CHAPTER VI

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

The _Great didactic_—Conditions under which produced—Aim of the book. Purpose of education—Man’s craving for knowledge—Youth the time for training—Private instruction undesirable—Education for girls as well as boys—Uniform methods. Education according to nature—How nature teaches—Selection and adaptation of materials—Organization of pupils into classes—Correlation of studies. Methods of instruction—Science—Arts—Language—Morals—Religion. Types of educational institutions—The mother’s school—School of the mother-tongue—Latin school—University. School discipline—Character and purpose of discipline—Corporal punishment only in cases of moral perversity.

_The Great Didactic_

Most comprehensive of all of the educational writings of Comenius is the _Great didactic_. It was planned in 1628, while yet in the full possession of his vigor, before misfortune had hampered his usefulness and persecution had made him a wanderer. Written originally in the Czech, it was translated into the Latin and published at Amsterdam in 1657. The original Czech manuscript was discovered at Lissa in 1841, and presented to the museum at Prague; but the Austrian censors of the press forbade its publication because Comenius was a Bohemian exile (!). Through the exertions of the museum authorities, however, it was allowed to be printed in 1849. Professor Laurie gave English readers a summary of the _Great didactic_ in his _Life and educational works of John Amos Comenius_ (London, 1883); but the first complete translation was made by Mr. M. W. Keatinge of Edinburgh in 1896.

The full title is: _The great didactic setting forth the whole art of teaching all things to all men; or a certain inducement to found such schools in all parishes, towns, and villages of every Christian kingdom that the entire youth of both sexes, none being excepted, shall quickly, pleasantly, and thoroughly become learned in the sciences, pure in morals, trained in piety, and in this manner instructed in all things necessary for the present and future life, in which, with respect to everything that is suggested, its fundamental principles are set forth from the essential nature of the matter, its truth is proved by examples, from the several mechanical arts its order is clearly set forth in years, months, days, and hours; and finally an easy and sure method is shown by which it can be pleasantly brought into existence_.

The purpose of the _Great didactic_, as announced by Comenius in the preface, is to seek and find a method of instruction by which teachers may teach less, but learners may learn more; schools may be the scene of less noise, aversion, and useless labor, but of more leisure, enjoyment, and solid progress; the Christian community have less darkness, perplexity, and dissension, but more light, peace, and rest. He promises in his “greeting” an “art of teaching all things to all men, and of teaching them with certainty, so that the result cannot fail.” Among the uses of such an art he notes the advantage (1) to parents, that they may know that if correct methods have been employed with unerring accuracy, it is impossible that the desired result should not follow; (2) to teachers, who, without a knowledge of this art, try in turn first one plan and then another—a course which involves a tedious waste of time and energy; and (3) to schools, that they may become places of amusement, houses of delight and attraction, and that they may cause learning to flourish. Such, in brief, are fundamental principles of a philosophy of education. How well those principles were elaborated and applied will be seen in the exposition of his writings which follows.

_Purpose of Education_

The opening chapters of the _Great didactic_ treat of man as the highest, the most absolute, and the most excellent of created beings: of the life beyond as man’s ultimate end, and of this life as merely a preparation for eternity. The human being passes through three stages in his preparation for eternity—he learns to know himself, to rule himself, and to direct himself to God. Man’s natural craving is for knowledge,—learning, virtue, piety,—and the seeds of knowledge are implanted in every rational creature. The mind of man is unlimited in its aspirations. “The body is enclosed by small boundaries; the voice roams within wider limits; the sight is bounded only by the vault of heaven; but for the mind, neither in heaven nor anywhere outside of heaven can a boundary be fixed for it.”

Man delights in harmony; and, as respects both his mind and his body, he is a harmony. Just as the great world itself is like an immense piece of clockwork, put together with many wheels and bells, and arranged with such art that, throughout the whole structure, one part depends upon another through the harmony and perfection of the movements—so it is with man. All this harmony and perfection is made possible through education.

He gave no bad definition, remarks Comenius, who said that man was a “teachable animal.” But he must be taught, since he is born only with aptitudes. Before he can sit, stand, walk, or use his hands, he requires instruction. It is the law of all created things that they develop gradually and ultimately reach a state of perfection. Plato was right when he said, “If properly educated, man is the gentlest and most divine of created beings; but if left uneducated or subjected to a false training, he is the most intractable thing in the world.”

