It is no surprise that he commenced schools from primary level up to university level. Luther was known as the father of popular education and the application of his principles made the land of Luther the land of libraries and schools.
It was Luther's deputy Melanchthon, 1497-1560, who concentrated on setting up an educational system and in particular secondary schools. He was known as the 'Creator of Protestant educational system in Germany.' He wrote textbooks on Latin and Greek grammar, psychology, ethics, history and religion. In the universities established professors had to be bound by the confessions of the church.
Luther's had praise for Christian school teachers: I tell you in a word that a diligent devoted school teacher, preceptor or any person, no matter what is his title is, who faithfully trains and teaches boys, can never receive an adequate reward and no money is sufficient to pay the debt you owe him, yet we treat them with contempt as if they were of no account whatever and all the time, we profess to be Christians. For my part, if I were compelled to leave off preaching and to enter some other vocation I know not an office that would please me better than that of schoolmaster, or teacher of boys.
For I am convinced that next to preaching, this is the most useful and greatly the best labour in all the world, and, in fact I am sometimes in doubt which of the positions is more honourable. For you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, and it is hard to reform old sinners but this is what by preaching we undertake to do and our labour is often spent in vain, but it is easy to train and bend young trees though haply in the process some may be broken. My friend, nowhere on earth can you find a higher virtue than is displayed by the stranger who takes your children and gives them a faithful training, a labour which parents very seldom perform even for their own offspring.
Luther's had praise for Christian school teachers: I tell you in a word that a diligent devoted school teacher, preceptor or any person, no matter what is his title is, who faithfully trains and teaches boys, can never receive an adequate reward and no money is sufficient to pay the debt you owe him, yet we treat them with contempt as if they were of no account whatever and all the time, we profess to be Christians. For my part, if I were compelled to leave off preaching and to enter some other vocation I know not an office that would please me better than that of schoolmaster, or teacher of boys.
For I am convinced that next to preaching, this is the most useful and greatly the best labour in all the world, and, in fact I am sometimes in doubt which of the positions is more honourable. For you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, and it is hard to reform old sinners but this is what by preaching we undertake to do and our labour is often spent in vain, but it is easy to train and bend young trees though haply in the process some may be broken. My friend, nowhere on earth can you find a higher virtue than is displayed by the stranger who takes your children and gives them a faithful training, a labour which parents very seldom perform even for their own offspring.
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