NOTES ON THE EDUCATORS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EDUCATIONAL MINISTRY

NOTES ON THE EDUCATORS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EDUCATIONAL MINISTRY

Desiderius Erasmus

(1466?-1536)

Disiderius Erasmus, born in Rotterdom, Holland, give emphasis on the aim of education which is to lead pupil (people) towards knowledge, honesty, and independent judgment. The real happiness is right training or education, because education is the condition of real wisdom. He articulate education as process of both intellectual and the physical development of the church. Thus, the school should be a place children enjoy because they are understood, and it should prepared their minds for the cultivation of good style in speaking, writing, and living. The teacher in this sense, needs psychological insights about the child and a workable method. The School Curriculum should lead the student toward a better understanding of life. He recommended the use of play which is not only for relaxation or pleasure but a part of children’s life and learning. He recommended the use of visual aids, and make use of the senses in order to help the mind grasp the reality behind the words. Desiderius Erasmus is also pointed out the more understanding and tolerant attitude toward the pupil, infiltrated classical studies with the spirit of exactness, historical criticism, and international perspective.

Martin Luther

(1483-1546)

Martin Luther, the father of reformation gave emphasis on the Bible as the sole authority in matters concerning faith. This led him to stress the need for educating all people and for encouraging study of languages at an early stage as a preparation for Biblical scholarship in the secondary schools and universities. For Martin Luther, education begins at home, the parents gave both spiritual and secular authority over their children Teachers as substitutes for parents should became co-workers with God in leading children to faith and to an ethical life. A well-rounded education includes the study of the realities of life as well as of the spiritual and intellectual interest of human. Making education practical and giving it to all the people. He gave emphasis also the important goal in education is the development of character. Education should help young people lead a prayerful life. It should lead to communion with God and recognition of the fact that learning is a free gift of God for which the individual must give thanks in prayer. He urged the teaching of the biblical and other languages, grammar, rhetoric, logic, literature, poetry, music, mathematics, gymnastics, and even nature study, to be preceded by the inculcation of a knowledge of the vernacular and the catechism.

The Curriculum endorsed by Martin Luther was divided into the following:

·         First Division. Consisted children who were beginning to read. They were expected to read the primer containing the alphabet, the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and prayers for various occasions; to study Ars grammatical of Aelius Donatus and a work by Publius Valerius Cato; to learn to read and write; and to learn music.

·         Second Division. Consisted those who could read and were ready for a more detailed study of grammar. They were taught music, Aesop’s fables, the Paedagogia of Peter Mosselanus, selections from the Colloquies of Erasmus, the writings of Terrence, some fables of Plautus, Christian doctrine, and parts of the Bible.

·         Third Division. Consisted of those bright students who had learned their Latin grammar well. The were taught music; Vergil, Ovid, and Cicero; composition; dialectics and rhetoric. And they were selected to speak Latin as far as possible.

Luther gave emphasis on the study of languages not only for a better comprehension of the Bible but for the practical use for future lawyers, statesmen, and merchants. Music must be included in the curriculum, because in enlarged and brightened the spiritual life of the people in their field of work. Teachers must know how to sing. This is also a prerequisite of those entering in the ministry. He advocated the collections of books and the founding of libraries for furthering the scholarship of teachers, students and others. Give stressed on the content rather than mere form.Partnership of parents and teachers to appeal to the natural inquisitiveness of youth, as well as s to their desire to play and to participate in the learning process by means of discussion, debates, and dramas. Love, understand, and work with the students instead of acting as their lords and masters. Let them learn the language by speaking them in ordinary conversations that our of books. Let the children go to school for one or two hours a day and devote the rest of the time ti working at home, learning a trade or doing whatever their parents desire. Study and work must go hand in hand.

Ignatius of Loyola

(1491-1556)

Ignatius of Loyola, who devoted himself of reforming the catholic church from within, and the founder of the Society of Jesus gave emphasis of establishing schools for the purpose of increasing service of God and aid to people. Ignatius’ ideal school had at least three faculties.

·         The lower faculty of langauges was usually for boys aged ten to thirteen and was designed to impart facility in speaking, reading, and writing Latin, which was necessary then for further studies.

