Augustana College - Rockety I Yearbook (Rock Island, IL)

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The fall of the Roman Empire in the West under the Teutonic peoples made the Church the lending factor in civili'Lation for a thousand years. The purely intellectual element in education disappeared and the schools became almost wholly religious. Such were the monastic nml cathedral schools and the universities of the Middle Agcsi The most distinguished faculty in all the leading universities, as Paris, Oxford, and Cologne, was the theological. Jurisprudence claimed attention principally from the importance of studying the canon law. The study of Roman law was especially emphasized at Bologna. Through the influence of thc Saracen schools, especially of the one at Cordnvn, the natural sciences and medicine began to claim attention. Thus arose the University of Naples with its medical department at Salerno. With the Renaissance the intellectual element was again introduced into the curriculum of the European Schools. The classics were given the chief place and religion was crowded into the background. The Reformation brought the Bible to the front, and religion again held its honored place in thc Eurnpean universities. -The great inventions and discoveries of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have introduced new elements into the curricula of our schools of higher learning, and increased the number of the professions. Not only theology, law, medicine, philosophy and art. but also Chamistry, physics, mechanics, engineering, economics, sociology, eta, now claims a large share of our postgraduate students. Thus it would seem that throughout the greater part of the historic ages religion has been the students chief motive for a higher education, and even today the divinity ' student holds a prominent place among his fellows. This in the long run must necessarily be the case as long as man has within him an undying soul with immortal longings and aspirations. Some students. it is trueV pursue their work for the mere love of knowledge and have no other object or aim in view. But this is after all not the highest or noblest purpose of study. VVhatEVcr the student's special aim or purpose may be, whatever profession he may try to Fit himself for, there is one purpose that all may have in common, the noblest and best purpose of all, to fit themselves to serve their fellowmen. Never before in the history of the world has the social consciousness made itself felt in all walks of life as today. This is a truly inspiring sign. It indicates the tri- umph of Christianity, the triumph of the sucial doctrines of the Great Teacher, who K'came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Hi5 measure of greatness is service. In his estimate the greatest of all is the servant of all. No one is a true disciple 0f the Master who does not recognize the obligation of service. In the application of this great principleethe Golden Rule- lies the hope of the world, and the students of today, properly trained in mind and heart and ready to wurk not for self but for others, will be the lenders and main factors in the solution of the great problems that confront the world today. C. W. Foss.

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Along the banks of the Nile conditions were similar. There, mu, etlu-cntion was of a sacerdntal kind. The instruction, however, was of :1 practical sort especmily along the lines at astronomy. mathematics, and mechanics. This may be inferred from the great irrigation and engineering works found in the valley and from the-knowlcrlge and skill that made possible such masterpieces of architecture as the pyramids and the temples and palaces of Karnnk and Luxur. TEXt-buoks on various subjects have. come down to us. and large numbers of exercise books with the master's corrections in the margins have also been found. The most celehrmed seat of learning in ancient Egypt mm at Heliopnlis, :1 few miles north of the modern city of Cairo. For ages the priests of Helinpolis were renowned for their learning. and to them resorted students from variuus lands. Hither came Thales from Miletus, Pluto from Athens, and many others. Here Moses was received as a student and became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. The Schools of the Prophet; amtmg the Hebrews were almost wholly of :1 religious nature. The later Schools of the Rabbis at Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Babylon were religious and philosophical in their aims and methods. The must celebrated pupil, or student, of this class of schools was beyond all question Saul of Tursus. The Greeks had less of the religious and more of the intellectual element in their makc-up, and, hence. their schools of higher learning were of a more secular character. Amnng the great Greek teachers who gave lectures and gathered students about them Pythagoras is perhaps the earliest. His course of instructiml embraced principally speculative philosophy. astronomy, and mathematics. His strong personality deeply impressed his age, and imagination has veiled his nnemorj.V in a shroud of mystery. Legend avers that during their first years students were not allowed to look upon their master, but listened to his lectures from behind a screen He was held in the highest reverence by his pupils, and an 11m: dixit clinched all their arguments. Socrates was the first Greek to lay stress on the mural element in education. He established no school and had no Fixed place for his instruction. He met his pupils in the streets and market places wherever chance brought them together. His greatest pupil was Plum, who established the Academic School, so named tram the Academy, a public park to the north of Athens, where he gave his lecturest HThe Mind of the School, as Plato called him, was Aristotle, perhaps the greatest thinker the world has ever produced. He established the Peripatetic Schoal, and gave lectures in the Lyceum at the foot of Mt. Lycabettus east of Athens. His course of instruction embraced all extant knowledge, and he gave a systematic form to the VETIUUS SClEnCesy The Roman schools were of a decidedly practical character. Their main obicct was to train young men to law and oratory, and to produce jurists and statesmen. Theeonqucst-of the East, the spread of Judaism along the Mediterranean shores. and espeemlly the Introduction of Christianity made religion once more the dominant element in the schools of higher learning.

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