The Educational Writings of Richard MulcasterMulcaster, Richard
History
The Educational Writings of Richard Mulcaster
Mulcaster, Richard
Education -- History
I can only give counsel,
but if the decision lay with me the first pains well taken should
in truth be most liberally recompensed, and the emolument should
diminish, as less pains are needed in going up through the school
course. By this method no master would have reason to complain that
the pupils who come to him have not been sufficiently grounded in
the elementary subjects, which is a constant source of trouble
at present both to teachers and scholars. Indeed too often we
Grammar School masters can hardly make any progress, can scarcely
even tell how to place the raw boys in any particular form with
any hope of steady advance, so rotten is the groundwork of their
preparation. If the higher master has to repair this weakness,
after the boy comes under his charge, he certainly deserves
triple salary, both for his own making and for mending what the
elementary teacher either marred through ignorance, or failed to
make through undue haste, which, in my opinion, is the commonest
and worst kind of marring. As for the salaries of the masters that
succeed the elementary, I hold that the increasing numbers that
they can undertake will make up for the larger amount to be given
to the elementary teacher, however much that may be. For the first
master can deal only with a few, the next with more, and so on,
ascending as the scholars grow in reason and discretion. To deal
with the unequal advancement of children, it were good that they
were promoted in numbers together, and that they were admitted into
the schools only at four periods in the year, so that they might be
properly classified, and not hurled hand over head into one form
without discrimination, as is now too often the case. There should
be a definite plan of promotion agreed upon among the teachers,
so that one can say, “This child I have taught, and such and such
can he do,” and the other knoweth what the child should have
been taught, and what he may be supposed to know. The elementary
teacher, then, should be competent for his task, and when he is, he
should be sufficiently well provided for by the parents. Adequate
reward would make very able men incline to take it up, and though
the supply may as yet be insufficient, enough could soon be trained
if inducement were offered.
The Grammar School Teacher.
My chief concern must be with the master of the Grammar School, who
cannot be too carefully selected, for he has to deal with those
years which determine the success of all the future course, as
during this period both body and mind are most restless and most in
need of regulation. He has to complete the learning gained in the
elementary studies, and he offers hope or despair of perfection to
the University tutor in the case of their proceeding further.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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