Statistics of population and school enrollment in cities of over 8,000 inhabitants.. Teachers, school term, and property of city public schools.. PART II. CHAPTER XXIII. THE BELL AND LANCASTER SYSTEM-WHAT THERE IS IN IT FOR THE SCHOOLS OF THE SOUTH. By G. B. MORRISON. The method of instruction known as the Bell and Lancaster system carries forward the work of the school, including instruction, order, and discipline, by the mutual activities of the pupils, under the supervision of one master. In this system the pupils teach one another; the more advanced of each grade are selected to teach those of the next lower. This method of instruction does not belong exclusively to Bell and Lancaster. It is as old as the human race; it has been practiced in all ages and is still in vogue. Wherever children congregate there exists a school of mutual instruction, wherein the knowledge possessed by each child is imparted to those not already in possession of it. Children in the home teach one another. The first steps of the baby are often directed by the older children, and in every wellordered home each child is made to feel in a certain way a responsibility for the safety of the younger and more inexperienced members. Mutual instruction is natural. Knowledge is contagious and will spread wherever artificial conditions are not set up against it; wherever the vaccine of pedagogic proscription is not thwarting it. The mutual or monitorial method of discipline and instruction was in vogue in the schools of the Hindoos as early as 1600. It is said of John Sturm, a teacher of the sixteenth century, that he employed monitors both to perform the work of instruction and to attend to the practical details of the schoolroom. In 1565 Trotzendorf in his school at Goldberg appointed monitors from his highest class--which he taught himself to teach the lower and less advanced. He gave two reasons for the practice: (1) That his financial resources would not permit the employment of assistant teachers, and (2) that by teaching the pupil-teachers learned more, and more thoroughly, than they possibly could by being continually instructed. As early as 1680 the Abbé de la Salle, in order to relieve the pressure of large numbers of pupils at Rheims, inaugurated a system of mutual instruction which rapidly spread throughout France. I shall But a complete history of this system is beyond the scope of this paper. therefore limit my remarks to some of the leading facts in the life work of Andrew Bell, of Joseph Lancaster, and of William Bently Fowle. Andrew Bell was born in St. Andrews, Scotland, in the year 1753. At a very early age he showed a strong inclination and ability for learning. In school he was an apt pupil. He learned his Latin well, but had a decided preference for scientific and ED 9537 mathematical studies. While a pupil he manifested a dislike for the methods and practices of the schools, and sought to correct them. He managed, however, to keep in school, and had one or two favorite teachers who understood him and offered him encouragement. He maintained himself in the further pursuit of his studies by private teaching. At the age of 21 he came to America. Concerning his stay of about seven years in this country little is known except that he was engaged a part of the time in private teaching. At the time of his return to Europe he was private tutor in the family of Carter Braxton, a wealthy merchant of Virginia. Two of Mr. Braxton's sons accompanied their tutor to St. Andrews, where they pursued their studies with him, both as teacher and fellow-student, Mr. Bell attending the classes with them. This experience gave Mr. Bell the opportunity of seeing the advantage of serving at the same time as pupil and teacher. He soon afterwards took orders in the English Church and was sent to India, where he received an offer to take charge of a military male orphan asylum, situated at Madras. At the "asylum he found one master and two ushers employed in teaching less than twenty boys." These teachers knew nothing of school management, and, notwithstanding the small number, the pupils had only one lesson a day. The boys seemed dull and stupid, and the work was formal and spiritless. Dr. Bell first tried to educate the teachers, but soon found that with qualification for their work came dissatisfaction with their positions. While endeavoring to devise some plan to overcome these difficulties, Dr. Bell chanced one day to pass some Malabar children who were writing in sand that had been strewn for them on the ground. Like Archimedes when discovering the law of floating bodies, Dr. Bell went back to his school saying, "Eureka! I have found it!" He at once directed that his ushers try the sand process. This they did against their own wills and under protest. As might be expected, they soon pronounced that method of teaching a failure. But Dr. Bell was a man of clear head and determined purpose. He saw that the success of his plans must be reached through control of the minds of his assistants. He therefore appointed a boy of 8 years to teach the alphabet class. (This, let us remember, was before the "word method" came in vogue.) The immediate effect of this experiment filled Dr. Bell with hope and a determination. He saw before him a great principle; he saw Frisken-the boy first selected-rise suddenly from dull-eyed indifference to something like manly pride and dignified responsibility. The little children, under their youthful teacher, at once showed an interest, seeming to see that, after all, the alphabet was not so far off if Frisken could teach it. They saw that one of their own number had been honored, and they were full of hope for their own possibilities. Being relieved from a feeling of distance which they had felt existed between them and the ushers, they wrestled with Frisken and the alphabet as they would with sticks and stones in building a dam across a stream. They soon learned their letters and were ready and anxious for more victories. The ushers became disgusted, leaving the field to Dr. Bell and the pupils. From this time the work of appointing teachers from among the pupils became the distinctive feature of the school. The success of the plan is thus spoken of by Dr. Bell in one of his official letters: "Let me add," says he, "that having had the charge of this school almost six years, from its infancy, and feeling all that interest in its welfare which arises from my situation, from the years I have spent, and the toil I have bestowed upon this favorite object, I can not conceal my joy and satisfaction in observing that since the late dereliction of our masters the school has improved beyond what it had ever before done in the same period. A new teacher from among the boys, whom I had trained for the purpose, had been introduced, and the more the boys teach themselves and one another, the greater I have always found the improvement. Nor has their comfort, in every other point of view, been less promoted." Dr. Bell resigned the school to other hands and returned to Europe in 1796. He published a voluminous report and several pamphlets on his system, which has ever |