History of Education Part 21

=Summary of Educational Progress during the Sixteenth Century.=--1.

Humanism had reached its climax and begun to decline. It stimulated invention and discovery; it revived cla.s.sic literature and put it in such form that it could be used; it emanc.i.p.ated the mind; it prepared the way for later reforms; it produced great educators such as Petrarch, Erasmus, and Reuchlin.

2. The Reformation took up the educational work of humanism, and carried it forward. It inst.i.tuted primary education, the education of the ma.s.ses, compulsory education and parental responsibility therefor; it a.s.serted the right and duty of the State to demand and secure universal education; it elevated and gave dignity to the office of teacher; it formulated several school systems, and laid the foundation of the present German school system. Among its great educators were Luther, Melanchthon, Sturm, and Neander.

3. The Jesuits established a remarkable system of schools, noted for their thoroughness, for their singleness of purpose, for their rapid growth, and for their trained teachers. They gave little attention to primary education, but sought to reach the higher cla.s.ses. Emulation was the princ.i.p.al incentive employed.

4. Opposed to the Jesuit education was that of the Port Royalists. They appealed to the intelligence of the children and cultivated the sense-perceptions. They invented the phonic method of spelling.

5. Sturm's celebrated course of study was introduced during this century at Strasburg.

6. The method of double translations in learning a language was taught by Ascham and Sturm.

7. In Rabelais we find the first appearance of _realism_, which bore rich fruit in later scientific education.

8. Montaigne opposed the use of the rod, and taught that the schoolroom should be made attractive. He also advocated the study of modern languages by conversation, and gave science an honorable place in the curriculum.

It thus appears that the sixteenth century surpa.s.sed many previous eras in its contributions to educational progress.

FOOTNOTES:

[73] H. M. Skinner, "The Schoolmaster in Literature," p. 20.

[74] For special reference see Besant's "Rabelais."

[75] "Rabelais," 192.

[76] Ibid., 193.

[77] "Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire," 9-33.

[78] "History of Pedagogy," p. 91.

[79] "Rabelais," p. 187.

[80] "History of Pedagogy," p. 96.

[81] See Collins, "Montaigne."

[82] Collins, "Montaigne," p. 14.

[83] A good summary of Montaigne's educational ideas may be found in Collins's "Montaigne," p. 102.

CHAPTER x.x.xII

EDUCATION DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

=Literature.=--_Taylor_, History of Germany; _Guizot_, History of Civilization; _Schiller_, The Thirty Years' War; _Dyer_, Modern Europe; _Lewis_, History of Germany; _Macaulay_, History of England.

=Political and Historical Conditions.=--The seventeenth century was remarkable for the wars for religious supremacy. The Reformation had challenged the authority of the Church, aroused a questioning spirit, and instilled into men's minds a love for religious liberty. During the latter half of the sixteenth century, Europe had swayed back and forth between Protestantism and Catholicism, according as success in arms had favored one side or the other. The spirit of Protestantism had taken possession more especially of the common people, who formed the bone and sinew of the armies. Bitter animosities existed between the adherents of the papal church and the reformers, which found expression in bloodshed, rapine, and destruction of property.

England was torn asunder by civil war, which resulted in the death of Charles I. and the establishment of the Commonwealth under Cromwell,--the struggle between _Cavalier_ and _Roundhead_, between established church and Puritan, ending finally in the revolution of 1688. The country was in a religious ferment during the greater part of this century, caused by a growing jealousy for the maintenance of the principle of the right to worship G.o.d according to the dictates of one's own conscience. Nor was the struggle less virulent or disastrous in continental Europe. The religious upheaval of the previous century culminated in the terrible conflict known as the Thirty Years' War; this lasted from 1618 till 1648, when the Peace of Westphalia secured religious liberty to all men. Northern Germany, Austria, France, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden, as well as minor countries, were involved in this great war.

