I think it is not good to begin study immediately after rising, or just after meals, or to continue right up to the time of going to bed. From 7 to 10 in the forenoon,and from 2 till almost 5 in the afternoon are the most fitting hours, and quite enough for children to be learning. The morning hours will serve best for memory work and what requires mental effort; the afternoon for going over again the material that has been already acquired. The other times before meals are for exercise. The hours after meals and before study is resumed, are to be given to resting the body and refreshing the mind, without too much movement. To conclude, we must make the best of those places and hours that are at present appointed, and yet be prepared to adopt better arrangements, as soon as it shall please God to send them. And by persuasion some teachers may be able to bring wise parents to try changes in the direction I have pointed out. In the meantime some excellent man, having the advantage of a well-situated house, and being independent of outside help and able to control his own arrangements, may be prepared to make useful experiments.
The Elementary school is left to the lowest and the worst class of teacher, because good scholars will not abase themselves to it. The first grounding should be undertaken by the best teacher, and his reward should be the greatest, because his work demands most energy and most judgment, and competent men could easily be induced to enter these lower ranks if they found that sufficient reward were offered. It is natural enough for ignorant people to make little of the early training, when they see how little consideration is paid to it, but men of judgment know how important the foundation is, not only as regards the matter that is taught, but the manner of handling the child’s intelligence, which is ofgreat moment. But to say something concerning the teacher’s reward, which is the encouragement to good teaching, what is the sense in increasing the salary as the child grows in learning? Is it to cause the master to take greater pains, and bring his pupil better forward in view of the promise of what is to come? Nay, surely that cannot be. Present payment would be a greater inducement to bring pupils forward than the hope in promise, for in view of the variety and inconstancy of parents’ minds, what assurance is there that the child will continue with the same master? That he who took great pains for little gain should receive more for less trouble? Besides, if the reward were good he would hasten to gain more through the supply of new scholars, who would be attracted by the report of his diligent and successful work. As things are, the master who gets the pupils later reaps the benefit of the elementary teacher’s labour, because the child makes more show with him. Why should this be so? It is the foundation well and soundly laid that makes all the upper building secure and lasting. I can only give counsel, but if the decision lay with me the first pains well taken should in truth be most liberally recompensed, and the emolument should diminish, as less pains are needed in going up through the school course. By this method no master would have reason to complain that the pupils who come to him have not been sufficiently grounded in the elementary subjects, which is a constant source of trouble at present both to teachers and scholars. Indeed too often we Grammar School masters can hardly make any progress, can scarcely even tell how to place the raw boys in any particular form with any hope of steady advance, so rotten is the groundwork of their preparation. If thehigher master has to repair this weakness, after the boy comes under his charge, he certainly deserves triple salary, both for his own making and for mending what the elementary teacher either marred through ignorance, or failed to make through undue haste, which, in my opinion, is the commonest and worst kind of marring. As for the salaries of the masters that succeed the elementary, I hold that the increasing numbers that they can undertake will make up for the larger amount to be given to the elementary teacher, however much that may be. For the first master can deal only with a few, the next with more, and so on, ascending as the scholars grow in reason and discretion. To deal with the unequal advancement of children, it were good that they were promoted in numbers together, and that they were admitted into the schools only at four periods in the year, so that they might be properly classified, and not hurled hand over head into one form without discrimination, as is now too often the case. There should be a definite plan of promotion agreed upon among the teachers, so that one can say, “This child I have taught, and such and such can he do,” and the other knoweth what the child should have been taught, and what he may be supposed to know. The elementary teacher, then, should be competent for his task, and when he is, he should be sufficiently well provided for by the parents. Adequate reward would make very able men incline to take it up, and though the supply may as yet be insufficient, enough could soon be trained if inducement were offered.
My chief concern must be with the master of the Grammar School, who cannot be too carefully selected,for he has to deal with those years which determine the success of all the future course, as during this period both body and mind are most restless and most in need of regulation. He has to complete the learning gained in the elementary studies, and he offers hope or despair of perfection to the University tutor in the case of their proceeding further.
For this class of teacher also I must ask for sufficient maintenance in consideration of their competence and faithful work. For it is a great discouragement to an able man to take diligent pains when he finds his whole day’s work insufficient to furnish him with the necessary provision. Experience hath taught me that where the master’s salary is made to rise and fall with the numbers of his pupils, he will exert himself most, and the children will profit most, provided he have no more than he can manage himself without hazarding his own credit and the pupils’ welfare by trusting to independent assistants. The proper use of assistants is not as we now see it in schools, where ushers are their own masters, but to help the headmaster in the easier part of his duties. If the master’s salary is fixed by agreement at a definite sum, then he should not be given too large numbers to deal with, nor should he be obliged to eke out his income in other ways outside his profession. It is unreasonable to demand a man’s whole time, and yet make such scant payment that he has to look elsewhere, outside the school, to add to it. Among many causes that make our schools inefficient, I know none so serious as the weakness of the profession owing to the bareness of the reward. The good that cometh by schools is infinite; the qualities required in the teacher are many and great; the charges which his friends have been at in his bringing up are heavy; yethe has but little to hope for in the way of preferment. Our calling creeps low, and has pain for a companion, always thrust to the wall, though always formally admitted to be worthy. Our comfort must be in the general conclusion that those are good things which want no praising, though they go a-cold for lack of cherishing.
But ye will perhaps say—what shall this man be able to perform whom you are so anxious to have suitably maintained, and to whose charge the youth of our country is to be committed? Surely that charge is great, and if he is to discharge it well, he must be well qualified for it, and ought to be very well requited for doing it so well. Besides his manner and behaviour, which must be beyond cavil, and his skill in exercising the body, he must be able to teach the three learned tongues, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, if these are required. And in these a mediocrity of knowledge is not enough, for he who means to plant even a little well, must himself far exceed mediocrity. He must be able to understand his author, to correct misprints, the mistakes of unskilful dictionaries, and the foolish comments of superficial writers on the matter he is teaching, and he must be so well furnished before he begins to teach that he can express himself readily, and not have to be learning as he goes along, distracting his scholars by his hesitations. Time and experience will do much to polish the manner of teaching, but there must be knowledge of the matter from the first. He must be acquainted with all the best grammars, so that he can always add notes by the way, though not of course to the burdening of the children’s memory. Besides these and other points of learning, he must have determination to take pains, perseverance to continue in his work without shrinking, discretion to judge of circumstances,cheerfulness to delight in the success of his labour, sympathy to encourage a promising youth, hopefulness to think every child an Alexander, and courteous lowliness in his opinion of himself. For even the smallest thing in learning will be well done only by him who knows most, and by reason of his store of knowledge is able to perform his task with pleasure and ease. These qualities deserve much, and are not often found in our schools, because the rewards of labour are so insufficient, but they would soon be had if the maintenance were adequate.
