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Bible Encyclopedias
Paedagogics
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Gr. παιδαγωγικά , from παῖς, παιδός, a boy, and ἄγειν , to lead, guide; ἀγωγός, leading) is a technical term for the scientific presentation of educational principles, as distinguished from education itself — the latter signifying the application of means by which the mature mind seeks to develop in the immature the formation of an independent character. Pmedagogics, or as it is generally Anglicized Pedagogics, is therefore related to education as theory is to practice. As a science it is, from its very nature, related to philosophy and theology, and we therefore make room here for a brief consideration of it.
Philosophy must rest upon a scientific apprehension of the nature of social life, with its permanent laws and its ideals, and also of the means to be employed that the laws may be fulfilled and the ideals realized — in other words, philosophy must be based on ethics. It follows from this that the most important prerequisite for philosophy is psychology, the science that is specially concerned with the laws of man's spiritual nature; neither philosophy nor psychology may, however, justly disregard the results obtained by scientific inquiry in the department of man's physical nature. The relation of pedagogics to theology rests on the principle that the highest object to be sought in all training of youth is correct moral or, better, religious guidance; for education is not merely the imparting of knowledge and of facility in its use, but, before and above all else, it is the development of conscience — the moral consciousness — and of the sense of responsibility. Now all morality has its ultimate ground in the relation sustained by man to God. Even philosophers, like the sceptic Lotze (comp. Ueberweg, Hist. of Philos. 2, 312-321), concede that the moral life will never find a surer platform nor a superior inspiration than is afforded by the principle of love to God. As this is the very cardinal principle of Christianity, pedagogics must be regarded as entering into vital relations with theological ethics; while catechetical instruction in religion, which constitutes an element of popular education among Christian nations generally, brings it into external connection with practical theology also. Pedagogics, however, is not by any means a mere branch of theological instruction, but rather an independent science, which employs those referred to simply as helps, and, in general, derives its matter from the results obtained in every branch of knowledge.
In pedagogical method, all systems of education admit of substantially the same division into a theoretical part, which treats of the principles of intellectual and moral training, and a practical, which discusses the application of such principles to particular objects. If the history of pedagogics be included, Stoy's division into philosophical, historical, and practical pedagogics may be adopted. The science must, at any rate, first present a history of pedagogics, then lay down its own principles of training, and, finally, show what character the education is to assume in the particular departments of life.
1. The History of Education (see Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturvolker [Leipsic, 1859 ], vol. i). Education, in any proper sense; does not exist among savages. Their life is wholly sensual, and the training they receive accordingly develops only the senses to trustworthiness and keenness, and that merely for the purpose of self-preservation. With nations that have begun to rise above the merely natural state, it consists simply in transmitting what physical skill and intellectual attainments the family or tribe may possess. Among such peoples we may class the negro tribes of Africa, the tribes of South America, and, of the historical peoples, such semi-barbarous nations as the Huns, Mongols, etc. Education in the higher sense is found only among civilized nations, the oldest of which, as is well known, belong to Asia. These manifest in their methods of education the same extraordinary diversities that distinguish the Asiatic nations generally from each other. When our acquaintance with the Chinese begins. their condition is the result of a national development that has progressed through many centuries, and whose internal character is but little known. The absolutism of the state is reflected in the educational system also. Its ideal is the inculcation of reverence for parents and superior authority, and the rod affords the only inducement for application to study for old or young. The Chinese therefore always remain in a state of childhood, despite their continual study and examinations, or, rather, even because of them; and their progress consists merely in their becoming full-grown children (comp. Ed. Biot, Essai sur l'histoire de l'instruction publique, en Chine, etc. [Paris, 1845]; Carriere, Die Affiinge d. Clltur, u. das oriental. Alterthum [Leipsic, 1863]). In India a different system prevails, which is connected with the system of religion, but in a manner quite unlike that which unites education and the wholly external idolatry of the Chinese world. Brahminism and the caste system have a determining influence. The people are educated into submission to the superior or Brahminic caste, as being the highest revelation of the deity unto be lost in which is the religious ideal of Brahminism. The method of instruction is mild; the symbolic language of legends, traditions, and fables affords the means by which a pious abnegation of self towards Brahma and ultimate dissolution in the deity are inculcated. Women are considered incapable of culture, as in China (comp. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde [Bonn, 1847-57]; Dursch, Die alteste praktische Padadogoik d. heidnischen Alterthums. etc. [Tiibingen, 1853]. On the educational ideas of Japan, so very much akin to China, until the reforms of our day by virtue of the American influence on the Japanese, see Johnson's Cyclop. 1, 1485 sq.). In ancient Persia the life of the individual was conditioned by the omnipotence of the state; hence self-assertion and selfdevelopment for the service of the despot, the representative of the state, rather than the annihilation of self and its dissolution in the deity, were the objects sought. Public instruction was therefore in harmony with the pedagogical idea. Women occupied a higher place than in India and China, and received some training in their homes. The Zend-Avesta contains regulations for the training of the priesthood only (comp. Spiegel, Avesta, die heil. Schriften d. Parsen [Leipsic, 1852- 1859]; also Herodotus, i, 132-140; Plato, De Legg. 3, 694; Alcib. 1, 121; Xenophon, Anab. 1, 9, 3; Cyropedia; Strabo, 15:733). Among the later Persians the luxuriousness and weakness of the, nation, as a whole, brought with them a corresponding degeneracy in its education.
