ect-matter of the course of
instruction as is suited to the age and stage of advancement of its
pupils."[61]

This course of study attracted the attention of all Europe. Karl Schmidt
says that in 1578 "his school numbered several thousand students, among
whom were two hundred of noble birth, twenty-four counts and barons, and
three princes--from Portugal, Poland, Denmark, England, etc."

Paulsen, while not belittling the work of Sturm, thinks that the
celebrated course has but little in it different from the courses of the
Wittenberg reformers. He says, "If Melanchthon had had the planning of a
school course for a large city, it would have been much the same (as
Sturm's). The Saxon school plan of 1528 was effective only in small
cities and country places. The basis of both (Melanchthon's and Sturm's)
is the same,--grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, with music and religion. In
the large schools, like those of Nuremberg and Hamburg, a beginning of
Greek and mathematics was added."[62]

Sturm's course has the merit of definiteness, thoroughness, and unity.
There seems to be some doubt as to his success in carrying it out. It is
certain that but few students completed his course compared with the
number who began it. Instead of sixty to seventy pupils in the last
class, there were only nine or ten. The influence of Sturm, however,
spread not only over Germany, but also reached to many other countries,
and his Strasburg course of study shaped the work in the classical
schools for many years.

TROTZENDORF (1490-1556)

Valentine Trotzendorf was born in poverty and beset by many difficulties
in boyhood. His mother was a constant inspiration to him, and when he
was disposed to give up the struggle, her words, "My son, stick to your
school," led him to continue until he overcame the obstacles. When ready
for the university he went to Leipsic, where he studied Greek and Latin
for two years. In 1515 he became a teacher in a village near Leipsic, a
position that he retained for three years. He then went to Wittenberg,
where he studied under Melanchthon for five years, and became very
intimate with that great teacher. His fame as a teacher was made at
Goldberg, where he was thirty-five years rector of a school. Like
Melanchthon, he believed that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom, and that the school is an adjunct of the Church. With Sturm, he
laid great stress upon the classic languages, and insisted that his
pupils