Education is necessary for all classes of society; and this is the more apparent when we consider the marked individual differences to be found among human beings. No one doubts that the stupid need instruction that they may outgrow their stupidity. But clever and precocious minds require more careful instruction than dull and backward minds; since those who are mentally active, if not occupied with useful things, will busy themselves with what is useless, curious, and pernicious. Just as a millstone grinds itself away with noise if wheat is not supplied, so an active mind, if void of serious things, entangles itself with vain, curious, and noxious thoughts, and becomes the cause of its own destruction.

The time for education is in early youth.[27] God has, accordingly, made the years of childhood unsuitable for anything but education; and this matter was interposed by the deliberate intent of a wise Providence. Youth is a period of great plasticity. It is in the nature of everything that comes into being to bend and form easily while tender; but when the plastic period has passed to alter only with great difficulty. If one wishes to become a good tailor, writer, or musician, he must apply himself to his art from his earliest youth, during the period when his imagination is most active and when his fingers are most flexible. Only during the years of childhood is it possible to train the muscles to do skilled work. If, then, parents have the welfare of their children at heart, and if the good of the human race be dear to the civil and ecclesiastical guardians of society, let them hasten to make provision for the timely planting, pruning, and watering of the plants of heaven that these may be prudently formed in letters, virtue, and piety.

Private education is not desirable. Children should be trained in common, since better results and more pleasures are to be obtained when they are taught together in classes. Not only is class teaching a saving of labor over private instruction, but it introduces a rivalry that is both needful and helpful. Moreover, young children learn much that is useful by imitation through association with school-fellows. Comenius, it may be remarked, was one of the first of the educational reformers to see clearly the value of class teaching and graded instruction. His reforms in this direction have already been noted.

School training is necessary for the children of all grades of society, not of the rich and powerful only, but the poor and lowly as well. Let none be neglected, unless God has denied him sense and intelligence. When it is urged that the laboring classes need no school education, let it be also recalled that they are expected to think, obey, and do good.

Girls should be educated as well as boys. No satisfactory reason can be given why women should be excluded from the pursuits of knowledge, whether in the Latin or in the mother-tongue. They are formed in the image of God as well as men; and they are endowed with equal sharpness of mind and capacity for learning, often, indeed, with more than the opposite sex. Why, then, should we admit them to the alphabet, and afterwards drive them away from books? Comenius takes issue with most writers on education that study will make women blue-stockings and chatterboxes. On the contrary, he maintains, the more their minds are occupied with the fruits of learning, the less room and temptation there will be for gossip and folly.

Not only should education be common to all classes of society, but the subjects of instruction should be common to the whole range of knowledge. Comenius holds that it is the business of educators to take strong and vigorous measures that no man in his journey through life may encounter anything so unknown to him that he will be unable to pass sound judgment upon it and turn it to its proper use without serious error. This desire for encyclopædic learning, as already noted, dominated his life and writings.

But even Comenius recognized the futility of thoroughness in a wide range of instruction, and he expresses willingness to be satisfied if men know the principles, the causes, and the uses of all things in existence. It is general culture—something about a great many things—that he demands.

Comenius clearly saw that the conditions of educational institutions were wholly inadequate for the realization of these purposes—(1) because of an insufficient number of schools, and (2) because of the unscientific character of current methods of instruction. The exhortations of Martin Luther, he observes, remedied the former shortcoming, but it remains for the future to improve the latter.

The best intellects are ruined by unsympathetic and unpedagogic methods. Such great severity characterizes the schools that they are looked upon as terrors for the boys and shambles for their intellects. Most of the students contract a dislike for learning, and many leave school altogether. The few who are forced by parents and guardians to remain acquire a most preposterous and wretched sort of education, so that instead of tractable lambs, the schools produce wild asses and restive mules. Nothing could be more wretched than the discipline of the schools. “What should be gently instilled into the intellect is violently impressed upon it, nay, rather flogged into it. How many, indeed, leave the schools and universities with scarcely a notion of true learning.” Comenius laments that he and many thousands of his contemporaries have miserably lost the sweet spring-time of life and wasted the fresh years of youth on scholastic trifles.

