School, Sunday. See Sunday-school,
Schoolmaster is the inexact rendering in Gal. iii, 24,25 of TTaidayujyoc ("instructor," 1 Cor. iv, 15), which does not signify a padagoffne in the modern sense, but a person, usually a slave or freedman, to whose care the boys of a family were anciently committed at the age of six or seven years, who watched over their physical and moral training and accompanied them to the pul)- lic schools and elsewhere, or provided them with teach- ers (TTaicSojua^cTf, Quintilian, i, 1 1), but did not himself instruct them. See Smith, iJict. of Class. A ntiq. s. v. " Psedagogue."
Schoolmen. See Scholasticism.
Schools, Alexandrian, See Alexandrian
Schools.
Schools, Christian. At a very early period, schools were established in connection with the cliiirch- es; and if no building was provided for this purpose, the schools were taught in the baptistry and the vestry. This is evident from the observation which Socrates makes upon the education of Jidian the Apostate — " that in his youth he frequented the church, where, in those days, the schools were kept." He speaks of the schools of grammar and rhetoric, which, it seems, were then taught at Constantinople in some apartment belonging to the church. Catechetical and charity schools were also established, especially for instruction in scriptural knowledge. The second Council of Ch.^lons, in 813, en- acted that bishops should set up schools to teach ordi- nary literature and a knowledge of the Scriptures. The
sixth General Council of Constantinople recommended the setting-up of charity schools in all the country churches. One of its canons is to this purpose: "that presbyters in country towns and villages should have schools to teach all such children as were sent to them, for which they should exact no reward nor take any- thing, except the parents of the children thought tit to make them any charitable present by way of voluntary oblation. Another of those canons speaks of schools in churches and monasteries, subject to the bishop's care and direction ; from which we may conclude that schools were anciently very common appendants, both of cathedral and country churches" (Bingham, Antiq.of the Christ. Church, i, 314), See P^ed agogics.
Schools, Hebrew. As this subject is intimately connected with the question of education and mode of instruction, which cannot be well dealt with separately, we propose to discuss historically these three topics in the present article (in which we principally follow that of Ginsburg in Kitto's Cyclop., with important additions furnished by the Rev. B. Pick). See Education.
I. In the Patriarchal Period. — We have nothing in- dicative of any place of public instruction in Scripture earlier than the Book of Samuel. But it is reasonable to suppose that, as the world became peopled, some measures were taken for the instruction of the young in all those parts of learning that were then known ; and particularly among those persons who had the knowledge of the true God, who would naturally be anxious that the seeds of religious learning should be timeh' sown in their children's minds, and that they should be instructed in everything appertaining to di- vine rites and worship, of which we have reason to be- lieve that singing and sacred poetry formed a large part. The Jewish doctors, indeed, have given us decided as- sertions on the subject of primitive teaching. They say that Adam instructed his posterity, and that Enoch suc- ceeded him in the office. Enoch, we know, was a proph- et (Jude 14) ; and in the later parts of the Old Test, we shall see that prophets were public instructors. The Arabians have traditions of Enoch under the name of Edris; that he wrote thirty volumes of revelations; that he was the first wlio knew astronomy and arith- metic, and wrote with the pen. Eusebius says he was the first who taught the knowledge of the stars, in which he was instructed by the angels of God [see Enoch ] ; that on his translation to heaven he was succeeded by Noah, a preacher, or teacher, of righteous- ness (2 Pet. ii, 5). The next great public instructor, ac- cording to the rabbins, was Abraham, concerning whom Josephus relates {Ant. i, 8) that he taught the Egj'p- tians astronomy and arithmetic. The ancient histori- ans Berosus and Hecatous commend his learning; and Eupolimus writes " that he was superior to all men in wisdom, and taught astronomy to the Phaniicians." The Targum also countenances the idea that Abraham taught in Haran. Jacob, according to the Jewish doc- tors, devoted himself to teaching instead of living the life of a hunter, like Esau ; for (Gen. xxv, 27) " he was a plain man, dwelling in tents," is expressed by the Targums " he was a perfect man, a minister of the house of doctrine" (i. e. a school of instruction) ; but aU this is mere fancy.
II. Fi-om the Exode to the Captivity. — Being under a theocracy, and engaged almost exclusively in pastoral and agricultural pursuits, it was most important that the Hebrews, in the early stages of their existence, should educate their youth in a pre-eminently religious, practical, and simple manner. The parents, upon whom the education of the children at first devolved, were therefore strictly enjoined to instruct their offspring in the precepts of the law, in the fear of God (Deut. iv, 9, 10; xxxi, 13; xxxii, 46), and in the symbols which rep- resented the dealings of Providence with their nation in past days, and which were evidently designed to excite the curiosity of the children and to elicit inquiry, thus furnishing the parents with pictorial illustrations to fa-