H*H^^'S>^HP*' < :?* ; iP' *>' >"i>^ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES PEDAGOGICAL M a SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION : PHstorg anli Criticism MOT TO BE "ROM THF ROOM, PRINCIPLES, METHODS, ORGANIZATION, AND MORAL DISCIPLINE ADVOCATED BY EMINENT EDUCATIONISTS. BY JOHN GILL, PROFESSOR or EDUCATION, NORMAL COLLEGE, CHELTENHAM. ENGLAND. AUTHOR OF " INTRODUCTORY TEXT-BOOK TO SCHOOL EDUCATION," ETC. BOSTON D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 1889 NOV 1906 Education Library i G~ Hi PREFACE TO FOURTEENTH EDITION. THE Notes to the present Edition have been revised throughout, and a few passages unnoticed in former editions have been explained. The references to Keightley's Mythology have been replaced by short notes, which will be found to contain what is necessary for the understanding of the text. Where more information is required, the Classical Dictionary may be consulted. April, 187ft. PREFACE. IN the year 1852, the Syllabus for Students in Training Colleges, issued by the Committee of Council on Educa- tion, required that they should be instructed in the Sys- tems of Education that had been in use in this country. It thus became the Author's duty, in that and following years, to explore the field, and to give lectures in the course thus opened out to him. Gradually his course shaped itself into the form in which it is presented in this volume. At the request of the Bishop of Tasmania, then Principal of the Training Colleges, Cheltenham, some of these lectures appeared at intervals in the Papers for the Schoolmaster. The whole course is now offered in a more permanent form, at the request of many of the Author's former pupils. But another consideration has had weight. School Education has to become a Science. One means to this end is to gather and examine what has been done by those who have been engaged therein, and whose position or success has given them a right to be heard. Nor these alone. Others have been employed, if not in it, yet about it. School education, at its present standpoint, is the result of many agencies, IV PREFACE. individual, social, and national, and these have been very varied, and often antagonistic. It has been a growth, to which the philosopher, the politician, the doctrinaire, and the amateur have contributed, as well as the actual workers in schools. With these excluding those whdse object has been mercenary it has been a course of efforts, schemes, mistakes, and failures, but sometimes of partial successes, all of which have yielded something to the fabric as it now stands. The Author's hope is thaf the sketch here feebly attempted may stimulate those just starting in their profession, ever to work with the purpose of ultimately placing their art on a scientific basis. One word as to the form. In few cases are the words of the educational writers or workers used. Having but a very limited time, not one hour weekly, in which to present the salient points of each system, he found he could better do this, without quotation. But he has never consciously altered or coloured any one's views. In this plan he was confirmed by finding how successfully it bad been followed in the Schoolmaster, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ; to which book and to its other publications, the writer gratefully acknowk dges his indebtedness. February 28, 1876. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. PIONEERS English taught in schools John Cornewafle In- crease of schools Influence of Chaucer Revival of learn- ing Colet Wolsey's instructions to masters First Eng- lish grammar. ROGER ASCHAM Hia education Origin of the Schoolmaster Discipline in relation to learning Marks of a good scholar Chiding Correction of mistakes Corporal punishment Quick and hard wits Competent teachers Learning to he intelligent Thoroughness Examples he- fore rules Nothing to unlearn. COMENIUS Monitorial principle Intuitive faculties Pictorial teaching Picturing-out. JOHN MILTON Spirit of the educator Influence on the nation's life No formal routine Pestalozzian principle antici- pated Baconian method. Course of study Motives to be employed. JOHN LOCKE Incidents in -life Physical education Moral culture Its Place in a system of education Its natnre Necessity of knowing childhood Difference in children Early impressions M cans of moral training Authority Shame Opposed to corporal punishment Obstinacy Re- wards-Natural consequences Skilful teaching Learning made pleasant Saturday Review quoted Pleasant books Method of penmanship Grammar Composition French. VICESIMUS KNOX Opposed to Locke Advantages of classical culture Bias of scholar Easy methods suspicious Cul- ture of memory Early reading Latin basis of school discipline Greek and French English composition Geo- graphy. ... .Pp. 147 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER II. THE COMMON SCHOOL. EDGF.WOHTHS Influence of their writings Kindergarten anti. cipated Early learning Objections to alphabetic teach, ing Phonic method suggested Spelling should follow jeading Arithmetic by objects Power of attention Short lessons When to end teaching Connection in teaching Difficulty of language Personal motive Selection of books History, how taught Place of poetry Moral discipline Natural consequences Submission Commands and prohibitions. x /J*8TALOzzi Incidents in life Books on education Become a schoolmaster Qualification Experiments and failures Leading principles Opposed to common practices So- cratic development Was the old method utterly bad ? Ideas before words Child an active agent Object lessons Simple to complex Graduation of exercises Harmonious development Absurdities in his practices Moral and reli- gious training How develop religious feeling. Pp. 4875 CHAPTER III. INFANTS' SCHOOLS. OBEBLIN School at Lanark School at Westminster. , WILDERSPIN The gaudy cap and its lesson Qualifications for his work His enthusiasm His entei prise Principles Follow nature Physical culture Characteristics of child- hood Moral education Moral truths and principles Moral constitution Playground Cultivation of intelli- gence The Senses How to think rather tban what Object lessons Lessons in number Ball frame Pictures. MAYOS Expounders of Pestalozzianism Pestalozzian prin- ciples Education should be religious Should be moral Should be organic Action parent of power Liberty Harmonious development Progressive. HOME AND COLONIAL SCHOOL SOCIETY Primary object in infant culture Infants' schools are too often hot-beds Aim of this Society Huge gallery banished Sectional CONTENTS. VI 1 division of school Development and intuition Hand, head and heart Religious training Its mode First ideas of God Graduated instruction Scripture prints Moral culture Based on religious truth Springs of action Systematic culture of the feelings Conscience Training rather than teaching Power of example School discip- line Authority Punishments Treatment of obstinate children Rewards and praise Cultivation of intelligence The seuses Object lessons Lessons on animals Colour and form Size and weight Number. KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM Frobel Observes children Their characteristics Gifts Forms Inventions Activity Taste Number Reading. . . Pp. 76161 CHAPTER IV. