USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume Three > Part 2
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Politics and the school are like oil and water ; it is not easy to mix them and the result is always deplorable. Hence, it is not strange that the schools failed after they passed under the man- agement of Dr. Smith as superintendent. Popular distrust, the influence of Saur, and Indian troubles along the frontier, caused these schools to decline. The scheme came to an unfortunate end
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about 1762. Had the experiment succeeded, the German popula- tion could have transacted business to better advantage and taken a more active part in public affairs ; they could have joined the currents of national life at least half a century earlier. One gen- eration at English and German schools would have sufficed to make them acquainted with the language of the courts and of the provincial assembly. From this point of view one cannot help regretting the opposition of Saur and the failure of the scheme.
But there is another point of view from which the hostility of Saur looks providential. Had Dr. Smith succeeded in attach- ing the followers of Schlatter and Muhlenberg to the governor, it might have turned the balance of power in Pennsylvania in favor of continued support of the British crown. During the darkest days of the revolution, Washington had a base of supplies in the sections in which the Lutherans and the German Reformed were the principal settlers.
Of the other Protestant denominations the Presbyterians de- serve special praise for their energy as pioneers, for their courage in supporting American independence, and for their services in the cause of education. Their ambition has been aptly summed up in the words : "A home, a school and a house of worship." Their preachers were educated men who took special interest in elemen- tary and advanced schools. Many of the early academies were founded by them. The youth educated in these academies often left their homes for the cities, where they became leaders in church and state, while the farms on which they were reared passed into the possession of the Pennsylvania Germans, frequently causing a gradual change in the population, if not in language, of an entire community. The "Log College," founded by the scholarly Rev. William Tennent, pastor of Neshaminy church, in Bucks county, supplied the germ out of which have grown Princeton university and other institutions of higher learning. An academy in North- ampton county produced George Wolf, who as governor became the staunch friend of common schools. The schools in the Cum-
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berland valley gave the nation a galaxy of distinguished men, in- cluding one president of the United States, and several cabinet officers. The good which was done by these academies far sur- passes in value the cereals and cattle which their pupils might have raised as educated farmers.
Thomas Henry Burrowes
State superintendent of public instruction, 1835-38, and 1860-1863. Photographed espe- cially for this work from original in the edu- cational department at Harrisburg
The Baptists and the Methodists have been rivals in church extension and in the promotion of education. Their various or- ganizations were ever on the side of the school. In the course of years they outstripped the other Protestant denominations in the money invested in schools, and in the number of institutions of higher learning which flourish through their vigorous support
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throughout the land. Both denominations contributed their share towards education in early days, and it would be unsafe to predict which will surpass the other in the years to come.
The parochial schools of the Protestant churches have been gradually passing away on account of the free schools. Those that survive under the auspices of the Lutheran, Episcopal and Moravian churches, and of the two divisions of the Society of Friends, are still doing an excellent work, but they are far out- numbered by the parochial schools of the Catholic church. From small beginnings in the Eighteenth Century the attendance at the Catholic parochial schools has grown until it exceeds one hundred and twenty-five thousand. The elementary schools are taught by various organizations of sisters, each striving to prepare the best teachers. Separated from the social world and its distractions, these sisters teach with singleness of purpose and at personal sacri- fices which command the admiration of many who are outside of the Catholic church. In the cities the work beyond the elementary schools is carried forward in well-equipped high schools and col- leges. In communities where the membership is less numerous, the course of study is so arranged that pupils may as far as possi- ble pass at the end of any year to corresponding grades in public schools.