If the rewards of the teaching profession were sufficient to attract good students, the way to make them well fitted to deserve these rewards would be to arrange for their being trained at the Universities. I touch upon this matter with some hesitation, for it would involve some changes that might not be easily compassed, but if the very name of change is to be avoided, no improvements could ever take place, and though my proposals may raise objections at first, I believe that the more they are considered the more they will commend themselves, as well to the University authorities as to all others concerned. By the means I am about to suggest, not only schoolmasters, but all other members of the learned professions, would be better fitted on leaving the University to perform what is expected of them in the service of the commonwealth. I would have it understood that I have no great fault to find with the present constitution of the Universities, but granting that things are well done there already, there is no discourtesy in wishing that they might be managed a good deal better.
My idea rests on four points;
1st. What if the Colleges were divided into faculties according to the professions for which they prepare?2nd. What if students of similar age, who were studying for the same profession, were all bestowed in one house?3d. What if the College livings were made more valuable by combination, and the Colleges strengthened by being lessened in number?4th. What if in every house there were valuable fellowships for learned scholars who would remain their whole lives in the position?
1st. What if the Colleges were divided into faculties according to the professions for which they prepare?
2nd. What if students of similar age, who were studying for the same profession, were all bestowed in one house?
3d. What if the College livings were made more valuable by combination, and the Colleges strengthened by being lessened in number?
4th. What if in every house there were valuable fellowships for learned scholars who would remain their whole lives in the position?
Would not the country benefit by these measures? And hath not the State authority to carry them out, seeing that it hath already given its sanction to the making of foundations, with a reservation of the right to alter them if sufficient cause should be shown? Is it not as admissible to discuss the improvement of the Universities by planting sound learning, as to decide upon taking away lands from colleges, and boarding out the students, because they cannot agree among themselves about the use of the endowments? Would there be any better means of giving a new and fairer aspect to the work of the Universities, and of bringing them into greater favour with the public? In the first erection of schools and colleges, private zeal inflamed good founders; in altering these for the better, the State, for considerations of public interest, may increase the advantage, without departing from the intention of the founders, who would have gladly welcomed any improvement. It is for each age under the spur ofnecessity to point out what is best for its own circumstances, and the State must exercise its wisdom and policy in bringing this about. I will now take up more fully the four points I have named, in the hope of offering reasons that may prove convincing.
Would it not be convenient and profitable if there were one college where nothing was professed but languages, to be thoroughly acquired as a means to further study within the university, and to public service outside? That being the professed end, and nothing else being dealt with there, would not a high standard of sufficiency be the better reached through general agreement? And would not daily conference and continuous application in the same subject be likely to secure efficiency? As it is now, when everyone deals confessedly with everything, no one can say with certainty, “Thus much can such a one do in this particular thing,” but he either speaks by conjecture that may often deceive even the speaker, or else out of courtesy which as often beguiles those who hear and believe. For where all exercises, conferences, and conversations, both public and private, are on the same subject, because the soil bringeth forth no other stuff, there must needs follow great perfection. When the tongues are thus separated from other learning, it will soon appear what a difference there is between him who can only speak and him who can do more. No subject can be more necessary than languages in university training. For the tongues being the receptacles of matter, without a perfect understanding of them what hope is there of understanding matter? And seeing words are the names of things, applied and given according to theirproperties, how can things be properly understood by us, who make use of words to know them by, unless the force of speech is thoroughly understood? I do see in writers and hear in speakers great defects in the mistaking of meanings, and evident errors through insufficiency in the study of language. Such study should be well advanced by the Grammar School, but it needs to be brought to greater perfection than it can be there. And it may be that some, wishing only a general culture, will be content to rest in this literary faculty, taking delight in the writings of the poets and historians, and not passing on to any professional study.
I would have another college devoted to the Mathematical Sciences, though I shall be opposed by some of good intelligence, who not knowing the force of these faculties because they considered them unworthy of study, as not leading to preferment, are accustomed to mock at mathematical heads. Such studies require concentration, and demand a type of mind that does not seek to make public display until after mature contemplation in solitude. It is this silent meditation on the part of the true students, or the appearance of it in those that are but counterfeits, that layeth them open to the mockery of some, who should rather forbear if they will remember in what high esteem those sciences were held by Socrates, and by Plato, who forbad anyone to enter his Academy that was ignorant of Geometry. For the men who profess these sciences and bring them into disrepute are either quite ignorant and maintain their credit by the use of certain terms and technical expressions without ever getting at the kernel, or they are such as having some knowledgeoccupy themselves with the trivial and sophistical and illusive parts of the subject, rather than with its true uses in the advancement of the arts. But in spite of the contempt which is thus often brought on the Mathematical Sciences, I will venture to give my opinion in defence of their value. In time all learning may be brought into one tongue, and that naturally understood by all, so that schooling for tongues may prove needless, just as once they were not needed; but it can never fall out that arts and sciences in their essential nature shall be anything but most necessary for every commonwealth that is not utterly barbarous. We attribute too much to tongues, in paying more heed to them than we do to matter, and esteem it more honourable to speak finely than to reason wisely. After all, words are praised only for the time, but wisdom wins in the end.
