The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius/The Great Didactic/Chapter 29
CHAPTER XXIX
SKETCH OF THE VERNACULAR-SCHOOL
1. In chap. ix. I demonstrated that all the young of both sexes should be sent to the public schools, I now add that they should first be sent to the Vernacular-School. Some writers hold the contrary opinion. Zepper39 (Pol. bk. i. ch. 7) and Alsted40 (Scholastic, ch. 6) would persuade us that only those boys and girls who are destined for manual labour should be sent to the Vernacular-School, while boys whose parents wish them to receive a higher education should be sent straight to the Latin-School. Moreover, Alsted adds: “Some will doubtless disagree with me, but the system that I propose is the one which I would wish adopted by those whose educational interests I have most at heart.” From this view my whole didactic system forces me to dissent.
2. (i) The education that I propose includes all that is proper for a man, and is one in which all men who are born into this world should share. All therefore, as far as is possible, should be educated together, that they may stimulate and urge on one another.
(ii) We wish all men to be trained in all the virtues, especially in modesty, sociability, and politeness, and it is therefore undesirable to create class distinctions at such an early age, or to give some children the opportunity of considering their own lot with satisfaction and that of others with scorn.
(iii) When boys are only six years old, it is too early to determine their vocation in life, or whether they are more suited for learning or for manual labour. At this age, neither the mind nor the inclinations are sufficiently developed, while, later on, it will be easy to form a sound opinion on both. In the same way, while plants are quite small, a gardener cannot tell which to hoe up and which to leave, but has to wait until they are more advanced. Nor should admission to the Latin-School be reserved for the sons of rich men, nobles, and magistrates, as if these were the only boys who would ever be able fill similar positions. The wind blows where it will, and does not always begin to blow at a fixed time.
3. (iv) The next reason is that my universal method has not as its sole object the Latin language, that nymph on whom such unbounded admiration is generally wasted, but seeks a way by which each modern language may be taught as well (that every spirit may praise the Lord more and more). This design should not be frustrated by the complete and arbitrary omission of the Vernacular-School.
4. (v) To attempt to teach a foreign language before the mother-tongue has been learned is as irrational as to teach a boy to ride before he can walk. To proceed step by step is of great importance, as we have seen in chap. xvi. Principle 4. Cicero declared that he could not teach elocution to those who were unable to speak, and, in the same way, my method confesses its inability to teach Latin to those who are ignorant of their mother-tongue, since the one paves the way for the other.
5. (vi) Finally, what I have in view is an education in the objects that surround us, and a brief survey of this education can be best obtained from books written in the mother-tongue, which embody a list of the things that exist in the external world. This preliminary survey will render the acquisition of Latin far easier, for it will only be necessary to adapt a new nomenclature to objects that are already known; while to the knowledge of actual facts may be added by degrees that of the causes which underlie those facts.
6. Proceeding, therefore, on the basis of my fourfold division of schools, we may define the Vernacular-School as follows. The aim and object of the Vernacular-School should be to teach to all the young, between the ages of six and twelve, such things as will be of use to them throughout their whole lives. That is to say:
(i) To read with ease both print and writing in their mother-tongue.
(ii) To write, first with accuracy, then with speed, and finally with confidence, in accordance with the grammatical rules of the mother-tongue. These rules should be written in a popular form, and the boys should be exercised in them.
(iii) To count, with ciphers and with counters, as far as is necessary for practical purposes.
(iv) To measure spaces, such as length, breadth, and distance, with skill.
(v) To sing well-known melodies, and, in the case of those who display especial aptitude, to learn the elements of advanced music.
(vi) To learn by heart the greater number of the psalms and hymns that are used in the country. For, if brought up in the praise of God, they will be able (as the Apostle says) to exhort one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing to God from their hearts.
(vii) Besides the Catechism they should know the most important stories and verses in the Bible, and should be able to repeat them word for word.
(viii) They should learn the principles of morality, which should be drawn up in the shape of rules and accompanied by illustrations suitable to the age and understanding of the pupils. They should also begin to put these principles into practice.
(ix) They should learn as much economics and politics as is necessary to enable them to understand what they see daily at home and in the state.
(x) They should also learn the general history of the world; its creation, its fall, its redemption, and its preservation by God up to the present day.
(xi) In addition, they should learn the most important facts of cosmography, such as the spherical shape of the heavens, the globular shape of the earth suspended in their midst, the tides of the ocean, the shapes of seas, the courses of rivers, the principal divisions of the earth, and the chief kingdoms of Europe; but, in particular, the cities, mountains, rivers, and other remarkable features of their own country.
(xii) Finally, they should learn the most important principles of the mechanical arts, both that they may not be too ignorant of what goes on in the world around them, and that any special inclination towards things of this kind may assert itself with greater ease later on.
7. If all these subjects have been skilfully handled in the Vernacular-School, the result will be that those youths who begin the study of Latin or who enter on agriculture, trade, or professional life will encounter nothing which is absolutely new to them; while the details of their trades, the words that they hear in church, and the information that they acquire from books, will be to them nothing but the more detailed exposition or the more particular application of facts with which they are already acquainted. They will thus find themselves all the fitter to use their understanding, their powers of action, and their judgment.
8. To attain this result we employ the following means:—
(i) All the children in the Vernacular-School, who are destined to spend six years there, should be divided into six classes, each of which, if possible, should have a classroom to itself, that it may not hinder the others.
