History of common school education; an outline sketch

Preface

This book aims to give, as clearly, concisely, and concretely as possible, such information regarding the history and development of the common or non-professional school as will most aid teachers and others to an intelligent understanding of the common school of to-day, its nature and functions, its relations to other institutions, educational and otherwise. Along with this it aims to give in outline an account of the development of the science and art of common school education that will aid the teacher in working out effective methods of instruction and organization. The book, it will be seen, is planned in accordance with the conviction that the adequate professional preparation of the teacher involves a knowledge of the history and development of the school as an institution as well as a knowledge of the development of educational theory.

!. My aim has been to bring the facts adduced to focus upon the history of common school work in America. For this reason more space than usual has been assigned to England and less to Germany, for although most of the current educational philosophy had its origin in the latter country, it is chiefly in the former that the earlier history of the American

schools is to be traced.

iii

IV PREFACE

In writing the book I have followed the conviction that opinions based upon a fresh study of original sources would be of value; hence I have used such of the literary and other records of Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe as were accessible. The matter of the book is derived mainly, however, from secondary sources. Confining myself to those authorities upon whose works I have drawn most extensively, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness for the Greek period to Dumont, Girard, Hatch, Grasberger, and Susemihl; for the Roman to Boissier and Jullien; for the Gallo-Roman to Denk; for the medieval to Specht, Paulsen, Leach, Rashdall, De Montmorency, and Mullinger. For information on schools and school-work in America I am most indebted to ^ The Making of Our Middle Schools,' by Elmer E. Brown, to Barnard's American Journal of Education, and to the publications of the U. S. Bureau of Education.

The basal studies for the earlier chapters were made during a summer's sojourn at Harvard and during longer periods of work at Leipzig and Clark Universities. I am indebted for aid and encouragement to President Hall and other members of the last-mentioned institution. For criticism and suggestion on the first chapter I am indebted to Professor Arthur O. Norton of Harvard.

MARguETTE, Michigan, February, 1909.

Chapter I Page

THE SCHOOLS OF THE GREEKS i

The Conditions of Development 2

Educational Features of the Social Life of the Early

Greeks 4

Music 4

The Declamation and Exposition of the Rhapsodes 7

The Teaching of Reading and Writing by the

Scribes 7

Military Training and the Sacrificial Games . 8

. General Features of the Greek Schools . . . . 10

Social Rank of the Teacher . . . . . . . 11

Extent to Which the Schools Were Differentiated . 12 'Course of Study and Methods in the School of the

Grammatist 12

The Work of the Music School 16

The Training in the Palestra 18

Centers of Educational Influence outside of the

School 19

The New Education in the Elementary and Higher

Schools 20

The Schools of Philosophy . 21

Educational Theorists . 25

The Sophists and the Schools of Rhetoric . .. . 26

Resume on the Schools of Athens 30

Chapter II The Schools Of Alexandria 32

The Conditions Affecting Alexandrian Culture . . 32 The Alexandrian School and the Character of Its

V

VI CONTENTS

Chapter III Page

Early Extra-school Education among the Romans . zi The Beginnings of Elementary School Instruction

among the romans 4i

The Character of Elementary School Instruction . 42 The Beginnings of Secondary (Cultural) Schoolwork AMONG the Romans 46

Growth of Secondary Schools. Differentiation into

Private, Municipal, and State Schools . . . . 51

Roman Secondary School-work 53

Grammar 55

Literature 56

Rhetorical Exercises 58

Other Subjects 60

The Roman Schools of Rhetoric 63

quintilian 66

Status of the Teacher among the Romans ... 67

Resume on Roman Schools 68

CHAPTER IV The Catechetical and the Cathedral Schools . . 70

The Earliest Monastic Schools 71

Gr^co-Roman Culture in the Last Days of the

Roman Empire 72

Decline of Roman Civilization and Culture ... 74

Chapter V

THE SCHOOLS OF THE MIDDLE AGES . . Unfavorable Culture Conditions ....

