“That was a striking spectacle at the first glance,—those long and vast structures which contained a whole school, such as the older generations of our teachers recollect still to have seen at the Halle aux Draps. In the middle of the room, throughout its entire length, were rows of tables having from five to twenty places each, having at one end, at the right, the desk of the monitor, and the board having models of writing, itself surmounted by a standard or telegraph which served to secure, by means of directions easy to read, regularity of movements; at the side of the room, and all along the walls, there were rows of semi-circles, about which were arranged groups of children; on the walls, on a line with the eye, there was a blackboard on which were performed the exercises in computation, and from which were suspended the charts for reading and grammar; right at his side, within reach of his hand, was the stick with which the teacher was provided for conducting the lesson; finally, at the lower part of the room, on a wide and high platform, accessible by steps and surrounded by a balustrade, was the chair of the master, who, employing in succession, according to fixed rules, voice, bâton, or whistle, surveyed the tables and groups, distributing commendation or reproof, and directing, in a word, like a captain on the deck of his vessel, the whole machinery of instruction.”
In respect of systematic movements and exterior order, nothing is more charming than the appearance of a school conducted on the mutual plan. It remains to inquire what were the educational results of the system, and whether the fashion which brought it into favor was justified by real advantages.
610. Vices of Mutual Instruction.—The monitor was the mainspring of the mutual method. But what was the monitor? A child, more intelligent, doubtless, than his comrades, but too little instructed to be equal to his task. The mutual school did not open till ten o’clock. From eight to ten there was a class for the monitors. There they learned in haste what they were, for the rest of the day, to teach to the other children. The purpose of the master being to form good instruments as quickly as possible, they were fitted up for their trade by the most expeditious methods.
“What sort of teachers could such a preparation produce? To teach is to learn twice, it has been truly said; but on the condition of having reflected on that which has been learned and upon that which is to be taught. To convey light into the intelligence of another, it is first necessary to have produced the light within one’s self, a thing which supposes the enlightened, penetrating, and persevering action of a mind relatively mature and trained. From the class where they have just been sitting as pupils, the monitors—masters improvised as by the wave of a wand,—passed to the classes of children whom they were to indoctrinate” (Gréard).
The instruction, consequently, became purely mechanical. The monitor faithfully repeated what he had been taught. Everything was reduced to mechanical processes.
Let us observe, besides, that from the moral point of view, the mutual system left much to be desired. The monitors, we are told, did not escape the intoxications of pride. Even in the family they became petty tyrants. Parents complained of their dictatorial habits and their tone of authority.
However it may be, mutual instruction has rendered undeniable services, thanks to the zeal of such teachers as Mademoiselle Sauvan and Monsieur Sarazin; but its reputation went on diminishing in proportion as the State became more and more disposed to make sacrifices, and as it was possible to multiply the services of teachers.[263]
611. The State of Primary Instruction.—Under the title, Exhibit of Primary Instruction in France, a member of the University, P. Lorain, published in 1837 a résumé of the inquiry, which, by the orders of Guizot, had been made in 1833 throughout the whole extent of France, by the labors of more than 400 inspectors. Here are some of the sad results of this inquiry: all the teachers did not know how to write; a large number employed the mechanism of the three fundamental rules without being able to give any theoretical reason for these operations. “The ignorance was general.”
As under the old régime, the teacher practiced all the trades; he was day-laborer, shoemaker, innkeeper.
“He had his wife supply his place while he went hunting in the fields.”