(ii) Specially prepared books should be supplied to each class, and these should contain the whole subject-matter of the literary, moral, and religious instruction prescribed for the class. Within these limits no other books should be needed, and, by their aid, the desired result should infallibly be obtained. They should embody a complete grammar of the mother-tongue, in which should be comprised the names of all the objects that children of this age can understand, as well as a selection of the most common phrases in use.
9. These class-books should be six in number, corresponding to the number of the classes, and should differ, not in their subject-matter, but in their way of presenting it. Each should embrace all the above-mentioned subjects; but the earlier ones should treat of them in a general manner, choosing their better known and easier features; while those which come later should draw attention to the less known and more complex details, or should point out some fresh way of treating the subject, and thus excite interest and attention. The truth of this will soon be evident.
10. Care must be taken to suit all these books to the children for whom they are intended; for children like whimsicality and humour, and detest pedantry and severity. Instruction, therefore, should ever be combined with amusement, that they may take pleasure in learning serious things which will be of genuine use to them later on, and that their dispositions may be, as it were, perpetually enticed to develope in the manner desired.
11. The titles of these books should be of such a kind as to please and attract the young, and should at the same time express the nature of their contents. Suitable names might be borrowed from the nomenclature of a garden, that sweetest possession of youth. Thus, if the whole school be compared to a garden, the book of the lowest class might be called the violet-bed, that of the second class the rose-bed, that of the third the grass-plot, and so on.
12. Of the matter and form of these books I will speak in greater detail elsewhere. I will only add that, as they are written in the mother-tongue, the technical terms of the arts should also be expressed in the vernacular, and not in Latin or Greek. For (1) we wish the young to make progress with as little delay as possible. Now foreign terms must necessarily be explained before they are understood, and, even when explained, are not properly understood, but are thought to have no meaning apart from their technical signification. In addition, they are difficult to remember. On the other hand, if the vernacular terms are used, it is only necessary to point out the object designated by each term. In this way we wish to remove all delays and difficulties from the path of this elementary instruction. (2) Besides this, we wish to cultivate and improve the vernacular languages, and this is to be one, not by imitating the French, who incorporate Greek and Latin words that the people cannot understand (for which practice Stevin blames them), but by expressing our meaning in terms which can be understood by everybody. Stevin41 gave the same advice to the Belgians (Geog. bk. i.), and carried it into effect in his work on mathematics.
13. But it may be objected that all languages are not rich enough to supply suitable equivalents for Greek and Latin terms; that even if this were done, the learned would not relinquish their use; and, lastly, that those boys who are going to learn Latin had better begin at this stage, and so avoid the necessity of learning fresh technical terms later on.
14. I reply: If any language be obscure, or insufficient to express necessary ideas, this is the fault, not of the language, but of those who use it. The Romans and Greeks had originally to form the words that are now in use, and these words seemed so obscure and so rude that their authors were uncertain if they could ever serve as a vehicle for thought. But now that they are universally accepted they prove sufficiently expressive. As an illustration of what I mean, take the terms “essence,” “substance,” “accident,” “quality,” “quantity,” etc. No language, therefore, need lack words unless men lack industry.
15. As for the second objection; let the learned retain their own terms. We are now seeking a way by which the common people may be led to understand and take an interest in the liberal arts and sciences; and with this end in view we must not speak in a language that is foreign to them, and that is in itself artificial.
16. And lastly, those boys who have to learn Latin later on will find it no disadvantage to know the technical terms in their mother-tongue, nor will it prove any hindrance to them that they praised God in their own language before doing so in Latin.
17. The third requisite is an easy method of introducing these books to the young, and of this we will give a brief sketch in the following rules:
(i) The class lessons should not exceed four daily, of which two should be before mid-day, and two after. The remaining hours of the day may profitably be spent in domestic work (especially among the poor), or in some form of recreation.
(ii) The morning should be devoted to the exercise of the intellect and the memory, the afternoon to that of the hand and the voice.
(iii) In the morning the master shall read over the lesson for the hour several times, while the whole class attends, and shall explain anything that needs explanation in simple language, and in such a way that it cannot but be understood. He shall then bid the boys read it in turn, and while one reads it in a clear voice the rest should attend and follow in their books. If this be continued for half an hour, or longer, the clever boys and at last even the stupid ones will try to repeat by heart what they have just read. For the tasks that are set must be short; not too long for an hour’s lesson, or too hard for the boys to understand.
(iv) No fresh work should be done in the afternoon, but the lessons done in the morning should be repeated. The pupils should transcribe portions of their printed books, and should compete with one another to see who can best remember the morning’s lesson, or who is most proficient in writing, in singing, or in counting.
18. Not without reason do we recommend that all the pupils copy their printed books as neatly as they can. (1) The manual exercise of copying will help to impress on their minds the matter copied. (2) If the practice be made a daily one, it will teach them to write well, quickly, and accurately, and this will be of the greatest use in the further prosecution of their studies, and in conducting the affairs of life. (3) This will be the surest proof to parents that their children are not wasting their time at school, and will enable them to judge how much progress they are making.
19. We have no space to go into further particulars at present, and will only touch on one more point. If any boys are to learn foreign languages, they should learn them now, at about the age of ten, eleven, or twelve, that is to say, between the Vernacular-School and the Latin-School. The best way is to send them to the place where the language that they wish to learn is spoken, and in the new language to make them read, write, and learn the class-books of the Vernacular-School (the subject-matter of which is already familiar to them).