_Education according to Nature_

Comenius proposes to so reconstruct systems of education that (1) all shall be educated, except those to whom God has denied understanding, in all those subjects calculated to make men wise, virtuous, and pious; (2) the course of training, being a preparation for life, shall be completed before maturity is attained; (3) and schools shall be conducted without blows, gently and pleasantly, in the most natural manner. Bold innovator! How clearly he perceived the faults of the schools of his day; with what keen insight he formulated methods for their improvement; and with what hope in the reform which has gone forward steadily for these two hundred and seventy-five years, but which even now is far from being an accomplished fact!

The basis of the reform which he advocates is an application of the principle of order—order in the management of time, in the arrangement of subjects taught, and in the methods employed. Nature furnishes us a criterion for order in all matters pertaining to the improvement of human society. Certain universal principles, which are fundamental to his philosophy of education, are deduced from nature. These, stripped of their tedious examples and details, are:—

1. Nature observes a suitable time.

2. She prepares the material before she attempts to give it form.

3. She chooses a fit subject to act upon, or first submits her subject to a suitable treatment in order to make it fit.

4. She is not confused in her operations; but, in her onward march, advances with precision from one point to another.

5. In all the operations of nature, development is from within.

6. In her formative processes, she begins with the universal and ends with the particular.

7. Nature makes no leaps, but proceeds step by step.

8. When she begins a thing, she does not leave off until the operation is completed.

9. She avoids all obstacles that are likely to interfere with her operations.

With nature as our guide, Comenius believes that the process of education will be easy, (1) if it is begun before the mind is corrupted; (2) if the mind is prepared to receive it; (3) if we proceed from the general to the particular, from what is easy to what is more complex; (4) if the pupils are not overburdened with too many different studies; (5) if the instruction is graded to the stages of the mental development of the learners; (6) if the interests of the children are consulted and their intellects are not forced along lines for which they have no natural bent; (7) if everything is taught through the medium of the senses; (8) if the utility of instruction is emphasized; and (9) if everything is taught by one and the same method.

Nature begins by a careful selection of materials, therefore education should commence early; the pupils should not have more than one teacher in each subject, and before anything else is done, the morals should be rendered harmonious by the teacher’s influence.

Nature always makes preparation for each advance step; therefore, the desire to know and to learn should be excited in children in every way possible, and the method of instruction should lighten the drudgery, that there may be nothing to hinder progress in school studies.

Nature develops everything from beginnings which, though insignificant in appearance, possess great potential strength; whereas, the practice of most teachers is in direct opposition to this principle. Instead of starting with fundamental facts, they begin with a chaos of diverse conclusions.

Nature advances from what is easy to what is more difficult. It is, therefore, wrong to teach the unknown through the medium of that which is equally unknown. Such errors may be avoided if pupils and teachers talk in the same language and explanations are given in the language that the pupil understands; if grammars and dictionaries are adapted in the language and to the understanding of the pupils; if, in the study of a foreign language, the pupils first learn to understand it, then to write it, and lastly to speak it; if in such study the pupils get to know first that which is nearest to their mental vision, then that which lies moderately near, then that which is more remote, and lastly that which is farthest off; and if children be made to exercise first their senses, then their memory, and finally their understanding.

Nature does not overburden herself, but is content with a little at a time; therefore the mental energies of the pupils should not be dissipated over a wide range of subject-matter.

Nature advances slowly; therefore school sessions should be shortened to four hours; pupils should be forced to memorize as little as possible; school instruction should be graded to the ages and capacities of the children.

Nature compels nothing to advance that is not driven forward by its own mature strength; therefore it follows that nothing should be taught to children not demanded by their age, interests, and mental ability.

Nature assists her operations in every possible manner; therefore children should not be punished for inability to learn. Rather, instruction should be given through the senses that it may be retained in the memory with less effort.

Nothing is produced by nature the practical application of which is not evident; therefore those things only should be taught whose application can be easily demonstrated.

Nature is uniform in all her operations; hence the same method of instruction should be adapted to all subjects of study, and the text-books in each subject should, as far as possible, be of the same editions.

Comenius observes that there is a very general complaint that few leave school with a thorough education, and that most of the instruction retained in after life is little more than a mere shadow of true knowledge. He considers that the complaint is well corroborated by facts, and attributes the cause to the insignificant and unimportant studies with which the schools occupy themselves. If we would correct this evil, we must go to the school of nature and investigate the methods she adopts to give endurance to the beings which she has created.

