(3) The educational principles of Comenius were revolutionary as to the
school practices of the time. They have come to be almost universally
accepted at present. We can here state only a few of the most
essential.[104]

1. If we would teach and learn surely, we must follow the order of
Nature.

2. Let everything be presented through the senses.

3. Proceed from the easy to the difficult, from the near to the remote,
from the general to the special, from the known to the unknown.

4. Make learning pleasant by the choice of suitable material, by not
attempting too much, by the use of concrete examples, and by the
selection of that which is of utility.

5. Fix firmly by frequent repetitions and drills.

6. Let all things advance by indissoluble steps, so that everything
taught to-day may give firmness and stability to what was taught
yesterday, and point the way to the work of to-morrow.[105]

7. Let everything that is useless be eliminated from teaching.

8. Learn to do by doing.

9. Each language should be learned separately, have a definite time
assigned to it, be learned by use rather than precept,--that is, the
practice in learning should be with familiar things,--and all tongues
should be learned by one and the same method.

10. The example of well-ordered life of parents, nurses, teachers, and
schoolfellows is very important for children; but precepts and rules of
life must be added to example.

11. As knowledge of God is the highest of all knowledge, the Holy
Scriptures must be the alpha and omega of the Christian schools.

Comenius gives explicit directions as to methods of instruction, class
management, discipline, courses of study, including a discussion of each
branch, and moral and religious teaching. He presents these directions
in the most remarkable and complete series of precepts and principles to
be found in educational literature.[106]

MILTON (1608-1674)

John Milton was "the most notable man who ever kept school or published
a schoolbook." While his fame rests on "Paradise Lost" and other great
literary works, he deserves a place among educators for his "Tractate on
Education," and for his sympathy with educational reform. He anticipated
Herbert Spencer's celebrated definition,--"To prepare us for complete
living is the function which education has to discharge,"--in the
following words: "I call, therefore, a complete and generous education
that which fits a man to perform justly