The Mathematical Sciences show themselves in many professions and trades which do not bear the titles of learning, whereby it is well seen that they are really profitable; they do not make much outward show, but our daily life benefits greatly by them. It is no just objection to ask, “What should merchants, carpenters, masons, shipmasters, mariners, surveyors, architects, and other such do with learning? Do they not serve the country’s needs well enough without it?” Though they may do well without it, might they not do better with it? The speaking of Latin is no necessary proof of deeper learning, but Mathematics are the first rudiments for young children, and the sure means of direction for all skilled workmen, who without such knowledge can only go by rote, but with it might reach genuine skill. The sciences that we term ‘mathematical’ from their very nature always achieve something good, intelligible even to the unlearned, by number,figure, sound, or motion. In the manner of their teaching also they plant in the mind of the learner a habit of resisting the influence of bare probabilities, of refusing to believe in light conjectures, of being moved only by infallible demonstrations. Mathematics had its place before the tongues were taught, which though they are now necessary helps, because we use foreign languages for the conveyance of knowledge, yet push us one degree further off from knowledge.
The third college should be devoted to Philosophy in all its three kinds, each of which forms a preparation for a particular profession—Natural Philosophy for Medicine, Political Philosophy for Law, and Moral Philosophy for Divinity. But in this distribution some will ask, “Where do Logic and Rhetoric come in?” I would ask in reply, “What is the place of Grammar?” It is the preparative to language. In the same way, Logic on the side of demonstration takes the part of Grammar for the Mathematical Sciences and Natural Philosophy, and in its consideration of probabilities fills the same place for Moral and Political Philosophy. Rhetoric helps the writer to attain purity of style without emotion, and the speaker to use persuasion with an appeal to the feelings, though sometimes, indeed, the latter deals only in argument, while the former may wax hot over his writing. As to the proper order of these studies, we are accustomed to set young students to Moral and Political Philosophy first, but we should rather follow Aristotle in placing Natural Philosophy next to the Mathematical Sciences, because it is more intelligible for young heads on account of its deductive reasoning, whereas Moral and Political Philosophy,being subject to particular circumstances in life, should be reserved for riper years.
The three professions above mentioned—Medicine, Law, and Divinity—should each be endowed with its particular College and livings, instead of having its students scattered. To have the physician thus learned is not too much to ask, considering that his proficiency depends on his knowledge, and with him ignorance is simply butchery. As for Law, if the whole study were reduced into one body, would our country have any cause to complain? Would she not rather have great reason to be very glad? We have now three several professions in Law, as if we were a three-headed State, one English and French, another Roman Imperial, and the third Roman Ecclesiastical, whereas English alone were simply best. The distraction of temporal, civil, and canon law is in many ways very injurious to our country. There can be no question that it is good for the divine to have time to study the sciences that are the handmaids to his profession.
But is it advisable that those wishing to enter the professions should have to go through all the colleges that offer a general preparatory training,—the colleges for Languages, Mathematics, and Philosophy? No one could doubt this, except such as are ready to think themselves ripe, while they are still raw in the opinion of other men. He that will be perfect in his profession ought at least to have a contemplative knowledge of all that goes before. It will be for the gain of the community that while the student’s youth is wedded tohonest and learned meditation, the heat of that stirring age is cooled, which might set all on fire to the public harm; ripe judgment is gained, and all ambitious passions are made subject to self-control. Till young men who are coming forward to the professions are made to tarry longer and study more soundly, learning shall have no credit, and our country cannot but suffer. It may be asked: “What hath a divine to do with Mathematics?” Well, was not Moses trained in all the learning of the Egyptians? How can the divine presume to judge and condemn sciences of which he knows nothing but the name? And has not the lawyer to deal with many questions that require a knowledge of the sciences? The physician more than all should see that his professional skill is supported by a wide general study.
There will be some difficulty in winning a college for those who will afterwards pass to teach in schools. There is no specialising for any profession till the student leaves the College of Philosophy, from which he will go to Medicine, Law, or Divinity. This is the time also when the intending schoolmaster should begin his special training. In him there is as much learning necessary as, with all deference to their subjects, is required by any of the other three professions, especially if it be considered how much the teacher hath to do in preparing scholars for all other careers. Why should not these men have this competence in learning, to be chosen for the common service? Are children and schools so small an element in our commonwealth? Is the framing of young minds and the training of their bodies a matter of so little skill? Are schoolmasters inthis realm so few that they need not be taken account of? Whoever will not allow of this careful provision for such a seminary of teachers is most unworthy either to have had a good master himself, or to have a good one hereafter for his children. Why should not teachers be well provided for, so that they can continue their whole life in the school, as divines, lawyers, and physicians do in their several professions? If this were the case, judgment, knowledge, and discretion would grow in them as they get older, whereas now the school, being used but for a shift, from which they will afterwards pass to some other profession, though it may send out competent men to other careers, remains itself far too bare of talent, considering the importance of the work. I consider therefore that in our universities there should be a special college for the training of teachers, inasmuch as they are the instruments to make or mar the growing generation of the country, and because the material of their studies is comparable to that of the greatest professions, in respect of language, judgment, skill in teaching, variety of learning, wherein the forming of the mind and the exercising of the body require the most careful consideration, to say nothing of the dignity of character which should be expected from them.
Surely there is nothing unreasonable in proposing that these seven colleges should be set up, and should have the names of the things they profess—Languages, Mathematics, Philosophy, Education, Medicine, Law, and Divinity. If it had been so arranged from the beginning, public opinion would now have commended the policy and wisdom of those that originated it. Andcan we not bring about still what, if it had been done at first, would have met with such honour, and will deserve everlasting memory, at whatever time it may be done? Greater changes have been both desired and accomplished in our time. All that is needful for doing it well is ready to our hand: the material is there; the lands have neither to be begged nor purchased; they have already been acquired and given, and can easily be brought into order, especially as this is a time of reform. As for putting students of similar age and studies into the same house, it is desirable on many grounds, but particularly because it encourages emulation among those who are best fitted to compete with each other.
In saying that colleges should be combined, so as to permit the bettering of students’ livings, I shall have the support at least of those who are now willing to change their college for a fatter living, or even to abandon the university altogether for their own advantage. At present college livings are certainly too lean, and force good wits to fly before they are well feathered. A better maintenance would give more time and opportunity for study, and thus secure a higher standard of learning, greater ripeness of judgment, and more solidity of character. Students would be made more independent, and would not have to come under obligations by accepting support from other quarters. The restriction in the number of livings would be no objection, as it would shut out those less qualified to profit by them, and thus raise the level of attainment. It were better for the country to have a few well trained and sufficiently provided for, than an unlearned multitude. Moreover, it is not consonant with the liberal natureof learning either that it should be unnecessarily dependent on charity, or that it should in this way come under the control of those who may act rather from personal considerations than regard to the common welfare. Where learning grows up by props it loses its true character; it is best when the stem can itself bear up the branches. The outward conditions for the furtherance of learning are the selection of scholars on grounds of ability and promise, and sufficient time and maintenance for their due preparation; the qualities required for the student himself are diligence and discretion to profit fully by his opportunities.
