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This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

THE STRUGGLE FOR READING AS SEEN IN
AMERICAN MAGAZINES (1741-1840)

presented by
John W. Delonas

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

 

PhoDo degree in Education

MM. ,

Major professor

 

DateJanuary 16 , 1976

0-7 639 ‘

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(\v K ABSTRACT

U
\_\ THE STRUGGLE FOR READING As SEEN IN
" AMERICAN MAGAZINES (1741-1840)

By

John William Delonas

The Problem.--Educators have shown a growing concern about
how magazines influence popular thought about teaching
reading. The subscriber's View of the school was formed
more by accounts in the press than by scholarly research.
There was a need for an understanding of the historical
antiquity of many of the recent innovations and criticisms
of reading instruction provided by lay magazines. Thus
magazine opinion was studied from the birth of the first
magazine in America (1741) down to 1840, when teacher
journals appeared.

MethodologX.—-Every magazine article on reading in the
popular indexes was examined. A descriptive analysis was
undertaken to obtain the unique lay interpretations of how
reading was taught in the past. This undertaking was timely
in light of recent revisionist historians' reinterpretations
0f educators who wrote about education.

Summary of the Findings.--(I.) Religion was the motivating

 

force for teaching reading during the Colonial period (1741-
1775.). The Bible was the major text. Because the Scriptures
were found in many homes, the place for children to learn to

read was the home. The mother was considered the best

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John William Delonas

teacher of the child from birth to age five. Since many
teachers were forced to teach from the Bible, which was
cheap and readily available, they could scarcely provide a
sdperior milieu to the family fireside. Magazines reflected
a negative opinion about teachers and the primary schools.
Teachers were described as drunkards, gamesters, and papists.
College graduates were described as stooping to become
teachers. The primary school was described as ”the barren
path.” The magazines gave more coverage to colleges than

to the common schools. (II.) The motive for teaching
reading during the Federalist period (1776—1840) was nation-
alistic-moralistic. Webster attacked the Bible, declaring
it inappropriate for teaching reading. Benjamin Rush de—
fended its use on moral grounds. The magazines gave con—
siderable coverage to the media revolution. Youth was fas—
cinated with novel-reading. Newspapers and magazines were
used in the classrooms. The goal in the new republic was
for everyone to learn to read, write, and EEK why he votes
as he does. Magazines covered the new reading series,
Spellers, and Bible extracts being published. Home instruc-
tion and learning to read at mother's knee continued to be

a popular topic. Teachers were neglected by the press,
except for an occasional article on their ”low character.”
The primary school was a “hovel” and ”despicable.” How-

ever, magazine coverage of the free-school and the competing
academy flourished. The survival of mass reading instruc-

tion was seen as tied up with the survival of the free—school

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John William Delonas

antecedants of the public schools. With the departure of
the Bible, the home lost its advantage in competing with
the teacher. Only the teacher could effectively use the
new materials. Nevertheless, articles appeared which
covered new alphabets, and techniques designed to shorten

or circumvent a child's stay in the local school.

-fIII.) The methods for teaching reading remained unchanged

over the 100 years. The dominant reading approach was ABC—
syllabic-to-words. A reliance upon rote memory was admitted.
Over the three year average for primary education, the child
could memorize many words in the time spent to understand
one. Teachers turned out mechanical spelling—out readers
who could decode words aloud with the proper accents. Com—
prehension was measured by the ability to parse, paraphrase,
and exhibit the proper oral sentiment. Imitation of the

Proper reading models was encouraged.

 

 

 

 

 

THE STRUGGLE FOR READING AS SEEN IN

AMERICAN MAGAZINES (1741-1840)

By
‘- 6R)“

. \
John WtiDelonas

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Administration and Supervision
of Student Teaching
[Teacher Education)

1976

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Primitive
Circa. 1840

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Copyright by
JOHN WILLIAM DELONAS

1976

 

fl) III I'vul' )

To

 

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In preparing this paper, I received aid in various
forms which it is a pleasure to acknowledge. Keith Anderson,
Grace Weggland, and my wife subjected the manuscript to
critical readings which resulted in numerous improvements.

I included further proposals for study and for revision
5Uggested by members of the Guidance Committee (K. Anderson,
D. Freeman, G. Myers, and D.H. Nickerson.) Jean and Robert
DiBiasse provided me with special equipment. My secretary,
Betty Russomano could not have been more meticulous in doing
the final typing. Connie Nichols and Kathy Spaulding
assisted in the library and in the Xerox room. My wife
served as research editor checking references, locating
miSSing material, and straightening out the bibliographical
tangles, If this paper contains some measure of excellence,
it is because of the faith and persistence of Keith, Nadia,
and Grace. The anomalies to be found in this work belong

to me.
J.W.D.

fv—v‘w' ‘

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I: THE PROBLEM
The Purpose. A I T T V C I 1
Importance of Study. . . . . . .
Limitations of the Study . . . . . .
Definitions of Terms Used.
Organization of the Remainder of Thesis.

CHAPTER II: APPLICATION OF
PREVIOUS RESEARCH TO THIS INVESTIGATION

Review of the Literature

Literature Related to Reading Instruction .
Champion; Smith; Lamport; Mathews; Reeder

Other Pertinent Literature.
Mott; Hepler

Summary Discussion of Review of Literature

Implications of Previous Studies.

MajOr Findings.

CHAPTER III: READING INSTRUCTION IN
THE COLONIAL PERIOD TO 1775

Introduction
MOtiVes for Teaching Reading

PrO-Reading Instructional Influences.

John Locke; The Classical Motive; .
Patriotism; Moralistic-Religious Motive

iv

10

12

l3

17

19
19
20

21
23
24

 

 

 

 

 

Anti—reading Instructional Influences.
Social Handicaps; The Barren Path;

Child Mortality; Military Plight of the Colonies;

Resistance to Educational Laws
Oral vs. Silent Reading Controversy.
Methods of Teaching Reading

Educational Plan . . . . . . . . . .
Parental Responsibility; Morality and
School Development

School Milieu. . . . . . . . . .
The Teachers; The School Plant

Teaching of Reading. . . . . . . . . .
Reading Readiness; Beginning Methods—-
Orthography; Intermediate Methods——
Etymology; Advanced Methods-—Prosody;
Standards of Good Reading Ab ility;
Magazine Criticism of Classical Methods

Materials for Teaching Reading. . . . .
Beginning Materials—-Orthography;
Intermediate Materials--Etymology,

Dictionary; Advanced Materials——Prosody,

Oral

Summary--174l—l775.

CHAPTER IV: NATIONALISTIC-MORALISTIC
EMPHASIS IN READING INSTRUCTION, 1776-1840

Introduction.
MOtives for Teaching Reading.

PTO-Reading Instructional Influences
Mass Reading and Popular Optimism;_ .
Moralistic Motive in Reading; Patriotic
and Governmental Motives; Oral Reading
Motive; Utilitarian Motive; Rousseau—
Pestalozzi Motive; Classical Motive

Anti-Reading Motivational Influences '.' ...
Immorality of Popular Reading Materials,
Social Class Handicaps; Resistance to.
Educational Laws; Military Plight; Child
Mortality; The Barren Path

V

31

39
40
4O

44

47

52

59

63
65
65

88

. .,—.r.
x

 

 

Reading Disputes.
New Definitions in Reading; The Reading for
Understanding Argument; Literary Statistics;
The Future of Education

Methods of Reading Instruction

Educational Plan. . .
Parental ResponsibiIity; Morality. An
Impediment to School Development

The School Milieu .
The Teachers; The School Plant

Teaching of Reading
Reading Readiness; Beginning Reading——
Orthography; Intermediate Reading——
Etymology; Advanced Reading —- Prosody;
Standards of Good Reading Ability; Magazine
Criticism of Classical Method; Understanding
vs. Memory Methods in Reading

Materials for Teaching Reading
The Revolution in Print . .
Proliferation of School Books; Novels,
Magazines, and Newspapers
Content of Reading Materials. . . . . . ... .
Decline of Religious Content; The Promotion
of American-English; Nationalism; Utilitarian
Articles; Oratorical Selections
Description of Materials. . .
Beginning Materials—-Orthography;
Intermediate Materials——Etymology; Advanced
Reading Materials—-Prosody
Summary, 1776—1840
CHAPTER V: A COMPARATIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Introduction.
Motives

Methods

Materials

vi

101

107

108

110

112

133
133

135

137

173

180
181
194

215

Concluding Summation.

Suggestions for Further Study .

BIBLIOGRAPHY,
Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

225
226

 

 

-——— v

‘—

 

CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

For some time there has been a need for a descrip—
tive study that would show how lay magazines have reported
on the practice of reading instruction.

Recently, educators have shown a growing concern
about the role of magazines in influencing popular thought
about education. Harry S. Broudy maintained:

The reader's view of the school has been formed

more by accounts in the press and in books highly
publicized by the press Ehan by the more technical
literature on education.

The President of the International Reading Associa-
tion wrote:

The patrons of the local school were often asking
their questions, not on the basis of the school program
they should know best, but from a picture of reading
instruction formed by articles which, usua%ly, the
patron has no very good way of evaluating.

Educator reactions such as the above stimulated the

Writing of this study. Moreover, the need for an under~

standing of the historical antiquity of many of the recent

 

 

1Harry S. Broudy, The Real World of the Public
Schools (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, Inc.,

, p. X.

ZPersonal Communication: Agatha Townsend,
Kutztown, Pennsylvania, March 1, 1965.

I 6
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h t t u _

 

 

 

T"—'

2

innovations, criticisms, and alternate reading methods
was important for teachers analyzing their own reading tech—
niques and materials of instruction.1

In light of the above, popular magazines were studied
over a period of time long enough to show the historical
development of ideas and trends. Then a qualitative de—
scription of these ideas and trends was produced where the
magazine articles spoke their causes for themselves.

Frank Luther Mott stated that lay magazines were the
best chroniclers of what was substantial in contemporaneous
thinking.

Not even the newspapers present so effectively the
veritable life of the time in which they were published.
Historical investigation must increasingly look to the
old. . . journals to discover w at men and women were
doing and thinking and feeling.

Modern educators tend to deplore popular magazines

when they are used as a medium for research dissemination.
How different the old attitude was. For example, the term

”Pragmatism” was first introduced into philosophy by

Charles Peirce in an article in the Popular Science Monthly

 

 

lNila Banton Smith, American Reading Instruction
(Newark, Delaware: Internéfional Reading Assoc., 1965),
p. vii.

ZFrank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines,
Vol. II: 1850—1865 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1936), p. v11.

 

 

for January, 1878.1
In summary, this thesis sets out to meet the need
for a better understanding of early articles in magazines

on reading instruction in order to bring contemporary

problems into their proper perspective.

The Purpose
The purpose of this study was to write a description
of what lay magazines were saying about reading and reading

instruction for the period, 1741-1840. Thus this study

would begin with the publication of the very first magazine
published in Colonial America in 1741 and go on through
1840, a period of one hundred years terminating with the

appearance of the first regular journals specifically de-

signed for the teaching profession.

Importance of Study

It was expected that certain findings obtained from

this study would have broad implications for reading
instruction research and educational research in general.
1. This study would assist in offsetting the relative

Paucity of historical research in reading instruction. One

research specialist noted that in education too, it is a

-—~—-—_____.___—_

lWilliam James, ”What Pragmatism Means,” in
by in the Twentieth Century ed. by William Barrett

Philoso
and Henry D, Aiken, Vol. I. (New York: Random House,
1962). p. 180.

 

 

 

relatively recent development to place educational develop-
ments and changes into their historical contexts.1

2. This study would assist those students who wanted
to know exactly how reading was taught by various methods.
Journalists have described teachers and learners with near-
photographic realism for their lay audiences.

3. This study would provide interested students with
a bibliography of magazine articles on reading, from the
rare and elusive Colonial magazine period down to 1840.

Such an index was not compiled before.

M—

1David J. Fox, The Research Process in Education
(New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1969) pp,
409 and 421. Fox breaks down the intent of research in
terms of time——past—Historical Method; Future—Experimenta-
tlon; Present—Survey, pp. 45-46.

 

 

 

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Limitations of Study

 

Every article listed under reading in such non-
educational, popular indexes as Poole's Index (which

started in 1804), the Nineteenth Century Readers' Guide,

 

and the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature was examined

 

and included in this study if pertinent to reading instruc-

 

tion. Some important articles were discovered that were
not included in the indices and there was no index for the
Colonial articles. Tauber and Lilley have written a re-
port that showed what the odds are in favor of locating

100 per cent of the relevant publications on a given aspect

 

of research in the media.

The unhappy fact is. . .that if one relies exclusively
on the extant indices and bibliographies, the chances are
that he would overlook one important article for every
five he would locate. . . . Of the sources checked, the
National Union Catalog of the Library of Congress listed
less than half of the monographs in the sample; Educa—
tion Index included about 85 per cent of the journal
articles on the st ndard list, but less than one-third
of the monographs.

There was no way of knowing how complete the search
for magazine articles was for this study. However, every
article listed in the indices used was accounted for. A
few more magazine articles were uncovered in the works of
Mott and Richardson, or uncovered by other magazine

articles which alluded to them.

M

1Morris F. Tauber and Oliver L. Lilley, Feasibility
§£EQX_R§garding the Establishment of an Educational Media
Research Information Service (New York: School of Library
erv1ce, Columbia University, 1960), p. 43.

 

 

 

 

F7

6

This study was indebted to Nila Banton Smith for
providing the chronological scheme. Thus, any educator may
easily compare this magazine thesis with the educational
thought of equivalent periods. Smith divided each histor—
ical period into three subsections: Motives for teaching
reading, Materials, and Methods of Reading. The materials
section and the methods section of the next two chapters
tended to blend their ideas and merge with each other. It
might have been easier to combine materials and methods
together into a single section. Justification for this
blurring of boundaries comes from one reading authority.
Sheldon said, "We can consider methods and materials as if
they were one, because they often are in a sense.”1 In
order to make comparison with Nila Smith's standard text
easier, however, her separation of materials and methods
was followed.

This study concentrated on the descriptive analysis
of primary sources, i.e., magazine articles. Secondary
sources, i.e., educational research or opinion, were used:
(1) to provide comparative data, and (2) to set the histor-
ical stage when lay magazines failed to furnish needed

background information.

 

 

1William D. Sheldon, ”New Approaches to Primary
Reading," The Reading Bulletin, No. 133, February, 1970,
P- 1. This bulletin was a free service of Allyn and
Bacon, Inc., bookpublishers.

 

 

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No attempts were made to make judgements on magazine
articles as to whether the view of a particular author was
a good one, or a bad one, with regard to the aims of modern
education. In short, the study maintained a relativistic
viewpoint.

The question of authoritativeness of a given periodical
was left to the judgement of journalistic historians, such as
Mott. A high percentage of magazine articles printed be—
tween 1741 and 1840 were published anonymously, or under
Latin pseudonyms. De Tocqueville maintained that because
of the licentiousness of the press, prominent men did not

dare write in the papers.1 Nevertheless, Mott could attri-

bute authorship of some anonymous magazine articles to
prominent men such as Benjamin Rush, Noah Webster, and
Alexander Hamilton.

Closer to Michigan, Lewis Cass was a frequent anony-
mous contributor to quality magazines. One historian be-
lieved that anonymity served Cass in three ways. First, he
did not want to blow his own horn. Second, as a government
expert on Indian affairs, he knew that his specialized
writings would be instantly recognized as to authorship by

an equally specialized readership. Third, he could write

M—

1Alexis DeTocqueville, Democracy in America (New York:
Harper and Row 1966), p. 171.

 

 

 

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without committing either his Party or his Government.1

The impact of given articles on public opinion about
reading could only be estimated. It was not until the
1880's that influence could be assessed by reference to the

first statistical studies of subscribers and circulation.

Definitions of Terms

 

History.--Even though magazines and the nature of their
content (in an abstract sense) remained constant over a
period of generations, the terms used to define the universe
of reading data changed dramatically. Each generation had
its own perception of what data were relevant for any
particular reading issue. Therefore, most of the defini—
tions used were integral to each of the magazine articles

of a particular period, and left undistilled so that the

reader would face the material of each period in its own

terms.2

The difficulties encountered in turning the magazine

1A note of thanks to Robert W. Unger, Professor of
History. See R.W. Unger, "Lewis Cass: Indian Superinten-
dent of the Michigan Territory, 1813-1831. A Survey of
Public Opinion as Reported by the Newspapers of the Old
Bhrthwest Territory (Ph.D Dissertation, Ball State University,
Muncie, Indiana, August, 1967.) See [Easg] ”Removal of the
Indians," North American ReView, XXX January, 1830, pp. 62-
1?1; [Casg] ”Review Of A VindicatiOn of Reverend Heckewelder's
{Estory of the Indian Nations, by Rawles, “NgrthTAmerican Re-
Vlew, XXVI (April, 1828), pp. 365-442; [Easg/ ”Service of
In ians in Civilized Warfare, North American Review, XXIV
(April, 1827, pp. 365-392.

2

 

 

Fox, The Research Process in Education, pp. 409-410.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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_ ._—___._._..___.

_ _._,_, ._._.— ..

data into historical descriptions of the reading process
over arbitrarily set time periods were encountered by the
historian, R. Hofstadter.

. . as a historical subject, if it can be called
that, it is not a constant thread but a force fluc-
tuating in strength from time to time and drawing
its motive power from varying sources. . . .I have
not held myself to a rigorous or narrow definition

.I can see little advantage in a logical de-
fensible, but historically arbitrary act of defini—
tion, which would demand singling out one trait
among a complex of traits. It is the complex itself
I am interested in——the complex of historical rela-
tions among a variety of attitudes and ideas that
have many points of convergence. . . . This admittedly
general formulation is as cloie as I find it useful
to venture toward definition.

Lay Magazine.-—Those magazines ”not belonging to, connected
with, or proceeding from a profession,"2 in this instance,
education. Magazine was defined ”as a bound pamphlet

issued more or less regularly and containing a variety of
reading matter."3

Reading.--The reading act, motives for teaching reading,
methods, and materials, were dependent upon the definitions
given to them by the magazines of a given period. Other-
wise, standard dictionary or reading dictionary usage

would prevail.4

M

1Richard Hofstadter, Anti- Intellectualism in American

 

 

Life 6(New York: Random House, 1963), p. 7.
2Clarence L. Barnhart (ed. ), The American College
Dictionary (New York: Random House, 1962), 692

3
4Mott, I 1741-1850, p. 7.

4Delwyn G. Schubert, A Dictionary of Terms and

Conce ts in Readin19(Springfield, Illinois: Charles C
Thomas Pub [15 Her,

 

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10

Organization'of

"Remainder'of‘Thesis

 

In Chapter II, the pertinent literature about mass
magazines and historical studies about reading instruction
was reviewed. Educators have always been interested in
what lay magazines have had to say about their profession.
For many years, the National Education Association and the
John Dewey Society tabulated articles favorable and unfavor-
able to their aspirations. Yet, only a handful of disserta-
tions have been produced about magazines and education.

Only one (Champion) was found about magazines and reading.

In Chapter III, reading instruction in the Colonial
Period, 1741-1775 was described by twenty-eight primary
sources. Allusions to reading tended to be vague and
general because the school system to teach reading had not
yet been fully institutionalized.

In Chapter IV, the nationalistic-moralistic emphasis
in reading, as seen in approximately ninety—seven magazine
articles, 1776—1840 was studied. Once more, references to
reading tended to be general and more inspirational than
practical. A definitive school system to teach reading was
now in the process of becoming fully institutionalized.

Summary and Conclusions were placed in Chapter V. A
series of tables and charts were added in order to depict
relative historical interests in a visual and compact

Summarization.

 

Except f.
the framework .
{Beginning and

(grammar) Th:

with Nila Bant<

gramatical st]
reading was tat
to modern basal

schools today.

 

 

 

 

11

Except for Chapter V, each chapter was built around
the framework of Motives for teaching reading, Materials
(Beginning and Productive), and Methods of teaching reading
(grammar.) This framework was devised to allow comparison
with Nila Banton Smith‘s educational perspective. The
grammatical structure reflected the unique way in which
reading was taught. The grammatical structure was alien
to modern basal reader approaches used in many public

schools today.

 

The
35 the sc
thinking
influence
:I'L‘LIS an U

should th

 

 

CHAPTER II

APPLICATION OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH

TO THIS INVESTIGATION

Review of the Literature

 

The shapers of American History were the products
of the schools and of the society of the past. The
thinking and the ideals of these innovators were greatly
influenced by the media by which ideas were exchanged.

Thus an understanding of one type of media--magazines—-
should throw light upon the evolution of reading instruction
in an expanding nation.

An attempt has been made to trace reading instruction,
via lay magazines, through the successive stages which have
preceded its present status. There appeared to be several
serious studies of magazines over listorical time, and
others that chronicled reading instruction; but no study

combining the two for the period 1741—1840.

12

 

 

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:othe tc
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When her
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311d there

 

 

 

13

Literature Related to Reading Instruction

Champion

The most recent study and the most clearly related
to the topic of reading was that of Champion.1 Despite
its excellent organization it never got close to what the
magazines actually said. At many points in her argument
when her statements about magazines required a pertinent
quotation from Lifg_or Newsweek, she fell back on the

research findings of educators.’ Except for a score of

 

neat tables where the positive, middling, or negative
attitudes of several magazines were X'd in under headings
such as "Magazines Expressing Ideas Pertaining to Readiness
for Reading"2, the content of lay magazines was not illus-
trated.

Moreover, analysis revealed that: (1) its coverage
of seven years, 1953-1959, was too limited to reveal any
trends; (2) it included a period of great attack on reading

(”Why Johnny Can't Read”, Sputnik, and Admiral Rickover)

 

and therefore represented an atypical picture of magazine
ideas; (3) it was possible that no magazines were actually

read for it was stated that "the present study limits its

 

coverage to articles . . . summarized fitalics addedlby

__

1Grace Champion, ”A Comparison of Reading Ideas in
Lay Magazines with Research Findings” (unpublished Bd.D
Dissertation, George Peabody College for Teachers,
Nashville, Tennessee, 1962). (Hereinafter referred to as
Champion, "Comparison")

2 .
Ibid., p. 23

 

the Educational
:ional Researci
:e "the regula‘
print articles
firepped when 51
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52ith
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Nila Bani
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and bulleti
idUCation

,
In reading

 

 

 

14

the Educational Research Servicel. . . ."2 (4) The Educa-

tional Research Service had a policy of adding magazines
to "the regular list for screening when they begin to
print articles. . . on education frequently; they are
dropped when such articles appear less frequently."3 The
NEA's interest in selecting magazines from the total number
of magazines circulated in this country may have introduced
an educator's bias into Champion's methodology.

§Ei_t_1_1.

Nila Banton Smith's American Reading Instruction was
an established educational text in its field, and its
chronological system and topical divisions became guidelines
for this thesis. The chief sources of information used by

Smith were educational--a bias which this thesis intended

to avoid.

.hornbooks, spellers, readers, courses of
study, yearbooks, proceedings of national societies,
articles in periodicals, histories and diaries,
professional books, teacher's manuals, and reports
and bulletins of school boards, commissioners of
education, and superintendents. Riports of research
in reading were carefully perused.

1American Assoc. of School Administrators and the
Research Division of National Education Association,
Edgcation in Lay_Mazazines (Washington, D.C.: Educational
Research ServiEe, 1953—1959).

2Champion, "Comparison", p. 9.

31616.

 

4Smith, American Reading Instruction,p. viii.

 

 

About
detwentie
i2p10\'e. S
:nnury, di

In so

reading
place du

present
precedin

htsuch id

AI-reading

Enes,and

 

 

 

15

About sixty-six per cent of her book was devoted to
the twentieth century; an imbalance this thesis worked to
improve. Smith concentrated her work on the present
century, dismissing the past with this finding:

In surveying the successive movements in American

reading instruction, one finds more changes taking

place during the last five and a half decades of the

present ceptury than during the entire span of time
preceding.

Yet such ideas as Pitman's i/t/a, diacritical spelling,
ABC-reading, phonics, mixed methods, the basal reading
series, and the great muck—racking attacks on the school,
not to mention nation-wide school reform itself, all pre-
date this century.
Lamport

This study traced the development of progress in

teaching children to read, from antiquity to 1900.2 Because

of the vastness of the field, his work focused on the intro—
ductory stages of reading, and was concerned with advanced
procedure only when it had a direct bearing upon the condi—
tions affecting beginners. He attempted to produce a
complete survey of the objectives, methods, and materials

of beginning reading. His sources were similar to Smith:

being other educational writings.

M

1Smith, American Reading Instruction, p. vii.

. 2Harold B. Lamport, ”A History of the Teaching of
Beginning Reading" (unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, Univer-
51ty of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1935).

 

 

 

 

llathews

 

Th

 

 

 

16

Mathews

This linguist and lexicographer attempted to cut a

new swath through the ”steady stream" of treatises on the

teaching of reading.1 In his book, he covered reading

from the invention of the alphabet to the present. He
attacked the "look-say" school of reading (see below) and

leaned towards phonetic-synthetic methods instead.

Reeder.

At the very beginning of the century, this instructor
in the theory and practice of teaching at Columbia Univer-
sity converted a portion of his dissertation into a small

but influential book.2

Mathews saw Reeder as an apologist for the whole word
method who diverted educational history from reality by
his attack on the "alphabet routine."

In Reeder's treatment. . .this sentence occurred:

"The earliest proposed substitute for the alphabet
method was the word and picture method suggested by

Comenius." Nothing could be further from the truth.
but this misleading statement by Reeder has been
responsible for including. . .the celebrated Moravian

educator among the endorsers of the word method.

1Mitford M. Mathews, Teaching to Read Historically
ansidered (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1966), p. 141.

2Rudolph R. Reeder, The Historical Develgpment of
§ghool Readers and of MethSH in Teaching Reading (New York:
The Macmillan Cb., 1900). (Hereinafter referred to as
Reeder, Teaching Reading).

 

 

cited
with
Dr. A

favor
has a
word '
abroa

 

17

. The most notable of those who have recently
cited Reeder as authority for crediting Comenius
with "recommending a 'wprd recognition' method” is
Dr. Arthur Gates.

it was Dr. Reeder who found that Bulwer— —Lytton*
favored a word method approach. . . .This attribution
has also become a part of the orthodoxy of the modern
word meEhod and has gained wide currency both here and
abroad.

But when educators depended on other educators for
their facts such myths were bound to proliferate. It would
then appear that what magazines might have to say about
reading would supply a fresh breeze in the archives of the

l
educational history of reading.
I
l
l

Other Pertinent Literature
M933
Mott wrote the definitive history of magazine develop-
ment in America from 1741 through the 1920's (extended by
his Estate into the 1950‘s).3 He provided sketches of each
magazine which gave background for publishers‘ attitudes

towards education. In addition, he wrote brief chapters on

 

1Mathews, Teaching to Read Historically Considered,
pp. 141- 143. Reeder depicted American children giving the
C sound when shown a picture of a cow. Comenius, however,
intended for the picture of a cow to remind the rustic
child to make an utterance like a cow. m- m- -mh sound; or
the b— buh sound when shown a picture of a sheep.

 

2Idem.*Bu1wer—Lytton was being sarcastic in his
Novel, _HE—Caxtons, where the character Herr Mann (Horace
Mann) was portrayed attaching the ABC method and endorsing
the unit method.

3Frank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines,
Ygls. I-IV (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press,
36).

 

 

 

period magazin
references '50
NNalindices
goghe the CO
tucately, Rich
rigorous study
reading and in
caimlin gene
EEEE

He class
inonajor tre:
nfliceducath
classical disc
nrnonen; and
358m conditi.
flectire of .

the school.

 

 

18

period magazines and education. Mott supplied important
references to this study that were missed by library peri-
odical indices. However, the lack of materials caused Mott
to give the Colonial period only limited attention. For-
tunately, Richardson selected the colonial period for a
rigorous study which provided a few more rare references to
reading and indicated the lack of magazine interest in edu-
cation in general.1
Hepler

He classified the opinions of four "quality" magazines
into major trend areas for education (increasing scope of
public education; liberation of higher education from
classical disciplines; increased educational opportunity
for women; and more emphasis on teacher training).2 Some
of the conditions described in these magazine articles were
reflective of journalistic concern with the every-day world
of the school. Educational histories were more concerned
with the theme of school progress than they were with
schoolhouse scandals. Quality magazines would record that
teachers were being paid less than farmhands and were sub-

jected to the abuses of political bosses who controlled

 

lLyon N. Richardson, A History of Early American
Ma azines, 1741-1789 (New York: Octagon Books, Inc., 1931).
(Hereinafter referred to as Richardson, Early American

Magazines)

2John C. Hepler, "The Educational Content of Some
National Literary Periodicals, 1850-1900" (unpublished Ph.D
dissertation, George Peabody College for Teachers,
Nashville, Tennessee, 1944), pp. 3—27. (Hereinafter re-
ferred to as Hepler, ”Educational Content”)

 

 

 

many of the s<
in the north 2
laws were inot
iegeneral f6
hue their ch
;laces was as

Ehcaheth, New
erenot in sc
shied as dis

Sunnar
\

.
.
a.‘

 

 

19

many of the schools; segregation of the races was common
in the north as well as the south; most compulsory school
laws were inoperative and in many states (notably Texas)
the general feeling was that parents had every right to
leave their children in ignorance; the school year in some
places was as short as fourteen weeks; and in towns like
Elizabeth, New Jersey, forty-six per cent of the children
were not in schools; while rural school houses were de-

1

scribed as disgraceful and repulsive in the extreme.

Summary Discussion of Review of Literature

 

Implications of Previous Studies

1. Review of the literature showed the feasibility
of this undertaking.

2. The literature showed that an historical-
descriptive study of magazine opinion about reading, 1741-
1840 had not been done before.

3. It was determined that the literature cited
above contained serious limitations which this thesis had
avoided.

a. Educational Profession Bias.—Champion, Smith,
and Lamport, organized their studies around educational
authorities, and Champion and Lamport gathered their data
from summaries of magazine articles collected by the

National Education Association.
______________________

lIbid., pp. 159-231.

 

b. 5
the above diss
:agazine artiC
:ajor headings
tire technique

c. S
321' Lamport, p
serenyears. I
favored by the

,.
we ~

turtles were 2

——7,
20

b. Summary Polling.~Except for Smith and Lamport
the above dissertation writers tended to simply tally
magazine articles as being pro— or anti-education under
major headings such as curriculum, philosophy, and innova-
tive techniques.

c. Short—term Trend Analysis.—Except for Smith
and Lamport, periods covered ranged from five to twenty-
seven years. Not all magazines were analyzed-—just those
favored by the NEA. In this thesis, all indexed magazine
articles were analyzed over a hundred year period.

1 Major Findings

1. In general, lay magazines have explained and
popularized the results of educational research. More often
than not, they have defended the principles of good educa-
tion.

2. Attitudes expressed in magazines were generally
attempts to change or form popular opinion. It might be
unsafe to assume that they reflected the thinking of the
public concerning problems of reading.

3. Socio—economic conditions had some influence in
determining lay attitudes. Educational interests tended to
increase during peacetime and prosperity.

4. Magazine articles appeared to encourage a climate

 

0f Opinion favorable to functional curricula where real-
life problems were studied and active learning of methods

were employed.

READI

American
an,southwa
Of the UDiV
land"the f
countless p
"The iHSPi
:0pTOYinCe
city to the
the diStant
isconing:
donsiVill E
gfyour 115

This thaf
:nafine-‘Or P7
Some r€i
intnmtion (e

«never, as beg

5M
u.dn developfi

The mega:

ti
nnasne knon

 

 

CHAPTER III

READING INSTRUCTION IN THE COLONIAL

PERIOD TO 1775

Introduction

Americans! Look eastward, and westward, northward
and southward-~the stores of nature, and the blessings
of the universe, are ready to pour into your happy
land--the friendly ocean flows around you, and your
countless ports are open to the four winds of Heaven.
--The inspiring voice of Liberty echoes from province
to province, and her animating spirit kindles from the
city to the country, and flashes like lightning through
the distant regions of your vast Continent. The time
is coming, when the knee of empires and splendid king-
doms will bow to your greatness and supplicate favour
of your liberal and peerless majesty. .

Patriot1

This chapter was devoted to the analysis of twenty-eight
magazine-~or primary-—sources published between 1741 and
1775. Some references seemed far removed from reading
instruction (e.g., female education.) They were included,
however, as beginning trends that would become important
in the development of modern reading instruction.

The magazines had little to say about reading instruc-

tion as we know it today.2 The Colonists had different

M

1"The Address of American Genius, to the People in the
American World," The Royal American Magazine, I (January,
74), pl 0

Zsmith, American Reading Instruction, p. 31. References
to reading methods in the profe551ona1 literature of the
time were also rare.

21

 

interest:
in surv:
and a C1;

The
presses i
appeared

Benjamin

.igzared c
He cont

A I
arthleS

 

 

22

interests, needs, and definitions. These included sectar-
ian survival, religious continuity through Bible reading,
and a Classical-Latin View of reading.

The first magazine appeared from American printing

presses in 1741. Andrew Bradford's American Magazine

 

appeared first and expired after three months. His rival,
Benjamin Franklin, published the General Magazine three

days later. It expired after six months.1

This and the
hundred other fledgling magazines that bloomed briefly
were concerned with politics, war, and copying popular
articles from British periodicals.2

Early education and reading instruction were not
important topics, perhaps because of the assumptions soci-
ety had about schooling. Social class and parental wishes
were considered to be the determiners of education.

The remainder of the chapter was divided into three
main branches: motives, methods, and materials of reading
instruction (the same outline used by Nila Banton Smith in

American Reading Instruction.) The motive section was

 

particularly difficult because the magazines' definitions
0f reading and education were almost alien to modern edu-

cational thought.

M

 

1Richardson, Early American Magazines, p. 17; Mott, I:
llAl;l§5Q, p. 24.

2Mott, I: 1741—1850, p. 25.

 

 

Parsimon
on the Youth (
Colonies. The
ifhewas bOTI
rould fill the
the Latin and
unto the lit
ndthe ninist
theory of the
iheases of ez
~finn his pr<

All of ‘
erourage rea~
pnductive di
tnh the Clas
Rina ancien
innness for
Shnation was
hnfieman-par
instruction 3
i935 0f iniqu
mdsnas to h

”Volution

23

MotiVes for Teaching Reading

 

Parsimoniously, the concerns for education centered
on the youth (about ten and older) of the sparsely settled
Colonies. The welfare of the child was a family matter and
if he was born into the right class it was expected he

would fill the appropriate station within his social class.

 

The Latin and Greek curriculum advanced the gentleman's

son to the limited, "bookish" posts in public service, law,
and the ministry. In short, the practical educational
theory of the Colonists was: if the child survived the
diseases of early childhood, and somehow learned his letters
--then his proper education could begin.

All of the factors that motivated the magazines to
encourage reading also contained the seeds of counter-
productive dissent. For example, the Colonial love affair
with the Classics and ancient history exposed the readers
to the ancients' low opinion of schooling. The Colonial
fondness for John Locke only strengthened the belief that

education was a private matter for the philosophical

 

gentleman-parent. The religious sermons advocating reading
instruction also enlightened the subscriber to what awful
dens of iniquity the schools were. Reading for patriotic

ends was to help lay the kindling for the coming violent

 

revolution.

 

Prc
John Locke
Some Thc
Between 1683-1
planning durir
addressed to h
rate tutoring
understood tod
cerning Human
rapid derelopn
widely known 1
iriginal form,
Franklin."1
A primer
licke's ideas
‘ TIS a US
15 like War
on which we
LOCke'S
tions “as dire
fer the Carolj
hYMntiOHarV

 

 

24

Pro-Reading Instructional Influences

John Locke

 

between 1683-1689, made a lasting impression on educational

planning during this Colonial period. The Thoughts were

‘addressed to how a father should bring up his sons by pri—

vate tutoring and not through school system education as
understood today. Yet, the Thoughts and Locke's Essay Con-

cerning Human Understanding marked the beginnings of the

 

rapid development of modern educational theory. "They were
widely known in the American colonies, not only in their
original form, but through the popularizations of Benjamin
Franklin.”1
A primary source reflected the Colonial interest with
Locke's ideas by copying them almost verbatim.
Tis a usual comparison, that the Mind of Children

is like Wax, capable of any Impression, or like Paper,

on which we may write what sentiments we please. .2

Locke's association with fledgling American institu~
tions was direct, in that in 1669 he drew up a constitution
for the Carolinas. He influenced the thinking of the
Revolutionary generation, declaring that revolution in some
Circumstances was not only right, but obligatory. His

theme that sense perceptions were the basis of reason

M

1Peter Gay, ed. , John Locke on Education (New York:
Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1964),
PP V- vi.

2
1743),p

 

"Of Education, " Boston Weekleragazine, I (March 2,

 

 

 

 

became part 0:

sensationalisr

The Classical
if there

Greeks and ROI

. . (a:
walk wit :
who having
and survive
empires, 3:
good taste
perfection

The Cont
catiOIMather

tion.

,The Edu<
Orall the
ArlStotle,

the princir

25

became part of the puritan Jonathan Edward‘s psychology of

sensationalism.1

The Classical'MotiVe
If there was a model for schooling, the ancient

Greeks and Romans supplied it through the "Classics.”

 

. . . asyteachers of mankind, we are made to
walk wit safety under the direction of such guides,
who having stood the test of so many ages and people,
and survived the revolutions and downfall of so many
empires, are still esteemed and sovereign judges of
_good taste, and the most finished models of the highest
perfection in literature.

The concentration of scarce resources on higher edu-

cation rather than on early childhood was a classical no-

tion.
The Education of Youth has been the peculiar Care
of all the Wise Legislators of Antiquity. . . . Plato,
Aristotle, and Lycurgus. - -made the Education of Youth

(N

the principal and most essential Duty of the Magistrate.

 

1Thomas H. Johnson, The Oxford Companion to American
Histor (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966), p. 182.
iHerelnafter referred to as Johnson, Oxford Companion.)

2Philologus Cantab, ”The Advantages of a Good Educa-
tion,” The Universal Magazine, III (December, 1748), p. 263.
(Hereinafter referred to as Philogus Cantab, Good Education.)
The Colonists may have shared the ancients' esteem for oral
reading and sensible meaning; but they may have also picked
up the old notions that only slaves were fit to teach babes
their letters, and confused the teaching of reading in
English with the more phonically regular classical tongues.

 

3"Remarks on our intended College," The Independent
Reflector, I No. 17 (March 22, 1753), p. 68.

~________ ’

 

 

 

 

 

Third World n:
and where to ;
:arinun educa‘

Plans f<
space to inter
Benjamin Fran]

Romans 1
rank'd it t-
to mark one
he had neit
d' i ‘
1d Cit nec

Through
Zinnight be r
to reform soci
was to awaken

T

:re institutic

ZED

.. Rousseau

These in

din way t
which the a
Patriotic *
qualities
Which are
renting in
institutio

26

Third World nations today face that same problem of how
and where to allocate scarce resources in order to provide
maximum educational dividends to the State.

