord_, Beacon Lights; _Parkman_, The Jesuits in North America; _White_, Eighteen Christian Centuries; _Quick_, Educational Reformers; _Symonds_, Renaissance in Italy; _Hughes_, Loyola; _Larned_, History for Ready Reference; _Schwickerath_, Jesuit Education; _Chateaubriand_, The Genius of Christianity.

=The Order.=--The remarkable spread of Protestantism, however, was not to go on unchallenged. Already before the rupture of the Church, the need of a better-educated clergy had been acknowledged. We have seen that Luther and the Reformers laid great stress upon the education of the young as a means of propagating the new faith, and they had employed this means with great success. It is not to be gathered from this that the Roman Church had been unmindful of her duty in the training of the young. It has already been shown that the Church maintained education from the beginning of the Christian era down through the Middle Ages, that she never slackened in her zeal for this work, and that she held it to be her right and duty, as she does to this day, to train the young.

At this very time she was maintaining many schools. But the "Order of Jesus" was destined to systematize education in such a degree as the Church had never witnessed.

It has been claimed that the founding of the "Society of Jesus" was a "Counter-Reformation," the purpose of which was to check the growth of Protestantism. Whatever may have been the effect of its work in this direction, it seems clear that such was not the purpose for which it was organized. Schwickerath shows that it is doubtful if the founder of the Jesuit order had ever heard the name of the German Reformer. He says,[63] "The Papal Letters and the Const.i.tutions a.s.sign as the special object of the Society: 'The progress of souls in a good life and knowledge of religion; the propagation of faith by public preaching, the Spiritual Exercises and works of charity, and particularly the instruction of youth and ignorant persons in the Christian religion.'"

It cannot be denied, whatever the original purpose of the Society, that it not only checked the onward march of Protestantism, but it even restored many provinces and communities to their fealty to the Mother Church. How well the last clause of the admonition above quoted was carried out will be seen when we remember that the Jesuits originated the most successful educational system of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, a system having a definite end in view, and whose adherents by indomitable energy, by self-sacrifice, by oneness of purpose, secured remarkable success. Let us turn our attention to the founding of the "Order."

=Loyola= (1491-1556), the originator of the order, was a Spanish n.o.bleman. While recovering from a severe wound received in battle, he read some religious books which made such a profound impression upon him that he resolved to consecrate himself to religious work. Not being an educated man, he devoted some years to study, and while at the university of Paris he gathered around him other young men who also were ready to consecrate themselves to the service of G.o.d. They formed themselves into the "Order of Jesus," with the avowed purpose at first of rescuing Jerusalem from the hands of the infidels. This was not to be done by force of arms, as in case of the crusaders, but by peaceful means. This purpose was abandoned, but the zealous missionary spirit of the Jesuits endured. In 1540 Pope Paul III. recognized the new order and gave it the sanction of the Church. The organization was military in character, Loyola becoming its first general.

=The Growth of the Society= was remarkable from the outset. In 1600 it had 200 schools; in 1710, 612 colleges, 157 boarding or normal schools, 59 houses for novitiates, 340 residences, 200 missions, and 24 universities. The college at Clermont had, in 1651, 2000 students, and in 1675, 3000 students. These inst.i.tutions controlled the education of the Catholic Church in all Europe, and many Protestant young men also were attracted to the Jesuit schools by their superior teachers and their thorough training.

The society became so strong that various attempts were made to check its power. It spread, however, to China and Hindustan, to the Indian tribes of North America, and to South America. Its spirit and its practices aroused the suspicion of princes and people, of many Catholics as well as Protestants. In 1773 the Jesuits were in possession of 41 provinces, and had 22,589 members, of whom 11,295 were priests. Since that time popes have suppressed them, rulers have expelled them from their countries, their property and power have been taken from them, until their influence has been greatly lessened and their progress checked.

=Jesuit Education.=--Unlike the monastics, the Jesuits mingled with the world; they a.s.sumed no peculiarities of dress, and held themselves ready to act as missionaries to the most remote parts of the world, as agents of the Church to which they so fully consecrated themselves, and as teachers of youth. They established schools everywhere, and placed them in charge of teachers of remarkable skill and pedagogical training.[64]

We have seen that their efforts were chiefly directed to higher education, their schools being designed for boys not less than fourteen years of age. In general, primary education did not enter into their scheme. Schwickerath thinks that the "Jesuits could not undertake elementary education" because "they had never men enough to supply the demands for higher education."[65] This shows that they held higher education as of the greater importance, and the same author further adds: "Besides, the whole intellectual training of the Jesuits fitted them better for the higher branches." They reached sons of princes, n.o.blemen, and others who const.i.tuted the influential cla.s.ses,[66] but "the Const.i.tutions expressly laid down that poverty and mean extraction were never to be any hindrance to a pupil's admission."[67] Instruction was free.