How Culture Survived

Reforms in Monastic Life Favorable to Learning Continuity of Roman School Tradition through the

Middle Ages

Important Medieval Texts and Text-book Writers Establishment of Monastic Centers of Learning Revival of Learning under Charlemagne Revival of Learning in England under Alfred

76 76 76 80

82 82 84 85 87

CONTENTS vii

PAGE

Influence of Norman Conquest on School-work in

England 88

The Aim of Medieval School-work 89

CHAPTER VI (a) Elementary Instruction 93

Writing . . . . 94

Arithmetic 95

Latin, Conversation, and Grammar .... 96

The Aim of the Course 96

Differences between the Work of the Different

Schools 97

(b) The Trivium 98

Grammar, Importance, Method, Texts, Readers . 98

Rhetoric 112

Dialectic . . . 115

(c) The Quadrivium 118

Arithmetic . . 118

Geometry 122

Natural History 124

Astronomy 126

CHAPTER VII (a) Monastic Schools 129

The Function of the Monastery in Medieval

Society 129

Extent of the Educational Influence of the

, Monasteries 129

Buildings 130

Maintenance 131

Supervision of Conduct 131

Industrial Training 132

The Later Monastic Orders . . . . . . 132

VIU CONTENTS

PAGE

(b) Cathedral and Collegiate Church Schools . .133

The Collegiate Church 133

The Grammar School . . . . . . .134

The Song School 134

The Support of Poor Students 137

Private Collegiate Establishments . . . .139 The Scholasticus and the Clerical Control of

THE Schools 140

The Precentor 141

Chapter VIII Classification Of The Schools As To

METHOD OF MAINTENANCE 146

Chantry Schools 147

Guild Schools 148

Stipendiary Schools .... . -.i .■ . .149

Morrow Mass Schools ........ 149

Hospital Schools 150

Chapter IX The Beginnings Of Lay Educational Insti- Tutions 152

Influence of the Twelfth Century Renaissance upon THE Educational Life of the Middle Ages . . .152

Chivalrous Education 152

Extension of School Education among the Middle

AND Lower Classes i57

City Grammar Schools i59

The Rise of the Folk School ...... 160

Writing and Reckoning Schools ..... 162

Private Tutors 163

The Status of the Teacher 163

Judicial Confirmation of the Right to Teach . . 164

The Craft Guilds as Educational Institutions . . 165 Resume and Conclusion on Medieval Schools and

CONTENTS ix

Chapter X Page

THE RISE OF THE UNIVERSITIES AND THE RE- LATED INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENTS ... 171

The Study of Medicine 171

The Study of Law 172

The Study of Theology and the Scholastic Movement 172

The Origin of the Universities 174

Organization of the Universities 175

University Degrees . 176

The Faculties 178

Changes in the Relative Rank of Degrees and of

Schools 178

Chapter XXIV The Development Of Public Schools In

AMERICA 252

Franklin 253

Elementary School Instruction 254

Charity Schools 256

Sunday Schools 257

Recognition of Relation between Universal

School Education and Political Freedom . . 258

' CHAPTER XXV

THE NATURALISTIC MOVEMENT 261

Rousseau 261

Influence of Political Revolutions upon School

Education 264

Chapter XXVI Pestalozzi: His Life, Its Circumstances

AND ITS AIMS 266

Stanz 267

Burgdorf, Yverdun 268

The Nature of Pestalozzi's Services to the Cause of

School Education 269

Pestalozzi's Views as to the Nature and Method

OF Education 271

Influence of His Work in Europe .... 272

His Influence upon School-work in America . . 273

Chapter XXVII The Development Of State Systems Of

SCHOOLS IN AMERICA 275

The Problem of Financial Support for the Schools . 275

School Societies 275

The Monitorial System of Bell and Lancaster . 276

Sunday Schools , , . . 276

Xll CONTENTS

PAGE

Revival of Interest in Public School Education.

Horace Mann 277

Provision for Universal School Education through

State and Federal Legislation 278

CHAPTER XXVHI

DEVELOPMENT OF FREE SECONDARY AND AD- VANCED EDUCATION 280

The High School 280

The State University 282

Chapter I The Schools Of The Greeks

The greater number of the tastes and pursuits that characterize us as a civilized people have been passed on to us, not from our German or Anglo-Saxon or Celtic forefathers, but from a race that flourished two or three thousand years ago, chiefly In the lands that He within and about the i^gean Sea. Along with this civilization we have inherited from them the institution by which the sciences and arts which characterize it are handed down from generation to generation, the non-professional school.