We lack definite information with regard to the systems of education among the Shemitic nations of Hither Asia; but the overpowering and almost fiendish influence of their cruel and licentious systems of nature- worship (Baal, Moloch, Astarte, etc.) prevented most of them from ‘ attaining' to a superior social culture. Certain departments of learning were taught, however, as drawing, arithmetic, and astrology, among the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Syrians; and an estimate of the culture of the Phoenicians may be formed from their commercial character. In Egypt all learning and culture was in the hands of the priests, who. maintained schools for the sacerdotal class, to which no: others were admitted, with the exception of such persons from the warrior-class as were heirs to the throne. The common people were educated merely to be expert and extremely exact in the arts of which the caste to which they belonged made use in the prosecution of its particular calling. That the moral element was not overlooked, however, appears from the tribunal for the dead, (See EGYPT), § 12: (See OSIRIS), and from the belief in a purifying transmigration of souls, (See METEMPSYCHOSIS), i.e. a belief in an unending individual life in a sensible form. In later times, when the influence of Greece became powerful in Egypt, education was more generally diffused, and more method was applied to its promotion. Musical culture and a preference for exact studies then prevailed.
The earnestness of former times, however, gave way to frivolity (comp. Diod. 1, 80; Herod. 2, 79, 166; Plato, De Legg. 656 sq.; Bunsen, Aegypten's Stelle in d. Weltgeshichte [Gotha, 1845-56]). In the Hebrew character the religious tendency was especially prominent, and the Hebrew nation was chiefly important as being the people of God. The system of education in vogue aimed, in strict harmony with this idea, to secure the energetic assertion of a nationality whose essence consisted in the principle of faithfulness to the covenant of God. Education was, in short, a corollary of religion, and the teaching was therefore wholly religious, and involved instruction in the law, the customs, and the symbolical observances of the nation, as well as the narration of its history, in illustration of these subjects. This training was committed to the family;' but from the age of twelve years the Jew was admitted to the synagogue, in order to his further advancement, by listening to the reading of the sacred books and their explanation, and by sharing in the religious conversation of the congregation. Women are mentioned as holding public positions among the Jews (Deborah), and as being more respected than was usual among Eastern nations; but the Old Testament contains no trace of special provisions made for the education of females. Of course the Hebrews were a universally educated people, or the parent could not have conducted the intellectual training of his child. Besides, we learn from the sacred Scriptures that they were able to read and write, and had quite a knowledge of astronomy, and consequently of mathematics. Theological schools came into being after the Babylonian captivity (the so called schools of the prophets [q.v.], which flourished in earlier times, are outside of the field covered by the history of general education). Talmudic Judaism provided an organized system of schools for the rabbins. From these were developed real schools of learning, and facilities of a remarkable pedagogical order were afforded by them for the different so-called learned professions, (See SURA), (See PUMBUDITA), etc.