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. DR. ANDREW BELL Origin of monitorial system Province of the school Religion and morality Relation to future callings Attention and exertion Means of secuiing Home exercises Principles and methods Something to do Definite and thorough work Repetition Reading "Writing Organization of school Subordinate officers Large classes Arrangements of room School keeping Supervision Paidometer Discipline Prevention better than cure Personal improvement Emulation Place- taking Treatment of offences Punishment objections to corporal punishment. JOSKFH LANCASTER Devotedness to education --Moral training based on religious instruction Periods of school life Graduation of lessons Reading Arithmetic Organization distinct classes for arithmetic classes and drafts Teach- ing staff Discipline Influence of master Public opinion in school Fellenberg's practice Offices of trust Training of the will Emotions of self-love of distinc- tion Class emulation. lui-jSLLECTUAJ, SYSTEM Culture of intelligence Knowledge of child mind No royal road to learning Qualifications of Vlll CONTENTS. teachers Disciplined mind Apt to teach- Methods Interrogation Explanation Exposition of reading lesson. Stow' s TRAINING SYSTEM Origin and progress Infant school David Caughie Establishment of first normal college training and teaching Function of the school Religious and moral training Bible lessons Te ling not training Currie on doing Locke on training Action teaches Condition of moral training Knowledge of aptitudes Development of tastes Freedom from restraint Fear prevents confidence Temptations not removed Uncovered school room Moral review Sympathy of numbers Public opinion Long on school opinion Reid on school boy's influence Currie on sympathy of numbers Intel- lectual culture Leading principle Master to teach Necessity of learning Nothing told that can be discovered Understanding, then memory Not reasons for every- thing Logical faculty Outlines first Picturing out Words Scenes Bible lessons Training out Mistakes and absurdities Induction Collective lessons Pp. 162262 CHAPTER V. AMATEURS AND HELPERS. Present interest in education Brougham's efforts Central Society. THOMAS WYSE Knowledge of mind Education must be reli- gious that it may be moral How teach the Bible Intel- ligent training The senses first All the faculties - Method should be eclectic. HORACE GRANT Interest in education Special qualifications Inductive labour Principles Saturday Review on arithmetic. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT Shuttleworth Principles of method Pound's Battersea college Professor Moseley Religious training Moral discipline Training of teachers Oral lessons Tripartite organization Grade schools Tremen- heere Oral lessons Education of the whole nature Know- ledge of mind Poetry Reading lesson. . Pp. 263 304 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. CHAPTER I. IS III GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. Section I. Pioneers. THE reign of Edward III. witnessed, after a struggle of three centuries, the triumph of English, in the schools, as well as in social life and the courts of law. Schools had been chiefly those connected with cathedrals and monasteries, some of the latter class having been founded before the Conquest. These were intended chiefly for the training of ecclesiastics. But there were other than these, found in towns and villages, which were open to the laity. Of these were those held probably in the chamber over the porch of the church, parvise. The Serjeant in the Canterbury Tales had been at parvisf.. In these schools Latin and French were taught, and were the medium through which other things were acquired. John Cornewaile appears to have been the first to break through custom and prejudice, by introducing into the school the reading of the mother tongue, it spread, so that in the course of a generation "In all the grammar schools of England children iearnoth French and con- 2 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. strueth and learneth in English." The Visions and Creed of Piers Ploughman (Langlande), the tracts and Bible of Wycliffe, and the burst of song in Chaucer came to stimulate and reward this movement. Other schools under private persons, that is, not connected with the religious houses sprang up, due greatly to Wycliffe and those who abetted him. The movement was countenanced by Wykeham, to whom it has been attributed, that his school at Winchester was designed to rescue the early training of youth from the hands of the monks. The increase of these schools seems to have alarmed the ecclesiastical bodieu. They opposing Lollardry, obtained a law making it illegal to send children for tuition to private persons. But the impetus had been given, and though for a century after Chaucer no great English writer appeared, yet it is evident that the learning of English spread more and more, until literature was no longer the possession of a class, but had begun to be the heritage of the people. This is shown by the literature in demand ; compendiums of the scientific and historic knowledge of the day ; the common-place dramas, mysteries, and poems, and the rhyming chronicles. It is also shown by the extent of the demand. It was beyond precedent, so that few occupations were so thriving as the scriveners. It is also shown in the demand of some of the clergy of London in 1477, for leave to open schools in their re- spective churches. But the strongest proof of all is in, the success that attended William Caxton, and his noble efforts, by translation and printing, to meet the ever increasing demand. The revival of learning in Florence, due greatly to PIONEERS. 3 the Greek scholars, who had fled there, on the taking of Constantinople by the Turks ; and due also to the influence of the Medici ; and the spread of this revival in Europe was another element in the upward move- ment. Grocyn, Linacre, and somewhat later Colet, having studied in Florence, returned to kindle the fire in Oxford, and to adopt means to promote the new learning. The reformation, in one of its phases a collateral result of the revival of learning, brought into the homes of the people the light of sacred truth, with its necessary result, intellectual awakening ; and placed within their reach the Bible in English. It was a necessary consequence of the revival of learning that schools and colleges increased. During the latter years of Henry VIII. moi grammar schools were founded than during the three preceding centuries. In the reign of Edward and Elizabeth the good work went on, until a system of schools was established for the middle-classes, which bore noble fruit in the next generations. It was natural that this revival and progress should draw attention to school methods and practices, which should issue in efforts for their im provement. Dean Colet led the way in both move- ments, by the establishment of his school at St. Paul's, placing it under the charge of Lilly, and by reforming the matter of study and the mode of instruction. Fifteen years later, Wolsey wrote to the masters of the school he had founded at Ipswich a letter of instruc- tion as to the methods to be pursued, gathered probably from the writings of Erasmus, and the practice on the Continent. The main points of this letter, separater 1 4 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. from the detail