Plans for new schools in the Colonies devoted much
space to integrating physical health with academics.
Benjamin Franklin cited Locke's Treatise on Education:

Romans thought swimming so necessary, that they
rank'd it with Letters; and it was the common Phrase
to mark one ill educated, and good for nothing, that
he had neither leaint to read nor to swim; Nec Literas
didicit nec Natare.

Through education, the classical Athenian and Roman
Egg might be recreated to manage contemporary problems and
to reform society. The importance of the classics then
was to awaken in the American imagination the idea that by
the institutionalization of schools, they could create such
men. Rousseau would explain:

These imperfectly developed ideas of mine show in
a dim way to the modern world the unknown roads by
Which the ancients brought men to a Vigour of soul, a
patriotic zeal, an esteem for the essentially personal
qualities without regard to anything alien to humanity
Which are no longer found among us, but which are fer—
menting in the hearts of all m n and only wait suitable
institutions to become active.

__________________
1JOhn Hardin Best, ed., Benjamin Franklin on Educa—

Eéon, (New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia Univ— f

er51ty, 1962), pp. 133-134. (Phy51cal sc1ence was part 0

the "Circle of sciences“ discussed in "A New Plan of Efiuca-

tion,” The Pennsylvania Magazine, or American Monthly“ useum,

I (MarcE—_I77§)] p. 102. Author believed to be FranCis

Hopkinson.)

W~ ' d ed. ”Considerations on the Government
of PolandTTITheBMindr Eddcational Writings of Jeaanacques
Rousseau (New York: Teachers College Press, COldmtlaas
Uaner51ty, 1952), p. 101. (Hereinafter referred th t he
Boyd, ed., Rousseau) Polish nobles had requeste a

 

Patriotism
The div
England for m
TundrCanadi
nuts. The c
bunpkin image
h'du mid-ei
perdently cha
Tuil gorerno
even represen
hntcomplain
arenedy,
1 These C
3t some Br
eiten expo
The best 31
and in Con

Interests,
all our Pr

There w

 

 

27

Patriotism
The divided Colonies were compelled to call upon

England for military aid against the aggressive handful of
French-Canadians who almost constantly raided their settle—
ments. The colonists found the helpless "Yankee-Doodle”
bumpkin image they thus acquired, distressing. Moreover,
by the mid—eighteenth century all of the previously inde-
pendently chartered provinCes had fallen under the rule of
royal governors. Yet the affairs of the Colonies were not
even represented in the British parliament. One correspon—
dent complained of this sad state of affairs and suggested
a remedy.

These Colonies have hitherto been too much despised
by some British Politicians, whose Indifference has
often exposed us to sundry political Disadvantages.

The best Means for raising a Sense of our Importance,_
and in Consequence of it, an Attention to our prOV1nc1a1
Interests, is. . .fo encourage the Education of Youth in

all our Provinces.

There was a wondrous belief at this time that educa-
____________________

write ideas for their constitution: N.B., the daiiy Sledge
0f Allegiance in U.S. schools remains a relic of t e oma
influence.

1"Letter from Philadelphia, October 21, 1753,” The

Inde endent Reflector, I, No. 51 (November 15% 1753),
P. 204. Hereina ter referred to as Letter rom

Philadelphia.")

 

tion would so

would furnish
ture, with en
Patriot~Fire.

Knowled
prizing an
the)r will
the insidi
undisguise

The typ
to read. But
little contra
the Bible for

All the
inhabitant
service of
Sermon pre
shall know
WOT 5 O O
HEXiOn bet
0f every k

\
u lHThe P
(‘thhlv

W
"°' in). 11

 

28

tion would solve all political difficulties.1 Education

would furnish the Colonies with men of "Sense and Litera-

ture, with enterprizing Heads, and Hearts inflamed with

Patriot'sFire.”2

Knowledge among a People makes them free, enter-
prizing and dauntless. . . When Men know their Rights,
they will at all Hazards defend them, as well against

the insidious Designs of domestic Politgcians, as the
undisguised attacks of a foreign Enemy.

The typical Colonist possessed relatively few books

to read. But what he read, he read well. And, he found

little contradiction either in the classics, Locke, or in
the Bible for his opposition to British policies.

All the trustees, and a great concourse of the
inhabitants were present at the Opening, when the
service of the Church of England was read and a . .
sermon preached. . .from St. John VIII. 32, And ye
ghall know the Truth shall make you Free. these
words of our blessed SaviOr. .show the intimate con-
nexion between Truth and Freedom, between Knowledge
of every kind, and the preservation of civil andT

 

1”The Planter, No. III," The American Magazine, and
Mgnthly Chronicle for the British Colonies, I (December,

$757), pp. 119-122. See also RiEhardson, Early American
a azines p. 110; and in the above magazine ”The Planter,
NBTTVII7",I (April, 1758), pp. 324-328. ’
2"Letter from Philadelphia," The Independent Reflector,
P- 205. Author may be William Smith, Jr., a lawyer and his-
gorian. See Richardson, Early American Magazines, pp. 79n,
0-81.

3"The Advantages of Education, with the Necessity
0f instituting Grammar Schools for the Instruction of
Youth preparatory to their Admission into our Intended
College," The Independent Reflector, I, No. 50 (November 8,

1753), p. 200. (Hereinafter referred to as "The Advantages
of Education.")

 

 

 

 

rehgious Lib
The les
a flu magazi
towards organ
But, 53
.. .throu
rise or fa
sink again
states dep
ina' ‘ -
In the j

intitutions

 

 

29

religious Liberty.1

The lessons from the classics provided a reminder

to the magazine readers of their civic respon51b111ty
towards organized education.

But,

Athens is no more, Rome has lost its glory
.through the neglect of literature nations
rise or fall, emerge out of ignorance and darkness, or
sink again into it.

And that the happiness of a1
states depends in a manner upon good education

Moralistic-Religious Motive

In the New World, a "Howling Wilderness" bereft of

institutions to control human affairs, men needed learning
in order to manage their rude towns and to acquire self-
governance Without the example of aristocracy or episcopacy

.Learning has this further value; .it helps
us to conquer our own infirmities.

It draws a man off
from a habit of idleness, play and debauchery, and not

only fills up, but renders their leisure hours agree-
able, '

which hang so heavy upon the hands of the ignor—
ant, and without the assistance of literature, is a
kind of death of the soul.3

But this was not a liberal, nonsecular type of
learning.

Reading had to be buttressed by lessons in the
ethical philosophy of religion.

Arts and Sciences are too often mistaken for all that
is necessary to form a Man; whereas one may be a very
ill and unhappy Man, with all the Learning in the World.

M

 

1”Account of the College and Academy of Philadelphia, ”
The American Magazine and Chronicle for the British Colonies
(October, 1758), p. 631. (Hereinafter referred to as ”Account
0f the College, " The American Magazine.)
2Philologus Cantab, Good Education pp

262—263.
3ib1d., p. 264.

 

 

Youth OUgh
of Right a
Things the
and be dir
ought to t
come benef
not only p

Reading
fingush fals

Several
as soon as
them, but
scripture .

Moral r.

:EFTESentatiwr

c ”'1 ‘
‘3“..1

.ies and/(

The ins'
the SCTiDti
tnd Sing ar
Tit, not b\
TL 93" teach'
1“ the Scri
each Other

\

1..
.q, ‘Of Edi

i”) 7 ,
- i p. ‘1 .314-
:ETh c

 

30

Youth ought to be perfectly instructed in the Notions
of Right and Wrong, to have the true Ideas of those
Things they are most likely to meet with in the World,
and be directed to the proper End to which their Actions
ought to tend. Arts and Sciences will then indeed be—

come beneficial and ornamental, which otherwise might
not only prove useless, but dangerous.

Reading could help the young person learn to dis-

tinguish false pleasure and happiness from the true.

Several pious persons made it an invariable custom,
as soon as their children could read, never to correct

them, but after they had read over all the passages of
scripture which command it. 2

Moral reading in a Georgia orphanage may have been
representative of early reading instruction in devout
families and/or among zealous teachers.

The instructors.

.who in teaching them to read
the Scripture, at the same time explain it to them,

and sing and pray with them more or less as they think
fit, not by form, but out of their own Hearts, whereby
they teach both themselves and Children much knowledge

in the Scriptures, exercise their Talents, and build
each other up in our most holy Faith.

 

1

"Of Education,” Boston Weekly Magazine, I (March 2,
1743), p. Z-Magazine expired same month. See Richardson,
Early American Magazines, p 364.

2 ohn WitherspoonJ'A Series of Letters on Education,
Letter III," The Pennsylvania Magazine:

or, American Monthly
Museum 1 (June, 1775), pp. 248—249. (Hereinafter referred;—
to as itherspoon, ”Letter 111".) Author John Witherspoon
as noted in Mott, I: 1741—1850, p. 90 and Richardson, Early
American Magazines, p. 184m.

3"The Manner of the Children‘s Spending their Time at
the Orphan-House in Georgia,” The General Magazine, and
Historical Chronical, for All the British Plantations’in
IEEFEEET_I, No. 2 (February, 1741), p. 134. (Hereinafter
referred to as "The Manner of Children's Spending their
Tlme," The General Magazine.)

 

 

The flc
discoveries a
older concept
New ideas wer
colonial Plan
would solve a

The pri

instructio
to cultiva
sire parts
receiving.
11195 of ho
R€llgion,
An
SCtial Handic
\

One bar-
social class 1
we J ‘
tet€u LO CrEa.
EducatiOn inst
or“

:ei- .

led little
thus

) there WE

senelite a su:

Despite
film My to
”Rarity, rei

l .
Thllolog

 

31

The flood of eighteenth century Newtonian scientific
discoveries and secular rationalism failed to diminish the
older concept of the religious moral function of education
New ideas were absorbed with that wonderous faith the

colonial Planter had expressed in believing that education

would solve all difficulties.

The principal objects of those set apart for the
instruction of youth may be reduced to three; Science,
to cultivate and adorn the minds. .with such progres-
sive parts of literature, as their years are capable of
receiving.

.Morality, to form the heart by the princi—
ples of honour and probity, in their re

lative state; and
Religion, to make them good Christians.

Anti—Reading Instruction Influences

Social Handicaps

One barrier to the institution of mass education to

provide free reading instruction to young children was the

social class structure. Too few children were being edu—

cated to create the need for a graded series of mass—

education institutions. Education was often considered a

Private parental responsibility. Most poor children re-

ceived little if any schooling. Females were often excluded.

Thus, there was not a sufficient population base on which to

generate a system of primary schools.

Despite the many Colonial laws, many townships shirked

their duty to provide schooling. Frequent wars, high child

mortality, religious intolerance, scarce material resources

 

1Philologus Cantab, Good Education, p. 262

 

 

anti-intelle:
operated to I
New World.
Eightee
towns provide
the upper soc
writing, SCiE
cultured acce
Stile in priv
Class, at Cha
literacy, and
73115 h'illiam
education for
P30i68510n5.rs
The Bib

eQUCation of

 

 

32

anti-intellectualism, and the need for child labor, all
operated to make schooling a very uncertain luxury in the
New World.

Eighteenth-century American schools in the wealthier
towns provided dual systems for rich and poor. Youths from
the upper social stratum learned the classics, reading,
writing, science, and moral philosophy, in addition to a
cultured accent in speech and a properly adorned prose
style in private schools or parish schools. The lowest
class, at charity, or "free" schools learned rudimentary
literacy, and the habits of obedience, thrift, and industry.
Thus William Smith, provost of Philadelphia Academy, divided
education for ”gentlemen” from education "for the Mechanic
Professions.”1

The Bible played an important role in the limited
education of the poor. The Bible was the most available
material for ”free" schooling. Religious societies such
as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S.P.G.)
donated the Scriptures to the needy.

. .Religion is the great polisher of the common
people. It even enlarges their understandings as to

 

1Russell Blaine Nye, The Cultural Life of the New

Nation: 1776-1830 (New York: Harper and Row, 1960),
P. 152. (Hereinafter referred to as Nye, Cultural Life.)
See also Louis B. Wright, The Cultural Life of the American
Colonies: 1607-1763 (New York: Harper and Row, 1957), p.

. ereihifter referred to as Wright, Cultural Life.)
See Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews and Shamela lBoston:
Houghton Mifflin, 196I), p. 18 for a humorous look at
Charity schools. Many poor parents rejected the stigma of
being put on the pauper rolls of charity and kept their
Children out.

other thi
judgment
capable o
tics, or .
The we;
schools as t]
widely availe
For pre-indus
children were
learning to r
1018 habit.
ThO' ev

not had su
Sla'CES, an

‘L0 learn a
John Lo

3'3 gentlemen.

should be edu.

33

other things. Having been accustomed to exercise their
judgment and reflection on religious subjects, they are
capable of talking more sensibly on agriculture, poli-

tics, or any common topic of indifferent conversation.1

The wealthy children did not attend the same lower

schools as the poor. In the poorer schools the cheap and

widely available Bible held reign as the only textbook.

For pre-industrial America, where the majority of the
children were destined for traditional agricultural careers,
learning to read the Bible was just the start of a life—

long habit.

Tho' every one of my Fellow-Planters may. .have
not had sufficient readifig‘ffi“ifif6ffi‘ffiemselves of. . .
states, and of. . .government. .yet they are qualifie
to learn and to discharge the duties of devout Christians.2

 

 

John Locke had addressed his little book on education

to gentlemen. It never occurred to him that every child

should be educated, or that all should be educated alike.
In his capacity as commissioner of trade and plantations,
he drafted a plan to revise the Elizabethan poor law. His
SUggestions revealed class bias typical of the times.

If any boy or girl, under fourteen. . .shall be
found begging out of the parish where they dwell. . .
they shall be sent to the next working school, there

 

£%ohn Witherspoofl]”A Series of Letters on Education,
Letter I ," The Pennsylvania Magazine: or, American
Museum, I (September, 1775), p. 401. (Hereinafter referred
t0 aSIWitherspoofi]”Letter IV.")

2"The Planter, No. III," The American Magazine, p.
See alsoErancis Hopkinsofl "An Extraordinary Dream,“ The
Penns lvania Magazine: or, American Monthly Museum, T—~
iJanuary, 1775), p. 16 where Benjamin Franklin complained
0f Harvard's closed door policy towards the poor.

121.

to be sour
that they
that night
parish, tc
lief of tl
shall be c
would cost
.. .taugl
religion.

No syst
exntence if
buntits on t
are liberal

écethe fair

An anon
fWile educat
139 (pp. 131
humar’ defi

SO, MT.
0f the fai
s‘. . .it
SEX where
00: and ne‘
13'sWitfijj
Qlylnity ‘ 3'

\

Gav, e(

I

7

u”

7 On F

o a p
1th ry! 1

Ma azine<

 

34

to be soundly whipped and kept at work till evening, so
that they may be dismissed time enough to get. . .home
that night. . . . . working schools be set up in every
parish, to which the children of all such as demand re—
lief of the parish, above three and under fourteen.
shall be obliged to come. . . .the education of paupers
would cost the parish nothing. . . .these working schools
.taught spinning or knitting and. . .some sense of
religion.

No system of mass public education could come into
existence if half of the children were excluded from its
benefits on the grounds of sex. One magazine valiantly stood
for a liberal education for females. It attempted ”to in—

duce the fair sex to acquire an education". 2

 

 

An anonymous ”Leander" wrote his negative opinion on
female education in the April, 1774 issue of the same maga—
zine (pp. 131—132.) "Sylvia" made a spirited reply which,
however, defined the female educational dilemma.

So, Mr. Reformer, you are concerned for the education
of the fair sex, are you? Your servant Sir—-your servant
. .it is probable you. . .are fresh from the univer-
sity where you discovered that our sex, as they never
go, and never ought to go, to college, have no business
.with Newton, or Locke. . .nor. . .controversial
divinity. 3

 

 

1Gay, ed., John Locke on Education, pp. 12-14.

 

2"On Female Education,” The Royal American Magazine,
I (January, 1774), pp. 9— 10. See Richardson, Early Amer-

ican Magazines, p. 172

3"To the 'young Gentleman' whose Letter on Female
Education was Published Last Month, " The Royal American
Magazine, I (May, l774),p . 176. (Hereinafter referred to
as ”To the 'young Gentleman'," The Royal American Magazine.)

 

Appare
teaching gir
asensitiVe
pun peril d'
i had betteT

An an01
ehmate thEi?
Eu'the. . -<
. 2
:ues.

Althoug
guneel class
togoto coll

~L

why she
ln'studie
sex have a
say you ca

51

R

lt
‘Ne

Barren Pa

The ”ha

boards or‘ a

 

35

Apparently, one common educational technique for
teaching girls was the needle and sampler, for it struck

a sensitive nerve in ”Sylvia." She warned Leander, "Upon

your peril do not tell Philander in your next letter that
I had better have been using my needle.”1

An anonymous male warned fathers who were tempted to
educate their daughters that they would "speedily learn to

buy the. . .extravagance of fashion”.

.and become chatter-
2

boxes.

Although the anonymous "Sylvia" was probably from the
genteel class, and although she was pleading for the right
to go to college, her argument generalizes to the heart of

the problem.

why should we be utterly debarred from some particu-
lar studies merely because some gentlemen think their
sex have an exclusive right to them, I will venture to
say you cannot give a satisfactory answer.3

The Barren Path

The ”barren path" may have revealed an indifference

towards or an anti-professional attitude towards the

 

 

1Ibid., p. 179. See also Colyer Meriwether, Our
Colonial Curriculum, 1607—1776 (Washington, D.C.: Central
Publishing Co., 1907), p. 23 on sampler making.

ZBLitherspooa'letter IV," p. 402.

 

' 3”To the 'young Gentleman'," The Royal American Maga-
21ne, p. 178. See also Wright, Cultural Life, p. 6 ;
Monica Kiefer, American Children Through Their Books
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1948),
P- 130; William H. Woodward, Desiderius Erasmus Concerning
the Aim and Method of Education (new York: Teachers Collage

Press, Columbia University, 1964), pp. 149—150° (Hereinafter
referred to as Erasmus.)

 

beginning 5t
Colonial mag
to beginning

I founl
which £01111
Garden of
m
only thror
but a few
innumerabl
the severe

Early e
of its pupils
sions, or ear
higher educat
professions.

The pre
teach the ABC

Iessional tea-

 

 

36

beginning stages of education. It appeared to be the only
Colonial magazine reference that, in part, addressed itself
to beginning education.

I found myself standing on a beautiful eminence,
which commanded an uninterrupted view of. . .the
Garden of Human Knowledge. . . . You may observe that
it has but one gate, and that the first entrance leads
only through a long barren path, producing little else
but a few useful and necessary herbs. After this,
innumerable walks and alleys branch ouf directing to
the several departments of the garden.

 

Early education must have seemed barren for the bulk
of its pupils destined for the plow, the mechanic profes—
sions, or early death. It certainly lacked the rewards
higher education possessed in terms of access to the learned
professions.

The prevailing Colonial opinion that anyone could
teach the ABCs prevented the development of a body of pro-
fessional teachers dedicated to early education. Probably
no better expression of this fact can be found than in an
order of the ”General Corte” of the Massachusetts Bay, in
1647, that:

It is therefore ordered, yt evry towneship. . .aftr

Ye Lord hath increased ym to ye number of 50 householdrs,
shall then forthwth appoint one wthin their towne to

teach a1% such children as shall resort to him to write
6 reade.

M

ifiopkinso ”An extraordinary Dream,‘ p. 16. The
author goes on to assault Law, Medicine, and Harvard.

2Paul L. Ford (ed. ), The New EnLand Primer (New
York; Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1962),
PP 3 4 (N. B. ”y" pronounced ”th. ”)

 

Other
another humc

tootender'II

. , .a
for the P
best Di\’i
without a

Elemen
adzed so 10
sfinols for

. .m
.3 .Londl
or all ch
tis loss
hater. .
health ha:

 

 

37

Other anti-educational expressions included one on
the Pennsylvania Quakers being opposed to human learningl;
another humorous article feared education would make persons

too tender—minded.2 A third article took this stand.

. .a Youth. . .would. . .be able to qualify himself
for the Pulpit, by a study of the Scriptures, and the
best Divinity Books in the College Library, a; well
without as with the aid of a Professor. . . .

Child Mortality

Elementary education could not become institution—
alized so long as parents and communities could ill—afford
schools for children destined for early graves.

.morbidity and mortality rates for children in
. . .London. . .after 1750. . .reveal that 74 per cent
of all children. . .under two years of age died. .
this loss comprised about half the total death rate
. . . the American story. . .could have been no
better. . .for living con itions. . .were primitive and
health hazards universal.

 

1”Remarks on our intended College," The Independent
Reflector, I, No. 22 (April 26, 1753), p. 89.

2

”The Planter, No. VII,” The American Magazine and
Monthly Chronicle for the Britishfitolonies, (April, 1758),
pp. 326-327.

3"Remarks on our Intended College,” The Inde endent
Reflector, I, No. 21 (April 19, 1753), pp. 85—86. The
aut ors new that the jealous religious sects would scuttle

the pr0posed college unless it could be created nondenomina-
tional. Hence, no professor of Divinity.

 

161 4Kiefer, American Children Through Their Books, pp.
-l62.

 

Rousseau cat
figheducati
ness which 11

said "A bare

King h
15), War Of
81, the Fre
serious lndi
New England,
Parliament ' S
colonies whir
donation to :
erery issue)
All such tare

Colonies. 5

Resistance tc
Frequer

1

hi

iew Yo 1”kllia

M3. (Here
2
Cha Howard
“i

also J
1.34 ohn

3Samuel
13$. (New Y
here elna deft er

38

Rousseau cautioned parents not to make the child miserable
with education in order to prepare him for a remote happi-
ness which he will probably not live to enjoy. Rousseau

said "A bare half survive at adolescence."1

The Military Plight of the Colonies

 

King William's War (1689—97), Queen Anne's War (1702—
13), War of Jenkin's Ear (1739-42), King George's War (1744-
48), the French and Indian War (1755-63), not to mention
serious Indian uprisings, ravaged from time to time New York,

New England, Florida, Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley.2

Parliament's Stamp Act of 1765 was a direct tax on the
colonies which laid a levy on every degree, diploma, or
donation to a school or college. Every copy (not merely
every issue) of a newspaper must pay one shilling a sheet.
All such taxes served to pay for the cost of defending the

Colonies.3

Resistance to Educational Laws
Frequent legislation enacted in various New England
1 . . .
William Boyd (ed.), The Emile of Jean Jacques Rousseau

(New York: Teacher College Press, Columbia University, 1966),
P. 33. (Hereinafter referred to as The Emile.)

 

. 2Howard H. Peckham, The Colonial Wars: 1689-1762
(Chlcago: University of Chicago Press, 1964), pp. 25-26.

See3ilso Johnson (ed.), Oxford Companion to American History,
P. 4.

 

 

3Samuel E. Morison, The Oxford History of the American
P60 1e (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 118.
[Hereinafter referred to as Oxford History.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

colonies indi
and townships

There w
Olde Deluder
in 1.789, a la
there masters
3r apprentice
res the model

h'illiam
51"“ educati.
3h0013, as if!
Egree 1*‘i'fih the
cf our Geniusg

\“
“iglect of the

Ora
Reading

vige. ”The es

 

 

39

colonies indicated the continuous failure of both parents
and townships to provide the education stipulated by law.
There was the Massachusetts Bay Law of 1642, the
Olde Deluder Satan Law of 1647, another in 1648; and again
in 1789, a law in Massachusetts provided for heavy fines
where masters neglected the three Rs for their servants

1

or apprentices. It should be remembered that Massachusetts

was the model for the rest of the Colonies.

William Smith, Jr. noted that New York had a law
about education, long since expired. He argued for common
schools, as well as a college, stating that he could not
agree with the counter—argument that ”the natural Fertility
of our Geniusses, is a sufficient Reason for the total
Neglect of their Cultivation."2

Oral vs. Silent Reading Controversy

Reading was defined quite differently in Franklin's

time. "The essence of reading was the spoken word.

vary the voice, express the Sentiments and read with a
____________________

1Wright, Cultural Life, p. 103. See also Vera M.
Butler, "Education as Revealed by New England Newspapers
Prlor to 1850.” Unpublished Ed.D dissertation (Temple
Univ., Philadelphia, 1935), p. 228. (Hereinafter referred
to as "New England Newspapers.“)

2
"The Advantages of Education. "The Independent
Reflector pp. 200—201.

R‘,

 

delicate Int
thought of I
completely c
instruction,
words. Inl
cane known a

The me
could not be
need in orde

aaterials as

Ll»-

W

The C0]
the educatior
seen in the h
where Parents
rs

he.

Ow
\ST’ magazin

 

 

40

delicate Intelligence."1 The Greeks and Romans also
thought of reading as an oral process.2 Such definitions
completely overlooked orthography, or beginning reading
instruction, where the small child learns to decode written
words. In later chapters, this problem of definition be-
came known as the silent vs. the oral reading controversy.
The motives for teaching reading were strong, but
could not be fulfilled. The support reading ideas would
need in order to be implemented were lacking in appropriate

materials as well as in terms of methods (or curriculum.)

Methods of Teaching Reading

 

The Educational Plan

A Parental Responsibility

The Colonial society expected parents to look after
the education and welfare of their children. This was
seen in the ”olde Deluder Satan" act and other edicts,
where parents and guardians were fined for not providing
their charges with the means of learning to read. More-
over, magazine ideas on reading instruction and elementary

education could not be separated in articles from the themes

M

1Best, ed., Benjamin Franklin, pp. 137-138.

 

2Mathews, Teaching to Read Historically Considered,

 

ofhome tra:

. C . d

educatior
ought to
agreed as
and the E

On the
edwation 1e
What 1
natural p
blaming t
th61l‘ edu
emPloymen
Obtained,
The re
Elinor C0110

Mal eduCatj

 

41

of home training or religious instruction.l

. .I begin with a preliminary to the successful
education of children, Viz. that husband and wife
ought to be entirely one upon this subject, not only
agreed as to the end, but as to the means to be use?,
and the plan to be followed, in order to attain it.

On the other hand, there was this illustration of
education left up to parental caprice.

What is more common, than to hear men of good
natural parts bemoaning the want of learning, and
blaming their parents, guardians, Go. for neglecting
their education, which keeps them out of profitable
employments, leaves them unequal to those they hgve
obtained, or makes them sink under their weight?

The relationship between education and employment was
a minor concern in the articles of this period. Religion
was seen endowing the male parent with awesome powers of
moral education.

The end I consider as most important is the glory

of God in the eternal happiness and salvation of children
This should be his end both in instruction and

government, and when it visibly appears that he is under
the constraint of conscience, and that either reproof or
correction are the fruit of sanctified love, it will give
them irresistible force. . . . It will make it quite
consistent to affirm, that the rod itself is an evidence
of love, and that it is true of every pious parent on
earth, what is said of our Father in heaven, Whom the
Lord loveth he chastneth, and scourgeth every son whom

 

 

1Richardson, Early American Magazines, 1741-1789, p. 4.

¥§ohn Witherspooa 'YA Series of Letters on Education,
Letter ," The Pennsylvania Magazine: or, American Monthly
Museum, 1 (April, 1775),p . 150.

3Philologus Cantab, ”Good Education," p. 264.

 

he recei
wit ou
Fat er c

ment, wh

W
The ”
sented an i
hie. Such
an mother :
made it the:
Inrnal and }
run the hon
not the he,
0fthe indie

Parent
Children
YOUHE Min
efOI‘e til
than at a

hr

Parent,

‘4
“ii the trac

\
Either

7
1‘ PGaV
were

6

. 1011a?
W

{‘7

 

42

he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth
with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the
Father chasteneth not. But if ye are without chastise-
ment, whereofiall are partakers, then are ye bastards

and not sons.

The ”Series of Letters on Education" articles repre-
sented an ideal education under the conditions of family
life. Such an education was possible wherever the father
and mother ruled over a simple law-abiding household, and
made it their business to provide a fit environment for the
normal and healthy growth from childhood to mature age. Be—
yond the home, great educators shared the fear of parents
that the herding of boys together endangered the "virtue"
of the individual child.2

Parents ought also to take great Care, that their

Children never hear or see base or flagitious Things.
Young Minds receive the Impression of whatever passes

before them, not only more readily, but retain it longer,
than at any other stage of life. . . .3

 

Morality and School Development
Parental responsibility for the souls of children

made the traditional British practice of boarding children

 

 

{Witherspooé]"Letter III,” p. 248.

2Gay, ed., John Locke on Education, pp. 7 and 51;
Woodward, Erasmus, p. 92; William Beya; ed., The Minor
Educational—Wfitings of Jean Jacques Rousseau iNew York:
Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 1962), pp. 3—4.
(Hereinafter referred to as Minor Writings of Rousseau.)

3"Of Education,” Boston WeeklyiMagazine, p. 2.

 

out at grea
economicall}

. , .i
ten or U
Miles frc
Children
considere
pressions
is in for
under the

In the
should be ta
combined wit)

establishmen‘

trol.

. . .fe
erected ir.
living wit
at private
crse over

llasters fr
from which
School in

the Govern:
onfusion .

Benjamir
dr'dour sons

to ”Procure p1
floor The Ad
\01‘, p- 20

 

 

43

out at great "public” schools unpopular, as well as
economically unfeasible in the sparsely developed Colonies.

.for where one Man would agree to put a lad of
ten or twelve years of Age to School, Fifty or a Hundred
Miles from him, many. . . would refuse giving their
Children any Education at all, especially if it also be
considered how susceptible tender Minds are of all Im-
pressions, whether Good or Evil, and how necessary it
is in forming their Morals, thaf they should be kept
under the eye of their Parents.

In the rejection of the idea that juvenile appendages
should be tacked on to the campuses, universities may have
combined with parental scruples to make necessary the

establishment of lower elementary schools under local con-

trol.

. . .few,. . .Pupils in the Grammar School. .
erected in the College, will be of an Agelfoi]. . .
i living within its Walls. . . .necessary. . .to board
at private Houses in the City, for. . .Nurses to exer-
cise over them a Mother's Care, which will prevent
Masters from that narrow Inspection into their Conduct
from which they cannot so well be exempted as at a
School in the Country, and at the same Time weaken.
the Government in the Colle e, where. . .the wildest 2
Confusion and Disorder. [€11 Ruin. . .the Students.

0 0

Benjamin Franklin suggested that the monies spent
for ”your sons journies, lodgings, and whatsoever" be spent

to HProcure proper masters” locally.3

 

 

_ 1”The Advantages of Education," The Independent Re-
flector, p. 202.

21bid., p. 203.(N.B. Capitalization of nouns.)

3Best, ed., Benjamin Franklin on Education, p. 124.
(Printed in The Pennsylvania Gazette, August 24, 1749.)

 

 

When C
sdmol-sense
bus of nine
allany equii
grades when r
aloose hier;
lafin grammar
iependent on
'Echools" inc
sdmols,2 tut
jCeSChoolin

The att
rsources for
ieh'er School

‘

n.
he

leach
\\\‘_~S£§

one mag;

d
the drama:

*h .
one primary 1‘

 

44

The School Milieu
When Colonial magazines spoke of education in a

school—sense, they addressed themselves to the problems of

boys of nine or ten years of age. They did not mention at

all any equivalent of the primary or elementary school

grades when children learned to read. Below the level of

a loose hierarchy of university, college, academy, and
Latin grammar school, there were highly transitory "schools"

dependent on the whims of parents and townships. These

"schools" included dame schools, charity schools,l field

schools,2 tU’COTS,3 learning at mother's knee, and appren—

tice schooling.
The attitudes of the magazines towards the available
resources for limited schooling was hardly stimulating to

lower school development.

The Teachers

One magazine discussed the caliber of the teachers

at the grammar school level. It was probably worse at

the primary level where children began reading.

 

1Wright, Cultural Life, pp. 114-115. See also
Rena L. Vassar, ed., Soc1al History of American Education:

Colonial Times to 1860. Vol. 1 (Chicago: Rand McNally 8

Company, 1965), pp. 48—49. (Hereinafter referred to as
Colonial Times to 1860.)

2Morison, Oxford History, pp. 92—115.

3Wright, Cultural Life, p. 111.

45

The Masters among them are such as have been gradu—
ated at their Colleges, and for want of Estates,
stoop to this Employment, till they have more fully
prosecuted their Studies; and haVing but just
finish'd their collegiate Education, are perhaps
better fitted for that Bu51ness than Persons of riper
Years, who have worn off their academical Learning,
and are determined upon some particular Office or
Occupation. . . . it will be easy to supply our
Schools with Preceptors, at Fifty Pounds per Annum
each, since there are many such in those Colonies
who ire glad to take up with a more inconsiderable
sum.

In 1776 the Maryland Journal advertised that a ship had just

arrived at Baltimore from Belfast and Cork, and enumerated
among its products for sale ”various Irish commodities,
among which are school masters, beef, pork and potatoes.”
Disabled men were frequently turned into school teachers
for the lack of anything better to do with them. The town
of Albany in 1673 added a local baker to its existing staff
Of three teachers because ”he was impotent in his hand.”
The Connecticut press in 1775 printed a reward for a run-
aWay described as ”a schoolmaster, of pale complexion.
has the itch very bad, and sore legs.”2

Ben Franklin's publishing rival, William Bradford,
had Printed an article praising the new college.

Who would not chuse rather to see his son in such a

seminary, than in any obscure corner, under immoral
- - . Drunkards, professed Gamesters, concealed
“*fi— -——————_

Papists. . .
_~__________________
1"The Advantages of Education,” The Independent

M, p. 202.

ZHOfstadter, Anti-Intellectualism in AmericaglLife,
p. 313- See also Wright, Cultural Life, pp. 100—1 .

3"Account of the College”, The American Maga21ne,
PP. 638-639.

In 501
languages ar
in the Rome
hmnewer pos
mflmaginatirr
maching the
358 reply t
soldiers, T
Greek made on

Easter. Ped;

There o

denied.

*Note.
Shall u

assesses
t or an
The C012
mirersity of

6

he two higher

The plar
part Of the

“\\\\\“\-

: 46

In some ways, the educators' advocacy of the dead
languages and the ancient classics worked against them
for the Romans and Greeks held teaching in low esteem.
Whenever possible, slaves were assigned to this monotonous,
unimaginative task. The proverb, "He is either dead or
teaching the ABC's" dates from 515 B.C. when it was used
as a reply to questions about the fate of lost Athenian
soldiers. The orator Demosthenes in attacking a fellow
Greek made much of the fact that his father was a school-

master. Pedagogue means leader of children.1

The School Plant

There was some confusion about the proper nomenclature
and curriculum of educational systems available for boys of
ten or twelve years. Lower education was completely over—
looked.

*Note. That for the greater Variety of Language, I
shall use the Words ACademy, College and UniverSity,

as Synonimous ic Terms; tho' in strict Propriety,
t ey are ar from eing equipollent Expre551ons§

The College and Academy of Philadelphia (later the

 

 

University of Pennsylvania) managed to distinguish between

the two higher educational levels:

‘ ' ‘ her
The lan of education in the college or hig
part ofpthe institution, including the Latin and Greek

.___________________

lMathews, Teaching to Read Historically Considered, p. 9.

2"Remarks on Our Intended College,” The Inde
f t p. 69. See also, Nye, Cultural Life, p.

aCademies rated higher than colleges.

pendent Re—
1 Some

schools.
The seco
. . .for
other pr

With .
wished to e.
directly, tl
attention tr
3310? proble
training Wit
and universi
a "Chain of
With those 0

At the

COiiege’ .
of SChool

 

 

 

47

schools. . .those intended for the learned professions.
The second shall be what is prOperly called the Academy

.for those who are bred for the mechanic arts an
other professions.

With Harvard as their successful model, the Colonists
wished to establish colleges in the other provinces. In-
directly, the problems that they encountered forced more
attention to be paid to the fundamentals of learning. One
major problem was the lack of continuity of lower school
training with university entrance requirements. Colleges
and universities in British America were becoming aware of
a ”chain of being” linking their professional destinies
with those of the ”inferior” schools.

At the same Time, therefore, that we institute a
College, we should by no means neglect the encouragement
of Schools, without which it will be thin and unprosper—
ous. To what Purpose shall we rear a vast and costly
Edifice, and raise an expensive Fund for the Support
of Instructors, but for the Benefit of the Students and

to supply the latter without good Schools throughout the
Province, will be impossible. .2

The Teaching of Reading

Reading Readiness

There was no magazine opinion on this topic. The

 

6 1"Account of the College," The American Magazine,
p. 32

2"The Advantages of Education," The Independent Re—
201

flector, p.

 

 

magazir
and of
l

ancient

I
first a
present
graph.
and pro

0:
SOUnds ,
used in

5 well.

 

—-—————*——————r

l

 

48

magazines did not talk of infants or children, but of "youth”1

and of boys of "nine or ten years of age."2

The magazines were concerned with the teaching of

ancient languages, not about learning to read English.3

Beginning Methods-«Orthography

There were apparently two ways of teaching Latin. The
first approach was purely grammatical, consisting of the
presentation of Latin Grammar under the divisions of ortho—
graphy, etymology (with the eight parts of speech), syntax,
and prosody.4 Oral conversation was a minor second approach.

Orthography, which concerned itself with the alphabet,
sounds, syllables, and spelling (of Latin) was apparently
used in the beginning stages of learning to read English
as well. This poem described the steps.

And so the ABC he first is taught;

From that to spelling, he is brought;

And, being right instructed for to spell,

He learns his sillables and vowells well.

Then, with due teaching he doth well consider,

By's Master's Rule how he may put together.

The Horn—Booke having at his fingers end,
Unto the Primer he doth next ascend.5

 

11bid., p. 203.

2"Account of the College,” American Magazine, p. 632.

 

 

3"The Advantages of Education,” The Independent Re-
flector, p. 203.

4John A. Nietz, The Evolution of American Secondary
School Textbooks (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle
€655§fi§7”i§oojj’pp. 156—158. (Hereinafter referred to as
School Textbooks.)

5William Hornbye, Gent., Hornbye's Horn-book.
(London: Printed by Aug. Math for Thomas Bayle, 1622), as
Cited in Lamport, Beginning Reading, p. 63.

 

 

certair
and pre
quired
The chi
the wor
fin sho

ll
0? eigh'
aost ch:

He

'douth”

Th

Syntax,

 

 

 

49

Learning the primer was largely a task of committing
certain moral or legal statements, Psalms, Thanksgivings,
and prayers to memory. The child could expect to be re-
quired to answer catechism questions at public assemblies.
The child should be able to name the letters, and spell
the words ”Till by often use they can pronounce (at least)
the shortest words at first sight."1

With the completion of the primer around ages seven
or eight, "primary" education as formal schooling ended for
most children and, in particular, for the girls.

Having been graduated from the primer, the child or

"Youth" read from the Bible.

Intermediate Methods—-Etymology

The Grammar School stage of learning to read (Latin)
dealt with the derivation of words, the parts of speech,
syntax, and grammar. Henry VIII in 1540 had commanded that
William Lily's Latin Book, An Introduction of the Eight

Parts of Speech and Construction of the Same, be used in

all Latin schools and ”none other.”2 Lily's method of

allowing English to be interspersed among the Latin text

was widely followed in the Colonies.