Their schools became the most efficient and the most popular means of education furnished throughout Europe,--and justly so, for their work was thorough, their teachers were competent and well trained, and their course of study comprehensive. It is worthy of especial note that all teachers of the Jesuit schools were carefully trained before they were allowed to give instruction. This is the first time in history that the necessity of special preparation for the work of teaching was recognized as an essential element in the work of education.

Every Jesuit school was divided into two departments, the lower, _studia inferiora_, consisting of five cla.s.ses, and the higher, _studia superiora_, requiring two or three years. Boys were admitted to the lower course at the age of fourteen, and the work consisted chiefly of the study of the humanities, while that of the advanced course embraced philosophy and theology.[68] With reference to these courses of study, Quick says, "The Jesuit system stands out in the history of education as a remarkable instance of a school system elaborately thought out and worked as a whole." Again, he says of the _Ratio Studiorum_:[69] "It points out a perfectly attainable goal, and carefully defines the road by which that goal is to be approached. For each cla.s.s was prescribed not only the work to be done, but also the end to be kept in view."

Surely these are most commendable features of any course of study. The work was remarkably thorough in every detail.

After the society had been in existence some forty years, Claudius Aquaviva became its General Superior. He at once began the study of the educational problem, using all the resources of his office in obtaining information, and employing his executive ability in producing an improved method of study. A committee of twelve most eminent churchmen was appointed in 1581 to study the question, and three years later a commission of six, representing different countries, began the labor of preparing a course of study. Their work, called the _Ratio Studiorum_,[70] completed in 1599, has remained, with some modifications, the guide of Jesuit inst.i.tutions of learning.

=Emulation=.--Emulation was employed to stimulate pupils to work and to secure good conduct. Prizes, decorations, rewards, t.i.tles, were offered as a means of attaining desired ends. Emulation is a natural instinct in mankind, and it may be utilized to stimulate endeavor and "foster ambition." The principle ever to be kept in mind should be _excellency without degrading others_. Schwickerath thinks that such was the spirit in which the Jesuits employed this incentive.[71] He admits, however, that there are dangers connected with prizes, and, on the whole, that certain methods of fostering emulation recommended by the _Ratio Studiorum_ are less suitable to northern countries and less in accordance with modern taste.

While corporal punishment was allowed, it was generally administered by an official disciplinarian. It was seldom used, however, the discipline being mild and humane.

=Criticism of Jesuit Education.=--As to the efficiency of the instruction in the Jesuit schools, opinions widely differ. Bacon and Descartes indorse it in highest terms, while Leibnitz, Voltaire, and others are equally strong in its condemnation. Bacon remarks, "As to whatever relates to the instruction of the young, we must consult the schools of the Jesuits, for there can be nothing that is better done."

Leibnitz, on the other hand, says, "In the matter of education, the Jesuits have remained below mediocrity." Ranke, in speaking of the success of the Jesuit schools, says, "It was found that young persons learned more under them in half a year than with others in two years."

Mr. Quick says: "I have said that the object which the Jesuits proposed in their teaching was not the highest object. They did not aim at developing _all_ the faculties of their pupils, but merely the receptive and reproductive faculties. When the young man had acquired a thorough mastery of the Latin language for all purposes, when he was well versed in the theological and philosophical opinions of his preceptors, when he was skillful in dispute, and could make a brilliant display from the resources of a well-stored memory, he had reached the highest point to which the Jesuits sought to lead him."[72] Some critics of the Jesuits claim that they lack in originality of thinking, and that they neglect training in the power of forming correct judgments. They have produced, however, many great men.

=Summary.=--Summarizing the educational work of the Jesuits, the following would appear to us to be just:--

1. Their educational system was by far the most efficient and successful of any during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.

2. This, however, applies only to higher education, as primary education was not undertaken by them.

3. They made their schools interesting, and learning pleasant. Their work was thorough, their consecration complete, their success as teachers marvelous, they being the greatest schoolmasters of their time.

4. They produced a course of study, the _Ratio Studiorum_, which lays princ.i.p.al stress upon the humanities and religious instruction.

5. They taught the necessity of trained teachers, and developed a remarkable power and tact in the work of instruction and school management.

6. They made use of emulation as a means of stimulating ambition,--a principle that tends to arouse the baser motives, and which is therefore to be used guardedly.

7. They were indefatigable in missionary enterprise, and zealous in the propagation of their principles, both religious and educational.