of daily work in each class are, to be careful in first teaching, to suit the matter to the capacity, not to force to learning by blows or harsh threats, to make learning a game rather than a task, to explain, illustrate and arrange, to commend, and to exact correctness in speech at play as well as in school. But this revival was not confined to classical learn- ing. In the reign of Elizabeth, there burst into leaf, the tree of English literature, with a vigour, a life, and a growth, which have never since departed from it. With this there came the demand for such culture in schools, as would put this literature into the hands of England's children. The first attempt was the humble unpretentious English Grammar, of the head master of St. Paul's school, Alexander Gill. Section II. Roger Ascham. Eoger Ascham may be considered the father of school method. For though his " Scholemaster " deals necessarily with classical learning, yet it contains principles which are applicable to all school subjects. His book was not that of an amateur, but of one who had, for the age, fair experience and success in the work of tuition. Born in 1515, he entered, at the age of fifteen, St. John's College, Cambridge, just when the Greek revival under Cheke was drawing many to that University. Ascham's progress was rapid, and the bent of his mind was shown by his teaching, while yet a boy, other boys the Greek he had so quickly acquired, with the design too of facilitating his own ROGER ASCHAM. 5 acquisition and use of it. He became early distinguished as a scholar, obtained his bachelor's degree at the age of nineteen, and was elected a Fellow of his College a month later. He employed himself as tutor and lecturer, and many of his scholars afterwards rose to great distinction. Ascham was not only proficient in classical learning, he had skill in music, and was one of the few that excelled in penmanship. This in- fluenced his fortunes. About 1544, he was appointed by Henry VIIL to teach penmanship to Edward and Elizabeth, and somewhat later he became Greek tutor to that princess. Subsequently he was Latin secretary to Edward VI., an office which was continued to him by the good offices of Gardiner under Mary, and which he retained under Elizabeth. With this queen he also read classics daily, until his death in 1568. The origin of Ascham's book gives the key to its matter. In 1563, Sir William Cecil tells in Ascham's presence of boys that had run away from Eton for fear of a beating. He also expressed an opinion that masters often punish nature rather than the fault of the scholar ; and drove from learning those they had in charg'e. This gave rise to a discussion, whether learning was better promoted by love alluring, or beat- ing driving to it. Ascham expressed himself against punishments, and in favour of methods that would render punishment unnecessary. His work is in two books. Book I. " Teaching the bringing up of Youth." Book II. "The ready way to the Latin tongue. The former book, to which we confine our- selves, treats of discipline and method. Ascham is at pains to distinguish between the dis- 6 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. cipline which is to promote progress in learning with the love of it, and the discipline which has to form the manners, root out vice, and promote growth in virtue. In this latter sphere, he thinks there may be reasonable severity, but he thinks that such discipline does not belong to* the schoolmaster. This opinion has not altogether died out, there being schools now, where masters think their only responsibility rests in their pupils' progress in learning. Still, even in Ascham's day, there were those who held that the school had a higher function in education. " In such places," he urges, " the discipline to promote learning should not be of the same kind as that which has to form the character and reform the manners." Referring to the discipline amongst the Ancients he observes: "The schoolmaster taught him learning with all gentleness ; the governor corrected his manners with much sharp- ness, the father held the stern of his whole obedience. And so he that used to teach did not commonly use to beat, but remitted that over to another man's charge. But what shall we say, when now in our days the schoolmaster is used both for preceptor in learning, and pcedagoyus in manners 1 Surely, I would he should not confound their offices, but discreetly use the duty of both, so that neither ill touches should be left unpunished, nor gentleness in teaching anywise omitted. And he shall well do both, if wisely he do appoint diversity of time, and separate place for either purpose." Here is a very important distinction shadowed forth, involving a very great principle, and indicating a tioble practice. Nothing should be done in discipline th;it will tend to confound moral distinctions in the ROGER ASCHAM. 7 mind of the young ; or, that will make them think that a false quantity is on the same footing as a lie. This distinction too is important, when weighing arguments on corporal punishment ; for it must be evident that such as may establish the propriety, expediency, or necessity of it in the one case, may be utterly worthless in the other. Quoting from Plato the marks of a good scholar in the judgment of Socrates, he sets forth these as the objects of discipline. Secure to him a gsod " memory, quick to receive, sure to keep, and ready to deliver ; a love of learning ; a desire to labour ; a will to take pains ; willingness to be taught by any one ; and not to be ashamed to ask questions." To attain those objects, " never chide hastily." Look well to your ground and consider what will be its effect on the pupil. " Hasty chiding dulls the wit and discourages diligence." " Why are you angry, sir? Indeed I am doing as well as I can," was a reply that elicited from Arnold, " I was never so ashamed in my life." " Monish gently." Faults have to be pointed out, but it should be in a way " that shall make him both willing to amend, and glad to go for- ward in love and hope of learning." Hence monition should be mixed with encouragement. Love is a better spur than fear, gentleness is better than bullying, soft words are better than stinging ones. " For whatsoever the mind doth learn unwillingly from fear, the same it doth gladly forget without care." In further illustration he compares children learning to ride, and learning their book. " Schoolmasters by fear do beat into them the hatred of learning ; and wise riders, by gentle allure- 8 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. ments, do breed up in them the love of riding. They find fear and bondage in schools, they feel liberty and freedom in stables." Meeting an obvious objection that riding is a pastime and therefore easy to children, while learning is labour and wearisome, he rejoins, "Beat a child if he dance not well, and cherish him though he learn not well, ye shall have him unwilling to go to dance, and glad to go to his book," for " the mind of a child is like the newest wax, able to receive the best and fairest printing," hence a child's likings or dislikings are due to his educators. Correction of mistakes or faults should not degrade, nor discourage, but stimulate. In doing this necessary work, there must not be a frown, nor the fault put down to wilfulness. " Cicero would have used such a word, or put it in such a place." Here he exhibits knowledge of human nature. An illustration is at hand in the "Daily News "of the autumn of 1872. Its correspondent attended the field manoauvres of the English army, and a few days later he was performing ' a similar duty with the German army in the neighbour- hood of Berlin. " If an officer in the former case made a mistake he was soundly rated in the presence of the staff; but in the case of the German, the General said ' Had I been charged with such a movement, I would have conducted it so and so.' Here the self respect of the officer was considered, who, beside, would on a similar occasion try to do the thing as his distinguished general would have done it." Seating should never be employed to promote learning. Generally it breaks rather than bends, mars rather than mends. It tends to associate such disagreeable things ROGER ASCHAM. 