. . . . curriculum in Latin and Greek Schools exercises

in the ancient languages, esp. grammar (syntax) and

vocabulary. In the first stage, writing and reading of
.____________________

‘ .1Charles A. Hoole, New Discovery of the Old Art of
leachln School (London, 1660), as Cited in Smith, American

Rea ing Instruction, P-

2Nietz, School Textbooks, p. 156.

 

 

Englis
and 1a
Englis'
Mam.

Thi
toEnglisI
when he in

It :
stand '
prOperi
Dictior

ln :
.hademy a1
quirementg
It i
Into t}
diVide
Hand.
.igeg)
:hcording
Suggested
Tears of a
he
Oral

\sai‘yyy

INACC

.._. _ _ __

 

50

English is continued if necessary. . In the 4th
and last Stage, Latin is translated into English;
English and Latin orations are prepared, and Arithmetic

begun.1
This Latin-etymological method was apparently applied
to English. A pupil was thought to understand a word,
when he knew its derivation and could parse it.

It is required that they should first study and under-
stand the lessons, before they are put opon reading them
prOperly, to which End each Boy should hage an English
Dictionary to help him over Difficulties.

In setting the entrance requirements for the proposed

Academy at Philadelphia, Franklin discussed the reading re-

quirements.

It is expected that every Scholar to be admitted
into this School, be at least able to pronounce and
divide the Syllables in Reading, and to write a legible
Hand3 None to be received that are under[::]Years of
Age.

According to Best, Franklin left this age open but later

suggested that the boys should be from eight to sixteen

years of age.4

Advanced Methods——Prosody

Oral reading played an important role in the Colonies.

Because of the shortage of reading materials and the

 

1"Account of the College,"American Magazine, p. 632.

2Vassar, ed., Colonial Times to 1860, p. 74, citing
Franklin.

3
Benjamin Franklin, "Idea of the English School,"
(1751) as cited in Vassar, Colonial Times to 1860, p. 72.

4Best, ed., Benjamin Franklin on Education, p. 165.

 

 

prev

EIOII'

 

51

prevalence of illiteracy, it was customary for the uneduca-
ted members of the family or the community to gather in
little groups to listen to oral reading by one who had
mastered the art 0f reading.1 As the Puritans had advocated
learning to read in order to preserve their religious be-
liefs; so did eighteenth century linguists look to the
dictionary and a science of correct oral expression to

preserve English from the corruptions of immigration and

frontier isolation.

Oratory, correct Speaking and Writin . . . . For
as we are so great a mixture of people. . .speaking a
variety of languages and dialects, the true pronuncia—
tion and writing of our own language might soon be lost
among us, without such a previous care to preserve it

in the rising generation.

 

Prosody was an important tool for those who aspired

to the professions. All skills were essential in a land

where other forms of communication were underdeveloped.

§£§gdard of Good Reading Ability
The standard (and proof) was oral. The pupil knew

the mother-tongue grammatically, and possessed a correct

pronunciation.3

_____________~_____
1Smith, American Reading Instruction, p. 35.

2i'ficcount of the CollegeJ'American Magazine, p. 631.

31bid., p. 636.

 

Magazix

F

with t]
become
was ci'

educat:

3 trad:
hand, ;
matter
Elly-t
tion 3:
their j
State -

Passes

 

 

 

52

Magazine Criticism of Classical Method

There was a single magazine reference of discontent
with the Latin educational emphasis. This discontent would
become more apparent in the next chapter. Dr. Jonathan Swift
was cited as an eminent authority who defended classical
education from the "maxims set up to direct modern Education

that the study of Greek and Latin is Loss of Time."1

Locke maintained that if a father designed his son for
a trade, he should learn casting accounts and writing a good

2 Education was becoming a

hand, and not useless Latin.
matter of national interest, not merely a concern of classic-
ally-trained clergy. Rousseau wrote that children's educa—
tion should not be left to the ignorance and prejudice of
their fathers. "The matter is of far greater concern to the
state than to the fathers. The state abides, the family

passes."3

Materials for Teaching Reading

 

Most of the materials used in the schools were reli—
gious and/or classical—Latin in their format. Teachers
were often recruited from religious colleges following the
Classical traditional curriculum. Children were generally
not advanced to higher materials until they had demonstrated

mastery of more primary materials.

____________________
1
"The Advantages of Education,” The Independent Re—

M. p. 203

 

2

Gay, ed., John Locke on Education, p. 126.

3

Boyd, ed., Minor Writings of Rousseau, pp. 184—185.

 

 

 

 

 

gin
how
ins

and

 

53

Beginning Materials4+0rthography

No magazine article was found that dealt with the be-
Vginning stages of reading. Numerous secondary sources,
however, point to various tools. John Locke had analyzed
instructional materials available for use with children
and had concluded that there was no alternative route "out
of the ordinary road of the Psalter, horn—book, primer,

n1

Testament, and Bible. Writing texts specifically for

children appeared to be a low avocation. Isaac Watts wrote
in reference to his Divine Songs for the Use of Children:

”Some of my friends imagine that my time is employed in

too mean a service when I write for babes.”2

Professional educational literature has fully analyzed
the few beginning resources for children. These resources

included John Newbery and the rise of juvenile literature,3

5

hornbooks,4 battledores, samplers,6 psalters,7 and the

primer.8

___________________
1 .
Gay, ed., John Locke on Education, pp. 114—115.
2Kiefer, American Children Through Their Books, p. 7.

Ch‘ 3Lamport, BeginninggReading, p. 419; Kiefer, American
__LEE§§Ll§rgugh Their Bodks, p. 13.

 

 

4

Mathews, Teaching to Read Historically Considered,
W 16-17; Reeder, Teaching Reading, pp. 22-23.

SMeriwether, Our Colonial Curriculum, p. 29.

6Reeder, Teaching Reading, pp. 25-26.
7Wright, Cultural Life, p. 192.

 

 

 

8 .
Smith, American Reading Instruction, p. 18.

 

 

Int:

‘OII

0
9

fr

havi

proc

I I | u . . . r\ l‘ q n 4 I III f‘\ 1 \r
e e 0 0 uunh 1.~.u Pd hH‘n G‘O A‘Plk‘t\t t t .1 a C AI
”55» e Lv 1 a “[6
1.“ C O AHL \ . .
1”“ Ark I H.|\« 6. 5 “J. \v. \I‘

 

 

 

54

Intermediate Materials——Etymology, Dictionary

Reading in the Colonial days advanced from the ABC's
to mastery of increasingly complex syllabic combinations
of vowels and consonants. Only the dictionary emphasis on
having to know what each word or statement meant and the
process of good oral delivery kept syllabic reading from
degenerating into meaningless parroting. With tongue in
cheek, an author (probably Francis Hopkinson) gave an
account of how dramatics and games would operate in a
Colonial classroom in teaching the parts of speech.

To begin with Grammar, which costs the poor boys
much trouble and attention. . . . I took the first
hint of this improved plan of Education. . . .
Here, Jocke , let the gentlemen see you decline the
Pronoun Article hic, haec, hoc. ”MESter Jockey imme—
diately began hopping around the room, repeating hig-~
haec~-hoc; Gen. hujus; —-Dat. huic; ——Accus. hunc--
hanc-—hEE;-—Voc. caret; --Abl. hoc--huc——hoc. There
now, say; Selkirk, in this manner—I teach—Him the whole
Grammar. I make eight boys represent the eight parts
of Speech. The noun substantive stands by himself; the
Adjective has another Boy to support him, the Nominative
tase Earries a little wagd before the Verb; the Accusa—

1Ve ase walks after an supports his train. I let
the four Con u ations make a party at whist; and the
th?ee Concords dance the flay together and so on. By
thls device, the common exercise of Ho , Ste , and Jump
15 rendered truly Grammatical, and thERhea and heels
are 1mproved by one operation.

 

 

 

 

In order to prevent word—calling, or parroting,
teaChers could check on their pupils' progress by how they

Performed their roles using the above material devices of
L_._~_______________

Penns iirancis HopkinsoEIHA New Plan of EducatiOn,u The
vanla Ma azine: or, American Monthly Museum,”T_

arc , 5 ' 102 . .
Ma aZines, p?,l§6n. . See Richardson, Early American

 

 

 

dr

PU}

Chi

 

not

Tl;

 

Teachers could also insist that the

dramatics and games.
pupils' oral recitation be followed up by a "comprehension-

check” which involved the students' mastery of the etymolo-

gical and grammatical nature of the words in his text. The

dictionary was popular with classical scholars as well as
teachers in the higher schools because.it fixed and pre-

served the form of correct word usage, while defining
words by reference to their glorious antiquity. More than

likely, dictionaries were used with older children of gram-

mar school or higher age.

It would be an endless Piece of Work to be indebted
to our Dictionaries (which by the Way are seldom to
be depended upon, often unsatisfactory, and defective)
for the Meaning of Words; which must always be the Case,
when we are ignorant of the languages from whence they

are derived.

Concrete teaching aids for the older pupils were

 

noted. "Maps cut into pieces. and pasted on wood;.

.solid figures” were among the

Te-Totem; pack of cards.
The

devices invented to combine learning with pleasure.2

sensory psychology of Locke gave new credence to these edu-

cational toys.

 

1”The Advantages of Education,” The Independent Re—
flector, p. 203. The author saw dictionary study and
PTOgress as being dependent upon the memory, ”a Faculty of
the Mind. .exercised the first of many others in Youth.”

2[Bopkinsofi7”A New Plan of Education, pp. 101-102.
A Te-Totem is a toy top inscribed with letters.

r

u

fit
To

51'

 

suc
SUp
Rea
in

hi;
Sou-

L

 

 

They are therefore far wide of the Mark, who make
the Education of Youth so laborious and abstruse a
Thing; whereas there is little more to be done, than
to inculcate true Notions of Things, not as character—
ized in this or that Language, or defined in such and
such Books, but as they are in Nature, and they ire
likely to experience them in the Course of Life.

Despite the above article, education was to remain largely

book learning. All the games and nature seeking field

trips were used to further learning to read.
Holy Scriptures were an important part of the reading

This was due, in part, to their easy availa-

importance in the home, and because

curriculum.

bility, cheap cost,

such materials facilitated church, parental, and camunity

supervision of what was being taught in the schools.

Reading the Holy Scriptures was a daily requirement, even

in centers of religious diversity.2
The Bible was read at all age levels. There was

this description of reading classes for orphans in the

South.

At ten they go to school, some to writing, some to
reading. At present there are two Masters and one
Mistress, who in teaching them to read theSScripture,

at the same time explain it to them.

 

 

1"Of Education,” Boston Weekly Magazine, p. 2.

"Account of the College," The American Magazine, p. 638.

3"The Manner of the Children' s Spending their Time"
The General Magazine, pp. 132 134

 

 

57

Advanced’materiaiseeprosody,'Oral
There was magazine evidence that youth were made to

improve their reading by reading history books. The moral

lessons to be learned from history were emphasized.

Anticipating McGuffey and later graded reading book

series, educators urged that the lessons for reading be

varied so that the child could learn the proper manner of

reading each kind of literature aloud. A general's exhorta-

tions to his troops, a sermon, a piece of comedy or tragedy

--each required a different delivery.

a small rostrum or oratory is erected in one end of
the school, and the children are frequently exercised

in reading aloud from it, or delivering short orations;
while the Professor of English and Orator stands by to
correct whaEever may be amiss, either in their Speech
or Gesture.

Even though magazines tended to overlook education,

the classrooms were busy studying the magazines. Reading

 

such periodicals as the Tatler and the Spectator became

part of the required study of children and youth who had

,gone beyond the primer.3
264; "The

-—__.

1Philologus Cantab, ”Good Education," p
203.

Advantages of Education," The Independent Reflector, p

‘ 2"Account of the College," The American Magazine, p
636. See also, Best, ed., Benjamin Franklin on Education,
Boyd, ed., Minor Writings of Rousseau, p._62.

pp. 135-141.

Rousseau Opposed teaching—declamation because it made
Children express sentiments never experienced.
1741—1850, pp. 41-42; Richardson,

 

3
Mott, Vol. I:
EEED’American Magazines, p.

 

 

58

The College and Academy of Philadelphia issued a

Listed as "Miscellaneous

chart of the college syllabus.

Studies for Improving the Various Branches" during the

students' Private Hours” were:

Spectators, Ramblers, and Monthly Magazin

is for the
improvement of Style, and Knowledge of Life.

Eloquence was of practical importance to the clergy

in the pulpit, to the lawyers in the courts, and for

others involved in public life. The oral tradition, how-

ver, was meeting the cultural and highly visual impact
But the schoolbooks

 

of printed magazines and newspapers.

and the colleges continued to stress reading for rhetor-

ical ends.

Reading should also be taught, and pronouncing
To form their Pro-

properly, distinctly. . . .
nunciation, they may be put on making Declamations,
repeating Speeches. . .2

Although prosody, or the use of the correct form in
writing speech, stood at the apex of the science of

teaching reading, it was not without its critics.

To imagine that our Legislature, by raising the
present Fund for the College, intended barely to have
our Children instructed in Greek and Latin, or the Art
of making Exercises and Verses, or disputing in Mood""
and Figure, were a Supposition absurd and defamatory.
For these branches of Literature, however useful as
preperatory to real and substantial Knowledge, are in
themselves perfectly idle and insignificant. The true
Use of Education is to qualify man for the different

1 ,,.. .-... .
"Account of the College,” American MagaZine, p 634.

141 ZBest, ed., Benjamin Franklin on Education, pp. 135—

 

 

 

 

yments of Life to which it may please God to call

Emplo
them.

Summary: 1741-1775
This chapter covered twenty-eight magazine articles

which either dealt with reading, or with educational sub-
jects prerequisite to it. After the American Revolution,
magazine publication would flourish and a dramatic increase
in the number of pertinent articles was to be found in the

next chapter. Subsequent periods had reading instruction,
grades, classes, and other educational terms fairly well

defined, whereas from 1741-1775, these things were revealed

as either nonexistent, new, or arbitrary.

Motives for teaching reading could not easily be

separated from motives for education in general, or from
John Locke had provided a

religious-moralistic motives.
The Colonial

philosophical basis for child education.

enthusiasm for Locke and for the classics led to an impor~

tant motive of education for prestige and for patriotism.
Reading was often described in classical terms of

elocution, and oral reading was the domain of more advanced

education. Thus, early childhood reading instruction (or

Orthography——learning the ABCs, sounds, syllabication,
Spelling) was passed over, as a barren path. Comprehension

Was measured in the Colonies by the appropriateness of the
______________________

1"Remarks on Our Intended College,” Inde endent Re-
£13132; pp- 67-68-

 

60

voice and body gesture to material being read, and by the
grammatical ability to parse the words just read; and by
accounting for the derivation of words with the help of a
dictionary.

Another reason for the lack of motivation for early
reading instruction was divisive class and sexual bias.
The rich had their tutors. Girls were often educated at
home by means of the sampler. The poor resisted the charity

stigma of ”free” education. Thus primary education lacked

 

a stable population upon which to institutionalize itself.
This instability and lack of form or tradition may have
caused the magazines to disregard beginning education.
Overall, education was a very minor concern of the magazines
writing for the Colonies concerned as they were with war,
money, survival, and mustering arguments for an independent 1
revolution.

Methods for teaching reading often reflected the
classical oral Roman tradition. The methods were not child
oriented because a professional corps of elementary teachers
was lacking. A stable school enrollment was lacking because
capricious parental prerogative controlled the student body.

Schools at the lower level ranged from mother's knee to

 

moving schools, to district schools that used methods based
On whatever textbook was available. In too many cases, this
was the Bible, which was not suitable for the young child.
1 Again, beginning methods were overlooked by the maga-

zines. POpular interest in dictionaries and the preservation

 

61

of ”good" English in the Colonies was responsible for in—
creased magazine coverage of advanced education's etymolo-
gical method (derivation of words and parsing.)

Materials at the beginning level of reading instruc-
tion were not covered by the magazines. The next chapter
was to show increased coverage. The dictionary and Bible
were popular materials at higher levels. Oral recitations
and translations from Latin into English (and vice-versa)
were popular. Despite limited criticism of oral, Latin-
based reading, the Colonies may have lacked the resources
to provide more suitable texts for its pupils.

In the next chapter will be seen what a "free”
nation can do with reading instruction. The aristocratic
biases dividing much of education will disappear. The
ability to read will become a national issue because
reading was to be viewed as essential to democratic sur-
vival. New technology will produce the steam press, the
penny newspaper, many new magazines, the slate, the lead
pencil, cheap graded textbooks, and the first normal
schools. An unprepared middle class republic would soon
be in sole possession of all the educational problems of a
lost traditional past. But for now, children's needs to
start on the ladder of reading would not be heard over the
coming chants of thirteen Colonies preparing for indepen-

dence.

If we retain the Glory of our Ancestors,
Whose Ashes will rise up against our Dulness,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

62

Shake off our Tameness, and give Way to Courage;
We need not Doubt, inspir'd with a just Rage,
To break the Neck of those, that would yoke ours.

 

 

 

 

 

1"Remarks on our Intended College,” The Independent
Reflector, p. 87.

 

   

CHAPTER IV

NATIONALISTIC-MORALISTIC EMPHASIS IN
READING INSTRUCTION, 1776-1840

Introduction

Those equal laws our citizens demand,

Justice requires that they should understand;

From public schools, shall general knowledge flow,
For 'tis the people's sacred right--to know;

One solid act of public good outweighs

The boasts of science, and the hero's praise.l

During the war, 1776-1783, magazines led a very
uncertain existence. After peace had been concluded, how-
ever, periodical publication flourished and multiplied.

In some ways, the magazines adhered to the format and
tradition of the rambling Spectator essay past. American
magazines continued to pirate articles from the pOpular
English issues. Education was a minor concern. Richardson
maintained that ”after the war American magazines concen-
trated on politics, industry, commerce, science, and medi-
Cine.”2 Nye saw the greater part of American thought

being "devoted to trying to construct a workable govern-

ment, durable, and in harmony with those Revolutionary

 

 

1Philo, ”Public Schools,” The American Museum, XI
(June, 1792), p. 298.

2Richardson, Early American Magazines, p.

63

325.

 

 

Ia
tu
dEI
Am
pul

'&1

In
1.1

3M

ms

 

64

War principles of self-government, equality and oppor-

tunity.1

After the war, a few educational magazine articles
focused on (1) utilitarian education; (2) an education
compatible with the state of development of the government;
(3) education that would prepare students for their inten-
ded occupations in life.2 In general, post-revolutionary
American magazines supported the establishment of free

public schools.3

 

Except for the book reviews on specific classroom
materials the orthographic work of Chambers and Webster,
and scattered plans for improving education, the expression
of interest of the lay magazines in the cause of education

. . . . 4
was more vaguely inspirational than informative.

lNye, Cultural Life, p. 101.

2”Im artial Review of late American Publications,”
Review of A Collection of Essays and Fugitive Writings on

MQIal, Historical, Politicalci SDI Literagy ::E%:Ct$by Noah
Webster U ‘ sal As lum an o um ian ag ,
(Octobef,_I798§, pp.§53-259; ”Original Thoughts on Educa-
tion," The Columbian Magazine, I (September, 1787), pp. b r
642'646?‘"On Education,” The American Maga21ne, I (Decem88_,
1787) pp. 22-26, and also (January thru May, 1788)C,1 pp.

82. 158-161, 210-216, 311-313 and 367-374, as Clte 1

Rlchardson, Early American Magazines, p. 302.

3Mott, I, 1741-1850, p. 63.
4Ibid., p. 487.

 

 

65

Mptives for Teaching Reading
Pro-Reading Instructional Influences

The sudden flood of books and periodicals on the
scene must have created at least as much of an impact in
those days as the mass production of cheap television did
in our own time. The rapid commercialization of media
took reading instruction out of the hands of education,
just at the time when there was national consensus on the
need for free mass education.

The mass of mankind have for ages been buried in
profound ignorance. At length, the great reading age
of the world has come; the best, the brightest, the
most promising age, in its long and weary annals. Let
it be welcomed without stint or fear. Let the people

read. .

Reading for the mass of the people, is so new a .
pleasure and advantage, that, like food after a famine,
it is liable, through eagerness and incaution, to do

hurt as well as good.

The new mass newspaper and magazine circulation per—
mitted all classes of people to share the same ideas at
the same time and may have had a liberalizing influence.
It was noted that ”in some of the banks it was the custom

for one of the clerks to recite the entire contents of the

Periodicals to the working clerks."2

1"Article I.—-On Reading," Christian Examiner, XXVII
(September, 1839), pp. 4—5.

2" ts on Books and Reading,” London
Detached Though (Hereinafter referred

Ma a ' 1822 . 34. .
fogaéiggetZdhéduThdughtsi&)p DeTocqueville (Democragy lnfth
America, p. 438) claimed that England suppliedAmgrgca xhat
mOSt o the books they needed. In the way of rea l g,

was done in one country, was done in the other.

 

 

 

bt

de

 

 

66

 

Mass Reading and Popular Optimigm

An anonymous author described an America in glowing,
optimistic terms. .Progress and enlightenment were possible,
but perhaps only in that unique and noble experiment in
democracy-—the United States.

It is for a peOple like ourselves. . .whose citizens
are all educated in the rudiments of learning, whose
laborers are not yet turned into machines, and we
trust never will be, whose men of business. . .whose
daughters. . . are, multitudes of them, well educated

. .where the poor read, and in almost the Iumblest
of those dwellings may be seen the annually increasing
little collection of books. . . to show that men can
improve, that human nature can rise, by opportunities
such as ours.

Reading was looked upon as a moral alternative to
the usual low entertainments of the working class; and as
a way of unifying the social classes. .The British social
reformer and philanthropist, John Herschel, wrote of
reading as an antidote to the vices of industrial slum life.

Books. . .were the answer to the pressing problem .
of the workingman's amusement. . . . It relieves his
home of its dulness. . .which. . .drives him out to
the alehouse. . . . And most important of all: .
'Nothing unites peeple like companionship in intel-

lectual enjoyment.’

1"Artic1e VI.-—The Bravo: A Tale," Book Review, The
Engistian Examiner, XII (March, 1832), p. 82. (Hereinafter
referred to as "Article VI.")

ZRichard D. Altick, The English Common Reader: A

. , . . _ O
Soc1al Histor of the Mass ReadingPublic, 1800 190
Ifihicago: Phgenix Books,TheUniverSity of Chicago Press,
1957), p. 96. (Hereinafter referred to as English Common

Reader.)

 

 

 

67

A largely rural America did not share the English
anxiety about the morality of the factory classes. The
new republic was not as burdened by an oppressive factory
system. One American writer did not look on mass reading
as an opiate-social alternative.

There is also a way of looking at this reading
privilege for the masses, which, for our individual
advantage should be corrected. It seems such a great
thing to get the people generally to read any way, that
all consideration of particular tendencies is overlooked
in the eagerness to compass that end. I observe some-
thing of this tone of thought among the English philan-
thropists. 'Let the people be entertained at any rate;
get them to read anyhow.‘ This way of considering the
whole public is very natural, and in certain cases,——
that is, where both ignorance and indisposition are
very great,—-it may be very just and judicious. . . .
yet, for our individual minds, a new kind of consider—
ation is necessary.

 

There were signs of confusion as to how to handle
the flood of reading materials. Reading in the colonial
period had been characterized by scarcity of materials,
slow study to the point of mastery, and a belief in reading
the Bible and the classics as references on how to live
well. The post-revolutionary reader, however, could read
steadily now without being affected; without making Bunyan's
thoughts his own.

If, to the making of many books there is no end.

I am certain that the library of fifty. . .volumes a

century ago more favored thought, than the library of

a thousand volumes now, to say nothing of the floating
five thousand in public and circulating libraries, and

M

5 1"Article I: On Reading," The Christian Examiner,
PP- -6

 

68

the ocean of newspapers besides.1

A minister complained that moral and Christian master-
pieces could not compete with "the novelties of the press,
the mass of exciting periodical literature."2 Critical
articles, as well as new critical magazines appeared.

They attempted to analyze the flood of reading matter and
to define quality in reading.

Look around you, then, and see how many hundreds
every week is adding to the mass of tomes already in
existence. Glance at the book-sellers' catalogues.
at the countless host of Reviews and Magazines them-
selves, and of newspapers, tracts, pamphlets, speeches,
addresses--effusions of ten thousand various forms and

merits—~craving your attention and bewildering your
choice!

There was that American hope that men could improve
where the masses could read. But a British magazine re-
cited a sad poem of the reading poor. Too poor to buy or
hire a book, they ”snatched a fearful" look at the open
book stalls.

The Two Boys
I saw a boy with eager eye

Open a book upon a stall,
And read, as he'd devour it all;

lIbid., pp. 2-3. Yet, the distribution of cheap
Repository Tracts, starting in 1795, which marked the start
0f large-scale publishing activities, was accomplished by
religious groups. See Altick, English Common Reader, p. 379.

 

2Charles Hadduck, "The Encouragement of Good Habits
Of Reading in Pious Young Men Preparing for the Ministry,”
American Quarterly Register X (February, 1838), p. 228.
(Hereinafter referred to as "Good Habits of Reading.")

3"Selection in Reading," Southern Literary Messenger,
11 (February, 1836). p. 171.

 

Us

 

69

Which when the stall-man did espy,

Soon to the boy I heard him call,

"You, Sir, you never buy a book,

Therefore in one you shall not look."

The boy pass'd slowly on, and with a sigh

He wish'd he never had been taught to read,
Then of the old churl's books he should have
no need.

Of sufferings the poor have many,

Which never can the rich annoy:

I soon perceiv'd another boy,

Who look'd as if he'd not had any

Food, for that day at least--enjoy

The sight of cold meat in a tavern larder.
No wgnder if he wish he ne'er had learn'd to
eat.

American Optimism about mass reading for all classes
was interesting when contrasted with the British attitude.
The British wanted reading as an alternative to vice among
the working class, but feared the absorption of American
and French revolutionary manifestos. The newly independent
American people had manifested a propensity to dream up a
better world, and by the manipulation or elimination of
their institutions to seek to bring it into being.2

The eXperience of the pioneers and the example of
Benjamin Franklin provided models of self—improvement. In

this new age, even the unschooled man could advance himself,

if he but tried.3

~

1"Detached Thoughgge" London Magazine, p. 34. N.B.
use of diacritical mark (') in place of the silent e.

2Adolphe E. Meyer, Grandmasters of Educational
Thought (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1975), pp. 142-
145. The concepts of progress in world philOSOphy and
historical theory; of human perfectability through reason--
were recent literary inventions.

 

3"Article VI,” The Christian Examiner, pp. 78-82.

 

 

 

70

The Moralistic Motive in Reading

 

Adults with only the rudiments of a primary education
were reading newspapers and magazines. Yet, as children,
.they might have had to be whipped into learning their syl-
lables and religious catechism. Their offspring, too,
waited anxiously for the next issue of some "Penny-Awful"
or serialized article by Charles Dickens, while neglecting
more serious, required reading. This was an age of mini-
mal government in a country lacking an established church

or permanent aristocracy. Who would regulate the spread

 

of the press? The answer was: morality.1

The present, beyond all former times, deserves to be
called the age of reading. And yet we suppose there
never was so much reading, which so little answered the
great purpose of reading, as that which is now occupying
the leisure hours of millions in the civilized world.

We say of millions, and indeed the time employed in this

1"Moralism, an influence which permeated reading
instruction quietly and unassumingly but so persistently
and universally as to claim an equal rank with nationalism
in our characterization of the period. In some instances
the moral aim of reading instruction constituted a part of
the. . .nationalistic aim of making good citizens. .
however, the moralistic influence seems to have been a de—

velopment entirely apart from national purposes. . . .the
moral emphasis would have come to fruition during this
period even though . . . the people had continued. . .to
abide under British rule. ” Smith, American Reading

 

Instruction, pp. 38- 39. This writer shared Smith's uncer-
tainty about the roots of morality. But, if life can
imitate art--then the American reader may have responded

to magazines dedicated to naught but tasteful and uplifting
materials.

 

 

71

has become so great, the business of reading has become
so vast a business, that, like other great employments,
it deserves to attract the attention of the moralist.
And truly we know not why there should be a recognized
duty in regard to the use of property and the govern-
ment of the senses, and not a recognized duty in rela-
tion to the employment of time and the direction of

the thoughts; why waste and dissipation are to be re-
garded as trifling evils or venial errors, because

they touch, not our incomes or estates, but the inher—
ent interests, the very talents and treasures of the

mind.

During the colonial period, parents had refrained
from sending their sons to school, because of the vices
learned in grouping children. This reluctance persisted
even if the teacher were of good character. But it was
seen that parents and guardians, too, neglected their duty
to provide moral training for their charges. Benjamin Rush
reminded his readers of the colonial past when he wrote that
the chief objection to ”publick” schools had always been
”its mischievous influence upon the morals and manners of
the young." Rush now believed that public education would
be safe for children so long as schools taught the princi-
ples of Christianity and the Bible.2

Morality in school was, for one author, an acceptance
of the maxim of Jesus: ”doing unto others."3 Another saw

the aim of education as the improvement of the heart,
_____________.___.__

1n . . .
Article VI,” The Christian Examiner, pp. 80—81.

 

2 .
_ Benjamin Rush, "Thoughts Upon Female Educat' "
gnigppsal Asylum and Columbian Magazine, IV (Aprilfol790)

 

3William Godwin, ”Letters to a young American "
9

W XIV (September, 1819), p. 240.

 

 

 

 

72

understanding, and molding of the child to heavenly pro-
portions.1

Matthew Wilson, minister, physician, and teacher,
saw that the instruction of the people could contribute to
the support of the democratic republic. That would alwaysr
be the case, he maintained, where ”the instruction which
teaches the mind was not separated from the education which
was responsible for mores.” But, Wilson feared that the
family and the schools were neglecting the dual educational
objectives of mind-mores with young children.2

There were naive hopes that free-schooling would
check profanity on the streets; reduce crime and executions;
and save the taxpayers' money because the educated poor
would become free of the vices that plagued the unlettered

3
poor.

 

1”Original Thoughts on Education,” The Columbian
Magazine, p. 643.

2 Matthew Wilso§]“0n a Liberal Education: Some New
Remarks from Experience," Universal Asylum and Columbian
~Magazine, II (February, 1787), p. 264. (Hereinafter re-

erre to as “On a Liberal Education.") For similar views
see: "On the Establishment of Free-Schools," The American
Museum, I (April, 1787), p. 328; DeTocqueville, Uemocracy

in America, p. 279.

 

3”On the Establishment of Free-Schools," The Ameri-
can Museum, pp. 327—329. British utilitarians shared
t ese opes. Moreover, in a controlled experiment, they
proved that reading workers produced 30% more than illiter-
ate ones. See Altick, English Common Reader, pp. 141-143.

 

 

 

 

73

Patriotic and Governmental Motives

 

Thomas Jefferson envisioned an agrarian society
made up of free farmers. As children, they have had four
years of primary education which emphasized reading. As

adults they were entitled to read newspapers. Jefferson

 

saw reading and democracy as inseparable.1 Noah Webster,
who had been in communication with Jefferson about educa—
tion, wrote:

Every small district should be furnished with a
school, at least four months in a year; when boys are
not otherwise employed. This school should be kept
by the most reputable and well-informed man in the
district. Here children should be taught the usual
branches of learning-~submission to superiors and to
laws—-the moral or social duties—-the history and
transactions of their own country-—the principles of
liberty and government. Here the rough manners of
the wilderness should be softened and the principles of
virtue and good behavior inculcated. The virtues of
men are of more consequence to society than their abili—
ties; and for this reason, the heart should be cultiva-
ted with more assiduity than the head.2

 

 

Driving Out Foreign Textbooks

Along with the expulsion of thousands of loyalists
went all printed materials with the taint of English
monarchy. Benjamin Rush found even post—war British books
unsuitable. America was developing its own "English" style.

He urged the intensification of American studies of rhetoric

 

lGordon C. Lee (ed.), Crusade Against Ignorance:
Thomas Jefferson on Education (New York: Teachers
Gellege Press, Columbia University, 1961), p. 17. (Here—
inafter referred to as Thomas Jefferson.)

ZKNoah Webstep]”Education——The Importance of Accomo-
dating the Mode of Education to the Form of Government,”
The American Magazine, I (April, 1788), p. 312. (Herein—
after referred to as ”Education.”) N.B. the foundations
0f patriotism were the virtuous heart and good (moral)
behavior.

74

and grammar, because "literary intercourse with England

must soon cease."l One reviewer was particularly fearful

of the influence of the high quality British ”initiatory"

(or primary) school books such as Murray's English Reader.

But school books, which may answer very well for

the mother country, are by no means calcultated for the
meridian of the United States.

The difference in manners
and customs,

. . .but more especially in that, which
exists in the modes of government adopted by the two
countries, would render those lessons. .altogether
objectionable. . . .Indeed, they. .contain sentiments
. . .designed to inculcate monarchial and aristocratical
principles,[fihich]might have a dangerous tendency on

the young and tender minds of thoSe, who ought not, in
their infantile years, to imbibe any ideas respecting
government, except those which are purely American.2

Another writer attacked the custom of sending children

to England for their education. Such action, he felt, was

shameful to our reputation and contrary to our political
interests. Foreign education "ought to be discountenanced,
if not prohibited."3 This article revealed the accepted

belief that national interests were tied in with schooling.

The author addressed the American audience thusly.

 

 

Benjamin Rush, ”Plan of a Federal University,” The
American Museum, V (November, 1788), pp. 442-443.

2 ”The Juvenile Spelling Book, being an easy intro-
duction to the English language, containing easy and
familiar lessons in spelling, with appropriate reading
lessons, calculated to advance the learner by easy grada—
tions, and to teach the orthography of Johnson and the
pronunciation of Walker," by A. Picket.
Portfolio, II (July, 1816), p. 48.
to as "T e Juvenile Spelling Book.”)

Review in The
(Hereinafter referred

3A. Hawk, "Importance of Female Education-~and of
Educating young men in their native country, addressed to
every American,” The American Magazine, I (May, 1788),
P- 370. (Hereinaftbr referred to as "Female Education.")

 

 

 

 

 

75

You have. . . a national character to establish and
extend by your wisdom and virtues. To effect these
‘great objects, it is necessary to frame a liberal
plan of policy, and build it on a broad system of
education. Before this system can be formed and
embraced, the Americans must believe and act from
the belief, that it is dishonorable to waste life
mimicking the follies of other napions, and basking
in the sunshine of foreign glory.

Fitting Education to Government
”Hawk" stated that educational development should
keep pace exactly with the increase of national wealth and
"perhaps the greatest evil America now feels is, an improve—
ment of taste and manners which its wealth cannot support.2
Another wrote that the ”progress of genius” was "relative
to the state of society” and what the state puts a high
value on.3
Writers in the fledgling republic had apparently
studied comparative government. It was logical to them
that literacy, freedom, and types of schools should all
be appropriate to the particular form of government in
power.
Among the nations of Europe, it is very rare, to
find a public school where the children of all ranks

may be taught the first principles of knowledge; and
it may be ascribed chiefly to this cause, that the

common people, in those countries, are so very ignorant;
they know little or nothing of public measures, and from

 

11bid., p. 374.
2ibid., p. 371.
3Philoctetes, ”An Essay on Genius,” niversal Asylum

and Columbian Magazine, 111 (March, 1789), p. 177. See
also Richardson, Early American MagaZines, p. 288n.

 

 

 

76

this, added to some lesser evils, in the fundamental
principles of their govprnments are held in a state
of perpetual vassalage.

The author of the "Eagle" papers in the Columbian
Phoenix noted that European education tended to the per-

fection of the few, while the American rudimentary system

to general improvement.

Noah Webster quoted Montesquieu in maintaining that

the laws of education ought to be relative to the principles

of government.

In despotic governments, the people should have
little or no education except what tends to inspire
them with a servile fear. Information is fatal to
despotism.

In monarchies, education should be partial, and
adapted to the rank of each class of citizens. 'But
in a republican government'. . .'the whole power of
education is required.‘ Here every class of people
should know and love the laws. This knowledge should
be diffused by means of schools and newspapers: and
an attachment to the laws may be formed by early im-
pressions upon the mind.

Two regulations are essential to the continuance of
republican governments: 1. Such a distribution of
lands and such principles of descent and alienation, as
shall give every citizen a power of acquiring what his
industry merits. 2. Such a system of education as
gives every citizen an opportunity of acquiring know-
ledge and fitting himself for places of trust. These

are fundamental articles-—the sine qua non of the ex-
istence of the American Republic.

Because the national character and civil constitu—

tions were not yet firmly established, a political system

 

 

1[Thomas Welsh7"0n Education,” The Boston Magazine,

I (March, 1784), p. 177. Dr. Welsh was a physician and
orator. See Richardson, Early American Magazines, pp.

214 and 221.
2Mott, I, 1741-1850, p. 145. (Eagle, printed
February, 1800, pp. - 10.)
3[Websterj'Educationfl p. 311.

 

 

 

77

of education should be adopted and pursued. In addition
to the sciences, education should implant principles of
morality, and inspire an inviolable attachment to America.
Repeatedly, the term ngneral diffusion of knowledge" was
used in describing the American decision to provide the

rudiments of learning to the "multitude".2

A knowledge of letters was required so that the
people could comprehend clearly and for themselves, the
propriety of the administration of those whom they have
appointed to govern. The Puritan laws which required
schools ”where all the youth might indiscriminately be
taught" were now described as the "nurseries" of the late
revolution and where was ”sown the seeds of future great—
ness."3

Another article attributed government ”health” to
its support of schools.

I . eople should keep an eye on government. . .

I I p
A well informed people, as every free one should be
made, will form a kind of conscience for government

 

1”On Education,” The American Magazine, I (December,
1787), p. 23. See also, Wright, Cultural Life, p. 125.

Zlgohn E1ioE}"On Education," The Boston Magazine, 1
(April, 1784), p. 238. The author praised the wisdbm_of
the original settlers in passing a law which required the
maintenance of grammar schoolmasters. He said the phil—
Osopher, Voltaire, greatly admired this act. See Richard-
;gn, Early American Magazines, pp. 212—222 on The Rev.

101:.

 

 

3[Welshl'fln Education,” pp. 176-178. The audience
may have had to be reminded of the old laws concerning
town schools, because the revolution (1775-1783) had
caused the abandonment of many schools. Identifying the
schools with revolution could have caused more conserva-
tive readers to doubt the wisdom of ”indiscriminate"
education.

 

R.

D9]

in

 

which will often guide, and always awe the rulers.
There is a consequence of raising the body of the
citizens by establishing schools, and making the means
of education general, that has not been noticed, though
it deserves consideration. The administration of
country cannot become very profligate and corrupt, un-
less the body of the citizens are in a great degree
degraded by ignorance. An enlightened public will
find means to give authority to their opinion of men
and measures. . . .great crimes against a public can
exist only in darkness. Knowledge evidently tends to
purify morals, in private life; why not in public?