Let Bayard Taylor paint the result of this fearful struggle. "Thirty years of war! The slaughters of Rome's worst emperors, the persecution of the Christians under Nero and Diocletian, the invasions of the Huns and Magyars, the long struggle of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, left no such desolation behind them. At the beginning of the century, the population of the German Empire was about 30,000,000; when the Peace of Westphalia was declared, it was scarcely more than 12,000,000! Electoral Saxony, alone, lost 900,000 lives in two years.... The city of Berlin contained but 300 citizens, the whole of the Palatinate of the Rhine but 200 farmers. In Hesse-Ca.s.sel, 17 cities, 47 castles, and 300 villages were entirely destroyed by fire; thousands of villages, in all parts of the country, had but four or five families left out of hundreds, and landed property sank to about one twentieth of its former value.... The horses, cattle, and sheep were exterminated in many districts, the supplies of grain were at an end, even for sowing, and large cultivated tracts had relapsed into a wilderness. Even orchards and vineyards had been wantonly destroyed wherever armies had pa.s.sed. So terrible was the ravage that, in a great many localities, the same amount of population, cattle, acres of cultivated land, and general prosperity was not restored until the year 1848, two centuries afterward!

"This statement of the losses of Germany, however, was but a small part of the suffering endured.... During the last ten or twelve years of the war, both Protestants and Catholics vied with each other in deeds of barbarity; the soldiers were nothing but highway robbers, who maimed and tortured the country people to make them give up their last remaining property.... In the year 1637, when Ferdinand II. died, the want was so great that men devoured each other, and even hunted down human beings like deer or hares, in order to feed upon them.

"In character, in intelligence, and in morality, the German people were set back two hundred years. All branches of industry had declined, commerce had almost entirely ceased, literature and the arts were suppressed, and except the astronomical discoveries of Copernicus and Kepler, there was no contribution to human knowledge. Even the modern High German language, which Luther had made the cla.s.sic tongue of the land, seemed to be on the point of perishing. Spaniards and Italians on the Catholic, Swedes and French on the Protestant side, flooded the country with foreign words and expressions, the use of which soon became an affectation with the n.o.bility, who did their best to destroy their native tongue.

"Politically, the change was no less disastrous. The ambition of the house of Hapsburg, it is true, had brought its own punishment; the imperial dignity was secured to it, but henceforth the head of the 'Holy Roman Empire' was not much more than a shadow.... As for the ma.s.s of the people, their spirit was broken; for a time they gave up even the longing for the rights which they had lost, and taught their children abject obedience in order that they might simply live."[84]

=The Educational Situation.=--These political conditions had a marked influence upon education. Schools were abandoned, colleges gave up their charters, and people were content to allow their children to grow up in ignorance. Indeed, it was not to be expected that, in the midst of their poverty and sorrow, parents should care for education. And yet, some most important and wise school laws were enacted and put into force, which form the basis of the present German school system, as well as the school systems of many other countries. In 1619 the Duke of Weimar decreed that all children, girls as well as boys, should be kept in school for at least six years,--from six to twelve. This is the first efficient compulsory education law on record intended for all cla.s.ses of children.

Besides Weimar, Wurtemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg, Holstein, Hesse-Ca.s.sel, and other provinces were active in school work. They organized schools, appointed teachers, and formulated school regulations. In 1642, Duke Ernst of Gotha adopted a new school regulation which was a century in advance of the time, and this action was taken when the Thirty Years' War was at its height and in a territory sadly devastated by contending armies.

This law required every child to enter school at the beginning of his sixth year, and to remain in school until he could read his mother tongue, had mastered Luther's catechism, and was well grounded in arithmetic, writing, and church songs. A course of study was marked out, the schools were graded, and methods of instruction were outlined. The greatest defect in the system was the lack of competent teachers.

Discharged soldiers, worthless students, and degraded craftsmen who could read and write, and who possessed a little knowledge of music, continued for many years to be employed as schoolmasters. But little progress could be made under these adverse circ.u.mstances; and the only reason for encouragement was the fact that the duty of parents to keep their children at school was everywhere recognized.

