serve one’s fatherland. With foreign fashions? They will not fit.
For every country has its own appropriate laws and arrangements,
and its special circumstances can be understood only by those
who study its constitution carefully on the spot. What is quite
suitable and excellent for other nations may not bear transplanting
here; it may not fit in with the habits of our people, or at least
the change might require so much effort that it would not be worth
the cost. I do not deny that travel is good, if it hits on the
right person; though I think the same labour, with equally good
intentions, could be spent with better results at home. He that
roameth abroad hath no such line to lead him as he that tarrieth at
home, unless his understanding, years and experience offer better
security than is the case with those of whom I am now speaking.
Foreign things fit us not; or, if they fit our backs, at least
they do not fit our brains, unless there be something amiss there.
If we wish to learn from other countries, it is better to summon
a foreign master to us than to go abroad as foreign scholars
ourselves.
Our ladies at home can acquire all the accomplishments of these
travelled gentlemen without stirring abroad, for it is not what
one has seen that is of value, but the languages and learning that
are brought back, and these are to be found at home. Our lady
mistress, whom I must needs remember when excellence is being
spoken of, a woman, a gentlewoman, a lady, a princess, in the midst
of many other affairs of business, in spite of her sex and sundry
impediments to a free mind such as learning requireth, can do
all these things to the wonder of all hearers, which I say young
gentlemen can learn better at home, as Her Majesty did. It may be
said that Her Majesty is not to be used as a precedent, seeing
she is of a princely courage that would not be overthrown by any
difficulty in learning what might advance her person beyond all
praise, and help her position beyond expectation. But yet it may
be said, why may not young gentlemen, who can allege no obstacle,
obtain with more liberty what Her Highness got with so little? It
is having as much money as they like that eggs them on to wander.
If they went abroad as ambassadors to acquire experience through
dealing with great affairs, or if they were well known as learned
men to whom important information would everywhere naturally be
offered, or if they even went in the train of the former, or under
the tuition of the latter, so that authority might secure benefits
for them and preserve them from harm, I would not disapprove of
it, as they might then learn to follow in the footsteps of their
leaders. But this is a very different matter from the pursuit of
those special ends that could be better attained at home. For good,
simple, well-meaning young gentlemen, strong in purse and weak in
years, to travel at a venture in places where there is danger to
health, to life, to conduct, far from the chances of succour and
rescue--the thought is so repugnant to me that I know not what to
say.
Gentlemen should take up the Professions.
I do wish then that well-disposed young gentlemen would be pleased
to betake themselves betimes to some kind of learning that is
indeed liberal, seeing that their circumstances protect them
from interested motives, and enable them to serve their country
honourably. Instead of all becoming lawyers or court officials,
why do not some of them choose to be divines, or physicians, or
to take up some other learned profession? Any gentleman in our
country who is now so qualified is esteemed and honoured above all
others of his calling, and indeed gets some honour even if he is
not particularly well qualified. Are not these professions to be
reverenced for their subject-matter and for their influence? And
are they not therefore proper for the nobility? I do not hold the
conduct of barbarous invasions to be the true field of activity
for the nobility; they should be for the most part peaceful,
and warlike only for defence if the country be assailed, or for
attack if previous wrongs are to be avenged. Nor do I take wealth
to be any worthy cause of honour to the owner, unless it be both
got by laudable means and employed in commendable ways, nor any
quality or gift that adorns the body, unless it serves a good
purpose, nor any endowment of the mind which is not exercised in
conformity with reason and wisdom. Such gifts are demanded in the
callings I have named as worthy of the nobility. Who dare think
lightly of divinity in itself? There is more hesitation now about
adopting it as a profession than formerly, when the emoluments
were greater, and the dignity more generally recognised, but the
position grows better again, and a good gentleman may find in it
the honour which he seeks. As for medicine, if gentlemen will not
study and practise it, they must pay the penalty of ignorance, as
they will suffer in their own bodies as well as in their pockets by
leaving the profession to those of meaner rank, whose attendance
is often rather flattering and fawning than intelligent services.
