333 came educational centres. Their public schools were of high grade. It is claimed by some that Charles had in mind the building of great universities at these places, after the manner of those at Athens and Alexandria. However, this is merely supposition, although as a result of the schools at these places great universities did spring up; not in the relation of cause and effect, for long centuries of misrule had obliterated Charles' educational foundations and left barely the marks of civic progress. But these marks of progress in the centres of wealth, industry, and historic interest rendered these places desirable points for the congregation of students. "And whether his school at Paris be called a university or not, he laid principles of which a university is a result in that he aimed to educate all classes, and undertook all sub-' jects of teaching." In these municipal centres were formed the early universities by the concourse of students. These universities had a natural development; it is not possible to say they were the product of the church or of the state. Perhaps the greatest organized influence came from the Cathedral and Benedictine schools coupled with Saracenic influences. But there sprung up with these schools of special learning an anti-monastic spirit, and each school drew students according to its specialty, law at Bologna, medicine at Salerno, and philosophy and theology at Paris. 1 One remarkable fact is that the education of the clergy and the laity, church education and civil education, were both in the hands of the state, that is, in those of the emperor. The first charter of the University of Paris was granted by Philip Augustus in 1199; this exempted its members from the ordinary tribunals and from the tribunals of the church. The University of Bologna, though not older than Paris, was chartered with the same privileges in 1158 by Frederick I (Barbarossa). Frederick II, Emperor of the Romans, founded the University of Naples. The sovereign power called certain masters or doctors to act as professors, to some if not to all of whom he granted salaries. The university was founded by the state solely and under the control of the sovereign, while the professors were freed from taxes and from military service, and had other immunities granted them;3 3 Students prepared in these universities of Italy for high offices in church and in state. "From this time," says Hallam, speaking of the first charters, "the golden age of universities commenced; and it is hard to say whether they were favored more by their sovereigns than by the see of Rome." However, this is immaterial as the rules then were, whether civil or ecclesiastical, the state, and the benefactions of popes and kings came from the public treasury, and primarily from the people. Whether the great universities of Paris, and Bologna, Oxford, 1 Newman, The Office and Work of Universities, 230. 2 Hallam, Middle Ages, II, 420. Laurie, Rise and Constitution of Universities, 120. 1 Pavia, and Prague and others were endowed by kings or princes, bishops or popes, the funds came from the masses of the people.1 The great universities of England were patronized by kings, although their modern support has been from private rather than public sources. It is thought that the learned Alfred founded a school at Oxford and made it a centre of learning; but it is known that Oxford was chartered with privileges by King John2 in the thirteenth century. Subsequently the universities secured favors and royal patronage from the Henrys and the Edwards.3 They have grown to be national in their character, and through their great public influence and modern university extension are rapidly becoming popular institutions in the best sense of the term. Cambridge was founded "for the study of learning and knowledge and for the better service of church and state," while Oxford, London, and others have filled the same office. The incomes of Oxford and Cambridge for the year 1887 were £256,475 and £346,550, respectively. In the year 1874 Great Britian appropriated for her universities £52,027. The University of Leyden, so often referred to as the product of the self-sacrifice of a noble people, was created and endowed by the Dutch Republic. It was granted as a reward to the people of Leyden for their heroic defence of their city against the crafty Spaniards in the darkest hours of, their national struggle (1575). The most complete state system of schools of modern times is found in Germany. As early as 1794 the common law of the Prussian states declared schools and universities to be state institutions, and set up a system of laws controlling the whole plan of instruction." In the development of modern Germany the growth of the public-school system has kept abreast of every reform, and has been one of the strongest forces for the rebuilding of the nation. Later, when Prussia was humbled by the cruel tyranny of Napoleon, her army destroyed, industries suppressed, country depopulated by war, and devastated by the ruthless track of the invader, the memorable words of the King, William III, were prophetic of the future of United Germany: "Although we have lost territory, power, and prestige, still we must strive to regain what we have lost by acquiring intellectual and moral power; and, therefore, it is my earnest desire and will to re-establish the nation by devoting a most earnest attention to the education of the masses of the people. The state must regain in mental force what it has lost in physical force."" 