The last reform which I am ready to contend for is that there should be University readers appointed, of mature years, accredited learning and secure position, who should direct and control the studies of the students. Private study alone can never be compared with the opportunity of working under one who has read and digested all the best books in the subject, whose judgment has been formed by his wide reading, and whose experience and intercourse with many intellects has given him skill and address. The student who has not this advantage will gain less with greater pains, since he could in one lecture have the benefit of his reader’s universal study, put in such a form that he can use it at once. Such readers would save their cost in books alone, which would not then be so needful to the student. They could be appointed with little or no cost to the universities, and if they carried on their work in convenient houses of their own, they would undoubtedly draw as many students to theirprivate establishments as there are now in the public colleges.
Hasty pressing onward is the greatest enemy that anything can have, whose best is to ripen at leisure. I have appointed in my elementary teaching—Reading, Writing, Drawing, Singing, Playing. Now if these are imperfectly acquired when the child is sent to the Grammar School, what an error is committed! How many small infants have we sent to Grammar who can scarcely read, and how many to learn Latin who never wrote a letter! Even though some youngster could do much better than all his companions, it were no harm for him to be captain a good while in his elementary school, rather than to be a common soldier in a school where all are captains. Many and serious are the evils that are caused by such hasting, and if deploring them could amend them, I would lament that they are so numerous and so hard to remedy. How common is the lack of proper grounding in children, and how great is the foolishness of their friends in regard to it! This is the chief cause that at once makes children loth to learn, and schoolmasters seem harsh in their teaching. For as the master hastens on to the natural aim of his profession, and the scholar draws back, being unable to bear the burden, there rises in the master an irritation which can only be controlled by the wisdom and patience that are the fruits of experience. And as in the teacher irritation breeds heat, so in the scholar weakness breeds fear, and so much the more if he finds his master somewhat too impatient, wherefore neither the one nor the other can do much good at all. Whereas if the boy had nothing to fear, how eager he would be, and what apleasure the teacher would take in his aptness to learn! But even if the child’s weakness is felt both by himself and by his teacher, it is difficult to get the parent to believe in it, owing to the blindness of his affection, and he will prefer to seek out some other teacher who will adopt his views, and undertake the task. Thus change feeds his humour for the time, though he will afterwards repent his folly, when the defect proves incurable, and the first master is at last admitted to have been a true prophet. So necessary a thing is it to prevent ills in time, and when warning is given not to laugh it to scorn nor blame the watchman.
If the imperfections which come more from haste than from ignorance did not go beyond the elementary school, the harm done might be redressed, but as one billow driveth on another, so haste, beginning there, makes the other successions in learning move on at too headlong a pace. Is it only to the Grammar School that children are sent too early? Are there none sent to the University who, when they come out of it years afterwards, might with advantage return to the Grammar School again? Do not some of good intelligence find in the course of their study the evil effects of too great haste at the beginning, and wish too late that they had been better advised? And even if they make up what they have missed, do they not find it true that a process which may be pleasant enough to young boys is full of pain for older people? The Universities can best judge of the weaknesses of our Grammar Schools when they find the defects of those youths whom they receive from us, though they were not sent by us. We see these defects ourselves, but we cannot remedy them, for the partiality of parents over-rules all reason, and when the pupil is removed all conference with the teacher is cutoff. In some places the multitude of schools mars the whole market, giving too great opportunity for change, generally for the worse, so that by degrees the elementary scholar enfeebles the Grammar School boy, and he in turn transporteth his weakness from his schoolmaster to his university tutor. So important is it to avoid haste at the first, lest it cause injury to the last.
Are not youths often sent into the world, who may receive consideration on account of their degrees, but deserve none for their learning? If men did not judge sensibly that young shoots must be green, however good an appearance they may make, youth might deceive them with its titles, as it deceives itself with conceit. The causes of haste are—impatience, which can abide no tarrying when a restless conceit is overladen; the desire of liberty, to live as he pleases, because he pleases not to live as he should; arrogance, making him wish to appear a person of importance; hope of preferment, urging him to desire dignities before the ability to support them. In the meanwhile the common welfare is sacrificed to personal advantage, and even that advantage is in appearance and not in reality. The canker that consumeth all, and causeth all this evil, is haste, an ill-advised, rash, and headstrong counsellor, that is most pernicious when there is either some appearance of ripeness in the child, or some unwise encouragement from a teacher who is without true discernment. It is time that perfecteth all; it is the mother of truth, the touchstone of ripeness, the enemy of error, the true support and help of man.
When the child can read so readily and confidently that the length of his lesson gives him no trouble; whenhe can write so neatly and so fast that he finds no kind of exercise tedious; when his pen or pencil gives him only pleasure; when his music, both vocal and instrumental, is so far forward that a little voluntary practice may keep it up and even improve it; then the elementary course has lasted long enough. The child’s ordinary exercises in the Grammar School will continue his reading and writing and he will always be drawing of his own accord, because it delighteth his eye, and busieth not his brain. His music, however, must be encouraged by the pleasure taken in it by the teacher and his parents, for in those early years children are musical rather for others’ benefit than for their own. It is certain that in tarrying long enough to bring all these things to perfection there is no real loss of time, especially seeing that these attainments, even if they go no further, make a pretty adornment to a household if they be thoroughly acquired.
