Desiderius Erasmus was a great scholar and educator, and his influence was felt all over Europe. His strong personality earned him the respect and sympathy of humanists who saw in him, as in few others, the symbol of their ideals and values. Unfortunately, his proposals for reform and greater tolerance were not always accepted in the tortured Europe of the 16th century.
Erasmus was a prolific writer, and part of his work was concerned with education: De ratione studii (1511; “On the Right Method of Study”), De civilitate morum puerilium (1526; “On the Politeness of Children’s Manners”), Ciceronianus (1528), De pueris statim ac liberaliter instituendis (1529; “On the Liberal Education of Boys from the Beginning”). His educational program was original in many ways but in no sense democratic. The masses could not partake in higher education, since their aim was that of gaining skill in an occupation. He felt that religious instruction should be made available to all but that Classical literary studies—the most important of all studies—were for a minority.
Study of ancient languages and intelligent comprehension of texts formed the basis of Erasmus’ system of education; he took a stand against the formalism and dogmatism that were already creeping into the humanist movement. Erasmus was in favour of acquiring a good general liberal arts education until the age of 18, being convinced that this would be a preparation for any form of further study. His great love for the Classical languages, however, made him neglect the vernacular; he was not interested in local traditions; and he attributed very little importance to science, which he did not think necessary for a cultured man. He was against instruction being imposed without the participation of the student. His optimism about the nature of man and the possibilities of molding him made Erasmus feel that, if adequately educated, any man could learn any discipline. He further sought renewal of the schools and better training for teachers, which he felt should be a public obligation, certainly no less important than military defense. Many of Erasmus’ themes were elaborated a century later by John Amos Comenius and form the basis of modern education, in particular the effort to understand the child psychologically and to consider education as a process that starts before the school experience and continues beyond it. Juan Luis Vives
Strongly influenced by Erasmus was Juan Luis Vives, who, though of Spanish origin, spent his life in various parts of Europe—Paris, Louvain, Oxford, London, Bruges. His most significant writings were De institutione foeminae Christianae (1523; “On the Education of a Christian Woman”), De ratione studii puerilis (“On the Right Method of Instruction for Children”), De subventione pauperum (1526; “On Aid for the Poor”), and De tradendis disciplinis (1531; “On the Subjects of Study”).
Juan Luis Vives, engraving by Jean-Jacques Boissard from Icones quinquaginta, 1597Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum; photograph, J.R. Freeman & Co. Ltd.
Not only was his vision of the organic unity of pedagogy new, but he was the first of the humanists to emphasize the importance of popular education. He felt that it was the responsibility of the city to provide instruction for the poor and that the craft and merchant guilds had an important contribution to make to education. Unlike other humanists, moreover, he did not despise the utilitarian aspects of education but, on the contrary, suggested that his pupils should visit shops and workshops and go out into the country to learn something of real life. Just as he felt that education should not be limited to a single social class, so he felt that there should be no exclusion of women, though perhaps they required a different kind of education because of their different functions in life.
Vives worked out a plan to take account of both educational structures and teacher training. In emphasizing the social function of education, he was against schools being run for profit and believed teachers should be prepared not only in their specific fields but also in psychology, so as to understand the child. He also suggested that teachers should meet four times a year to examine together the intellectual capacities of each one of their pupils so that suitable programs of study could be arranged for them. Vives considered that, in teaching, games had psychological value. He favoured use of the vernacular for the first stage of education; but, as a humanist, he had a passion for Latin and felt that there was no substitute for Latin as a universal language. Classical studies were to be completed by investigation of the modern world, in particular its geography, the horizons having been greatly enlarged by recent discoveries. Vives’s method was an inductive one, based not on metaphysical theories but on experiment and exercise. The early English humanists
At the end of the 15th century, there was a flowering in England of both humanistic studies and educational institutions, enabling a rapid transition from the medieval tradition to the Renaissance. The English humanists prepared excellent texts for studying the Classical languages, and they started a new type of grammar school, long to be a model. Most important were John Colet and Thomas More. Thomas Linacre, author of De emendata structura Latini sermonis libri sex (1524; “Six Books on the Flawless Structure of the Latin Language”), should also be remembered, as well as William Lily, author of a Latin syntax, Absolutissimus de octo orationis partium constructione libellus (1515; “Comprehensive Study of the Construction of the Eight Parts of Speech”), and director of St. Paul’s School in London from 1512 to 1522.
Colet has an important place in English education. As dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, he founded St. Paul’s School, thus favouring the introduction of humanism in England and the transformation of the old ecclesiastical medieval schools. He had traveled a great deal in France and Italy and wanted to bring to his country the humanistic culture that had so fascinated him. In 1510 he started a “grammar school,” open to about 150 scholars who had an aptitude for study and had completed elementary school. Colet’s personality and energy made his school a lively centre of English humanism.
More was both a distinguished humanist and a statesman. He was interested in pedagogy, to which he dedicated part of his work Utopia (1516). In his Utopia, More saw the connection between educational, social, and political problems and the influence that society therefore has on education. English humanists such as More were engaged in a bitter battle because medieval tradition was deeply rooted; they were fierce opponents of a group called the Trojans, who opposed the Greek language and all that the new instruction of that language represented. Education in the Reformation and Counter-Reformation
New political and social systems developed in those European countries that, for various reasons and at different times, broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. The religious reforms brought about by Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and the ruling family of England were both cause and effect of these transformations. Characteristic of all these countries was the importance of the state in the organization of the educational system.
Martin Luther, oil on panel by Lucas Cranach, 1529; in the Uffizi, Florence.Photos.com/Thinkstock
The Reformation and European humanism influenced one another. There were analogies between the flowering of the Classical world in the European courts and the reawakening of religious interests; there were similarities in the critical position adopted toward Aristotelianism and in the interest shown toward the study of Classical languages, such as Greek and Hebrew. The presuppositions behind the two movements—humanism and Reformation—were different, however, and sooner or later a clash was inevitable. The most spectacular of these clashes was between Erasmus and Luther, despite the fact that for a long time they had respected each other. It was important for Erasmus and for the humanists to encourage the development of a world of writers and artists who, free from material preoccupations, could devote their time to literary and artistic pursuits. For the reformers, the situation was different: they did not aim to educate a small minority; unlike Erasmus, Luther had to keep the masses in mind, for they had contributed to the success of the religious reforms. Luther and the German Reformation