Roger ascham the schoolmaster. The schoolmaster (1570) : Ascham, Roger, 1515 2022-10-27
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Roger Ascham was an English humanist and scholar who served as tutor to Queen Elizabeth I. He is best known for his book "The Schoolmaster," which was published in 1570 and is considered a classic of educational literature.
Ascham was born in 1515 in Kirby Wiske, a village in North Yorkshire, England. He received a classical education at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. After completing his studies, he became a tutor to the children of wealthy families, including the future Queen Elizabeth.
In "The Schoolmaster," Ascham addresses the importance of education and the role of the teacher. He argues that a good education is essential for the development of an individual's character and for the prosperity of the state. Ascham believes that a teacher should be well-educated and able to inspire and guide their students. He also emphasizes the importance of discipline and the role of parents in the education of their children.
Ascham was a firm believer in the value of classical education, and he argued that a thorough knowledge of the humanities was necessary for a well-rounded individual. He also believed that education should be enjoyable and not simply a means to an end. In "The Schoolmaster," Ascham writes, "Let a man be never so well learned, yet if he have not a good bringing up, he shall seem to have learned nothing to any good purpose."
Ascham's ideas on education had a significant influence on the way education was approached in England and Europe during the Renaissance. His emphasis on the importance of classical education and the role of the teacher in guiding and inspiring students is still relevant today.
In addition to "The Schoolmaster," Ascham also wrote a number of other influential works, including "Toxophilus," a treatise on archery, and "The English Secretary," a guide to letter-writing and public speaking. He was also a skilled Latin stylist, and his translations and compositions in that language were widely admired.
Overall, Roger Ascham was a significant figure in the history of education, and his ideas continue to be relevant and influential to this day. His work as a tutor, humanist, and scholar has left a lasting legacy in the field of education and beyond.
Free Essay: Roger Ascham's "the Schoolmaster".
The grammar-school curriculum was a demanding course of study that focused on Latin grammar and literature, including philosophy, history, poetry, and drama; sometimes Greek was taught as well, with perhaps some lessons in French. He becomes very difficult if asked anything and blocked everyone asking. Knocke him alwaies, when he draweth his shaft ill, and fauor him againe, though he faut at his booke, ye shall haue hym verie loth to be in the field, and verie willing to be in the schole. Peter at Westminster—better known as Westminster School—who collected and edited his letters and delivered a panegyrical oration on his life in 1576. For ill doings breed ill thinkings.
And if som good father would seick Wise men fond fathers. This last somer, I was in a Ientlemans house: where a yong childe, somewhat past fower yeare olde, cold in no wise frame his tongue, to saie, a litle shorte grace: and yet he could roundlie rap out, so manie vgle othes, and those of the newest facion, as som good man of fourescore yeare olde hath neuer hard named before: and that which was most detestable of all, his father and mother wold laughe at it. The second degree and order in teachyng. This done thus, let the child, by and by, both construe and parse it over again ; so that it may appear, that the child doubteth in nothing that his master taught him before. He can still put up the full portrait but not give full details before publication. And thus moch of the first note.
In deede saith he, in yougthe, I was, as you ar now: and I had twelue feloes like vnto my self, but not one of them came to a good ende. Men that hunt so, be either ignorant persones, preuie stealers, or night walkers. Anyone involved in so-called "classical education" ought to read this to see how it's really done. An English man Italianated. And if ye beleue not me, read diligentlie, Æmilius Probus in Latin, and Plutarche in Greke, which two, had no cause either to flatter or lie vpon anie of those which I haue recited. Stay safe and well and have a great 2021.
And so the readiest way to entangle the mind with false doctrine is first to entice the will to wanton living. And thus, by Socrates iudgement, a good father, and a wise scholemaster, shold chose a childe to make a scholer of, that hath by nature, the foresayd perfite qualities, and cumlie furniture, both of mynde and bodie: hath memorie, quicke to receyue, sure to keape, and readie to deliuer: hath loue to learning: hath lust to labor: hath desire to learne of others: hath boldnes to aske any question: hath mynde holie bent, to wynne praise by well doing. A childe of this nature, will earnestlie loue learnyng, gladlie labor for learning, willinglie learne of other, boldlie aske any doute. This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Miltiades, Themistocles, Xantippus, Pericles, Cymon, Alcybiades, Thrasybulus, Conon, Iphicrates, Xenophon, Timotheus, Theopompus, Demetrius, and diuers other mo: of which euerie one, maie iustelie be spoken that worthie praise, which was geuen to Good seede, worthie frute. We passed from Thr chiefe pointes of this booke.
