The Scholemaster

by Roger Ascham

He, that loueth to be praised for well doing, at his father,
or masters hand. A childe of this nature, will earnestlie loue
learnyng, gladlie labor for learning, willinglie learne of other,
boldlie aske any doute. And thus, by Socrates iudgement, a
good father, and a wise scholemaster, shold chose a childe to
make a scholer of, that hath by nature, the foresayd perfite
qualities, and cumlie furniture, both of mynde and bodie: hath
memorie, quicke to receyue, sure to keape, and readie to deliuer:
hath loue to learning: hath lust to labor: hath desire to learne
of others: hath boldnes to aske any question: hath mynde holie
bent, to wynne praise by well doing.
The two firste poyntes be speciall benefites of nature:
which neuerthelesse, be well preserued, and moch encreased by
good order. But as for the fiue laste, loue, labor, gladnes to
learne of others, boldnes to aske doutes, and will to wynne
praise, be wonne and maintened by the onelie wisedome and
discretion of the scholemaster. Which fiue poyntes, whether a
scholemaster shall worke soner in a childe, by fearefull beating,
or curtese handling, you that be wise, iudge.
Yet some men, wise in deede, but in this matter, more by
seueritie of nature, than any wisdome at all, do laugh at vs, when
we thus wishe and reason, that yong children should rather be
allured to learning by ientilnes and loue, than compelled to
learning, by beating and feare: They say, our reasons serue
onelie to breede forth talke, and passe a waie tyme, but we
neuer saw good scholemaster do so, nor neuer red of wise man
that thought so.
Yes forsothe: as wise as they be, either in other mens
opinion, or in their owne conceite, I will bring the contrarie

198 The first booke teachyng

iudgement of him, who, they them selues shall confesse, was as wise as they are, or else they may be iustlie thought to haue small witte at all: and that is Socrates, whose iudgement in Plato in 7. // Plato is plainlie this in these wordes: which, de Rep. // bicause they be verie notable, I will recite them in his owne tong, ouden mathema meta douleias chre manthanein: oi men gar tou somatos ponoi bia ponoumenoi cheiron ouden to soma apergazontai; psyche de, biaion ouden emmonon mathema: in Englishe thus, No learning ought to be learned with bondage: For bodelie labors, wrought by compul- sion, hurt not the bodie: but any learning learned by compulsion, tarieth not long in the mynde: And why? For what soeuer the mynde doth learne vnwillinglie with feare, the same it doth quicklie forget without care. And lest proude wittes, that loue not to be contraryed, but haue lust to wrangle or trifle away troth, will say, that Socrates meaneth not this of childrens teaching, but of som other higher learnyng, heare, what Socrates in the same place doth more plainlie say: me toinyn bia, o ariste, tous paidas en tois mathemasin, alla paizontas trephe, that is to say, and therfore, my deare frend, bring not vp your children in learning by compulsion and feare, but by playing and pleasure. And you, that do read Plato, as The right // ye shold, do well perceiue, that these be no readyng of // Questions asked by Socrates, as doutes, but they Plato. // be Sentences, first affirmed by Socrates, as mere trothes, and after, giuen forth by Socrates, as right Rules, most necessarie to be marked, and fitte to be folowed of all them, that would haue children taughte, as they should. And in this counsell, iudgement, and authoritie of Socrates I will repose my selfe, vntill I meete with a man of the contrarie mynde, whom I may iustlie take to be wiser, than I thinke Socrates Yong Ien- // was. Fonde scholemasters, neither can vnder- tlemen, be // stand, nor will folow this good counsell of Socrates, wiselier // but wise ryders, in their office, can and will do taught to // both: which is the onelie cause, that commonly, ryde, by com- // the yong ientlemen of England, go so vnwillinglie mon ry- // to schole, and run so fast to the stable: For in ders, than // verie deede fond scholemasters, by feare, do to learne, // beate into them, the hatred of learning, and wise by common // riders, by ientle allurements, do breed vp in Schole- // masters. //

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them, the loue of riding. They finde feare, & bondage in scholes, They feele libertie and freedome in stables: which causeth them, vtterlie to abhore the one, and most gladlie to haunt the other. And I do not write this, that in exhorting to the one, I would dissuade yong ientlemen from the other: yea I am sorie, with all my harte, that they be giuen no more to riding, then they be: For, of all outward qualities, // Ryding. to ride faire, is most cumelie for him selfe, most necessarie for his contrey, and the greater he is in blood, the greater is his praise, the more he doth excede all other therein. It was one of the three excellent praises, amongest the noble ientlemen the old Percians, Alwaise to say troth, to ride faire, and shote well: and so it was engrauen vpon Darius tumbe, as Strabo beareth witnesse. // Strabo. 15.