These people, the Greeks, were remarkable for their Intellectual keenness and eagerness, and particularly for their exquisite sensitiveness to beauty and the consummate skill which enabled them to gratify It. But just as the Greeks were, on the whole, distinguished by these qualities from other races, so were the Athenians of the fourth and fifth centuries B.C., from the other Greeks. It is among the Athenians that that Greek culture which has remained the basis of the culture of all great subsequent civilizations of

Europe, Asia Minor, Africa, and America attained Its highest development. And it is in the history of this people that we first find standing forth clearly the prototype of the modern elementary school. In stating this it Is not forgotten that the school was not made, but grew, and that, in stages more or less embryonic, It Is found earlier not only among other Greek peoples but In the older civilizations of Egypt and the Orient to which the Greeks were so much Indebted. Nevertheless, beyond the Athenian period of the fourth and fifth centuries the story of the school becomes relatively vague and discontinuous. On the other hand the clearly marked historical continuity between the Athenian schools and those of to-day, and the similarities existing between these as to aim and course of study, seem to distinguish the above mentioned period as the most suitable at which to take up the study of the modern non-professional school. "Greek education," writes Hatch, "passed from Greece Into Africa and the West. It had an especial hold first on the Roman and then upon the Celtic and Teutonic populations of Gaul; and from the Galilean schools It has come, probably by direct descent, to our own country and our own time."

THE CONDITIONS OF DEVELOPMENT

The geographical and other conditions In Greece, particularly In those regions lying toward the south and the east, were exactly of such character as to favor a remarkable efflorescence of human culture. The Irregularly Indented shores gave abundant access to the JEgean, whose waters afforded not only communication with alien civilizations but free intercourse among the numerous Greek states, which, in many instances isolated by the mountains or by the sea, had maintained a greater or less measure of independence.

If, as Wordsworth,^ Shaler,^ and others teach, the mountains and the sea train and inspire a people to the attainment of the blessings of liberty and civilization the marvelous achievements of the Greeks are in part at least explained, for probably nowhere do these geographical features more abound. It is these which account for the small size of the Greek states, and this smallness conduced to their rapid political development toward a democracy which exercised in a high degree an intellectually stimulating influence upon the members of each. " So soon as they [the Athenians] got rid of their despots," writes Herodotus, " they became by far the first of all."

In accounting for the rise of Greek civilization some would add to this peculiar combination of political independence with facility of commercial and cultural intercourse, the beauty of natural surroundings. In Athens these political, commercial, and geographical conditions, together with the wealth and leisure of the upper class, account in no small measure for the development of the brilliant civilization of the Periclean age amidst which existed the Greek schools concerning which we have most information.

^ See the sonnet, ' Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland.' ^ 'Nature and Man in America,' pp. 28 and 168.

The population of Athens was made up of three distinct classes : first, the native citizens (the wealthier among them being landholders), who jealously restricted to themselves all political privileges attaching to membership in the democracy; secondly, aliens largely engaged in industry and commerce; thirdly, the slaves, who constituted over seventy per cent, of the entire population. Amid this population there existed three classes of teachers and of schools for boys: — the Grammatists, who ta^ight reading and writing In the elementary school ; the Citharists, who taught in the music school; and the Paedotribes, who conducted the physical exercises in the palestra. All classes of the people seem to have had more or less Instruction in elementary reading and writing. The music school seems in the time of Pericles to have become an Institution giving secondary instruction, and was attended for the most part by the children of the leisure classes.

The origin and development of these schools and the character of their courses of study will be in some measure explained If we note certain features of the social life of the early Greeks.

EDUCATIONAL FEATURES OF THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE EARLY GREEKS LATER ORGANIZED IN THE WORK OF THE SCHOOLS

I. Music. — It Is difficult for us to appreciate the importance which the Greeks ascribed to the art of music, a composite of arts distinguished by us as poetry and music. It was a chief form of entertainment In the home and at social gatherings, where the lyre was passed from hand to hand as each entertained the rest with a song. Not only were the Greeks peculiarly sensitive to the subtle beauties of tone and rhythm but they attached great Importance to the content of their poetry. The writings of Plato and Aristotle abound In quotations from the poets.

