City ordinances concerning the Genevan Academy, June 1559: Quote:
06.66 Ordinances: Genevan Academy, 6/1559
The three lecturers namely those in Hebrew, Greek and the arts, should be chosen and should be accept the regulations in the same way as the school-teachers.
On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of each week there should be two lectures given by each of them, one for an hour in the morning and the other for an hour in the afternoon. On Wednesday and Friday they should each lecture for an hour after dinner. On Saturday there shall be no lectures given. On Sunday they should go to hear the sermons.
...The Hebrew lecturer should comment upon some book from the Old Testament in the mornings. In the afternoons he should lecture on Hebrew grammar.
The Greek professor should lecture after the Hebrew class on some book of philosophy concerning morals. The book will be chosen from the works of Aristotle, Plato, Plutarch or one of the Christian philosophers. After lunch, he will deliver lectures...on some Greek poet, orator or historian, making a choice of the purest among them.
The lecturer in arts will follow the professor of Greek and he will lecture on a book of physics for half an hour. After lunch...he will expound knowledgeably the Rhetorics of Aristotle, the most famous speeches of Cicero or the books of Horace.
| and Quote:
06.67 Ordinances: Genevan College, 6/1559
The behaviour of teachers is to be suitably serious; they are not to make derogatory remarks about the authors they are expounding, but confine themselves to making their meaning clear. They should warn their pupils about matters that are either obscure or out of place or cannot be dealt with fully. Silence should be observed; and negligent, inattentive or disorderly pupils are to be punished. The chief aim of the teaching is to be love of God and hatred of evil. They must not leave the classroom before the end of the lesson: when the bell rings, they should depart in an orderly fashion.
The pupils must treat one another in a friendly and truly Christian manner, and there must be no quarrelling during lessons. If there is any argument it must be referred to the Rector and the case must be stated to him in a Christian way. If it is not settled satisfactorily, it is to be referred to the ministers of God's Word, who will give an authoritative ruling.
The headmaster who is chosen and appointed is to be a God-fearing man, reasonably well qualified, a man of friendly disposition, neither rough nor harsh, able to set a good example to the scholars and to deal patiently with difficulties as they arise. In addition to the ordinary class teaching, he is to care for the morals and the industry of the establishment, take notice of and reprimand any who are late, be responsible for the punishments in the assembly hall, make sure that the bell rings at the proper time, and that the pupils are neatly dressed...
Lessons follow [morning assembly], lasting in summer time for an hour and a half; then they are allowed half an hour for breakfast, which is to be eaten quietly and with prayers, After that there is reaching until 9 o'clock. In winter lessons are from 7 to 9 without any break for breakfast, which is to be taken incidentally whilst pupils are working at their texts. When morning lessons are over, the Lord's Prayer is to be said in each classroom, together with grace. Then, reminding them of their work, two teachers accompany them to their homes, taking this duty in turn.
In both winter and summer the pupils return after dinner at 11 and practise singing the psalms until 12. Then a lesson follows until 1, followed, after prayers, by an hour's break; then two hours lessons until 4 o'clock. Then the bell rings for assembly in the hall where, in the presence of headmaster and teachers, punishments are administered with deliberate moderation, and three pupils say in French the Lord's Prayer, the Creed and the ten commandments. Dismissal follows, with the headmaster giving a blessing.
| Source: G. Baum, E. Caunitz and E. Reuss, eds., Corpus Reformatorum (Opera Calvini), 59 vols. (Brunswick: 1863-90) vol. 38, cols. 75-80 p. 127. and vol. 38, cols. 69-74 pp. 125-6, respectively, Translated by G.R. Potter and M. Greengrass under the title John Calvin (London: Edward Arnold, 1983).
__________________
Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project
"Let your Morning Thoughts, and your last Evening Thoughts, be what shall become of you to all Eternity." -- Matthew Poole
|