Ill examples haue more force, then good examples. I will tell you, quoth she, and tell you a troth, which perchance ye will meruell at. Ad Philip Trauelyng into Italie. His system of double translation is one that should be employed much more often. The which felicitie, because it commeth by others procuring, not by their owne deseruinge, and stand by other mens feete, and not by their own, what owtward brag so euer is borne by them, is in deed, of it selfe, and in wise mens eyes, of no great estimation. The fault is in your selues, ye noble mens sonnes, and therefore ye deserue the greater blame, that commonlie, the meaner mens children, cum to be, the wisest councellours, and greatest doers, in the weightie affaires of this Realme. And, in uttering the stuff ye received of the one, in declaring the order ye took with the other, ye shall never lack, neither matter nor manner, what to write, nor how to write in this kind of argument.
But, unlike Comenius, Milton emphasized that the purpose of education was to prepare individuals to serve God and become good citizens of the state. What praise shold they wynne to themselues, what commoditie shold they bring to their contrey, that would thus deserue to be pointed at: Beholde, there goeth, the author of good order, the guide of good men. The journey towards receiving a diploma is a long process of development, essays, homeworks, projects, and it requires a consistent attendance. Sturmius: Missionary priest in England 705-779. For as you great ones vse to do, so all meane men loue to do.
Vsus me genuit, Mater peperit memoria, and though it be the mere gifte of nature, yet is memorie well preserued by vse, and moch encreased by order, as our scholer must learne an other day in the Vniuersitie: but in a childe, a good memorie is well known, by three properties: that is, if it be, quicke in receyuing, sure in keping, and redie in deliuering forthe againe. Now, let Italian, and Latin it self, Spanishe, French, Douch, and Englishe bring forth their lerning, and recite their Authors, Cicero onelie excepted, and one or two moe in Latin, they be all patched cloutes and ragges, in comparison of faire wouen broade clothes. Yes forsothe: as wise as they be, either in other mens opinion, or in their owne conceite, I will bring the contrarie iudgement of him, who, they them selues shall confesse, was as wise as they are, or else they may be iustlie thought to haue small witte at all: and that is Socrates, whose iudgement in Plato is plainlie this in these wordes: which, bicause they be verie notable, I will recite them in his owne tong, ouden mathema meta douleias chre manthanein: oi men gar tou somatos ponoi bia ponoumenoi cheiron ouden to soma apergazontai; psyche de, biaion ouden emmonon mathema: in Englishe thus, No learning ought to be learned with bondage: For bodelie labors, wrought by compulsion, hurt not the bodie: but any learning learned by compulsion, Plato in 7. When a pupil made a mistake, he wrote, the teacher should not respond with a frown or a negative comment so long as the child had tried his best. But to retorne, where I left: In place also, to be able to raise taulke, and make discourse of euerie rishe: to haue a verie good will, to heare him selfe speake: To be seene in Palmestrie, wherby to conueie to chast eares, som fond or filthie taulke: And if som Smithfeild Ruffian take vp, som strange going: som new mowing with the mouth: som wrinchyng with the shoulder, som braue prouerbe: som fresh new othe, that is not stale, but will rin round in the mouth: som new disguised garment, or desperate hat, fond in facion, or gaurish in colour, what soeuer it cost, how small soeuer his liuing be, by what shift soeuer it be gotten, gotten must it be, and vsed with the first, or els the grace of it, is stale and gone: som part of this gracelesse grace, was discribed by me, in a little rude verse long ago. Yea, I say farder, those bookes, tend not so moch to corrupt honest liuyng, as they do, to subuert trewe Religion. And for all the great commaundementes, that came out of the Courte, yet this bold misorder, was winked at, and borne withall, in the Courte.
Ascham, "The Scholemaster". A Preface to the Reader.
Ascham's comparative analysis of Cicero versus Demosthenes is therefore of interest, even if his great concern with Cicero's authorial intentions becomes problematic for us as post-Barthesians. After this, the child must take a paper book and, sitting in some place where no man shall prompt him, by himself, let him translate into English his former lesson. Let your scholar be never afraid to ask you any doubt, but use discreetly the best allurements ye can to encourage him to the same, lest his overmuch fearing of you drive him to seek some misorderly shift, as to seek to be helped by some other book, or to be prompted by some other scholar, and so go about to beguile you much, and himself more. Aschams worke vnto you. Qui parcit virgæ, odit filium.