Darius the king, lieth buried here,
Who in riding and shoting had neuer peare.

But, to our purpose, yong men, by any meanes, leesing the
loue of learning, whan by tyme they cum to their owne rule,
they carie commonlie, from the schole with them, a perpetuall
hatred of their master, and a continuall contempt of learning.
If ten Ientlemen be asked, why they forget so sone in Court,
that which they were learning so long in schole, eight of them,
or let me be blamed, will laie the fault on their ill handling, by
their scholemasters.
Cuspinian doth report, that, that noble Emperor Maxi-
milian, would lament verie oft, his misfortune herein.
Yet, some will say, that children of nature, loue pastime,
and mislike learning: bicause, in their kinde, the // Pastime.
one is easie and pleasant, the other hard and
werisom: which is an opinion not so trewe, as // Learnyng.
some men weene: For, the matter lieth not so much in the
disposition of them that be yong, as in the order & maner of
bringing vp, by them that be old, nor yet in the difference of
learnyng and pastime. For, beate a child, if he daunce not well,
& cherish him, though he learne not well, ye shall haue him,
vnwilling to go to daunce, & glad to go to his booke. Knocke
him alwaies, when he draweth his shaft ill, and fauor him
againe, though he faut at his booke, ye shall haue hym verie
loth to be in the field, and verie willing to be in the schole.

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Yea, I saie more, and not of my selfe, but by the iudgement of
those, from whom few wisemen will gladlie dissent, that if euer
the nature of man be giuen at any tyme, more than other, to
receiue goodnes, it is in innocencie of yong yeares, before, that
experience of euill, haue taken roote in hym. For, the pure
cleane witte of a sweete yong babe, is like the newest wax,
most hable to receiue the best and fayrest printing: and like a
new bright siluer dishe neuer occupied, to receiue and kepe
cleane, anie good thyng that is put into it.
And thus, will in children, wiselie wrought withall, maie
Will. } | // easelie be won to be verie well willing to
}in Children.| // learne. And witte in children, by nature,
Witte.} | // namelie memorie, the onelie keie and keper of
all learning, is readiest to receiue, and surest to kepe anie maner
of thing, that is learned in yougth: This, lewde and learned, by
common experience, know to be most trewe. For we remember
nothyng so well when we be olde, as those things which we
learned when we were yong: And this is not straunge, but
Yong yeares // common in all natures workes. Euery man sees,
aptest for // (as I sayd before) new wax is best for printyng:
learnyng. // new claie, fittest for working: new shorne woll,
aptest for sone and surest dying: new fresh flesh, for good and
durable salting. And this similitude is not rude, nor borowed
of the larder house, but out of his scholehouse, of whom, the
wisest of England, neede not be ashamed to learne. Yong
Graftes grow not onelie sonest, but also fairest, and bring alwayes
forth the best and sweetest frute: yong whelpes learne easelie
to carie: yong Popingeis learne quicklie to speake: And so, to
be short, if in all other thinges, though they lacke reason, sens,
and life, the similitude of youth is fittest to all goodnesse,
surelie nature, in mankinde, is most beneficiall and effectuall in
this behalfe.
Therfore, if to the goodnes of nature, be ioyned the
wisedome of the teacher, in leading yong wittes into a right and
plaine waie of learnyng, surelie, children, kept vp in Gods feare,
and gouerned by his grace, maie most easelie be brought well to
serue God and contrey both by vertue and wisedome.
But if will, and witte, by farder age, be once allured from
innocencie, delited in vaine sightes, filed with foull taulke,
crooked with wilfulnesse, hardned with stubburnesse, and let

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