Responsibility to the Masses
It was the social duty of the republic to provide

education for all of its people. It would have to be an

”indiscriminate" schooling that did not allow for social

class or the idea of station in life. There were few

For "the education of

 

historical guidelines to follow.

the mass. . .to read constitutes a new era in the history

of mankind."2

Reading. .is, to speak technically, the great
school of modern mankind. . . . . Of our own country,
in particular, we may say, speaking for the mass of the
people3 that it is the great reading country of the

world.
"True sons of liberty” were reminded to ensure that

their children shall be wiser than what their parents had
been, by providing free schools.4 Otherwise, the govern—
ment would be subverted from a republic to an aristocracy

in a few years, because only the sons of the wealthy would

 

1Philo, "Public Schools,” p. 297.

2"Article VI," The Christian Examiner, pp. 81-82,

3”Article I.-—On Reading," The Christian Examiner,
p. l.

4Philo,"Public Schools," p. 297.

 

 

 

79

have the education to qualify for public office.1

The class bias of education in America was sharply

attacked by Noah Webster:

In several states we find laws passed establishing
provision for colleges and academies, where people of
property may educate their sons; but no provision is
made for instructing the poorer rank of people, even in
reading and writing. Yet, in these same states, every
citizen who is worth a few shillings annually, is en-
titled to vote for legislators. I have known instruc-
tions from the inhabitants of a county, two thirds of
whom could not write their names. How competent must
such men be to decide an important point in legislation!
This appears to me a most glaring solecism in_govern-
ment. The constitutions are republican, and the laws of
education are monarchial. The former extends civil
rights to every honest industrious man; the latter de—
prived a large proportion of the citizens of a most
valuable privilege.

John Eliot, a frequent contributor to and member of

the editorial board of the Boston Magazine related reading

to voting and expressed fear about the growth of the

academies.

In a Republic, as every one hath to act a part,
he should be able to write and read, at least, and to
say why he will give his vote for this thing rather
than any other, which is easily done by such methods
of education as diffuse the quantum of knowledge
through the people—-whereas, if Academies take the place
of schools, though there may be a greater number of su-
perior scholars—— yet there may be much less useful

knowledge.

Nearly fifty years later, the primary education

finally won for the masses would be described as "limited":

 

lCWels] "On Education," p. 177.

ZCWebsteE] "Education, 'p. 312. See also Samuel
Knox' 5 prize— Winning essay (1799) in Vassar (ed. ) Colonial
4.

w p-
SEliot] "On Education,” pp. 238—239.

 

 

 

 

 

 

80

"that which gives them the bare ability to read."1 Some
time after that, the same magazine would complain of pri-
mary education: ". . .such is the course of our schools
too-~to know everything in general and nothing in particu-

lar-—to know everything ill, and nothing well."2 This

criticism indicated that education may have achieved its
limited political objectives: a general diffusion of
knowledge, and preparation of children to read the news—

papers.

 

Oral Reading Motive

. Nationalistic and patriotic aims helped shape the
methods used in teaching reading during this period. Great
stress now came to be laid upon rules and exercises in pub-
lic speaking and in correct pronunciation. Noah Webster
was in the forefront of those who promoted a uniform dic—
tionary and grammar of American English. Such uniformity
of teaching would help abolish the diversity of dialects,
which interfered with national unity.3
Preparation for Public Service
The "rudiments of learning” in primary school and some
Years in a grammar school or academy were considered neces-

sary to qualify a young man "for every duty of a public

1”Article VI,” The Christian ExaminerJ pp. 81-82.

2"Article I.--On Reading,” The Christian Examiner,

 

p. 10. The article was addressed more to the adblt reader,

the casual smatterer of knowledge.

3Smith, American Readinglnstruction, p. 38.

 

 

 

nature."1

Two magazines expressed concern about the difficulty
the young had in conversation, or social intercourse. One
periodical maintained that novel reading might improve
their style in conversation.2 The second magazine noted
that many who learned the rules of grammar and who could
write correctly, "in conversation cannot be said to speak
the English language.” School teachers were blamed for
neglecting ”to pay attention to the practical use which
the students make of their instruction.”3
Correct Pronunciation

There was an article in Noah Webster's magazine which
noted the American people's indifference to the rules of
grammar. This had produced various arbitrary practices,
based on the lack of a definitive standard for pronuncia-
tion. Moreover, there was hardly a school in the country
where the English tongue was taught regularly, from its
elements (orthography) to its "true and elegant construc—

tion in prose and verse" (prosody.)4

 

HWelsh) "On Education,” p. 177.

ZPhilaleths, ”On the Practice of Reading Novels and
Romances, Letter V," The United States Magazine (June,
1794), p. 277. (Hereihafter referred to as ”Letter V.”)

 

38.8. ”Essay on Education,” Monthly Anthology, I
(June, 1804), p. 340.

4"On Education,” American Magazine, p. 25. Noah
Webster‘s Speller had appeared in 1783. See Vassar,
Colonial Life, pp. 100—101.

 

 

 

 

A definitive dictionary and a settled grammar were
important concerns because certain patriots wished a
complete break with Great Britain-~its language as well
as its politics. With prophetic vision, Dr. Rush wrote:

The cultivation and perfection of our language be—

comes a matter of consequence, when viewed in another

light. It will probably be spoken by more people,

in the course of two or three centuries, than ever

spoke any one language, at one time, since the crea-
tion of the world.

But in the rudimentary primary schooling promised
the masses, much of the language training seemed to be
oral recitations of spelling lessons, based more on memory
than on comprehension of the beauties of language.2 Thus
the motives for and methods of teaching reading were ul-

timately dependent on the very limited materials of pri-

mary education.

The Utilitarian Motive
Utilitarianism, an ethical philosophy which saw the

good as the useful, had a considerable impact in America.

 

1Rush, "Plan of a Federal University," pp. 442-443.
Dr. Rush advocated much training in rhetoric, criticism,
the construction and pronunciation of the language.

28.8. ”Essay on Education,” p. 340. See Drake,
Eigneer Education, p. 30. Drake nostalgically praised the
noisy display of learning and saying lessons aloud. He
felt that little children were naturally prone to ”utter
audibly when they are learning." With the ears providing
feedback, the oral lessons did act "to improve their
speech.”

 

83

Like Evangelical Methodists and the Baptists, the utilitar-

ians promoted cheap newspapers and penny magazines for ”the

diffusion of useful knowledge.” The movement rejected

fanciful literature and ”desultory reading” (browsing), or
1

any facts that could not be applied in the workshop.
Two magazines discussed systematic reading or planned

study. The articles were addressed to the masses of adults

who sought self improvement outside the walls of schools.

The leading object of reading should be "the improve—

ment of the mind.”2

If you would be otherwise, DARE to be ignorant of
all books, and all things, which you are not sure will
repay your trouble in reading them, or which are not
parts of a pre~arranged course, laid down for you by
yourself, or by some judicious friend. DARE to disavow

.a fashionable novel. if it fall not within

your plan. . . .

 

lAltick, English Common Reader, pp. 129-140. Ameri-
can magazines quoted below used the exact language of the
British movement: ”desultory reading", ”diffusion of use-
ful knowledge"; ”systematic reading"; the didactic power
or moral usefulness of stories, and "self-improvement."
American primary school books were full of catechism—like
definitions of useful objects such as Lampblack and tur—
pentine——Cobb's Juvenile Reader, No. 3 (Lewistown, Pa.:
1835), p. 29; lessons such as "Attention and Industry Re-
warded" and "Importance of Science to a Mechanic”-—
John Pierpont, National Reader (28th ed., New York:

George F. Cooledge, 1835), pp. 18 and 188.

2”Article VI,” The Christian Examiner, p. 84. Altick
found it impossible to separate utilitarianism from evan-
gglical religion. See Altick, English Common Reader, p.
9|

3”Selection in Reading," Southern Literary Messenger,
p. 171. Selection was important because even in twice’the
time that even the studious employ in reading-—only 1600
volumes could be read in a lifetime. This formula suggested
that studious reading was a laboriously slow, suboral spel—
llng out, at an estimated rate of 40-80 words per minute.

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84

By the end of the period, the utilitarian reading
theorists begrudgingly began to accept recreational reading
as a necessary form of relief for the working-man. The
notion of a "true plan" had broadened from the machine-shop
usefulness, to include ”vigor, beauty, and happiness”—-
in short, useful good hygiene.1

DeTocqueville noted the phenomenonal paradox of a
new nation where very few went uninstructed, and at the
same time, there were so few learned individuals. Americans,
it seemed, read in the material hope of getting ahead and
in the political hope of improving the republic.2

Godwin, the radical philosopher, objected to the
extremes of utilitarianism where even learning good manners
had as its goal marrying the mill-owner's daughter. As for
learning about physical things and the science of man:—-

I totally dissent from this. As to the knowledge of

things, young men will soon enough be plunged into

the mire of cold and solid realities, those things

that it is the calamity of man that he should be

condemned to consume so much of his mature life upon
.those who can afford the leisure of education
.will acquire nothing but prejudices. . .with

infinite labor to unlearn. . . . Nature has decreed
that human beings should be so long in a state of

 

 

1"Article I," Christian Examiner, pp. 5-6. School—
books now picked up héalfh in articles such as Temperance
1n Cobb's JUVenile'Reader, pp. 182-188.

2DeTocqueville, Democracy in America, pp. 44 and 48.
A thorough study of this paradbx lS offered in Hofstadter,
Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, chapters 2, 10, and
. See also Theodore R. Sizer, The Age of the Academies
(New York: Columbia University, Teachers College, 1964),
pp. lS-l6.

 

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85

nonage, that it demands some ingenuity to discover

how the years of boys. . .may be employed innocently

in acquiring good habits, and not that appearance of

reason and wisdom, which in boys surpasses in nothing

the instructions we bestow on monkies and parrots.
The Rousseau—Pestalozzi Motive

Just as the colonists looked to the great philosopher
of the mother—country, John Locke, for educational advice;
liberated Americans now turned to France for their philo-
sophical inspiration. French aid had greatly assisted the
American Revolution. In rejecting British influence and
language, French manners and ideas filled the intellectual
vacuum.

Locke's plan of education was rejected because it

was ”very imperfect."2

Two magazine articles were found which discussed the

 

lGodwin, ”Letters to a young American,” p. 234.

2Article XI.-l. The Franklin Primer, or Lessons in
Spelling and Reading; adapted to the Understanding of
Children. 2. The ImprOVed Reader; intended as a Sequel
to the Franklin Primer. 3. The General Class Book; or
Interesting Lessons, in Prose and Verse, fic.; intended as
the Third Book in a Course of Reading, for the Use of
Schools.” North American Review XXVIII (April, 1829), p.
492. (Hereinafter referred to as "Article XI.") Interest-
lngly enough, they used the arguments of British Dr. Samuel
Johnson to reject the British Locke. Probably Locke fell
from favor because he urged a private system of education
0f the children of the masses as of little importance. See
Vassar (ed.), Colonial Times to 1860, Private Vision (New
York: Random House, 1965), pp. 46—48. (Hereinafter re-
ferred to as Private Vision.)

 

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86

philosopher, Rousseau. One objected to the ideas espoused

by Rousseau in the novel, Emile, but more on moral than
educationalgrounds.1 In the other, William Godwin, who
sympathized with the American cause, wrote:
Rousseau is very nearly the best writer of the
middle part of the last century; the writer from whose

works we may derive the greatest degree of profit.

Other articles appeared, which discussed the manual
labor aspects of Fellenberg's school in Hofwyl, Switzerland;3

and the establishment of Neef's school in Philadelphia.4

 

Fellenberg and Neef were disciples of Pestalozzi whose edu-
cational methods were directly influenced by Rousseau.
The language used by Rousseau himself was picked up in sev—

eral patriotic American magazine articles, that urged

breaking off all relations with England. Rousseau had

written:

It is education that should put the national stamp
on men's minds and give the direction to their opinions
and tastes which will make them patriots. From birth
and all through life the child should only have eyes

. 1"Letter 4th from Belzebub," The American Magazine,
1 (May, 1788, p. 390.

2Godwin, "Letters to a young American,” p. 240.

3"Fellenberg's School," The Academician, I (July 10,
1819), p. 324; ”On the Proper Method of TeaCEing the
English Language, No. XX." The Academician, I (May 8, 1819),
p. 290 which also discussed Pestalozzi. (Hereinafter re-
ferred to as "On the Proper Method.”) Fellenberg's influ—
ence was chiefly felt in the establishment of training
schools for delinquent and orphan children, and in prison

labor systems.
4”Education--Neef'8 School,” Niles Weekly Register, I
(September 28, 1811), p. 69.

 

 

 

87

for his native country. It is love of country that makes
man what he is. By himself he counts for nothing. . .
When he is learning to read I would have him read about
his own country. There should not be a noble deed
or distinguished man in all Poland but are so enshrined
in heart and memory that he can give instant account of

theml
Americans accepted from Rousseau what best suited
their own institutional needs. They rejected the notion
that Emile would learn to read when he had a need to read,
probably not before age twelve. In the education of a child,
Rousseau had said, one must choose whether to make him into

a man or a citizen——one could not do both. For this period

at least, nationalism demanded the citizenship role.
Certainly, utilitarian-minded, patriotic Americans
could not be too sympathetic with some of Rousseau‘s more

radical truisms. "One of the best maxims of the eloquent

Rousseau, is where he says, the masterpiece of a good edu—

cation is to know how to lose time profitably."2

The Classical Motive
There was a so—called neo—classical revival in the
America of the 1800's. It was evidenced in the graceful,

white—columned buildings and in the dress of women. But

its educational influence, as seen in the magazines, more

Partial and nostalgic than dynamic. The vice-provost of

the University of Pennsylvania maintained that a classical

_____~________~____.
lBoyd (ed.), Emile, p, 191. The nobles of Poland
had asked Rousseau fbffiaid in breaking away from Russia.

2Godwin, "Letters to a young American," p. 234.

 

 

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88

education was not necessary for everyone.1 Godwin recalled

his own education, and did not agree that the years spent
studying Latin and Greek were a "miserable waste of time."2
Finally, a reviewer quoted Quintilian in his defense of
early mastery of the ABCs.3

Generally, the classical motive was seen in the en-
tire method of learning to read: the grammar approach
that extended from orthography to prosody. With his eye
on the eventual production of a senator for Rome,
Quintilian’s grammatical training of a young orator with
its emphasis on style, clarity, and meaningfulness was of

value to a new republic busily creating its own statesmen.

Anti—Reading Motivational Influence

Immorality of Popular Reading Material

The moral effort to inhibit mass reading could not

be easily separated from the efforts to deter females from

 

lSamuel Magaw, ”An Address delivered in the young
ladies' academy, at Philadelphia, on February 8th, 1787,
at the close of a public examination,” The American Museum,
III (January, 1788), pp. 26-27. (Hereinafter referred to
as ”An Address.”) He meant Latin, but even questioned
classical training in English. By classical, he meant an

oral tradition.

 

2Godwin, ”Letters to a young American,” p. 234.
3”Article XI” North Amer. Review, p. 497. Quintilian
He wrote

was a rhetorician and'teacher of oratory in Rome.
a much-quoted treatise on education and literary criticism.

 

 

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gro
Gos
par;
and

bawd

eigh1
utili
moral

SCott

 

 

89

having equal educational opportunity. The religious
groups such as the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel (S.P.G.) and the ”English philanthropists" realized
paradoxically that teaching the poor masses to read holy
and useful tracts would also give them the skills to read
bawdy chapbooks and the dangerous works of Tom Paine.

The practice of reading novels and romances, is

exceedingly pernicious to youth, because it has a

direct tendency to corrupt their morals, and lead

them into paths of vice. . . .

The anti-novel reading movement did not outlast the
eighteenth century. Its rationale was absorbed by the

utilitarian movement. In any event, the popularity and

morality of the works of Charles Dickens and Sir Walter

 

Scott undercut the moralists' complaints.

Social Class Handicaps

Female Education
Frank Luther Mott maintained that this issue was
one phase of the education problem upon which all magazines

commented. There was a similar interest in England, where

 

lPhilaleths, "On the Practice of Reading Novels and
Romances, Letter TV," The United States Magazine (July,
1794), pp. 242—243. (Hereinafter referred to as ”Letter
IV,") Published in serial form in March, May, June, July,
and August, 1794 in epistle style. In the same vein, see
Rush, "Thoughts upon Female Education," p. 212. ”Education-—
The Practice of employing low and vicious Characters in
SChools reprobated," The American Magazine I (March, 1788),
p. 214. (Hereinafter referred to as ”Education-—The Prac-
tice,") Hawk, "Female Education," p. 369; "Original
Thoughts on Education," The Columbian Magazine, p. 645;

Alphonzo, ”An Address to the’Ladies,” The American Magazine,
245.

I (March, 1788), p.

 

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hou

orie

educat

W11.

 

"the old system of training for the society of man and
household duties was beginning to give way."1
A literary group of Harvard scholars wrote a Rousseau—
oriented article championing female education.

The education of children when quite young, and
when the biasses they receive are very durable,
generally devolves on the woman; but how unfit is
she for the task if educated in the common manner.
The advantages that would attend a proper education
of the female sex are almost endless; our children
would be early well instructed by them; our lives
'would be happy in their company, and our love for
them rational; not, as it now frequently is, an
address to a mere moving image of a beautiful ex-
ternal appearance.

A "circle of ladies" appealed for advice on a proper

education.

 

Hail, candid, gen'rous man, whoe'ver thou art:
You, sir, with better sens, will justly fix
Our faults on education, not our sex:
Will shew the source, which makes the female mind
So oft appear but puerile and blind.
How many would surmount stern custom's laws,
And prove the want of genius not the cause:
But that the odium of a bookish fair,
Or female pedant, or they quit their sphere,
Damps all their views, and they must drag the chain,

 

lMott, I, 1741-1850, p. 63.

2Anaximander, "The Competitor, No. III," The Boston
Magazine, II (June, 1785), p. 213. For details—Eh—fhi§~—
group, see Richardson, Early American Magazines, pp. 223-
224. Pro—female educatibh sentiments were also found in
RUSh, "Thoughts on Education," The Columbian Magazine,
p. 643; Carl Binger, Revolutionary Doctor: Benjamin Rush
(New York: W.W. Norton 8 Co., 1966), pp. 170-171.

 

 

H—‘rnh—‘L—‘k

”Fen

form
plan

the

 

 

 

91

And sigh for sweet instruction's page in vain.
But we commit our injur'd cause to you--
Point out the medium which we should pursue:
So may each scene of soft domestic peace
Heighten your joys, and animate your bliss.

But there was no plan to "point out the medium."
"Female instruction hath been left, as it were, to chance;
or conducted very little farther than through the lowest
forms."2 One's social class, and perhaps, the educational

plan of parents who followed Locke or Rousseau, determined

the educational fate of girls.3

 

1”The Visitant, No. VII--Remarks on the Fair Sex,”
American Museum, IV (December, 1788), p. 489. (Hereinafter
referred to as ”The Visitant.”) (*Note practice of not
including silent letters. Sense was spelled sens.) It was
smart style to contribute two essays to the magazine at the
same time, each essay separate, but the second often a par—
tial reply to the idea advanced in the first. Thus for
every motive for something, there was a countermotive. In
the same manner, school children found the synonym and
antonym for each word, and could debate either side of an
issue. See Richardson, Early American Magazines, p. 233.

 

 

 

 

2Magaw, ”An Address,” p. 25. Knox, a popular writer

on education avoided any systematic plan of education,
except for reading each day. See Vicesimus Knox, "On the
Literary Education of Women," The Universal Magazine, LXVIII
(January, 1781), p. 42, taken from his book, Liberal Educa-
tion. Jefferson, who planned and accomplishe muc , a -
mitted never planning for women. See Lee (ed), Thomas
Jefferson, pp. 153. See Vassar (ed), Colonial Times to

, p. 225, for similar expressions.

 

3Rush, ”Thoughts on Female Education," pp. 209-210.
See also Nye, Cultural Life, pp. 168-169 on sexually segre-
gated academieET—a—less_demanding curriculum; and summer
classes for poor girls. See J.R.; ”Outline of a Rational
System of Education,” Gentleman's Magazine, XCIV (June,
1824), p. 506, on ornamental education for women. (Here—
inafter referred to as ”Outline.")

 

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92

In this magazine, a reviewer of female poetry wrote
"that the female mind, though it may not equal that of
man, in the power of close and abstract thought, is not
at all inferior. . . ."1 An anonymous writer admitted that
the subject of female education had been too much neglected,
but was unwilling to concede ”that they possess minds as
susceptible of improvement as men." Women's minds were
never designed for studies in literature and science. Her
most valuable acquirements were those domestic accomplish-
ments which made her a good wife and mother.2

This chapter marked the close of the meaningful de—
bate about how females should be educated. Rousseau had
created an equally talented and educated "Sophie” to marry
his ideal man, ”Emile." So philosophy was joined with
revolutionary notions of "equality," and the utilitarian
fact of women in factories to end foolish discrimination

and neglect.

 

1"The Ladies Wreath, a Selection from the Female Po-
etic Writers of England and America, with Original Notices
and Notes, prepared especially for Young Ladies," Review
of A Gift for all Seasons by Mrs. Hale, Christian Review,

II (March, 1837), p. 151. (Hereinafter referred to as

"The Ladies Wreath.”)

ZMott, I, 1741—1850, p. 143, citing a Socratic dia-
logue in the Weekl Ma azine, (August, 1798), p. 12 and
reprinted in the Portico, 11 (September, 1816), pp. 210-
21 Agreeing with this viewpoint were ”The Retailer,”
Universal Asylum and celumbian Magazine, III (April, 1789),
p. 252; Philaleths, "On the Practice of Reading Novels and
Romances, Letter III,“ The United States Magazine (June,
1794), p. 141. (Hereinafter referred to as “Letter III.")
See Butler, ”New England Newspapers," p. 147 for articles
poking fun at education. The best degree for a woman was
still M.R.S.

 

 

 

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Free Schools for the Poor
After the war, wealthier members of society sent their

children to academies instead of to town-supported schools.
Nevertheless, one writer urged that the affluent had an
obligation to support free schools for the poor.1 Various
arguments were advanced for aiding the poor in this respect.

The class systems created by separate school systems would,

in time, turn the republic into an aristocracy.2 Crime,

vice, and immorality were the consequences of not educating

the poor.3 Not only would the poor become vicious, but their

votes would give a new complexion to government and the

morals of society. If the wealthy valued their freedom and

prosperity, if they loved their offspring; then they should
4 The same author

 

provide for the education of the poor.
then damaged his own case by insisting that ”children of
parents of the same religious denomination should be educa-

ted together." This idea was divisive and did not take

into account that the different sects had different educa—

 

1"On the Establishment of Free Schools," American
Museum, p. 326. Where free schools were in existence, the
Poor id not often go. Either the children were employed,
or the parents were too proud to accept scholarships.

afielsh]”0n Education,” p. 177. Equally important,
educationally ignorant men would come to fill political
Posts to the nation's ruin.

. fiEenjamin Rush; "Benefits of Charity: A Dream,"
Jniversal Asylum and Columbian Magazine, 1 (August, 1787),
:p. 578-581. Rush also complained about the indecent
language heard on the streets and on the "profanation of

:he sabbath.”
4"On the Establishment of Free Schools," The American

Mseum, p. 327.

 

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94

tional expectations, if not different financial resources.1

”Philo" appealed to the men of "property or power" to

support universal education under the ”care ofgovernment."2
The envisioned elementary education of the poor in

Pennsylvania included reading and writing in English (or

German, when required by the parents), and arithmetic.

Instead of arithmetic, poor girls had ”needle work, knitting,

and spinning." "Religionzwas7. . .the most essential part
of education.”3
On the frontier the scattered settlements and rigors

of life worked against education. Drake described his own

experiences:

Our preachers and teachers were, in general, almost as
destitute as the people at large, many of whom could
neither read or write, did not send their children 30
school, and, of course, kept no books in the house.

A rare article by a spokesman for a society dedicated
to the education of candidates for the ministry and mission
fields showed the effects of "poor” primary education on

'oung men now confronted with a heavy reading load in a

:ollege.

For the most part, they are not accustomed to read.
Their early life has been one of labor. Neither their
own families nor their associates have generally been

Books have not been constantly soliciting
To conversa—

When

readers.
their eye in the library or the parlor.
tion upon books, their ears have not been used.

 

lIbid., p. 328.
ZPhilo, ”Public Schools," p.
3”On the Establishment of Free Schools, p. 328.

4Daniel Drake, Pioneer Education and Life (Cedar
The Torch Press, 1939), p. .

298.

Pids, Iowa:

 

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and
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95

the change took place in their religious character.
they went at once upon the studies preparatory to col-
lege. At this period. . .their habits of reading are
all to be formed. In this respect, they are under great
disadvantages in comparison with their more favore
associateslwho havé]. . . familiarity with good style,
a fund of ideas and general notions of books, which give
them a great superibrity in discourseand composition,

and will be of material use to them in their future

reading
Analyses of the problems of the poor in America were

complicated by difficulties distinguishing ”unmonied" art-
isans, trappers, and farmers who supplied all their own

needs, and bartered for what they could not produce, from

the destitute paupers who were burdens on the townships.

Resistance to Educational Laws

In general, those magazine articles that dealt with

education favored free schools.2 Several magazine articles

addressed themselves to taxes as the major barrier to uni-

versal education.3 The question of taxes had been a danger-

ous, incendiary issue from the Colonial days; and conse-

quently astute politicians avoided it for many years.4

 

lHadduck, "Good Habits of Reading," p. 223.

2Richardson, Early American Magazines, p. 324.

3"On the Establishment of Free Schools," The Ameri—
:an Museum, p. 327, [Webstenj "Education, ” p. 312.

4See Vassar (ed.), Colonial Times to 1860, p. 134;

American Children Through Their Books, p. 132;

Ciefer,
156 for comment on the issue of

lye, Cultural Life, p~
chool taxes.

 

lish a
of the

histor

0f mode
the Uni
[1775-1
and blc
Constar
bEIIion
the Whi
be thro

:‘mHF—J‘J‘z-m m
pfi‘m

 

 

 

96

The second barrier was the growing "vogue" to estab-

lish academies. Academies were condemned as destructive

of the old common school laws, which had provided the

historical precedent for free education.1

Other barriers were discussed above under the topic

”Social Handicaps."

Military Plight

The new republic's situation may be likened to that

of modern day Israel. Twice during the period under study,

the United States fought major wars on her own territory

(1775-1783 and 1812-1814). There were major trade embargoes

and blockades; minor wars with Tripoli and France; and the

 

constant menace of Indian raids. There were internal re-

bellions about money and about taxes: Shays' Rebellion and

the Whiskey Rebellion. One way to discuss this period would

be through the anonymously written drama between a church

and a school.

Eccl. Good morning, cousin, how do you find yourself
after the late dreadful storm of British devastation?
.a dreadful storm it has been indeed; but

Acad.
I just begin to breathe again. I have for this long
time hardly dared to open my mout . . . .

also. . .in this war, no deference

Eccl. You know,
has been paid to us: we have been turned into riding

schools, into military stores, magazines and arsenals.
The British profess to be Christians. .but we have
experienced as little lenity from them as if they had
been Turks.

Acad. .In this conflict, however, I have suffered
most cruelly. .and the ravages of this barbarous
foe, have for a long time rendered me useless to my—

 

Eliot] "On Education," p. 238; andEWeishj'm

iucation,” p. 177.

St

Unpai
and a
Prote:

a€gis

Con
Whe
Ant
Ra;

HOUse.
Univer
p. .
gation
SUPDOr
New Yo
in 178
before
SOCial

 

97

self and brothers.1

The Boston'Magazine complained that since the war
began, schools have been neglected, "so that but few towns
have any such among them."2 Schools were closed as teachers
left for enlistment or for exile as loyalists.

Acad. . . .My sorrows commenced with the dispersion of
my pupils, who, not having taken up the sword, were not
otherwise engaged in the quarrel than by books; yet,
terrified by the cruelties exercised. . .they were
obliged to leave these scenes of instruction-—hen§e
hundreds will bewail their unavoidable ignorance.

After the war, the American soldiers were dismissed
unpaid. Paper money was worthless. Debt-ridden farmers
and artisans were evicted from their property by lawyers.
Protest meetings were held in Massachussetts under the

aegis of Captain Daniel Shays, a destitute farmer.

A SONG: for the Massachusetts Insurgents
Tune——Black Sloven

Come, come my bold boxers, 'tis liberty calls:
When rulers will govern, and we must obey

And law down our gutlets is cramm'd every day.
Rap, rap—-'tis a gun!

 

1”A Dialogue between a Meeting—House and a School
House.” (Hereinafter referred to as "A Dialogue.”)
Universal Asylum and Columbian Mggazine, 111 (January, 1789),
P- 36. ”Church buildings have been destroyed by war, congre—
gations split, parishes disbanded. New Salem, Massachusetts,
SUpported no church services at all for twenty years; of
New York City's nineteen churches. . .ten were unfit for use
In 1784. Congregations were restive and less inclined than
before to accept ministerial leadership in political and
social affairs."——Nye, Cultural Life, pp. 204-205.

?Welsh;]”0n Education," p. 178.
3”A Dialogue,” Universal Asylum, p. 37.

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W]
t}

 

 

_L ‘7 If 7 ‘ V /’ Til: _.‘/.:._.,._,

98

The sheriff's behind him,

We'll gag him, and bind him harra!.

And the taverns won't sell for ditto, ditto,

And a man for his victuals must work like a dog;
Paper-Money and cheating by law have both fled. . . .1

Child Mortality

A major obstacle to primary programs for reading in
the Colonial period had been the high death rate among

young children. Certainly, grouping children together in

times of pestilence could not be allowed. The uncertain
life span of children made investment in their primary

education a gamble, even in the post war period. About

six per cent of the contents of one popular school book

dealt with death. Sample titles included: ”The Grave

a Place of Rest,” "The Death of Maria” and "On Planting

Flowers on the Graves of Friends."2

In 1818, the owner of a day school and publisher of
one of the earliest educational periodicals was moved to

write this lament:

JOHN W. PICKET, one of the Editors, has within the last
week been deprived of the dearest of his hopes, by the
death of his fourth child, and only son. . . His
disease was so rapid in its progress as to leave his
parents no time to collect themselves for the shock
which is rendered more severe by the consideration that
the last three years of their lives, have been counted
by similar calamities; they had buried in the same
grave three other children. he was attacked with

 

1"A Song: For the Massachusetts Insurgents," The
American Museum I (June, 1787), PP. 566—567. (Hereinafter

referred to as ”A Song.”)

2John Pierpont, The National Reader, 28th ed. (New
York: George F. Cooledge, 1835), passim.

3H

Freque
alize

Uncert
mother

could

The Ba
Where

minist
Vasion

Educat

 

99

a malady which began and terminated in a single day. .
Thus death served to reduce the school-age population.
Frequent death among the very young tended to institution-
alize education at a safer, grammar school stage of life.
Uncertain infant education had to compete with watchful
mothers who may have felt, with justification, that they

could teach the ABCs just as well at home.

The Barren Path

How did magazines view primary education—-the place
where reading instruction began? A physician, teacher,
minister, and patriot, who complained of the British in«
vasion's effect upon the educational system, called early

education "despicable.”

Thus the hopes of parents and teachers at once fall
to the ground; fine geniuses are lost to their
country and themselves. Just when the mind began to
open to the scientific day, it falls back to ignor-
ance, and but little above barbarism; when every
year after of study, would improve the intellectual
capacity, than any three of their first years taken
collectively. The first being only scaffolds to
raise the fabric of literary knowledge; or at most,
the laying a foundation which is despicable, with-
out the superstructure.
____________________
l”To Readers," The Academician, I (November 30,1818),
p. 192. See Kiefer, American Childr ren Through Their Books,
Pp. 168- 169. Butler, "New England Newspapers, ” pp. 224—
225 stated that small-pox vaccinations became a legal re—
quirement for Boston school admission in 1827. Nye, Cultural
Life, pp. 77— 78 discussed the great yellow fever epidemic
in Philadelphia in 1793, and an "unknown: autumnal epidemic
in 1812— 13 in Savannah.

iWilson] ”On a Liberal Education,” pp. 264—265.

 

tessf
Virgi
1821,
tion

the p'

suffi<
early
home.

learnj
surely
an edn
rural

of the

 

 

100

Thomas Jefferson was both more active and more suc-
cessful in his efforts to encourage higher education in
Virginia than in the promotion of general schooling. In
1821, he wrote that he was zealous for the general instruc-
tion of the people. ”I never have proposed a sacrifice of
the primary to the ultimate grade of instruction."1

Education in general was often demeaned by the self-
sufficient farming majority of Americans. Many of them saw
early schooling in the ABCs as a task for mothers to do at
home. Even Rousseau and Pestalozzi extolled rudimentary

learning at one's mother's knee.2 ”A country farmer Will

surely fix upon the one the least able to work” to provide
an education for. With luck, the grammar school trained

rural ”yokel" could hope to become a town clerk or Justice

of the Peace.3

Finally, schooling had to contend with the popular
notion that self-educated men had accomplished much for

society without the benefit of pedagogy.

Where did Franklin first cultivate the knowledge that

. . .bore him to the heights of fame? In a printing

office. Where did Bowditch study the mathematics?

on shipboard. . . . How did Ferguson begin to study

astronomy? Tending sheep in Scotland; lying on his
._._________________

1Lee (ed.), Thomas Jefferson, p. 81. Parrington once

iescribed the Jeffersonian university—to—primary school
SYStem as an "aristocratic head set on a plebian frame.”

2Knox, ”On the Literary Education of Women,” p. 43.

flgliot] ”On Education,” p. 239.

bar
511
upr
StI
Th1
wh<
sti

prima1
letter

to the

school

childi

f0? te

where

ROtive

16-17.
111, a

DT~ Ja
(May 8
jeCtS

Which

XI,” N
0
t e St
define

haSSar

 

 

101

back. . .mapping out the constellations by means of a
simple string Stretched from hand to hand, with beads
upon it. . . . young Faraday. . .began his chemical
studies,a apoor boy, in an apothecary' 5 shop

There is a man in New England who can read fifty languages,
who was apprenticed, -—and who has always worked, —-and who
still works,--as a blacksmith!1
Educators themselves found little system in early or
primary schooling. They considered the subject matter se—
lected to be irrelevant so long as it was carefully adapted
to the little children's existing knowledge.2 Thus, early
schoolbooks contained morbid subject matter, expressed in
childish rhyme.
Although there were many and good reasons or motives

for teaching children to read during this period; the place

where reading instruction should begin remained nebulous.

Reading Disputes
New Definitions in Reading
For the first time, several magazines picked up new

motives for reading. Generally, reading had been correlated

 

l”Article I—-On Reading,” The Christian Examiner, pp.
16-17. ”We are taught in our schools to know everything

ill, and nothing well."

2”Outlines of Philosophical Education Abstracted from
Dr. Jardine of Glasgow University, " The Academician, I
(May 8,1819), . 293. Dr. S. Johnson compared what sub—
jects should be ptaught a child first to the irrelevancy of
vhich leg one shall put into his breeches first. ”Article
(I,” North American Review, pp. 491—492, quoting Boswell's
.ife of Johnson. Walter Johnson, who wrote a treatise on
:he state of education in the United States, could not even
lefine primary education, as distinct from the infant schools.
assar (ed. ), Colonial Times to 1860, p. 225.

 

wit]
11121
tha1

you1

(hr—rr—r‘nl—o-u-I

ally
and -
t0 t1
Whit}

fIOm

Sihi]
Zlne,

11

3L

 

102

with serious study. Now reading for RECREATION was recog—

nized, begrudgingly, as legitimate. One magazine maintained

that novels afford "that amusement and recreation which

youth require.”1
Reading for amusement has its place. Let us attempt
to define it. Its place. .is to minister recreation
or relief to the mind, when its powers are exhausted
by effort, or enfeebled by disease, and are not equal
to the task of thought. Relief and recreation.
should mark the boundaries of. .light reading.2

However, light reading could ”destroy the taste for
history, philosophy and other branches of useful science."3

As an antidote for idle reading, serious reading was sug-

gested.4

The Reading for Understanding Argument
Supporters of reading for understanding were gener-

ally attacking the notion of recreational reading (above),

and the schools' emphasis on using the faculty of memory

to teach little children. But the issue of the mode in

which reading instruction was to be conducted, was far

from clear.

 

lPhilaleths, ”Letter V,” p. 277.

2"Article I,” The ChriStian Examiner, pp. 3—4. A
similar vein was noted in ”The Bravo,""in'the same maga-

zine, for March, 1832, p. 84.
3"Original Thoughts on Education,” The Columbian

Iagazine, p. 645.

4Rush, ”Thoughts Upon Female Education,” p. 212.

 

tain <
But t}
happer
ordinz
nature
aids c
Ceive

things
might

might

of mod

mands.

mEaSUr

See a1.

and Coj
Were t
trainec

 

 

103

The opinion of reflecting men is. . .that it should be

a training of the mind, to qualify it for making ac-
quisitions of itself, rather than the loading Of it
with facts, or materials of knowledge, by the mere aid
of a teacher; but there is still sbme diversity of
opinion as to the best method of attaining that object.1

Book reviews of new primary textbooks tended to con-
tain clear ideas about how education should be ordered.
But these ideas cannot be interpreted as what was actually
Subject matter should be sub-

happening in the schools.

ordinate to the child's level of comprehension. Children's

natural curiosity should be employed.2 Concrete visual
aids could be used in grammar, so that children might per-
ceive that differences in words come from differences in
things.3 As in the modern Fernald technique, children
might read stories of their own making.4 Understanding
might be measured by the correct and tasteful selection
of models in literature ”to imitate” as the occasion de—

mands.5
The ability to read for a purpose was a vivid

measure of understanding. Unfortunately, the average child

 

 

1"Article XI," North American Review, p. 490.
Z"The Juvenile Spelling Book,” The Portfolio

p. 51.
See also, "Article XI,” North American Review, p. 3.

’
49
3"On Education," American MagaZine, p. 25.

4 .
S.S., ”Essay on Education,” p. 342.

5Philoctetes, "An Essay on Genius,”'Universal As lum
, p. 231. Ihere

Lnd ColUmbian MagaZine, III (April, 1789)
'ere three types of geniuses——the natural, the imitative,
.nd the formed; or the inherited, the clever, and the

rained.

was 1
often

ful r

g)’ of
then,

it2

Withox

Mar
rec
pre
or

en;
con
min
rea
by

the
att
Pro
but
of

far
tas
qUi
ide
kno

a180,
P.171

 

__. =1 1, H _ 7L 1‘:
104

was limited to two—or—three years of primary education;

often with a speller or other text not suited for purpose-

ful reading.

to aid his inquiries

reading as a mental task.
or to assist

or his reasonings to obtain information,
his mind in coming to some conclusion.

Comprehension was related to the old faculty psycholo-

gy of ”strengthening the mind." Understanding was a matter,

then, of wrestling with a "hard book,” and critically reading

it.2
One writer complained of children reading like parrots,

without any understanding.