A method should be found by means of which each person will be able not only to bring into his mental consciousness that which he has learned, but at the same time to pass sound judgment on the objective facts to which his information refers. This will be possible if only those subjects are studied which will be of real service in the later life; if such subjects be taught without digression or interruption; if a thorough grounding precede the detailed instruction; if all that comes later be based upon what has gone before; if great stress be laid on the points of resemblance between cognate subjects; if the studies be arranged with reference to the pupils’ present mental development, and if knowledge be fixed in the memory by constant use.

In support of his principle of thoroughness, Comenius adduces the following proofs from nature: Nothing is produced by nature that is useless. When she forms a body, she omits nothing that is necessary. She does not operate on anything unless it possesses foundations, and she strikes her roots deep and develops everything from them. She never remains at rest, but advances continually; never begins anything fresh at the expense of work already begun, but proceeds with what she has started and brings it to completion. She knits everything together in continuous combination, preserving due proportion with respect to both quality and quantity. Through constant exercise she becomes strong and fruitful.

Progress is less a question of strength than of skill. Hitherto little has been accomplished in the school-life of the child, because no set landmarks have been set up as goals to be reached by the pupils; things naturally associated are not taught together; the arts and sciences are scarcely ever thought of as an encyclopædic whole; the methods employed are as numerous and diverse as the schools and teachers; instruction is individual and private, and not public and general, and books are selected with too little regard for the value of their contents. If these matters could be reformed, there is no doubt in the mind of Comenius that the whole circle of the sciences might be covered during the period of school training. Toward the solution of this problem he answers the following questions:—

1. How can a single teacher instruct a large number of children at the same time? In answer, he maintains that it is not only possible for one teacher to instruct several hundred children (!) at once, but that it is essential for the best interests of both the teacher and the children (!!). The larger the number of pupils, the greater will be the teacher’s interest in his work; and the keener his interest, the greater the enthusiasm of his pupils. In the same way, to the children, the presence of a number of companions will be productive not only of utility, but also of enjoyment, since they will mutually stimulate and assist one another. For children of this age, emulation and rivalry are the best incentives to study. The reader will observe that this scheme of Comenius contemplates some adaptation of the system of pupil teaching, and that it interdicts all efforts at individual instruction.

2. How far is it possible for pupils to be taught from the same book? It is an undisputed fact, says Comenius, that too many facts presented to the mind at the same time distract the attention. It will, therefore, be of great advantage if the pupils be permitted to use no books except those which have been expressly composed for the class in which they are. Such books should contain a complete, thorough, and accurate epitome of all the subjects of instruction. They should give a true representation of the entire universe; should be written simply and clearly—preferably in the form of a dialogue; and should give the pupils sufficient assistance to enable them, if necessary, to pursue their studies without the help of a master.

3. How is it possible for all the pupils in a school to do the same thing at one time? This may be accomplished by having a course of instruction commence at a definite time of each year; and by and by so dividing the course of instruction that each year, each month, each week, each day, each hour may have a definite appointed task for it.

4. How is it possible to teach everything according to one and the same method? That there is only one natural method has already been satisfactorily demonstrated (to the mind of Comenius), and the universal adoption of this natural method will be as great a boon to pupils as a plain and undeviating road is to travellers.

5. How can many things be explained in a few words? The purpose of education is not to fill the mind with a dreary waste of words from books. Rightly says Seneca of instruction: “Its administration should resemble the sowing of seed, in which stress is laid not on the quantity, but on the quality.”

6. How is it possible to do two or three things by a single operation? It may be laid down as a general rule that each subject should be taught in combination with those which are correlative to it. Reading, penmanship, spelling, language, and nature study should work together in the acquisition and expression of ideas. As Professor Hanus[28] has pointed out, Comenius clearly foreshadowed the correlation and coördination of school studies at least two centuries before Herbart. Indeed, he went so far as to urge the correlation of school instruction with the plays and games of children. He urged that children be given tools and allowed to imitate the different handicrafts, by playing at farming, at politics, at being soldiers or architects. In the game of war they may be allowed to take the part of field-marshals, generals, captains, and standard-bearers. In that of politics they may be kings, ministers, chancellors, secretaries, and ambassadors, as well as senators, consuls, and lawyers; since such pleasantries often lead to serious things. Thus, maintains Comenius, would be fulfilled Luther’s wish that the studies of the young at school might be so organized that the pupils would take as much pleasure in them as playing at ball all day. In this way, the schools might become a real prelude to the more serious duties of practical life.