A great and learned man of our day, Philip Melancthon, thought so much of the troublesome and toilsome life which we teachers lead that he wrote an interesting book on the miseries of schoolmasters. We have to thank him for his good-will; but as there is no kind of life, be it high or low, that has not its own share of troubles, we need not be overwhelmed by a sense of our special difficulties. Our profession is certainly more arduous than most; but, on the other hand, not many have such opportunities of doing good service. There is little profit, however, in such comparisons. To what purpose should I show why the teacher blames one thing, the parent another, the child nothing but the rod which he is so prone to deserve? So apt are we to repineat the pain we suffer, without weighing the offence which deserved it. I will rather proceed to deal with the remedies for what he calls “miseries,” but I would prefer to terminconveniences, with which the teaching profession has to contend in our own time. The counsel I offer, though referring specially to the youngest scholars, may well be carried further and applied to the oldest and most advanced in any course of learning. The remedies I take to be two—uniformity of method, which would secure economy both of time and expense, and the establishment of public school regulations, made clearly known to all concerned, which would prevent misunderstandings between teachers and parents or scholars.
No one who has either taught, or has been taught himself, can fail to recognise that there is too much variety in teaching, and therefore too much bad teaching, for in the midst of many by-paths there is but one right way. This is proved by the differences of opinion that men show, due to better or worse training in youth, to greater or less application to study, to longer or shorter continuance at their books, to their liking or disliking some particular kind of learning, and many other similar causes, which may lead ignorance to vaunt itself with all the authority that belongs to sound knowledge. The diversity of groundwork which lies at the root of so much confusion of judgment is a great hindrance to youth and a discredit to schools, and causes serious inequalities in the universities. It may happen that a weak teacher by some accident brings up a strong scholar, and that an abler man owing to some ordinary hindrance makes little show for his labour.But if variety had given place to uniformity, even the weakest teacher might have done very well, if he had the intelligence to follow the directions put before him.
This defect has often been deplored by our best teachers, who have nevertheless shrunk from the task of supplying the remedy. If a uniform system could be agreed upon, all the youth of this whole realm will seem to have been brought up in one school, and under one master, both in regard to the matter and to the manner of their teaching, while differing in their own invention, which is individual by nature, though it may be trained by general rules of art. Such a measure must needs bring profit to the learner by saving him from the chances of going astray, ease to the teacher by lightening his labour, honour to the country by providing a store of good material, and immortal renown to the enlightened sovereign who should confer so great a benefit. Though agreement in a uniform method must be enforced by authority, it must be based on some likeness of ability in teachers in regard to their own specialty, though they may differ much in the manner of applying it and in other qualities. Now the only way to procure this equal standard of efficiency, where natural differences are so great, is to lay down in some definite scheme what seems best, both as to what and as to how to teach, with all the particular circumstances that may apply to the best-ordered schools not beyond the reach of the indifferent teacher, yet such as to satisfy the more skilful. Thus diligence on the part of the less able may even effect more than the greater learning of the other, who may become negligent or insolent from over-confidence. If I am not mistaken, there are good reasons for holding that it is better for the commonwealth to provide some directionfor the ordinary teacher who will continue in his profession the greater part of his life and have many chances of doing good, than to leave it at random to the liberty of the more learned, who commonly make use of teaching only to shift with for a time, and are but pilgrims in the profession, always thinking of removing to some easier or more profitable kind of life. Scholars cannot profit much when their teachers act like strangers, who, intending some day to return to their own country, cannot have that zealous care which the native showeth, and though conscience may sometimes cause an honest man to work well and do his duty in this temporary position, such cases can be only exceptional, and general provision must be for the leading of the weaker, who will always need it.
If when this scheme for settling the matter and the manner of teaching is set down, those who have to carry it out prove negligent, and delay or even defeat the good effects, by their ill-advised handling of what was well meant, the overseers and patrons of schools must bring pressure to bear on such teachers, of their own motion if they can, and if they cannot, then by the assistance of learned men who are competent to act, and who out of courtesy will help to further the end in view. Our precepts are general; the application must be made according to the circumstances of particular cases. I have only roughly indicated the purpose of uniformity in teaching, and the disjointing of skill by misordered variety, yet who is so blind as not to discern that the one removes the evils caused by the other, and thereby relieves the schools of many hindrances? Rapid progress in learning would at once follow, through the choice of the best and fittest authors from the first, the use of exercises adapted to the advancementof the child, and the teacher’s orderly procedure in general. By this means the scholar would not learn anything he ought to forget, or leave anything needful unlearned, through the ill-advised counsel of his teacher, and the teacher on his part would be saved from hurrying on too fast, or dwelling too long on one thing. The best course being hit upon at the first, as may be generally appointed, one thing helpeth another forward naturally, without forcing; what is first taught maketh way for what must follow next, and continual use will let nothing be forgotten which is once well got, and the gradual advance in learning will succeed in proportion, without loss of time or unnecessary labour either through lingering too long or hurrying on too fast. This result cannot possibly be brought about at present, while things are left to the discretion of teachers, of whom the most are not specially enlightened, and even the very best cannot always hit upon the most fruitful methods, and while the customary education is held as a sanction, alteration even for the better considered a heresy, and approval determined by personal prejudice. I do not touch upon any hindrances that cannot easily be removed, if the matter be taken in hand by authority; difficulties that belong to special circumstances must be dealt with at another time.
The lack of uniformity is clearly shown when children change both schools and teachers; either the new master thinks it some discredit to himself to begin where the old one left off, or disapproves of the choice that the previous teacher had made, or seeks to exalt himself by finding fault with the other, or else the arrangement of his school does not admit of a regular progression, every school having a plan of its own. Sometimes the boy not being properly grounded, eitherthrough the ignorance of his teachers or his own negligence, cannot easily be influenced for the better, or led to give up his own conceit of himself, and this generally happens when the parents are unreasonable and think their child disgraced if he is “put back,” as the phrase is, whereas in reality he is bid only tolookback, to see that which he never saw and ought to have seen very thoroughly. This cause of disorder, proceeding from the parents, affecteth us all, causing great weakness and much failure of classification in the forms of our schools, whereas if there were a uniform order fixed by authority, however often the child may change, his advancement is easily tested, and the parents will have no pretext for discontent, when they see that the matter is fixed by public provision, and that there is no room for private partiality. At present the only thing that is uniform in our schools is the common grammar set forth by authority, the use of which confirms the opinion I have expressed, as regards both the policy of adopting it from the beginning, and the advantage of having something definitely decided to which we are all bound to agree. Whether the book now in use may be retained with some amendment, or should give place to one with a better method, is a matter for consideration, for all such books, serving for direction, must be fashioned to the matter which they seem to direct by rule and precept, existing as they do, not for their own sake, but as a means to an end. The experience of having a common grammar proves the value of uniformity, but it remains a matter of controversy whether it is itself the best possible grammar.
