La leçon de musique de Aubert, Amiens, Musée de Picardie, © Giraudon
The West rediscovers antiquity through Arab and Hebrew medieval translations of ancient texts. The printing press facilitates the spread of new ideas. A new religion, Protestantism, advocates direct access to the Scriptures. Everyone is to know how to read and write; the Bible is translated into vernacular languages. Under the influence of the " philosophes ", the French Revolution debates the issue of education. While not having the means to achieve its aims, it adopts the principles of a free, compulsory secular education that will influence the 19th century. The sciences become organised as subjects disconnected from philosophy.
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These are the thumbnails and texts for this alcove. They can be printed.
16th to 18th centuries, educating to form individuals
Humanism and the Reformation took advantage of the separation between faith and knowledge to begin secularising education. Reason replaced faith, belief and intuition, and rational subjects were taught.
The child was considered a perfectible individual harbouring all potentialities inside him. Descartes, however, regarded childhood as a state prior to reason and thought that a repressive system of education was necessary to develop innate ideas. English empiricism, to the contrary, thought that knowledge could only be acquired through experience.
Learning the body
A technique originating in antiquity, swaddling consists in wrapping a child’s body with narrow strips of cloth to keep it from moving or bending. In the 18th century, with the advent of new, authoritative medical theories and Rousseau’s influential Emile, this technique was highly contested. Henceforth, the prevailing view was that children should learn about movement and their bodily capabilities. It was not until the 19th century that this educational principle would be applied to the population at large.
Organization of the classroom
In 17th-century Christian schools, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle devoted himself to the free schooling of the poor, using an untried educational method. Pupils were divided into grades, and were given the same material so that they might be taught simultaneously. They were also taught to read in French instead of Latin. Classes were conducted in an atmosphere of silence and discipline, which was something new and unprecedented. This process of standardizing education would have a strong impact on the future organization of lay schools.
Source of sound tracks:
Comenius’ educational methods
In the 17th century, Comenius established a new teaching system based on universal education, irrespective of social condition or gender. He applied himself to developing a man’s qualities rather than training him to assume a specific social function. Teaching, which had to be practical and free of dogmatism, was predicated on experience, the emotions, and the five senses. Comenius exerted a great deal of influence on academics, and extended his activities into neighbouring countries.
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