_Methods of Instruction_

A correct method of instruction was to Comenius, as has already been pointed out, the panacea for most of the ills of teaching. He made reform in methodology the starting point of all his schemes for educational improvement. In the _Great didactic_ he considers reform in methods of instructing in the sciences, arts, language, morals, and religion.

1. _Science._ Knowledge of nature or science requires objects to be perceived and sufficient attention for the perception of the objects. The youth who would comprehend the sciences must observe four rules: (1) he must keep the eye of his mind pure; (2) he must see that the proper relationship is established between the eye and the object; (3) he must attend to the object; (4) he must proceed from one object to another in accordance with a suitable method.

The beginning of wisdom in the sciences consists, not in the mere learning of the names of things, but in the actual perception of the things themselves. It is after the thing has been grasped by the senses that language should fulfil its function of still further explaining it. The senses are the trusty servants of the memory, leading to the permanent retention of the knowledge that has been acquired. Reasoning, also, is conditioned and mediated by the experience gained through sense-perception. It is evident, therefore, that if we wish to develop a true love and knowledge of science, we must take special care to see that everything is learned by actual observation through sense-perception. This should be the golden rule of teachers: Everything should as far as possible be placed before the senses.

When the objects themselves cannot be procured, representations of them may be used; models may be constructed or the objects may be represented by means of engravings. This is especially needful in such studies as geography, geometry, botany, zoölogy, physiology, and physics. It requires both labor and expense to produce models, but the results of such aids will more than repay the efforts. In the absence of both objects and models, the things may be represented by means of pictures.[29]

2. _Arts._ “Theory,” says Vives, “is easy and short, but has no result other than the gratification that it affords. Practice, on the other hand, is difficult and prolix, but of immense utility.” Since this is so, remarks Comenius, we should diligently seek out a method by which the young may be easily led to the application of such natural forces as one finds in the arts.

In the acquisition of an art, three things are required: (1) a model which the pupil may examine and then try to imitate; (2) material on which the new form is to be impressed; and (3) instruments by the aid of which the work is accomplished. After these have been provided, three things more are necessary before an art can be learned—a proper use of the materials, skilled guidance, and frequent practice.

Progress in the art studies is primarily through practice. Let the pupils learn to write by writing, to talk by talking, and to sing by singing. Since imitation is such an important factor in the mastery of an art, it is sheer cruelty to try to force a pupil to do that which you wish done, while the pupil is ignorant of your wishes. The use of instruments should be shown in practice, and not by words; by example, rather than by precept. It is many years since Quintilian wrote, “Through precepts the way is long and difficult, while through examples it is short and practicable.” But alas! remarks Comenius, how little heed the schools pay to this advice. Man is essentially an imitative animal, and it is by imitation that children learn to walk, to run, to talk, and to play.[30] Rules are like thorns to the understanding, since to grasp them requires a degree of mental development not common during the elementary school life of the child.

Comenius would have the first attempts at imitation as accurate as possible, since whatever comes first is the foundation of that which is to follow. All haste in the first steps should be avoided, lest we proceed to the advanced work before the elements have been mastered.

Perfect instruction in the arts is based on both synthesis and analysis. The synthetic steps should generally come first, since we should commence with what is easy, and our own efforts are always easiest to understand. But the accurate analysis of the work of others must not be neglected. Finally, it must be remembered that it is practice, nothing but faithful practice, that makes an artist.

3. _Language._ We learn languages, not merely for the erudition and wisdom which they hold, but because languages are the instruments by which we acquire knowledge and by which we impart our knowledge to others. The study of languages, particularly in youth, should be joined to the study of objects. The intelligence should thus be exercised on matters which appeal to the interests and comprehension of children. They waste their time who place before children Cicero and the other great writers; for, if students do not understand the subject-matter, how can they master the various devices for expressing it forcibly? The time would be more usefully spent on less ambitious efforts, so correlated that the languages and the general intelligence might advance together step by step. Nature makes no leaps, neither does art, since art imitates nature.

