The History of Education / Educational Practice and Progress Considered as a Phase of the Development and Spread of Western Civilization

by Ellwood Patterson Cubberley

FREE SCHOOL

The Trustees of the Society for establishing a Free School in the city of New York, for the education of such poor children as do not belong to, or are not provided for by any religious Society, having engaged a Teacher, and procured a School House for the accommodation of a School, have now the pleasure of announcing that it is proposed to receive scholars of the descriptions alluded to without delay; applications may be made to, &c.

Four days later the officers of the Society issued a general appeal to the public (R. 311), setting forth the purposes of the Society and soliciting funds.

[Illustration: FIG. 196. THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE BUILT BY THE FREE SCHOOL
SOCIETY IN NEW YORK CITY
Built in 1809, in Tryon Row. Cost, without site, $13,000.]

This Society was chartered by the legislature "to provide schooling for all children who are the proper objects of a gratuitous education." It organized free public education in the city, secured funds, built schoolhouses, provided and trained teachers, and ably supplemented the work of the private and church schools. By its energy and its persistence it secured for itself a large share of public confidence, and aroused a constantly increasing interest in the cause of popular education. In 1853, after it had educated over 600,000 children and trained over 1200 teachers, this Society, its work done, surrendered its charter and turned over its buildings and equipment to the public-school department of the city, which had been created by the legislature in 1842.

SCHOOL SOCIETIES ELSEWHERE. The "Benevolent Society of the City of Baltimore for the Education of the Female Poor," founded in 1799, and the "Male Free Society of Baltimore," organized a little later, were other of these early school societies, though neither became so famous as the Public School Society of New York. The schools of the city of Washington were started by subscription, in 1804, and for some time were in part supported by subscriptions from public-spirited citizens. [4] This society did an important work in accustoming the people of the capital city to the provision of some form of free education.

In 1800 "The Philadelphia Society [5] for the Free Instruction of Indigent Boys" was formed, which a little later changed to "The Philadelphia Society for the Establishment and Support of Charity Schools." In 1814 "The Society for the Promotion of a Rational System of Education" was organized in Philadelphia, and four years later the public sentiment awakened by a combination of the work of this Society and the coming of the Lancastrian system of instruction enabled the city to secure a special law permitting Philadelphia to organize a system of city schools for the education of the children of its poor. Other societies which rendered useful educational service include the "Mechanics and Manufacturers Association," of Providence, Rhode Island, organized in 1789 (Rs. 308, 310); "The Albany Lancastrian School Society," organized in 1826, for the education of the poor of the city in monitorial schools; and the school societies organized in Savannah in 1818, and Augusta, in 1821, "to afford education to the children of indigent parents." Both these Georgia societies received some support from state funds.

The formation of these school societies, the subscriptions made by the leading men of the cities, the bequests for education, and the grants of some city and state aid to these societies, all of which in time became somewhat common, indicate a slowly rising interest in providing schools for the education of all. This rising interest in education was greatly stimulated by the introduction from England, about this time, of a new and what for the time seemed a wonderful system for the organization of education, the Lancastrian monitorial plan.

THE LANCASTRIAN MONITORIAL SCHOOLS. Church-of-England ideas were not in much favor in the United States for some time after the close of the Revolutionary War, and in consequence it was the Lancastrian plan which was brought over and popularized. In 1806 the first monitorial school was opened in New York City, and, once introduced, the system quickly spread from Massachusetts to Georgia, and as far west as Cincinnati, Louisville, and Detroit. In 1826 Maryland instituted a state system of Lancastrian schools, with a Superintendent of Public Instruction, but in 1828 abandoned the idea and discontinued the office. A state Lancastrian system for North Carolina was proposed in 1832, but failed of adoption by the legislature. In 1829 Mexico organized higher Lancastrian schools for the Mexican State of Texas. In 1818 Lancaster himself went to America, and was received with much distinction. Most of the remaining twenty years of his life were spent in organizing and directing schools in various parts of the United States.

In many of the rising cities of the eastern part of the country the first free schools established were Lancastrian schools. The system provided education at so low a cost (p. 629) that it made the education of all for the first time seem possible. [6] The first free schools in Philadelphia (1818) were an outgrowth of Lancastrian influence, as was also the case in many other Pennsylvania cities. Baltimore began a Lancastrian school six years before the organization of public schools was permitted by law. A number of monitorial high schools were organized in different parts of the United States, and it was even proposed that the plan should be adopted in the colleges. A number of New England cities, that already had other type schools, investigated the new monitorial plan and were impressed with its many important points of superiority over methods then in use. The Report of the Investigating Committee (1828) for Boston (R. 312), forms a good example of such. As in England, the system was very popular from about 1810 to 1830, but by 1840 its popularity was over.