The parochial schools of both Catholics and Protestants are at a disadvantage in the competition with the public schools, be- cause those who send their children to the former must, in addition to this expense, pay their share of taxes for the maintenance of the public schools. In this lies a source of power ; for people soon learn to love that for which they make sacrifices. For a number of years the Catholic sisters taught in the public schools of Galit- zin, St. Mary's, and several other places. In 1894 the Junior Mechanics tried to prevent this through the County court and the Supreme court, but failed. Through their efforts a bill was passed at the next session of the legislature, forbidding the wear- ing of a religious garb by public school teachers. The sisters
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promptly obeyed the law. Parochial schools sprang into exist- ence where Catholic children formerly attended the public schools. The "garb law" causes friction now only in districts which employ teachers who wear the plain garb of the Mennonites or of other religious organizations cherishing similar views in regard to dress.
The schools erected alongside the churches were not numerous enough to supply the educational wants of the early settlers, and a class of schools, called neighborhood schools, gradually grew to be more numerous than the church schools.
Dr. Wickersham has well said: . "Had there been a school at every church, many children lived at too great a distance to attend it. But vast sections of thinly settled country were wholly with- out churches, and in others the churches were so scattered that they could not be reached by young children going to school. Adults frequently traveled on horseback or in wagons five or ten miles to church ; it was impossible for little boys and girls to walk such long distances, often through unbroken forests. Hence arose multitudes of schools, sometimes composed of the children of a single family, or of several families, and generally growing into schools of little communities or neighborhoods. Such schools may approximately be called neighborhood schools, al- though widely known by the name of 'pay' or 'subscription' schools." ยท "The establishment of these neighborhood schools was most rapid in sections settled by people of different religious denominations. In communities of a single denomina- tion, and in towns church schools were generally established in preference ; but as the first settlers in Pennsylvania were divided into many sects, and as these soon became very much intermixed, it was not long before the neighborhood schools greatly outnum- bered the schools of all others classes." ("History of Education in Pennsylvania," p. 178.)
Again he says: "In proportion to population the neighbor- hood schools were fewest in the oldest settled parts of the State: for as the people moved west into the Cumberland valley, along the
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Susquehanna and Juniata, and over the Alleghanies, intermingling socially and in business, out of common toils, common privations, common dangers, and common interests, there necessarily came to be common schools. The churches in the early days were fore- most in the work of education everywhere and always, but dis-
Henry Cuyler Hickok
First State superintendent of public instruc- tion after the organization of a separate de- partment, 1857-1860. Photographed especially for this work from original in the educational department at Harrisburg
tinctive church schools were not numerous in the middle and northern counties, and very few of them were ever established in Western Pennsylvania. Ministers founded schools in their sec- tions of the State and taught them, but they rarely formed a part of the church organization, as was so frequently the case in the older settlements." ("Hist. of Education in Penn.," p. 179.)
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Sometimes the neighborhood school was the product of indi- vidual generosity. The writer knows from tradition of a number' of instances in which a prosperous citizen, having children of his own to educate, or feeling a deep interest in the youths growing up near him, erected a school house upon his own land, hired a teach- er, admitted the poor free of charge, and exacted a moderate fee (two or three cents a day ) from those whose parents were able to pay. Sometimes the movement for a school was started by an itinerant teacher, who consented to stay as long as the community furnished him a livelihood. Generally the building was erected by the contributions of money and labor from the entire commu- nity ; trustees were then selected to hire the teacher and take gen- eral charge of the school.
The primitive equipment of the early schools is thus described by Prof. A. S. Bolles :
"The provincial school house was generally a rough log cabin, and the spaces between the logs were filled with chips of wood plastered with mortar. The floors were of earth and sometimes of timber, through which snakes often crawled. Nearly one side of the house was occupied by the chimney, and there were several windows, with small panes of glass. The furniture consisted of four-legged benches made of logs split in two and hewn to a pro- per thickness, and stools and tables of the same material and work- manship. The desks were placed against the wall, facing out- ward, and seats without backs were in the middle of the room for the smaller scholars.