Each language should be learned separately. First of all, the mother-tongue should be learned; then a modern language—that of a neighboring nation; after this, Latin; and, lastly, Greek and Hebrew. The mother-tongue, because of its intimate connection with the gradual unfolding of the objective world to the senses, will require from eight to ten years; a modern language may be mastered in one year; Latin in two years; Greek in one year; and Hebrew in six months.

There are four stages in the study of a language. The first is the age of babbling infancy, during which time language is indistinctly spoken; the second is the age of ripening boyhood, in which the language is correctly spoken; the third is the age of mature youth, in which the language is elegantly spoken; and the fourth is the age of vigorous manhood, in which the language is forcibly spoken.

4. _Morals._ If the schools are to become forging places of humanity, the art of moral instruction must be more definitely elaborated. To this end Comenius formulates the following pedagogic rules:—

All the virtues may be implanted in men.

Those virtues which are called cardinal virtues—prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice—should first be implanted.

Prudence may be acquired through good instruction, and by learning the differences which exist between things and the relative value of those things. Comenius expresses agreement with Vives, that sound judgment must be acquired in early youth.

Children should be taught to observe temperance in eating, drinking, sleeping, exercising, and playing.

Fortitude is to be learned by the suppression of excessive desires—playing at the wrong time or beyond the proper time—and by avoiding manifestations of anger, discontent, and impatience. It is needful for the young to learn fortitude in the matter of frankness and endurance in toil. Children must be taught to work, and moral education must preach the gospel of work.

Lastly, examples of well-ordered lives in the persons of parents, teachers, nurses, and schoolmates must continually be set before the children, and they must be carefully guarded against bad associations.

5. _Religion._ In the scheme of education which Comenius outlines in the _Great didactic_, religion occupies the most exalted place; and while training in morals is accessory to religion, children must in addition be given specific instruction in piety. For this purpose definite methods of instruction are outlined. Instruction in piety must be of such a character as to lead children to follow God, by giving themselves completely up to His will, by acquiescing in His love, and by singing His praises. The child’s heart may thus be joined to His in love through meditation, prayer, and examination. Children should early be habituated to the outward works which He commands, that they may be trained to express their faith by works. At first they will not understand the true nature of what they are doing, since their intelligence is not yet sufficiently developed; but it is important that they learn to do what subsequent experience will teach them to be right.[31]

While Comenius was not willing to go as far as St. Augustine and the early church fathers in the matter of abolishing altogether the whole body of pagan literature from the school, nevertheless, he thought that the best interests of the religious education of the child required unusual precaution in the reading of pagan books. He reminds his readers that it is the business of Christian schools to form citizens, not merely for this world, but also for heaven, and that accordingly children should read mainly those authors who are well acquainted with heavenly as well as with earthly things.

_Types of Educational Institutions_

The modern fourfold division of education into kindergarten, elementary schools, secondary schools, colleges or universities was clearly foreshadowed by Comenius in the _Great didactic_. His philosophy of education comprehends a school of infancy, a school of the mother-tongue, a Latin school, and a university. These different institutions, he notes, are not merely to deal with different subjects, but they are to treat the same subjects in different ways, giving such instruction in all of them as will make true men, true Christians, and true scholars, although grading the instruction throughout to the age, capabilities, and previous training of the learners.

1. _School of infancy._ Comenius would have a mother’s school in every home, where children may be given such training as will fit them at the age of six years to begin regular studies in the vernacular school. He prepared for the use of mothers during this period a detailed outline, which he published under the title, _Information for mothers, or School of infancy_. An analysis of this book is given in the following chapter on the earliest training of the child.

2. _School of the mother-tongue._ This covers the years from six to twelve, and includes all children of both sexes. The aim of this school is to teach the young such things as will be of practical utility in later life—to read with ease both printing and writing in the mother-tongue; to write first with accuracy, and finally with confidence in accordance with the rules of the mother-tongue; to compute numbers as far as may be necessary for practical purposes; to measure spaces, such as lengths, breadths and distances; to sing well-known melodies, and to learn by heart the greater number of psalms and hymns commonly used in the country. In addition, the children study the principles of morality, the general history of the world, the geography of the earth and principal kingdoms of Europe, elementary economics and politics, and the rudiments of the mechanical arts.

