The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1923-11-21

primitive is directly related to the
progress Of education; and the var
ious degrees of education, as applied
to the various phases of religion, are
an exposition of the progress of re-
progression Of the human soul.
Education is a quality of learning
whose need is felt by every man and
woman in constant craving for an
answer to the common questions OF
everyday life and the unsolved ones
of the spiritual.
Education, considered from the
standpoint of matured life, though
somewhat different, is closely related
to the education of the child. Man
has the quality Of reasoning, OF
weighing truth and error. These are
lacking in the childish mind, and to
surround it daily in its school work
with the doctrine and dogma of any
particular creed, is tantamount in its
results to producing a product of en-
vironment.
OF early education, little need be
said. The PHILOSOPHERS of Plato, Arts
totle, Socrates; the writings of Plu-
tarch, the culture of the Alexandrian
schools-all have had an honored
place in the progress of learning
Pagan schools were and remained
the seat of learning until about the
fifth century, when Christianity, in
jecting the weight Of it's doctrines in
to the PHILOSOPHERS of the age, reared
the first Christian schools. There de-
veloped from them, on through the
middle ages, two schools with a dis
tinct line of cleavage. That of the
knight and the other of the monk
are apparent in the education Of the
castle and the cloister.
The flower of knighthood, founded
on homage and fealty to the existing
order, developed from one, the sup
porter of the church from the other
One taught to glory in deeds of chiv-
airy, to defend the weak, the unpro'
tected, the oppressed, to battle for the
right and to enjoy life to it's fullest
extent. The other taught the narrow
views of the church. The monk Of
the church, reared and cared for by
celibates like himself and taught tc
regard woman as the worst among
temptations, labored to produce ar
other like himself, to magnify the
pomp and splendor of the church and
also its political power.
The percentage of the population
educated in either of these schools
was, however, very small, and learn
ing was impaired mainly among the
ruling class for the sole purpose OF
better and more easily ruling theii
subjects. One by the sword; the
other through promise of spiritual
reward or punishment and through
superstition. Thus, coming down in
to the middle ages, were developed
these two schools, mainly the results
of a division among the orders OF
monks by their political affiliations to
the then existing feudal system or the
Roman church.
Before the years of the Reforma-
ton, the system of the castle degen-
Grated and almost disappeared and
the monk in the Roman church re-
manned almost the sole repository OF
the knowledge of that period. This
serving the political ambition of the
clerical party conferred in the Roman
church was followed by the repression
Of general and religious education, ex-
cept that which followed the well-de-
fined and narrow views of the few
constituting the ruling element and
later gave way to tyranny and ex-
cesses -uch as were unknown in the
history of the human race.
About the time of the Reformation,
a great revival of learning spread
throughout Christendom. Education
which had been for a very select few.
now became the privilege of many
The line of demarcation between the
two schools became not so much one
of general knowledge, but of religious
utilization, and the development Of the
Reformation is closely allied to the
progress of the institutions of learn
ing which sprang from it, giving it
strength and imparting to the people
much that had been withheld by the
Roman church. The Protestant schools
of this period fourished and became
the best in Europe.
The Catholic monk taught schools
and degenerated with the degeneracy
of the clerical life of the Roman
church, so prevalent at that time
The situation, however, was saved by
the founding of the order of Jesuits.
which covered Europe with its schools
and universities. The success Of the
Jesuit schools within the next hun
dred and fifty years probably exceed
ed the widest dreams Of their found
er. Ruled with an iron hand, Jesuit
ism became the right arm of the Ro-
man church in it's crusades against
heresy. Politically, by reason Of COL
fusion between Church and State, the
Jesuits became the power behind the
throne, disdaining the rulers and even
the Pope himself. Suppression was
the inevitable consequence Of their