During the Middle Ages such Jewish schools flourished prominently in Spain and France, until the general persecutions inaugurated against them made their maintenance any longer an impossibility. In modern times the culture of the Jews partakes more and more of the character of that which prevails among the civilized nations among whom they live (comp. Worman, Hebrews, their Education in Ancient and Modern Times, in Kidder and Schem's Cyclop. of Education; Palmer, Die Paiidagogik des A.T., 2 Schnidt's Encykl. d. gesammt. Erziehungs- u. Untterrichtswesens [Gotha, 1866]; id. Gesch. der Pidcgogikl, vol. i; Weber and Holtzmann, Gesch. d. Volkes Israel [Leips. 1867], 2, 156 sq.). (See EDUCATION) (HEBREW). The influence of Western nations upon the progress of civilization is of a more recent date, that of the Greeks being first. They held, on the one hand, the conviction that the individual is of no importance in himself, but only as a member of the state; but, on the other hand, they manifested an active spirit that refused to be controlled by nature, seeking rather to subdue it and reduce it to harmony. These characteristics gave shape to education among them, first in the course of practical experiment during many ages, and afterwards as a subject of legislation and philosophy. The political tendency referred to predominated in the systems of the Doric tribes, while the broader recognition of manhood was the leading principle among the lonians. The result was that popular education was more generally diffused among the former; while among the latter (at Athens) it was rather the privilege of the superior class. Slaves, however, were everywhere excluded from the privileges of learning. The Doric system sought to cultivate a manly, independent spirit, that should yet devote itself to the interests of the state. The means employed were gymnastics and music, and, at a later period, reading and writing. Youthful females likewise made use of these, for the cultivation of firmness and love of country. This spirit, ennobled and strengthened by philosophy, appears likewise in the school of Pythagoras, B.C. 569-470. He founded institutions for the purpose of promoting the health and purity of both body and soul. [For his philosophy, (See PYTHAGORAS).] The Ionian system, which made no provision whatever for the education of females, sought to attain καλοκαγαθία, ‘ the beautiful and the good.' The home and public training were complementary of each other; but the influence of the former was not, as a general thing, beneficial, owing to the authority exercised by the nurses and house-slaves (παιδαγωγοί ). The public gymnasia taught reading, penmanship, grammar, arithmetic, music, and gymnastics, to which the use of weapons was afterwards added. The scepticism of the Stoics, and the exalted ideals of social culture entertained by Plato and Aristotle, do not seem to have exercised any important influence over the education of the people generally — which is true of all the various systems of philosophy. The influence of Plato's zealous opposition to the godlessness and licentiousness of the popular religion of the Greeks, however. was felt in the gradual undermining of the latter. Down to the time of Plato the real instructor of the Greeks was Homer; from that period his works were subjected to the process of allegorical interpretation (comp. Hochheimer, System d. griech. Erziehung [Gott. 1785-1788]; Gross, Die Erziehungswissensch. nach d. Grundsitzen d. Gr. u. Romer [Ansbach, 1808]; Jacobs, Erz. d. Hellenen zur Sittlichkeit; Jager, Die Gymnastik d. Fellenen, etc. [Esslingen, 1850]; Krause, Gesch. d. Erz. u. d. Unterrichts bei d. Griechen, Etruskern u. Romern [Halle, 1851]; Kirkpatrick, The University [Lond. 1857, 12mol, p. 93-241; Ohler. Lectures on Education [ibid. 1874, 12mo], p. 4-30). Among the ancient Romans the object of religious and social training, if considered apart from the elements introduced by the Sabine and Etruscan influence, was to fit the people for citizenship. Both domestic and public instruction were employed for this end. Seminaries were provided, though not in considerable number before the period when Grecian culture began to assert its claims; while in the family the influential pedagogues came gradually to occupy the place of the parent. Reading, writing, and the memorizing of authors belonged to the course of study. Rhetorical practice was confined to the philosophical schools, and does not date farther back than the empire. Organized elementary schools became very numerous from that period; new facilities for instruction were added to those already in use; and the higher learning was extended, after the Alexandrian model, to embrace the circle of the artes liberales-grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music. In time a demand for practical schools, of jurisprudence made itself felt; and subsequently (from A.D. 425) the need of schools of medicine, philosophy, grammar, and rhetoric was recognised, giving rise to universities with faculties. Educational theorists were Portius Cato, M. T. Varro, Cicero, Seneca, Tacitus, Quintilian — the professor eloquentice — Plutarch, and also M. Aurelius (comp. Bernhardy, Grundriss d. Riom. Literatu [Halle, 1850]; Lange, Rom. Alterth. [Berlin, 1863]; Niemeyer, Originalstellen der Griech. u. Rom. Classiker iib. d. Theorie d. Erziehung u. des Unterrichts [Halle and Berlin, 1813]).
