7
Introduction
We have divided the Renaissance (Chapter 6) from the Reformation rather artificially by putting them into separate chapters, but they overlap both in time and in ideas. Humanists such as Erasmus played a major part in both accounts. The Reformation is a complex term. It is accepted that a series of events in Europe in the sixteenth century caused the division of the Christian church into Roman Catholics and Protestants. That much is not controversial; but the causes of the Reformation and the relative importance of those causes are much more open to debate. Aspects of the Catholic church had been under criticism for many years: corruption, nepotism, the sale of ecclesiastical offices, the exploitation of superstitions by such practices as indulgences and pardons; some put the doctrine of transubstantiation into the same category as superstitions and ignored papal instructions about such beliefs. All of these problems might have been put right by internal reform, but there were political pressures in Germany, and later in Henry VIII's England, which eventually ended the idea of a single, united Christian church led by the Pope. Henry VIII's children, the future King Edward VI, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, were educated in ways that caused them to have quite different attitudes to the Reformation, ranging from the extreme Protestantism of Edward to Mary's inclination to burn Protestant heretics. However, they all experienced some key aspects of Renaissance education.
Wiliiam Tyndale (1494-1536) believed that the Protestant Reformation was God's way of bestowing 'grace' upon the English people, but it was bestowed on condition that the Church purged itself of Popish idolatry. Tyndale wanted Christians to regard the Bible as the source of religious belief and doctrine, rather than the Church, which he regarded as corrupt. There was a strong element of reformist thinking in England before Luther, Calvin and others became vocal on the Continent.
We shall also look briefly at the way the Catholic Church reacted to the Reformation in a movement which has been generalised as the CounterReformation. Both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation had interesting influences on educational thinking throughout Europe.
Luther and Melanchthon: The Reformation and Educational Change in Germany
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was born in Eisleben, the son of a reasonably prosperous copper miner. He became an Augustinian monk and, later, professor of Scripture at the University of Wittenberg. In 1517 he achieved fame by denouncing the Dominican monk Tetzel for selling indulgences. Later in the same year, on 31 October, Luther extended his list of complaints about corruption within the church and nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Church. For this attack on the sale of Indulgences and other criticisms of the Pope, Luther was summoned to the Vatican to defend himself. Instead of going to Rome, in 1520, Luther publicly burned the Papal Bull which had condemned 41 of his propositions as heretical. The specific argument about Indulgences was avoided by the Pope's advocates who preferred to regard Luther's attack as a challenge to papal authority. This encouraged Martin Luther to broaden his attack: away from a theological debate about indulgences and the lack of scriptural authority for them, to a condemnation of Papal infallibility and the authority of the traditional Church. Luther soon took the next step: denying the authority not only of the Pope but of the Councils of the Church, he was left only with the Scriptures through which God communicated directly with individual Christians. This elevation of the individual had profound effects both on the history of Christianity and, indirectly, on the history of education. He had moved from trying to purify the Church to creating a very different one. Luther and his followers eventually depicted the Pope as Anti-Christ and Rome as the Whore of Babylon.
In 1521 Luther was excommunicated, and Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, opened a Diet (or Assembly) in Worms. Martin Luther would not recant, and at this point in history politics rather than religious conviction influenced the next stage of the conflict. Elector Frederick of Saxony, seeing the advantage of a German Church independent from Rome, but unwilling to provoke a split in the Church, arranged for Luther to be "kidnapped' and hidden away safe from assassination in the Castle of Wartbürg. Luther spent some of his exile translating the New Testament into German: an essential requirement if the laity were to do without priests.
Most of the population, however, were unable to read the Bible, even in the vernacular, hence the link between the Protestant reforms and popular education. Luther's German Bible was revised by his friend Philip Melanchthon who was to take on the leading role in Protestant educational reform. By then (1524), however, Luther had antagonised many humanists who might have supported him, such as Erasmus, who wanted reform but not a separate church.
Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560)
Educating the people was part of a programme of liberating the masses from the domination of 'corrupt' priests and bishops. 'Reformed' priests would become teachers and preachers, and the ritual of the Mass would become available to all in their own language. However, more than this was required. Each individual needed to be able to read the Bible, and this was to become part of Melanchthon's educational mission.
