Training for Service⤒🔗

Luther never intended to provide a well-balanced treatise on the upbringing and education of children. But as a father and as a theologian, he made pronouncements that have impor­tant pedagogical significance. This was the case in the exten­sive correspondence he devoted to education, and it showed up in his sermons, his table discourses, and in his published books. Let us take a look at Luther's opinions with regard to the purpose of education, his views on practical methods of upbringing at home, and his plea for the education of all children.

The central theme in Luther's views on education is that the instruction must function to "bring one to the service of God." Luther does proceed from this general principle to more detailed matters. To serve God, according to him, means to live in faith, and thus, as recipient of the love God gives, one must go to work as God's fellow worker. The upbringing at home and the education at school are both subservient to that purpose. The upbringing of a child is a two-fold task: First the child must be brought up "unto the Lord." But related to that task is the calling to instruct the child toward a Christian way of life in all aspects, in industry and in society. It is remarkable to note how Luther, in contrast with the Roman Catholics, gives daily work and schooling in subjects other than religion and catechism a definitive place in that service of God. It is therefore that the child must prepare himself for a vocation. It is also for that reason that a mother who looks after her children, pro­viding them with food and drink and washing and bathing them, cannot ask for a holier and more God-pleasing vocation.

Upbringing in the Family←⤒🔗

Luther is not at all vague in pointing out who are primarily responsible for the upbringing of the children: Father and Mother are. Father and Mother are the ones who are charged, under God's law, with the task of bringing up and "govern­ing" the children. As a monarch rules over his subjects, so parents must govern their households. "To bring up" means "to govern." Luther even carried through this comparison:

As the government bears the sword according to Romans 13, so Father must carry the rod.

However, if that would cause you to expect that this ap­proach of Luther's resulted in a recommendation from him for an autocratic upbringing, you are mistaken. Referring to Ephe­sians 6 and Colossians 3 ("Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged"), he warns in an urgent, pedagogical manner against extreme measures in the upbringing.

One extreme direction could be that authority and disci­pline degenerate into tyranny: parents use every means to achieve what they desire, with the result that the child becomes disspirited, frightened, and unprepared for life. Luther takes an example from his own life:

My parents have treated me so severely that I became afraid of them. On account of one nut, my mother once gave me such a thrashing that she drew blood. This severe discipline made me flee to the monastery. With all their undoubtedly good intentions, they only succeeded in frightening me.

The other extreme direction is that the upbringing degener­ates into laxity. You see that when parents let their children go, because "they are only children and don't know what they are doing." Luther was convinced that laxity during childhood causes a child to grow up with the attitude that the only things that matter are riches, honor, and the good life. The real pur­pose of upbringing is not being reached in that way either.

Thus, Luther's views on education are clear: apply disci­pline and be merciful, according to the measure of the child's nature. Use these means of instruction, but don't let them do damage to the relationship of trust, which, according to Luther, is also the main component in child rearing. This relationship of trust is essential if positive results of the upbringing are to be expected. If children are motivated by fear for their parents, which may easily turn into hatred, the parents' intentions and motivations have turned into their reverse.

Luther uses the following striking illustration of what is a proper balance between discipline and mildness: both must be there, the rod that strikes and the apple that entices. And, more specifically, the rod must be in the left hand; the apple, in the right. The apple, as visible mouthwatering token of Father's love, must convince the child that discipline will be used if necessary, but then also only as an act of love. And the apple comes first and last.

Luther in his Family←⤒🔗

It will be clear by now that Luther considered a harmoni­ous, personal relationship between parents and children based on God's Word of utmost importance. In his own family life he attempted to put that into practice. That is the reason why he gave daily instruction at home. It was for that purpose that he wrote his short catechism. As a household, the Luther family had a daily family worship of singing, reading of the Scriptures and the law, and prayer. In his prayers the great reformer was very humble:

Beloved Father in heaven, since Thou hast given me Thy name and office by also making me a father, bestow upon me this grace, that I may lead and govern my be­loved wife and my children as a Christian family. Give me wis­dom and strength that I may lead them and bring them up well. Give them a dedicated heart and an obedient will to follow Thy commandments and instruction. Amen.

Luther considered it most important that the child was ap­proached at his own level. A letter sent in 1530 to his son Hans is an example. He wrote:

I have come upon a marvellous, happy garden, where many children go, children who are dressed in beautiful clothes. They search for apples, pears, plums, and cherries between the trees; they sing, they hop around playing their games; they have a lovely little horse with gilded reins and a silver saddle. I asked the man whose garden that was and who those children were. And he said, 'Those are children who love to pray, love to learn, and who are indeed pious.' and I said, 'My good man, I have a son whose name is Hans Luther. May he, too, come to this garden some day and eat of these beautiful apples and pears and ride that nice little horse and play with those children?' The man said: 'If he loves to pray and learn, if he is truly pious, why, he may surely come to this garden, and so may Philip and Justin…

Luther wrote somewhere that we ourselves must become children in order to attract the children. He had a high esteem for good teachers:

Sometimes I wish that only those should become minister who have first been good schoolmasters, be­cause a schoolmaster has made it a matter of course to speak plainly to those with little knowledge.