·         This college, or faculty of languages, became a university when the higher faculties were added: the faculty of arts or philosophy, with chairs of logic, physics, mathematics, ethics, and metphysics, for student about fourteen to sixteen.

·         The faculty of theology, with instruction in scholastic theology, Scripture, the fathers, and canon law.

·         Faculties of civil law and medicine could be added but were, in fact, rare.

·         The lower faculty of grammar and humane letters would be opened first. After the students had sufficiently learned these, a course in arts or philosophy would be inaugurated. After further progress someone should be named to lecture in theology.

He pointed out to relate all the learning activities to the objective and goals of the schools. Viewed the subject matters in the light of God’s revelation.

John Calvin

(1509-1564)

John Calvin, a French Protestant Theologian pointed out that one should learn in order to teach others. The education of children was supplemented by church services – two on Sunday and one on Wednesday. They were to spend Sunday “hearing, meditating upon, and recording the sermons, and Wednesday they were to listen to the semon and then sing Psalms for one hour. He introduced his concept of academy and ideal teachers. Each teacher was under strict ecclesiastical discipline, and each was appointed by the ministers. The teacher had to subscribe to the Confession of Faith, and they closely supervised their students’ belief and lives.

·         Schola Privata. This is for Students in the Schola Privata were divided into classes, beginning with class seven and finishing with class one.  Student learned first to recognize the alphabet, then to fomr syllables from Latin-French alphabet in the Latin-French Catechism. If age permitted, the boys (girls were never considered) learned to write. Within two years students studied VErgils’ Bucolics and Aeneid, Cicero’s Epistles, Ovid’s De Tristibus and De Bonte, Caesar’s Commentaries, and Isocrates’ orations. History was studied in Latin, and Cicero’s speeches provided a text for dialectics. The student was expected to learn Greek within two years and then to study the writtings of Seneca, Xenophon, Polybius, Herodian, Demosthenes, and Homer, in addition to the Gospel of Luke and some apostolic letters. Student learned how to read, think, and express themselves.

·         Schola Publica. The curriculum was not structured. Student will took subjects such as Physical Science, mathematics, advance rhetoric, Hebrew, Greek, History, theology, and Bible in modular type.  Each week, twenty seven one-hour lectures offered for those who wanted to attend. Each Saturday afternoon theology students expounded a Scripture passage for one hour under the supervision of the minister. Each month students had to defend a theological proposition, first in a paper given to the theology professor, then orally in an open session. Some will be take three hours a week, and being lecture every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, or alternating weeks.

John Amos Comenius

(1592-1670)

John Amos Comenius, Moravian Bishop pointed out to teach everyone everything, this is what he mean “pansophia”, or the “universal wisdom”.  He hope to established pansopic college or would also called international school and with international competencies, in which laboratories would encourage scientific reaserch, and he sought a method of instruction which would enabpe every person, to the limit of his capacity, to avail himself of the benefits of knowledge of all sorts. Comenius believed that if all knowledge is unified, it will be accessible to all; and that such accessibility to the masses will solve all economic, political, and social problems which stand in the way of human happiness.

Comenius’s emphasis upon graded instruction is well known. He divided school into five levels:

·         First, the “mother’s school” or “the school of the mother’s knee,” for children under six. At present, this is the level of kindergarten or early childhood education.

·         Second, the vernacular school for children six to twelve. It was divided into six classes, and it was to give to all, both boys and girls, the fundamentals which would prepare them form life. Instruction must be given in the mother tongue.

·         Third, Latin school for youths aged twelve to eighteen and preparing either for service in the church or state or for universities studies. In this school the mother tongue, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew were to be divided into classes: grammar, physics, mathematics, ethics, dialectic, and rhetoric.

·         Fourth, the university for youths from eighteen and twenty four. It was to give more advanced instruction in every subject taught in the Latin school.  

·         Fifth, the College of Light, new and useful inventions.

Comenius gave importance on direct observation rather than mere verbal learning, on creative work or workshop as part of the learning experience, and the significance of family life for the educational experience. One of his contributions in education was his recommendation of using word picture in teaching, which is illustrating the text with picture. He was also known on his principles of teaching which is learning by doing. This means to let the student learn to write by writing, to talk by talking, to sing by singing, and to reason by reasoning. Learning should be pleasurable; learning should have present meaning to the student by being applied to his life and work. Education is for all who are able to learn – boys and girls.