In 1529 Luther had written his Greater and Little Catechisms, one for the clergy, the other for the laity and their children. Together with the German Bible, and the German Mass, the Little Catechism became a source of instruction for children. In 1530, Melanchthon presented a 'Confession of Faith' to the Diet of Augsburg. This 'Augsburg confession' became for a time the accepted doctrine of Lutheran churches. Melanchthon's preferred method of persuasion was reason rather than emotion, and he was very different from Luther in other respects - much less prone to violent and abusive language. For him, education reform was an essential part of systematic social and religious progress by means of which social order and authority could be preserved.
Melanchthon was faced with the enormous task of spreading literacy to the whole population. To a great extent he was assisted by the invention of printing and the spread of printing presses throughout Germany, meaning that thousands of Bibles could be produced every year. Never forgetting his Humanist principles, Melanchthon set about the task of reorganising the entire German education system, including the founding or reformation of many universities. In 1528 he published Instructions for Visitors, a set of instructions for commissioners visiting the reformed Imperial States and devising constitutions for the churches. These instructions included an educational outline for elementary schools: Saxony was the first state to establish a Protestant elementary school system. Melanchthon's plan was widely copied throughout Germany, and more than 50 cities sought his help in establishing schools. His plan also included the production of textbooks and the training of teachers. He never, of course, achieved anything like mass literacy, but he did succeed in making the Bible available to a much wider percentage of the population.
Puritanism in England and Scotland
By steering a middle way between 'reform' and 'tradition', Queen Elizabeth I secured a lasting religious settlement; the Thirty Nine Articles were generally, though not universally, acceptable to her subjects. Among those who were not content with the settlement were those now referred to as Puritans. This was a term rarely used in the early seventeenth century and then usually as a term of abuse. Puritanism was a way of life as well as an ideology; their characteristics were thrift, sobriety, asceticism and sometimes hypocrisy, as in the case of Shakespeare's Malvolio.
The Puritans in Elizabethan and Stuart England wanted to purify the Church of England of any remaining 'Popish' practices such as statues of saints, kneeling for communion and anything that might be covered by the biblical condemnation of idolatry. Some of the ideas associated with Puritanism can be traced back to earlier times, for example, Wycliffe and the Lollards in the fourteenth century who wanted to be able to read the Bible in English. After John Calvin (1509-64), there was a shift of belief in the direction of predestination and the notion that there was an 'elect' group who were ordained by God to live a good life on this earth in preparation for a guaranteed place in heaven after death.
Another aspect of Puritan policy was simplicity of worship. This was, of course, potentially antagonistic to the desire of royalty for splendour and display in all public events, including religious ceremonies. Rather than the mass, particularly high mass with candles, crucifixes, incense and the veneration of the host, Puritans preferred long sermons, the explication of key Biblical texts, simple prayers and psalm-singing.
Nicholas Hans1 made a very important distinction between two traditions of Puritanism that developed: one he described as 'intolerant and domineering', the other as 'liberal and conciliating'. Among the intolerant, Hans included Calvinists, the followers of John Knox (1514-72) and the English Presbyterians. The liberal Puritans emphasised individual responsibility, tolerance and freedom of conscience; they included the Huguenots, the Dissenters in England, and later, Comenius who was very critical of those whom he accused of debasing Puritanism by their intolerance and harshness.
Democratic Ideas and Education
There was a link between some aspects of Puritan belief and the growth of democratic theory and practice, although it should not be exaggerated. Puritans believed in direct communication between individuals and God; they were opposed to Church hierarchies and aristocracies (bishops and Popes); the predestined elect were not socially differentiated in this life, and inevitably such beliefs called into question the privileges of kings and the nobility. Some Puritans held the belief that everyone should be literate so that they could have direct access to the Bible, without priestly intervention. By the end of Elizabeth's reign, Puritanism had spread considerably and there were many in influential positions, for example in the University of Cambridge.
