[19] “Non gratia nobilium officiat culturæ vulgarium: cum sint natales omnium pares in Adam et hæreditates quoque pares in Christo.”
[20] Even junior masters were not to be much addicted to their own language. “Illud cavendum imprimis juniori magistro ne vernaculis nimium libris indulgeat, præsertim poetis, in quibus maximam temporis ac fortasse morum jacturam faceret.”—Jouvency.
[21] “Multum proderit si magister non tumultuario ac subito dicat, sed quæ domi cogitate scripserit.—It will be a great gain if the master does not speak in a hurry and without forethought, but is ready with what he has thought out and written out in his own room.”—Ratio Studd., quoted by Schmid. And Sacchini says: “Ante omnia, quæ quisque docturus est, egregie calleat. Tum enim bene docet, et facile docet, et libenter docet; bene, quia sine errore; facile, quia sine labore; libenter, quia ex pleno.... Memoriæ minimum fidat: instauret eam refricetque iterata lectione antequam quicquam doceat, etiamsi idem sæpe docuerit. Occurret non raro quod addat vel commodius proponat.—Before all things let everyone be thoroughly skilled in what he is going to teach; for then he teaches well, he teaches easily, he teaches readily: well, because he makes no mistakes; easily, because he has no need to exert himself; readily, because, like wealthy men he cares not how he gives.... Let him be very distrustful of his memory; let him renew his remembrance and rub it up by repeated reading before he teaches anything, though he may have often taught it before. Something will now and then occur to him which he may add, or put more neatly.”
[22] In a school (not belonging to the Jesuits) where this plan was adopted, the boys, by an ingenious contrivance, managed to make it work very smoothly. The boy who was “hearing” the lessons held the book upside down in such a way that the others read instead of repeating by heart. The masters finally interfered with this arrangement.
[23] Since the above was written, an account of these concertations has appeared in the Rev. G. R. Kingdon’s evidence before the Schools Commission, 1867 (vol. v, Answers 12, 228 ff.) Mr. Kingdon, the Prefect of Studies at Stonyhurst, mentions that the side which wins in most concertations gets an extra half-holiday.
[24] “The grinding over and over of a subject after pupils have attained a fair knowledge of it, is nothing less than stultifying—killing out curiosity and the desire of knowledge, and begetting mechanical habits.”—Supt. J. Hancock, Dayton, Ohio. Every teacher of experience knows how true this is.
[25] “Stude potius ut pauciora clare distincteque percipiant, quam obscure atque confuse pluribus imbuantur.—Care rather for their seeing a few things vividly and definitely, than that they should get filled with hazy and confusing notions of many things.” (There are few more valuable precepts for the teacher than this.)
[26] Sacchini writes in a very high tone on this subject. The following passage is striking: “Gravitatem sui muneris summasque opportunitates assidue animo verset (magister).... ‘Puerilis institutio mundi renovatio est;’ hæc gymnasia Dei castra sunt, hic bonorum omnium semina latent. Video solum fundamentumque republicæ quod multi non videant interpositu terræ.—Let the mind of the master dwell upon the responsibilities of his office and its immense opportunities.... The education of the young is the renovation of the world. These schools are the camp of God: in them lie the seeds of all that is good. There I see the foundation and ground-work of the commonwealth, which many fail to see from its being underground.” Perhaps he had read of Trotzendorf’s address to a school, “Hail reverend divines, learned doctors, worshipful magistrates, &c.”
[27] “Circa illorum valetudinem peculiari cura animadvertat (Rector) ut et in laboribus mentis modum servent, et in iis quæ ad corpus pertinent, religiosa commoditate tractentur, ut diutius in studiis perseverare tam in litteris addiscendis quam in eisdem exercendis ad Dei gloriam possint.”—Ratio Studd., quoted by Schmid. [See also infra p. 62.]
[28] The following, from the Ratio Studd., sounds Jesuitical: “Nec publicé puniant flagitia quædam secretiora sed privatim; aut si publicé, alias obtendant causas, et satis est eos qui plectuntur conscios esse causarum.”