only in a leveling equality, and the overthrow of old authority and social barriers; and above all admits no civil compulsion in education. Each individual must cultivate himself for such practical purposes as he chooses, and as well as he can. Education and its institutions must be entirely untrammeled. As a fitting example we can refer to what is related of North America, where the educational conditions, and the consequent family life, are free in general. The pupil is prepared, as early as possible, to help himself onward, in some form of profitable business. The greatest activity, and the richest accumulation of property, is the aim of each. Though German republicanism may reject these principles, it must still admit that there is consistency in them, and that if the State has no higher aim than to become a great industrial and fiscal institution, an immense phalanstery for the most enhanced pleasures of this mortal life, this purpose is being realized on the other side of the ocean, in a highly practical way, and without unnecessary complications; not, indeed, without already displaying the moral evils which unavoidably accompany its progress, and to which our republican sages persistently shut their eyes. Those who find their ideal state in old feudalism, in simple submission to the fatherly care of "princes by the grace of God," and see in a full return to such conditions the only safety from the dangers of the present, must also contemplate a reform, indeed a retrograde movement, of the educational system. They will insist upon clinging to old things, even to preserving what is decayed, solely because it is consecrated by authority. Nor are we without example of this; for we find a North German State, betraying a lamentable inconsistency and blindness in settling the most important question of popular education, limits the range and thoroughness of instruction, and thus destroys the germs of its future growth as a State. These two parties—we have mentioned only their extreme characteristics, while numerous intermediate grades exist-designate only the extreme limits of the antithesis, which touches all the political and social questions of the age. They stand upon the broad field of the literature and opinions of our time, as if separated by a wide chasm, and in irre concilable hostility. They could, however, by returning to their first, true principles, and acquiring a clearer insight, be brought to recognize each other; and, instead of incessantly quarreling, be made to acknowledge their relative rights, and work harmoniously upon the common task of improving the education of the people. We consider it not only desirable, but possible, that the work of reconciliation should begin with a true appreciation of popular education, which is the common aim of both sides. By this we mean that the conservatives, who will sacrifice nothing which is sanctified by age and authority, do not see how, in thus destroying, that which is truly valuable and enduring can be preserved. For the new form in which it is to arise more enduringly, does not present itself so distinctly that they can recognize it. This gives them a right to protest that it is better to retain the oldest positive form than sink into the nothingness of a bare negation; no new form should be introduced which is not at least a full compensation for the old. On the other side, we see reformers too frequently losing themselves in what is external or unessential. They do not often get beyond empty plans of abolition. They are clear as to what they do not want, but do not perceive as clearly what is permanently to fill the place of that which they reject. They are deeply mistaken if they think, that, in ridding themselves of certain hindrances, they gain creative freedom, the power to erect a positive structure. We can not err, in asserting that most revolutions have failed and become unfortunately retrogressive, because their leaders did not know what they wanted, or at least what they ought to want. In the first place, it is necessary to understand the past correctly, and to recognize clearly what in it has still a relative right to continue, and what must serve as a transitional basis and means for that which is new. and necessary. The law of continuity, of gradual transition, which we see ruling organic life with irresistible sway, has also in all intellectual