Of Domestical Duties, Treatise 6 · Section 79
§. 79. Of the negligence of Schoolemaſters and Tutors.
The vices contrary to the forenamed dutie of Schoolemaſters, are theſe.
1. Unskilfulneſſe. Many that are more fit to be taught then to teach, take vponupon them this weightie calling. Some hauehave not ſufficient learning: ſome againe are rude, and know not themſelues good manners: and ſome know not the firſt principles of the oracles of God. No good can be expected from theſe.
2. Couetouſneſſe. All that many ſeeke, is to multiply the number of their ſchollers, and to get as much as they can for boording, and teaching: they aime more at their owne gaine then at their ſchollers profit. Children are not like to thriue well vnderunder them.
3. Negligence. Many are loth to take the paines of a Schoolemaſter, and thereupon come as little into the ſchoole as they can: take eueryevery ſmall occaſion to be gone againe: care not how much their children play: if they be able to hire a poore Vſher, all the burden ſhall be caſt vponupon him. Little is that fruit that can be looked for from them.
4. Want of pietie. Many skilfull and painfull Schoolemaſters, vnderunder whoſe teaching children come forward exceeding well in learning, thinke it nothing appertaineth to them to teach the grounds of religion, ſo as they altogether neglect pietie. Aſſuredly they want it themſelues: for were their owne hearts ſeaſoned with true pietie, their conſciences would moue them to teach it to their children. The things of the kingdome of God are like vntounto …eauen, which ſeaſoneth the whole batch of dough with that ſeaſon and ſauour which it ſelfe hath. When children ſpend almoſt all their time with their Schoolemaſters, of whom ſhould they learne it, if not of them? What bleſſing can be hoped from the paines of ſuch Schoolemaſters?
I might to theſe adde the ouer-much remiſneſſe of ſome (whereby children get too great an head) and the too great ſeueritie of others, either in frequencie of correcting, as if they delighted therein; or in the meaſure thereof, as if they had to doe with beaſts, whereby they affright children, make them dull, yea and impudent alſo. But theſe extremes were *§. 48, 49.before handled.
The common fault of Tutors is altogether to neglect their Pupils. Many thinke a Tutor to be a meeretitular matter: no more to be required of them but to beare the very name; and to vndertake that the Colledge be diſcharged for their Pupils diet. This conceit, and the practiſe anſwerable thereunto, is the blemiſh and bane of the Vniuerſities. Many children well trained vp in ſchooles, vtterly loſe the benefit of all their former education when they are ſent to the Vniuerſitie, becauſe their Tutors altogether leaue them to themſelues: and ſo they are made a prey to idle and lewd companions. By reaſon hereof many parents are vtterly diſcouraged to ſend their children to the Vniuerſitie.