From this it will be clear that Luther looked upon the infant as a child, and not as an undersized adult.

In official texts on pedagogy, it is almost always taken for granted that the enlightened thinkers of the eighteenth century, like Rousseau and later Pestalozzi and Froebel, are the ones who discovered the child. But that is not so. Most certainly in the Reformation of the sixteenth century and most clearly in Luther's line of thinking were infants seen as children, and as such considered very important.

Instruction at School←⤒🔗

In Luther's opinion, the instruction at school is comple­mentary to the upbringing at home. His view with regard to the task of the government shines through in his well-known letter of 1524 "to the councillors of all cities in Germany, that they must open and maintain Christian schools." He wrote:

You (that is the magistrates) claim that it is the task of the parents to care for the children and to bring them up, and not the task of the government. Agreed. But what if the parents don't do it? Must the children then not be instructed? How could a government justify such neglect?

Besides, Luther allowed, even though parents may be able to educate their chil­dren, they still are often short of time simply because house­work and the daily vocation take up all the parents' time. Luther did not advocate schools established by the parents. After all, he lived in the sixteenth century! Also in The Nether­lands, education was mainly a government responsibility. But then of course a Christian government.

Schools for All: Boys and Girls←⤒🔗

Thus Luther favored the formation of school systems, and in that respect he wanted to have all children together, boys and girls. How modern a desire in his days! He pleaded for that, because he was convinced that schools are an important means to achieve the purpose of the upbringing. Therefore schools must do both: teach religious subjects and give instruc­tion in basic cultural skills, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Since all these children are baptized — an assump­tion Luther makes — it is mandatory that they be so instructed. That follows naturally from Luther's view on the place of the child within the covenant. Because of that place, the child must learn to read the Bible and so gain access to the Word of God. To that end the child must also have a good command of his mother tongue. Added to that is the fact that children can learn to master not only those subjects, but geography, history, and music as well, while they are playing and having fun. The matter of motivation, in Luther's thinking, certainly received all the attention it rightfully deserves. Luther himself stated:

Since the young ones are apt to dance and hop around, as it comes up in their minds, something one cannot stop and should certainly not forbid, why then not build such schools as I sug­gested and teach those subjects, since God has graciously made it so that children, while at play, can absorb languages and ac­quire other knowledge, such as history.

Luther is very quick to discredit the contention that the children cannot be missed at home or in the workplace: "It is my proposal that boys should go to school a couple of hours each day, so that they can still be home the rest of the day to help out or to learn a trade, or whatever, so that both purposes are served while they are still young and have time on their hands. Otherwise they will only spend all their time playing with marbles, kicking balls, or fighting.

Also girls should go to school, according to Luther, so that they, too, become better equipped for their task and calling. Luther said: "A girl could easily spend an hour at school each day and still perform all her duties in the household; she spends a lot more time than that sleeping, dancing, and playing. It is all a question of wheth­er people are willing to take seriously their calling to bring the young ones up in the proper way, to help the world in general, and to give proper counsel by supplying it with people of wisdom and good sense. The devil would rather deal with rough chunks of wood and folk without much meaning, so that things aren't all that well among the people on this earth."

Educational Contents←⤒🔗

Besides Luther's well-formulated opinion about the need for schools, there was also his clearly expressed opinion on the contents of that education. Mention was made already by the attention Luther wanted to see paid to religion, cultural skills, history, music, and the mother tongue. We should also pay at­tention to Luther's high esteem for physical education. That is an essential component of the reformatorial view on educa­tion. Your body may not become an obstruction; instead, it must be made ready and kept fit for the purpose of fulfilling your divine calling in God's service and for the benefit of your fellow man.

So far we have had in mind only the so-called "common folks" schools. With respect to the "Latin schools," the ones that prepared young men and women for the "higher positions," such as preacher, physician, professor, legal counsel, and university itself, Luther seems to have agreed with the criteria of humanism (Erasmus) for the requirements of educa­tion. But also in those surroundings he favored religious instruction, not as a separate subject, but as a leaven that permeates all instruction, thus becoming the cornerstone of that education.

It must be admitted that Luther has not prepared a well-organized formal treatise on education. Neither did he for­mulate a well-thought-out educational program. Yet, the materials put together by Luther exhibit his basic design for teach­ing models through the seventeenth century, and they served to rejuvenate education and to replace the so-called seven free arts of antiquity and humanism.

The starting point for all Luther's thoughts on child rear­ing and education was the Word of God. From the Scriptures Luther gave practical advice for the upbringing at home, and he supplied the building materials with which education in the schools could be constructed.

Besides, he reminded the governments of his days of their duty to cooperate in working toward that educational goal, the service of God as fellow workers. He did not overlook the fact that the pupils are but children. In all these matters his pur­pose and the goals established by humanists and Roman Cath­olics were poles apart. That's why in the matter of child rear­ing and education, Luther was truly a reformer.