Other Puritan Ideas
In 1603 Puritan hopes were high. James had been brought up in Scotland by Calvinists, and when he arrived in England he was presented with the Millenary Petition setting out a list of Puritan grievances. In 1604 James called a Conference at Hampton Court, but he had no intention of moving the Church in the Puritan direction. He appeared to listen sympathetically to some aspects of the Puritan cause, but his Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft, encouraged Convocation in 1604 to draw up Constitutions and Canons against the Nonconformists. James also antagonised Puritans by ordering that his Book of Sports be read in every church, listing recreations which were permitted on Sundays. In 1607 the emigration of Puritans began to increase, first to Holland and in 1620 the Mayflower took the celebrated group to Plymouth, Massachusetts.
From Puritan Dissent to Revolution
In 1625 James died and was succeeded by his son Charles I who in 1628 appointed William Laud to be Bishop of London. Laud embarked upon an anti-Puritan campaign in London, and when he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, he extended the policy to the whole country and even - dangerously - to Scotland. This led to an uprising by the Scots which involved Charles in expensive military campaigns. The need for money obliged the King, very reluctantly, to call a Parliament (something he had carefully avoided up to that time). The Puritans in the Long Parliament (1640-53) made the most of their power, and the dispute between Charles and his Parliament was a direct cause of the Civil War and the execution of Charles I in January 1649.
Under Cromwell, the Puritan philosophy became dominant, and many variations of Puritanism flourished in England, including George Fox's Quakers, some of whom were persecuted by other Puritans. After Cromwell's death the less extreme Puritans supported the restoration of the monarchy together with the return of the Church of England to a more traditional form. Charles II promised to tolerate Dissenters, but Puritans were generally disappointed both by the king and by the 'Cavalier' Parliament. A new Act of Uniformity (1662) enforced The Book of Common Prayer and about 2,000 Puritan ministers were expelled from their parishes. The Conventicle Act of 1664 punished adults who attended religious meetings which were not conducted in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer. Puritanism was by no means dead in England after the Restoration in 1660; although no longer either the dominant ideology or a powerful political force, it remained influential on educational thought and practice.
Education in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
There was a clear connection between Puritanism and education. Reading the Bible was an essential activity for any Protestant; it was important that all should be given the opportunity not only to learn to read but also to be educated more widely. During the Civil War when many institutions were being challenged or swept away, education was a frequent topic for debate. There were several individuals who were particularly concerned to promote educational reform. For example, the German-born English educationist, Samuel Hartlib (1600-62) combined a desire to unite the Protestant churches with the promotion of educational reform.
Hartlib and Education
Hartlib supported the ideas of the famous Czech educationist, Comenius, in A Reformation of Schools (1642), and translated several books and tracts by Comenius, including Pansophiae, which set out the purpose of education as understanding nature in all its forms through reason and the senses as well as divine revelation. Hartlib accepted Comenius's view that education should be available to all, and he encouraged Comenius to visit England in 1641. It was also Hartlib who persuaded Milton to write On Education. Hartlib's own plan for reforming education was outlined in Considerations Tending to the Happy Accomplishment of England's Reformation in Church and State (1647). In this book, Hartlib not only made the radical suggestion of education for all, but also suggested many other radical social reforms. He failed to get some of these ideas into legislation during the Long Parliament but was rewarded by Oliver Cromwell with a pension of £300. In many of his efforts he was associated with John Dury (1596-1680), a Scottish philosopher and educational reformer, who advocated universal education as well as nursery and infant schools.
John Milton on Education
Milton (1608-74) is, of course, best known as a poet - author of Paradise Lost, L'Allegro and many others; but he was also a brilliant prose writer. One of his lesser-known prose pamphlets is On Education (1644) which was composed in the form of a letter to his friend Samuel Hartlib.
The Reformation might have been expected to have extended the numbers of pupils attending schools; there were some schools established during the Tudor and early Stuart years, partly to enable more young people to become readers of the Bible, but the rate of increase in literacy was slow, and education was generally available only to a privileged minority. While Hartlib and his friends were concerned to increase the provision of school places, they were also interested in reforming the content of education, the curriculum and pedagogy.
