Chapter IV: Part 4

I do wish then that well-disposed young gentlemen would be pleased to betake themselves betimes to some kind of learning that is indeed liberal, seeing that their circumstances protect them from interested motives, and enable them to serve their country honourably. Instead of all becoming lawyers or court officials, why do not some of them choose to be divines, or physicians, or to take up some other learned profession? Any gentleman in our country who is now so qualified is esteemed and honoured above all others of his calling, and indeed gets some honour even if he is not particularly well qualified. Are not these professions to be reverenced for their subject-matter and for their influence? And are they not therefore proper for the nobility? I do not hold the conduct of barbarous invasions to be the true field of activity for the nobility; they should be for the most part peaceful, and warlike only for defence if the country be assailed, or for attack if previous wrongs are to be avenged. Nor do I take wealth to be any worthy cause of honour to the owner, unless it be both got by laudable means and employed in commendable ways, nor any quality or gift that adorns the body, unless it serves a good purpose, nor any endowment of the mind which is not exercised in conformity with reason and wisdom. Such gifts are demanded in the callings I have named as worthy of the nobility. Who dare think lightly of divinity in itself? There is more hesitation now about adopting it as a profession than formerly, when the emoluments were greater, and the dignity more generally recognised, but the position grows better again, and a good gentleman may find in it the honour which he seeks. As for medicine, if gentlemen will not study and practise it, they must pay the penalty of ignorance, as they will suffer in their own bodies as well as in their pockets by leaving the profession to those of meaner rank, whose attendance is often rather flattering and fawning than intelligent services. This caution, however, young gentlemen must bear in mind, that it were a great deal better they had no learning at all and knew their own ignorance, than a mere smattering, incomplete of its kind, and insecurely held in their minds. For their acknowledged ignorance harms only themselves, as others more skilful may supply their places, but unripe learning puffeth them up, and their rank encourages them to be superficial, either in not digesting what they have read, or in not reading sufficiently, or in doing desultory work, or presuming on their station to defend ill-considered notions. To conclude, I wish young gentlemen to be better than ordinary men in the best kind of learning, as they have ampler opportunities of acquiring it and turning it to good account for the benefit of their country and their own honour.

The Training of a Prince.

As a child, the greatest prince may be, like other children, in soul either fine or gross, in body either strong or weak, in form either well-developed or ill, so that in regard to the time for beginning to learn and the proper course of study, he is no less subject to the general laws already laid down than his subjects are. We must take him as God sends him, for we cannot choose as we would wish, just as he must make the best of his people, though his people be not the best. When the young prince’s elementary education is past, and there is more scope for reading, care must be taken to choose such matter as may recommend humility as well as afford adequate knowledge, so that competence in affairs may be supported by the gift of courteous persuasion. Intercourse with foreign ambassadors, and conference with his own counsellors, require both a knowledge of tongues and a knowledge of the matters that come under discussion. And as he governeth his State by means of his two arms, the ecclesiastical, which preserves and purifies religion, the main support of voluntary obedience, and the political, which by maintaining the civil government doth keep order and diffuse well-being, if he lack knowledge to use his arms aright, is he not more than lame? And is not his best help to be found in learning? Martial skill is needful, but only for defence, because a stirring prince, always ready to make aggression, is a plague to his people and a punishment to himself, and even when he seems to gain most, is only getting what he or his descendants must some day lose again with perhaps something in addition. But religious knowledge is far more important, being specially necessary for a prince, inasmuch as he hath none but God to fear. Almighty God be thanked who hath at this day lent us a Princess who indeed feareth Him, and who therefore, deserving to be loved, desires not to be feared by us. I pray God long to preserve her whose good education doth teach us what education can do, and I have good cause to rejoice that this work of mine concerning education is given forth in her time.

Boarding Schools.

I turn to the question whether it is better for a child to board with his master or elsewhere, or to come from home daily to school. If the place where the parents dwell be near the school, or only so far off that the very walk may be for the boy’s health, and if the parent himself be careful and wise to be as good a furtherer in the training of his own child as he is a father to its being, then certainly the parent’s home is much better, if for nothing else, yet because the parent can more easily at all times look after the interests of his own, having only one or a few, than the schoolmaster can after his ordinary duties are over, especially as he will have to divide his attention among many. Further, all the considerations which persuade people rather to have their children taught at home than along with others outside, especially with regard to their manners and behaviour, form arguments for their at least _boarding_ at home, if the parents will take their position seriously, because the parent can both see to the upbringing of the child outside school and interest himself in the work done by the child _in_ school. For undoubtedly the masters are wearied with working all day, so that the individual help they can give in their homes in the evening can be but little, without at once tiring the master unduly and dulling the child, if he is always poring over his books. There must be times for recreation if anything is to be well done continuously. Can anyone help thinking that it is a great deal more than enough for the master to teach, and the scholar to learn, daily from 6 in the morning till 11, and from 1 in the afternoon till wellnigh 6 at night, if the time is to be really well applied--nay, even if the hours were a great deal fewer? And may not the rest of the day be reasonably spent in some recreation that offers a pleasant variety to both parties? In the master’s home I grant children may keep school hours better, and be less liable to idleness and truancy; the master also may keep them better under his eye in his general teaching when they are wholly under his care in place of his own children, may arrange their hours better according to the subjects they are studying, and may sooner be able to discover their special talents and inclinations. There are also certain private considerations that have weight with parents in sending their children to board away from home, which I leave to their private thoughts, as I reserve some to my own. If the master have charge only of the scholars who board with him, and can himself do all that is necessary for the best education, and the numbers be moderate enough to allow of considerable progress, then I know of no more favourable circumstances, if the size, situation, and convenience of his house, and other necessary conditions are all suitable. But while he is thinking only of his boarders’ advancement, some slow-paying parents will be sure to keep him lean, if he look not well to it, and his fortunes will not flourish, or at least the risks will cause him continual anxiety. Parents have a different eye to their children’s comfort when they are at a boarding-school, and are ready to complain of many things that are made of no account at home. And if sickness or death should come, the worst construction is put upon it, as if death did not know where the parent dwells. And though the master should have done not only what he was formally bound to do, but even more than he could have done for his own child, yet all that is nothing. Wherefore, as parents must think of the objection on their side to sending out their children to board, so masters on their part must beware of admitting them to their own injury. Indeed, my own opinion is that it is quite enough for a master to undertake the education alone. If parents do not live near enough to the school, they should board their children elsewhere than with the master. They are distinct offices, to be a parent and a teacher, and the difficulties of upbringing are too serious for all the responsibilities to be thrown into the hands of one alone.

