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JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE: KEY MOMENTS
JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE: KEY MOMENTS
1651 | Birth at Rheims, France |
1660 | Off to school at the College des Bons Enfants |
1668 | Made a Canon of the Rheims Cathedral Chapter |
1670 | Goes to Paris to study theology at Saint Sulpice |
1672 | Returns to Rheims following death of both parents; takes over direction of the family |
1678 | Ordained a priest; upon the death of his friend, Canon Roland, becomes protector of the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus who run charity schools for girls |
1679 | Invited Adrien Nyel into his home; beginning of his gradual involvement in charity schools for boys; Nyel begins two schools in Rheims |
1680 | Takes charge of training and directing Nyel's school masters who one contemporary described as gamblers drunkards, libertines, ignorant, and brutal; later in his life, De La Salle admitted, Those whom I was at first obliged to employ as teachers, I ranked below my own valet, hence the very thought of having to live with them was unbearable. |
1681 | Moves the teachers into his home, much to the disgust of his friends and relatives |
1682 | The group becoming too large, De La Salle and the teachers move to a new house |
1683 | Resigns his canonry |
1684 | First vows of the group; decide on a habit; take name Brothers of the Christian Schools; he give away his money to show the teachers that, like them, he must rely on God's providence |
1686 | Founds a training college for schoolmasters and a formation program for men wishing to join the community |
1688 | Assumes direction of the Brothers' first school in Paris; the first lawsuits are filed against him to stop his work |
1691 | The Heroic Vow: John Baptist de La Salle, Gabriel Drolin, and Nicolas Vuyart vowed association and union in order to establish the Society of the Christian Schools "even if only we three remained in the Society and were obliged to beg for alms and live on bread alone" |
1694 | Twelve men take vows as Brothers of the Christian Schools |
1698 | Sunday Academy opens |
1699 | St. Placide school sacked; another lawsuit; opens a training college |
1698-
1719 | During the rest of De La Salle's life, many schools were opened throughout France: in Chartres, a school for seamen in Calais, in Macon, Versailles, Marseilles, Boulogne, Moulins, Les Vans, and so on. |
1702 | A powerful pastor, La Chetardye, tries to depose De La Salle |
1704 | More attacks by the Writing Masters and Masters of the Little Schools |
1705 | Boarding school opened in St. Yon; teaches commercial courses |
1706 | Opens first school for delinquents in France |
1712 | Second journey to the south of France; more lawsuits |
1714 | Brothers in Paris order him to return to take direction of the community again |
1715 | Lives at novitiate at St. Yon, Rouen |
1717 | Election of Brother Barthelemy as Superior |
1719 | Dies at St. Yon |
THE WRITINGS OF DE LA SALLE:
For the Brothers:
Memoir on the Habit
The Rule
Method of Mental Prayer
Meditation for Time of Retreat
Meditation for Sundays/Feasts
For the Schools:
The Conduct of Schools
The Rules of Christian Decorum and Civility
The Duties of a Christian
Manual of Piety for Schools
DE LA SALLE'S EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS
1. Conversion of the Educator/Mission for the Welfare of the Young
The decision to go through with his resolution to invite the teachers to his table would also have profound consequences for Father De La Salle deep within the very core of his being. It was a bold and significant first step that would bring him personally face to face with the world of the poor. There he would experience within himself the cry of the poor in the concrete circumstances of their misery, their need, so far from salvation did they seem to be, to hear the good news of the Gospel. In that cry, the young priest would hear the voice of God challenging him to begin the work of his own conversion to live the Gospel. It was the beginning of a process that would bring him along a road that he had neither the intention, the desire, nor the courage to travel by himself.The Work is Yours, Brother Luke Salm
2. Emphasizing the Dignity of Teaching as a God-given Ministry:
Since you are ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ in the work that you do, you must act as representing Jesus Christ himself....They (the children) are a letter which Christ dictates to you, which you write each day in their hearts, not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God. For the Spirit acts in you. (Meditations for the Time of Retreat, p. 54)
3. Stressing that Children Should be Respected and Loved by Teachers:
Jesus compares those who have care for souls to a good shepherd who is very careful of his sheep.....Have you....charity and tenderness towards the poor children whom you have to instruct? Do you avail yourself of the affection the children have for you to attract them to God? If you show the firmness of a father in withdrawing them from evil, you should also show the tenderness of a mother in gathering them together, and in doing them all the good in your power. (Meditations, p. 400)
4. Claiming that Poor Children Should Receive an Education:
Consider that it is only too common for the working class and the poor to allow their children to live on their own, roaming all over as if they had no home, until they are able to be put to some work. These parents have no concern to send their children to school because they are too poor to pay teachers, or else they have to go out to look for work and leave their children to fend for themselves.
The results of this condition are regrettable. These unfortunate children, accustomed to an idle life for many years, have great difficulty when it comes time for them to go to work.....God has had the goodness to remedy so great a misfortune by the establishment of the Christian Schools....where children are kept all day and learn reading, writing, and their religion. In these schools the children are always kept busy, so that when their parents want them to go to work, they are prepared for employment (Meditations for Time of Retreat, p. 50.)
5. Developing the Simultaneous Method:
He spent hours each day in the badly ventilated, overcrowded rooms, observing his teachers, and thinking out the most advantageous system to adopt. The individual method....where the teacher had only a handful of pupils, was out of the question.... The class, he thought, would have to be treated as one unit, with subdivisions according to the ability of the pupils, and with one Brother instructing the whole group.
In this way he came to adopt the simultaneous or class method of teaching which has since become universal. (Battersby, De La Salle, pp. 103-104)
6. Teaching in the Vernacular Language:
Learning Latin was impractical. Poor children remained only a short time in school. They could learn to read and write more rapidly in their native language.
7. Disciplining Students with Respect for Their Individuality:
A widely followed book at the time, The Parish School, encouraged teachers to treat recalcitrant students this way: The "jackass" shall be conducted around with some straw hanging in front of him by an attached stick. He shall be made to wear a dunce's cap... The teacher shall encourage the students to make fun of him.
De La Salle strictly limited the conditions for corporal punishment and instructed his teachers never to humiliate students.
In a letter to Brother Denis in 1708, he said: It is disgraceful to call them hurtful names... Keep an eye on that Brother who slaps the students and see to it that he stops doing it.
To Brother Robert in 1709, he writes: Make sure that you keep an even disposition in class, and don't give way to impatience. It is not good to throw the ferule at the students in class, but it is disgraceful to slap them, especially in church.
8. Founding a Teacher Training College:
At the time almost no training was available for teachers. Anyone who could read and write, even slightly, could pose as a teacher.
9. Opening a Sunday Academy for Workers:
Workers would come to school on Sundays to learn reading, writing, religion, basic mathematics, and drafting.
10. Starting a Boarding School for Boys to Learn Commerce:
Merchants wanted boys trained to manage businesses. They required practical training not found in traditional schools.
11. Beginning the First School for Delinquents in France:
Traditionally, delinquents were just tossed in prison. The Brothers actually taught them skills.
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