The second advantage of uniformity is the saving of expense. While it is left to the teacher’s liberty to make his own choice, both as to what book he shall useand what method he shall adopt, what with the variety of judgment and inequality of learning in teachers, which may be unified by authority, but will never be by consent, the parents’ purses are heavily taxed and poor men are sorely pinched. This is brought about both by the change of books, the master often reversing his former choice, and also by their number, every book being commended to the buyer which either maketh a fair show to be profitable, or is otherwise solicited to the sale owing to the need for disposing of an over-supply. Whatever is needful to be used in schools may be very well comprised in a small compass; one small volume may be compounded of the marrow of many, and the change need not be great. Nor yet hereby is any injury done to good writers, whose books may very well tarry for the ripeness of the reader, and the place that is due to them in the ordinary ascent of learning and study, according to their value and degree, so that they may win praise for their authors from those who are able to judge, and may bring profit to the student when he is able to understand and remember them.
In our Grammar Schools we profess to teach the tongues, or rather to make a beginning with teaching them. Every subject that is treated in any tongue supplies the student with the terms that belong to it, which are most easily got up in connection with the matter. If, then, the scholar of the Grammar School be taught to write, speak, and understand readily in some well-chosen subject, the school has performed its duty in doing even so much, though the boy may not know all, or even most, of the words in the language, which is amatter for further study. Those that assign their tasks to Grammar School teachers recommend historians and poets, though they make some distinction of writers according to the tendency of their matter and the purity of their style. But what time is there in our schools to run over all these, or even to deal with a few of them thoroughly? Would it not be more creditable to our profession, and more convenient for the parents, to have a selection carefully made and printed by itself? And should not the most important books be left over to be taken in connection with the particular callings to which they refer? Let those who are gifted with imagination make a special study of the poets, and those who take most interest in the records of memorable deeds devote themselves to history. If men of greater learning have leisure and desire to read, they may use histories for pleasure as an after-dinner study, neither trying the brain nor proving tedious, since they cannot generally be accepted as a basis of judgment, because ignorance of the circumstances causes a difficulty in applying conclusions. They may also run through the poets when they are disposed to laugh, and to behold what bravery enthusiasm inspireth. For when poets write soberly and plainly, without attempting any illusion, they can scarcely be called poets, though they write in verse, but only when they cover a truth with a veil of fancy, and transfigure the reality. We should therefore cull out some of the best and most suitable for our introductory course, and leave all the rest for special students, and that not in the poets and histories alone, but also in all other books that are now admitted into our schools. Some very excellent passages, most eloquently and forcibly penned for the polishing of good manners and inducement to virtue, may be pickedout of some of the poets, and from none more than Horace. But heed must be taken that we do not plant any poeticfuryin the child’s disposition. For that impetuous imagination, where it already exists, is in itself too wayward, though it be not helped forward, and where it is not present it should in no case be forced. As for other writers, regard must be paid to the number and choice of their words, the smoothness and propriety of their composition, and the solid worth of their matter. Quintilian’s rule is the best, and should always be observed in choosing writers for children to learn, to pick out such as will feed the intelligence with the best material, and refine the tongue with the most polished style, so that we avoid alike trivial and unsuitable matter, however eloquently set forth, and what is rudely expressed, however weighty and wise it may be, reserving only those passages where the good tendency and intelligibility of the subject are clothed and honoured with refined and fitting language.
I intend myself, by the grace of God, to bestow some pains on this task, if I see any hope of my labour being encouraged. If any one else will take the matter up I am ready to stand aside and rejoice in his success; if none other will, then I trust my country will bear with me when I offer my dutiful service in so necessary a case. If any one of higher position should be inclined to resent my action, I must appeal to the public judgment, yet if such a one does not step forth and prove his own skill, he cannot complain if another speaks while he is silent. I crave the gentle and friendly construction of such as be learned, or love learning, and if I should have the misfortune to dissatisfy any in my work, I will do my best to improve it.
The second remedy for the difficulties of teachers is to set forth the school regulations in a public place, where they may be easily seen and read, and to leave as little as possible uncertain which the parent ought to know, and out of which dissatisfaction may arise. For if at the first entry the parent agree to those arrangements which he sees set forth, so that he cannot afterwards plead either ignorance or disapproval, he cannot take offence if his child be forced to keep them in the form to which he consented. Yet when all is done there may be doubt about the interpretation of the rules. Wherefore the manner of teaching, the method of promotion, the times of admission, the division of numbers, the text-books, and all those matters into which uniformity can be introduced, being already known to be fixed by authority, as I trust they will be, or at least the arrangements being set down which the schoolmaster on his own judgment intends to keep, it will further remove the chance of contention between the teacher and the parents if it be also stated what are the regular hours of work, exceptions being made in special cases, and what will be the intervals for play, which indeed is very necessary, and not as yet sufficiently taken into account.
But the teacher must above all make clear what punishments he will use, and how much, for every kind of fault that shall seem punishable by the rod. For the rod can no more be spared in schools than the sword in the hand of the Prince. By the rod I mean some form of correction, to inspire fear. If that instrument be thought too severe for boys, which was not devisedby our time, but received from antiquity, I will not strive with any man in its defence, if he will leave us some means for compelling obedience where numbers have to be taught together. Even in private upbringing, if the birch is wholly banished from the home, parents cannot have their will, whatever they may say. And if in men serious faults deserve and receive severe punishment, surely children cannot escape punishments which bring proportional unhappiness. And if parents were as careful to enquire into the reasons why their child has been beaten as they are ready to be unreasonably aggrieved, they might gain a great deal more for the child’s advantage, and the child himself would lose nothing by the parent’s assurance. But commonly in such cases rashness has its recompense, the error being seen when the mischief is incurable, and repentance is useless. Beating, however, must only be for ill-behaviour, not for failure in learning, and it were more than foolish to hide all faults and offences under the name of “not learning.” What would that child be without beating, who even with it can hardly be reclaimed, whose capacity is sufficient, the only hindrance lying in his evil disposition? The aim of our schools is learning; if it fails through negligence, punish the negligence, if by any other wilful fault, punish that fault. Let the teacher make it clear what the punishment is for, and leave as little as possible to the report of the child, who will always make the best of his own case, and will be sooner believed than even the best master, especially if his mother be his counsellor, or if his father be inconstant and without judgment.