Many will read a history of facts, or some work that
requires but little abstract thinking, and fully com-
prehend the subject; but give them a treatise on ethics,
or mathematics, and though they read. . .and pause and
emphasize with propriety, yet they will not be able to
comprehend one idea. They read with the eye, whilst the
mind is employed on something else. This capability of
reading with the eye and without the mind, is acquired
by the faulty education we receive in our schools, where
the sentiment is made a secondary object, and the chief
attentlon 15 paid to mechanical pauses, emphasis, and
pronunciation; where scholars are taught to spell words,
but are left ignorant of their meaning; and where most
of the books put into the hands of young readers are so
far above their comprehension that they read them as a
task, attending to nothing but the sound: thus they ac-
quire a habit of reading without any observation of the
which habit is a great bar to the atgainment of

idea,
and very difficult to overcome.

knowledge,

 

1"Article I," The Christian Examiner, pp. 1—2. The
Lrticle was addressed more to adults than to children.

2"Article I, ” The Christian Examiner, p. 17. See
"Selection in Reading,” Southern Literary Messenger,
6.

150,
” The Christian Examiner, p.

171; and ”Article VI,
38.8. ”Essay on Education,” p. 340.

 

105

Comprehension, however, was generally measured by the

ability to parse reading materials. This was defining and

finding synonyms for words from a dictionary and analysis

of the orthography and pronunciation of a word. "S.S.”

justified the practice thusly: ”by these means the scholar
will acquire a habit of understanding what he reads and

practising what he learns, which will be beneficial through

life."1 Educational magazines tended to support parsing

as a measure of understanding.

. . .every word in the grammar. .should be
explained and brought down to the learner's compre~
hension. . All the words, such as quality,

uantit , possession, contingency, futurlty, rule,
5C. the definition of a noun, an adjective, a verb
5h adverb, ac. should be explained; and the meaning
be drilled ihto the mind of the pupil by varying the
explanation. It is necessary to make him as well ac-
quainted with the nature of the different parts of
speech as possible, for parsing entirely depends on
his ability to make this distinction. .consequently
it will be proper to ask him frequently, and in dif-
ferent forms of interrogation, what a noun is. .

what parts 8f speech. . .express. . .names.
action, he.

During this period, ”memorylwas7the faculty chiefly

.OI‘

:alled into exercise” in teaching to read.3 However, as

 

1Idem. Parsing made sense in a curriculum limited to

 

rammar.
2”On Learning English Grammar, No. XXII," The Aca-

emician, I (July 10, 1819), pp. 323—324; "On An English

Instruction, No. XIII,” The Academician, I

ourse o
(Hereinafter referred to as

November 30, 1818), p. 193,
May urged that grammar could be

3n An English Course.”) _ ‘ .
:quired by reading good literature 1nstead of memor121ng

rammar. S.J. May, ”Errors in Common Education,” Address
resented at Brooklyn Lyceum on October 22, 1828, American
Jurnal of Education, IV, No. 3 (March, 1829), pp. 217-219.

3May, "Errors in Common Education,” p. 217.

 

the y

partn
books

new h

Liter

many

there

from

 

 

106

the years of schooling increased, and subject matter de-
gartments in school increased with the multiplication of
)ooks, the memory vs. understanding argument would reach

new heights.1

Literacy StatiStics

 

But what of the children who attended school: how
nany of them actually learned to read? In the United States,
there were various estimates of the literacy level, ranging

from twenty-two percent to fifty percent.2

The Future of Education

 

The patriotic Americans who carefully studied types
of governments and applied the idea of "universal primary
education” to that of Democracy, saw schooling, as well as

overnments, evolving over time.
Education proceeds therefore, by gradual advances,

from simplicity to corruption. Its first object,
among rude nations is safety; its next, utility; it

 

1"Article I,” The Christian Examiner, pp. 2—3.

 

2Twenty—two percent of the adult population in 1840
ould not read according to The Statistical Historyggf the
nited States from ColOnial Times to the Present (Stanford,
onnecticut: Fairfield Publishers, Inc., 1965), p. 206.
he Bureau of the Census thinks the data underestimated.
etween 1836 and 1845, between 30—50 per cent of the
ildren who left sunday, rural, and monitorial schools
nually were, for all practical purposes, illiterate.--
tick, English CommOn Reader, pp. 167—168. See Nye,
ltural Life: pp. 167—168; Greene, Private Vision, p. 51.
eene an Nye average about 50 per cent.

 

 

   
    
 
 

stan
even
prac
ials

be t:

Cans
Servi

 

 

107

afterwards extends to convenience; and among the
opulent part of civilized nations, it is directed
principally to show and amusement.1

METHODS’OE‘READING‘INSTRUCTION

Methods of teaching reading to children were not
standardized. Education from state to state was very un—
even. With the exception of experimental Pestalozzian
practices (described below), it was thought that the mater~
ials on hand largely determined the method of reading to
be taught.

. . .thanks to the system of common schools in New
England, there is ”scarcely an adult in New England
who cannot read and write and keep accounts"; that New
York is beginning to develop such a system in spite of
the difficulty afforded by less homogeneity in the pop—
ulation; while ”perhaps in few states of the Union are
the people so destitute of any information whatever as
in New Jersey," and the situation is quite as bad in
Pennsylvania outside its metropolis. In Delaware and
Maryland there are good private schools and county
academies, but no uniform system, while there are no

common schools in the South. ”Much more has been done
beyond the mountains. . .and in Ohio and Indiana par-
ticularly.” Free schools for the poor in the cities

are not very successful because attendance upon them
is an acknowledgement of poverty. Female education is,
in the main, ”merely ornamental.”

 

1”On Education," American Magazine, pp. 22-23. Ameri-
ans of that time saw edfication as a safe means of pre—
erving the republic and a useful way of producing trained
eaders and informed voters.

ZMott, I: 1741-1850, p. 145. Mott citing ”State of
ucation in Amer1ca,“ hnalectic Magazine, IX (April, 1817),
285-301. Reprinted in North American Review, IX
eptember, 1819), pp. 240—ZEE. Mott calls the article a
arefully considered summaryg”

 

 

 

 

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babj
fir:

8dU1

the
"the
mar)
Weli
Whit
PAM]
Roma
taug

tems

More

/

108

Educational Plan

Parental Responsibility

 

An anonymous writer addressed his "dearest Sophy"
(a Rousseau heroine) with the advice that she provide her
baby with every instruction the child received during its
first five years. Then the father would oversee the future
education of the boy.1

Even an education magazine, as late as 1832, saw both
the type and the extent of schooling as dependent upon
"the course chosen by his parents."2 In addition, the pri—
mary system for teaching reading could be done at home as
well as in a school. One popular textbook had a cover
which advertised itself "for the use of larger children in
FAMILIES and SCHOOLS.”3 So long as that old classical
Roman notion persisted-—that beginning reading could be
taught by anyone, anywhere--the idea of primary school sys-

tems and methods of teaching could be shrugged off.

:Morality: An Impediment to School Development

 

The five magazine articles that dealt with the bad

 

1"On the Education of Children, Letter CXX," The
Universal Magazine, LX (March, 1777), pp. 120-122.

 

2John M. Keagy, "Address on Early Education," Ameri-
can Annals of Education, II (October 1, 1832), pp. 479-480.
Identical sentiments were expressed in J.R. ”Outline," p.
504; Hawk, ”Female Education,” p. 368; anleush] ”Thoughts
upon Female Education," p. 210.

 

, 3Lyman Cobb, Juvenile Reader, No. 3 (Chambersburg, Pa:
F.J. Wright printer, 1831.)

 

habit
betwe
disap
on re
peare.
the nu
tion
facto:
ment 1
gious
issue
mary t
home j
still
eas
nec

wor
chi

 

 

109

habits and vices children acquired in schools appeared
between 1787 and 1791.1 And then the immorality of schools
disappeared as an issue in the history of magazine opinion
on reading instruction. School immorality may have disap-
peared as an issue because of the heavy moral content of
the new textbooks, and because of the churches' participa-
tion in new crusades to teach the poor children of the
factories how to read. The organized Sunday school move-
ment which began in 1780 and the mass publication of reli—
gious tracts, starting in 1795, may have also undercut this
issue.2 In addition, there was the possibility that pri—
mary education was becoming a necessity—-and superior to
home instruction. Despite its superiority, one writer
still sought a method for learning to read at home.
But if a method can be devised, plain, simple, and
easy, which would in a great measure supersede the
necessity of going to school to learn to read, which

would enable moghers themselves to teach their
children.

 

1Hawk, ”Female Education," p. 367; ilsoé]"0n a
Liberal Education," p. 26S;[§oah Webster ”The Contrast-—
Letter III, from Belzebub," American Magazine, I (February,
1788), p. l63——an anti- Rousseau article. See also Richard—
son, Early American Magazines, p. 311 and Rush, "Thoughts
on Female Education, ” p. ID.

 

2See Altick, English Common Reader, pp. 99-128.

3J. G. C. [3. G. Chambers:]”Elements of Orthography: or
an Attempt to form a Complete System of Letters, " Universal
As lum and Columbian Magazine, VII (October, 1791), . 228.
{Hereinafter referred to as "Elements of Orthographyp ”)

 

_T_h_e_

met}
time
chil
pupi
inst

COTT

The
Of s

Vidi

it t

{DI—U
21m
mo

Ther

P. 2

i N61
lnaf-
exprt

110

The School Milieu

The Teachers

One writer complained that teachers were lax in their
methods of discipline; being at the opposite pole of old—
time teachers who followed the ”spare the rod, spoil the
Child" maxim.1 Teachers who were not respected by their
pupils should be instantly dismissed. Respect for an
instructor was seen as taking the place of the rod of

correction.2

The School Plant

There was some magazine interest in the organization
of schools so that more could be done in the way of pro-
viding for individual differences. One magazine described
it thusly in Rousseau—like terms: ‘

As nature has, for wise purposes, given to the
individuals among mankind, different powers, faculties,
and tastes. . .it follows, that. . .no artificial re—
straints ought to be thrown in the way, to check this
natural progress. Hence then we see the impropriety
of prescribing any determined mode of study, to which,
as of old, all the pupils must invariably adhere.

There should be alternative education plans for the child

 

 

l"Article XI,” North American Review p. 489.

 

 

2"Education-~The Practice,” The American Magazine,
. 211. See Greene, Private Vision, p. .

3"Hints for Establishing a Seminary of Education on
New Plan," The Bee, XVI (July 31, 1793), p. 120. (Here-
nafter referred to as "Hints.") Similar sentiments were
Xpressed in Philoctetes, "An Essay on Genius,” Universal
8 lum and Columbian Magazine, III (June, 1789), p. 3

 

IIOt

Inst
woul
educ
enpl
grad
age

01‘ W

lear

adVe]
£1151
of t}
hUmaI

HE
leer}
thus
the I

 

 

—_7————_ * free—1" " ,-1 .

111

not destined to attend the university.
If a child could not be numbered among the 'LITERATI,’
he may eventually serve the Commonwealth by learning
mechanics or agriculture.
Instructors taught too many branches in the schools. It
would be better to have a department for each branch of
education, ”with a teacher who makes that branch his sole
employment."2 Moreover, instruction should be carefully
graded. Too often, boys were started in arithmetic "at the
age of eight or ten years; and before they can either read
or write."3
Schools were widely considered as gloomy places, and

learning to read a horrendous chore.4

 

1Eliot, "On Education,” p. 239.
2Idem.

3”Education——Some Defects in the Mode,” The American
Ma azine I Januar , 1788), pp. 81-82. Because 0 t e
ungraded: iréegularynature of lower education, students
were entering such colleges as Columbia as early as fifteen
years; Benjamin Rush was not yet fifteen when he graduated
from what later was called Princeton. See Thomas Gallagher,
”The Body Snatchers,” American Heritage, XVIII (June, 1967),
pp. 64—73; Binger, Revolutionary Doctor: Benjamin Rush,
pp. 22-23.

 

 

4”The Little Learner: or Rudiments of Reading" was
advertized as a ”help to little children in taking their
first steps in the art of reading the English Language, one
of the least interesting and most difficult labors that the
human being enters upon at any stage of life”——John Pierpont,
The National Reader, inside front cover. This compares with
the classical sentiment of the Colonial Period, where
learning to read was wrongly considered as an easy task;
thus reading failures must be attributed to obstinancy and
the Devil's work.

 

O

P+ C:
_.
C: C: r) U) 7r
-._

55

a metr
atiVe

whO ar

13. 223

 

112

Our learning, our civilization, and almost everything
useful or ornamental in life, are all derived to us
through the medium of letters; which renders the
knowledge of them indispensible to every office and
station in society. Let us then but for a moment
consider what we are obliged to undergo, to learn the
use of them in their present awkward form. . . . Let
us take a compassionate View of several millions, the
youth of our whole nation, from six to twelve years old
. .at school; thirty or forty together shut up in
little wretched hovels, like criminals. . . .Here their
constitutions are injured. . .for the want of free air,
exercise, and suitable diet! Their spirits depressed,
and faculties stupified. .1

Considering the toils and hardships encountered in
the gloomy schools, it was scarcely worth the expense, "a
little short of the whole national revenue.”2
If parents do but send their children regularly to
school, they satisfy their consciences, with the con-
solation, that they have done their duty. Many care
but little what sort of persons they employ, or what

methods they pursue. They are indifferent to both.
Cheapness of education is all the cry.

Teaching of Reading

Reading Readiness

The reading methods described in this section have
a metropolitan, New England tint, and may not be represent-
ative of the United States as a whole. Newspapers published
educational ordinances. ”All children belonging to the town

who are five years old and upwards could be admitted to the

 

1J. G. C. “Elements of Orthography,” (October, 1791),
228. See Nye, Cultural Life, p. 64.

2J.G.C. Idem.

3"The Academician, No. IX," ”The Academician, I
July 16, 1818), p. 115.

Wome:
maga
the :

the s

on ed
new a
that

Condu

ical I
his 1:
learn

read n

SCh001
SChOol

iagazi;
1 1

has

Finger,
efins j
Uni

UCatf

 

———i——I—t ‘ ”— 7 A "4'

113

Iomen's school."1

Methods of teaching were uncertain. But
magazines did stress an oral program that would strengthen
:he speech organs. As soon as the child could articulate

the sounds of words, he was ready to be taught reading.2

Beginning Reading--Orthography

The major emphasis of magazines at this stage was
on educational novelties such as the reform of spelling,
new alphabets, and diacritical alphabets. Magazine articles
that addressed themselves to primary education as it was
conducted were scarce.

The child should know his alphabet in its alphabet-
ical order. As the child must learn the orthography of
his letters before he attempts to write words; so must he
learn the letter and syllabic sounds before starting to

ead words.3

 

lButler, ”New England Newspapers,’ p. 277. Women's
chools are the licensed equivalent of the old Dame' 5
chools, abolished in 1789.

Z”Education——Some Defects in the Mode, " The American
agazine, p. 81; Hawk, ”Female Education” p. 367; Keagy
ress on Early Education, ” p. 78.

3"Dumb Speech, or the art of conversing by the
Lngers only, as well in the dark as in the light,” The
’nnsylvania Magazine. or American Monthly Museum, II

ranuary,1776), pp. 75—76. See Keagy, "Address on Early
ucation, ” p. 78

 

 

 

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chi

the

tea

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114

Spelling should be taught competitively, and prizes
should be awarded. ”This method fixes the attention of
children extremely to the orthography of words, and makes
them good spellers very early."1

An argument was made for starting instruction in
reading with the whole word, or even with sentences. "In
speaking, there seems to be, by nature, no acute division
of words into syllables or even sentences into words; we
speak in continuous phrases."2

Public initiatory schools faced competition for their
pupils because of the efforts of the Sunday School Society
”to teach those to read who were not otherwise taught."3
Dr. Rush reported on the Sunday schools in England, and on
their recent establishment in Philadelphia. The Bible was

the sole text and the pupils were the children of poor

 

1Benjamin Franklin, ”Idea of an English School, for
the Consideration of the Trustees of the Philadelphia
cademy," The American Museum, V (May, 1789), p. 473.
(Hereinafter referred to as "Idea of an English School.")

2"Article x1," North American Review, pp. 499-500.
he instructor would teaCh a sentence, then proceed to
he analysis of the content of the sentence. See Keagy,
'Address on Early Education,” p. 480. Keagy favored the
hole word method saying that the child should read as if
he words were Chinese symbols.

 

 

3Kiefer, American Children Through Their Books, p. 61.
ee Butler, "New England Newspapers,” p. 245 and Stephen
uggan, A Student's Textbook in the History of Education
New York: Appleton—Century—Crhfts, Inc., 1948), p. 290.
Hereinafter referred to as History of Education.)

 

PeOP
Spel

chan
Webs
to b-
over
comb:
the I

It

pp. 22

 

115

people.1

Spelling Reform
Scholars believed that the alphabet would have to be
changed before spelling was reformed. J.G. Chambers, like
Webster, felt that a new alphabet would prove too radical
to be accepted.2 Instead, they moved for diacritical marks
over the old letters, or strokes joining certain letter
combinations such as th, ng, etc. But the magazines lacked
the printers' type to provide good examples.3
Thus the grave accent (‘ ) marks the absolute vowels
.to distinguish them from their correlatives,
which occur much more frequently, and therefore are
preferred without marks. The (/\) marks absolute
vowels used in a manner peculiar to the English language;
and (x’) is annexed to conjunctive vowels. . . . The
(U) distinguished semi- vgwels derived from the approx-
imate vowels by affinity.

Diacritical marks were considered important for proper oral

reading and public speaking. John Hall used the mark (‘)

 

lBenjamin Rush, ”Defence of the Use of the Bible as
a School Book," Massachusetts Magazine, III (June, 1791),
pp. 342-343. (Hereinafter referred to as ”Defence.”)

 

2J. G. C. ”Elements of Orthography," (August, 1791),
pp. 114-115; Noah Webster, "Essay on Reforming the Present
Mode of Spelling, " Massachusetts Magazine (December, 1789),
p. 744. (Hereinafter referred to as ”Essay on Reforming
Spelling. ”)

3Webster, Idem.

4J.G.C. ”Elements of Orthography,” (October, 1791),
pp. 226-227.

 

 

 

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ie
of
P0
no
at:
£11
con

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men
Refit
I111
Viet
(H61
Lam}

Prat
Rent
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P: 6
Di t
HEer
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116

to indicate rising inflection as in friendly greeting, peti-
tion, and invitation.1
Spelling reform would be a minor temporary inconven-

ience for good spellers. But it would permit poor spellers
of all social ranks to write acceptable correspondence.
Poor spellers were defined as those who spelled by the way
words sounded, not by visual recall. The principle alter-
ations Webster proposed were the omission of all super—
fluous or silent letters, thus 23229, head, giye would-be-
come 233d, hed, giy? The reformers were aiming at pro—
ducing visual signs that would immediately be translated
by the pupil into definite audible sounds.

A system the most. . .distinct, and intelligible,

would require that each power should have but one

representative character, and each character invari~
ably represent the same power. For if the same power

 

1"The Reader's Guide; containing a Notice of the Ele-
mentary Sounds in the English Language, Instructions for
Reading, both Prose and Verse, with numerous Examples for
Illustration, and Lessons for Practice,” by John Hall. Re—
viewed in Christian Review, II (March, 1837), pp. 149—150.
(Hereinafter referred to as "The Reader's Guide.”) See
Lamport, Beginning Reading, pp. 289-292.

 

2Noah Webster, “On the Necessity, Advantages and
Practicability of Reforming the Mode of Spelling, and of
Rendering the Orthography of Words Correspondent to the
Pronunciation,” Massachusetts Magazine (October, 1789),
P: 607. (Hereinafter referred to as ”On the Necessity.”)
Dlpthongs in words like near, rieve, etc. would become
neer, reev, etc. The Greek SE in chorus, character, etc.
would e written korus, karacter. The ch in French words
llke machine, chaise would be written mhgheen, shaze;
While pique and—tour became peek, toor. —_' __

 

D"
c-r

(D BH-Hb‘r—h

m _

the I

in 1e
of 5y
here

Webst.
exampj

with t

 

117

have several representatives, it occasions perplexity
to the writer. And if the same character have dif-
ferent powers, it embarrasses the reader, who must
have recourse to reflection and rules to distinguish
them. . . . It is certainly absurd to make that an ob-
ject of reflection, which may, to equal purpose, be
made an object of sense, since our senses operate with
so much greater facility and certainty than our under-
standing. . . .1

Spelling reform would assist foreigners in acquiring

the language.2

. . . suppose a person were taught only the alphabet
of a strange language, and the manner of joining and
sounding the vowels and consonants, as in the first
tables of spelling; if he could then proceed, without
any further assistance, by his own practice with suit—
able books, to read and pronounce it prOperly, the
orthography must be tolerably complete.3

Syllables had to carry the load in assisting children
in learning to read. This was seen in the lengthy columns
of syllables (e.g., dab, fab, vab, etc.) which children
were exercised on in the speller. Syllable reform by
Webster distinguished British speech from American. For
example, the British might say "nation” as ”nay—ti—on";

With Webster, it would become: ”nay-shun."4'Hillard's

___.________________
1J.G.C. ”Elements of Orthography,” (July, 1791),
37.

2Webster, ”On the Necessity," p. 607.

3J.G.C., "Elements of Orthography,” (July, 1791),
P- 33-34. The English orthography by this ”immigrant” .
tandard was graded ”exceedingly defective." N.B. Learnlng
1ngUage had little to do with comprehen51on.

4”History of Elementary School Books,” New En land
lgazine, II (1832), pp. 474~475. Each vowel markeg a new
'lla 1e under the old system. Using popular usage as hls
landard, Webster elected to combine term1nal syllables
.to a single suffix.

text
trad
time

pres

fact

SOUIIC

theme

H

init

langu
Separ
the 0'
Prehet
that 3

Pupil.

 

 

118

textbook tried to teach units of letters rather than the
traditional alphabet as such. The author argued that over
time the single Roman letter had lost its ability to ex-
press a single sound, and two or more letters (a syllable)
came to be used to indicate a single sound, despite the
fact that the letters have themselves totally different
sounds.1

One reason for spelling reform was the recurring
theme of reducing the time, hardship, and expense of
"initiatory studies.”2 Dr. Johnson had said:

He who should smooth and shorten the paths of

elementary requirements, would be conferrigg

a lasting benefit on hls fellow creatures.

Spelling reformers were aware that the written Roman
language and the spoken Saxon language were distinctly
separate beings. The two languages had no connection with
the other. The reformers were not indifferent to the com-
prehension aspect of reading. They had simply observed
that good understanding did not mean good spelling in a

Pupil. Moreover understanding was not as observably teach—

ible as good orthography-4

____________________
l”Article XI,” North American Review, p. 499.

2"Remarks on 'The Principle Roots of the Latin '
language, simplified by a Display of the1r Incorporatlon
rith the English Tongue: forming part of Mr. Hall 5 XCVI
ntellect System of Education,'" Gentlemen 5 Magazine,
June, 1826), pp. 514—515. (Hereinafter referred to as

Remarks.”)
3Idem.

4”Article XI,” North American Review, p. 499.

The

Pes
and
Bri
phi
Uto]
lClt
schc

Thus

93

HF-Jfimcm

119

The Neef School

Joseph Neef, a retired French officer, opened a
Pestalozzi school in a suburb of Philadelphia in 1809,
and it proved a success. Neef was later hired by the
British industrialist, Robert Owen, of infant school—
philanthropy fame, to run a Pestalozzi school in the
Utopian community of New Harmony, Indiana.1 A single art-
icle provides not only a glimpse at a new type of early
schooling, but comparisons with the more usual type schools.
Thus, the article was quoted in some length.

By the old system, children have a primer or horn
book put into their hands, and they begin to learn the
arbitrary and unmeaning names of certain signs called
an alphabet.

By Neef's system they begin to learn the names of
all their limbs, members, and different relations and
uses of all parts of the human body. Nearly two years
elapse before they hear of an alphabet or a book, nor
pen and ink, until they are able to read and write.
This is an apparent paradox, but it is nevertheless
true. _

The second stage of the old system is to spell
single syllables. .

The second stage of Neef's is to put a slate and .
pencil before the boy and to bring his hand to the habit
of drawing a straight line without the aid of a rule,
and to draw the line to any given number of inches as
called for, by the eye only, and without any rule to
measure by, excepting after it is done, to exhibit its
accurac .

The {hird stage in the old is by words of three

11. _
Syl%::l::{r§osip:e in the new, is to divide the straight
line into any required number of parts by the eyg the
instantly, and with an exactness that shall stan

tests of the compass and rule.

___________________
I Edu—
lSee Frederick Eby The Development of Modern
ation, 2nd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice—Hall,
1C-, 1952), pp. 467-468.

 

 

 

120

The fourth stage of the old school is words of four
syllables.

The fourth stage of the new school is to discrimin-
ate between the properties of lines-~horizontal, verti-
cal and oblique--and so he proceeds to figures of visi-
ble objects.

Strange as it may appear, these very lessons lead to
the art of alphabetical writing, and the alphabet after
this course is not a matter of mere rote, but a matter

essential object of learning.

The lessons are conducted like sports, and they are
rarely more than an hour at any time in the school
room: nor do the lessons proceed in an arbitrary rota-
tion.
--There is a certain order, but it is in the teacher's
mind, and is always calculated like the lines to writing.
. .The lessons may vary to fifteen different subjects
in the course of the day; but all are so contrived as
to depend upon, or to aid each other—~and like the Peri-
pateties, their morning rambles over hills and vallies.
are nothing more than exercises in Gymnastics, or in nat-
ural history; minerals, earths, plants, and trees are
investigated; the measurement of a triangle by the eye on
a slate, is now applied to the measurement of a Similar
figure in the open field, and the chain of perches per-
form the operations which are assigned to the compass

in the school room. . . .Algebra. . .Geometry and
Grammar. . .in three languages, the English, French, and
German. . . . Greek and Latin. . .two years. . . The

Course for general edupation is from six years old to
twelve, for six years.

ntermediate Reading-—Etymology
____________1

All boys, six years old or older, who could ”read
nd Spell words of three syllables" were admitted into the

nglish (Grammer) School. If the university was a goal,

.__________________
1" ‘ ' 1 ” N'le's Weekly Register,
Education--Neef s Schoo , 1
. 69. Detailed daily routine in reading may be found in
heading, Art. IX," American Annals of Education, II
'anuary, 1832), pp. 59—61.

b0)
joi

Som

essa
work
and.
COTrt
init;

JUSt

 

 

121

boys, seven and older, who can "read, spell, and write
joining hand” could be admitted to the (Latin) Grammer School.1

Some aspects of the intermediate methodology appeared in verse.

Once in this dome I went to school,
Where Pedro Passive held his reign,
The tyrant of a small domain.

By him a num‘rous herd controul'd,
The pert, the stupid, and the bold,
Essay'd some little share to gain
Of the vast treasures of his brain—-
Some learn'd the Latin; some the Greek,
And some in flowery style to speak:
Some wrote their themes, while others read,
And some with Euclid stuff'd the head.
Some toil'd in verse and some in prose,
And some in logic sought repose.

But all is ruin'd; all is done;
The tutor to the shades is gone. . . .2

Benjamin Franklin would have the pupils read an

‘essay in the famous British periodical, Spectator, as home-

   
     
 
  
   
  
   
 
   
 

ork. Then, on the next day, its contents would be parsed
nd dissected. Next, the teacher would demonstrate the
orrect oral reading of the piece. Last, the pupils would
mitate his delivery.3

Children may have learned the English parts of speech
ust as their Colonial fathers learned the Latin (hic, haec,
oc, etc.) parts of speech. That is, they would have

layed out the grammatical parts as in a theatrical drama.

1Butler, ”New England Newspapers," pp. 286-287.

2Freneau, Philip, "The Desolate Academy,” The Ameri-
n Museum, I (June, 1787), pp. 567—568. (Freneau was
own as the poet of the American Revolution. As editor
a paper sponsored by Thomas Jefferson, he was credited
th saving the Constitution with his writings. See
hnson, The Oxford Companion, p. 315. N.B. diacritical
rk (') substitute for silent e.)

 

3Franklin, "Idea of an English School,” pp. 473-474.

One

T1135

Adv

men
tor
Chi
was
aft
had
not

Bu}

 

122

One article depicted in mock-heroic terms the general
massacre that the British forced upon the parts of speech.

. . .the languages, and every part of s eech in the
grammar begged for quarter. The‘nOUns suffered
general declension; and though with unified force,
they stood to the aCCusative for some time, were all
thrown into the VOCative at last. The ’rOnouns, as
they frequently stood in the place of the nouns,
shared a similar fate. The verbs were reduced to the
o tative mood, perpetually Wishing to be in any tense,
rather than the resent, whether past or future: in
vain they tried the 1m erative mood, but[tha§Z

would not do. The su ines lay helpless on the floor,
ready to give up the ghost; and every artici le
participated with the verb in at their sufferings,

the whole being passive. Adverbs and conjunctions
tried, in vain, to rally and jOin their orces against

the common foe. The re ositions could no longer
stand their ground be¥ore the nouns, to govern them, tho'
armed with the pro and con of each subject. During this

havoc, the interjections were uttering the most melan-
choly plaints, as -—alas! ah! woe is me!

Advanced Reading——Prosody

    
   
     
    
    
   

The educational aim at this stage was the attain-
ment of good public speaking and writing style. Introduc-
tory prosody was the terminal phase of reading for the
child leaving grammar school to seek his fortune. Prosody
was to be mastered by the child destined for public service

2

after the university. Textbook writers and schoolmasters

had speaking in mind even when dealing with primary school
materials. The impassioned speeches of Patrick Henry,
Burke, and Washington were read to fit definite rhetorical

rules of gesturing.

“—

1"A Dialogue," niversal Asylum, p. 37.

_ ZFranklin, "Idea of an English School, p. 473. See
mlth, American Readipg Instruction, p. 73; William Russell,
'Reading and Declamation," American Institute of Instruction
(1837), pp. 241—261.

 

<00 nb‘c—fU‘r—rc "hm ."1"."T‘

name-imam“:

and

.u—l
at,

HmHH’QfiHfl’U

 

123

The young gentleman, who attempts to declaim, when
he begins his speech, should rest the whole weight of
his body on the right leg; the other just touching the
ground, at the diStance at which it would naturally
fall, if lifted up to shew that the body does not bear
upon it. The knees should be straight and braced, and
the body, though perfectly straight, not perpendicular,
but inclining as far to the right as a firm position on
the right leg will permit. The right arm must then be
held out, with the palm open, the fingers straight and
close, the thumb almost as distant from them as it will
go; and the flat of the hand neither horizontal nor
vertical, but between both. The position of the arm
will perhaps be best described by supposing an oblong
hollow square formed by the measure of four arms, where
the arm in its true position forms the diagonal of such
an imaginary figure. So that if lines were drawn at
right angles from the shoulders extending downwards,
forwards and sideways, the arm will form an angle of
almost 45 degrees every way.

When the pupil has pronounced one sentence in the
position thus described, the hand, as if lifeless, must
drop down to the side, the very moment the last accented
word is pronounced; and the body, without altering the
place of the feet, poize itself on the left leg, while
the left hand raises itself into exactly the same posit
tion, as the right was before, and continues in this
position till the end of the next sentence, when it
drops down on the side as if dead: and the body, poizing
itself on the right leg as before, continues with the
right arm extended,till the end of the succeeding
sentence, and so on from right to left, and from left to
right alternately, till the speech is ended.

Standards of Good Reading Ability

Utilitarian Standard

  
  
   
  
   
   
 

The utilitarian believed that the child should read
the works of others in order to amass knowledge that would
eVentually make him a more proficient adult worker.
'Reading acquaints us with the productions of others.”2
1”On Attitude in Publick Speaking,” Massachusetts
a azine, 111 (June, l791),p . 336. N. B. Statues of
as ington and other heroes are seen in these postures only
hen carved wearing the Roman toga.

2Philoctetes, ”An Essay on Genius,” (March, 1789),
177.

 

Rea:
worl
duc:
acq1
tio:
own
thej
vent
thir
be I
his
ever

abil

Oral

ine
ago
with

the .

 

124

Reading was useful in allowing the pupil to imitate the
works of others. Taste and genius (the capacity of pro-
ducing that which is excellent) had little to do with the
acquiring of reading skills. The object of reading instruc-
tion was to produce adults who could ”speak and write their
own language with purity and elegance."1 By reading about
their fields, "laborers would not be mere workers, but in—
venters, experimenters,~—they would be improvers of every—
thing."2 There was a strong class bias about what should
be read. If the child was destined for the business world,
his reading should be confined to useful materials. How-
ever, if he was destined for the public service, where his
abilities were likely to be conspicuous:
.it would then be improper to limit his study to

what was merely useful; but that, he might be able

to compete with every antagonist that may be brought

into the field, his time should be employed on what-

ever is worthy of nogice in the whole range of sci-
ence and literature.

Oral Standard
Benjamin Franklin maintained that improper schooling
in elocution meant, ”among fifty readers, we scarcely had
a good one." And because of that neglect, "pieces published
ith a view to influence the minds of men for their own or

the public benefit, lose half their force.”4

lHawk, “Female Education,” p. 368.

2"Article I —-On Reading," Christian Examiner, p. 12.

  
 

3J. R., ”Outline, p. 504. In short, the traditional
iberal arts curriculum.

4Franklin, “Idea of an English School,” p. 474.

Re
reading.
be postp
but a pr

In ba
their
the l
of th
house
capti

Re
educatio
shorten

to why 3

Th
the d

125

Read1ng as a shared social communication was oral
reading. Comprehension as a co—equal goal in reading could

be postponed because the social (even mindless) reading was

but a preliminary to group study and assessment

In banks, stores, and factories, employees would pool
their wages and have one of their co-workers read aloud
the latest periodical to them. One writer complained

of this ”vapid” habit where in barber‘s shops and coffee-
houses some fellow would get up and spell out to his
captive audience some interesting discovery

Repeated reference to the need for a cheap, brief
=ducat10n and the call for some science to find a way to

shorten the time spent in the ”barren path" provided clues

 

to why schools turned out ”mechanical magpies ”

The rule. . .generally followed in schools, is, that
the duty incumbent on the master consists in giving the

1”Detached Thoughts," London Ma azine,

p. 34. Pro-
essional educators had mixed 5

op1n10n a out the weight
"Reading thus consists.

nterruptions, a rising inflection on the first syllable,
nd a falling one on the last. "--"Reading Art.

erican Annals of Education, pp. 58 59. The unknown
uthor called such reading ”the chatter of a magpie "

n the other hand, the educator, William Russell complained
hat poor oral reading was the fault of disinterested
eachers and habitually shy pupils. Russell disagreed that
the chief end of public communication is to convey facts

0 the understanding, or principles to the reason; while

he power of feeling and imagination to embody and im—

ress these very facts and principles, is overlooked."--
ussell, ”Reading and Declamation,” p 258. But Drake

in Pioneer Education, p.

18), a compatriot of McGuffey,
aid that his oral reading was "a good substitute

.for
ound knowledge and accurate thinking." See "On the
rOper Method of Teaching the English Language ” Academ1-
ian, I (May 8, 1819) for similar sentiments. (Herein—

ter referred to as ”On the Proper Method ")

X,"

 
   
  

DUI
in
wi1

par
Magazi

distir
when t
Latin
French
Latin.
educat
teachi

litera

126

pupil, as speedily as possible, mechanical dexterity
in reading, without. . .distracting his attention
with the sense of what he reads. . . the more pressing

.demand upon him £15] to return the child to his
parents a fluent reader, in a given time.1

Magazine Criticism of Classical Method

 

Dr. Hugh Williamson, a graduate of Edinburgh, and
distinguished scientist, looked forward to "the time.
when books shall be wholly written in one language.”2
Latin was no longer the universal means of communication.
French was declared to be a more universal language than
Latin.3 Although Latin was being discredited at the higher
education level, the Roman oral-grammatical method of
teaching reading still persisted as the framework of a

literary curriculum.

nderstanding vs. Memory Methods in Reading

 

The critics of rote memory pointed to the need to
each for critical thinking in reading. But, in the final
nalysis, as products of their times, they realized the

mportance of memory and acknowledged that acceptable

 

 
  
   
   
 
 

1Mathews, Teaching to Read Historically Considered,
p. 54—55 citing Professor Pillans' account of the method
f teaching to read used in the Sessional School in Edin—
urgh in American Annals of Education I (February, 1831),
9ff. The task of the beginning reader was to pronounce
s accurately and as fluently as he could; understanding
ould come later, the Sessional School staff believed.

2Hugh Williamson, "0n the Study of Dead Languages,"
ssachusetts Magazine, I (December, 1789), p. 747. See

so "On Education," merican Magazine, p. 23.

3”Speech on the Learned Languages," American Museum,
1 (June, 1788), pp. 540—541.

 

 

 

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several
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with a 1
and penc
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guides to teach understanding were lacking. There were
everal strong supports for oral memorization of school

ork during this period. First, it provided the teacher
ith a form of student evaluation before textbooks, slates,
nd pencils became freely available in the school economy.
econd, it was held that memorization would eventually
roduce habits of thinking. Once these habits had been
stablished, certain socially approved ethical, moral, and
earning values would be the result. Third, the educational
phasis in the transitional period, 1776-1840, stressed
astery of correct style and form in speaking and writing.
riginality or creativity was not expected of the child
1d the successful imitation of accepted models was another
:andard of student assessment. It should be recalled
rat Franklin imitated the British Addison essay-form and
corporated it into his writings; and that in many ways
ading Jefferson or Rush was like reading mirror images
English essayists Locke, Addison, and Steele. Imita—
an and memorization did not deny original genius. Rather,
implied that mastery of the technique of an art or sci—
:e must precede evidence of talent or genius in a pro—
:sion. Such a sequence permitted the aristocrats to
ognize, appreciate, and patronize talent, because they
acquired good taste by studying the same improved models.
ried to the extreme, memorization—imitation could mean
tal stagnation for the true genius. When applied to

nary education, memorization—imitation could extinguish

 

a child
speakin

revolut

atta
by c
ular
it n.
mean
care:
ment
the '
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p. 348,
p. 226.

 

128

child's natural curiosity and desire to learn. Although
peaking of genius, the following writer revealed post-
evolutionary optimism in the perfectibility of mankind.

.a great proportion of mankind, are capable of
attaining distinction by example, and of writing well
by careful imitation. A slavish imitation of a partic—
ular author is, indeed, never allowable; or at least
it never commands applause. By imitation. . . .We
mean that general assistance, which is collected from
careful reading and study;--the correction and improve-
ment of our taste, by forming it on just models, and
the talent of arranging, and expressing our thoughts,
with accuracy and elegance; by carefully observing
the manner in which this is done, by approved authors.1

Benjamin Rush declared that "memory was the first
bculty which opens in the minds of children."2 He argued
rat the Bible must be introduced early so that religious
'inciples might easily be impressed on the child's mind.
.is notion was also found in Noah Webster's magazine.

A knowledge of letters requires the exercise of a
mental power, memory; but this is coeval almost with
the first operations of the human mind; and with re-
spect to objects of sense, is almost perfect even in
childhood. Children may therefore be taught reading
as soon as their organs of speech have acquired
strength sufficient to articulate the sounds of words.