Christianity has a different ideal in education. Instead of giving a one-sided attention to the intellectual political, and national relations sustained by man, it seeks to cultivate a complete character, that shall be developed in every direction, and that receives its profoundest moral determination from the conscious relation sustained by man towards that God who is revealed in the New Testament. It must be admitted, however, that this ideal was only gradually apprehended by the Christian world. The family was naturally the only school, at first. The Greek Church was the first to provide catechetical schools, of which that at Alexandria from the middle of the 2d century became the most famous. The object of these schools was simply the preparation of adults for baptism, though philosophical questions that had a bearing upon Christianity also received consideration. (See ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOLS).
The Greek schools of philosophy, however (first of all that at Athens, then also that at Alexandria and the academies of the Neo-Platonists), continued to be the chief centres of learning in early Christianity, until, in A.D. 529, Justinian closed the school at Athens. The Alexandrian school had succumbed to the fanaticism of the monks and the hierarchy a century before; and the migrations of the nations rendered a renewal impossible. The clergy, who became the sole depositaries of learning in the West, contented themselves. with merely guarding the treasures that had hitherto been acquired. The scientific impulse which took its rise from Mohammedanism led to the advance of culture, especially in Spain, where important contributions to learning were made by the Saracens and the Jews, more particularly in the field of the exact sciences, but also in natural philosophy and the philosophy of religion. (On the school at Cordova, after the 9th century, translations from Aristotle, etc., comp., among others, Erdmann, Gesch. d. Philosophie, 1, 307 sq.; Lewes, Hist. of Philos. vol. 1; Christian Schools and Scholars to the Council of Trent [Lond. 1867, 2 vols. 8vo], vol. 1.) The churches in Germany at the beginning of the Middle Ages, had only schools for the training of the clergy, with a practical and rather narrow aim. The most conspicuous seat of learning in the early Middle Ages was that of Bede and his followers, at York, dating from the 8th century; but it did not go beyond the purely traditional course of studies, whose sources and authorities were found in Augustine, Cassiodorus, Boethius, and Isidore of Seville, From this school came forth Alcuin (q.v.),one of the principal supporters of learning in the Carlovingian age, who deserves, at the same time, the highest credit for the reform of the cathedral and convent school system, which was carried through by Charlemagne. This reform had, of course, no intention of promoting popular education in the modern sense. Charlemagne, incited thereto by Alcuin, sought first of all to train a cultured clergy that should be able to teach every individual the credo, the pater-noster, and similar things, in the vernacular. The diocese of Orleans alone in those times had incipient schools for the people. A century later Raban Maurus ("primus preceptor Germanise"), the founder of the convent-school at Fulda. conceived the idea of educating the people generally, and in England Alfred the Great sought practically to realize the same end. The increased number of universities led, from the 12th century, to a decline of interest in the cathedral and convent schools; and as early as the time of Innocent III (1198-1216) they had become mere representatives of the illiberal and hierarchical culture of the Church, which the papacy sought, but in vain, to favor at the expense of the more liberal and untrammelled tendencies of the universities. The latter, however, by the opening of the 14th century, experienced the effects of the general decay, which began with the opposition to the papacy of Avignon, and increased as the idea of the state was developed and the cities and commercial interests rose into importance, until, in the 15th century, it produced the overthrow of scholasticism. But a new spirit of inquiry, of independent thought and incipient criticism, that had escaped ecclesiastical control, was already at work, having appeared in connection with the revival of learning that began with Petrarch (1304-1374), and that had, by. the 15th century, aroused a general interest in the study of classical antiquity and of the ancient languages. (See RENAISSANCE).
The beginnings of popular education in the modern sense are to be credited to the "Brothers of the Common Life," who established schools in Holland and along the Rhine in the 15th century. They discarded scholasticism, and devoted their attention to the Scriptures, the study of the fathers (Augustine, St. Bernard, etc.), and the languages, not for the purpose of preparing for an office in the Church, but in order to instruct the people. The earliest representatives of exclusively humanistic. learning were trained in these schools, e.g. Agricola, Al. Hegius, and Spiegelberg. These were soon followed by other humanists, whose circles extended over all Germany (Busch, J. Wessel, Wesel, Conrad Celtes, Mutian, Rufus, etc.; compare Voigt, Die Wiederherstellung der Wissenschaften [1861]). Reuchlin and Erasmus were influential in promoting the study of languages, the former devoting himself more especially to the Hebrew, the latter to the Greek. Schools for such advanced studies were, however, established only in the larger and more favored towns; and the great majority of towns, as well as the entire open country, was without facilities for education, excepting those afforded by the discouraging labors of strolling scholars (comp. Raumer, Gesch. d. Padagogik, vol. 1. On education generally in the Middle Ages, consult Ruhkopf. Gesch. d. Schul u. Erziehungswesens in Deutschland [Bremen, 1794], vol. 1; Hahn, Das Unterrichtswesen in Frankrseich [Breslau, 1848]; and Christian Schools and Scholars, already referred to).