Robert Raikes

(1735-1811)

Robert Raikes, born in 1735, a publisher who received a liberal education introduced the Sunday School offered to the lowly and degraded classes his day, those in prisons and street children of his time. Sunday School is an out of school youth and children, prison, and street children ministry. For Raikes, school should furnish opportunities of instruction to the children of the poorer part of the parish without interfering with any industry of the weekdays. He believed that ignorance is the first cause of idleness and vice. He introduced the curriculum of the earliest Sunday school which includes reading and writing, religious lessons, and Bible stories and prayers. Sunday school began at 10 a.m.. at noon it was dismissed, resuming at 1 p.m. with another lesson. Then the students attended church, after which they were catechized. At 5 they were sent home and exhorted not to play in the streets.

Horace Bushnell

(1802-1876)

Horace Bushnell, born on April 14, 1802, raised by a Methodist and Episcopalian parents believed that character development begins even in early infancy.  He emphasized that the child born in a Christian home is to be nurtured; things are to be taught in a kind of child’s version; Child’s times of interest should be watched for; Child’s question must be carefully listened and answered; teaching should centre about Jesus Christ, parents should live a life as interpreter of Jesus’ life; Parents should play with their child when they want to play, to teach the child when they wants to be taught; and parents should make use of their child’s instinct of imitation.

John Dewey

(1859-1952)

John Dewe, who was born in 1859 believed that knowledge is not simply a set of facts or a piece of descriptive information. Knowledge and thinking are instruments by which men manipulate the world about them. He gave emphasis that we learn by doing and experience is the source of all knowledge, and that life itself is a never ending process of perfecting, refining, and maturing, and that the Children learn to do by doing.

John Dewey introduced the five basic tenets of education. First, the Child-centered education. The school is oriented around the child rather than around the thinking of adult administrators. The starting place of education is the needs and interest of the child. Second, education through intrinsic motivation. The interested will is vital to the educative process. Incentive must come from within and grow out of the work. Third, education through activity. True education begin with experiences which are going on. Learning takes place in a problem-solving context. Experience constitute the curriculum of the school. Life itself makes up the curriculum.  Fourth, education as reconstruction of experience. According to John Dewey, education is the best teacher only to the extent that it is the right kind of experience. This experience draws upon experiences that have gone before and modifies to some extent those that come after. Fifth, social-centred education. Truly educative process go in in the context of group activities and experiences.

Jesus Christ as Educator

Jesus follows certain principles of teachings:

·         Jesus does not intend to develop a relationship of dependency and reliance. He actually wants to prepare his disciples for the eventual absence and separation from the so that they can be responsible with the tasks that he will pass on to them

·         Jesus always encourages teamwork or group work from his core group. He always involves them in the tasks he wants accomplished. Although he started on his own initially he never intends to do things alone.

·         The group-work approach rather than the one-man-job idea is instilled by Jesus from the start of the organizing stage.

·         Jesus assigns roles and functions to his core group. He delegates responsibilities. Through this, learning becomes not a mental exercise but a chance for the disciple to test their skills and abilities to take the responsibilities.

·         Jesus employs criticism to determine the strengths and weakness of his disciples. Jesus points out the weakness of his disciples in order to show then the path of strength. He is sharp and pointed in his comments and even sarcastic or embarrassing at times. He is even forgiving when it comes to the mistakes committed by his disciples.

·         Jesus wants to demonstrate to his disciples how each experience can be a corrective effort for them to learn the essence of the Kingdom’s values.

Jesus is like the ordinary teachers of the remote and rural community, following the philosophy that to inform and educate people means reaching to people, either its broad sections or particular groups of them. Jesus takes advantage of every opportunity to spread his teachings. He is everywhere so he can impart lessons, new attitudes and values in life; he is never confined to the four walls of buildings or structures as traditional leaders. He goes to villages, towns, farms and market places (Mark 6:56). His methods are as varied and creative as the occasions provides; he does not limit himself to standard classroom equipments or the traditional means of instruction. He picks resources and materials which are common, available and known to people. It does not matter whether Jesus appears before an audience that is large or small.