The oral goals for reading meant that reading English
; taught just like one would acquire a foreign language.
n for schoolmasters or adults studying Latin: ”memory

ne is required; genius and understanding being equally

lPhilotetes, ”An Essay on Genius," (June, 1789),
348. See alsoléflilsong7 ”On a Liberal Education, ”
226.

2Rush, "Defence,” p. 337.

3"Education—-Some Defects," The American Magazine,

 

 

 

 

 

 

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129

,necessary to forming a teacher of languages.”1

Even Thomas Jefferson was governed in his view of
:hooling by his belief that the most effective learning
r to the age of fifteen was "memoriter learning, and that
Lstery of the basic processes of language and mathematics
: essentially a matter of practice and habituation."2 It
LS believed that memorization made a lasting impression
r the mind. Certain mental faculties could be improved
irough habits started by memory. A common attitude
>wards this practice was seen in the following magazine
rticle:

It would be very useful for the farming part of the
community, to furnish country schools with some easy
system of practical husbandry. By repeatedly reading
some book of this kind, the mind would be stored with
ideas, which might not indeed be understood in youth,
but which would be called into practice in some subse-
quent period of life.

But memorization as a method was carried too far.
had little place in education beyond the primary ac—
isition of language tools. Imitating Patrick Henry or

e Addison essay would not do in all situations. Diffi-

ties then arose, ”not from the want of words, but from

 

1Williamson, "On the Study of Dead Languages,” p.
. See Greene, Private Vision, p. 53 concerning poor
cher training and poor classroom conditions that left
tle flexibility in methodology, except to hear memor-
d recitations.

2Lee (ed.), Thomas Jefferson, pp. 21—22.

3"Education—~Mode of it Examined,” American Magazine,
February, 1788), p. 160.

 

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130

the want of thoughts."1

Benjamin Rush objected to the intermediate_grade
practice of teaching English syntax by means of rules
committed to memory. Instead, he urged learning proper
syntax by conducting exercises in familiar conversations.2
The lessons for children must contain such truths as
children can understand and digest.3 The mind should not
be crowded with meaningless words not connected with ob—
jects of thought. Therefore, one reviewer called for ”less

reading and more study."4

The solution to the understanding vs. memory argument

 

1Philoctetes, ”An Essay on Genius," (June, 1789),
p. 347.

 
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   

2Rush, ”Thoughts upon Female Education,” p. 211.
Some modern foreign language courses are taught in this
manner.

3”Article XI," North American Review, p. 493.

 

4”Article I——On Reading,” Christian Examiner, p. 17.
Three educational articles give us the opinions of the
professionals. ”Reading requires less thinking than any
other branch, except writing.“ Apparently children learned
reading the first 90 minutes Of the morning and the first
90 minutes after lunch. Author recommended grammar and
arithmetic be taught at these times to invigorated pupils.
-~"Reading," American Annals of Education, p. .
Children's natural curiosity must be awakened. Their
questions encouraged. This was an antidote to deadly
memorization.--May ”Errors in Common Education," p. 216.
Habits of thinking were not developed in school. Children
leave with "mechanical or parrot learning, which has but
little effect in making them useful members of society."
-—Keagy, ”Address on Early Education," p. 475.

 

 

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Clu<
dict
of 1
word
word

to t

to p1
and c
abili
Memor
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Siren.

 

131

rested in the materials of reading. These materials in—
cluded the grammar-oriented text, teacher tests, and the
dictionary. Children memorized the rules and vocabulary
of language. Then, to prove they were not ”parroting” the
words, they attached the correct rule to the particular
word the teacher questioned. Thus, "parsing" and recourse
to the dictionary were considered proof of understanding.1
At least one educational journal upheld this approach.
But if no person can read well what he does not under-
stand, is it not obviously the duty of the instructor
to ascertain whether the pupil does understand the
lesSon? And how can this be accomplished, without

requiring him to define, paraphrase, analyze, parse,
ac. the words and sentences of which it is composed?.

Defenders of memory could point to society's desire
to produce students who could speak and write elegantly
and correctly. One reviewer noted that good spelling

bility had little to do with excellence of understanding.
emorizing the orthography of words came before comprehen-
ive reading.3 On the other hand, ”how frequently is great
trength of memory observed to be separated from sound

udgment."4

 

lFranklin, "Idea of an English School," p. 473. See
ith, American Reading Instruction, p. 73.

2”Reading,” American Annals of Education, p. 61.
he pupils spell and define the words; tell their synonyms
d Opposites; write and paraphrase the sentence or para—
aph; analyze it, and reduce it to its simple sentences;
alyze the words; parse the whole sentence or paragraph;
d recite the history, geography, biography, ac. to which
ere may be a reference in the sentence."

3"Article XI," North American Review, pp. 498-499.

 

4Philoctetes, ”An Essay on Genius,” (May, 1789), p. 295.

 

 

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As usual, teachers and school boards adapted to both
sides. Dr. Keagy criticized the innovative Pestalozzi.
method as practised in America. Keagy discovered that
teachers were making the children memorize facts about
objects (read about in books), instead of sensing these
facts about objects, by fieldtrips and science study. He
concluded that the American—Pestalozzi technique would
require considerable changes before the object-lesson
schools became what they ought to be: "schools for
teaching to think.”1

Although much lip service was given to “comprehension,"
memorization remained the method most often used to teach
reading. The wise Dr. Samuel Johnson was quoted in this

respect by one book reviewer. It may have shown the rela-

    
  
   
   
  
   
 
 
   
   

tive unimportance of ”understanding” when teaching the
”tools” of language at the primary level.

'Endeavoring to make children prematurely wise,’ says
Johnson, 'is useless labor. Suppose they have more
knowledge, at five or six years old, then other children;
what use can be made of it? It will be lost before it

is wanted, and the waste of much time and labor of the
teacher can never be repaid. Too much is expected from
precocity, and too little performed.‘

 

 

 

1Keagy, ”Address on Early Education,” p. 478. See
"Education--Neef's School,” p. 69. Scientific field
trips to study “objects” became unscientific show-n-tell;
Object display cabinets became two—dimensional bulletin
oards~~often made by the teacher! Object study was re-
laced by object books and ABC picture books. See Greene,
rivate Vision, pp. 43—44 for unique Pestalozzi interpre-
ations.

2"Article XI," North AmeriCan Review, p. 489; citing
oswell Life of Johnson Vol. 11. See Lamport Be innin
eadin , -—t e standard procedure for teaching 5eg1n—
ers would remain for many years the learning of the ABCs,
he syllabarium, syllabic spelling, and then oral reading.

    
 

 

 

 

 

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133

Materials for Teaching Reading

Revolution in Print
Freedom from England meant for printers freedom from
the stamp act, from censorship, from licenses that re-
stricted the quantity of materials that could be printed.
Moreover, because of improvements in the printing process,
the cost of book production dropped sharply. The Columbian
Iron Press, cylinder and steam presses, printing from plates,

better binding machines, and cheap cloth bindings all meant

that more and more cheaper books were available to the Amer-

ican public.1

Proliferation of School Books

A Baptist quarterly approved the multiplication of

extbooks.

It is a cheering fact, that so many of the cultivated
in our country are employed in preparing elementary
books of instruction. It shows, that such minds are
aware of the immense importance of popular education,
and are desirous to make it more thorough and exten-
sive. The multiplication of such books, too, shows
that there is a demand for them.

Yet, another voice argued for a depth to reading and
arned against ”engaging young minds in the perusal of too

any books.”3

 

 

1See Nye, cultural Life, 1776—1830, p. 250. "It
5 a period of great expansion in the number of period-

als"--Mott, I, 1741-1850, p. 340.
2"The Reader's Guide," Christian Review, p. 149.

3Knox, ”On the Literary Education of Women,” pp.

 

 

 

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134

Despite the revolution in textbooks, teachers in
the poorer and/or more conservative districts had to con-
tend with outdated primers, and even a variety of books
brought to the classroom by his pupils. Not uncommonly,

the text was the Bible.1

Novels, Magazines and Newspapers

 

Select British periodicals such as the Spectator were
required school reading. Children apparently read many
novels and serialized romances, although this practice was
condemned by several moralistic writers. Many schoolbooks
were published in eclectic fashion so as to win the ap-
proval of the widest audience possible. They included in
their content short stories (novellas), newspaper-type
reports of the exotic and bizarre religious psalms, moral
fables, patriotic readings, geography, the alphabet, syl-
labic—spelling, and passages from famous speeches such as

those of Patrick Henry, for elocution purposes.2 The

 

1Altick, English Common Reader, pp. 163—164; Nietz,
School Textbooks, p. l. ”The reading books . . . cost the
parents from fifty cents to one dollar each. . . if a
different book is recommended, those parents who have re-
cently purchased the book in use, immediately complain of

 

the expense."—-”Reading, Art. IX," American Annals of
Education, pp. 57—58.
2

Cobb, Juvenile Reader, No. 3——”The Deaf, dumb, and
blind Girl” (p. 67); "Intemperance" (p. 182); ”Paraphrase
of the 19th Psalm" (p. 210); ”Liberty of the Press" (p.
203). See Horace Mann's complaint about these ”scrapbooks”

~~Reeder, Teaching Reading, pp. 56-57{

 

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135

The eclecticism of these new books made it easier for
budget-minded school districts to replace Bibles, primers,
Grammars, and a miscellany of texts with a single speller,

or a two—to-three book series of graded texts.
Content of Reading Materials

Decline of Religious Content

Dr. Benjamin Rush debated Noah Webster as to the
appropriateness of the Bible as a school book. More dam-
aging than the argument to the use of Scriptures in school
was a Massachussetts law which provided,

that no committee of a public school shall ever direct
any school-books to be purchased, or used in any of
the schools under their superintendence, which are
calculpted to favour any particular religious sect or
tenet.

Massachusetts led the nation in the extensiveness of
its school system. It was a major purchaser of school
textbooks. Printers were thus encouraged to please that
Commonwealth as well as the Benjamin Rush faction by in—

cluding non-contraversial Bible extracts in all their

volumes.2

The Promotion of American-English
Noah Webster had provided the republic with a new
dictionary (1806), based on popular usage of words and rot

On their etymological derivation. It quickly became a

 

lPierpont, The National Reader, p. iv. (Preface
dated 1827.)

2"The Reader's Guide,“ Christian Review, p. 149.

 

 

 

51

SC

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be

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to

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Re
RE
TH
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130

 

 

136

supplemental text in the better intermediate (or grammar)
schools. Its pronunciation key and styleof dividing words
by syllables were included in the spellers written by
Webster and some of his competitors. A variety of spellers
based on the single standard of a dictionary was looked
upon as a patriotic way of unifying the 13 states through

a uniform way of writing and speaking.

Nationalism
Noah Webster and others urged Americans to give up
their dependence on British periodicals and textbooks. The
following book review pointed up this nationalistic spirit.
The only thought which struck us, in looking over them,
was, that it might have been well to introduce a larger
number of selections from American authors, treating of
American history, biography, scenery, 6c. It is im—
portant to make our school books the vehicles of informa-
tion respecting our own country, and thus to nourish,
early, an enlightened patriotism.
The subtitle of the popular children's textbook, National
Reader (cited above) was: ”A SELECTION OF EXERCISES IN
READING AND SPEAKING, DESIGNED TO FILL THE SAME PLACE IN
THE SCHOOLS OF THE UNITED STATES, THAT IS HELD IN THOSE OF
GREAT BRITAIN. . . ."2

An anonymous writer criticized schools for using

books consisting ”of essays that respect foreign and

 

 

1Idem.

2The author does not disparage British Texts. He
argued simply that English books were not made for Ameri—
cans. They would not serve our institutions. Preface,
111-iv.

31

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137

ancient nations.” His argument was more common—sensical

than nationalistic: "they are not interesting to children.”1

Utilitarian Articles

”Usefulness" had been the cry of the English Ben—
thamites and of Ben Franklin. The response by book pub—
lishers, which was only partially satisfactory, was to
include stories with obvious morals, recipes for making,

e.g., red dye, and useful definitions of common objects

such as potatoes and hats.

Oratorical Selections

Reading was always defined, in whole or part, in

oral terms.

Description of Materials

@ginning Materials—Orthography

Colonial materials such as ABC books,2 hornbooks’3
Yllabariums,4 primers,5 and psalters6 tended to be sup-
lanted by the newer American spellers and by the reading

30k series.

___________~_______
1”Education——The Practice," The American Magazine,

3. 215—216.

2Reeder, Teaching Reading, p. 13.

3Ibid., p. 25.

4Smith, American Reading Instruction, pp. 85-86.
5Ibid., pp. 63—64; Reeder, Teaching Reading, pp. 17—18.

6Reeder, Teaching Reading, pp. 17—19.

138

Magazine discussion of these basal materials was
generally retrospective and often nostalgic. Some anti—
quarian delivered a lecture on the history and progress
of free schools in New England before a lyceum in 1830. It
was noteworthy that he had to explain what a hornbook was.

The advantages of the present age for facilitating the
acquisition of knowledge are far greater than any
which have preceded it. It was not till a few years
before the American revolution that even a spelling-
book was used. The Horn Book was the first book in
our schools. It was made by setting a copy of the
alphabet in a frame, and covering it with a thin plate
of horn to preserve the paper from being thumbed to
pieces by the children who were made to study it.1

Hornbooks and primers were described as belonging to

the "old system” of education.2 The primer was thus des—

cribed by that anonymous antiquarian to his lyceum audience,

Magazines noted the appearance of only two new primers.
There was a single reference to an ”Alden Primer," which
focused on the facts that it was ”little known" and had
"long suffered unmerited neglect."4 The other reference
was to the ”Pestalozzian Primer, or first steps in teaching

the children the art of reading and thinking,” by John M.

 

 

1"History of pElementary School Books,” The New
73

Wang
2”Education——Ne:f's School,” Nile's Weekly Register,
69.
3"History of pElementary School Books,” The New

ngland Magazine,

4M., "An Introduction to Spelling and Reading, in
V0 volumes being the first and second parts of a Colum-
ian Exercise. The whole comprising an easy and system—
tical method of teaching and of learning the English
inguage, " by Abner Alden, reviewedp in Monthly Anthology
W, I (October, 1804), 464.

Ke

in

 

will ( ICJ} rc CC

m

S

pselcomi-n.w\

139

Keagy, M.D., in 1826.1

Finally, Mrs. Sedgwick recaptured her own childhood

in describing how she had learned from the primer.

What a change since this same catechism constituted
the chief and the most essential part of the library of
children! The old New England edition is a curious
commentary upon the state of education at that time.

It commences with the elements——has a page of the Roman
and Italic alphabets—-double letters—~vowels, and a
line of figures—ethen a page of easy syllables--another
of words, of two and three syllables-~and next half a
page of words of four syllables.

By this time the child is thought prepared to com—
prehend Agur's prayer. . A few moral precepts, se-
lected from scripture follow-~and then those memorable
pages--the smooth and delightful part of the progress—v
the green pastures and still waters of the book--con~
taining pictures illustrated by little rhymes. .
pictures which have been gazed at with as much delight
as the Cartoons of Raphael ever inspired,——which im-
pressed upon the youthful mind in a manner never to be
forgotten, that

”In Adam's fall
We sinned a11:".

”As run's the glass,
Man's life doth pass."

Our Lord's Prayer is now very properly introduced,
because a child is early capable of committing and
comprehending it, but it is quite time for a creed, too,
and the Athanasian creed is given. That again is fol—
lowed, by way of relief, with Doctor Watt's' cradle
hymn, which, associated as it is with a mother's love
and lullaby, will always be one of memory's treasured

g€ms, notwithstanding its setting.
To this succeed other rhymes, including that ancient

much used formula, "Now I lay me, 8c."

. But to return to our analysis of the catechism. The
scence of John Rogers' martyrdom is next presented.
By this time the mind of the child is sufficiently
prepared for instruction into the mysteries of original
sin, election, justification, adoption, sanctification,
et cetera, et cetera. It can spell words of four syl-

lables, and there are few in the whole catechism that
The first question and answer are spelled

contain more.
out, and it is supposed fully to comprehend what has

puzzled the wisest philosophers, viz. ”What is the
chief end of man?” [and when it] the child has committed

__________________
lKeagy, "Address on Early Education,” p.

478.

 

140

a few prayers more; to have become fully possessed of
all the great truths and doctrines of religion.

I think it matter of congratulation, that the use of
this catechism as a textebook for children is nearly ex-

ploded. . . .

. . .Oh, what a pain to children was that same cate-
chism--as little adapted to their comprehension as if
written in a foreign tongue. . learning by rote, and

repeating mechanically. . . .
Getting through one of the long answers, was always

matter of triumph and gratulation--and I have repeatedly
heard, among others, the following fearful doctrine,
repeated in a sing-song manner, with a sort of chuckle,
accompanied by a rising inflexion of the voice at the
closing word. ”All mankind by the fall lost communion
with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made
liable to all the miseries of this life, to geath it-
self, and the pains of hell forever,". . .

The Bible as Textbook Dispute
Despite the development of spellers and reading sets,
rural and poorer schools probably restricted their reading
material to a potpourri of whatever books were available,
or the cheapest book in widest circulation-—the Bible.2
Because the Bible was not suitable as a text for beginners,
it often had to be buttressed with some initial speller.
Moreover, because the New Testament was read as verse, it
was hardly superior to the new materials which contained

Scripture passages as well as more child-oriented reading.3

 

1

Catherine Sedgwick, ”The Religious Education of the
Young," Godey's Ladies Book (March, 1837), pp. 126—127.
(Hereinafter referred to as ”The Religious Education.”)

2Altick, English Common Reader, p. 159. Altick main—
tained that the Bible remained the chief book from which
reading was taught to elementary pupils in England through
1840. Only when its difficulties were overcome were
:hildren allowed to practice upon easier reading matter. A
:ritic remarked in 1867, ”It is as if we were to begin the
teaching of our children with Milton's Paradise Lost, and
:hen advanced them into Robinson Crusoe.”

3Drake, Pioneer Education and Life, pp. l8~19.

 

 

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141

Pro and Con.——American magazines published conflicting

opinion about the use of the Bible in schools. One author

noted a general neglect and fashionable lack of attention

to the Scriptures.1 "When I speak of a diffusion of know—

ledge," another writer, Noah Webster, maintained, "I do
not mean merely a knowledge of spelling-books G the New
Testament.”2 A signer of the Declaration of Independence,

Dr. Benjamin Rush blamed deism for the attack on the Bible

as a school-text.

The present fashionable practice of rejecting the
bible from our schools, I suspect has originated with
the deists. They discover a great ingenuity in this
new mode of attacking Christianity. . It is the
last bulwark the deists have left it; for they have
rendered instruction in the principles of Christianity
by the pulpit and the press, so unfashionable, that
little good for many years seems to have been done by

either of them.

Noah Webster's magazine provided some background

about the use of the Bible as a school book.

There is one general practice in schools, which
I censure with diffidence——not because I doubt the
propriety of the censure; but because it is opposed
to deep rooted prejudices: This practice is the use
of the bible as a school book. There are two reasons
why this practice has so generally prevailed——The
first is, that families in the country are not gener—
ally supplied with any other book—-The second, an
opinion that the reading of the scriptures will im—
press, upon the minds of youth, the important truths
of religion and morality. The first may be easily
removed; and the purpose of the last is counteracted

 

l"Original Thoughts on Education," The Columbian
dagazine, p.

ZZFebster;]"Education," p. 312.

3Rush, "Defence," p. 337. For a similar stand, see
ihe'same author's ”Thoughts upon Female Education,” pp.
.12-213.

 

142

by the practice itself.
If people design the doctrines of the bible as a

system of religiOn, ought the to appropriate the
book to purposes foreign to this design? Will not a
familiarity, contracted by a careless disrespectful
reading of the sacred volume, wpaken the influence
of its precepts upon the heart?

A reviewer countered, "We would ask the author, upon

what principle in the human mind he can attempt to support

so strange a doctrine" that early familiarity with the

bible would weaken its influence.2

Again, the bible was attacked but on more educational

grounds.

many passages in scripture are too obstruse to
be comprehended by very young minds. .sometimes
reading leads more to prejudice. .bigotry and un—
charitableness. As to the custom of prattling over
the testament and psalters, and loading the memory with
hymns (so common among ignorant but pious people) I
need only to observe that it rather obstructs than
promotes both religion and good literature.

The educational philosopher, Rousseau, had held that

religious training should be postponed until the reason

was fully developed in late adolescence. Webster published

four letters by an anonymous ”Belzebub” which were satires

3f the Frenchman's ideas.

Follow my paradoxical friend Rousseau's advise as
to Religion. Let all instruction on this subject come
as late as possible. Children who learn with wonderful
facility all other branches of knowledge, cannot

 

l"Education-—Some Defects,” The American Magazine,
80.
2”Impartial Review," Universal Asylum and Columbian
agazine, pp. 253—254.
3”On Education,” The Columbian Magazine, 111 (May,
p.,298—299.

 

143
conceivp. .that the Deity is witness to all they do
While Dr. Rush asserted that there was some truth in

Rousseau's observation that the great secret of education
consisted in ”wasting the time of children profitably”; he
misread the philosopher's argument that religious training,
too early begun, would mystify the child and probably turn
him away from religion when he reached adulthood.

I believe that we often impair their health, and weaken

their capacities, by imposing studies upon them which

are not proportioned to their years. But this objec—

tion does not apply to religious instruction. There

are certain simple propositions in the christian re-

ligion, that are suited. .to the infant state of

reason-and moral sensibility. A Clergyman of long ex—

perience in the instruction of youth informed me, that

he always found children acquired religious knowledge

more easily than knowledge upon other subjects and that
young girli acquired this kind of knowledge more readily

than boys.

Elsewhere, Dr. Rush had written that children in the first
six or seven years of their lives were more inquisitive
upon religious subjects than upon any others; and more
capable of receiving just ideas upon the most difficult
tenets of religion than upon the most simple branches of
human knowledge.3

Belzebub extended the anti-bible theme to suggesting

that parents also delay religious training at home, thus

 

1Noah Webster "Contrast, or a more fashionable System
Of Education, in Letters from Belzebub (Letters I and 11),”

The American Magazine, I (January, 1788), p. 84. (Herein-

after referred to as ”Contrast.")
2Rush, ”Thoughts upon Female Education," pp. 212—213.

3Rush, ”Defence," p. 337.

144

guaranteeing ”your son in the belief, that.[}eligiofi7 is
all a farce, and that there is nothing so tiresome."1 Under
the cover of satire, the author was attacking the neglect
of many parents of their traditional obligation to be moral
In Rush's reply, there was the rueful acknow-

educators.

ledgement that parents were indeed not doing their job, and

that only schools could be trusted in this matter. Rush

felt that the Bible, when not read in schools, was seldom

read in any subsequent period of life.2

But where will the bible be read by young people with
more reverence than in a school? Not in most private
families; for I believe there are few parents, who pre-
serve so much order in their houses, as is kept up in

our common English schools.
Opponents of the bible did not wish to exclude it

from the schools. But they did object to it being the

only book used by children. The anti—bible faction en-

visioned a school where each department of learning had
its own text. The bible would continue in the schools as

the basis of morality and true religion.4 They indicated

its use.

. under the direction of a prudent master, one
lesson may be read daily with advantage. This a dis—
creet teacher will explain to his young pupils; and,
at the same time, draw from it some useful moral or
religious principle, suited to their comprehension.5

 

lLWebster;]”Contrast,” p. 84.
2Rush, ”Defence," p. 337.

3Ibid., p. 340.
4"Impartial Review," Universal Asylum, p. 254.

5 Idem.

 

145

Dr. Rush responded that, listening to the master
was less effective than the pupils learning through the
senses, e.g., seeing the bible, hearing it as the other
pupils recite it and Speaking it himself.

But this is a poor substitute for obliging children to

read it as a school book; for by this means we insensibly

en rave. . .its contents upon their minds; and.
ch1ldren, instructed in this way in the scriptures, sel-
dom forget any part of them. They have the same ad—
vantage over those persons, who have only heard the
scriptures read by a master, that a man who has worked
with the tools of a mechanical employment. . .has over
the man who has only stood. . .in a work shop1 and seen
the same business carried on by other people.

In the waning days of the dispute a pro—bible writer
varned girls that lack of interest in the bible might make
:hem less desirable to sensible men.2 Rush took a final
rarthian volley, pointing out that the bible learned in
hildhood was a great comfort in old age.3 But, this per-
od would mark the close of the controversy. The Bible
ould disappear from the public school reading curriculum.

olution to the Dispute.——William Godwin suggested ”scrip-
4

 

Jre histories given in the words of the bible." Mrs.
adgwick recommended that bible study be made a part of

re educational system.

 

lRush, "Defence," pp. 341—342.

2”Original Thoughts on Education,” The Columbian

we, P- 646
3Rush, ”Defence," p. 338.

4Godwin, ”Letters to a young American,” p. 230.

 

146

Its histories, its biographies, its philosophy, its
geography, ought to be made the theme of careful
study and critical investigation; . . . The study of
it would become incorporated with the whole system of
education, and this would have a tendency to prevent
the error so much to be deplored, of causing religion
and every thing connected with it, to be regarded as
altogether separate from the ordinary concerns and
occupations of life.

Rush opposed this dilution of the bible into bible
tories with a simplistic argument, not forseeing the
atholic struggle against the Protestant version of the

scriptures, or recognizing the inappropriateness of the
>ible as a starting reader.

Some people, I know, have proposed to introduce
extracts from the bible, into our schools, instead of
the bible itself. Many excellent works of this kind,
are in print, but if we admit any one of them, we
shall have the same inundation of them that we have
had of grammars, spelling books, and lessons for
children. . .and all of them have tended greatly to
increase the expense of education. Besides, these
extracts contain the tenets of particular sects. .
and . . .may be imprOper for schools composed of the
children of different sects of Christians. The bible
is a cheap book, and is to be had in every bookstore.
It is, moreovgr, esteemed and preferred by all doc-
trines. .

 

   
 
   
  
  
  
   
  
  

New eclectic reading books softened the debate by
easing educators who wanted suitable reading content as
11 as the bible advocates with their moralistic inclusions.

The selected reading lessons are interesting, and
of a pure moral tendency, many of them being extracts
from the Bible, and they are well adapted, so far as
we can judge, as exercises for practice.

 

1Sedgwick, ”Religious Education," p. 127.

2Rush, "Defence,” p. 341.
3”The Reader's Guide," Christian Review, p. 149.

 

The debate was put to rest by the constitutional
amendments respecting the establishment of religion, and
by the mass publication of cheap, attractive, moralistic
readers and spellers as satisfactory substitutes. In
many states, it was no longer required that a clergyman
sit on the school board. Perhaps the churches saw the wave
of the future for dozens of church-colleges, dedicated to

prOpagating the faith, sprang up. Of the seventy—eight

colleges and universities in the nation in 1840, thirty-
five were founded after 1830, almost all of these under

religious sponsorship.1

From the great variety of religious opinions
existing in this country, it is doubtful whether
instruction in religious doctrine, should be given in
our common schools. It may perhaps, be better, to
confine it to the dgmestic circle, the pulpit, and
the Sunday schools.

   
   
  
  
  
   
 
   
  

pellers
The traditional English readers, spellers, and

rammars seemed unsuitable for Americans, and in the

eriod following the Revolutionary War, school books with

definite American slant began to appear. In title,

proach, and in some of the reading content they were

tionalistic; but generally they were close imitations of

e long—used British models. The New England Magazine

 

lNye, Cultural Life, p. 178. The religious retreat

to higher education was in keeping with evangelical
nets that called for a mature deClaring for Christ,
stead of involuntary infant baptism.

2Keagy, ”An Address on Early Education," p. 475.

 

 

148

printed a nostalgic article on early school books, winch
included much information about the creation of the first
American speller.

The first copy of this book was published by
Hudson 8 Goodwin, in Hartford, 1783. But by the
advice and recommendation of President Stile, of
Yale College, this book, with a Grammar and Selec-
tions for Reading, were published under the title
of "A Grammatical Institute of the English Language."
The Grammar was published the following year, 1784,
and the Selections soon followed, but the precise
time of publication I do not recollect. This was,

I believe, the first collection for reading published
in this country. '

In 1790, it was republished as the American Spelling

 

300k, under which title it remained until 1829, when it

was revised and called the Elementary SpellingfiBook. From

 

:he first it was favorably received, and rapidly displaced

‘he New England Primer and the English spellers of Dilworth,

   
   
   
     
  
  
 
  
 

enning, and Perry.2 Noah Webster recollected:

Of the books used in our primary schools, anterior
to the publication of my own, I can only say, that I
know of none, except Dilworth's Spelling—Book, and the
Bible and Testament, and except, perhaps, Perry's
Spelling-Book and Dictionary, which, I believe were
used in some parts of Massachusetts, before my Spelling—
Book was published. I have an impression that Fenning's
was used, about the same time, in some parts of the
country,3but I have no definite knowledge on the
subject.

Webster's book gradually superseded Dilworth for

asons which were critically explained in a book review in

 

1"History of Elementary School Books," The New England
'aZine, p. 475.

2Lamport, "Beginning Reading," pp. 187-188.

3"History of Elementary School Books,” The New England
azine, pp. 475-476.

 

 

 

 

   

the Portfolio. It pointed to the strong Latin base for

teaching reading in the English tongue.

Dilworth's Spelling Book, had for a long time been
the only manual, used in schools, for instructing
children in the alphabet, and the first principles of
orthography. The plan, however, is extremely defec-
tive in point of arrangement . . . which] is an object
of essential importance. . . . In 11worth, however,
little of this kind is attempted: for if we except his
classing together words of the same number of syllables,
the rest of the work is nothing but a jumble of con-
fusion. His rules concerning pronunciation are, like—
wise, few and defective, whilst his grammar has very
little analogy with the subject of which it treats,
being, in fact, np more than Lilly's Latin Grammar

badly translated.

The New England antiquarian differed from Noah
Webster‘who recalled spellers only by Dilworth, Fenning,
and Perry. He reported that Dilworth had been introduced
into some schools about 1750 and "was said to have been

the only spelling book used prior to 1780;” moreover, ”with

the Psalter. . .and the Bible, they were the only

 

1”The Juvenile Spelling Book,” The Portfolio, p. 44.
bus, for Dilworth, at least, the teaching of reading

nglish was based on Latin principles.

150

reading books."1

In attempting to correct Dilworth's faults, Webster
made a most elaborate analysis of the elements of the
English language, and the powers of the letters which he

incorporated into the American'Spelling'Book. Webster

 

depended upon the careful arrangement of words in spelling
tables wherein the basic vowel sounds were alike, to indi-
cate the correct pronunciation. Drill upon these tables
would give the pupil mastery of the common words in English.
In his own words:

I introduced also a new classification of words:
collecting into tables by themselves words of like
formation, especially the anomalous words. These
tables were so nearly complete, that all the later
compilers of Spelling Books have been obliged to copy
them almost entire, or leave their books defective.

Some compilers have gone further, and copied nearly
the whole of my Spelling Lessons, with a few trans-
positions of words.
'ebster took particular care to adapt the first tables to
he capacity of children, beginning with easy words and
roceeding gradually through every class to those that
ere irregular and difficult. In general, he omitted

ampound and derivative words. He showed the silent

atters in italic type, in the pronouncing exercises, but

 

1"History of Elementary School Books," The New
rgland Magazine, and Life, p. 474. Dilworth—was—the only
Le ment1one 1n the autobiographical PiOneer Education and
fe, by Drake, pp. 18—19. Ten spellers were recorded by“—
3th, American Reading'InStruCtion, pp. 41-66; 428. The
rliest magazine reference to a spelling—book was in John
umbull, "The Rare Adventures of Tom Brainless,” The Amer—
an Magazine, I (December, 1787, p. 59. (HereinaffEF—feT
rred to as "Tom Brainless.")

 

2”History of Elementary School Books," The New England
gazine, p. 475.

 

151

not in the reading lessons. For example, he differentiated

diphthongs, “guile and niece," but not "meet, spruce" or

“sky."l Webster maintained that children learned their

language by the ear; so he divided the syllables as they
were pronounced, e.g., "ef fi.gy," and "pref a to ry."2
Webster's standards for pronunciation were widely used al—
though there were some reservations among educators.

Various attempts at improvement have of late years
been made in this country, but as those who embarked
in the undertaking, have been too often men of little
genius and still less experience, it is by no means a
share of the public patronage. Indeed we believe, that
The Easy Standard of Pronunciation by Noah Webster esq.
is the only one which has attained a very extensive
circulation and has run through many editions. This
work is certainly an improvement on those of his pre-
decessors. It is believed, however, by many who have
had great experience in the business of tuition, that
it has not answered all the purposes for which it was

intended.
Webster helped to standardize the spelling of words

>y deciding upon one spelling for a word traditionally
:pelled in different ways (e.g., plow—plough, theatre—

heater). Webster reported:

I have recently published a new work, called the
Elementary Spelling Book, which I hope will be con—
sidered as a great 1mprovement on the American Spel—
ling Book. This is intended to introduce into our
schools an orthography corresponding with that of the

 

1Noah Webster, American Spelling Book, (New York:
areau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia Univer-
ity, 1962), pp. 46-47 (reprint of 1831 edition.) See
import, "Beginning Reading,” p. 188 for comparison of
tfferences with Dilworth.

2Webster, AmeriCan'Spelling’BOOK, pp. 38 and 41.
3"The Juvenile Spelling Book," The Portfolio, p. 45.

152

Dictionary. This, with the large Dictionaries, and
a duodecimo. . .will constitute a series of books, in
which certain classes of words, which have hitherto
been variously written, will be all reduced to uni-
formity. These will not remedy all the evils of our
anamalous orthography; much must be left to public
opinion and future usage. But, if generally used,
they will remove a part of the discrepancies which
now disfigure all of our books of every kind. I con—
sider the use of Walker's Dictionary as one of the
greatest evils our language has ever suffered.1

But Webster's text was more than a speller; it was
a primer and reading book combined. Like its competitors,
it began with the alphabet, the syllabarium, and pages of
words to be pronounced and spelled before the lessons in
reading were reached. Finally there was a moral catechism
(as opposed to the religious catechism of the Colonial
period) dealing with such topics as humility, honesty, and
industry.2

Despite the attacks of some professional educational
journals, Webster's Speller was, according to Dr. William T.

Harris, "the most generally used of all school text-books.”3

 

1”History of Elementary School Books,” The New

England Magazine, p. 476. See Nietz, School Textbooks, p.

or r1e iography of John Walker, whose dictionary
(1791) gained much acceptance in England and America.
(ebster criticized Walker for putting a figure over each
rowel. Webster felt that a correct pronunciation was better
:aught by a natural division of the syllables, and a direc—
Lion for placing the accent. See Webster, American Spelling

rook, p. 15n.

2Webster, American Spelling Book, passim. See ”The
UVenile Spelling Book," The Portfolio, p 5 for similar

oralistic content in lessons of one syllable. See Lamport,
Beginning Reading,” pp. 188—192 for comparison of spellers'

ontents .

3Reeder, Teaching Reading, p. 35.

 

153

Educators, however, criticized the use of Spellers be—
cause they developed habits of not thinking. Furthermore,
they made children disgusted with learning. The educators
argued that children could not learn the meaning of these
words, because they are denied association with real ob—
iects. The long spelling lists did even allow for the use
if abstract words in comprehensible sentences.1 Teachers
’ere not to blame, because this censure was aimed upon a
system of teaching” that was in operation long before the

xistence of ”modern" educators.2

On a more practical level,
orace Mann ridiculed the customary spelling—to-pronuncia-
ion method of reading, as in Webster's Spelling book:
in—g, no, gmm-gi—gn, man, Eflfl'ii‘KX’ may. . .no man may.
" and mockingly pointed out that "f-i—g did not spell
'figy, nor l—g—g, elogy.“

To his credit, Webster had never equated knowledge
th merely a mastery of spelling-books. Children must be

de "acquainted with ethics, law, commerce, money, and

vernment."4 Once again, it was not the teacher's fault,

 

lHostile journal articles reflected Pestalozzian
is. ”On Learning English Grammar," The Academician,
321; Keagy, "Address on Early Education,” pp. 475-476
5agy, a physician, wrote the Pestalozzian Primer); ”The
.demician, No. IX,” The Academician, p. 113.

 

2Keagy, "Address on Early Education,” p. 476.
3Lamport, ”Beginning Reading,” p. 263.

4ZWebsteg/ "Education,” p. 312.

 

 

 

154

but the "system." According to Clifton Johnson, ”One of
Institute was to make spelling a craze."1 It was customary
to end the rural school day by having all the pupils be
called upon to spell, "and then came the strife of glory—-
the turning down and going up ahead."2

The Speller and the Spelling-Bee were direct descendants
)f the New England Primer. It had been the custom to demon-
‘trate children's mastery of the primer by "Saying the Gate—
hism" three summer sundays yearly in church, with two lines
the boys on one side, the girls on the other) competing
efore the entire community.3 The easy transition the
seller made for those who wanted to preserve the old reli—
tous primer and its public ceremonials may have accounted
Ir its long popularity in the rural areas. On the other hand,
e Speller was very quickly superseded by the reader series
d specialized readers in the more progressive and affluent

ban areas.

 

lClifton Johnson, Old-time Schools and School-Books
aw York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1963) pp. 172—174.
TSt printed in 1904, Johnson depicts towns competing for
alling—match honors, during winter evenings, with adults
:ending.

2Drake, Pioneer EducatiOn and Life, pp. 18- 19. One
chers' manual stated: ”let the class stand in a line, in
er of their numbers" ased on the last matchlsave that No.
akes his place at the foot of the class. Pronounce a word
No .He spells it. All in the class who think he
lled it wrong, will raise the hand. If the word was
lled right, those who raised their hands go below those
did not. . . .” in Alfred Holbrook, The Normal: or
lOdS of Teaching (New York: Barnes, 1859}, pp. 81—83.

3Johnson, Old-Time Schools and School—Books, p. 98.

 

|IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII:_________________"-m-—_° ' '7 1.111

155

But for more than twenty years, the Spelling-Book
has been rejected in some of our large cities; so
that the most affluent of our citizens have contri~
buted little or nothing to my support in that great
undertaking. If that expensive and laborious work
has any value, the public owe its existence almost
wholly to the common people of the country.
Readers and Reader Series
Many isolated readers were published and used for
a brief period within a limited area. The third part of
Webster's Grammatical Institute was a reader. This book

was not so successful in driving competitors from the field
as was the Speller.
Caleb Bingham.—-Bingham was, perhaps, the most successful

of any early American author of readers.2 Bingham, like

 

1”History of Elementary School Books, ” The New

England Magazine, p. 475. See Reeder, Teachin Readin ,
p. or iscussion on disappearance of speller from the
city schools and its stubborn dominance in the rural

schools of the south and west.