Charles I was not executed until 1649; part of the background to Milton's essay was the idea of encouraging those on the side of Parliament to continue vigorously to oppose the King and to secure further social reforms, including education reform. Milton had received a relatively privileged education under the old regime: he had attended St Paul's School, one of the best grammar schools in the country, following Colet's enlightened ideas, and then Christ's College, Cambridge. He had even copied the aristocratic practice of a grand tour of Europe before settling back into London, where for a few years he ran a school, probably for sons of his friends, of about 12 pupils. In this practical experience and in his essay, Milton attempted to combine Humanist ideas on education with Puritan principles.
The Royalists tended to oppose these Puritan views on education, preferring the Elyot and Ascham tradition of the education of the gentleman. This tradition continued into the seventeenth century; for example James Cleland (1607) The Institution of a Young Nobleman; or Henry Peacham (1622) The Compleat Gentleman; or later in the century, John Gailhard (1678) The Compleat Gentleman. For these Royalist authors, the curriculum looked back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and consisted of traditional subjects: cosmography, geometry, poetry, music, sculpture, drawing, painting and heraldry as well as gentlemanly sports and martial arts:
'All the people which be in our country be either gentlemen or of the commonality', wrote Mulcaster in 1581. This was the fundamental cleavage in Elizabethan and Stuart society - between those who were gentry and those who were not, a difference not only of birth and family but also of deference and privilege. The division was now accentuated by the changes in grammar school and university education. At all times the gentry were an ill-defined group, especially at the lower end. Wealth from land and a Coat of Arms were the usual criteria, but there were others, for example gentlemen did not work with their hands; now they all had the same sort of classical education and common ties with the same few educational institutions imparting the same elitist social values. The dichotomy between liberal and mechanical arts became the most striking feature of the educational system: Latin and Greek were subjects for gentlemen, merely useful or practical subjects were for tradesmen and artificers. As Kearney says, 'A classical education ... served to mark off the ruling elite from those below it. The classical tag was a class shibboleth of unerring simplicity' .2
This traditional curriculum, along with the teaching methods of grammar schools and universities, was attacked by the radicals of the seventeenth century, including Gerrard Winstanley, a notable 'Leveller', who said that the traditional learning contained in books was 'no knowledge, but a show of knowledge, like a parrot who speaks words, but he knows not what he saith'. 3
Education in Europe
In some parts of Europe, education had changed considerably as a result of the Reformation, but there was a good deal of social disorder during the seventeenth century, particularly the events associated with the Thirty Years War. Later in this chapter we shall discuss the Catholic reaction to the Reformation, and in particular the educational policies that were part of the Counter-Reformation. Meanwhile, it will be useful to look at the educational ideas of one of the thinkers who had a permanent effect on educational theory, Comenius, and who personally suffered as a result of the disturbances in the Thirty Years War.
John Amos Comenius (1592-1670)
Comenius's father was a member of the Protestant group, the Bohemian Brethren. His parents died when he was 12 years old, but he continued to be part of a strongly Protestant community and was influenced at Heidelberg University by the Protestant Millennialists who believed in salvation on earth, and therefore in social reforms, including education reform. Comenius was also influenced by the writings of Francis Bacon and was attracted by Bacon's emphasis on reason and science.
The Thirty Years War broke out in 1618. Ferdinand II wanted to reconvert Bohemia to Catholicism. This forced Comenius and many other Protestants to flee to Poland. By now, Comenius believed that universal education could be a means of promoting peace and co-operation. For him, education reform would require two very different changes. First, there would have to be extensive reforms in teaching methods to ensure that while children's learning would be rapid and a pleasant experience, it would also be very thorough. He said that teachers should follow nature, that is, understand the mind of the child and make the most of it. His second requirement for educational reform was that European culture should be made available to all by improving Latin texts. He was to spend many years of his life on that task.
His key idea of universal education was a mixture of Moravian religious beliefs, which stressed reason as well as faith; Humanist thought; and the beliefs of those who advocated enlightened pedagogy, including using the senses to appreciate nature and to collect evidence, as well as practical activities. This programme amounted to the education of the whole person; and for all people. It was a harmonious integration of intellectual, moral and spiritual 'illumination'. In The Great Didactic he emphasised that education was not an individual matter but concerned the moral health of the whole society which depended on good education for all its citizens. The idea of a universal school, for pupils aged 6—12, included a wide-ranging curriculum for all. He disagreed, for example, with his friend J.H. Alsted who advocated a form of streaming according to social status. For Comenius, the curriculum should be ordered, deep, wide-ranging but coherent; and the emphasis should be on access to knowledge not detailed coverage of content. The vision of the reform of human society through education was a view he shared with Samuel Hartlib who invited him to England in 1641. Unfortunately, Hartlib's plan to start a college in England headed by Comenius was prevented by the Civil War, which broke out in 1642, and Comenius went instead to Sweden.
