LANCASTERIAN SCHOOLS. Democ racy had not yet obtained such a strong hold upon the people of America at the beginning of the 19th century as to lead them to provide free public schools for all the children. Then, too, the financial conditions of the country were such that the people were unable to meet the expense which would be incurred in the maintenance of such schools. Private schools which received pay pupils, church and charity schools and home instruction were the educa tional facilities afforded in these early times. Probably not more than one-fourth of the children of the country were afforded the op portunity of attending a school. Men of vi sion recognized the menace to a republican form of government in a large body of illit erate citizens and the need, therefore, of reme dying the situation which existed. It was known that in London a type of schools had been established which afforded instruction for a large number of pupils at very small cost. These schools were known as Lancasterian schools.
The founder of these schools was Joseph Lancaster, a native of London. His parents were very poor and he received only the rudi ments of an education. He possessed a philan thropic, benevolent spirit and showed marked interest and sympathy in the poor. At the age of 20 he opened in Southwark, London, in 1798, a school for the poor. His personality, his genius for organization and the great neces sity for a school of this type made the enter prise a success and he soon enrolled 1,000 pu pils in the school. A small tuition was charged those who could pay it but no pupil was refused admission who was unable to pay tuition. The receipts from tuition did not permit the em ployment of sufficient teachers to give instruc tion. Lancaster was familiar with the type of school maintained by Dr. Andrew Bell under a monitorial system. He modified and im proved the Bell system and adapted it to meet the needs of his school.
In 1805, the legislature of New York incor porated an organization known as society for establishing a free school in the city of New York for the education of such poor chil dren as do not belong to or are not provided for by any religious society.) One of the prime movers in the organization of this school was DeWitt Clinton. The first school opened by this society was in 1806 and the Lancasterian system was put in operation in that school. The dominant influence in this society was that of the Friends and as Lancaster's school in London was non-sectarian and had been sup ported by the Friends it was natural that this society should adopt the Lancaster type of school. The name of the society was later
changed to Public School Society and con tinued its operations for nearly 50 years or un til 1853 when it was merged into the public school system of the city under the control of the board of education. More than 60 schools had been established and in each of these dur ing their entire history the Lancasterian system was in operation. While the Lancasterian schools will always be associated with the Pub lic School Society of New York City, such schools were very generally organized in the northern and eastern parts of the United States. He attempted the organization of an institution in Baltimore under his own direc tion known as Lancasterian Institute. Little is known of this institution except that it was a failure. He also organized a model Lancas terian school in Philadelphia. Outside of New York city these schools were not a factor in public education for a longer period than 20 years and gradually disappeared after 1830. A fine school building administered under the Lancasterian plan was erected at Albany in 1812 and still stands on Eagle street one block south of State street and is owned and occupied by the Albany Medical College.
The most distinguishing feature of the Lan casterian schools was the employment of moni tors. One teacher with the assistance of moni tors would give instruction to 500 and often to 1,000 pupils. The monitors were chosen from the pupils in the school. The pupils who were regarded by the master as the best students in the advanced classes were selected. They were generally allowed their tuition for the services rendered and sometimes were paid a shilling or two per week. A monitor was charged usually with the instruction of 10 younger pupils. He sat on a high stool or raised seat at the end of a bench on which his pupils were seated. These monitors were very often divided into two classes -- general monitors and subordinate monitors. They were called monitor-general of reading, monitor-general of writing, moni tor-general of arithmetic. The subordinate monitors were called assistant monitors or simply monitors of reading, monitors of arith metic, monitors of writing, etc. Each monitor wore a badge or ticket usually made of leather and on this was printed the title of the monitor and his rank.