9 with learning as to make children detest, rather than love it, drive from it, rather than allure to it It often leads to tyranny. Beaters often allow ill humour at other things to find vent on the pupil. Indulging the practice of inflicting pain for faults not of a moral nature, has a tendency to harden the master, and to r ender him insensible to the claims of justice. It is often unjust. As Cecil said, it more frequently punishes nature than corrects faults ; for the slow, and dull, and heavy get the heating, while the quick and easy getters obtain the praise. Pain is thus inflicted for natural qualities, instead of being reserved for moral offences. There should be discrimination between quick and hard wits. Quick w its are apt to take, unapt to keep, easily got and quickly gone, soon hot and soon cold- They are like sharp-edged tools, which enter easily but do not penetrate to a great depth, because their edges are soon turned. Hence few quick wits are -ever pro- found ; but exception is to be made here for the excel- lently gifted. But as a matter of fact, the quick at school seldom turn out well as men ; they live obscurely and die unknown. The remedy is a judicious system of repetition which will make their learning thorough. Hard wits are the hope of the school, and ultimately do society and the commonwealth most service. Here is encouragement. Hard wits are those who find it hard to iearn, and who are hard to teach. He compares them to hard woods and hard stones in the hands of the engraver and sculptor. The tool makes scarcely any impression ; it requires much toil and much skill to trace a line or to chisel a feature, but the work is 10 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. lasting. Lapse of time and the action of the elements destroy it not. It realizes "I work for eternity." Now your hard wits are just such. Hard to get, hard to lose, sure to keep. He compares them also to tools which enter with difficulty, but penetrate deeply. Here is probably the reason of their slowness, they are not satisfied like the quick with being superficial. They are not like the butterfly, here and there, but like the bee, staying at a flower till it has gathered all it contains. The principles for conducting instruction found in Ascham are few but pregnant. His first care would be to provide a competent instructor. But, alas! " men look for a cunning man for their horse, but not for their children." They show this in the salaries they give. " Two hundred crowns to the one, two hundred shillings to the other." They reap accordingly "tame, well-ordered horses, wild children. They get more pleasure from their horses than comfort from their children." Ascham requires that the master shall teach as well as the pupil learn, and in order thereto. The pupil should understand. .The master is to spare no pains to make him carry away the sense. He requires as a test and as a means that the child shall do by himself what he had before done with his tutor. It is only through teaching that learning is profitable. " Learn- ing without teaching makes lubbers, always learning, never profiting." He draws a comparison between what children learn from books, and what they obtain by the use of their senses and by experience. The one is .practical and valuable, the other stale and ROGER ASCHAM. 11 profitless. Learning -without intelligence is simply, " on the tongue and lip, to be spit out when occasion needeth ; that which is understood ascends to the brain, is assimilated, and becomes fruitful." Learning must be thorough as well as intelligent. These things satisfy the mind of the pupil and clear his path. " They give pleasure to children, pleasure excites love, love provokes labour, and labour effects its purpose." Thoroughness requires that there should be order in his work and repetition. " Let the master read unto him the Epistles of Cicero. First let him teach the child cheerfully and plainly the cause and matter of the letter; then let him construe it into English so oft as the child may easily carry away the understanding of it; lastly, parse it over perfectly. This done thus, let the child by and by both construe and parse it over again, so that it may appear that the child doubteth in nothing that his master taught him before. After this the child must take a paper book, and sitting in some place where no man shall prompt him, by himself, let him translate into English his former lesson. Then, showing it to his master, let the master take from him his Latin book, and pausing an hour at least, then let the child translate his own English into Latin again in another paper book. The master must compare it with Tully's book, and lay them both together." In order to thoroughness and subsequent progress, there should be cultivation at first only of a small area. He recommends that a good but easy and short book should be selected, and this so completely worked and mastered as to be equally at command with the 12 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. mother tongue. This advice, necessary then, is ten- fold more so now. How wide the area of human research at present ! How vast the domain of knowledge already won ! How persistent the devotee to each special subject, that his shall enter into the curriculum of the school ! How dogmatic the doctrinaire, that the subjects in school shall be many, and that their limits shall not be circumscribed ! And with what results ? Let the disclosures in connection with the Civil Service examinations, and the system of enfeebling cram, give the reply. No ! the hint of Ascham should be the rule in school " a small area well cultivated." This only will give thorough knowledge, strength of mind, and sound education. " Heedful mending of faults " is necessary both to intelligence and thoroughness. Correction of mis- takes is oftentimes the best instruction. We get a clearer insight. " A child learns more from two faults than from four things rightly hit." Examples before rules, and rules deduced from examples, are two important principles which are in- dicated by Ascham. Speaking of Latin, he would have the learner become familiar with the language, and for himself discover its syntax, rather than the common practice of giving him the rule and leaving him to apply it. These two invaluable principles are but now bearing fmit in school matters, so persistent is bad method, and so