The Educational Writings of Richard Mulcaster

by Richard Mulcaster

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.