"The primary schools had generally a distinct religious si le. The lowest primers were quite as much church-books as school- books, for they contained hymns, prayers, creeds and catechisms, as well as the alphabet and elementary lessons. The first regular branch of instruction was reading, for this was preparatory to learning the catechism and taking part in religious exercises. When writing was first introduced it was confined wholly to boys, as the requirement was deemed unnecessary for girls. So deep-
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rooted was this prejudice that some men have entertained it almost to the present day. Paper was costly and birch bark was often used as a substitute. Ink was made of nut-galls bruised, to which were added a proper proportion of water and some rusty nails. Sometimes an ink boy was appointed who carried the fluid in a bottle or a horn to each writer as he needed it, but the custom was for each pupil to have his own supply. Pens were made of goose quills and much of the master's time was employed in cutting and mending them. Arithmetic was taught, but without aid of books. The 'sums' were dictated by the master and worked out on paper, for blackboards were unknown and slates and pencils did not come into use until after the Revolution. 'Ciphering books' were after- ward brought into use. Geography and grammar were not taught until after the adoption of the common school system."
Although the pay schools did not lose all the religious charac- teristics of the church schools, they were frequently inferior in efficiency because they were not under the immediate care of an educated clergyman. The punishments were severe and the methods of instruction were crude, yet such is the aptness of youth and the innate desire for knowledge that the boys and girls learned the "three R's" in spite of the imperfections of the master. Sometimes the older boys resented his tyranny, and driving him off, closed the school. Some of these teachers deserved the treat- ment, for they were little better than tramps. Addicted to drink, they had little character and less scholarship. Others, however, were men of piety and ability and their memory was held in grate- ful remembrance by their pupils. In a subsequent period many a public school was planted on or near the site where for years the people had of their own volition maintained a school for the neigh- borhood. The schools maintained by joint effort led the way and gradually prepared the public mind for schools supported by taxa- tion and alike free to the children of all.
During and After the Revolution, Including the Struggle for Free Schools .- When war rages, schools do not flourish. The
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teacher who did not turn soldier found it hard to live during the Revolutionary war. The continental money was constantly depre- ciating in value, and funds collected for school purposes became inadequate. The financial misfortunes of the fund of eight hun- dred pounds raised by the Schwenkfelders in 1764 furnish an example in point. In an address issued in 1791 the trustees state that, with the interest of this fund and by free contributions, they supported a school until the debtors of their fund began to pay their interest, and at last the principal, in depreciated currency. Through this depreciation the capital stock, eight hundred pounds, contracted to less than one hundred pounds in 1793, which sum was then offered to the original subscribers or their heirs. Of this sum less than twelve pounds was accepted, the rest being donated to the fund. The founding of Perkiomen Seminary may be said to have a historic connection with the trusteeship of this fund, four trustees of the school being church trustees, a quasi remnant of the trustees of the schools of 1764.
After the war there was a change for the better. Schools revived; the people who differed in religion and politics found that they could agree upon the question of education. In Phila- delphia many private schools were started. White's Directory of 1785 contains the names of at least one hundred teachers of pri- vate schools, mostly women. "The grade of the schools kept by these old schoolmasters and schoolmistresses was from that of an infant school up to that of the classical academy. The teaching of music and needle-work was quite common in schools for girls."
McMaster in speaking of the educational condition of America directly after the close of the Revolutionary war, states that in New York and Pennsylvania a school house was never to be seen outside of a village or town. Dr. Wickersham, on the contrary, claims that there was scarcely a neighborhood without one, and that at the adoption of the common school system, in 1834, there must have been at least four thousand school houses in the State built by the voluntary contributions of the people in their respec-
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tive neighborhoods. Those who are at all familiar with the rural sections know that on this point Wickersham is nearer the truth than McMaster.
"At almost every ridge of woods there is a school house," said Acrelius, writing, about 1750, of the country in the vicinity of Philadelphia. There is no evidence to show that these school houses were destroyed by either army. Let any one trace the succession of school houses in rural sections, and he will find many a series that goes back to the second half of the eighteenth century.
