History of Education by Levi Seeley (books that read to you .TXT) π
Karl Schmidt says: "The history of the world is the history of the development of the human soul. The manner of this development is the same in the race as in the individual; the same law, because the same divine thought, rules in the individual, in a people, and in humanity. Humanity has, as the individual, its stages of progress, and it unfolds itself in them. The individual as a child is not a rational being; he becomes rational. The child has not yet the mastery over himself, but his environment is his master; he belongs not to himself, but to his surroundings. The oriental peoples are the child of humanity.... Classical
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Summary of Benefits conferred upon Civilization by the Monasteries.β1. They preserved classic literature. Though many of the Church Fathers, as we have seen, were bitterly opposed to pagan literature, the monasteries copied it with great industry and preserved it with care. The archives of these institutions have yielded up some most remarkable and valuable manuscripts that otherwise would have been lost to the world.
2. They kept alive the flickering flame of Christianity. The Middle Ages were indeed dark for Christianity, as unbelief, ignorance, and faithlessness prevailed. But the monasteries were centers of religious interest and zeal.
3. They maintained educational interest during this long, dark period. We have seen that the monasteries contained the only schools. Through them the Church kept up whatever educational interest survived during the Middle Ages, and her work then conserved the energies employed in later educational enterprise.
4. They originated a great course of study by giving to the world the seven liberal arts.
5. They furnished places of refuge for the oppressed.
FOOTNOTES:[31] Laurie thinks that these names were first appropriately used about the end of the fourth century.
Literature.βFisher, History of the Reformation; Lord, Beacon Lights; Thalheimer, Mediaeval and Modern History; Schwegler, History of Philosophy; Seebohm, Era of the Protestant Revolution; Hegel, Philosophy of History; Azarias, Philosophy of Literature; Azarias, Essays Philosophical; Schwickerath, Jesuit Education, its History and Principles.
CompayrΓ© remarks, "It has been truly said that there were three Renascences: the first, which owed its beginning to Charlemagne, and whose brilliancy did not last; the second, that of the twelfth century, the issue of which was Scholasticism; and the third, the great Renaissance of the sixteenth century, which still lasts, and which the French Revolution has completed."[32]
As scholasticism, in a sense, was the rival of monasticism, and as it covered a large part of the Middle Ages, we shall discuss it at this point. Scholasticism was a movement having for its object the harmonizing of ancient philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, with the doctrines of Christianity. It covered a period reaching from the ninth to the fifteenth century, and displayed its greatest activity between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. It is called the philosophy of the Middle Ages. The term scholastic is also applied generally to forms of reasoning which abound in subtleties. Scholasticism was a dissent from the teachings of St. Augustine and the ascetics. It laid chief stress upon reason instead of authority, thus asserting a vitally different principle, which would tend to change the whole spirit of education.
The first prominent leader of this movement was Erigena, who lived during the ninth century, and was the most interesting writer of the Middle Ages. He was also a great teacher, and was called to give instruction at the court of Charles the Bald, and afterward at Oxford. He opposed the prevailing tendencies of the monasteries to base all teaching on authority, and made its foundation philosophy and reason. Schwegler[33] denominates Anselm (born about 1033) as "the beginner and founder of scholasticism." Thus it was not till the eleventh century "that there was developed anything that might be properly termed a Christian philosophy. This was the so-called scholasticism."[34]
Greater than either of these was Abelard (born 1079), who by his eloquence attracted great numbers of students to Paris. It is said that "few teachers ever held such sway as did Abelard for a time." He made Paris the center of the scholastic movement, attracting students from all parts of the world. He did more than any of his predecessors to give accepted ecclesiastical doctrines a rational expression. Scholasticism influenced the establishment of institutions of learning in England, Germany, Italy, and Spain, some of which later developed into great universities. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Occam may also be mentioned as great schoolmen. Of the first two Schwegler says,[35] "At the summit of scholasticism we must place the two incontestably greatest masters of the scholastic art and method, Thomas Aquinas (Dominican, 1225-1274) and Duns Scotus (Franciscan, 1265-1308), the founders of two schools, into which after them the whole scholastic theology divides itself,βthe former exalting the understanding (intellectus), and the latter the will (voluntas), as the highest principle, both being driven into essentially differing directions by this opposition of the theoretical and practical. Even with this began the downfall of scholasticism; its highest point was also the turning point to its self-destruction. The rationality of the dogmas, the oneness of faith and knowledge, had been constantly their fundamental premise; but this premise fell away, and the whole basis of their metaphysics was given up in principle the moment Duns Scotus placed the problem of theology in the practical. When the practical and the theoretical became divided, and still more when thought and being were separated by nominalism, philosophy broke loose from theology and knowledge from faith. Knowledge assumed its position above faith and above authority, and the religious consciousness broke with the traditional dogma."
