The Educational Writings of Richard MulcasterMulcaster, Richard
History
The Educational Writings of Richard Mulcaster
Mulcaster, Richard
Education -- History
I turn to the question whether it is better for a child to board
with his master or elsewhere, or to come from home daily to school.
If the place where the parents dwell be near the school, or only
so far off that the very walk may be for the boy’s health, and if
the parent himself be careful and wise to be as good a furtherer
in the training of his own child as he is a father to its being,
then certainly the parent’s home is much better, if for nothing
else, yet because the parent can more easily at all times look
after the interests of his own, having only one or a few, than the
schoolmaster can after his ordinary duties are over, especially as
he will have to divide his attention among many. Further, all the
considerations which persuade people rather to have their children
taught at home than along with others outside, especially with
regard to their manners and behaviour, form arguments for their at
least _boarding_ at home, if the parents will take their position
seriously, because the parent can both see to the upbringing of the
child outside school and interest himself in the work done by the
child _in_ school. For undoubtedly the masters are wearied with
working all day, so that the individual help they can give in their
homes in the evening can be but little, without at once tiring the
master unduly and dulling the child, if he is always poring over
his books. There must be times for recreation if anything is to be
well done continuously. Can anyone help thinking that it is a great
deal more than enough for the master to teach, and the scholar
to learn, daily from 6 in the morning till 11, and from 1 in the
afternoon till wellnigh 6 at night, if the time is to be really
well applied--nay, even if the hours were a great deal fewer? And
may not the rest of the day be reasonably spent in some recreation
that offers a pleasant variety to both parties? In the master’s
home I grant children may keep school hours better, and be less
liable to idleness and truancy; the master also may keep them
better under his eye in his general teaching when they are wholly
under his care in place of his own children, may arrange their
hours better according to the subjects they are studying, and may
sooner be able to discover their special talents and inclinations.
There are also certain private considerations that have weight with
parents in sending their children to board away from home, which I
leave to their private thoughts, as I reserve some to my own. If
the master have charge only of the scholars who board with him,
and can himself do all that is necessary for the best education,
and the numbers be moderate enough to allow of considerable
progress, then I know of no more favourable circumstances, if the
size, situation, and convenience of his house, and other necessary
conditions are all suitable. But while he is thinking only of his
boarders’ advancement, some slow-paying parents will be sure to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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