When the Thirty Years War ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Comenius was very disappointed that he still could not return to his native Bohemia. Instead he was invited to Hungary to open a school based on his own pedagogical ideas. The school opened in 1650 with 100 pupils but the teachers failed to understand the system. Comenius was frustrated and spent his final years in Amsterdam working on another book, Consultation, the manuscript of which was lost until 1939. Although Comenius was recognised during his lifetime as an enlightened educationist, it was many years before his ideas were accepted as part of mainstream educational theory. More will be said about Comenius and pedagogy in Chapter 16.
Education after the Restoration of the Monarchy in England
From about 1640 onwards, the Renaissance educational ideal was superseded by the universalist ideas of Hartlib, Comenius, Dury and others who had a vision of education as what we might now call part of a grand scheme of social engineering. These ideas were not put into practice during the Commonwealth (i.e. the period of rule without a king, 1649-60) and discussion tended to fade away after the Restoration. Unfortunately, the reforming principles were not replaced by anything like a new model of education. Instead there was a half-hearted revival of some aspects of Renaissance education, but often they were the wrong aspects, a shallow version of the education of gentlemen concentrating on manners and etiquette rather than deeper insights into the human condition. This is not to deny that many schools flourished after the Restoration: grammar schools such as Westminster continued to be important for a minority but they were, on the whole, almost completely untouched by science, despite the remarkable scientific progress made in seventeenth-century England. Private tutors continued to be the norm for aristocratic families and, significantly, there was also a marked decline in standards at the English universities.
The Counter-Reformation
It took some time for the Catholic Church to react in a positive way to the Reformation, particularly in the field of education. The Council of Trent (1545-63) was a prolonged discussion, held over three sessions (1545—47, 1551-52 and 1562-63) by the Popes and their senior advisors about what the Roman Catholic Church should do, partly by way of internal reforms and clarification of doctrinal beliefs and later through vigorous educational activities. Many of the abuses that had provoked Protestant criticisms were removed. Some areas of Europe, such as Comenius's Bohemia, were reclaimed for Catholicism; the authority of the Church was restored and discipline tightened; from that time a high priority was to establish a much better educated priesthood.
The Jesuits
In 1534, Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), a Spanish aristocrat, had founded the Society of Jesus. Originally it was not intended as a teaching order as missionary work was always a high priority, but soon, and especially after the Council of Trent, educational activities were encouraged by the Pope and by Catholic rulers throughout Europe.
The major educational outcome of the Council of Trent was to plan for the clergy to be sufficiently well educated to be able to react convincingly against the doctrinal innovations from the Lutherans, Calvinists and others. The first Jesuit College was opened in Sicily in 1548. By 1615 there were 372 Jesuit Colleges and by the mid eighteenth century there were over 700. The education of the clergy was a major aim but future leading lay members of the Church were now targeted as well as priests. This was a considerable change in policy from the pre-Reformation idea that the Scriptures and other teachings of the Church should always be mediated by the clergy.
In 1599 the Jesuits published Ratio Studio rum, a detailed prescription for a course of studies designed to provide guidance for their colleges. The full course was spread over 13 years in three stages, but it was only intended that those studying for the clergy should complete all three stages. The first stage, lasting six years, concentrated on grammar and rhetoric, as well as on religious studies; the second three-year stage concentrated on philosophy; finally, there was a theology stage lasting four years. An important element of the Ratio was that the teacher was not only an academic instructor but also a moral educator and someone who would have general control over student behaviour, and competition was a feature of the teaching method. The Jesuit organisation was extremely efficient, not least in their training of teachers, and this partly accounted for the rapid spread of the Jesuit Colleges.