=The Innovators.=--We must here mention also the Innovators or Reformers, whose period of educational activity falls chiefly within the seventeenth century. Among these appear the names of Francis Bacon, Ratke, Milton, Comenius, Rollin, Fenelon, and Locke. These men started movements which revolutionized education and laid the foundation of modern methods. The demands of the Reformers are summed up by Quick as follows: "First, that the study of _things_ should precede, or be united with, the study of _words_; second, that knowledge should be communicated, where possible, by appeal to the senses; third, that all linguistic study should begin with that of the mother tongue; fourth, that Latin and Greek should be taught to such boys only as would be likely to complete a learned education; fifth, that physical education should be attended to in all cla.s.ses of society for the sake of health, not simply with a view to gentlemanly accomplishments; sixth, that a new method of teaching should be adopted, framed 'According to nature.'"[85]

In another chapter we shall study the life and work of some of these men.

FOOTNOTES:

[84] "History of Germany," p. 409.

[85] Quick, "Educational Reformers," p. 50.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII

EDUCATORS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

=Literature.=--_Church_, Bacon; _Macaulay_, Essays; _Spofford_, Library of Historical Characters; _Lord_, Beacon Lights; _Montagu_, Life of Bacon; _Barnard_, English Pedagogy; _Quick_, Educational Reformers; _Williams_, History of Modern Education; _Laurie_, Life and Works of Comenius; _Comenius_, Orbis Pictus; _Barnard_, Journal of Education; _Milton_, Tractate on Education; _Pattison_, Milton; _Fowler_, Locke; _Leitch_, Practical Educationists; _Gill_, Systems of Education; _Schwegler_, History of Philosophy; _Courtney_, John Locke; _Vogel_, Geschichte der Padagogik; _Compayre_, History of Pedagogy; _Fenelon_, Education of Girls; _Azarias_, Philosophy of Literature; _Monroe_, Comenius.

BACON[86] (1561-1626)

But little is known of the early years of Francis Bacon, but it is probable that he was well trained, as his father was a man of good education, and the boy was able to enter Cambridge when only a little over twelve years of age. His father was for many years Lord Keeper of the Seals, and this brought Francis in contact with court life, where his precocity made him a favorite with the queen. He thus early acquired that taste for the court, by which he climbed to the height of his ambition only to fall therefrom in ignominious defeat.

He remained at Cambridge only about three years. Lord Macaulay sums up the result of Bacon's university experience in the following words: "Bacon departed, carrying with him a profound contempt for the course of study pursued there, a fixed conviction that the system of academic education in England was radically vicious, a just scorn for the trifles on which the followers of Aristotle had wasted their powers, and no great reverence for Aristotle himself."[87]

Some think that thus early, while not yet fifteen years of age, Bacon began to formulate that inductive system which made him a great benefactor of the human race. There seems to be but little proof of this; and, if it be so, he laid it aside until near the close of his life, and devoted himself to politics. After leaving Cambridge, he went abroad with the English amba.s.sador at Paris, with whom he served until the death of his father compelled his return to England. Unexpectedly finding that his patrimony was gone, he began a career at the bar, and rose step by step, amid many discouragements, until he reached the height of his ambition, the Lord High Chancellorship of the realm. In reaching this position he resorted to many of the tricks of the politician, and sacrificed his best friends to further his selfish interests. Concerning his actions toward his benefactor, Ess.e.x, Macaulay says, "This friend, so loved, so trusted, bore a princ.i.p.al part in ruining the earl's fortunes, in shedding his blood, and in blackening his memory. But let us be just to Bacon. We believe that, to the last, he had no wish to injure Ess.e.x. Nay, we believe that he sincerely wished to serve Ess.e.x, as long as he could serve Ess.e.x without injuring himself."[88] Such seeming mitigation of Bacon's ingrat.i.tude serves only to bring the Lord Chancellor's cowardice more completely to light.