SCOPE OF THE TREATISES OF LOCKE AND MILTON
It cannot be denied that neither Locke’s “Thoughts on Education”〖Harvard Classics, iii, 233ff.〗 nor Milton’s “Tractate on Education”〖H. C., xxxvii, 9ff.〗 is a document of such historical importance as the chief work of Comenius, “The Great Didactic.” Indeed we might well wish that both Locke and Milton had studied this treatise and had written in the light of it. Their minds, better trained, both of them, than that of the Moravian, and more highly endowed by nature, might have given more permanently profitable form to his far-reaching projects. At it is, Locke does not refer to Comenius’s work at all, and Milton refers to it only slightingly, as by hearsay. Accordingly, although we have in the “Thoughts” an essay on the education of a gentleman’s son at home, with the improvements on current practice suggested by the sound sense of one of the first modern psychologists and one of the most clear-headed of moral philosophers, and in the “Tractate” a scheme for the education of the better classes under requirements suggested by the vigorous mentality of a great poet and an ardent patriot, we can find in neither much sympathy with the new movement for science nor any forecast of democracy in and through education.
Yet these works of Locke and Milton are still readable and profitable English essays, whereas the “Didactica Magna” (which was first written in Czech and later translated by its author into Latin) is now to be remembered chiefly as an important document in the history of education.
The power of Milton’s prose, his generous vision, and his place in English literature and English history lend an interest to the “Tractate” aside from any present pertinence in Milton’s practical suggestions. Locke’s place in English philosophy and the insight and consistency of his views, especially as to the government of children in the home, give to the “Thoughts” a permanent value. If we read Milton’s essay for the vigor and dignity of its style and for its general inspiration, admitting the present inapplicability of most of its detailed proposals, it will well repay us. If we take into account the avowed limitation of scope in Locke’s treatise and make due allowance for the conditions of life and schooling in his day, we may still find his advice worthy of careful study.