The schoolmaster must therefore have a list made out of school faults, beginning with moral offences, such as swearing, disobedience, lying, stealing, and bearingfalse witness, and including also minor breaches of discipline, such as truancy and unpunctuality. To each of these should be apportioned a certain number of stripes, not many but unchangeable. The master should also try to secure that the fault should be confessed, if possible, without compulsion, and the boy clearly convicted by the verdict of his schoolfellows. For otherwise children will dispute the matter vigorously, relying on credulity and partiality at home. If any of their companions be appointed monitors—and such help must be had where the master cannot always be present himself—and take them napping, they will allege spite or some private grudge. And if the master use correction, to support the authority of his lieutenants, the culprit will complain at home that he hath been beaten without cause. If the master postpone punishment, the delay will serve them to devise some way of escape, in which they can count upon home support.
To tell tales out of school, which in olden times was held to be high treason, is now commonly practised in an unworthy way. There are so many petty stratagems and devices that boys will use to save themselves that the master must be very circumspect, and leave no appearance of impunity where a penalty is really deserved. It were indeed some loss of time for learning to spend any in beating if it did not seem to make for the improvement of manners and conduct. It is passing hard to reclaim a boy in whom long impunity hath grafted a careless security, or rather a sturdy insolence; and yet friends will urge that the boy should not be beaten for fear of discouraging him, though they will have cause to regret this afterwards. It is also not good after any correction to let children dwell too longon the pain they have suffered, lest it cause too much resentment, unless the parents are wise and steadfast; and indeed that child is happy who has such parents, and who lights as well on a skilful and discreet master who acts in harmony with them. “But certainly it is most true, whatever plausible arguments may be used in a contrary sense, that the determined master who can use the rod discreetly, though he may displease some who think all punishment indiscreet when it falls on their own children, doth perform his duty best, and will always bring up the best scholars. No master of any force of character can do other than well, where the parents follow the same treatment at home which the teacher does at school, and if they disapprove of anything, will rather make a complaint to the master privately than condole with their child openly, and in so doing bring about more mischief in one direction than they can do good in any other. The same faults must be faults at home which are faults at school, and must be followed by the same consequences in both places, so that the child’s good may be considered continuously as well in correction as in commendation.”
Those who write most strongly in favour of gentleness in education reserve a place for the rod, and we who frankly face the need for severity on occasion, recommend teachers to use courtesy towards their pupils whenever it is possible. The difference is that they seem to make much of courtesy, but are forced by the position to confess the need for the rod, while we, though accepting the necessity openly, are yet more inclined to gentleness than those who make greater professions in their desire to curry favour. I would rather hazard the reproach of being a severe master in making a boy learn what may afterwards be of service to him,even though he be negligent and unwilling at the time, than that he should lack any advantage when he is older, because I failed to make him learn, owing to my vain desire to be considered a courteous teacher. A schoolmaster, if he be really wise, will either prevent his pupils from committing faults, or when they are committed, will turn the matter to the best account, but in any case he must have full discretion given to him to use severity or gentleness as he thinks best, without any appeal. But I do think gentleness and courtesy towards children more needful than beating. I have myself had thousands of pupils passing through my hands whom I never beat, because they needed it not; but if the rod had not been in sight to assure them of punishment if they acted amiss, they might have deserved it. Yet in regard to those who came next to the best, I found that I would have done better if I had used more correction and less gentleness, after carelessness had got head in them. Wherefore, I must needs say that where numbers have to be dealt with, the rod ought to rule, and even where there are few, it ought to be seen, however hard this may sound. But the master must always have a fatherly affection even for the most unsatisfactory boy, and must look upon the school as a place of amendment, where failures are bound to occur.
Where the salary is sufficient, it is well for a schoolmaster to be married, for affection towards his own children will give him a more fatherly feeling towards others, and smallness of salary will make a single man remove sooner, as he has less to carry with him. An older teacher should be more fit to govern, being more constant and free from the levity of youth, and owingto the discretion and learning which years should bring with them.
When all is done, the poor teacher must be subject to as much as the sun is, in having to shine upon all, and see much more than he can amend. His life is arduous, and therefore he should be pitied; it is clearly useful, and therefore he should be cherished; it wrestles with unthankfulness above all measure, and therefore he should be comforted with all encouragement. One displeased parent will do more harm in taking offence at some trifle, than a thousand of the most grateful will ever do good, though it be never so well deserved. Such small recompense is given for the greater pains, the very acquaintance dying out when the child leaves the school, though with confessed credit and manifest profit. But what calling is there which has not to combat with discourtesies? Patience must comfort when difficulty discourageth, and a resolute mind is a bulwark to itself.
Of all the means devised by policy and reflection to further the upbringing of children, as regards either learning or good habits, I see none comparable to these two—conference among all those who are interested in seeing children well brought up, and systematic constancy in carrying out what is so planned by general agreement, so that there shall be no changes except where circumstances demand it.
The conference of those interested in the upbringing of children may be of four kinds—between parents and neighbours, between teachers and neighbours, between parents and teachers, and between teachers and teachers. Under the term “neighbours” I include all strangerswho are moved either by duty or courtesy to help in the training of children. Now if parents are willing to take counsel with such, they may learn by the experience of others how to deal with their own families. If neighbours are willing to give advice to parents when they notice anything amiss in their children, is it not honourable in them to act so honestly? And does it not show wisdom in parents to take it in a friendly spirit? And are not these children fortunate who have such solicitous helpers among their friends, and such considerate listeners at home.
This consultation may be between the neighbour and the teacher. In this the teacher must act very warily, for he has to consider what credit he may give to the informer, how far the scholar is capable of amendment, and how the parents will look at the matter. When the parent is dealing with his own child, either from his own knowledge or from accepted report, his judgment is life or death, without appeal, but when the teacher takes this office on him many objections may be made. ‘Why did you believe? Why did he meddle? Why did you act in this way?’ But if such consultation be wisely handled by all concerned, it will be a great advantage to the child to be made to feel that, wherever he is and whatever he does, if anyone sees him, his parent or his master, or both together, will also see him through the eyes of others.