Luther, with his profound sense of what the people needed, was the first to raise the school for the people to the position of a national institution, and thereby to become the founder of the common-school system of Germany (comp. his excellent address to the German nobility in 1520. Schrift an die Rathsherren aller Stidte Deutschl., etc. [1524]; and the art. (See PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS).
He demanded that the people should receive instruction, not only in the family, but also in the school; that the children of citizens should be compelled to attend the schools, and that the town- schools should give special attention to the study of Latin, while music and physical training should not be neglected. Melancthon and the other leading Reformers of the 16th century seconded his efforts. Bugenhagen, Brenz, Zwingli, and Calvin all gave attention to this work (comp. Schenk, Joh. Calvin in seiner padagog. Wirksamkeit [1864]). Many practical difficulties arose, of course, especially in North Germany, and only the mere beginnings of a school system could be realized. The dogmatic disputes of the 16th and the miseries of the 17th century followed, and prevented any further development (Schenkel, Allgem. kirchl. Zeitschr. [1863]). The superior schools were conducted in the humanistic spirit, the most important services in this direction being rendered in Strasburg by Joh. Sturm, who was the leading schoolman of his time. The schools of the Jesuits, which controlled the education of the 17th century, had only the appearance of scientific institutions, whose sole object was to bind thought to an authoritative formalism: by means of the Latin language, and at the same time to strengthen the Romish element (comp. Weicker, D. Schulwesen d. Jesuiten nach d. Ordensgesetzen dar;qestellt [Halle, 1863]). The empiricism which Bacon introduced into philosophy gradually asserted itself in the sphere of pedagogics also. Michael Montaigne (1533-1592) demanded first of all a knowledge of the world; W. Ratich, of Holstein (1571-1635), became a fanatical exponent of the Baconian ideas; and John Amos Comenius (1592-1671), bishop of the Bohemian Brethren, applied them in a more considerate and commendable way, among Roman Catholics, but little was done for education at this time. The only name we can mention is that of Carlo Borromeo (1538-1584), archbishop of Milan. Nor was anything of importance accomplished within that Church during the century that followed the peace of Westphalia. The reformatory efforts in this direction — by the Jansenists, the Port-Royalists, the Fathers of the Oratory, and Fenelon, who wrote, among other subjects of this nature, on the education of females were all directed against the Jesuits.
A renewed interest in Germany for popular education was produced by the pietism of Spener and Aug. Herm. Francke (1663-1727), the latter of whom, especially, aimed. to develop the man into the Christian (comp. reports of the Pedagogium, Latin School, and School for German Citizens in the Orphan House at Halle). The Moravians are especially prominent as pedagogical missionaries. The revolution in pedagogics, which had resulted in a direct contrast to all former, and especially all churchly, systems of education, is illustrated in the theories of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712- 1778). His principle of a "return to nature" involved, as the ideal to be sought in education, the complete unfolding of the natural man; and it suggested, as the means to this end, the isolation of the individual, his separation from a world that is ruined by culture (comp. his Contrat Social; Emile: La Nouvelle Heloise; also the biography by Venedey [Berlin, 1850] and by Morley [Lond. and N.Y., 1874, 2 vols. 8vo]). The first of the so-called Realschulen was founded at this time (1739) by Semler (q.v.) at Halle, and others rapidly followed. Their founders had been pupils of Francke, and the influence of these men saved the schools from Rousseau's enthusiasm for the natural man. Basedow (1723-1790), however, was seized by it, and developed it into an external utilitarianism, which he sought to reduce to practice in the Philanthropinum at Dessau (1774). He held that the promotion of the physical well-being and the enlightening of the understanding are infallible means for developing children "into Europeans who shall be harmless, valuable to the community, and contented." The institutions founded by Bahrdt served merely to caricature the utilitarian tendency; but the writings of Campe, Salzmann, and others show the real service Basedow rendered in: directing attention to the study of the physical sciences (geography; natural philosophy, etc.). The false prevalent cosmopolitanism, the inclination to give attention solely to immediate practical wants and the vapid philosophies, indicate clearly the faults of this realistic theory of pedagogics; but it must be credited with having exerted a vast influence over the education of the world.
