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ing the children according to their capacity, and having those in each grade use the same book and follow the same lesson under a single master, instead of instructing each pupil individually, as was generally the custom then. Likewise, the seminaries or training schools of the Christian Brothers contributed much to the advancement of efficiency in teaching. For the first time teachers Training of of ability and training were made possible for the elementary schools.

teachers.

Influence of the Schools of the Christian Brothers.The work of the Christian Brothers has met with steady growth and development. By the time of La Salle's death (1719), there had come to be twenty-seven houses Spread of the order, with two hundred and seventy-four brothers, educating about nine thousand pupils. Before the close of the century these numbers had about quadrupled, and now they have increased nearly a hundredfold since the founder's day. During the nineteenth century these institutions were established in all the states of Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, and America. The educational system has been much modified and expanded, and now includes colleges, technical and industrial schools, academies and high schools, elementary and grammar schools, and expansion commercial schools, asylums, and protectories. Thus La Salle and his schools of the Christian Brothers have performed a great service for education in all lines, but especially in the promotion and enrichment of elementary training, which had previously been so neglected.

Aim and Content of Education in the Reformation.It can now be seen that, as a result of the Reformation, the religious and theological aim of education at all theological.

Religious and

Coöperation

with civil officials.

Germany,

stages became very prominent with Catholics and Protestants alike. In the elementary schools, beside the rudiments, the Scriptures, the Lord's prayer, the ten commandments, and the Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, or Anglican creed and catechism were taught, and, with the Protestants, also the hymns of the church. The courses in the secondary schools and universities contained large religious elements, as well as the formal humanism into which the Renaissance of the North had degenerated. Likewise, there was furnished in all universities a training in dialectic, rhetoric, and theology for the sake of efficient controversy with ecclesiastical opponents.

Effect of the Reformation upon Elementary Schools.But while the Catholics were inclined to leave the organization of education in the hands of various religious bodies, the Protestants more often thought it wise to have its support and control administered by the princes and the state. Owing to this secular management and their position on universal education, the Protestants, with the exception of the Anglicans, who had altered but little in doctrine, were inclined to establish state school systems and hold to the duty of providing and requiring elementary education at public expense. In this way the germs of the modern tendency toward universal, free, and compulsory education began to appear, although they did not ripen until much later.

In the German states there were many illustrations of the spread of elementary education and civic control. As an immediate result of Luther's Letter to the Mayors in 1524, the city of Magdeburg united its parish schools under one management and adopted the Protestant

ideals. So, in 1525, the school at Eisleben, organized upon a Protestant basis (see p. 128), included elementary as well as secondary work. Similar ideals and organization appear in the provision for 'German' schools in the 'Church orders' sent out by Bugenhagen (see pp. 128 f.) to the Protestant cities and states of Northern Germany. A further step was taken in 1528 when Melanchthon drew up a plan for schools throughout the entire Electorate of Saxony. This, the first state school system in history, was followed by one in Würtemberg, where in 1559 Duke Christopher adopted an improvement upon the Saxon plan, which called for a religious and elementary training for the children of the common people in every village of the duchy. Brunswick in 1569, and Saxony in 1580, followed the lead of Würtemberg in revising their school systems. Before the middle of the next century, a number of other states of Germany, such as Weimar, Hessen-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg, Holstein, Hessen-Cassel, and Gotha modeled elementary school systems after those of Saxony and Würtemberg. While the Catholics did not in general maintain public elementary education, the Christian Brothers and others undertook a great work in this direction, and Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria even ordered throughout his state the establishment of 'German' schools with instruction in reading, writing, and the Catholic creed. This organization of universal education continued its advance, despite the decimation and the general havoc upon finance and education wrought by the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), and by the end of the eighteenth\ century practically every village throughout the German states had its Volksschule or 'people's school.' These

Holland,

Scotland,

institutions were under the direction of the pastor of each parish, and while actual conditions may often have been somewhat below the statutory level and in many cases were a wretched apology, every child not studying at a secondary school was in theory obliged, between the ages of six and thirteen, to attend one of these schools of the people (Fig. 20).

As a result of the Dutch Reformed movement, Holland also made early provision for instruction in religion, reading, and writing. The Church at various synods, and civic authorities in many statutes, recognized the need of universal training, and finally the great Synod of Dort, by a combination with the civil government, in 1618 required every parish to furnish elementary education for all. Similarly, through Knox, Scotland established elementary schools under the control of the parishes. Preliminary steps in this direction were taken by the Privy Council and the Scotch Parliament early in the seventeenth century, and in 1646 the parliament further enacted that there be "a Schoole founded, and a Schoole master appointed in every Parish," and provided that if a parish should fail in this duty, the presbytery should have power to establish the school and compel the parish to maintain it. Half a century later this school system was given over more fully to the control of the State, but even then much of the old connection with the Church was apparent. These schools gave instruction in reading, writing, and religion, with the Bible as text, and have done a wonderful work in raising the level of intelligence and affording an opportunity to the children of the lower classes in Scotland. England herself continued to hold to aristocratic and 'selective'

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Fig. 20.-A Protestant school in a German village of the sixteenth century. (Visit of the school committee and catechising by the pastor.)

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