2”History of Elementary School Books, " The New
He compiled and published the

England Magazine, p. 477
ow1ng wor 5 according to the above magazine:

title editions copies
'oung Lady' 5 Accidence (1799,

a grammar*) 20 100,000
hild' s Companion (a speller*) 20 180,000
merican Preceptor (1794*) 64 640,000
eographical Catechism 22 100,000
olumbian Orator (1806*) 23 190,000

25 000

uVenile Letters 7
Total 1, 35,000

*Additional parenthetical information from Johnson,
ime Schools and Schobl‘BOoks pp. 186, 276,363.)

Old-

 

 

 

156

Webster, included selections designed to inculcate patri-
otism. Magazines supported the same cause.

But every child in America should be acquainted with
his own country. He should read books that furnish
him with ideas that will be useful to him in life and
practice. As soon as he opens his lips, he should re-
hearse the history of —his country,--he should lisp
the praises of liberty, and of those illustrous heroes
and statesmen who have wrought a revolution in her fa-
vor.

A selection of essays, respecting the settlement
and geography of America—rthe history of the late
revolution and of the most remarkable characters and
events that distinguished it-—and a compendium of the
principles of the federal and provincial governments,
should be the principal school-book in the United
States. These are interesting objects to every man——
they call home the minds of youth and fix them upon
the interests of their own country-~and they assist in
forming attachments to it, as well as in enlarging the
understanding.

George Hi11ard.—-Readers of any sort for beginners were

rare. Hillard's The Franklin Primer (1802) may have been

 

the first beginning reader. Hillard's introduction re-

corded that it was a replacement for the obsolete New

    
   
  
 
   
 
  

ngland Primer.2 The Franklin Primer was part of a set of

eaders which included The Improved Reader, The General

 

lassbook, and The Popular Reader. These materials were

 

eviewed in the quality magazine, North American Review.

 

_[Billard7 complains ZEhat7. . .'In some of the
first lessons in spelling, the child is overwhelmed
With words which are totally unmeaning to him.
A multitude of others are of no present use to children,
while perhaps the greater part of those for which they
have an immediate demand, are excluded. The conse-
quence is, that after having spent many a tedious month

   

 

216
2Johnson, Old4time Schbols and School-books, p. 233.

 

 

 

 

157

on their spellings, when they are put on reading
sentences, they are every moment meeting with Words,
which, though perhaps familiar to their ears, are
strangers to their eyes.‘ And in another of his
works, he says, ‘If a common spelling book is ever to
be used, it is not to be the first nor the second
book which is put into the hands of a child.’ The
grounds of this opinion are thus stated by him.

‘Against all the most popular spelling- -books which
have appeared for the last fifty years, two grand ob-
jections lie; either of which seems sufficient to
exclude them from a place in the course of education.
First, they contain a mass of words so heterogeneous

. . .That a book containing some thousands of words
like bice, rice, oaf node ‘rhOmb fiat, phalanx. . .
is tot ally unfit for chi lar ren, who W111 he51tate long
before they dare to pronounce a, the, to or for. . .

'The other grand objection to common “spellihg— books
is, that they contain few or no definitions.‘

. . . 'Another defect, though of less importance. . . .
regards the arrangement of words. In most spelling-
books, words are grouped together, not according to their
sounds, but according to their visible forms. Hence,
when a child has learned the first word of a group, he
can proceed almost mechanically, and spell perhaps ten. . .
of the following words.‘ The author is therefore of
opinion, that when the pupil 'has become acquainted with
the usual sounds of the several letters. . .the words
should be classed as they are pronounced, and not as
they are spelled. For instance, there are no less than
six different ways of expressing that combination of
sounds which is heard in the second syllable of nation.
These diversities are exemplified in the following
words; ocean, ration, fashion, passion, affection,
connexion, aspersion,'assertion,'coercion, physic1an.

ow, 1 t e principles of classification be similarity
of sound and diversity of spelling, two important ad-
vantages will be the result. It would be much easier

to signify the proper pronunciation of words, and it
will require the learner to pay much attention to
every lesson and every word, as it will give him a
real acquaintance with it.‘

In the series of books, of which the one now offered
to the public is the third in order, the Franklin
Primer was intended to contain a competent number of
words, already familiar to the ears and the minds of
children, for the purpose of spelling and reading.

The chief object of the second book, viz. the Improved
Reader, was to acquaint children with the meaning as
well as the orthography of those unknown words which
they are most likely to hear in places of public
instruction and devotion, and those which occur in

 

 

158

most of our juvenile books. These lessons are connected
with exercises in reading, calculated at once to interest
the feelings, inform the understanding, and improve the
temper and life.-.'. . To diversify the studies of the
learner, however, and render the book more interesting,
and more useful, many exercises in prose and verse.
are inserted on a great variety of useful subjects,. . . .
The author s Primer, as its name imports, is intended
to be the first hook for children. He very properly
recommends, that, in learning the letters, children
should not take them in the order of the alphabet; and
they 'should not be perplexed with the whole alphabet
at once. Till the letters are in a good measure familiar
to them, four or five are sufficient for a lesson; and
such a lesson should he often repeated. This is so
exactly agreeable to the method recommended by Quintilian
. ' I am not at all pleased with the method. .
of having children learn the names and order of the
letters before they are made familiar with the forms of
them. This prevents their recognizing the letter; as
they do not direct their attention to the strokes com-
posing each letter, but only to the recollecting of what
is to come next to the one they have just pronOunced.
In consequence of this, after children have been taught
the letters in their natural order, the teachers are ob-
liged to make them study the alphabet in a reversed order,
and then again, to mix up the letters promiscuously, until
the pupils are able to recognize them by their looks and
not by their place in the alphabetic series; by this means
children will learn to distinguish the letters, as they do
individuals around them, by their forms, or appearance, as
well as by their names.’ The same writer adds his approba-
tion of the 'well-known' practice (as he calls it even at
that day) 'of having the letters cut in ivory, or any
other mechanical device of that kind, which they can
handle and examine, and which will amuse their tender
age, and stimulate their little minds to study.’

Our author's second work, called 'The Improved Reader,‘
consists of familiar dialogues upon useful subjects; little
narratives; and account of the most interesting animals;
and characteristics of some of the nations of the globe.
'The leading design of this book, says the author, 'is to
introduce the child, by an easy and gradual process, to
an acquaintance with the most important words.‘ 'With
this view the exercises in general have been so selected
and arranged as to bring forward a moderate number of new
words in each lesson. These words are defined and illus-
trated with all convenient simplicity; and the definitions
should be made familiar to learners before they read the
following lessons, and afterward they should be reviewed
again and again, till they are permanently fixed in their
minds.

 

 

 

 

159

In regard to the rules of pronunciation, our author
says, ‘Mr. Walker is invariably followed;' that is, the
author has endeaVored to give the pronunciation which
he supposes Mr. Walker intended, 'though from some de-
feet in his notation, he [Walker] is liable to be mis—
understood.‘

We may add, for the benefit of the author's printer
and papermaker, that the value of the publication would
be enhanced by a better style of typography and paper.
That practical writer, Knox, justly observes, that
books written for the use of children should be rendered
pleasing to the eye and to the imagination; that they
should abound with cuts, and be printed on fine paper.

Lindley Murray, A British'Import.—-There was probably no

 

other compilation of reading lessons, which were so gener—

ally used in the American common schools as Murray's English

Reader.2 Noah Webster complained that his own textbook had
been well received and had passed through many editions,
until Murray's book appeared.3 This British import's

‘ popularity may have aroused some of the nationalistic out-
cry to buy only American texts.

A. Picket and J.W. Picket.—-As educators and publishers of
the professional journal, The Academician, the Pickets
were in a good position to promote their reading series.
Even so, one lay magazine, Portfolio took the time to

favorably review their Juvenile Spelling Book.

 

 

1”Article XI,” North American Review, pp. 489-503.
N.b. the deference to the classical past, in citing
Quintillian.

 

2"Murray's English Reader, Art. VII,"'AmeriCan Annals
Of Education, I (October, 1831), p. 475.

3“History of Elementary School Books,”'The New
En land Ma azine, p. 475. "Murray's English Reader,“
AEEYTEEH_Khh§T§*0f‘Education, p. 476; Reeder, Teaching
Reading, pp, 38-40.

 

 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIII:::______________u____' "" "mi”‘**3*“”
I60

. . . designed as an elementary book which appears
better adopted than any which we have seen, to facili-
tate the progress of the pupil; as by gradations almost
imperceptible, he is led from the most simple to that
which is more complex, and thus enabled, in a shorter
time and with infinitely less labour, not only to read,
but also to improve his heart and to cull into action
those mental faculties, which might otherwise have lain
dormant. '

The reviewer praised the authors for omitting un-
common or obsolete words; and for trying to Americanize
oral English. The Pickets, in their own journal, approached
their audience with the following sales message.

. .we lay before instructors a code of elementary
books. . .calculated to establish a uniformity of
orthography, accentuation and pronunciation in Ameri-
can Schools; and thereby remove the general complaint
of Teachers, respecting the discordancy of these three
important objects, in the variety of elementary School
books. These, in order to render pronunciation, Sc.
uniform, should correspond in substance with our
standard dictionaries and grammars. Hence, the Ameri-
can School Class Books have been produced. Their
systematic gradation from the alphabet to Walker's
dictionary [Eonfirmed. . . .the learner gradually

in the principles, developed in that work.

The Portfolio absolved teachers in ”our initiatory
eminaries" from the blame of putting ”improper initiatory
ooks" into the hands of children. Until recently, most
eachers were obliged to make a choice out of the selec-
ions on hand in the local schools, ”no one of which was

3
Jen tolerably calculated for the intended purpose."

 

1”The Juvenile Spelling Book,”'The'PorthIio, p. 45.

2"Picket's American School Class—Books,"‘The
ademician, I (February 7, 1818), pp. 12-14. ThEse edu—
tors preferred a British dictionary to the American
Ctionary of Webster.

3”The Juvenile Spelling Books,” The Portfolio, p. 43.

 

 

 

 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIE::::_________________-‘“ ’ ""”"“

161

Daniel Adam.—-A single reference was made to this author.
His book was roundly condemned "for its ink, paper, and
type are all so miserable, that the Understanding Reader

is the most illegible of books."1

Intermediate'Materials4EtymolOgy

 

Dictionaries

In a widely reprinted article, Benjamin Franklin
suggested that each pupil in his proposed English Grammar
School be provided with a little dictionary for explaining
the meaning of difficult words.2 Before orally reading
his lesson to the schoolmaster, the pupil would use the
dictionary for "understanding the lesson” and as a guide
to giving his recitation proper oral force and good pro-

nunciation.3

 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
   

Understanding (or Comprehension) was thus measured
y the proper oral delivery and expression of a just
entiment. As a further guard, the student was required
0 define and find synonyms for words in the reading
assage. One author justified the practice thusly: ”By
hese means the scholar will acquire a habit of under-

tanding what he reads, and practising what he learns,

 

1"The Understanding Reader; or Knowledge before ora—
ry, being a new selection of lessons suited to the under-
anding and the capacities of Youth and designed for their
provement." by Daniel Adam. 'Monthly-Anthologyjand Book
View, Review in III (September, 1806), p. 498. (Herein-
ter referred to as "The Understanding Reader.")

2Franklin, "Idea of an English School," p. 473.
3Ibid., p. 474.

 

 

 

 

 

162

which will be beneficial through life."1 Spelling from a
dictionary and examination of orthography, accent, and
pronunciation, however, may have encouraged memorization.
In many of the schools, children encountered only one-or—
two books in their brief educational career. Often, they
were memorized, cover—to—cover.

Dictionary use, along with the spelling-bee, became
almost a craze. One book reviewer praised Walker, whose
dictionary allowed its user a standard of correct pronun-
ciation. Correct pronunciation became "a criterion of
good breeding and liberal education."2
Textbook authors generally cited what dictionary they had

used in determining pronunciation standards for their books.3

 

18.8. "Essay on Education,” p. 340. Dictionaries
were resorted to by the student in all cases of doubt about
spelling. Walker's was suggested.

2"Picket's American School Class-Books," The Academ-
ician p. 14. In the play Pygmalion (1913), George Bernard
Shaw showed how a Cockney flower g1r , Liza Doolittle, gained
admission to polite society, under the tutelege of Henry
Higgins, a professor of phonetics. Barnhart, ed., Handbook
of English Literature, p. 906.

3"Article XI," North American Review, p. 503. Hillard's

reading series used Walker as a guide. Cobb, Juvenile Reader
N0 3, p. 6 also followed Walker's system; "the authority of

Dr. Webster”was followed in W. McGuffey, McGuffe 's New
Eclectic SpellingeBook, (Cincinnati, Ohio: W1lson, H1nkle E
Co., 1865), p. 3; L. Murray, English Grammar (England, 180
0r after) followed Johnson an 3 er, among others, p. 5.

 

 

—7—"* 1, :7 4:4;

163

Critics of the dictionary as a spelling and pronun-
iation guide were generally Pestalozzian educators. They
bjected to memorizing words without making some sort of
bject association. They objected to the parsing of indi—
idual words, claiming that it is the situation of the
0rd in the sentence which determines its precise meaning.1

At the time of the first English settlements in
merica the rules of orthography were vague, and the early
ocuments were full of spellings that reflected a lack of
ationale.

Aetaernall, for eternal, is in the Acts of the
Massachusetts General Court for 1646, adjoin is
spelled adio ne. . . February is Ffebrewarie in the
Portsmouth, R. I. Records for. . .1697, and general is
jinerll in the Hartford Town Votes for 1716.

. but as printing increased, a movement toward
uniformity in spelling. . . began to show itself.
But it was not until. . .Samuel Johnson's Dictionary,
in 1755, that the English had a eal guide to ortho—
graphy, of universal acceptance.

 

Mencken maintained that Americans came to feel un-
sy about their American English. After the revolution,
ericans were subjected to many years of attack and ridi—
le for their language from their British cousins. They
oked increasingly to Dictionaries and models of good

1e to protect their oral and literary efforts from

 

1"On the Proper Method, " The Academician (March 6,
313 p. 259. ”The Academician, No.1X,h Academician,

2Henry Louis Mencken,'The‘American'Langua e (4th ed.
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1936},p pp. 379-38U. Dictionaries
e often the only authoritative judge and umpire in
erary matters.

 

164

satiric barbs.l

Noah Webster, Benjamin Franklin and others were in-
volved in language reform. Unlike the British who based
the correctness of a word on its etymological closeness
to primitive ancestors, the American lexicologists pre—
ferred modern "usage” as the standard. However, it ap-
peared that their radical alphabets and intellectual phonic
treatises were of little use to the classroom teachers of
the day.2
Newspaper, Magazine, and Novel Reading

Around 1801, a new cheap way of making plates from
plaster-of-paris was perfected. Improved paper-making
machinery came into use partially replacing the expensive
rag paper process. Large—scale steam presses came into
use around 1814. Sir Walter Scott's Waverley introduced
a new era in mass distribution of novels. Cheap cloth
binders began to replace leather covers for books around
1825. Charles Dickens and others began to issue their
novels in cheap serial form in the magazines.3

An anonymous writer spoke of how common newspapers

vere in the schools.4 In some schools, Spectator articles

_.___________________

lIbid., pp. 12—20. See chapters on the crisis in
3peech and spelling: "The English Attack” and "American
Barbarisms,'” pp. 12—27.

2J.G.C. ”Elements of Orthography," (July, August,
eptember, October, 1791), pp. 33—8,V113-7, 175—8, 225-8.

3Altick,;E‘n‘glis'h' common Reader, p. 379. The British
print” market greatly overlapped the American.

4"Education——Some Defects," The‘American'Magazine, p.
L

165

were assigned reading. Students were required to abridge

them or translate them into Latin for homework.1 It was

even suggested that schools print their own weekly news—

papers:

with. . .a little vocabulary of the more difficult
words in its columns, with occasional questions on the
subjects presented with a View to aid both the instruc—
tor and pupils. Perhaps much of history, biography,
topographg, and natural science might be. .taught in

this way.
In terms suggestive of the words of Thomas Jefferson,
Webster equated the ”diffusion of knowledge" by "the cir—
culation of public papers" as ”necessary for the yeomanry

of a republican state.”3 Subscription libraries were ad-

vocated for their Cheapness, as well as their "amazing in-
fluence in spreding knowledge, correcting the morals, and
softening the manners of a nation."4

Continuing this article which was spelled in Webster-
ean orthography, the author praised the many towns where
almost every citizen "haz red the works of Addison, Sher—
lock, Atterbury, Watts, Young. .and will converse hand—

somely on the subjects of which they treat.”5

 

{Wilson;]”0n a Liberal Education," p. 267.

2.111%-

?Webster] ”Education,” p. 312.

4"Impartial Review of late American Publication,"
Universal AsXIum, p. 258.

5I‘bid., p. 259.

166

An anonymous writer urged that children be taught
how to spell from a story book rather than from the common
spelling book. He thought it would be faster because of
the high interest in stories; also it would prevent children
from reading in a spelling—book type "disagreeable tone."
But for perfection in the language, he recommended the
periodical, the Spectator.1

A J.R. outlined a plan of education where the students
were taught to imitate the writing found in magazines and
2 This was more than one magazine

in certain newspapers.

approving of another. Magazine publishers still took their

responsibilities seriously and looked upon their publi-
cation as permanent additions to their subscribers' li-

braries. It was common practice and reflective of magazine

attitudes that columns appeared telling the readers what
corrections to make among the ”errata” of earlier issues.3

On the other hand, Noah Webster "contends that young

people ought not to be made acquainted with the vicious

part of mankind, as. .exhibited in novels and in news-

papers." He was criticized in this review for "blowing

 

 

1”On Education,” Columbian Magazine, pp. 298-299.

2J.R., ”Outline,” p. 504.

. SPhilaleths, ”Letter V," p. 279. See the author—
itative opinion of Frank Luther Mott; Mott, I 1741-1850,

Pp. 18-19, 120.

 

167

heat and cold with the same breath."1 J,R., too, blew hot
and cold, for in the same article that recbmmended the
media to parents and tutors, he warned these guardians
that "many of the Journals, Magazines, Posts, and Writers
of the day" should be kept out of the hands of youth.2
A Unitarian magazine complained towards the end of
the period under study that "The children's reading is all
virtually novel—reading, and cannot perhaps be much else.3
Much is said, at this day, about the great ad-
vantages that are enjoyed for education; and nothing is
more frequently pointed to in proof of this, than the
children's book—shelves. These books are the
very foes of discipline. . And there are as jaded,
and almost as listless novel-readers in the ten thou-
sand nurseries of the land, as there are stretched
upon the parlour couches, not to say, in the study
easy—chairs. Children too much indulged in this way.
acquire an almost inveterate hostility to all severe
application of mind. There are thousands of such, who

need to be put, without delay, upon a dispensation of
hard study, to save them from utter ruin.

Probably, the great majority of the American popu-
lation, after only two—or—three years of primary schooling,
would have reverted to a level of illiteracy through sheer

economic want, save for the flood of cheap, fascinating

 

l"Impartial Review of Late American Publications,”

Iniversal Asylum, pp. 253—254.
2J.R. "Outline,” p. 505.
3"Article VI,” The ChriStian'EXaminer, pp. 83-84.

4Ibid., pp. 87—88.

 

168

novels.1

The Object Lesson
Etymology is the Science of the history of the

derivation of words as parts of speech. During the period

under consideration, schoolmasters paid the most attention
to parts of speech and some attention to word derivation.
Yet scattered magazine articles contained writing urging
more attention to the sensory psychology of Locke and the

objective teaching of Rousseau and Pestalozzi.
The principles of any science afford pleasure

to the student who comprehends them. In order to
render the study of language agreeable, the distinc-
tion between words should be illustrated by the dif—
ferences in visible objects. Examples should be
presented to the senses which are the inlets of all our
knowledge. 'That'nounS‘are the names'of'things, and
that adjectives express their qualities, are abstract
definitlons which a boy may repeat five years without
comprehending the meaning. But that table is the name
of an article; and hard or square is ltS property, is
a distinction obviOUs to thg senses, and consequently
with in a child's capacity.

Under Pestalozzi, children learned their geography

 

by daily field trips; their social sciences by visits to
bakeries, farms, etc.; their mathematics in stores and
with the surveyors' transit; their science by the collecting,

cataloging, and display in ”object—cabinets” of the local

 

1See Altick, The English Common Reader, pp. 240-259.
Shifts of workers would pay one of their number to read
to them; female loom operators rose at 5 a.m. to listen
to the latest publication before going to the mill.
William Shakespeare and Robert Burns were considered
”happy accidents", geniuses who somehow triumphed over the

lack of schooling.

2”On Education," The American Magazine, p. 26.

 

169

flora and fauna. Theory reflected Rousseau's and

Pestalozzi's demands for ”things, not words," and "doing

rather than reading.” But experiments such as the Neef

School in Philadelphia did not reflect common practice.

According to Altick, in the typical textbooks, children

read about the way in which other children learned by

direct observation and experience.1

However, ”objects-as—lessons” encountered a stern

foe in the practice of measuring children's understanding

of what they read by definitions and parsing. The quarrel,

however, was confined more to professional educational

journals than to the popular press.2

Miscellaneous Material Aids
Lay magazines gave scant attention to other devices,

except writing as a tool in reading. Professional educa—

tors, however, discussed at length "the Pageant System,”

1 wooden machine for analysis and composition of words;3

 

lAltick, English Common Reader, pp. 163-164.

2May, "Errors in Common Education,” pp. 217— 218;
Academician, No. IX, ” Academician, p.115. Cobb's,
uvenile Reader, No. 3, contained articles about obtaining
il Eby extraction or decoction (p.28), Lampblack, Turpen—
ine ( 29); brief articles on foods, e.g., "The fruit
rang is round and depressed. It has a rough rind, which,
hen ripe, is yellow. ” (p. 41); as well as notions that no
111d in rural America could ever believe, viz. "The Squirrel."
Linnaeus, with other naturalists, assures us, that in cros—
Lng a river, the squirrel places itself upon a piece of bark,
1d erecting its tail in order to catch the wind, uses it as
sail. The fact, indeed, would appear incredible, were
: not attested by such respectable evidence,” pp. 107-108.

3”Academician, N0. IX,” Academician, p. 115.

 

 

170

”show-n-tell” oral compositions;1 flash cards;2 movable

alphabet blocks;3etc.
Children were put on paraphrasing of model periodical

articles, as a form of comprehension check.4 Elocution.

difficulties were attributed to a lack of comprehension.

As an antidote, one writer suggested that children first

write and read their own speeches. If this practice was

followed, the thought would determine where the pauses and

emphases fell, and the children would be free of those

reading books filled with elocution marks.5 Drawing sim-
ple geometric forms was a planned prelude to eventual
alphabetical writing in Pestalozzian schools.6 Another

reason for encouraging writing as an aid to reading was

If sufficient textbooks were unavailable, the

poverty.
the textbooks

children would write on cheap, coarse paper,

 

1Keagy, ”Address on Early Education,” p. 480.

2Altick, English Common Reader, pp. 151-152.

3Reeder, Teaching Reading, p. 65.

fWilsonE7"On a Liberal Education," p. 267.

5S. 8., ”Essay on Education, " p. 342. Elocution marks

vere to continue into the 20th century.

6"Education-~Neef's School,” Niles WeeklyiRegister,
Lamport wrote that blackboards came to America
lead pencils and pens much later-—

421.

>. 68.
.n 1800; slates 1820;
‘Beginning Reading,” P-

171

as the teacher dictated it to them.1

Advanced Reading Materials -- Prosody

During this period, every speller and reader devoted
some space to the art of proper reading for effect. Thus,
the primary school materials tended to work to breakdown
the traditional walls between the ABC school (spelling),
the English and Latin (Grammar) school, and the college
dedicated to producing ministers for the pulpit (public
speaking.) Townships were thus assured for their expendi—
tures for any single type of text, a book that would
stretch from the alphabet to readings for public delivery.
For example, in one speller:

Mr. Picket here takes an opportunity of impressing

on the mind of his readers that the proper accentua-
tion of words is to a correct speaker an object of
much greater importance than is generally apprehended.
. . . He has paid much more attention than ordinary
to the precise quantity of syllables, which, in all
the branches of English prosody, even the most ele-2
mentary, has been hitherto unaccountably neglected.

Inasmuch as thorough grammar study was necessary for

____________________
l”Reading, Art. IX,” American Annals of Education,
p.
2”The Juvenile Spelling Book,” The Portfolio, p. 49.
After the Speller, the child proceeds to t e "Natural
Grammar" book which included materials to help youth
Speak with elegance and propriety; next h1gher, the
JUVenile Expositor” to help the student read understand:
ingly, including more grammar and pract1ce 1n synonym1z1ng,
an parsing to assist ”the more advanced studenps to .
write with "perspicuity, elegance and accuracy. . The first
book, ”The Universal Primer" was de51gned to aesisfi mot ers
in preparing their children for the speller.-— Pic gt 5
American School Class—Books," The Academ1c1an, p. l .

 

 

E ' 2. 22 “'-.-—"K'_a;'e 2.

172

entrance to the university, textbooks tended to follow
Latin Grammar models.1
An educator blamed the "monotonous routine of letters
and sounds" in the spelling books as the cause of that
"almost universal habit of reading without thinking." Not
until these students went on to study Latin did they learn
the “signification of terms.” "Latin. . .may be considered
as one of the best remedies for this disease of the mind."2
The usefulness of Latin or its ”signification" equivalent,
English parsing continued to be recommended, not only as
a university requirement, but as a discipline for building
mental faculties.3

Trumbull discussed Latin entrance requirements in

his Progress of Dullness, where a father discusses his

 

son's future.

Hard work indeed—-he does not love it;
His genius too is much above it.

Give him a good substantial teacher,
I'll lay he makes a special preacher.
I've loved good learning all my life:
We'll send the lad to college, wife.

So to the priest in form he goes,
Prepar'd to study and to doze.

Then view our youth with grammar teasing,
Untaught in meaning, sense or reason;
Of knowledge e'er he gain his fill, he
Must diet long on husks of LILLIE,
Drudge on for weary months in vain,

By mem'ry's strength and dint of brain;

 

1"The Juvenile Spelling Book,” The Portfolio, p. 44.
2

 

Keagy, "Address on Early Education, ” p. 476.

3Williamson, "On the Study of Dead Languages, "
746; ”On Education,” American Magazine, p.

 

 

 

—-7 A. ' . 1.: rig—.1122: 2
173

From thence to murd'ring VIRGIL'S verse,.

A year thus spent in gathering knowledge,
The lad sets forth t' unlade at college,
While down his sire and priest gttend him,
To introduce and recommend him.

Summary, 1776-1840

 

Over a sixty—five year period, only ninety-seven
lay articles were found in magazines which, in some manner,
touched on reading. Thus, despite a significant increase
in the number and popularity of magazines, reading instruc—
tion was a very minor topic. Despite this relative neglect,
there was a much sharper focus on reading than there was
found in the twenty—eight very general articles discovered
during the thirty—four year span of Colonial magazine
coverage. The neglect of magazines may be attributed to
‘the turbulence of the times, during which the young nation's
Very existence was repeatedly threatened politically, mili—
tarily, and economically.
Magazine articles may also have been scarce and overly
Iague because lower schooling lacked the definitions, if
1ot the massive institutionalization that can be found to-
lay. There were serious rivals in the past to the develop-
ent of schools as institutions to provide reading instruc—
ion. These rivals included home instruction and self—

struction. The printing revolution (a sudden technolo—

 

'ca1 spurt making books and papers readily available to

 

zfrumbulhy'qu Brainless," p. 60.

 

 

 

174

the masses) was at once a challenge and a threat to school
domination of primary reading teaching. Authors advertised
their new materials as suitable for learning to read both
at home and in the schools. Philosophers like Rousseau
praised the superiority of home instruction. Self-made
men like Benjamin Franklin were living examples of men
who failed in school, and the success of self—instruction.
With the printing revolution, came increased social
pressures from new quarters, to have the public learn to
read. Established religion had encouraged reading in order
to participate fully in religious service. But the new
evangelical religions, such as Methodism, required more
in the way of reading from its membership. Evangelical

religion recruited new members by circulating religious

   
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  

books, and by teaching potential members how to read their
literature. The new American government saw in the printing
revolution a cheap and necessary way of unifying a diverse
and restless population. The American citizens came to see
learning to read as their patriotic duty and as a way of
getting ahead in the world, socially as well as economic-
ally. The apprenticeship system for training craftsman

was passing away. Reading utilitarian books was a cheap
substitute for the old traditions. Productive reading
would become the way for the relatively uneducated to ad-
ance themselves in the new factories or on the new rail

nd steamship lines. Finally, reading books and papers

ermitted isolated rural and frontier Americans to share

 

175

in and learn the culture and fashions of American govern-
ment and society. These pressures from new quarters
constituted the major motives for learning to read.
Americans of that time may have received the printing
revolution in the same way that more modern Americans had
to adapt themselves to the motion pictures, radio, and
television. The press rapidly assumed the political power
that led the French to call it the ”Fourth Estate." With—
out the press, the American and French Revolutions, the
British Reform Acts of 1832, and even the contemporary
Watergate revelations might have come to nought. The enor—
mous and ”sudden” impact of this mass media technology on
humanity was eloquently described by Ebenezer Elliott, the
Corn-Law Rhymer.
Earth's deepest night, from this bless'd hour,
The night of minds, is gone!
"The Press!" all lands shall sing;
The Press, the Press we bring,
All lands to bless:
Oh, pallid want! oh, labor stark!
Behold we bring the second ark!
The Press! The Press!. The Press!1
Methods for teaching reading also came into somewhat
clearer focus during this period. Methods tended to re-
flect the new types of materials coming into use. Con-
current with the development of the graded reading series
:ame the call for departments and graded classrooms in

:he hitherto "open classroom" approach to primary educa-

tion. Concurrent with specialized readers about farming,

_¥

1Altick, English Common Reader, p. 130.

 

 

 

 

176

mechanics, and geography came the demand that teachers be
masters of what they taught, or that teachers be hired on
this new basis of specialization.

Materials for reading largely determined the method
for teaching reading because there was no methodically
trained corps of primary teachers. It was not until fe—
males were freely admitted to the public schools, that the
raw material for primary teacher training could be provided
on a uniform and large—scale basis.

The development of a scientific primary methodology
was handicapped by the lack of accepted definitions about
the early schooling process, and the lack of an accepted
educational psychology of the developing child.

Methods of teaching reading had practical limitations.
Parents and churches were just relinquishing their tradi—
ional control over the early education of the child.
chool—Boards required the teachers to use unsuitable mater-
als like the Bible, or any collection of whatever was
vailable. Cheapness was all the cry. The teacher's job
as to return the little child to his parents as soon as

could. This was usually at the termination of two—to-
ur years of crowded, ungraded teaching in very poor facili-
ies. The child was supposed to learn to decode any word he
lght encounter. By decoding was meant that the child would
>ell—out and pronounce words aloud. His ears, teacher,
rents, or dictionary would provide him with some sense of

8 accuracy of what he had read. This restricted method

 

177

was based on the observation that although the English
language contained thousands of words, there were relatively

few syllabic combinations. Thus, mastery of lists of spel-

ling syllables (e.g., fat, cat, sat), it was believed, would
permit the child to spell out any word he was likely to en—

counter. Since many children left school after acquiring

this decoding skill, it was highly probable that they

slipped backwards into illiteracy unless they had access to

reinforcing media from some other sources.

Some magazine articles were written about making a

new curriculum built around the child's natural curiosity

or interests. Some authors wrote that if the children could

read real books, they would be rewarded by their understand-

ing of the words. Although the materials were in plentiful

supply (ranging from pop-up books to "Robinson Crusoe”),
they were not widely adopted because of the expense, their
lack of ”usefulness", and the inability of the average
teacher to cope with materials alien to his own Latin gram—
mar upbringing.

The solution to the question of reading for under—
standing or comprehension was found in a relatively new

material. This was the dictionary. For the first time,

treading education had a scientific measure of how words
should be spelled and written (orthography), their histor—

ical derivation (etymology), and how they should be uttered

(the measured accents of prosody). Thus, while primary edu-

cation was being provided with a tool that could make

178

reading a science, that'tool made little demands for reform
of the old Latin grammar curriculum. The dictionary was
a patriotic material for promoting national linguistic
unity. It served to blur the distinctive boundaries be-
tween the social classes, for at last the ambitious person
had a tool for acquiring the dialect of the admired and
imitated learned upper class. Up until the time the
dictionary appeared, the road to access to the upper class
was either romantic accident, or the Latin road to the uni-
versity or the pulpit. Now Latin grammar schools could ex-
pand their curriculum to include a standardized program of
elegant writing and proper speech in English. The ”barren
path" of primary education up to the university garden was
rapidly becoming a broad fertile plain, valued and esteemed
by all those in society who aspired to better their lot.
With the aid of the dictionary or of spellers and
readers based on that volume, early education could now

*go beyond decoding to measure comprehension. The measure
'would be the pupil's ability to "parse" what he had read.
Parsing appealed to the Latin scholar in the university,
to schoolmasters who could readily measure it, to parents
Who accepted it as ”understanding”, and to children who
:ould manage the art either by true understanding, or by
rote memory.

The material was often the method during this period.

utstanding men, such as Webster, Murray, and Bingham

anaged to ”bow their pens” to write innovative new text-

 

 

 

179

books for the use of children. Their spellers and readers
quickly replaced the old primers, psalters, and Bibles in
the larger towns and cities. The new materials had broad
new functions to perform, when compared to the old primers
and psalters, written in the service of church ceremonial.
The new materials, although designed for the beginning
reader, contained instruction on intermediate grammar and
prosody (elocution), as well as the basic orthographic
writings. The new materials often contained a patriotic
theme. They included stories and poems that may have
brightened some rural home; moral epigrams on standards of

behavior for young ones on the frontier.

CHAPTER V
A COMPARATIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Introduction

At this point in time, there was a need to collate the
rich data of the past chapters with the educational thesis
of Nela Smith. Smith maintained, for example, that religion
was the dominant motive for reading during the colonial
period. Magazines, however, revealed several motives for a
reading. There was a need to quantify in some way these
several magazine motives for reading so that they could be
compared with Smith's conclusion. A crude statistical analysis
was made of the content of the magazine articles not just on
motives, but also on types of materials, and types of methods.
Everytime a motive reason, a teaching method, or the name of
a book was ”touched” upon, it was tallied. The tallies added
1p to a rank order of data. As Table 1 indicates, religion
vas also the dominant motive for the magazines. Our crude
.ndex tally, though, shows what Smith did not: Important
)ther motives of national prestige, and pressure for female
'ducation.

The educational writings found in the magazines tended
0 be general. The publishers ”touched” upon many facets of
eading. Thus, Benjamin Rush's defense of the Bible as a

180

 

181
school book "touched" on spellers, reading series, Bible
histories, memory, and morality. It was these touches that
were tallied and which in total created the percentage
figures in the following tables. Objections might be raised
to an article on the Bible receiving the same tally as a
one-line comment on spellers. However, history recorded
that the Bible lost and the speller endured. It seemed
better to get "touches” from many magazines printed from
Boston to Georgia, as evidence about a motive or material,
than it would be to count only major themes within an

article.

Motives

There were sixteen Colonial magazine articles that
"touched” on possible motives for instructing children in
eading. Some of these motives were negative. For example,
here was some opposition to girls going to school. Also,
t would be better to have a child grow up unlettered than
0 endanger his moral development.

There were forty Federalist period magazine articles
hat touched on motives. The motives for the two histor-
Cal periods are ranked in Table l.

A comparison of the motive rankings between the two
eriods would reveal some interesting trends. Religion
uld plummet from first place in the Colonial magazines to

St palce in the Federal magazines. In the Federal period,

 

182

the moralistic-utilitarian motive assumed first place.
These positions of dominance were in agreement with the
najor motives found by Nila Banton Smith. The second-place
Nationalistic-patriotic motive in the Colonial period
dropped to fourth-place in the succeeding period. The
classical-oral motive and the philosophical motive remained
relatively the same over the two periods. Female education
ranked last in the Colonial period. It rose to second
place in the Federalist period. A comparative analysis of
the six motives and their fate over the time was given

below.

TABLE 1

COMPARISON OF VARYING MOTIVATIONAL FORCES
FOR READING FOUND IN MAGAZINES

 

 

 

Colonial Federal
Type of Motive Period Period
Religious 43%* %
Nationalistic—Patriotic 38 25
Moralistic—Utilitarian 31 70
Classical—Oral 31 33
Philosophical 25 23
Female Education 19 48

 

*Each Colonial article represented

%; each Federal article represented 3%.

Percentage was computed as the number of
articles referring to a type of motive

over the total number of articles on mo-
tives, done separately for each period.

 

Religion

The religious motive for reading during the Colonial
period was that reading permitted one to obtain the
blessings of the Holy Scriptures at home. Religious
reading would make one a good Christian. Religious reading
in the schools would cultivate loyalty and purity, but only
in the eyes of the particular sect that controlled the local
school. By the eve of the Revolution, the sectarian groups
had become so numerous that it was difficult to say which
groups represented orthodoxy and which groups dissent.
These sects promoted schools, but only to spread their
particular views.

The various religious sects were not inclined to join

together to promote uniform public school education so long

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

as Bible reading and commentary were part of the curriculum.
All of the sects faced the threat of erosion of their youth-
ful membership to the proselytizing efforts of rival sects.
The struggle to found King's College (later Columbia Univ—
ersity) was prolonged by the question of who would hold the
hair of Divinity. Finally, the college was established
ithout Divinity.

The three Federal period articles did not possess
he religious fervor of the Colonial articles. The Epip-
rsal As lum printed a mock-heroic drama, which revealed
he heavy losses both the churches and the schools had sus—

ained during the British occupation. After the war, there

 

184

:ame the struggle to create a free-school system where
children could learn to read nonsectarian materials. Two
other Federal magazine articles reported that sectarian
groups argued that children of the same religious denomina—
tion should be educated together in separate public school
facilities. They also attempted to impose religion as a
public curriculum requirement for poor children. Impov—
erished parents refrained from sending their children to
free-schools, when such stigmatizing conditions were at—
tached. With the removal of the Bible from the classrooms,
Sectarian interference diminished. By the 18303, religious
)bstacles to the establishment of non-Sectarian free edu—
:ation had been partially removed. Over the horizon, how-
‘ver, would come growing Roman Catholic resistance to the
emnants of the King James Bible as contained in Bible
istories.
atriotic—Nationalistic Motive

”Knowledge makes men free” was a theme repeated in
11f of the Colonial period magazine articles. Through—
It the Colonies there was a fear of decline to the threat
frontier barbarism. The Puritans, nearly a century
fore, passed laws requiring the establishment of schools
are children could learn to read the laws and the Scrip—
‘65. The Puritans feared that without education, their
‘ilization would be buried in the graves of their fathers.
magazine picked up this theme, that continued neglect

education would cause the Colonies ”to sink into darkness”

 

 

185

ust like Greece and Rome. Nations could not prosper at
he same time they ”neglected literature." At this very

ime, The Independent Reflector noted that New York had

 

,llowed its educational laws to expire. It was asserted
hat the Colonies would never earn prestige in the eyes of
he British Crown so long as they continued to neglect the
ducation of youth in all the provinces.