The latest aera in the history of pedagogics begins at the opening of our own century with Pestalozzi (q.v.), who advocated the idea that the people should be educated on the method that is implanted in human nature, according to which education must begin with immediate study of the object, and proceed from this starting-point to the development of the various intellectual and physical powers. This is still the determining idea in modern education; but Pestalozzi himself, who, while filled with love for the people, was yet a thoroughly unpractical man, could only seek its realization, but not attain it. It was taken up by others, however, and applied to the work of education in, the most diversified forms. It finds expression in the form of schools for the indigent, of institutions for the blind and deaf-mutes, of houses of refuge, of orphan asylums, etc.
The prevalent theories of education were, of course, not without influence upon the philosophical and ethical views of the great poets, and especially the philosophers. The influence of Kant, with his "categorical imperative" (the good is to be sought for its own sake), was especially powerful in the field of ethics. Fichte declared that the individual must be trained to become a useful member of society (for his views on public education, comp. his: Reden a. d. deutsche Nation); Schelling maintained (Vorlesungen uber d. akadem. Studium) that the great object sought in teaching should be to bring the individual into right relations to the human race and the divine law, so that the latter may be actualized in him; Hegel held that the moral character of the individual is to be developed by leading him to disregard the particular, and causing him to give attention and effort to the promotion of the general good (comp. Thaulow, Hegels Ansichten iib. Erziehung u. Unterricht [Kiel, 1854]); and Schleiermacher taught that the individuality of each person must be developed, that he may be fitted to fill his proper place, as a member of the whole, in the family, Church, and State (comp. Hagenbach, Ch. Hist. of the 18th and 19th Centuries, ii, 145 sq.; Hurst, Hist. of Rationalism, p. 184 sq.). An attempt to lay a psychological sub-basis for modern education has been made by Johann Friedrich Herbart (each soul a monad and unchangeable; the educator merely changes its conditions), and by Zeller, Waltz, and Stoy, who teach the analogous doctrine that each pupil is to be regarded simply as an individual. Friedr. W. Beneke (Erziehungs u. Unterrichtslehre [Berl. 1835- 36, 2 vols. 8vo; 2d ed. 1842]), conceiving of psychology as a natural science, seeks to frame a methodology of the physical sensations, upon which to ground a system of education. Niemeyer, and especially Diesterweg, have also rendered meritorious service in this department. The latter has now many adherents, and they regard as the aim (Ziel) of pedagogics, development of man for self-activity in the interests of the true, the good, and the beautiful.
In England there are several prominent thinkers of our century who have earnestly labored to propagate ideas akin to the German. Oftentimes they have risen to a nobler ambition, and have striven for a union of the Church and the School, recognising the impossibility of training the head without the heart, and yet appreciating the unfitness of the secular teacher for the cultivation of man's emotional nature. Lord Brougham and Dr. Matthew Arnold were especially active in causing the English people to take hold of this idea, and they succeeded so well that it became the common language of all those who deemed that the frame and temper of society needed an extensive renovation, and that this renovation must begin with the young. The presumptuous turn of mind, the reliance on intellectual ability, supposed to result from instruction addressing itself to the intellect alone, were to be corrected by a strong diversion in favor of a more subjective course of study. The student was to be imbued with principles and tastes rather than positive acquirements. The main object of the instructor was to be the formation of moral character by habit, not the imparting of what is commonly called learning. Nay, much was to be unlearned — much rubbish taken down before men could begin afresh on the old foundations — much of the sciolism of recent centuries removed; natural science and literary acquirement were to be brought down from that undue exaltation to which they had been raised in modern times by generations wanting in the habits of reverence and earnestness of feeling Catholic (i.e. Protestant, of course) theology and moral philosophy, "in accordance with catholic doctrine, were to be the main foundation of the improved education of these newer days; science and literature were not, indeed, to be neglected, but to be cultivated in subordination only to these great architectonic sciences, and discarded wherever they could not be forced into subjection. Thus anew generation was to be trained in which inferiority in respect to mere objective knowledge, if such should really ensue, was to be far more than compensated by the higher cultivation of the immortal part, the nobler discipline of piety and obedience. Such aspirations may be traced in most of the many writings on the university system which the crisis near the beginning of the second quarter of this century (about 1833) brought out; while those who are acquainted with the practical details of the subject know full well how deep a picture has been introduced into the actual studies and habits of both universities, but especially of that of Oxford, by the prevalence of views such as these, expressed by energetic men, in language at once startling and attractive.