The Ratio Studiorum provided detailed guidance for the teacher on how to lecture so that students could take notes; the order in which authors should be studied; and how a text should be explained. In addition, there was advice on how a discussion should be conducted, as well as revision techniques.4 The method recommended for classical texts was the praelectio, which had much in common with the methods of teaching in scholasticism: the professor began by carefully reading a passage from a text, probably in Latin. He would then outline or summarise the argument, examining each sentence and elucidating any difficulties of content or syntax. The students would eventually make a literal translation of the passage into the mother tongue. Finally, the master would revise the whole lesson, and at a later stage examine the students' note books to ensure neatness and accuracy. This was a very different regime from that which Ignatius had experienced at grammar school. If it now seems rigid or even mechanical, we should remember what it replaced. The Ratio was by far the most systematic regime of teaching and learning recorded. There were many admirable features, including the recommendation that one day a week should be devoted to revision. There may seem to be an element of military efficiency in the recommendations for teaching and learning, but the Ratio withstood the test of time: it remained as a requirement in all Jesuit Colleges until 1832.
Another interesting feature of Jesuit methods was the use of examinations and tests: these were regarded as very practical innovations in the sixteenth century, and were used competitively, pupil against pupil, group against group ('Romans' versus 'Carthaginians'), class against class. Again the military influence is obvious. There were other examples of extrinsic motivation, for example, marks, badges and prizes. (Could this be the origin of the 'gold stars' favoured by many primary school teachers today?) The Ratio also emphasised to teachers that they should win the affection of all their pupils.
One criticism of the Ratio Studiorum is that its emphasis on close supervision of students went too far, but we should view the Jesuit recommendations in the context of the general laxity of schools and universities in the sixteenth century. Ignatius considered that the lack of supervision in the schools and universities he had attended led to a lack of purpose and low standards. Clearly there is a happy medium between control and chaos: the Jesuits erred on the side of control. A second criticism is that the Ratio was a threat to teacher autonomy and deprived gifted masters of their freedom to innovate: no deviation from the Ratio was permitted. Again, there is some justice in this complaint, but we should also see the Ratio in the context of the sixteenth century where the main problem was inefficiency and low standards. At that time, the notion of setting minimum targets would have seemed very sensible to those who wished to raise the performance of students. Although the Jesuits had been expelled from many countries and have often been unpopular with Church and State authorities, the quality of education has been preserved, and even today Jesuit education has a reputation for high standards and efficiency.
It is important to emphasise that the Society of Jesus was not specifically founded as the educational wing of the Counter-Reformation. It was a conscious attempt by Ignatius and others to provide a reinvigorated sense of moral purpose in Catholic society. Education was the major instrument for achieving that sense of purpose which was clearly expressed by the motto Omnia ad majoram Dei gloriam (All for the greater glory of God). Everything in life and education was dedicated to God himself. Shoddy workmanship or lack of intellectual rigour was an insult to God. This could have been initiated even had Luther and Calvin never existed. The spirit of 'all for the greater glory of God' continued to inspire education for centuries after the death of Ignatius. It may be significant that in the twentieth century Jesuit schools were among the first in England to become comprehensive; and in South America, Jesuits became the champions of the poor and the oppressed, developing what became known as 'liberation theology' which influenced the radical educational work of Paulo Freire.
Other Educational Aspects of the Counter-Reformation
Seventeenth-Century Developments in France: In countries such as France which remained Catholic, there was official encouragement given to education as well as attempts to control it. In addition to the Jesuit initiatives, there were several other groups which endeavoured to improve education on behalf of the Catholic Church, specifically in France and owing much to Rene Descartes (1596-1650), particularly to the idea of faith based on reason.
The Oratory of France: This congregation was based on an earlier Italian association: the Italian Oratory founded by St Philip Neri (1515-95) as a free society of secular priests with the common purpose of improving the education of future clerics. The French association was founded by Pierre de Berulle (1575-1629) as the Oratory of France in 1611.