In 1801 Christopher Ludwig, who had been head baker for the continental army, made a bequest of $13,000 for the education of poor children without regard to country, race or sect. The trus- tees of the university wanted the money for their charity schools. Another claimant was the Philadelphia society for the establish- ment and support of charity schools, which had grown out of a movement in 1799 to open a night school for poor children. It led to an exciting race to Lancaster, where their charters had to be enrolled, and the latter organization won. In 1814 Dr. Rush recommended the society to the citizens, and $2,800 were sub- scribed for its support. Free instruction was given.to about four hundred children.
One of the "notions" that found favor in the early days was the monitorial system of Andrew Bell and Joseph Lancaster. The former tried the system at Madras, India, and the latter in Lon- don, England, where he gained the approval of King George III. Coming to America, he introduced his system of instruction in New York and Philadelphia, and received the commendation of De Witt Clinton and Governor Hiester of Pennsylvania. By the act of 1818 Philadelphia was made the first school district of Pennsylvania, and it was further enacted that "the principles of Lancaster's system of education in its most approved state shall be adopted and pursued." The system was also introduced into Lancaster City (which, with the incorporated boroughs of the county, was constituted, by the act of 1822, the second school dis-
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trict of Pennsylvania). The building in which the experiment was tried still stands and is now used as the annex to the high school. The system was also tried in Columbia, Harrisburg, Pittsburg, Milton, Erie, New Castle, Greencastle and perhaps at a few other places.
Under the monitorial system the older and more advanced pupils were called upon to instruct those younger and less ad- vanced. The idea was carried to ludicrous extremes. "Give me four and twenty children to-day and I will supply you to-morrow with as many teachers," was the promise of Mr. Bell. "By the aid of monitors.one master can teach one thousand boys," was the claim of Mr. Lancaster. Milder methods of discipline were advo- cated and practiced. "Boys who came to school with dirty faces, had them washed before the whole school by little girls, who accompanied the ablution with a gentle box on the ear." (Ed- mond's "History of the Central High School of Philadelphia.")
At first sight it seems strange that so curious a system of in- struction and discipline should have found favor with men of affairs. But there was a growing dislike for flogging and other harsh practices of the pedagogues of the eighteenth century. Men were everywhere reaching out after something new and better. Pestalozzi himself believed that he could perfect a method by which the most ignorant mother might teach her own children. It is not strange that philanthropists, who saw the need of univer- sal education and were deterred by its cost, should be carried away by a system that promised so much at small expense. The human heart is ever anxious to get something for nothing, especially in religion and education. The law requiring the use of the Lancas .. terian system of teaching in the schools of Philadelphia was re- pealed in 1836.
Thomas Dunlap gives the following account of what he found upon entering the board of directors of public schools in 1824: "Seven school houses contained fourteen schools in each of which about two thousand children were to be educated. . . . Schools
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where the young idea was to be developed in penmanship by scratching with sticks in the sand-bath, developed into arithmetic by a doleful simultaneous chant of the multiplication table, in which neither the school, monitor nor master could detect one in- telligible sound, developed into poetry and morals by howling in horrid groans certain doggerel ballads of Lancaster himself. Schools where the baby of five was the all sufficient teacher of the baby of four, save that the latter if stoutest generally practiced inore successfully in flogging his monitor, than in figuring in his sand-box, and where but too often the master lounged through two or three hours in the morning and as many in the afternoon in gazing down upon the intellectual pandemonium beneath his ros- trum, diversifying his intellectual labors by not infrequently bringing his rattan in as 'thirdsman' between the stout baby and the cowardly baby monitor.
"The only true argument ever advanced in its favor was its cheapness. It was cheap-very cheap! Sand and rattan were its chief returns."