In the United States, men of intellectual ability have worked for the general diffusion of knowledge through a common-school system, but there has never been any pronounced effort for the training of the young-religiously. Indeed, in our day the cry is for mental development independent of spiritual care; and while in rationalistic Germany there is provision for the religious training of every youth up to the highest class in the gymnasia, where the pupils are often over twenty years of age, in this country there is no public provision for the moral or religious training of the child. Diesterweg's notion (see above) is gradually coming to prevail. In our higher schools, i.e. the colleges and seminaries, in so far as they are under denominational control, ample provision for religious training now exists; but should the state-college idea continue to grow in favor, the time may come when the Sabbath-school will afford the only opportunity for the religious training of coming American generations. True, chancellor Kent (Commentaries, 2, 187 sq.) has laid down the maxim that under our form of government the parent should be held responsible for the moral training of the child; but the chancellor ignored the fact that we are largely a floating population, constantly amalgamating with different races of different educational grades and various religious notions, and that in a republic which acknowledges the Christian civilization as its guide and base. the state should so educate the coming citizen that he' may rot only be able to interpret the law and have a head to understand, but a heart to cherish and observe it.
2. The second part of pedagogical science relates to the development of a system of education, on the basis of the foregoing history. Its first duty would be, perhaps, to describe the end sought, which must be the cultivation of the ethical principle, after which attention must be given to the subject who is to be trained — the pupil; and, finally, it must indicate the means by which the desired end may be attained. Without entering on the details of modern systems of pedagogics, it may be said, that the result of all recent discussions has been to demonstrate that the general training in schools should not aim at a direct preparation for practical life, but, in its intellectual aspects, should rather seek to lay a broad foundation of general culture upon which may afterwards be based the training required for any particular calling in life; and, further, that the grand object should be the harmonious development of the whole man, particularly in point of character and manly independence, This conclusion demonstrates that the victory of the opponents of all religious instruction in secular school can only be secured at the expense of morality and general culture.
3. The third part of this science has to deal with the relations of education to the constitution of society — in other words, it must treat of the organization of education and its relation to the other organizations of the country, both secular and ecclesiastical. It would lead us beyond the scope of this work to enter into the details of this branch of the subject. The outline of the discussion, however, is suggested by the above historical review, and many points will be found touched upon in various appropriate articles elsewhere given.
Literature. — On the history of education we mention, besides the works already referred to, Mangelsdorf, Fers. einer Darstell. dessen was seit Jahrhunderten in Betreff d. Erziehunqgswesens gesagt u. gethan worden ist (Leipsic, 1779); Werhof, Polyhistor (Lubeck, 1732); Schwarz,. Gesch. d. Erz. n. ihrenz Zusammenhange unter d. Volkern, von alien Zeiten bis anzf d. neueste (Leips. 1813, 1829). the first attempt at a complete review of the entire subject; Niemeyer, Ueberblick d. all. Gesch. d. Erz. (Halle, 1824, 2d ed.); Pustkuchen-Glanzow, Kurzgefasste Gesch. d. Padagogik (Rinteln, 1830); Cramer, Gesch. d. Erz. u.d. Unterrichts (Elberfeld, 1832, 1838); V. Raumer, Gesch. d. Paddgogik (Stuttgard, 1861, 4 vols.); Anhalt, Gesch. d. Erziehungswesens, etc. (Jena, 1846); Wohlfahrt, Gesch. d. gessammten Erz. u. Unterrichtswesens (Quedlinburg and Leipsic 1853, 1855); Schmidt, Gesch. d. Pidagogik (2d ed. Kothen, 1868-70, 4 vols. 8vo); Palmer, — Evangelische Padagogik (4th ed. Stuttg. 1869, 8vo); Baur, Grundziige d. Erziehunngslehre (2d ed. Giessen, 1849); Stoy, Encykl. Methodologie, u. Literatur d. Padagogik (Leips. 1861); Schmidt, Encykl. d. gesammt. Erziehunsqswesens, etc. (Gotha, 1859, etc., 5 vols. 8vo).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Paedagogics'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/paedagogics.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
