The following is part 6 of an excerpt from Presbyterians: Their History and Beliefs by Walter Lingle (John Knox Press, 1950). Click here to read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.
John Calvin believed in Christian education. He believed that religion and learning should always go hand in hand. He accordingly organized a complete system of education in Geneva, beginning with the primary schools for children and ending with the Academy (or University) where young men might be prepared for the ministry and other walks of life. These schools were controlled and supervised by the church. Only Christian teachers were employed. Thus John Calvin set up standards for Christian education which have been admired and followed by Presbyterians from that day to this. Bancroft, the American historian, says: “We boas of our common schools; Calvin was the father of popular education, the inventor of the system of free schools.”
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge 
[…] John Calvin died on May 27, 1564, the year in which Willam Shakespeare was born. A noted scoffer intimates, in language which is none too reverent, that it was a blessed exchange for the world. But many informed and thoughtful people, with a full appreciation of Shakespeare, do not agree with the scoffer. Here is what Philip Schaff, the distinguised church historian, says: “Calvin’s moral power extended over all the Reformed Churches, and over several nationalities–Swiss, French, German, Polish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Butch, English, Scottish, and American. His religious influence upon the Anglo-Saxon race of both continents is greater than that of any native Englishman, and continues to this day.” leave a comment « John Calvin: Christian Education […]