The poor teaching which characterized the monitorial schools emphasized the importance of special preparation for teaching and paved the way for the establishment of the Model school for the training of teachers, out of which has grown the Philadelphia Normal school, an institution that now selects its students from the graduates of the High school, giving them two years in theory, practice and additional study as a preparation for teaching in the schools of the city
From Philadelphia the agitation for schools, supported by taxation, spread over the State. The growing belief in universal intelligence as a preventative of crime and a source of prosperity, the failure of the different plans to educate the poor at public expense, and the lack of adequate school facilities in many sections gradually forced the question into the halls of legislation ; the op- position carried it to the ballot box, and finally in 1851 into the Supreme court. .
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In this connection a perusal of the clauses of our state constitu- tions from 1776 to 1873 shows a remarkable advance in public opinion, and also shows the gradual elevation of the standard of education with each succeeding constitutional convention.
The constitution of 1776 provided that "a school or schools shall be established in each county by the legislature for the con- venient instruction of youth, with such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may enable them to instruct youth at low prices ; and all useful learning shall be duly encouraged and pro- moted at one or more universities."
The constitution of 1790 (article vii., section I) provided that "the legislature shall as soon as conveniently may be, provide by law, for the establishment of schools throughout the State, in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis. Also (section 2) the arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or more seminaries of learning."
The language of the constitution of 1790 was repeated in article VII of the constitution of 1838.
The educational article of the constitution of 1873 provides as follows: Section I. "The general assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public schools, wherein all the children of this commonwealth above the age of six years may be educated, and shall appropriate at least one million dollars each year for that purpose."
Section 2. "No money raised for the support of the public schools of the commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school."
Section 3. "Women twenty-one years of age and upwards shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of this state."
To the foregoing extracts we append an important decision of the Supreme court which may be said to have saved the life of the Pennsylvania system of common schools. In the case of the Com- monwealth vs. Hartman ( 17 Pa., 118), it was held as follows :
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Thaddeus Stevens
Member State Legislature 1833-1835; exerted great influence in saving the school system of Pennsylvania; member State Constitutional Convention 1837; member State Legislature 1837-1838 and most prominent member of the Whig and anti-Mason House; member State Legislature again 1841; congressman 1849-1853, and again 1858-1868; anti-slavery advocate; initiated the movement which resulted in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Con- stitution; 1868, advocated the impeachment of President Johnson and was chairman of the board of managers appointed to conduct the trial
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"It seems to be believed that the last clause of this section ( Sec. I, Article VII of the constitution, 1790, and repeated as Art. VII in the constitution of 1838) is a limitation to the power of the legis- lature, and that no law can be constitutional which looks to any other object than that of teaching the poor gratis. The error consists in supposing this to define the maximum legislative power, while in truth it only fixes the minimum. It enjoins them to do this much, but does not forbid them to do more."
Gratuitous Instruction of the Poor .- Educational legislation is seldom needed for the benefit of children of the rich. In every age and country the wealthier classes have been able to furnish all the schooling which their children required. The plan of the constitu- tion of 1776 would have made education possible for thechildren of parents in moderate circumstances, but if parents were unable to pay the rates of tuition, their children were beyond the reach of school- ing unless it was furnished gratuitously in denominational or neigh- borhood schools. The constitution of 1790 took a step in advance by seeking to provide for the gratuitous instruction of the poor. The clause, "as soon as conveniently may be," did not make imme- diate action mandatory, and the oath of office did not trouble the conscience of legislators if action was deferred to the future as a more convenient time. Several governors in succession referred to the inadequate provisions for the education of all the children, but with little apparent effect. The legislation of 1802, 1804 and 1809 was inadequate, for neither the overseers of the poor, nor the justices of the peace, nor the assessors acting under the direction of the county commissioners, could send children to school where no schools were in existence. According to the report of the sec- retary of the commonwealth, made February 28, 1829, in response to a request of the legislature, there were, in the thirty-one coun- ties which made reports, only 4,940 poor children who received instruction in the common schools in 1825 ; 7,943 in 1826; 9,014 in 1827, and 4,477 in 1828, so far as the figures had then been reported. The society organized in 1828 for the promotion of
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