for the methods of individual instruction which we described in the last chapter. The application of this method to teaching reading and arithmetic is described in the "Conduct of Christian Schools" as follows:

While one reads, all the other children in the class follow the words in their books. The master must watch very carefully to see that all read to themselves, what one is reading aloud, and from time to time he must call on some of them, to read a few words, that he may take them by surprise, and make sure that they are really following the reading. (4 : ).

In an arithmetic lesson,

After the children have done their sums on paper, instead of correcting them himself, the master will make the children find out their mistakes for themselves, by rational explanation of the processes. He will ask them, for instance, why in addition of money they begin with the lowest coin, and other questions of the same sort, so as to make sure that they have an intelligent understanding of what they do.

The significance of these practices is evident when compared with the methods described in the last chapter. As stated by one of La Salle's biographers :

This may seem absurdly simple; so do many valuable discoveries and inventions of genius when once they have been made, and adopted into general use; and it never must be forgotten that this method of teaching, that is, giving a lesson to the whole class of children together, was De la Salle's invention, and then quite new.

It is a mistake, however, to credit La Salle with the invention of the method of simultaneous instruction, since it was described at length by Comenius in his "Great Didactic," published in Latin in 1657 (see below, p. 143, paragraph 6). It is probable that other reformers also advocated and used this method before La Salle, but he deserves especial credit for its practical application on a large scale.

The schools of the Christian Brethren were without doubt the most effective elementary schools in existence before the French Revolution (1789).

Lancasterian monitorial system. Pedagogical talent of Bell and Lancaster.-As noted above, the improved methods of instruction which prevailed in the schools of the Christian Brethren were due largely to the pedagogical talent of one

man and the manuals for teachers which he prepared. Similarly, in the case of the monitorial systems of elementary schools which remain to be described, the success was due to two individuals, Andrew Bell (1753-1832) and Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838) of England, who developed manuals of instruction which included, in addition to the element of

mutual instruction, hundreds of other provisions for the economical management of a schoolroom. The relation of the activities of these men to the establishment of elementary schools for the poor in England and America will be discussed in Chapters XI and XII. Here we shall confine the discussion to their methods of classroom management, and shall emphasize particularly Lancaster's organization because it was copied so extensively in New York, Philadelphia, and other American cities during the first quarter of the nineteenth century.

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Lancaster resourceful in organizing children. The name "monitorial," or mutualinstruction system, is derived from the practice of employing the older or the more intelligent and competent children to teach small groups of the other children. This practice had been followed in many instances in the secondary schools of Europe before the nineteenth century; hence Bell and Lancaster do not deserve credit for discovering it, but they were peculiar in carrying out the practice on a large scale and in coupling it with many other novel devices in elementary-school teaching. Lancaster started to employ the practice in a semi-charity school which

A PLAN OF A LANCASTERIAN MONITORIAL SCHOOLROOM Note seats for approximately three hundred pupils

he had opened in London about 1798, when about twenty years of age. Describing Lancaster's activity at this time, his biographer says:

He had many of the qualifications of a great teacher — zeal, selfconfidence, ingenuity in devising methods, intuitive insight into the nature of children, an ardent love for them, and rare power of managing them. For the good or delight of his pupils, no labor was too severe and no sacrifice too onerous. For them, he spent body, mind and estate (and as much of the estate of other people as they could be induced to part with); on holidays he led large parties of them for excursions into the suburbs; on Sundays from forty to sixty of them, bringing their own bread and butter used to take tea with him; and during the severe winter of 17991800, he fed and clothed some sixty or eighty of them. (6: 15.)

Monitors managed all routine matters, including recitations. In order to handle the increasingly large number of pupils who flocked to his school, Lancaster adopted the monitorial scheme and elaborated it until the teacher had nothing to do

except to organize, to reward, to punish and to inspire. When a child was admitted a monitor assigned him his class; while he remained, a monitor taught him (with nine other pupils); when he was absent, one monitor ascertained the fact and another found out the reason; a monitor examined him periodically, and when he made progress, a monitor promoted him; a monitor ruled the writing paper; a monitor had charge of the slates or books; and a monitor-general looked after all the other monitors. Every monitor wore a leather ticket, gilded and lettered "Monitor of the First Class," "Reading Monitor of the Second Class," etc. (6: 7.)

Lancaster's manuals complete guides for school management.— Lancaster described his methods of organizing schools on the monitorial plan in a number of publications, the first of which was printed in London in 1803 and was entitled 'Improvements in Education." One of the latest of his books was printed in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1821, and was entitled "The Lancasterian System of Education with Improvements." This manual gives complete directions for organizing

a Lancasterian school, from the construction of the building down to the minute details of conducting recitations. By following these directions explicitly any one who was competent in dealing with children could readily organize in any city a school of from three hundred to eight hundred children under one master, that would soon be as orderly and run as smoothly as Lancaster's own school in London.

- The Lancas

Summary of improvements in Lancasterian system. terian scheme of class management paralleled very closely the method of organizing and drilling an army. While many educational reformers, particularly those who usually are emphasized in the histories of education, condemn and reject everything that savors of military drill as pernicious and noneducative, it is possible to show that the Lancasterian scheme marked a very significant advance over contemporary elementary schooling such as was described in the previous chapter. The following summary indicates briefly wherein this superiority consisted and shows that there was much more in Lancaster's scheme than the simple employment of monitors.

1. Thorough study of mechanics of school keeping. As has been noted above, Lancaster made a careful and thorough study of classroom management and of the mechanics of instruction. This has been a prom

inent element in the work of most successful educational institutions and systems, and from this standpoint the schools of Lancaster would be classed with those of John Sturm, the great German schoolmaster of the sixteenth century, and with those of the Jesuits and of the Christian Brethren, which in their day were all acknowledged to be the most effective schools in existence.

2. Routine organized to eliminate waste of time. Economy of time was a fundamental element in the Lancasterian school routine. While the passing of classes, taking attendance, changing work, etc., were organized so as to consume the minimum of time, the teaching was so organized as to keep all the pupils employed all the time. It is said that Lancaster invented the mottoes, "A place for everything and everything in its place" and "Let every child at every moment have something to do and a motive for doing it." One example of timesaving was in the disposal of hats, which would be quite a problem in a schoolroom seating several hundred pupils. Each boy's hat was fastened by a string in such a way that when not being worn it hung on his back, suspended around his neck. At a given signal all boys tossed their hats