processes, whether political or social, its highest authorization, the violation of which never escapes punishment. We might call it the educational law of the world's history. If we may be allowed to presume that, as a general thing, the best thinkers agree upon these fundamental principles, then we may consider the following inference as admitted. It is plain, namely, that the path of this gradual, complete, and peaceful transition from the present into the new period, must take place in the field of education; for in the growing race, the old and new time, the decaying past and vigorouslydeveloping future, meet and are reconciled. And thus in this direction, the decisive truth is proved: All political and social controversies of the present concentrate finally in the question of education; but not only in regard to what must be done in detail and immediately, but more universally still, in this: What is the only true education, the education worthy of the human being? This is plainly a psychological-ethical question. It can be decidedwith the permission of our practical teachers-only on philosophical ground. Not-and here experience must be our guide—not that a certain philosophical system is to construct for all time, an educational plan which all must follow, but that correct insight into the nature of the human intellect must first fix the nature and the end of all human education, and must at the same time designate the fundamental principles by which the several questions of education and instruction are to be decided. Thus we shall be able to dispose of the final question: Which one, of the now ruling educational systems, is best adapted to the nature of the human mind? (To be continued.) GERMAN EDUCATIONAL BIOGRAPHY: Memoirs of Founders and Teachers, Organizers, and Reformers of Systems, Institutions and Methods of Instruction in Germany, from the 7th to the 19th century. Republished from The American Journal of Education: HENRY BARNARD, LL.D., Editor. Revised Edition. Hartford: Brown & Gross. 672 pages. $3.50. CONTENTS. I. EARLY CHRISTIAN TEACHERS, from 696 to 1300.... PAGE. 1-40 WILIBRORD AND WINIFRED AT UTRECHT-WINFRED (ST. BONIFACE) AT FULDA.. 1 11 10 BRUNO OF COLOGNE-DITMAR-BOPPO AND WOLFGANG OF WURTZBURG....... 20 22 26 30 II. HIERONYMIANS, OR BRETHREN OF THE COMMON LIFE, from 1340 to 1500. 41-64 GIRARD GROOTE-JOHN COLE-FLORENTIUS RADEWIN...... 41 GERARD ZERBOLT-THOMAS-A-KEMPIS-HENRY DE MESMES................. 46 59 62 IIL ERASMUS AND HIS EDUCATIONAL WORK, 1467 to 1536.. 65-80 MEMOIR-SERVICE TO CLASSICAL AND BIBLICAL LEARNING... ....... 79 IV. REUCHLIN AND THE SCHLETTSTADT SCHOOL, 1360.... 81-92 SCHLETTSTADT SCHOOL AND ITS FIRST RECTOR, DRINGENBERG........................... 81 84 V. RETROSPECT OF 15TH & 16TH CENTURIES.......... 91 OLD AND NEW STUDIES-MEDIEVAL AND NEW SCHOOL BOOKS 91 VI. MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS EDUCATIONAL WORK.... 1. EDUCATION-CONDITION OF THE TRIVIAL SCHOOLS.. 97-160 101 MONASTIC SCHOOL AT MAGDEBURG-LATIN SCHOOL AT EISENACH. 109 119 11. VIEWS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS 131 131 HOME GOVERNMENT-DOMESTIC TRAINING-PARENTAL DUTY...... SCHOOLS-ADDRESS TO THE TOWN COUNCILS OF GERMANY-UNIVERSITIES.... 139 III. SCHOOL ORGANIZATIONS OF BUGENHAGEN UNDER LUTHER'S DIRECTION........ 160 VII. PHILIP MELANCTHON AND HIS EDUCATIONAL WORK....... 1. EDUCATION AT PSFORSHEIM, HEIDELBERG, AND TUBINGEN.. 161-184 161 169 ....... 175 PAGE. VIH. FOUNDERS OF SCHOOLS AND METHODOLOGY IN 16TH CENTURY.... 185-266 1. VALENTINE FRIEDLAND TROTZENDORF, 1490-1556...... RECTOR OF THE GOLDBERG SCHOOL... II. JOHN STURM, 1507-1589............ RECTOR OF GYMNASIUM AT STRASBURG. SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION IN DETAIL. III. MICHAEL NEANDER, 1525-1595............ RECTOR OF THE CLOISTER SCHOOL AT ILFELD.... IV. THE JESUITS AND THEIR SCHOOLS........ LOYOLA-CONSTITUTIONS RESPECTING INSTRUCTION.......... IX. INFLUENCE OF LUTHER'S ECCLESIASTICAL REVOLUTION..... X. EDUCATIONAL REFORMERS OF THE 17TH & 18TH CENTURIES. EDUCATIONAL WORK........... II. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS, 1592-1635........ LABORS IN GERMANY, HOLLAND, SWEDEN, AND ENGLAND.... III. DUKE ERNEST THE PIOUS, 1643-1675............. THE SCHOOL METHOD-COMMON SCHOOLS OF GOTHA..... IV. AUGUSTUS HERMAN FRANKE, AND THE PIETISTS 1663-1727 V. JOHN JULIUS HECKER, AND REALISTIC INSTRUCTION, 1739-1797. VI. JOHN BERNHARD BASEDOW, 1723–1780. BASEDOW AND PESTALOZZI COMPARED...... VIL EBERHARD VON ROCHOW, 1734-1805.......... VIII. DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS' SEMINARIES.. XI. REFORMATORY PHILOLOGISTS 1. JOHN MATHER GESNER, 1691-1761. 11. JOHN AUGUST ERNESTI, 1707–1781 III. JOHN GEORGE HAMANN, 1730-1888.. IV. JOHN GOTFRIED HERDER, 1744-1803.. V. FREDERICK AUGUST WOLF, 1759-1824.. VI. CHRISTIAN GOTTLOB HEYNE, 1729-1812....... XII. ORGANIZERS OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION.... 185 185 193 193 195 225 226 929 229 .. 267-272 .... 267 273-352 319 324 347 349 354 389 389 407 418 431 445 457 491 .. 491 509 521-578 521 530 533 557 561 574 579-624 579 1. FREDERIC II., SCHOOL REFORMS IN PRUSSIA... 2. REGULATIONS OF THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OF SILESIA, 1764.. 1. GENERAL REGULATIONS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS, 1763.... 593 II. MARIA THERESA AND SCHOOL REFORMS IN AUSTRIA... 1. HIGHER AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, 1763........ 2. GENERAL LAW FOR THE SCHOOLS OF AUSTRIA, 1774.. XIII. RESULTS-GERMAN SYSTEMS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 609 613 615 619 641-672 641 651 655 659 673 HARTFORD FEMALE SEMINARY AND ITS FOUNDER.* EDUCATIONAL REMINISCENCES. CATHARINE ESTHER BEECHER, the founder of the Hartford Female Seminary, and the able advocate for fifty years (1828 to 1878) of judicious improvements, and extensions in the education of American women, was born on the 6th of September, 1800, at East Hampton, Long Island, where her father, Lyman Beecher, D.D., the eminent preacher, and one of the earliest denouncers of all alcoholic drinks, was at that time pastor of the Congregational Church. Her early domestic training, and the educational agencies and surroundings of her father's family, both at East Hampton and Litchfield, are most instructively described in the "Autobiography of Lyman Beecher," and the valuable little volume of "Reminiscences," published by herself, in 1874.. Domestic Training. It was my good fortune to be born in humble circumstances, the eldest of thirteen children, all but two trained to maturity, and most of them in a good degree under my care through infancy and childhood. My mother lived till I was fifteen, and she and her sisters taught me to read, write and spell, with a few lessons in geography. They also gave me a little instruction in arithmetic which was soon forgotten. They also taught me to sew neatly, to knit, to perform properly many kinds of domestic labor, and to aid in the care and training of the younger children. My mother taught me to draw and paint in water colors, and then to varnish with a fine white varnish she learned how to prepare from a small English Encyclopedia. When about fourteen I thus painted and varnished a chamber set of fine white wood made to order, including bureau, dressing table, candlestand, washstand and bedstead. These were ornamented with landscapes, fruits and flowers, and at that time were a great novelty. Much of my success in after life has been owing to certain traits in my mother's character and their influence on my early training. These were a high ideal of excellence in whatever she attempted, a habit of regarding all knowledge with reference to its practical usefulness, and remarkable perseverance in holding on persistently till the object sought was attained. In illustration of these traits, at one time my father bought a bale of cotton simply because it was cheap, without the least idea or plan for its use. On its arrival, my mother projected a carpet for her parlor, such an article being unused through the whole primitive town, where in place of carpet were lumps of wet sand evenly trodden down, and then stroked with a broom into zig-zag lines. So she carded and spun the cotton, hired it woven, cut and sewed it to fit the parlor, stretched and nailed it to the garret floor, and brushed it over with thin paste. Then she sent to her New York brother for oil-paints, learned how to prepare them, from an encyclopedia, and then adorned the carpet with groups of flowers, imitating those in her small yard and garden. In like manner she painted a set of old wooden chairs, adorned them with gilt paper cut * This article, designed for Number Ten, takes the place of article 4 as printed in the Contents. |