This caution, however, young gentlemen must bear in mind, that
it were a great deal better they had no learning at all and knew
their own ignorance, than a mere smattering, incomplete of its
kind, and insecurely held in their minds. For their acknowledged
ignorance harms only themselves, as others more skilful may
supply their places, but unripe learning puffeth them up, and
their rank encourages them to be superficial, either in not
digesting what they have read, or in not reading sufficiently, or
in doing desultory work, or presuming on their station to defend
ill-considered notions. To conclude, I wish young gentlemen to be
better than ordinary men in the best kind of learning, as they have
ampler opportunities of acquiring it and turning it to good account
for the benefit of their country and their own honour.
The Training of a Prince.
As a child, the greatest prince may be, like other children, in
soul either fine or gross, in body either strong or weak, in form
either well-developed or ill, so that in regard to the time for
beginning to learn and the proper course of study, he is no less
subject to the general laws already laid down than his subjects
are. We must take him as God sends him, for we cannot choose as we
would wish, just as he must make the best of his people, though
his people be not the best. When the young prince’s elementary
education is past, and there is more scope for reading, care must
be taken to choose such matter as may recommend humility as well
as afford adequate knowledge, so that competence in affairs may be
supported by the gift of courteous persuasion. Intercourse with
foreign ambassadors, and conference with his own counsellors,
require both a knowledge of tongues and a knowledge of the matters
that come under discussion. And as he governeth his State by
means of his two arms, the ecclesiastical, which preserves and
purifies religion, the main support of voluntary obedience, and
the political, which by maintaining the civil government doth keep
order and diffuse well-being, if he lack knowledge to use his arms
aright, is he not more than lame? And is not his best help to be
found in learning? Martial skill is needful, but only for defence,
because a stirring prince, always ready to make aggression, is a
plague to his people and a punishment to himself, and even when
he seems to gain most, is only getting what he or his descendants
must some day lose again with perhaps something in addition.
But religious knowledge is far more important, being specially
necessary for a prince, inasmuch as he hath none but God to fear.
Almighty God be thanked who hath at this day lent us a Princess
who indeed feareth Him, and who therefore, deserving to be loved,
desires not to be feared by us. I pray God long to preserve her
whose good education doth teach us what education can do, and
I have good cause to rejoice that this work of mine concerning
education is given forth in her time.
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.
For this class of teacher also I must ask for sufficient
maintenance in consideration of their competence and faithful
work. For it is a great discouragement to an able man to take
diligent pains when he finds his whole day’s work insufficient to
furnish him with the necessary provision. Experience hath taught
me that where the master’s salary is made to rise and fall with
the numbers of his pupils, he will exert himself most, and the
children will profit most, provided he have no more than he can
manage himself without hazarding his own credit and the pupils’
welfare by trusting to independent assistants. The proper use of
assistants is not as we now see it in schools, where ushers are
their own masters, but to help the headmaster in the easier part
of his duties. If the master’s salary is fixed by agreement at a
definite sum, then he should not be given too large numbers to
deal with, nor should he be obliged to eke out his income in other
ways outside his profession. It is unreasonable to demand a man’s
whole time, and yet make such scant payment that he has to look
elsewhere, outside the school, to add to it. Among many causes
that make our schools inefficient, I know none so serious as the
weakness of the profession owing to the bareness of the reward. The
good that cometh by schools is infinite; the qualities required
in the teacher are many and great; the charges which his friends
have been at in his bringing up are heavy; yet he has but little
to hope for in the way of preferment. Our calling creeps low, and
has pain for a companion, always thrust to the wall, though always
formally admitted to be worthy. Our comfort must be in the general
conclusion that those are good things which want no praising,
though they go a-cold for lack of cherishing.