difficult to overcome the inertia that prevents thought. But our author has no sympathy with idleness, nor with any master who adopts what seems the easier method of tasks, instead of one that makes constant demand on his own mental power COMEN1US. 13 The practice of a boy being set to do things at such a time, or in such a way, that he learns many things that he has afterwards to unlearn, comes under animad- version. Thus are often produced faults that no later care can cure. His instance is taken from setting boys to Latin composition before they had sufficient know- ledge and skill in the language. The rule condemns the too frequent practice of giving for correction false syntax, false speech, and false spelling ; and the per- mitting of practices in learning, and in reading, writing, and arithmetic, which afterwards prove hindrances to progress. Section III. Comenius. Milton. John Amos Comenius was born at Comna in 1592. His parents were Moravians, and he himself became a pastor in that community. Forced by the burning of Fulneck, in the religious war, to leave that town, he became rector of a school at Lesna, in Poland. Here he began his career as an educational reformer. In 1G31 he published his " Janua Linguarum," and other works followed. Of these the " Janua " and the " Orbis " were translated into most European and into some of the Oriental languages. Having thus become known he was sought for by several Governments to put their systems of public instruction on a better basis. For this purpose he was invited to England, and remained here from 1638 to 1642, when the cut- break of the civil war caused him to leave. In 1638 he published in London an edition of his " Janua Linguarum, "in Latin, English, and French, "The Gate 14 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. of Tongues Unlocked and Opened." In this and his other books there are many valuable suggestions for the improvements of method of instruction. Acting on the hint of Quintilian, that the new learner is the best teacher, he employed pupils to in- struct less advanced pupils, thus anticipating, as had been done with Ascham at Cambridge, the monitorial plan of mutual instruction. His " Gate of Tongues " and his " Orbis " unfold a plan of aiding the acquisi- tion of languages by calling into exercise the percep- tive and intuitive faculties. For this purpose he would have the matter of the lessons such as would address itself to the senses, or would be easily understood ; as natural history, trades and professions, and science. He also introduced pictorial illustration into his books and teaching. This practice instantly became popular; Dr. Doddridge informing us that it was the common method in his childhood, for mothers thus to teach their little ones. A still further advance is the re- commendation, when things and pictures fail, to em- ploy graphic description, or " picturing out." It is curious to note the use by Comenius, of a term, for the supposed invention of which Stow received some hard criticism. It is evident that these practices of Comenius con- tain the germs of things afterwards associated with the names of Pestalozzi and Stow. It also may be safely assumed that many methods that are now in extensive use, were then not unknown to earnest teachers, for it is hard to believe that any one ever was a real teacher who did not emp'oy rational methods. JOHN MILTON was induced by a friend to write a MILTON. 15 small tract on what he calls " one of the greatest and noblest designs, the reforming of education," This tract appeared a few years subsequently to the depar- ture of Comenius, to whom the author evidently refers, when, not denying his obligations to the Ancients, he asserts no inclination to search " Modern Januas and Didactics." Milton's scheme was not that of a mere theorist, but of one who himself had been engaged in tuition. His own education had been carefully con- ducted, being already an accomplished scholar, when, at the age of fifteen, he entered St. Paul's School. The openifig proposition, whether intended so by Milton or not, admirably sets forth the spirit in which the work of education should be carried on. " The only purpose which should act as a motive in the pursuit of any object worthy to be remembered or imitated is the love of God and of mankind ! " This excludes mercenary motives. Not that a man should not be paid for his labours, and that in proportion to its value to the commonwealth, and to the skill and ability it requires ; but to attain the highest results in education, results not to be appraised by a money value, a man must be animated by a far higher consideration than the amount of money it secures. Living in stirring times, in which many were making sacrifices for the public good, Milton is influenced thereby, and contends that education should produce well-informed citizens, and good members of the state. This is one great aspect of the teacher's work. He is advancing the nation's knowledge, and he is influencing the nation's life What the intellect and moral life of the people of the future will be, will always depend on 16 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. the work in the schoolroom. There is laid either the " Seed corn of a harvest, or the powder train of a mine." But a yet higher purpose is to animate the school- master Human nature is in ruins, and we ought to seek its repair. This can be done " only by knowledge of God, love to God, and hence imitation of God, until we become like God." We gather that Milton attaches no value to a formal , routine of lessons, but requires a system of teaching that would arouse thought as well as exercise memory. This is the constant cry of the educational reformer. Forsake your mechanical drill, your setting of tasks, your burdens on memory, and give us work that will produce thinkers. In order to this the relation of language to culture should be understood. Things are to be known rather than words or rules, and the knowledge of words is best obtained through the knowledge of things. Here the Pestalozzian principle is anticipated, and also the application of it. "Cer- tain things can be made known only by the sensible and visible. They cannot be presented at all but by "* concrete examples. Such are divine things. To re- present the divine to us, human imagery is employed." But the same thing is true of many subjects, and thus " the same method is to be followed in all discreet teaching." Language not only embodies things, but also records for us the experience and traditions of other people and of other times. It is therefore an instrument conveying to us things useful to be known. Hence it becomes an instrument of culture, but it fails in this office, unless the things contained in it become the property of the mind. Language is the great SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. 