School Buildings.

Of the places of elementary education there is not much to say, as the masters supply rooms as large as they can, considering the fees that the parents are willing to pay, and the little people who attend these schools are not as yet capable of any great exercise. The Grammar Schools require more attention, because the years that are, or at least ought to be, spent there are the most important both for developing the body and for framing the mind and character. Here the pupils are most subject to the master’s direction, and provision is made for them not only out of the parents’ resources, but also from public endowment, so far as the buildings are concerned. As the elementary schools must be near the parents’ homes on account of the youth of the scholars, they must often be in the middle of cities and towns, but I could wish that the Grammar Schools were planted in the outskirts and suburbs, near to the fields, where partly by enclosing some private ground for regular exercises both in the open and under cover, and partly by utilising the open fields for rambles of wider range, there might be little or no feeling of restriction in the matter of space. There should be a good airy schoolroom above for the languages, and another below for others studies and for continuing and completing the elementary training, which will not be well enough kept up if it is left to private practice at home. There must also be suitable accommodation for the master and his family, even if they be pretty numerous, and there should be a convenient play-ground adjoining the school, walled round and having at least a quarter of the space covered over like a cloister, for the children’s exercise in rainy weather. All this will require no mean purse, but surely there is wealth enough in private possession, if there were will enough to endow public education. Yet we have no great cause to complain in regard to the number of schools and founders, for already during the time of Her Majesty’s most fortunate reign there have been more schools erected than existed before her time in the whole kingdom. I would rather have fewer and have them better appointed for the master’s accommodation and for general convenience. A small amount of help will make most of our rooms serve, and enable our teachers to give instruction and carry on the exercises under satisfactory conditions. The places for study and for exercise ought to adjoin each other, and be capable of holding considerable numbers, to be determined by the needs of the surrounding district. The schools that I know are mostly well placed already, or if they are in the heart of towns, they could be easily exchanged for some country situation, far from disturbances yet near enough to all necessary conveniences. It would be a very useful part of a great and good foundation if it provided for the removal of rooms to more suitable places, either by exchange or by new purchase, and I think licence would more readily be granted for this purpose than to build new schools. I am all the more impelled to recommend a country situation on account of the inconveniences that I have myself experienced, both in regard to my own health and that of my scholars, and the lack of facilities for the exercises on which I lay so much store. Yet I am by no means the worst off in this respect, owing to the zeal and generosity shown in the provision made by the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors in London, in whose school I have now served for twenty years, the first and only headmaster since its foundation. If ye consider what is to be done in these rooms which I desire, ye shall better judge what rooms will serve. Two rooms will be sufficient for the language study and the continuation of the elementary course, an upper room with proper arrangements for ventilation and the prevention of too much noise, and another similarly fitted up underneath to serve for what else is to be done. I could wish that we had fewer schools and that they were more efficient; it would be well if on careful consideration of the most convenient centres throughout the country, many of the existing schools could be put together to make a few good ones. To conclude this matter, I wish the rooms to be commodious, for though such studies as reading require small elbow-room, writing and drawing must not be straitened, nor music either, and physical exercises especially must have ample scope. And such rooms, if the numbers are not too large, if the distance is not too great for the young children, will with some distinction and separation of places serve conveniently both for the elementary school and the grammar school, which is so much the better.

Best Hours for Study.

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.

Elementary Teacher most Important.

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 of great 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 the higher 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.

The Grammar School Teacher.

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; yet he 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.

The Training of Teachers.

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.

University Reform.

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?

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 of necessity 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.

A College for Languages.

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 their properties, 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.

A College for Mathematics.

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 knowledge occupy 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.

A College for Philosophy.

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.

Professional Colleges.

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.

General Study for Professional Men.

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 to honest 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.

A Training College for Teachers.

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 in this 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.

Use of the Seven Colleges.

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. And can 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.

Uniting of Colleges.

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 nature of 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.

University Readers.

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 their private establishments as there are now in the public colleges.

Evils of Overpressure.

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 a pleasure 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 cut off. 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.

Limit of Elementary Course.

When the child can read so readily and confidently that the length of his lesson gives him no trouble; when he 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.

Difficulties in Teaching.

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 repine at 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 term _inconveniences_, 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.

Uniformity of Method.

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.