Among the primitive Greeks the function of the poet was not merely to entertain but to Instruct. Greek mythology Is largely the result of the attempts of the poets to account for natural phenomena by ascribing them to the agency of anthropomorphic beings. In poetry was embodied their history and their science.

With the development of the Intelligence of the Greeks the didactic function of the poet was in part usurped by the philosophers, who sought more natural causes for physical phenomena. Yet the early philosophers usually expressed themselves In verse even when, as In the case of Xenophanes, they were attacking the older poetry as teaching serious and harrnful errors.

Moreover, poetry performed much the same function among the Greeks as religion with us. Christianity is with us so eminently a center of moral Influence that it Is hard for us to realize that this was not so with the religion of the Greeks. Its main purpose was merely to enable men to avoid the anger of the gods. For that moral stimulus and direction that we seek in religion the Greek turned to poetry.

The earliest poets must have recited their own compositions, and in later times " The lyric and dramatic poets taught with their own lips the delivery of their compositions and so prominently did this business of teaching present itself to the view of the public that the name Didaskalia, by which dramatic composition was commonly designated, derived from thence its origin."

Again music, like gymnastic, had become intimately associated with the religion of the Greeks. It became an important part of the religious ceremonies in which it was incumbent upon all to join. " There existed a multitude of sanctuaries in the Greek land," says Curtius, " whence issued forth an impulse toward mental culture and popular exercise of the mental powers. Thus in the land of Arcadia, Artemis Hymnia was from a primitive age highly venerated by all Arcadians. Her feasts were celebrated with song, and from her temple went forth those ordinances which made the cultivation of music incumbent as a sacred duty upon all the inhabitants of the land."

The importance of music in religion and as a means of entertainment in the public and private social life of the time, together with its intrinsic worth, embodying as it did, often in supremely beautiful form, the most precious of the culture possessions of the race, goes far toward explaining why music was the first of the liberal arts to be made an object of systematic study by the Greeks, and why the earliest of the institutions which grew up among them for the systematic instruction of the young were music schools.

2. The Declamation and Exposition of the Rhapsodes. — A function similar to that performed by the teacher in the music school was performed for the general public outside of the school by the rhapsodes. In order that their hearers might better appreciate the poems which they recited, the rhapsodes were accustomed to preface their performances with explanations. " Very true, Socrates," says the rhapsode, Ion, in Plato, " interpretation has certainly been the most laborious part of my art; and I believe myself able to speak about Homer better than any man ; and that neither Metrodorus of Lampsacus, nor Stesimbrotus of Thasos, nor Glaucon, nor any one else who ever was, had as good ideas about Homer as I have or as many."

3. The Professional Teaching of Reading and Writing hy the Scribes. — In the earliest stages of the introduction of the art of letters among a people it is usually practised professionally by scribes. Hence these would naturally be the first teachers of the art. That the profession of the Greek elementary teacher is an outgrowth of that of the scribe seems to be indicated by the fact that he is called by the same name, * grammatistes,' i.e. ' scribe.' The word is used in this latter sense in Herodotus and elsewhere. Jowett translates * Charmides,' 161 D, as follows: "And does the scribe write or read, or teach you boys to write or read your names only? "

Demosthenes speaks of the two functions of scribe and teacher as being exercised by members of the same family.

Protagoras from being a scribe became an elementary teacher.

4. Military Training and the Sacrificial Games. — Other educational features of Greek life which antedated the school were courses of military training and the related athletic games. The cultivation of the physical strength and military prowess of its citizens was of vital importance to the security of the primitive Greek state. It was apparently for the more systematic and effective prosecution of this work that the gymnasium was established. This is the view held by Lucian, writing in the second century A.D. He has Solon state its purpose to Anacharsis, the Scythian, thus, ^'If ever our young men have need to make use of their skill in armor they are already experienced. It is certainly very evident that a person so trained, upon grasping an enemy, will more quickly trip and throw him. . . . We provide all these exercises for our youth, my friend, in anticipation of a contests in arms, and from the fact that they have been fully trained, we think that we have for our service better men.*' In the sketch of a system of education which Plato gives in his * Laws ' he states, ^' Under gymnastics we place all the exercises relating to war." The custom was no doubt made more permanent through the fact that these exercises became associated with the worship of the gods. The steps by which this took place are thus described by Curtius, *' As then the persons in immediate service of the divinity, as the animals and the fruits of the earth which were offered up to the gods, were each after its fashion to be of blameless perfection, so, too, was the youth of the land, when presenting itself to the gods, in their honor joyously to enfold all its gifts of body and soul ; while those marked out as the best were to receive the sacred wreath as a token of their worthiness to approach the gods in a pre-eminent degree."