17 store house of the treasures of the past, hut if it is only a verbal possession, it is like a storehouse the inlets to which have been closed up. Hence though a man know all the tongues that Babel cleft the world into, yet if he have not studied the solid things in them, he is not learned. Milton is quite Baconian in protesting against begin- ning where the true philosopher ends. True method is to begin with objects of sense, and to gather facts. He is strongly urgent that early instruction should be- gin with things that are easy, and that are obvious to the sense ; and that it should be real and thorough. The result of the opposite plan is pernicious to the individual and to society. The picture is very start- ling. Disgust with learning, and with its babblement w of course. Nothing being ever clearly understood, there is no real knowledge, and the whole thing is con- sciously to the scholars a deception and a sham. Thus by being taught at school to appear to know, and to speak as if his knowledge was real, when he is con- scious that it is not, he is trained in the habit of un- truth. The result is that truth is absent from life, from society, and that there is no profession in which is to be found, truth, virtue, or a high aim. So that it is found that in all affairs of life persons are actuated by mercenary considerations, or they give themselves up to a loose and voluptuous career. His scheme embraces the education of the boy and youth up to the age of twenty-one, and includes manly exercises and accomplishments. The earlier course should include good interesting books, that will allure to study, win to thought, and incite to virtue. Arith- C 18 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. metic and geometry should come in every day. The evening should be given to the grounds of religion and the study of Scripture. But nothing should be exacted beyond the power of the pupil, such as " the prepos- terous exaction of forcing the empty wits of children to compose themes and essays " on subjects which only those of enriched minds and ripe judgments can at- tempt. He also lays down the rule that as learners advance, they ought often to retrace their steps, and work over again their earlier studies. The whole scheme of study embraced Latin and Greek authors, first pleasant as Plutarch, then useful as those on agri- culture and philosophy ; astronomy and geography ; architecture, fortification and engineering ; religion and ethics; natural philosophy, natural history, botany, and anatomy ; jurisprudence, logic, and poetry. The motives that he would employ may be gathered from hints here and there in the tract. Learning should be made pleasant, by administering to faculties belonging to the period, and by furnishing delightful books. Careful instruction and explanation should be given on every opportunity, so that they may be drawn to willing obedience, and be inflamed with the love of learning. By mild and effectual persuasion with the mixture of some fear, if need be, they should be led to admire virtue, and they should be stirred up with high hopes of living so as to be dear to God, and famous to all ages. They should be taught to despise and scorn childish and ill-taught qualities, and they should be trained in such precepts and practice as will make them hate the cowardice of doing wrong. Finally example should gain them diligence and courage, and JOHN LOCKE. 19 tafuse into their young breasts such an ingenuous and noble ardour as would make many of them renowned and matchless men. Section IV. John Locke. John Locke, " the father of English philosophy," was born at Wrington in 1632. His early education vras by his father, and was conducted with great care and success. But the troubles of the time, and hi* father serving in the Parliamentary army, broke up this arrangement, and he was placed at Westminster school In the remembrance of his own early career we have probably the origin of his preference for private tuition over the public school. At the age of nineteen he proceeded to Christchurch, Oxford, where, in addition to the prescribed Aristotelian course, he solaced his philosophical spirit, by the private perusal of the works of Bacon and Descartes. The latter appears to have had no special influence over him, but from the former he obtained the method, which he subsequently applied to the investigation of mental phenomena. On leaving the university he adopted the profession of medicine, but his constitution was too weak to allow him to practise. In 1665, having suc- cessfully treated Lord Ashley, subsequently Earl of Shaftesbury, in case of an abscess, " he accepted the invitation of that nobleman to reside iii his house ; and from this time he attached himself to his fortunes during his life, and after death vindicated his memory and honour." The studies of Lord Shaftesbury 's son, 20 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. and of his grandson, the author of the celebrated Characteristics, were under the direction of Locke. The " Thoughts on Education " appeared in 1693. and reappeared invested with all the genius of Rousseau. in " Emile." Produced when the author was verging on sixty, for they were written several years before they were printed, they were the product of mature judg- ment, and of one whose professional studies, acquain- tance with mind, actual experience in the work of tuition, active but chequered career, and habits of inind well fitted him for the work he had undertaken. The peculiar style of the book, its discursive character, and want of system are due to the " Thoughts," having been originally written in a series of letters to a friend. The book was well received, not only in his own country, but especially on the continent, being trans- lated into (rerman, Dutch and French; Leibnitz speaks highly in its praise, and at a later time, Kousseau embodied its teaching in his " Emile." Still, as it attacked vested interests, and advocated private tuition in preference to that of the school, and very consi- derably widened the sphere and altered the mode of culture, it was not universally accepted, and in fact, is now in some places, for the first time bearing fruit. A ceutui-y later, Vicescimus Knox, the veriest tory in school matters, says, " For the names and abilities of Milton, Locke, Rousseau, and of others who have written on education, I entertain all the respect which is due to them. Their systems are plausible, and truly ingenious. The world has long placed them high in the ranks of fame, and with respect to their general merit as writers, they indisputably deserve their JOHN LOCKE. 21 honours. But, when they wrote on education, they fell into the common error of those who attend to speculation more than to practice. In the warmth of the innovating and reforming spirit, they censure modes of treatment which are right, they recommend methods which really cannot be reduced to practice, and which, if they could, would be useless or perni- cious. It is indeed easy to censure things already established, and project new institutions. The world is commonly tired of that to which it has been long accustomed, and fondly attached to novelty. It is, then, no wonder, that visionary writers on education are greatly admired, though their directions can seldom be closely pursued." Locke places the formation of character and manners above mere learning, hence he is urgent that the] choice of a tutor is of the first moment. Consider his J work. " It is to fashion the carriage and form the mind ; to settle in his pupils good habits, and the principles of virtue and wisdom ; to give him by little and little a view of mankind, and work him into a love and imitation of what is excellent and praiseworthy ; and in the prosecution of it to give him vigour, acti- vity, and