Editing Roger Ascham (section)

==Education==
Ascham was educated at the house of [[Barristers in England and Wales|barrister]] Sir [[Humphrey Wingfield]], Ascham tells us in the ''[[Toxophilus]],'' under a tutor named R. Bond. His preferred sport was [[archery]], and Sir Humphrey "would at term times bring down from London both bows and shafts and go with them himself to see them shoot". Hence Ascham's earliest English work, the ''Toxophilus'', the importance which he attributed to archery in educational establishments, and probably the reason for archery in the statutes of St Albans, [[Harrow School|Harrow]] and other [[Elizabethan]] schools.{{sfn|Leach|1911}}

Through ''Toxophilus'', Ascham sought to teach the art of shooting and present a literary piece with proper English vocabulary. He criticised other English authors for sprinkling foreign terms into their works. Prior to ''Toxophilus''{{'}} publication, the [[Bow and arrow|bow]] had been forgotten by the English people with [[firearms]] evolving as the prevailing weapons of choice. The book sparked renewed interest in the practice of archery and Ascham was able to present it as an "innocent, salutary, useful, and liberal division".<ref>Carlisle, James H., Samuel Johnson, and Arthur P. Stanley. ''Two Great Teachers: Johnson's Memoir of Roger Ascham ; and Selections from Stanley's Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, of Rugby''. Syracuse, N.Y: C. W. Bardeen, 1893. 18.</ref> Many recognise the use of the bow as a disciplined skill, requiring more practice than any other instrument of offence.<ref>Carlisle, James H., Samuel Johnson, and Arthur P. Stanley. ''Two Great Teachers: Johnson's Memoir of Roger Ascham; and Selections from Stanley's Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, of Rugby''. Syracuse, N.Y: C. W. Bardeen, 1893. 18–19.</ref>

From this private tuition Ascham was sent "about 1530", at the age, it is said, of fifteen, to [[St John's College, Cambridge]], then the largest and most learned college in either university,{{sfn|Leach|1911}} where he devoted himself specially to the study of Greek, then newly revived. Equipped with a small knowledge of the [[Greek language]], Ascham went on to read lectures and teach fellow St. John students the language. He believed that the best way to learn a language was by teaching it. Ascham was applauded for his encouragement of Greek learning in the University. In particular, [[Robert Pember]], a fellow student, praised Ascham's lectures and his method of teaching a language in order to learn it. In a letter to Ascham, Pember stated that "he would gain more knowledge by explaining one of [[Aesop's Fables]] to a boy, than by hearing one of Homer's poems explained by another".<ref name="Carlisle, James H 1893">Carlisle, James H., Samuel Johnson, and Arthur P. Stanley. ''Two Great Teachers: Johnson's Memoir of Roger Ascham; and Selections from Stanley's Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, of Rugby''. Syracuse, N.Y: C. W. Bardeen, 1893. 16.</ref> Ascham was then appointed by the University to read Greek at open schools and received payment through honorary stipends. This was monumental for Ascham because at the time, there was no established lecturer of Greek at the University.<ref>Carlisle, James H., Samuel Johnson, and Arthur P. Stanley. ''Two Great Teachers: Johnson's Memoir of Roger Ascham ; and Selections from Stanley's Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, of Rugby''. Syracuse, N.Y: C. W. Bardeen, 1893. 16–17.</ref> Here he fell under the influence of [[John Cheke|Sir John Cheke]], who was admitted a fellow in Ascham's first year, and [[Thomas Smith (diplomat)|Sir Thomas Smith]]. Cheke in turn was friendly with [[Anthony Denny]], who was brother-in-law to [[Kat Ashley]], governess to the Lady Elizabeth. His guide and friend was [[Robert Pember]], "a man of the greatest learning and with an admirable ability in the Greek tongue".{{sfn|Leach|1911}}

He became B.A. in 1533–34, and was nominated to a fellowship at St John's.<ref>{{acad|id=ASCN533R|name=Ascham, Roger}}</ref> [[Nicholas Metcalfe]] was then master of the college, "a papist, indeed, and if any young man given to the new learning as they termed or went beyond his fellows", he "lacked neither open praise, nor private exhibition". He procured Ascham's election to a fellowship, "though being a new bachelor of arts, I chanced among my companions to speak against the Pope ... after serious rebuke and some punishment, open warning was given to all the fellows, none to be so hardy, as to give me his voice at election." The day of election Ascham regarded as his birthday", and "the whole foundation of the poor learning I have and of all the furtherance that hitherto elsewhere I have been tamed". He took his M.A. degree on 3 July 1537. 

He stayed for some time at Cambridge taking pupils, among whom was [[William Grindal]], who in 1544 became tutor to [[Elizabeth I of England|Princess Elizabeth]]. [[Thomas Ashton (schoolmaster)|Thomas Ashton]], who was a foundational headmaster of [[Shrewsbury School]], and an influential Tudor dramatist was in the St John's College fellowship at the same time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sabiiti |first=Wilber |date=March 2017 |title=Beyond the Numbers: Interpreting WHO's Global Tuberculosis Report 2016 to Inform TB Policy and Practice in the East African Community |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.24248/eahrj-d-16-00364 |journal=East African Health Research Journal |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=2–7 |doi=10.24248/eahrj-d-16-00364 |pmid=34308153 |issn=2520-5277|pmc=8279170 }}</ref>

In 1540 he sent letters in both Greek and Latin to Edward Lee, the former adversary of [[Erasmus]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennerley |first=Sam |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004382282/BP000005.xml |title=Patristic Scholarship and Ascham's 'troubled years' |date=2020-11-07 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-38228-2 |language=en}}</ref>