De Berulle's vision for a society was based on the power of prayer (oratio). Unlike the Jesuits, no new religious order was involved, instead the whole organisation was concerned with secular priests. Originally the schools admitted only future priests, but this was later relaxed to include other potential leaders of society. In many cases the Oratorians were invited by local communities to establish a college in their area in return for some funding. Such arrangements often involved inspection and a degree of official control. Instruction was based on Latin but everything was taught through the medium of French, and pupils under the age of 12 received lessons on French language and literature. Latin retained its central importance in the curriculum largely because priests needed to be able to understand and explain the liturgy, including the mass, in Latin. Greek was given a lower status, and Hebrew, where taught, came lower still. History was given unusual importance by the Oratorians: the subject included biblical and Church history, Greece and Rome, and finally, in the upper forms, the history of France. Geography was also taught; in both history and geography encouragement was given to keeping notes written in good French. There was no national policy for the Oratorian curriculum; local variation was encouraged and in some schools enlightened methods of teaching mathematics and science developed. There were eventually 36 Oratorian colleges in France before the decline began, partly due to the hostility of the Jesuits who criticised the Oratorians for alleged unorthodox theological beliefs, including a suspicion of Jansenism (see below). Before that the colleges had spread into Belgium and Spain.
The Little Schools of Port Royal: In 1636 Jean Duvergier de Hauranne, Abbot of St Cyran, took over the convent of Port Royal near Versailles and began a programme of education for boys. In ten years the school became a group of schools spread throughout France. Although Duvergier was a leading supporter of the Dutch theologian, Cornelius Jansen, the schools themselves were not officially Jansenist, but many assumed that they were. The curriculum was similar to that of the Oratorians: instruction was in French; students were encouraged to write about their own experiences and to read, in keeping with the theory that learning should start from what is familiar to the pupil. However, there was also strong emphasis on traditional philosophy and logic. When Jansenist theology was attacked, the schools were suspected of promulgating potentially heretical ideas and were all closed down by Louis XIV in 1660.
Debates about Education in the Seventeenth Century
England in the seventeenth century was dominated by political debates about the powers of King and Parliament. After the execution of Charles I, in 1649 there was then an Interregnum until 1660 when the monarchy was restored in the form of Charles II; on his death in 1685 the disputes became more acrimonious and culminated in the exile of another King, James II in 1688. John Locke was at the centre of much of this political conflict.
John Locke (1632-1704)
John Locke was still a child when the Civil War began. His father, a lawyer, fought on the side of Parliament against Charles I. In 1646, Locke went to Westminster School and later to Oxford University where he studied philosophy and science. He also qualified as a physician. Almost immediately he became involved in political activity: in 1667 Locke entered the household of the Earl of Shaftesbury who was opposed to the government of Charles II. From 1675 to 1679, Locke was in France where he added to his knowledge of philosophy. In 1681 Shaftesbury was tried for treason, and although he was found not guilty he decided he would be safer living in Holland. In 1683 Locke rejoined Shaftesbury and was soon involved in political intrigue, to replace the Stuart monarchy by William of Orange and Mary. He was also writing some of his most important philosophical works, for example An Essay Concerning Human Understanding which was not published until 1689. Meanwhile, Charles II had been succeeded by his brother James II in 1685, and the conspiracy to replace the Stuarts intensified. In 1689 William of Orange was invited to become King, and John Locke was given the task of escorting Mary, daughter of James II and wife of William of Orange, to England. In the same year Locke published A Letter concerning Toleration.
Locke was also interested, as a philosopher, in educational issues. The first part of his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a vigorous attack on the theory of innate ideas, as expounded by Descartes and others who believed that human beings are born with some mental functions. This was rejected by Locke who emphasised the importance of experience. This was of significance for education because teachers, instead of being required to draw out and shape ideas that already existed in the mind, should be concerned with providing appropriate experiences or sensations. Locke has been criticised for using the word 'idea' to cover all mental activities, and he probably overstated his case against 'innate ideas', but his work certainly encouraged teachers to move away from rote learning and other arid practices towards thinking of teaching as an opportunity to provide worthwhile experiences. On the other hand, Locke has also been criticised for promoting the notion of the mind as tabula rasa, or a blank slate waiting to be written upon. Locke was anxious that his ideas should not be oversimplified: 'I do not say to be a good geographer that a man should visit every mountain, river, promontary and creek upon the face of the earth'.