industry." " Under whose care soever a child is put to be taught during the tender and flexible years of his life, this is certain, it should be one who thinks Latin and languages the least part of education - } ) one who, knowing how much virtue and a well tem- pered soul is to be preferred to any sort of learning or language, makes it his chief business to form the mind of his scholars and give that a right disposition; which, if once got, though all the rest should be neg- 22 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. locted, would in due time produce all the rest; and which, if it be not got, and settled so as to keep out ill and vicious habits languages and sciences, and all the other accomplishments of education, will be to no purpose, but to make the worse and more dangerous man." Writing for home education, Locke gives directions for the care of the case, as well as that which it con- tains, the mind. Metis sana in corpore sano was a maxim he could well appreciate. Physical education has in charge diet, clothing, sleep, exercise, fresh air and cleanliness. Some of these things are removed from the immediate influence of the elementary school. Yet the teacher may do much to diffuse right views and to secure right practice in regard to them. Combe, by his work on "Physiology applied to Health and Education," happily aroused public attention to this subject, and dfd much to promote it in schools. Instruction in physiology and the laws of health ; daily inspection and insisting on the pupil being clean in his person and clothes ; inquiries once or twice weekly as to washing the feet, sponging the body, followed by friction with a flesh brush or coarse towel ; attention to ventilation and keeping the school room floor and walls scrupulously clean, and school drill and healthy games are now found in many of our schools. In one district, described at the time by one of Her Majesty's inspectors as " remote from civilisation, and marked by general indifference to education," the persistent efforts of a schoolmaster led to a general improvement, not only in the habits of his pupils, but in many of their homes. It is not necessary to enter into detail, but the JOHN LOCKK. 23 following things aie noteworthy. The strength of the body lies in being able to endure hardship, hence their training should make children hardy. To this end they should not be pampered, nor should they be shielded from every risk, or a present security is obtained at the expense of danger from future ex- posure. Although his dictum about " leaking shoes ' might seem to countenance it, yet of course he does not mean that children should be trained to fool-hardiness. The knowledge of the teacher should correct the inex- perience of the child, and should lead to interference whenever the necessity existed. As exercise, and es- pecially exercise in the open air, is essential to the strength and soundness of the body, all indications of a lazy or indolent disposition must be promptly treated. The child must be stimulated to use all its energies in play as well as work, and occasions must be provided for exercise whenever it is seen that there is a disin- clination to it. But the rule now to be given is unex- l^ ceptionally sound. The course of treatment in all physical education should tend to form habits. Habits of body and habits of practice are the ends to be se- cured. If this be so, the withholding that which is usual, or its neglect, will be a source of discomfort or uneasiness. For instance, early hours of retiring and rising may by habit save from future excess. So habit may render physic unnecessary. In forming habit the treatment should not be fitful but periodic ; it should not be hap-hazard, but guided by rule and wise discre- tion ; and in the case of exercise it should be prolonged to the point of fatigue to secure the end in view. / - Locke places moral education in its right place. It ( 24 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. s should take precedence in mental culture. Moral good; is not to be bargained away for any learning whatever.' A great truth this which the educator is too apt to forget or neglect. (It is so much easier to cultivate intelligence than to form a virtuous character, that this is too little attempted or not persistently. JOf the nature of moral education Locke says, that its great aim is to secure to the child the complete sub- jection of his appetites and passions, his desires and inclinations to reason. In other words it is the con- quest of self. These are his words : " As the strength of the body lies chiefly in being able to endure hard- ships, so also does that of the mind. And the great principle and foundation of all virtue and worth lies in this, that a man is able to deny himself his own desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely follow what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean the other way." Let us understand his meaning here and we have the key to his sj r stem, the very pith and marrow of his teaching. When he says, strength of mind lies in the ability to endure hardships, he means that there is a temper of mind that scorns to be governed by pleasure or pain, and that will not allow the desires, inclinations, or passions to control the actions only so far as reason allows. He would have a Spartan's contempt of danger with his indifference to ease and comfort; a stoic's su- periority to the solicitations of pleasure or the infliction of pain ; and a Christian's obliteration of self from all his pursuits and a complete subjection of his body and mind to the highest reason. $ Such a course to be successful must be begun early. JOHN LOCKK. 25 It must begin on the mother's lap, be continued in the nursery, followed when sitting at table, and must not ' be forgotten in the presence of visitors. But, alas ! early training raises barriers. Seeds are sown which, taking root, are never afterwards extirpated. In this early time there is too often the " positive teaching of vice." Children are taught to take childish revenge on anything that gives them pain, and are permitted and sometimes taught to strike those that have the charge of them. They are tricked out in finery, and are fondled for their pretty looks, and are^accustomed to a mode of treatment that fixes their regards upon them- selves^ (They are taught by example to lie. Admira- tion is given for what at a later time would receive reproof. Instances of clever deceit, pert forwardness, and pretty wilfulness are recited with smiling approval in their presence. Love of eating and drinking ia fostered by the dBvious importance attached to it by their elders, and by " dainties " being proposed as rewards. On food the right maxim is, that food is given not because it is pleasant, but because it is neces- sary. Schoolmasters may think that on these points they are never likely to err. What then is to be said of the practice not uncommon of keeping a child from dinner because of ill conduct at school ? Such a prac- tice elevates eating to a position it ought not to occupy. To punish a moral offence by depriving of food is to place the two things, moral duty and eating, on the same level. Nor is it quite clear that schoolmasters are guiltless in other matters. How often do they allow in younger children what they would not