Page:Jesuit Education.djvu/463

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
TRAINING OF THE JESUIT TEACHER.
443

be avoided: that of splitting up too much the work of teaching in the same class. This is most injurious to education properly so-called, especially in the lower and middle classes. One teacher should have a prominent position in the class; he should be the teacher, and, in the first place, the educator of his pupils. For this reason he should teach as many subjects as possible in his class – provided he masters them –, all those branches which are more closely connected, as Latin, Greek, also English, in short, languages and literature. With Latin and Greek it is natural to combine also Roman and Greek history. Medieval and modern history may be taught by a special teacher. Mathematics and natural sciences go well together and can easily be taught by the same teacher. In a word, the Society wishes to have class teachers preferably to branch teachers. As is well known, the class system is, to a certain extent, prevalent in Germany. For some time the branch system had been favored, but experience proved that the old class system was unquestionably better. So the "New School Order" for Prussia, 1901, strongly recommends the strengthening of the influence of the class teacher as distinct from the branch teacher, in order to secure, above all, better education. "The splitting up of the teaching in the lower and middle classes among too many teachers, as well as frequent changes of teachers, are considered an obstacle to any enduring educational influence. To put a stop, as far as possible, to these evils, the provincial school authorities are strictly bound to see to it that a professor proposed as a class teacher be suitable for the position, and that he teach in his class as many subjects as possible, so far as his scholastic