Some Thoughts Concerning Education: It is likely that Locke had been influenced directly or indirectly by the ideas of Comenius. Locke emphasised the importance of 'environment' rather than 'heredity' in education, a revolutionary idea shared by Comenius, Hartlib and others earlier in the century. He provided philosophical justification for this democratic belief, and said that because minds can develop in different ways it is essential to expose them only to experiences of a worthy kind. Developing good habits was important for similar reasons, and, like Comenius, he made practical recommendations for the physical wellbeing of children: plenty of exercise, regular patterns of sleep, simple food and the avoidance of regular dosing with medicines.; habits of discipline and self-restraint were also stressed. Children should be trained to be well-mannered and courteous; they should be treated firmly but not harshly: children should be neither too submissive nor too sheltered - balance was the secret. Play was also important, but should be controlled.
Locke was critical of schools for their evident inability to follow his precepts. This view may have been based on his personal experience of Westminster School where he was certainly unhappy. He wanted better teachers, but he was also critical of many parents who either mistreated or spoilt their own children.
Locke's Other Publications on Education: Locke reflected the seventeenth-century view of social segregation in education in his writings. On the one hand, he gave advice to the upper classes in Instructions for the Conduct of a Young Gentleman, and Thoughts concerning Reading and Study for a Gentleman; on the other hand, he reflected on what should be provided (compulsorily) for the children of the poorer classes on relief in Working Schools. Children over three years old should attend schools and be fed on the diet they were used to, bread and water plus a little warm gruel in winter. They would be taught useful skills such as knitting and would be educated in morality and made to attend church on Sundays. The products of their labour would help pay for the rest of the scheme, which also involved boys being apprenticed at the age of 14. Locke has been criticised for advocating a regime which seemed to conflict with his Treatise on Civil Government which advocated a system of constitutional government based on liberty and equality.
Conclusion
The results of the Reformation should not be thought of simply in terms of increasing literacy but also as a profound influence for change in attitudes to the nature of education and who should be educated. Similarly, the Counter-Reformation was not an attempt to resist the educational ideas of the Protestants but rather the implementation of a policy to adopt the best of the educational reforms and to improve upon them. The link between religion, education and democracy should not be exaggerated, but the move towards greater educational participation was, in the long run, very significant. Equally important was the gradual development of the idea of the individual, with individual rights and responsibilities, including the right of access to education.
One part of Reformation thinking was that all Christians should be able to read and discuss the Bible. This became a tremendous impetus towards mass literacy. This trend was both dependent on and facilitated by printing. The idea of a Bible being printed cheaply enough to encourage the aim of having one in every household would have been impossible without the kind of printing presses used by Gutenberg and Caxton. The educational importance of printing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries cannot be exaggerated. There was also an important link between printing, mass literacy and democratic ideas. Especially after the execution of Charles I there were many radical ideas about a better, less hierarchical society, which would be, to some extent, dependent upon a better distribution of educational chances. Comenius was well aware of these connections and proposed innovations in curriculum and pedagogy much in advance of his time.
It is also interesting that in terms of education, the Catholic Counter-Reformation did not attempt to revert to the situation that had existed prior to the Reformation. The Jesuits and others saw the need to move with the times: the organisation that Ignatius had seen primarily as a Catholic missionary force became famous for efficient teaching methods, especially the systematic organisation of curriculum and encouraging competitive motivation. This has survived into the twenty-first century. David Hamilton5 makes the claim that the concept of curriculum as we now use it was a sixteenth-century invention designed to cope with new educational needs and demands. The concept has survived remarkably well.
References
1. N, Hans, Comparative Education (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967), p. 152.
2. J. Lawson and H, Silver, A Social History of Education in England (Methuen, 1973), pp. 144-5.
3. Quoted by Lawson and Silver, op.cit., p. 155.
4. S.J. Curtis, and M.E.A. Boultwood, A Short History of Educational Ideas (University Tutorial Press, 1953, 4th edn, 1965), p. 156.
5. D. Hamilton, Towards a Theory of Schooling (Falmer, 1989), p. 43.
Further Reading
Chadwick, O., The Reformation (Pelican, 1964).
Murphy, D., Comenius (Irish Academic Press, 1995).