Comenius and the Beginnings of Educational Reform

by W. S. Monroe

Many of the facts concerning the early life of John Amos Comenius are shrouded in obscurity. It is certain, however, that he was born in the village of Nivnitz in Moravia (now a province of Austria) on the 28th day of March, in the year 1592. Nivnitz then, as now, was little more than a country market town and settled quite largely by members of the religious organization known as Moravian Brethren. The father and mother of Comenius, Martin and Anna Komensky, were influential members of the brotherhood, who had settled here some years previous with other followers of John Hus, the Bohemian reformer and martyr. The tradition that Martin Komensky was a miller by trade does not seem to be well authenticated. Besides John Amos, three daughters were born to Martin and Anna Komensky,—Ludmilla, Susanna, and Margaret,—but the three girls died in early childhood.

Martin Komensky died in 1604,[14] and his wife survived him less than a year. Left an orphan at the early age of twelve years, Comenius was intrusted to the care and training of an improvident aunt, who soon made way with his inheritance. In this, as in the neglect of his school training, the incompetence of the foster parent is clearly apparent. For something more than four years the lad attended the village school at Strasnitz. But, as he himself tells us, the curriculum was narrow and the teaching poor. While here Comenius formed the acquaintance of a schoolfellow named Nicholas Drabik, through whose prophetic visions he was so ignominiously led astray in his later life, and so bitterly reproached by his contemporaries. “It was a strange irony of fate,” remarks Mr. Keatinge, “that a wanderer like Comenius, when only eleven years old and in his native land, should commence the intimacy that was to embitter his old age in Amsterdam.” But, as Benham notes, the fact that the matter was so soon forgotten shows that the character of Comenius received no indelible stain by the unfortunate alliance, even though he excited the ridicule and disrespect, and even the contempt, of his contemporaries.

At the advanced age of sixteen years, he was initiated into the mysteries of classical learning in the Latin school at Prerau, where he studied for two years. A fairly accurate notion of his studies during this period may be gained from a glance at the course of study in a contemporary Latin school herewith reproduced in translation from the Bohemian.[15] The schedule of hours in the second grade of this school was as follows: In the morning, during the first hour, repetition of grammar lesson from memory and explanation of the next day’s grammar lesson. During the second hour, the dialogues of Castalio; and the third hour, the recitation of Castalio’s dialogues in the Bohemian, and the grammatical analysis of the words and conversation of the lesson. In the afternoon, during the first hour, writing and singing; the second hour, explanation of the writings of Cicero according to Sturm’s edition, and grammatical analysis; and the third hour, exercises in words and sayings. This was the programme for Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. On Wednesdays there was but one lesson in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning the catechism was recited; in addition, imitative exercises for the formation of style. In the afternoon, the writing of short words and a recapitulation of the week’s lessons.

The programme for the third grade was as follows: In the forenoon of Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays:—

First hour.—Repetition of Latin rules in the mother-tongue.

Second hour.—Exposition of the conversations of John Lewis Vives.

Third hour.—Repetition of the above, and Bohemian exercises from the text.

In the afternoon of the same days, first hour, writing and singing; second hour, Greek grammar and the collected writings of John Sturm; and third hour, exposition of Greek proverbs from the New Testament, together with grammatical analysis of the same. This class had for its forenoon lesson on Wednesdays the catechism and exercises in the Bohemian, and in the afternoon singing and writing. In the summer the more industrious pupils were excused from the lessons on Wednesday afternoons.

One period on Saturday was devoted to a weekly review; and on Sunday morning a chapter was read from the New Testament, the same explained in Greek (to all grades above the second), and all the students attended church. In the afternoon there was preaching again and more reading from the New Testament.