lead to serious things. Thus would be fulfilled Luther’s wish that the studies of the young at school could be so organised that the scholars might take as much pleasure in them as in playing at ball all day, and thus for the first time would schools be a real prelude to practical life.
Seventh Problem
How are the subjects of study to be progressively graded?
50. How this can be done, we have seen in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Principles of the 16th chapter, and in the 5th, 6th and 7th Principles of the 18th chapter. The important point is that suitable books should be written for the classical schools, and that these should embody hints to the teacher for their proper use, so that learning, morality, and piety may be led from one stage to another until they reach the highest.
Eighth Problem
Of the removal and avoidance of obstructions.
51. Truly has it been said, that nothing is more useless than to learn and to know much, if such knowledge be of no avail for practical purposes; and again, that not he who knows much is wise, but he who knows what is useful. The task of schools will therefore be rendered easier if the subjects taught be curtailed. This can be done if omission be made
(iii)(i) Of all unnecessary matter.
(iii)(ii) Of all unsuitable matter.
(iii) Of all minute detail.
52. Anything is unnecessary that is productive neither of piety nor of morality, and that is not essential for the cultivation of the mind. Such are the names of heathen deities, the myths connected with them, and the religious observances of the ancients, as well as the productions of scurrilous and indecent poets and dramatists. It may occasionally be necessary for the individual to read these things in private, but in the schools, where the founda-