But it would probably be a mistake to ascribe the origin of these different educational institutions to single definite sources. The further back these musical and gymnastic exercises are traced the more intimate their connection seems to be. The manoeuvers performed in honor of the gods were accompanied by music and poetry. Grasberger says that the dance at sacrifices in honor of the gods was an exercise from which developed the gymnastic training of youth, because an important influence upon the human heart was ascribed to just this union of poetry, music, and dance.

In conclusion it should be noted that each of the features of early Greek life which have been m^entioned is related closely to some one of the schools named above. Thus the profession of the grammatist probably came into existence through a process of differentiation from that of the scribe, while the work of the music school was apparently a systematization, and adaptation to the needs of the young, of instruction which was afforded in earlier times to the people as a whole by the poet and possibly by the rhapsode. And the work of the palestra was similarly related to the military training and religious festival exercises of the more primitive Greeks.

10 HISTORY OF COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION GENERAL FEATURES OF ATHENIAN SCHOOLS

In entering upon a more detailed description of these elementary schools of the Athenians, it is important to note that they seem to have occupied neither so large nor so definite a place in the social whole as do the schools of our time. Girard says, " It is probable that the Athenians did not carry into the organization of school-work that vigorous attention to detail which the customs of modern life and our extended programs of study require us to put into it. The school, moreover, was not a prison ; one entered or left as he wished. In the time of Socrates it was, notwithstanding the prohibitions of Solon, a place frequented by men of all ages. The children came and went among the visitors, whose conversation disturbed neither their work nor the instruction of the master. Their lesson recited, they left or continued to study In the company of their comrades without being required to consecrate so many hours to gymnastic, so many to music, and so many to literature. . . . As for vacations, there were none. . . . Their minds not being overwhelmed by study did not feel the need of recuperating as after continued and excessive labor."

The elementary schools were invariably private enterprises, receiving no financial support and practically no supervision from the State. As regards State supervision and regulation and as regards organization the work of these schools seems to have been about on the same level as the instruction In

THE SCHOOLS OF THE GREEKS II

piano-playing or dancing given to-day. Building and equipment varied, of course, according to the amount of fees paid by the patrons. * School furniture as represented in vase-paintings consists chiefly of stools for pupils and assistants and a seat with a back, ' thronos,' for the master. ^Schools were open from dawn to dark. Boys of slave-holding families came accompanied by their attendants, the pedagogues. Sometimes the pupils met and marched in a body to the school.

There were writing schools for even the poorest classes. Protagoras, in his early days, it is said, taught boys their letters in the street.

SOCIAL RANK OF THE TEACHER

The teachers of these schools seem to have been regarded usually as of Inferior social rank. " We ourselves," says Aristotle, " treat the professors of these arts [singing and playing] as mean people." Of one who was missing, the saying in Athens ran, ^' Either he is dead or has become schoolmaster." Luclan represents kings and satraps in hell as despoiled of their riches and forced to maintain themselves by teaching reading and writing. Epicurus complains of Nauslphanes, " He abused me and called me a schoolmaster." Demosthenes in attacking ^schines repeats again and again the fact that his father was a schoolmaster, and he Is careful to emphasize the fact that he was only assistant and that In a school of the lowest order, a reading and ^vriting school.

12 HISTORY OF COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION EXTENT TO WHICH THE SCHOOLS ARE DIFFERENTIATED

Some at least of primary schools just referred to were evidently distinct from the music schools. This is indicated in a passage in Plato, '' And is it not best to understand what is said, whether at the writing master's or at the music master's or anywhere else ... as quickly as possible ? " Yet it is probable that instruction in letters and music was frequently given In the same building and occasionally even by the same teacher. Aristophanes writes as if intellectual education, grammatical and musical, was obtained in one place and physical training in another, " To what teacher's school did you go when a child? . . . What style of wrestling did you learn In the school of the gymnastic master?" On each side of the Douris cup is represented a teacher of letters and a teacher of music, who is apparently one and the same individual.

