Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

Lancasterian, nonsectarian, British and Foreign School Society organized, 1808. — The British and Foreign School Society grew out of the efforts of Joseph Lancaster (1778– 1838) to maintain monitorial schools for the instruction of poor children, beginning about 1798. In a pamphlet entitled "Improvements in Education," published in 1803, Lancaster described his plan for a society which would maintain schools and train teachers. He claimed to be actuated by no sectarian motives, and asserted that "the grand basis of Christianity is broad enough for the whole of mankind to stand upon." He realized the difficulties, however, of maintaining a national system of nonsectarian schools, saying that neither the Established Church nor the dissenters had shown themselves willing to support such a project, each fearing the other would secure some advantage.

Lancaster achieved great success in his school in London and soon had a thousand children under his instruction. His plans for an educational society were realized through the efforts of a number of Quakers, who in 1808 constituted a committee to put Lancasterian schools on a business basis. This was necessary, owing to the financial and administrative incompetence of the founder. The members of the committee were interested in the abolition of slavery, in prison reform, and other social problems as well as in education. In 1814 the committee assumed the name of the British and Foreign School Society. The efforts of Lancaster and this society were very powerful instruments in arousing public interest in the education of the poor. The king and many of the higher nobility were especially interested and contributed liberally to the support of the Lancasterian schools.

The Established Church organized a rival sectarian school society in 1811.- The prosperity of the nonsectarian British and Foreign School Society and its enjoyment of the royal patronage aroused the jealousy of certain leading members of the Established Church, but especially of Mrs. Trimmer, who

[graphic]

A DAME SCHOOL IN LONDON FROM 1834 TO 1870

The same dame kept school in the same basement kitchen during all these years

was an active agent of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. Mrs. Trimmer persuaded Dr. Andrew Bell (1753-1832), who, like Lancaster, was an organizer of monitorial methods, to become active in the organization of schools to rival those of Lancaster. The result of the efforts of Mrs. Trimmer, Bell, and other extreme sectarians was the organization in 1811 of "The National Society for promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church." This society soon succeeded in absorbing some of the patronage that had formerly been given to the nonsectarian British and Foreign School Society. All the children attending the schools of the National Society were required to learn the liturgy and catechism of the Established Church and to attend its services on Sunday. This assured the sectarian results for which the society was organized.

Rivalry of two societies developed educational agitation.— These two societies became great rivals and for many years were the centers of most of the agitation for elementary education in England. The nonsectarian standards of the British and Foreign Society were usually more liberal and advanced than the standards of the National Society, but the latter maintained a position of greater power, owing to its relation to the Established Church. Both societies actively established elementary schools throughout England. These schools, however, were entirely inadequate to meet the needs of the country, but the controversy between the two societies served to keep the question of education before the public mind. The inadequacy of the schools is shown by the fact that in 1818 it was estimated that " for every child receiving education three were left entirely destitute." (2: 94.) In other statistical reports as late as 1830 it was shown that in Manchester 30 per cent of the children received no instruction at all, not even in Sunday schools, and in other large cities even worse conditions prevailed. (2: 95.)

Development of public sentiment in favor of national schools. Traditional opposition. As noted above, a great many English people, as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, believed that the public welfare would be served by keeping the poor in ignorance. A famous expression of this theory is the following, for which I have not been able to find a date :

In a free nation where slaves are not allowed of, the surest wealth consists in a multitude of laborious poor; for besides that they are the never-failing nursery of fleets and armies, without them there could be no enjoyment, and no product of any country would be valuable. To make the society happy and people easy under the meanest circumstances, it is requisite that great numbers should be ignorant as well as poor. Knowledge both enlarges and multiplies our desires, and the fewer things man wishes for, the more easily his necessity may be supplied. (2: 46.)

This type of argument was later repeated many times during the struggle to secure state support for public schools. New sentiment for state education expressed by great jurists. During the last half of the eighteenth century a new sentiment began to develop, which, in direct opposition to the traditional ideas, favored (1) compulsory education, (2) education of the poor, and (3) national secular schools. Some of the most authoritative expressions of this sentiment are found in the writings of great jurists and economists, such as William Blackstone (1723-1780), Adam Smith (1723-1790), and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). In 1765 Blackstone, commenting on the failure of parents to educate their children, said, "The municipal laws of most countries seem to be defective in this point, by not constraining the parent to bestow a proper education upon his children." Before 1776 Adam Smith wrote, "For a very small expense the public can facilitate, can encourage, and can even impose upon almost the whole body of people the necessity of acquiring the most essential parts of education." Bentham, in his "Principles of the Penal Law," written in 1802, said:

Education is only government acting by means of the domestic magistrate. ... But in regarding education as an indirect mode of preventing offenses it requires an essential reform. The most neglected class must become the principal object of care. The less parents are able to discharge this duty, the more necessary it is for the government to fulfil it. (1: 216.)

Social changes of eighteenth century prepared for educational reform.A number of important social changes in the eighteenth century were factors in developing a sentiment in favor of better elementary education. In 1695 the House of Commons refused to pass a bill reëstablishing the censorship of the press, and from this time forth publications began to discuss more openly problems of religion, government, and public policy.

In 1709 the first daily newspaper was established. Pamphlets increased in number, and periodicals and magazines became common. Circulating libraries were established. Printing was extended to country towns. Debating and reading clubs were founded for the trading and working classes. The people also obtained a fresh means of influencing and controlling Parliament, for in 1769-1770 we first hear of public meetings being held for instruction in political rights, and at the end of the century the right of publishing Parliamentary debates was confirmed. (2: 242.)

Factory system established new political forces; child labor. The most important social change, however, was the development of the factory system. This originated in the invention of power machinery, especially for the textile industries. The first step was the invention of automatic machinery for spinning and weaving (1770-1792). At first this was driven by water power, and factories developed slowly on this basis. The invention of the steam engine and its application in running textile machinery followed (1792-1830) and resulted in a rapid multiplication of textile factories.

The factory system produced practically an industrial and social revolution. In the first place, it resulted in the rapid concentration of population and the growth of new cities.

« ForrigeFortsæt »