The six years of the school of the mother-tongue are graded into six classes, with a detailed course of study for each class. Provision is made for four lessons daily, two in the forenoon and two in the afternoon. The remaining hours of the day are to be spent in domestic work or in some form of recreation. The morning hours are devoted to such studies as train the intellect; the afternoons to such as give manual skill. No new work is to be introduced in the afternoon; but the pupils may review and discuss the lessons developed during the morning sessions. If it is desired that a foreign language be introduced, it should not be begun before the tenth year.

3. _The Latin school._ The purpose of the Latin school is to give a more thorough and comprehensive training to those aspiring to callings higher than the industrial pursuits. It covers the years from twelve to eighteen, and was also divided into six classes,—the grammar, natural philosophy, mathematical, ethics, dialectic, and rhetorical classes. Since Comenius’ views on Latin are so fully set forth in a later chapter on language teaching and the _Janua_, it is only necessary here to recall that his curriculum for the Latin school includes a wide range of culture subjects. The most important of the culture studies of the Latin school is history, including an epitome of Biblical history, natural history, the history of arts, inventions and customs, history of morals, and a general historical survey of the leading modern nations of the world.

4. _University._ While Comenius frankly admits that his experience has been chiefly limited to work in elementary and secondary schools, still he sees no reason why he should not state his views and wishes with regard to superior instruction. The curriculum of the university conceived in the _Great didactic_ is universal in character, making provision for a wide range of studies in every branch of human knowledge. The university must possess learned and able professors in the languages, sciences, and arts, as well as a library of well-selected books for the common use of all. One of the fundamental aims of the university is to widen the domain of knowledge through original investigation; in consequence, its equipment must fit it for research work.

How fully these schemes have been realized, the reader may appreciate by comparing the types of educational institutions of the United States and Germany with those of the _Great didactic_, which were outlined by Comenius more than two centuries ago.

_School Discipline_

The _Great didactic_ is an eloquent protest against the severe and inhuman discipline of Comenius’ day. Schools which abound with shrieks and blows, he says, are not well disciplined. Discipline is quite another thing; it is an unfailing method by which we may make our pupils pupils in reality. This makes it necessary for the teacher to know the child, the being to be disciplined, the subjects of study which serve as mental stimulants, and the relations which should exist between the child and the subjects to be taught.

Discipline must be free from personal elements, such as anger or dislike, and should be exercised with frankness and sincerity. Teachers should administer punishments just as physicians prescribe medicines—with a view to improving the condition of the individual. Nor should severe forms of discipline be exercised in connection with studies or literary exercises. Studies, if they are properly taught, form in themselves a sufficient attraction. When this is not the case, the fault lies not with the pupil, but with the teacher; if his skill is unable to make an impression on the understanding, his blows will have no effect. Indeed, he is more likely to produce a distaste for letters than a love for them by the application of force.

Whenever, therefore, we see a mind that is diseased or dislikes study, we should try to remove its disposition by gentle remedies; but on no account should we employ violent ones. The sun gives us an excellent lesson on this point. In the spring-time, when the plants are young and tender, it does not scorch them, but warms and invigorates them; it does not put forth its full heat until they are full grown. The gardener proceeds on the same principle, and does not apply the pruning knife to plants that are immature. In the same way the musician does not strike his instrument a blow with his fist or throw it against the wall because it produces a discordant sound; but setting to work on scientific principles, he tunes it and gets it into order. Just such a skilful and sympathetic treatment is necessary to instil a love of learning into the minds of pupils; and any other procedure will only convert their idleness into antipathy and their interest into downright stupidity.

Severe forms of discipline should be used only in cases of moral delinquencies, as (1) impiety of any kind, such as blasphemy, obscenity, and other offences against God’s law; (2) stubbornness and premeditated misbehavior, such as disobeying orders and conscious neglect of duty; and (3) pride, disdain, envy, and idleness. Offences of the first kind are an insult against the majesty of God; those of the second kind undermine the foundations of virtue; and those of the third prevent any rapid progress in studies. An offence against God is a crime, and should be expiated by an extremely severe punishment; an offence against man is iniquitous, and should be promptly corrected; but an offence against Priscian is a stain that may be wiped out by the sponge of blame. In a word, the object of discipline should be to stir the pupils to revere God, to assist their fellows, and to perform the labors and duties of life with alacrity.