Toward the end, another thing contributed to the downfall of scholasticism. The philosophical subtleties of discussion made the schoolmen lose sight of the main issue, and devote themselves to the most ridiculous questions.[36] Schwickerath remarks,[37] "It can not and need not be denied that the education imparted by the mediaeval scholastics was in many regards defective. It was at once too dogmatic and disputatious. Literary studies were comparatively neglected; frequently too much importance was attached to purely dialectical subtleties.... The defects of scholasticism became especially manifest in the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when much time and energy were wasted in discussing useless refinements of thought." That it did a great deal of good will appear from the following summary:β
Summary of the Benefits of Scholasticism.β1. It attempted to harmonize philosophy with Christianity, and may be called the first Christian philosophy.
2. It sought to base learning on reason and investigation, rather than on authority. In this we find the first impulse of that movement which later led to the founding of science.
3. Many universities were established through the scholastic influence, notably, Paris, Heidelberg, Bologna, Prague, and Vienna.
4. While it failed to establish them, it at least recognized the desirableness of a universal language for schools, and a universal church for man.
5. Although, with the exception of the universities which it founded, its direct work in education cannot be said to have been permanent, yet it imparted fresh vigor to educational endeavors.
6. Schwegler says,[38] "It ... introduced to the world another principle than that of the old Church, the principle of the thinking spirit, the self-consciousness of the reason, or at least prepared the way for the victory of this principle. Even the deformities and unfavorable side of scholasticism, the many absurd questions upon which the scholastics divided, even their thousandfold unnecessary and accidental distinctions, their inquisitiveness and subtleties, all sprang from a rational principle, and grew out of a spirit of investigation, which could only utter itself in this way under the all-powerful ecclesiastical spirit of the time."
FOOTNOTES:[32] "History of Pedagogy," p. 71.
[33] "History of Philosophy," p. 186.
[34] Ibid., p. 185.
[35] Ibid., p. 186.
[36] See K. Schmidt, "Geschichte der PΓ€dagogik," Vol. II, p. 265, for subjects of these discussions.
[37] "Jesuit Education," p. 46.
[38] "History of Philosophy," p. 189.
Literature.βFerris, Great Leaders; Emerton, Introduction to the Middle Ages; Guizot, History of Civilization; Wells, The Age of Charlemagne; Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire; Church, The Beginning of the Middle Ages; Lord, Beacon Lights; White, Eighteen Christian Centuries; Laurie, Rise of the Universities; Bulfinch, Legends of Charlemagne; Encyclopaedia Britannica, Article on Charlemagne.
History, Character, and Purpose.βCharlemagne was not only the greatest ruler of the Middle Ages, but one of the greatest and wisest rulers the world has known. By birth and instinct he belonged to the Teutonic race, to which, as before stated, the world's enlightenment has been committed. Like Alexander the Great, Charlemagne united many peoples into one, until he ruled over the territory now included in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Italy,βin fact, his empire comprised the richest part of central Europe. He designed to rebuild the Roman Empire, and was crowned "Emperor of Rome" by the Pope, in the year 800. While he protected the Pope and was loyal to him, he did not admit the papal supremacy in matters of State.
Two very important influences were wisely utilized by Charlemagne in his work of civilization, namely, the political ideas of the Teutons, and the adhering power of the Christian church. He cherished German customs, and left, in various parts of Germany, many monuments of his love for that people. He was of commanding presence, being seven feet in height, and of good proportions, blond in type, and of genial manners. His real capital was at Aix-la-Chapelle, but Rome was a nominal capital. Bulfinch says of Charlemagne: "Whether we regard him as a warrior or legislator, as a patron of learning or as the civilizer of a barbarous nation, he is entitled to our warmest admiration." If his successors had possessed the ability, enterprise, and breadth of view that characterized him, the world might never have known the period in history commonly called the "Dark Ages."
Personal Education.βWhen Charlemagne arrived at the estate of manhood and ascended the throne, he was ignorant of letters and lacked any considerable intellectual training. His education had been that of the knight who believed that skill in the use of arms and physical prowess were of far more importance than a knowledge of letters.[39] After he had come to the throne, and especially after he had conquered his foes and had leisure to study the welfare of his people, he realized his deficiencies, and sought to overcome them by diligent study.
He called to his court the most learned men of the world, received personal instruction from them, and had them read to him and converse with him while at his meals. In this way he overcame, in a measure, the defects of his early education. He thoroughly mastered Latin, became familiar with Greek, and learned also grammar, rhetoric, logic, music, astronomy, and natural history. He never learned to write well, owing to the late period of life at which he began, and to the clumsiness of the hand accustomed to wielding the sword rather than the pen.
Among his instructors was Alcuin of England, the most celebrated teacher of his time. Charlemagne established the "School of the Palace," and placed Alcuin at its head. Here the children of the emperor as well as his courtiers were taught. He had his own daughters learn Latin and Greek. France is indebted to Alcuin for its polite learning. Alcuin was also the counselor of the emperor in the educational matters of the empire, and it was probably his influence that led Charlemagne to adopt such broad views concerning the culture of his people.
General Education.βWe have seen that the prevailing idea was that education should subserve the interests of the Church. Charlemagne turned the current of thought toward the national idea. He believed in religious training, but wanted to found a great State, and therefore insisted that those things which encouraged intelligent patriotism should be taught. He protected the Church, but insisted that the Church was subordinate to the State, and that his will was law over both. Consequently he required
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