As for consultation between parents and teachers, I have already said much on this head, but it is such an important matter that I can never say too much about it, because their friendly and faithful co-operation brings about perpetual obedience in the child, scorn of evil, and desire to do well. Nothing hinders this so much as credulity and partiality in the parents, when theyare unable to withstand their children’s tears and pleading against some deserved punishment. Though the parents may at the time gain their point, they will find in the end that they cannot have their own will as they would like. Such consultation is of special value when the child is leaving school to proceed onward to further learning, and when there is a question of changing masters owing to some fancied grievance. In the former case, the parent by seeking the teacher’s advice can be surer of his ground. In the latter case, it may prevent loss to the child through misunderstanding. You are offended with the master, but have you conferred with him, and explained to him openly the cause of your dissatisfaction? Have you made quite sure that the fault is not in your son, or in yourself? If the master be wise, and if he hath been advisedly chosen, though he should chance to have erred, he will know how to make amends; if he be not wise, then the consultation will help to show him up, and make it certain how much trust can be put in him. I must needs say once for all that there is no public or private means that makes so much for the good upbringing of children as this conference between parents and teachers.
The last kind of consultation that I recommend is that among the members of the teaching profession, which has a good influence on education generally. Can any single person, or even a few, however skilful they may be, see the truth as clearly as a number can, in common consultation? Even in matters not concerned with learning such conference is found profitable, and where it is practised among teachers for the common good, it may have the advantage of giving forth a unanimous opinion to the public. In places where there are a number of schools within a small compass,this kind of conference can be easily secured and is very desirable.
The next condition of good upbringing is the best offspring of wise conferences, namely, certainty of direction, indicating what to do and what to learn, how to do and how to learn, when and where to do that which refines the behaviour, and to learn that which advanceth knowledge. For children, being themselves ignorant, must have system to direct them, and trainers must not devise something new every day, but should at once make definitely known what they will require from the children, and what the children may look for at their hands. This systematic regularity must be laid down and maintained in schools for learning, in the home for behaviour, and in churches for religion, because these three places are the chief resorts that children have.
In schooling it assureth the parents as to what is promised there, and how far it is likely to be performed, by informing them of the method and orders that are set down; it directeth the children as by a well-trodden path, how to come to where their journey lieth; it relieveth the master’s mind by putting his meaning and wishes into writing, and giving the results of experience in a form that can be followed as by habit without constant renewal.
As for regularity at home, I have already urged it, in wishing that parents would act so in the home that there may be conformity between their management and that of the school. By this means neither would schools have cause to complain of infection from private corruption, nor would they easily send any misdemeanourhome, since the child would be sure to be sharply checked by its parents for any ill-doing. There should be the utmost regularity for children in the home, deciding for them when to rise and when to go to bed, when and how to say their morning and evening prayers, when and how to greet their parents night and morning, on leaving and on entering the house, at meat and on other occasions. Obedience to the prince and to the laws is securely grounded when private houses are so well ordered; there is little need for preaching when private training is so carefully carried out.
Regularity and order are equally needful for children when they attend the churches on holidays and festivals. All the young ones of the parish should be placed in a particular part of the church, where they can be properly supervised, none being suffered to range through the streets on any pretence, and all being in the eye of the parents and parishioners. They must further be attentive to the divine service and learn betimes to reverence the rule they will afterwards have to live by. Regularity brings present pleasure and much advantage later on, and he that is acquainted with discipline in his youth will think himself in exile if he find it not in old age. Whoever perceives and deplores the present variety in schooling, the disorder in families, and the dissoluteness in the church, will think I have not said amiss.
Yet this systematic regularity is not to be so rigid that it will not yield to discretion where a change in the circumstances demands it. As now our teaching consisteth in tongues, if some other thing at a future time seems fitter for the State, it must be adopted and given its proper place. But in making changes it is well to alter by degrees, and not overturn everything allat once. Unfortunately human nature is readier to receive a number of corrupting influences than to take pains to lessen a single evil by degrees.
Thus bold have I been with you, my good and courteous fellow-countrymen, in taking up your time with a multitude of words, whose force I know not, but whose purpose hath been to show how, in my opinion, the present great variety in teaching may be reduced to some uniformity. I have given free expression to my opinions, not because I am greatly dissatisfied with what we have, but because I often wish for what we have not, as something much better, and the rather to be wished because it might be so easily attained. I might have set forth my principles in aphoristic form, leaving commentary and recommendation to experience and time, but in the first place I do not deserve so much credit that my bare word should stand for a warrant, and in the second place I was unwilling to alienate by precise brevity those whom I might win over by argument. Wherefore I have written on all the various points enough, I think, for any reader who will be content with reason,—too much, I fear, for so evident a matter, as I believe these principles cannot be substantially contradicted. For I have grounded them upon reading, and some reasonable experience, and have applied them to the circumstances of this country, without attempting to enforce any foreign or strange device. Moreover I have tried to leaven them with common-sense, in which long teaching hath left me not entirely deficient. I do not take upon me, dictator-like, to pronounce peremptorily, but in the way of counsel to say what I have learned by long teaching, by reading somewhat, and observing more; and I must pray my fellow-countrymen so to understand me, forhaving been urged these many years by some of my friends to publish something, and never hitherto having ventured into print, I might seem to have let the reins of modesty run loose, if at my first attempt I should seem like a Caesar to offer to make laws. Howbeit, my years beginning to decline, and certain of my observations seeming to some folks to crave utterance, I thought it worth the hazard of gaining some men’s favour. My wishes perhaps may seem sometimes to be novelties. Novelties perhaps they are, as all amendments to the thing that needeth redress must be, but at least they are not fantastic, having their seat in the clouds. I am not the only one who has ever wished for change. If my wish were impossible of fulfilment, though it seemed desirable, it would deserve to be denied, but where the thing is both profitable and possible, why should it not be brought about, if wishing may procure it? I wish convenient accommodation for learning and exercise. This does not now exist in every part of the country,—indeed it scarcely exists anywhere as yet. I would not have wished it if there had been any real difficulty in accomplishing it, and it will not come about before the wish is expressed. There is no heresy nor harm in my wishes, which are all for the good and happiness of my country.