COURSE OF STUDY AND METHODS IN THE SCHOOL OF THE GRAMMATIST

The Greeks seem first to have established schools for the study of music. Yet, according to Girard, " In spite of this anteriority of music it was not with It . . . that education began. The child received musical Instruction only when he had learned to read and write." The Athenian child's school education began with the study of letters under the grammatlst. The alphabetic method was followed. Fragments of a tile have been found In Attica on which are stamped the syllables, ar, bar, gar ; er, ber, ger, etc. The comic poet Callias wrote a letter play in which the dramatis persona were the letters of the alphabet. It contained a spelling chorus which seems to have been a reminiscence of school experiences; beta, alpha, ba; beta, ei, be; beta, eta, be, etc. Similarly on the body of a bottle-shaped vase, around the foot of which was printed the alphabet, were the following letter combinations : — bibabube, gigaguge, zizazuze, mimamume, pipapupe, etc. Some authorities consider this a charm ; others believe it to be one of the school exercises in proauJicia.tion.

The pupil learned to write by tracing and later copying the exercise set up for him by the master. Both wax tablets and papyrus were used as writing material. The art of calculation, hindered by their cumbersome system of notation, never attained among the Greeks a high degree of development. Yet the strong commercial bent of the Athenians necessitated some arithmetical training. " Boy — bring forth my tablets," says Strepsiades in Aristophanes' ' Clouds,' ** that I may read to how many I am indebted and calculate the interest." We have no direct evidence that arithmetic was taught in the Athenian elementary schools, but the emphasis laid upon it by such theorists as Plato makes it probable that such was the case.

As soon as the pupil had acquired some ability in understanding written words the teacher gave him verses to read selected from the best poets. The art of letters was apparently so great an aid In the study of the national poetry that after the establishment of schools for reading, the teaching, at least of some of the non-lyrical poetry, passed from the hands of the music teacher or citharist into those of the grammatist. Girard says, " The oldest, no doubt, was musical instruction, which, in time, became complicated and to which were added reading and writing, then the intensive study of the poets in such a manner that literature was only an extension of music. Under these conditions it was natural that they should not be separated and that the same school should offer to both a common aslyum.'* " When the boy has learned his letters," writes Plato, " and is beginning to understand what is written, as before he only understood what was spoken, they put into his hands the works of the great poets." The large place which poetry filled in the higher life of the Greeks has already been noted.

On the Douris cup it is the teacher of poetry who occupies the high-backed seat of honor, the * thronos.' The scarcity and the high price of books, all of which, of course, were manuscript, necessitated methods different from those of the modern school. The pupils frequently made their own texts, copying from the dictation of the teacher. Much time and effort were devoted to the memorizing of poems and selections. In these exercises the pupil seems to have stood before the grammatlst, who with open roll before him dictated verse by verse the passage to be memorized. The vase paintings support this view and Indicate further that the pupil reads as Plato states (see p. 1 6) while "sitting on a bench," this posture being necessitated, possibly, by the cumbersome character of the roll of manuscript. The passages learned under the grammatist were often of a monitory character. " In these," continues Plato, " are contained many admonitions, many tales and praises and encomia of famous men which he is required to learn by heart." Literary masterpieces were not neglected. Xenophon speaks of one who at school had memorized the whole of the Homeric poems.

In the selection of reading matter great freedom was exercised. Not only the great epic and didactic poems were used, but later also comedy, tragedy, and prose. But of all, the poems of Homer were by far the most extensively used. The simplicity of the social and political life which they depicted, the rich variety of character, of incident, and of emotional situations, the rarity of comment, the abundant references to the history, the geographical environment, the theology, and folklore of the Greeks, and the poetic beauty of the whole gave these poems the first place in the curricula of the schools. Various passages show that their value was fully recognized by the Athenians. Plato speaks of " Eulogists of Homer declaring that he has been the educator of Hellas, and that he is profitable for education and for the ordering of human things, and that you should take him up again and again and get to know him.'*