Origin of the work:
1652 Sárospatak
Editions:
1652 Sárospatak
1657 Amsterdam, Opera didactica omnia III
1876 Praha, J. A. Komenského Drobnější spisy některé, Czech translation by F. J. Zoubek
1915 Brno, Veškeré spisy J. A. Komenského, vol. IX
1957 Prague, Opera didactica omnia III (phototype edition)
1957 Prague, in: J. A. Comenius scholarum novi ordinis formator. J. A. Komenský tvůrce nového uspořádání škol (in Latin & Czech; Czech translation by J. Kopecký & M. Klučka
1960 Prague, Vybrané spisy J. A. Komenského, vol. II, Czech translation by J. Kopecký
Contents:
From the very beginning of his work at Sárospatak Comenius had to contend with various obstacles, foremost among which were the indifference of the teachers and the slackness of the students. Having found that his speeches to the school (see the entries for the Methodi encomia, the De utilitate nomenclaturae and the De elegantiorum studio), which were designed to spur the pupils on to work, had not helped the situation, and that his publication of treatises by Joachim Ringelberg and Erasmus of Rotterdam (see the entry for the Epistula ad Fortium Erasmumque) had missed its mark, Comenius commenced to put together the Fortius redivivus.
Firstly, he sets down the definition of a school; schools are places of work, spiritual work, and are the workshops of humanity and light, and they are not places of games of dice and cards or other empty pastimes. A good school requires good teachers, good students and a good administrator, whose joint efforts result in unbounded good spirits, readiness, effort and endeavour. All of this, however, can be brought down by a pernicious monster – idleness, the effects of which are manifested as apathy and a loathing of work. It affects both teachers, who do not teach enough, and pupils, who are too lazy to listen to their teachers, read books, train their eloquence, make extracts from the authors or think for themselves, but also school administrators, who do not pay due attention to the correct running of the school, and let everything run its own course. To break the wretched course of this vice, it is necessary for teachers to cast off laziness themselves as well as from their charges, that they might be a constant example of industry, calling to be imitated, and that they will deal with the students not as tyrants but as fathers. Those that do not wish to study are to be expelled from the school. Teachers should be assisted by the administrators of the school, parents, priests and rulers. Comenius hopes, that the seed will be sown, with God’s aid, by women.
For further study, see also:
Veškeré spisy J. A. Komenského, vol. IX. Brno 1915, pp47-48
Vybrané spisy J. A. Komenského, vol. II. Prague 1960, pp481-482
J. V. Novák & J. Hendrich, Jan Amos Komenský, jeho život a spisy. Prague 1932, pp472-473
Jan Kumpera, J. A. Komenský, poutník na rozhraní věků. Prague & Ostrava 1992, p239