in older ones ! Is this wise ? People allow license for 26 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. little improprieties, considering them harmless. Listen to Locke. The proportion of the fault to the age is the same, so that a little impropriety is as culpable in a child as a great fault in an older person. Also in* dulgencenow will lead to expect similar indulgence at a later period of desires and passions no longer innocent. /"All this is culpable negligence of the mind and disposi- tion in the most impressible time^ and may be con- trasted with the judicious management and elaborate attention bestowed on dogs and horses. (To educate rightly it is necessary to study the child. Two distinct classes of mental faculties offer themselves to view, those common to all, those peculiar to the individual. Of the qualities indigenous to human nature it is necessary to glance at a few which have a legitimate sphere, but which uncultivated develop into weeds that become ineradicable from the character. Amongst others of this class are love of liberty, love of dominion, sense of property, and desire of possession. From these roots, unless tended with determined vigour, spring the weeds of license, selfishness, contention, ra- pacity, violence, tyranny, cruelty, and injustice. Ap- plying his great principle to these matters we have 7 ( the rule that nothing is ever to be granted to a child's ^ fancies, but only to his wants. That any fanciful or ^ wilful preference of one thing to another must be treated as caprice, therefore not to be allowed, but rigorously withstood. He also contends that the earliest manifestations of violence, domineering, tyranny over slower animals, improper bearing towards inferiors, should be rigidly put down. He also gives us some practical rules of great value. Complaints of one JOHN LOCKE. 27 against another should be discouraged, for sufferance without redress is better than an indulged sensitive- ness. If notice is taken of the case, and the aggressor is to be reprimanded, it had better not be in the pre- sence of him who cpmplains. Still principles of jusA tice should be strenuously insisted on, hence all in- stances of real injustice should be noticed and rectified. V However trifling the thing or worthless in itself the \ act of injustice is not trifling. Nay, nothing is trifling / that helps to form the character. .Nor is the morality' of an action to be estimated by the inconvenience it may occasion, the loss inflicted, or the injury done. Eternal justice is equally violated whether a pin or a pound be stolen. It is necessary ever to discriminate] between acts of ignorance and of a perverse wilLv More acts that are wrong in themselves proceed in S children from the former than from the latter. The I practice, for instance, of children pulling flies to pieces i more frequently proceeds from ignorance than fromy wilful cruelty. The remedy would be to exhibit a fly and a maimed specimen through a microscope. When such acts do occur, when a wrong thing is first con. sciously done, it should be met with a show of wonder, as inconceivable. Proceeding on the same principle, children should not be informed of evil things. They should never be named in their presence. Evil should not be brought before their minds ; for talking of such things sets them thinking, and thus their minds become familiarized with things which otherwise might never enter. Never speak of evil till the necessity for it unfortunately exists. For a similar reason do not] warn children against possible faults ; and this for the 7 28 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. further reason that such warning implies distrust, and distrust is a temptation to pride or -bravado. Stirau- ( lake children to that which is good and you will more j effectually prevent the entrance of that which is evil. " The odour of the wine that first shall stain The virgin vessel, it will long retain." J That we may educate children aright we must study ) their peculiarities. Differenr.es exist. There are dif- ' ferences of natural endowment, difference of tempera- ment, differences in inherited tendencies, differences in moral and emotional susceptibilities. " There will always be some predominant qualities, good or evil, and these will more or less for ever belong to him." By which is to be understood that he will ever have certain mental peculiarities that will distinguish him from others and influence all he is and does. This , being the case it becomes the duty of the educator to observe and study the child, that he may know these ^peculiarities; and that he may strengthen that which is weak, correct that which is wrong and rightly guide and improve all that is desirable and good. The ' peculiarities of children are best seen when they are \ least under restraint. Hence, in the matter of games, ^~y they should be allowed to indulge their fancy ; all J[ should be free and unrestricted ; for it is only by leaving him free in his recreations, that the child's particular bent is shown. " Such knowledge is neces- sary, for it is found that rules for education do not always serve because of these differences, as the same method of treatment is not always followed by the same result. It is also necessary that the right means JOHN LOCKE. 29 may be adopted to mortify evil qualities, strengthen good ones, and so improve the general stock." The means of moral education have therefore to be wisely ordered. It is not by rules and precepts that moral intelligence is cultivated, or moral habits formed. "It is a great fault in education to burden children's minds with rules and precepts about their conduct, which are seldom understood, and therefore, soon for- gotten ; and it is still more unreasonable to visit wit! punishment the infraction of such rules." /That chil-, dren may know what is right you must teach by| example. It is thus that the precept will have meanii and force. But they must also do what is right. To this end you must seize on every occasion that presents itself, and if necessary make occasion. The grand business is to form habits of right practice, and not to depend on the memory of a right precept. But habits cannot be formed only by patient and continued prac- tice, and there is absolutely no other road to morality ^ ( and virtue. Laws then should be few and well y observed. The first principle that should be implanted in the child's mind is submission to authority. This is what he means by awe of the parent. The parent is to the child in God's place, and his will is the sanction of its. actions. He also holds that treatment in early lifej should be rigid.; By this is not meant that it should be severe, but that it should not be lax. There is no hardship in this. A child finds hardship not in law but in laxity. The laws of nature are not relaxed for childhood, and the child soon learns to accommodate iteelf to them. Principles should be rigidly carried 30 SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION. out, else the educator is not a support to the child, when from its ignorance and weakness it needs it. / But when childhood gives place to youth, and the / reason and habit permit, then a rigid system is out of \ place. Then the time has come when the co-operation / of the youth should be sought by treating him as a \ rational being.