1 C. K. Adams, Washington and the Higher education. H. B. Adams, The State and Higher Education. Address Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association, Washington, March 8, 1889, B Public Instruction in Prussia, Barnard, Secondary Schools. "Proclamation of Frederick William III, 1807. * * 335 * * * There soon Behind this sentiment were strong men and philosophers who saw on what hung the destiny of Germany. Fichte proclaimed that "Education is the only means by which we can be rescued from our helpless condition." "I hope to convince Germans that nothing but education can rescue us from the miseries that overwhelm us." "Education as hitherto conducted by the church has aimed only at securing for men happiness in another life; but this was not enough, for men need to be taught how to bear themselves in the present life so as to do their duty to the state, to others, and themselves." Fichte touched the vulnerable point of the medieval education. came into being a great university, situated at the seat of the government of the kingdom. Berlin has the greatest direct power of all the universities in Europe. It brings together yearly more than five thousand students from the empire. In 1874 the government of Prussia appropriated $242,054.80 for the support of the University of Berlin. Of the entire income of the Prussian universities in 1883-84, amounting to 8,103,000 marks, 613,000 were contributed by the state. It is true that the University of Berlin, though differing from all others in some particulars, was a part of a great system of which the University of Prague was the first in Germany; and, indeed, it was the first formally-founded university in Europe, if we except Naples and Palencia.3 Prague was founded by Charles IV, in 1348, and embraced a studium generale of all the faculties. It was not founded like Berlin in response to a national demand, but after the idea of Charles IV who, having been educated at Paris, returned to set up a university in his own realm, after obtaining a bull from the pope. Indeed, the whole course of medieval universities shows the pope to be the universal arbiter on questions of difficulty, whether he had founded the univer sities or not. Charles IV appointed the Archbishop of Prague chancellor, and called from different parts of the educated world learned professors in the several departments, giving endowments for their support. Other universities followed, endowed by the state or the church, until now no less than twenty-one, patterned more or less after the original design of the first, are distributed over Germany, calling to their halls many of the brightest students of the empire and of other countries. In this brief review of state education in the Old World, we may learn that the present forms of education as we have known them in the United States are not new creations, but have had their prototypes in 1 C. K. Adams' Address. 2 Roscher Finanzwissenschaft, p. 502 (Ed. 1886). In 1885-86 Prussia expended $14,329,298 for education; in the following year the sum of $15,186,133. In the same years France expended for higher education $2,317,947 and $2,290,454, respectively. 3 Laurie, 256; the university at Palencia, Spain, was founded in 1212 by Alonzo VIII, with privileges and benefactions. From this time to the Reformation every university founded had two charters, one from the pope and the other from the king or emperor. Old World institutions. The medieval college was not destroyed by the rising of universities, but was incorporated in their more general organization and handed down to us at the present, modified to suit the growth of knowledge. The modern academy, the primary school, the parish school, or county school, the college and the university are but evolutions in the United States, suited more or less to our express needs. We have seen that at times schools were wholly independent of either ecclesiastical or political patronage; at other times they were controlled and supported by the church or state, separately or conjointly; and, again, the church has controlled the education of both clergy and laity; or this comprehensive duty has fallen upon the State. Our modern college has sprung from the medieval college through the "great schools" of England. One type of our universities, such as that of Virginia, has some resemblance to the University of Paris, while Harvard and Yale are following in the paths of Cambridge and Oxford. The influence of the German universities has been more perceptible during recent years. The University of Michigan was planned after German or rather Prussian models. There was a magnificent scheme for a central university, colleges, and high schools, all controlled by one central authority. This idea has had more or less influence in the formation of the systems of education in the new States of the West. The chief German influence is felt in methods of study and discipline, and new features of school curricula; this is more to be observed in the lowest grade, the kindergarten, and in the highest grade, the university, than in other departments. Have we universities in America? Yes, American universities, not like some in the Old World, but universities that are developing with the country and the nation. While there is much to learn and great room for improvement, let it be remembered by those who disparage the American universities in comparison with foundations of seven hundred years' standing, that but one attempt was ever made to import a European university1 into America, and that failed. 1 Jefferson's scheme to import the faculty of Geneva. See H. B. Adams' William and Mary College, and his Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia. |