The History of Education / Educational Practice and Progress Considered as a Phase of the Development and Spread of Western Civilization

by Ellwood Patterson Cubberley

That everie severall churche have a school-maister appointed, such a one as is able at least to teach Grammar and the Latin tung, yf the Town be of any reputation. Yf it be upaland … then must either the Reider or the Minister take cayre over the children … to instruct them in their first rudementie and especially in the catechisme.

[Illustration: FIG. 100. JOHN KNOX (1505?-72)]

The educational plan proposed by Knox would have called for a large expenditure of money, and this the thrifty Scotch were not ready for. Knox and his followers then proposed to endow the new schools from the old church and monastic foundations, but the Scottish nobles hoped to share in these, as had the English nobility under Henry VIII, and Knox's plan was not approved. This delayed the establishment of a real national system of education for Scotland until the nineteenth century. The new Church, however, took over the superintendence of education in Scotland, and when parish schools were finally established by decree of the Privy Council, in 1616, and by the legislation of 1633 and 1646 (R. 179), the Church was given an important share in their organization and management. These schools, while not always sufficient in number to meet the educational needs, were well taught, and have deeply influenced the national character.

4. The Counter-Reformation of the Catholics

THE JESUIT ORDER. The Protestant Revolt made but little headway in Italy, Spain, Portugal, much of France, or southern Belgium (see map, p. 296). Italy was scarcely disturbed at all, while in France, where of all these countries the reform ideas had made greatest progress, nine tenths of the people remained loyal to Rome. In a general way it may be stated that those parts of western Europe which had once formed an integral part of the old Roman Empire remained loyal to the Roman Church, while those which had been the homes of the Germanic tribes revolted. Now it naturally happened that the countries which remained loyal to the old Church experienced none of the feelings of the necessity for education as a means to personal salvation which the Lutherans and Calvinists felt. There, too, the church system of education which had developed during the long Middle Ages remained undisturbed and largely unchanged. The Church as an institution, though, learned from the Protestants the value of education as a means to larger ends, and soon set about using it. [6]

After the Church Council of Trent (1545-63), where definite church reform measures were carried through (p. 303), the Catholics inaugurated what has since been called a counter-reformation, in an effort to hold lands which were still loyal and to win back lands which had been lost. Besides reforming the practices and outward lives of the churchmen, and reforming some church practices and methods, the Church inaugurated a campaign of educational propaganda. In this last the chief reliance was upon a new and a very useful organization officially known as the "Society of Jesus," but more commonly called the "Jesuit Order." This had been founded, in 1534, by a Spanish knight, pilgrim, man of large ideas, and scholar by the name of Ignatius Loyola, and had been sanctioned as an Order of the Church by Pope Paul III, in 1540. It was organized along strictly military lines, all members being responsible to its General, and he in turn alone to the Pope. The quiet life of the cloister was abandoned for a life of open warfare under a military discipline. The Jesuit was to live in the world, and all peculiarities of dress or rule which might prove an obstacle to worldly success were suppressed. The purposes of the Order were to combat heresy, to advance the interests of the Church, and to strengthen the authority of the Papacy. Its motto was Omnia ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (that is, All for the greater glory of God), and the means to be employed by it to accomplish these ends were the pulpit, the confessional, the mission, and the school. Of these the school was given the place of first importance. Realizing clearly that the real cause of the Reformation had been the ignorance, neglect, and vicious lives of so many monks and priests and the extortion and neglect practiced by the Church, and that the chief difficulty was in the higher places of authority, it became the prime principle of the Order to live upright and industrious lives themselves, and to try to reach and train those likely to be the future leaders in Church and State. With the education of the masses of the people the Order was not concerned. [7] Our interest lies only with the educational work of this Order, a work in which it was remarkably successful and through which it exercised a very large influence.

[Illustration: FIG. 101. IGNATIUS DE LOYOLA (1491-1556)]

GREAT SUCCESS OF THE ORDER. The service of the Order to the Church in combating Protestant heresies was very marked. Beginning in a small way, the Order, by 1600, had established two hundred colleges (Latin secondary schools), universities, and training seminaries; by 1640, 372; by 1706 (150 years after the death of its founder), 769; and by 1756, 728. In 1773, when the Order was for a time abolished, [8] after it had been driven out of a number of European countries because of the unscrupulous methods it adopted and the continual application of its doctrine that the end justifies the means, the Order had 22,589 members, about half of whom were teachers. Its colleges (secondary schools) and universities were most numerous and its work most energetically carried on in northern France, Belgium, Holland, the German States, Austria, Poland, and Hungary. Here was the great battle line, and here the Jesuits deeply entrenched themselves. In these portions of Europe alone there were, in 1750, 217 colleges, 55 seminaries, 24 houses for novitiates, and 160 missions. In France alone there were 92 colleges. They did much, single-handed, to roll back the tide of Protestantism which had advanced over half of western Europe, and to hold other countries true to the ancient faith.

The colleges were usually large and well-supported institutions, with dormitories, classrooms, dining-halls; and play-grounds. The usual number of scholars in each was about 300, though some had an attendance of 600 to 800, and a few as high as 2000. At their period of maximum influence the colleges and universities of the Order probably enrolled a total of 200,000 students. Their graduates were prominent in every scholarly and governmental activity of the time. As far as possible the pupils were a selected class to whom the Order offered free instruction. The children of the nobility and gentry, and the brightest and most promising youths of the different lands were drawn into their schools. The children of many Protestants, also, were attracted by the high quality of the instruction offered. There they were given the best secondary-school education of the time, and received, at an impressionable age, the peculiar Jesuit stamp. [9] Bacon gave his opinion as to the success of their instruction in the following sentence: "As for the pedagogical part, the shortest rule would be, Consult the schools of the Jesuits; for nothing better has been put in practice." (De Augmentis, VI, 4.) [10]

SUCCESS OF THE JESUIT SCHOOLS. Displaying a genius for organization worthy of Rome, Loyola and his followers absorbed the best educational ideas of the time as to school organization and management and curriculum, and incorporated these into their educational plan. Too practical to make many changes, but with a keen eye for what was best, they accepted the best and used it much as others had worked it out. From the municipal college of Guyenne, the colleges of Calvin, and Sturm's organization at Strassburg, they adopted the plan of class organization, with a teacher for each class. From the Calvinists they obtained the idea of the careful supervision of instruction, which was worked out in the Prefect of Studies for their colleges. In their course of study they incorporated the Ciceronian ideal of the humanistic learning, and as careful religious instruction as was provided by any of the reformers. From the Italian court schools they took the idea of physical training. The method of instruction and classroom management which they worked out was detailed, practical, and for their purposes excellent. The reasons for their educational work gave them a clearly defined aim and purpose. The military brotherhood type of organization, the lifetime of celibate service, and the opportunity to sort the carefully selected members according to their ability for service in the different lines of the Order gave them the best-selected teaching force in Europe, and these men they trained for the teaching service with a thoroughness unknown before and seldom equaled since. Knowing why they were at work and what ends they should achieve, intolerant of opposition, intensely practical in all their work, and possessed of an indefatigable zeal in the accomplishment of their purpose, they gave Europe in general and northern continental Europe in particular a system of secondary schools and universities possessed of a high degree of effectiveness, which, combined with religious warfare and persecution, in time drove out or dwarfed all competing institutions in the countries they were able to control.