Jacotot (1770-1840).—Perhaps the most famous of the French educators and writers of this period was Jacotot, for a time professor of languages and mathematics at Paris, and later professor of the French language and literature at Löwen. His principal educational work is entitled "Universal Instruction." Jacotot is best known for his paradoxes, two of the most famous of which are, "Everything is in Everything," and "All men have equal intelligence." But his method rather than his paradoxical statements has proved his greatest contribution to educational progress. His method consisted in the selection of fundamental examples or types, having the pupils commit them to memory, repeating this work daily, amplifying it, deriving the rules or principles in relation to it, until the mastery in all directions is complete. Thus in studying Latin a page of Caesar might be taken and drilled upon until the style, rules of grammar, and meaning of the passage are mastered; in mathematics the fundamental rules,—the Pythagorean theorem must be repeated daily; in geography begin with a map and master all its details. Gain a complete understanding of one subject before taking up another. His method attracted much attention.
FOOTNOTES:
[128] Special References, Williams, "History of Modern Education"; Quick, "Educational Reformers," pp. 144, 288; Lang, "Basedow" (Teachers' Manuals, No. 16).
[129] Lang, "Basedow," p. 6.
[130] "Educational Reformers," p. 150.
[131] "Educational Reformers," p. 151.
[132] Kant, "Ueber Pädagogik."