The Federal period articles concentrated on motivating

he American people and/or its government to undertake an

xperiment in free education. ”A. Hawk" wrote: "You have
national character to establish. . . .it is necessary to
1
ll

uild it on a broad system of education. There were few
elitical guidelines to follow. In 1832, a magazine noted
1 awe the education of the masses to read constituted a
3w era in the history of mankind. The means by which the
»vernment would diffuse useful knowledge to the masses
(uld be by the two equal tracks of schools and newspapers.
e fathers of the American Revolution were well acquainted
th republican requirements from their readings of the
:ient Roman republic.

In a Republic, as every one hath to act a part, he
should be able to read and write, at least, and to
say why he will give his vote. .2

government was further instructed by the magazines as

its educational responsibilities. Education must be

 

lHawk, "Female Education," p. 368.

ZZEliop] ”On Education,” p. 238.

 

 

 

186

relative to the state of society and what the state puts a
high value on. Economically, education should keep pace
exactly with the increase of national wealth.

Historically, the new government assisted in the
development of mass public education by legislation setting
aside tracts of land in every territory for the support of
public schools and colleges. However, in the thirteen
original states, it was much less successful. The educa—
tional plans and dreams of Washington, Jefferson; the prize-
winning essays on developing schools--a11 came to naught.
The Moralistic-Utilitarian Motive

During the Colonial period, parents and guardians
were held strictly responsible for the moral welfare of
their children. No education at all was better than the
moral corruption that might occur if their children were
lodged with evil teachers, or if they were allowed to
run with low and base classmates. When compared with the
Colonial religious motive, this could also be the fear of
one religious sect losing their young to a more aggressive
missionary dissenting sect. Unlike religious instruction
which was intended for personal salvation, moral schooling
would produce the honest and virtuous citizen, neighbor,
and son. The end product, however, was allied to religion:

n orthodox child who would not wander far from his home
r family church. Good literature was seen to serve a
oral function. Without good reading, there was a kind of

oath of the soul; "a life spent in idleness, play, and

 

 

187

>auchery." Among the working class, literature could
utilized to fill up the leisure hours "which hung so
.vy upon the hands of the ignorant."
Just as a family program time has been forced upon

television networks by the anti-violence, anti—sexist
ralists" of today, the Federal period moralists attempted
control the reading revolution. They did not succeed.
ldren who were whipped through their catechism each day
ld avidly devour the latest romance at night by rush light.
Reverend Hadduck complained that "moral and Christian
cts could not compete with the novelties of the press."
e well that the minister separated moral from religious.

Southern Literary Messenger reported that it found the

 

ntless hosts of magazines, newspapers, and reviews
hildering.” The distribution of reading material had
n beyond family and community control. In the past,
dren had been seduced from their home church by the
gious propaganda broadcast doorvto—door by dissenting
s. New children were becoming insensitive to the
dishments of the rival sects, because of their addic-
to the novels and romances flooding the nation.
”Utilitarianism” was a system of ethics formulated
eremy Bentham. The impact of this ethical system was
reat that many British laws passed in the early nine-
th century were based upon his proposals. Utilitar-
sm was popular in America because it fitted in with

ing religious and moral customs. Its particular

 

 

 

188

dvantage was freedom from narrow cant and blue-stocking
ensorship. Utilitarianism succeeded where moralism did
ot, by scientifically studying the nature of the reading
ct. Subsequently, reading was divided into specific tasks.
here was reading for improving or strengthening the mind--
ard study. There was reading for gain--"read what will
spay you." There was reading for the sick and invalid.
ast, there was a begrudging admission, that "reading for
acreation and amusement” did have a place.
The goals for schooling were defined similarly by

1e closely allied moralistic-utilitarian disciples. The
)al was ”improvement.” Morality aimed at improvement of
1e heart. The Benthamites aimed at such improvement as
Lde you a better person for yourself, your employer, and
rur community. Ever since Puritan days, the objectives
reading instruction had been tied up with preservation
traditions, obedience and in submission to authorities,
d love of the laws. Down to the Federal period, there
isted this anxious need to control the youth, so that
eir education would return them to their homes and towns.
ah Webster summed up this concern: "the virtues of men
3 of more consequence to society than their abilities.
a heart should be cultivated more assiduously than the
1d.”1 Our ancestors were quite ambivalent about the

‘al function of reading. Reading had helped to spread

 

1(Websteré7"Education," p. 312.

L___‘

 

 

 

189

igious faith. But then, further reading gave rise to
res of competing dissenting sects. Through reading, the
dent could learn an ethical science of self-improvement.
that reading skill also permitted him to read Tom Paine
judge that his government by these moral standards was
rupt and should be abolished. Immoral schools were
needed so long as the child could read at home. But
the books were about other places, other peoples, other
entures; it might encourage the lad to leave the home
seek his fortune. Nevertheless, the moralists felt
iged to continue to promote reading, if just for the
son that their own philosophy could not be spread by
3r means.
Classical Motive
Latin Grammar and classical literature were practical
ects of instruction during the Colonial period. The
to professionalism was Latin-based. The minister,
ician, lawyer, scholar, and civil servant had to ac-
e this wisdom. For the lower classes, classical edu-
on had acquired a special meaning as a symbol of social
t. Classical literature was esteemed by the Colonists
moral and civic guide. The classics represented a
to be imitated, because they were the ”highest per-
'on in literature." Many of the anonymous writers in
olonial magazines disguised their identity under
ical names like ”Leander” and ”Sylvia." The new

of education found in the periodicals were copies

 

 

 

 

190

of Roman practice. For the Romans, the high point of good
education was oratory. The oral tradition remained largely
unchanged and was seen in the Latin grammar school tradition
of teaching orthography, etymology, and prosody.

By the end of the American Revolution, Samuel Magaw
could declare that a "classical education was not necessary
for everyone." Modern French was declared to be in wider
use than the dead languages. The flood of scientific
literature was just beginning which would displace all but
a few scraps of Latin from medicine and physics. Repeatedly,
Latin and Greek were charged with being "miserable wastes
of time." Although Latin and Greek would decline as languages
to be mastered, their influence persisted into the nineteenth
century. The notion of grammar teaching was Latin. The se-

1quence of learning to read was Roman, as taught in the schools.
Even the dictionary, which raised the English grammar to the
level of Latin Grammar, did not change the language curriculum.
Scientific English now could be studied according to the sci-
entific principles of Latin. Roman classics continued to be
a model for American moral development. The Roman family,
love of literacy, and stern republicanism passed into popular
American tradition. The last words of Nathan Hale before he
as executed were taken from lines in Cape.
hilosophical Motive

John Locke's sensory developmental psychology was
ouched upon by four Colonial magazines. His books promoted
eligious toleration, the family as teachers, the need to

verthrow corrupt governments, and training of the child in

 

 

 

191

the Roman virtues. The magazines tended to concentrate,
however, upon the education of the young where sensory
impressions were made on the child's mind. Locke studied
the reading materials available to children and found
nothing outside of the Psalter, primer, and Bible. He urged
parent-tutors to let their children see that names of things
came from concrete objects, and not just as books defined
them. He suggested concrete visual aids that had been used
in Quintilian's time. He discussed dice with letters, solid
objects and letters, and a lottery-type device. Here the
child would drive a pin through one hole on a lottery board
and be rewarded with a paper bearing a word.

In the Federal period, French influence over educa—
tional matters supplanted British influence. Fifty per cent
of the articles reflecting French philosophical influences

were found in Noah Webster's American Magazine. Rousseau

 

as cited five times. Voltaire and Montesquieu were both
entioned once. Montesquieu provided Americans with the
aws of education relative to the principles of comparative
overnment. Voltaire was portrayed as a great admirer of
he Puritan laws respecting the establishment of grammar
chools. England's John Locke had clearly fallen from

avor. Yet, the North American Review used the British

 

amuel Johnson as the authority for dismissing Locke's
lan of education as ”imperfect." Despite the quality of
is ideas, Rousseau was such a morally controversial figure

at Noah Webster disguised the Frenchman's ideas under the

 

 

192

heading of letters from Belzebub. It was Rousseau who
had proclaimed the State's overwhelming stake in the
education of children. The State could not afford to
chance education upon the whims of the parents. Rousseau
admitted that State education would produce a different
product than home instruction. You had to choose whether
you wanted a citizen or a man. Although Rousseau accurately
analyzed the enlarged educational role of the State, his
books were testimonials to the moral virtues of home instruc-
tion. Parents were still the best teachers for Emile and
Sophy. Like Locke, Rousseau wanted the child to learn from
Nature and not from book definitions. Rousseau was indif—
ferent to age—related curricula. The child would learn to
read when he was ready. Rousseau influenced the content of
the post-war readers. It was Rousseau who had urged that
.the youth of a country must read nothing but their country's
laws, history, literature, and biography of its heroes, in
order to develop the national character. In America, maga—
zines called for the boycotting of foreign literature, es—
ecially the British. New textbooks were criticised if
heir contents were not full of patriotic themes.
he Female Motive

In the Colonial period, girls generally learned to
ead and write at home using the needle and the sampler.
econdary sources indicated that the illiteracy rate was
ery high. Modern education could not be born, if half of

he potential student population were excluded by custom.

 

 

 

193

An anonymous writer urged females to acquire a good educa-
tion. ”Sylvia” responded that it was the male sex that
kept females out of the schools. Fathers who were thinking
of having their daughters educated were warned that they
would return home "chatterboxes."

In the Federalist period, the custom which denied
females access to education came into conflict with republi-
can principles that all be educated. Jefferson and the
Reverend Knox confessed that a systematic plan of education
for girls had never occurred to them. Knox had not progressed
further than that they should do a little reading each day.
Samuel Magaw described female education of the times thusly.
"Female instruction was left to chance. . . or conducted
very little farther than through the lowest forms."1

Females had to struggle not only with social custom,
but with a deeper prejudice. As late as 1837, a reviewer
of female literature wrote that the female mind was not
the equal of the man's mind. Three magazines favored free
education for females, but saw the female as weaker than
:he male. When admitted into the schools they were sub—
ect to curricular discrimination. The American Museum
ublished a plan for free schools for the Pennsylvania poor.
oor boys would have the three Rs. Instead of arithmetic,
oor girls would learn sewing skills. The outcome of the
truggle for female education was interpreted in varying

pys. In 1832, one magazine gave the impression that

 

1Magaw, ”An Address," p. 25.

 

 

 

 

194

multitudes of the women were well educated. However, a
scholarly study entitled ”The State of Education in America"
(1817) and another article by ”J.R.” found female education
to be ”ornamental” rather than utilitarian. L
The motivation to educate women came from Rousseau

who wrote a plan for educating his ”Sophy.” The require—
ments of the Republic that £1331 citizen be educated so as
to play a part in government was another motivating factor.
Economics played the most crucial role. It was not profit-
able to employ schoolmasters and to maintain schoolmasters
all year just for boys who attended for four months when

not otherwise employed. If girls were educated, then schools
could be established on a more permanent basis. The admis—
.sion of girls to the free schools permitted America to de—
lvelop mass education institutions. Mass instructional
facilities created opportunities to standardize the reading
rocess around group instruction and to buy more textbooks

t advantageous prices. The admission of girls increased
oral demands for a permanent cadre of moral teachers.
ducated girl graduates of the free schools would soon fur-
ish the Nation with the stable, trained corps of teachers

hat was needed to develop schools on state—wide levels.

Methods
Thirteen Colonial articles were published dealing
ith methods. In the Federal period, thirty—six magazine

ticles appeared on the same subject. Methodical concerns

 

 

195

of the two periods were tabulated below.

TABLE 2

COMPARISON OF METHOD ISSUES AS REVEALED
IN MAGAZINE ARTICLES

 

 

 

Colonial Federal
Methods Issues Period Period
Readiness 15%* 22%
Instructors
Parents 38 19
Teachers 23 6
Place of Instruction
Home 30 19
Primary School 8 36
Academy 15 17
Curriculum
Subject Matter ' — l7
ABC—Syllabic Reading — 14
Oral Emphasis 15 25
Memory Dependence 8 30
Reading Comprehension - ll
Purpose of Reading - 9
New Alphabets - 17
Goals for Reading - 9

 

*Each Colonial article represented approximately

1
} Miscellaneous
8%; each Federal article represented approximately 3%.

A comparative analysis of the above table would re-
'eal some interesting trends. During the Colonial period,
:he primary focus of magazine interest was on the parents
,5 the best instructors of children. Second in interest,
as the home which was seen to be the natural place of

nstruction. Third, there were negative attacks on teachers

196

in_general.

By the time of the Federalist period, the major
magazine focus turned to the primary school, or instruction
outside of the home. From that point, Federal interest
tended to split into many channels of interest, especially
into schoolroom practices. The home as the place of
instruction declined considerably. Despite the teachings
of Rousseau, the Colonial notions about parent-tutors
diminished appreciably. The "professional" teacher declined
as a subject of interest. However, the negative writings
about teachers also tended to disappear. The subjects of
readiness and of academies remained relatively constant
over the two periods. In summary, Colonial interests
centered around home methods, whereas Federal interests

urned to the ideas of free schools for all, where all
anks of children would receive a wide range of curricular
.ttention.

ieadiness

Interest in readiness for reading remained low but
:onstant over the two Magazine periods. In the Colonial
.ays, magazines followed John Locke in calling for children
0 be provided with such literature as their years are
apable of receiving. As memory was the major talent exer-
ised in mastering the endless syllable columns, the child
as ready to begin his reading program as soon as he could
rticulate the sounds of words.

The theme relating starting reading with the ability

 

 

 

 

 

~ '~ ._..—. M. - .-— --—-—‘ -4-- ‘ '- '
W--amw...l-.u __. ,- . 1-1... .

197

to enunciate words was sustained through the Federalist
period. Thus a child could start as young as three years
to learn his letters. A readiness-to-book reading program

was formalized by the Pennsylvania'Magazine. In this pro—

 

gram, 3 child must know (1) his alphabet in order, (2) his
letter and syllabic sounds, before (3) starting to read
words. Learning to read may have been a very long and/or

uncertain process, however. An article in the American

 

Magazine pointed out that boys were being started in arith-

 

 

metic too early, before they could either read or write.
The ages cited were eight-to-ten years. Five periodicals
echoed the sentiments of Dr. Samuel Johnson that the sub-
ject matters contained in the reading book was irrelevant
so long as it was carefully adapted to the little children's
existing knowledge. The prolonged dispute about continuing
to use the Bible as a school textbook spilled over into the
readiness area. Dr. Rush agreed that studies should be
proportioned to the children's years--except for religion,

which was suited to the infant state of reason.

 

The age at which children commenced or terminated
their beginning reading instruction was very uncertain. One
riter complained of children being shut up in "hovels" from
he age of six-to-twelve years. It was not unknown for tod-
lers to attend common school with babysitting older siblings.
eadiness at the higher levels was based more on acquirements
ban on age. For example, Benjamin Rush obtained his Univer—

ity degree from Princeton after one year of attendance.

 

 

 

198

The entrance age requirement to grammar schools was left
blank by Benjamin Franklin in his educational plan. But
Franklin and other magazine writers suggest admission into
"intermediate" levels of schooling between nine and twelve
years of age.
The Instructors

A considerable number of the magazines of both periods
cast their vote for home instruction. Religious and moral-
istic motives supported fireside instruction at the knee of
a loving mother. Such a method was better than exposing
the child's soul to the vices of groups of children, or the
wiles of low teachers. Teaching was not considered a suit-
able profession for a man. College graduates stooped to it
while waiting for ministerial posts to become open to them.
It was not uncommon, especially in the Colonial days for
Americans to obtain their teachers through the system of
indenture or convict labor. Invalided soldiers and men
down-on—their—luck, or just the men that towns could best
spare in this era of labor shortages, became the transient
teachers. One magazine addressed some teachers as drunk-
ards, gamesters, and hidden papists. Advertisements were
seen in the newspapers promising rewards for the return of
runaway schoolmasters. A ship's captain advertised his
arrival with notice of a dockside sale of Irish potatoes
nd Irish schoolmasters. The Classical motive was partly
o blame for the traditional low esteem in which teachers

ere held. Both Greeks and Romans had looked on teaching

 

 

 

 

 

 

IIIIIIIIII________________________—__‘ “'Vflm ‘

199

beginning reading as a task fit only for slaves. The almost
perfect letter-to-sound correspondence of the dead languages
permitted a slave to teach his master's children their ABCs
in a very brief time. The women who might have become
teaChers were cut off from this career because of (a) custom,
and (b) because they were rarely schooled themselves. The
hallowed method was for the mother to teach her little child
his ABCs, hymns, and other rudimentary exercises under the
careful supervision of the father. Around the age of five,
the father would assume the role of tutor to his son, or
employ a tutor to board with the family and govern the edu-
cation of the growing child. As long as the Bible and the

Psalter were parts of the well-used family library and re—

 

peated in use twice-a-week in church, the child could very
well learn the narrow-Bible curriculum as well at home as
at school. The poor teacher had to utilize whatever text-
books his scholars brought to the school with them. Gener-
ally,this was the Bible and the schoolmaster could not
demonstrate his college skills in any superior way at the
level of ABC—syllabic learning. Thus, primary schools as
the foundation for mass reading instruction could not come
into full bloom working, as it were, under the cheaper and
moralistic competition of the mother.

After the Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson, Noah
Webster and others applied the science of comparative
government to the state of education. A republic, by defini-
tion, was made up of literate citizens who must fully parti—

Cipate in all legislative matters. The prerequisite skills

 

 

200

for citizenship and for the survival of the republic were
reading, writing, and oral expressive abilities. To safe-
guard the republic, the idea of mass education where every
citizen could be indiscriminately educated, was widely
disseminated. The primary or common school level wasfde-
cided upon as the seedbed of fundamental democratic educa-
tion. Patriots demanded that the children be taught Ameri-
can history, laws, biography, poetry, and inventions in
order to develop a national character. Textbook publishers
responded with spellers and readers containing these patri-
otic sentiments, but well grounded on the grammatical
principles popularized in new dictionaries of the American
language. For some reason, the post—war American community
was less inclined than ever to support institutionalized
religion. The Bible was gradually displaced as the major
common school textbook by the attractive and patriotic new
school literature. Specialist teachers were clearly needed
to teach orthography, etymology, and prosody, as well as
the specialized principles of natural science, geography,
and history. The mother could no longer compete with the
poor teacher as she had in the old Biblical Colonial days.
Criticisms of home instruction began. "Anaximander" in

the Boston Magazine factually reported that the education

of the very young children generally devolves on the woman.

ut she was unfit for that task if educated in the common
anner (i.e., at home with the needle and sampler.)

naximander advocated formal schooling for girls. The

 

201

alphabet reformer, J.G. Chambers wrote in the Universal
Asylum that mothers were no longer capable of educating
their children. He hoped his reformed alphabet would per-
mit mothers to regain their posts as initial reading
teachers of their offspring. Unless, spelling reform was
instituted, he warned, it would be necessary to have
children go to a school to learn to read.

In summary, home instruction slowly disappeared from
the teaching scene in the face of republican pressure, but
more important, in the face of new textbooks they could not
master. In the 19305, Bertrand Russell was to demonstrate
the efficacy of home instruction once again in the face
of dangerous polio epidemics. As recently as 1975, an
article appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine which

‘showed that dedicated college—trained mothers could provide
home instruction of a higher quality than the local public
schools. Thus, the pendulum may be poised for a return
swing to home education as economic hardships, bussing,
school strikes, and high taxes continue to disenchant many
American parents.

The Place of Instruction

The home was the natural place for instruction during

olonial days because custom and law made the family the
ajor agency for the transfer of culture from one generation
0 the next. There was only a single inference to early
Chooling in the Pennsylvania Magazine. ”The first entrance

0 the Garden of Human Knowledge leads only through a long

 

202

barren path, producing little else but a few useful and
necessary herbs.”1
During the Federalist period, the percentage of
attention devoted to home instruction declined. Rousseau,
who predicted the State's dominion over the education of
its future citizens, wrote Emile as a tribute to home
schooling. In this respect, Rousseau followed in Locke's
footsteps. The repetitious Puritan laws requiring towns
to maintain schools was a measure of provincial frustration
to the repeated resistance of the Puritan families to follow
the ”Olde Deluder” and similar ordinances. Puritan, Colo—
nial, and Federalist period families wanted to confine be-
ginning education to their homes. But the post-Colonial
period, as reflected in the magazines, was under new and
powerful pressures to move in the direction of public edu-
cation for all. Noah Webster reinstituted the disregarded
Puritan common school laws by urging that every small dis-
trict should be furnished with a school, at least four
months in a year, when boys are not otherwise employed.
Following the Roman and Puritan examples, men like Jefferson
and Webster were promoting two to three years of free
schooling where children of all ranks and persuasions would
be indiscriminately mixed and provided with the rudiments
of learning. Jefferson thought that a few years of reading
and writing would result in citizens who, with the aid of

newspapers, could live happy and productive agrarian lives.

 

aéfiopkinsonj7”An extraordinary Dream,” p. 16.

 

 

203

Secondary sources have shown that the schemes of
Franklin, Jefferson, Rush, Washington, Knox concerning the
establishment of common schooling for all the multitudes
came to nought. As late as 1817, a creditable essay on
"The State of Education in America" reported on the failure
to develop free schools in the South, or in Delaware and
Maryland where academies predominated. Only in New England
which had a Puritan religious heritage that required liter-
acy did the free-schools succeed on the ruins of the old

common schools. The Yankee migrants across the mountains

 

carried this reSpect for letters with them into the North-
west Territory. Indiana and Ohio, with the aid of Federal
ordinances set aside large parcels of land for the support
Of public schools, thus succeeding in establishing initia-
tory seminaries.

New York was just beginning to develop a primary
System. The IndependentRefleCtor had criticized the
New York legislature for allowing the school law to expire
back in 1753. The legislators had replied that common 1
schools were unnecessary because of the "natural genius"
of its children. In order to catch up, Governor De Witt
Clinton would employ an Englishman to start "public"
monitorial schools where upwards of six hundred boys could

be educated quickly and cheaply in a single room. The

 

Lancaster-monitorial system would prevail in New York
until 1860. Across the states, free-schools in the cities

were doing very poorly. Rich parents patronized the

 

204

academies. Poor parents kept their children out rather
than endure the stigma of charity. Poor parents particu-
larly resented the heavy doses of religion given in free-
schools along with the 3 Rs. Calvinistic thought and Locke
philosophy had popularized the notion that the person who
lived a moral life and worked hard would be rewarded by
God in this life. The failure of the poor then would seem
like proof of laziness and immorality. Hence, there was
the emphasis on religion in the urban free-schools.
Academies prospered after the Revolutionary War. For
a time, it appeared that their success would lead to the
total destruction of public schools. One magazine wrote of
its fears that the success of the academies would cause
the Republic to gallop fast into aristocracy. Several fac—
tors conspired to save the public schools. First, there
was this sincere belief of national leaders that public
education was vital to a republican form of government.
Second, the general availability of excellent textbooks
and the emergence of a corps of dedicated, trained female
teachers gave public primary education new respectability.
Third, the passage of time showed fearful parents that
mixing of the children in the public schools did not lead
to riot, sedition, and moral corruption. Last, but not
least, there was the Cheapness of a public system which,
in many respects, was the equal of some of the academies.
Nevertheless, right into the 18305, magazines

printed nostalgic accounts of parent schooling. The

L____

 

 

 

 

205

Christian Examiner praised self-educated men. It dis-

 

counted the building of schools, maintaining this truism:
"Reading. . .is. . .the great school of modern mankind."
Public schools were called ”hovels" and "despicable."

Both England and America complained in their periodicals

of the "time, expense, and hardship of initiatory studies"
upon the public. Samuel Johnson was quoted as blessing the
person who would ”smooth and shorten the paths of elemen~
tary requirements."

By the 18405, young women were leaving home to work
in the factories or to attend normal schools as teacher-
cadets. Young men no longer waited for their inheritance,
but left for the free—soil of the frontier. The old ex-
tended family of Puritan days was being reduced to the basic
‘ nucleus of husband and wife, with both of them fully em—
ployed. The new type of American family generally lacked
the time to train their children in the old ways. Although
they needed their children on the land or to assist in the
mills, many had the common sense to send their sons and
daughters to the local schools. That they did so without
any great enthusiasm does not diminish the achievement of
the rise of public instruction despite nearly two hundred
years of neglect and avoidance.

Curriculum
Subject Matter.-—Federal articles appeared which contained
ideas about the subject matter to be offered in the primary

schools. The subject matter reflected the content of the

 

 

206

spellers and the eclectic reading series. The sequence
by which children learned to read and write (orthography),
was described thusly:

A. Mastery of the alphabet

1. names of letters and ABC sequence mastered

orally

2. written alphabet and visual-oral mastery
B. Syllable mastery

l. mastery of lists of single syllables

2. mastery of lists of double syllables

3. mastery of lists of three syllables

4. finally, mastery of four syllable lists
C. Spelling

1. competitive spelling (spelling bee)

2. written spelling
D. Reading

1. American history

2. law, government

3. "virtue"

The sequence may not have been absolute. One article
contained descriptions of teachers who started with words
or entire sentences after the methods used in France and
Scotland. In other cases, the children advanced to words
as soon as they had mastered a few pertinent letters.

The Puritans also insisted that children read about
their province's laws and about virtue. The town meeting
form of government and the ethics of the Bible made the
Puritan curriculum appear very similar to the intent of
the curriculum of the Federalist magazines. The ABC—
syllabic road to reading in the Federalist period appeared
to be the same as the Puritan hornbook—primer road to reading

inasmuch as the contents of both were also ABC-syllabic in

sequence.

 

 

207

Oral Emphasis.--Adhering to the Classical educational ideal
of the orator, the Colonial magazines devoted some atten—
tion to oratory, or correct speaking. The expense and
scarcity of rag paper, of leather binding, the need to im-
port print type, the unavailability of slateboards or pen-
cils must be noted as technological barriers to any other
educational approach than the oral. The large, non-English
speaking population (especially German, Scotch, and Irish)
was a threat to the existence of the true English tongue.
Just as the Puritans feared that the religious culture of
their fathers would be buried with them, so did the

American Magazine touch on a related but linguistic fear:

 

"for we are so great a mixture of people speaking a variety
of languages and dialects, the true pronunciation and
writing of our own language might soon be lost among us.”1
In the Federalist period, magazines continued to
print information on oratory in the curriculum. Public
oral examinations of students were popular. An entire
magazine essay was devoted to gesture and posture in
”public speaking." Revolutionary War heroes like Washing—
ton were posed, half-naked in marble, wearing the Roman
toga and in a Classical orator's pose. The flood of novels
and romances only prompted one writer to hope that such
reading would improve conversation skills. Republican

government required every citizen to be able to say why

 

1"Account of the College," American Magazine, p. 631.

 

208

he votes for one issue and not another. The local town—
meeting types of government encouraged every citizen to
say his piece. Factory workers and bank clerks hired
one of their number to read to them each day as they worked.
Oratory may have affected reading instruction to the
extent that silent reading was largely unknown. One maga-
zine critic complained about being made part of a captive
audience in every coffee house and barbershop, as some
customer would rise to ”spell out" the latest happenings
in the newspaper. Evidently, reading was a treasure to be
shared with others between 1741-1840. As the latest serial—
ized chapter of Charles Dickens came off the press, entire
families would gather in church-halls to hear the progress
of Oliver Twist or Little Nell. Illiterate adult listeners
‘ could comprehend the sentiment of a Dickens' adventure,
even if their reader was a small boy who was reciting
mechanically, without much understanding himself. Oratory
continued to be a popular subject at all school levels and
in all general school textbooks into the early twentieth
century.

Memory Dependence.—-The magazines of both periods had

 

thoroughly studied memory as the foundation faculty for
learning to read. For the Colonials, memory was a faculty
exercised the first of any other mental faculties in youth.
It was also considered necessary for study of and making
progress in the dictionary. Eleven post-Colonial magazines

touched on memory. Mrs. Sedgwick recalled her childhood

 

 

 

209

days when she wrote in Godey's Ladies Book that learning

 

the primer was by rote and mechanical repetition. A
language professor noted that to learn the dead languages,
only memory skill was required.
In general, educators appealed to memory because the
schooling careers of most children was so short. The
parents demanded that teachers return their children home
in as short a time as possible. They wanted them turned
out as mechanically proficient readers (spelling-decoders),
who would write and speak in the elegant style of the
better classes. Both Benjamin Franklin and William Godwin
likened many such child graduates to monkeys and parrots.
Dr. Benjamin Rush looked upon learning to read English as l
the same as mastering a foreign tongue. Thus, he recommended 1
‘that children learn grammar rules by exercises in easy con— 1
versations, instead of rote memory. Numerous complaints
appeared in the Federal magazines that the overemphasis on
memory hindered the development of understanding (comprehen-
sion) of reading material. However, understanding was de—
fined in several different ways. It appeared that educators
chose to continue to rely on memory until the best method of
ttaining true understanding could be determined.

eading Comprehension.-—Comprehension was not a magazine

 

opic during the Colonial period. Perhaps memory of reli—
ious materials was so reinforced by daily family Scripture
eading and prayer, and by twicesweekly church services

hat understanding was assumed by the child's attitude of

 

 

IIIIIIIIII___——————————————————————-——————————————————————vr 1,--iillii

210

proper piety. Even at the higher levels, the Colonists
read relatively few books. They read them repeatedly to
the point of mastery. The few books they read were prac~
tical. Understanding of English law, Utopia, John Locke,
and religious sermons was seen in how the Colonists applied
such content to their daily lives. Moreover, every town
possessed a minister and a few other learned people who
could help convert memorized material into practical advice.

The Colonists dwelt upon what they had read or heard.
The Scriptures were topics of common conversation. Even such
a mundane thing as the breaking of a glass at a jovial pic-
nic would elicit Scriptural comment. Living what they had 1
learned, reading comprehension as a concept meant little to
the Colonists.

With the Revolutionary War, it became ”fashionable"
(in Dr. Rush's words) to disregard the Scriptures. The
Bible was pushed out of the common schools as a major text.
The new school books and the flood of novels, romances,
tracts, geological and physical sciences, comparative
government and geography tended to change the traditional
reliance on memory. It was hard for a farmer to practice
Egyptology as he plowed his fields. Despite the flow of
ropaganda on democracy, the Constitution, and new plans
or education, the post—war people tended to remain in the
ame agrarian world as their Plymouth Rock and Jamestown
ncestors. Thus, a child's mastery of a new subject

ould have to be determined in schools, because there would

 

 

211

be little or no way to reinforce that learning at home or

in the community. Because the teachers had not yet reached
the level of becoming subject matter specialists, under—
standing could not be measured by the respective scientific
measures of history, geology, and so forth. Teachers fell
back on their own Classical Latin-grammar training to measure
understanding of any field. The science of grammar including
the new dictionary would be the measure. The child would be
assessed thusly:

l. The child would write or recite an accurate para-
phrasal of what he had read. Synonym or antonym usage
measured the power of his understanding

2. When presented with a new situation, the child
would demonstrate his understanding by his ability to
correctly select the most tasteful model in literature to
imitate. For example, if given the role of Patrick Henry,
he might select a model of polemic and not an elegy.

3. As the mood in an oral reading changed, the child
would demonstrate the correct sentiment: weeping at sad
parts, and showing a commanding stance when giving the
imperative, etc. A monotone intonation, would indicate no
understanding as measured by sentiment.

4. Comprehension was also measured by the child‘s
ability to parse reading materials with or without the aid
of a dictionary. For example, a child might be asked to
brthographically parse the everyday word, inkstand. He

vould answer along the following lines: Inkstand. It is

 

 

212

a compound, primitive dissyllable, accented on the first.

Spelled, orthographically, i,n,k,s,t,a,n,d, phonetically,
The base of the word is Stand, modified

i,9,k,s,t,a,n,d.
The

by the word ink, signifying here, a fluid for writing.
word signifies a vessel for holding the fluid.

Even with the advent of subject matter specialist
teachers and specialized readers (on agriculture, world

history, etc.) towards the end of the Federalist period,

memory still continued to dominate understanding. Mastery

of geography, for example, was measured by (1) map drawing

skills and (Z) memorization of concepts such as volcano and

peninsula.

Miscellaneous Methods
Purpose of Reading.--In the Colonial period, the purpose of

reading was to make the student a good christian. Reading

the Holy Scriptures would implant the principles of piety

in his heart. The concept of piety was close to the con-

cept of virtue as defined by the ancient Romans and by

John Locke. A virtuous person was morally strong and

honest in his dealings with those around him. Virtue was

a trait of the common man, whereas honor was the trait

assigned to the aristocratic rank held by a man. The

Colonists believed that reading could rescue a person from

a life of debauchery. One writer was moved to state that

Without literature there was a kind of death of the soul.
In the Federal period, the purpose of reading was

iivided among some of the motivating forces encouraging

 

 

 

213

learning to read. Republicanism saw it as essential if

every citizen was to fully participate in his government.
The moralists saw it as a safeguard against the temptations

of leisure and idleness. Utilitarians discovered that

reading improved the heart. Noah Webster maintained that

education must concentrate itself on improving the hearts

of children. He thought that society could survive the

lack of mental improvement in children, but not the neglect
of their hearts (or virtue.) Utilitarianism proved useful

in helping the isolated frontiersman and the youth newly

arrived in the big city learn how to prosper. Utilitarian-

ism divided the reading act into reading for self improve-

ment, reading for material gain, reading for health, and

reading for diverting the mind from daily cares. Utilitar-
ianism helped produce specialized reading materials that
helped men master the skills demanded by the Industrial

Revolution. As an aside, it might be noted that evening

schools for adults was growing at a much faster rate than

was the more traditional types of schools. Apprentices,

clerks, and women, were acquiring basic and specialized

skills in the pioneer equivalents of continuing education.

In some of the articles written between 1741—1840, it was

difficult, if not impossible to determine if the author

was addressing himself to the needs of adults or of children.
In summary, the purpose of reading in the Colonial

period was to become good Christians. In the Federalist

period, the major purpose was to learn the English language

 

 

 

214

correctly in its oral and written (spelling) form.

New Alphabets.-=Although there was considerable concern

during the Colonial period about reforming the alphabet,

the major arguments were not printed until Federalist times.
Reforming the English orthography or spelling during

the Colonial period was a hobby of Benjamin Franklin and

others. Franklin wanted to present his spelling reform

plan to the public in his magazine, but he lacked the
necessary type (to be imported from England) to give illus-

trations of his arguments in phonetic print. Franklin was

on the side of Spelling according to usage. He was opposed

by the full weight of University scholarship who feared that

language would decay more than it had if the etymological

sources of Spelling were lost to mankind. With the advent

of Dr. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary in 1755, new impetus for

reform was started.
In the Federalist period another Pennsylvanian,
J.G. Chambers, would present a plan trying to reunite the

letter symbol with a distinctive sound. Their arguments

were close to the modern day Pitman i/t/a (initial teaching
alphabet) approach where each letter of an expanded alpha—

bet has but one sound. This would permit children to learn

to read as fast as they could visually and orally match the
letters in a word. Like the ancient Greek and Roman
Children, it was hoped that learning to read (decode) would

become a matter of a very brief teaching period.

 

L, ._ -..-
-_ . ,_,._.

 

 

 

215

Reformers like J.G. Chambers promoted their plans
with the appeal that such alphabets meant that children
could either learn at home, or be sent home from school
much quicker. Such advertising was very attractive to the
head of a family who needed his son's help on the farm,
or to the moralistic parent who feared the bad habits that
might be acquired in mixing with other children in school.

Reformers like Franklin and Noah Webster tried to
base spelling on modern usage. Thus, Webster would spell
words the way they sound, e.g., ”The boy haz red hiz book."
The etymological—grammarians won, however, to the consterna-
tion of children everywhere who had to learn to parse words

according to grammar instead of understand words according

to their sensory experience.

Materials

The Bible was the leading reading material of the
Colonial period. The dominant interest of Federal period
magazines was in a wide variety of school books. Of
secondary interest to the Colonials was a wide variety of
materials appropriate to college classrooms or to adult
education. The new mass media arising from the printing
revolution was of secondary interest to the Federalist
magazines. For the Colonists, school materials appropriate
20 lower education ranked third. Their magazines contained
-rticles on the new Dictionaries and reprints of John Locke—

uintilian concrete aids to reading. For the Federalist

 

 

216

magazines, the Bible ranked third. But in some respects

this ranking reflected negative magazine interests. For

a more detailed, comparative analysis, Table 3 was presented
below.

TABLE 3

COMPARISON OF TYPES OF MATERIALS USED FOR READING
AS NOTED IN MAGAZINES

 

 

 

Colonial Federalist

Types of Materials Period Period
The Bible 70%* 33%
Mass Media 10 50
Magazines 10 10
Newspapers -- 7
Novels and Romances -- 33
School Materials 30 81
Reading Series Books -- 20
Spellers -- l7
Primers -- l3
Dictionaries 10 10
Psalters -- 7
Hornbooks -- 7
Concrete Aids 20 7
Miscellaneous Materials 70 --
Philosophy Books-Locke 20 ——
History-Classics 20 -—
Science-Newton lO —-
Needle—Female Ed. 10 -—
10 —-

Rostrum-Oratory

 

*A single Colonial article represented 10%; Each
Federal article represented approximately 3%.

The Bible
The Colonists did not look on the Bible only as a

church-book or school text. Magazine content revealed that

the Bible was considered as a valuable social tool for the

 

217

common man. Through the Bible, the adult's ability to con—
verse on ordinary tOpics was believed to be improved. It
was a moral almanac to which the poor might resort as they
faced crises in the course of community living. The child
was generally given the Bible as a reading book as soon as
he had mastered the sequence of hornbook ABCs, syllables,
and primer catechism. However, in poor or isolated fron-
tier areas, the Bible may have been used as a primer, or
first book. Analysis of other Colonial magazine content
revealed that the Bible was the only reading material for
orphans cared for by Methodists in Georgia. Bible reading
was a daily requirement of the new College and Academy of
Philadelphia.

Seven of the ten Federalist period articles that
touched on the Bible dealt with its inappropriateness as
a learning-to—read textbook. Dr. Benjamin Rush and his
followers supported the continued use of the Bible in the
common schools because of its: (a) Cheapness, (b) easy
availability in every store, and (c) because of the John
Locke—type impress it made on the minds and hearts of youth.
Noah Webster and his followers took a more learning—
oriented viewpoint. The Bible was not suitable as a
reading book in the primary grades. The words were not
arranged in any order of increasing difficulty. The cus—
tom of reading the text by verse might deprive the child of
any sense of a larger meaning of the contents. The explana-

tions that a teacher would have to make were subject to the

 

 

 

218

jealous and suspicious overview of the many competing

sects. Webster maintained that children would learn to

read better with the new educational tools such as the
speller, reading series books, and dictionary. The Webster
side of the dispute was supported by the philosophical
arguments of Rousseau, who maintained that young children
could not grasp such abstractions. Moreover, the religious
themes would only confuse them and make them turn from
religion in their youth. The nostalgic "History of Elemen-
tary School Books"1 written by the anonymous antiquarian,
reminded its subscribers that the Bible, the church-Psalter,
and the speller were the three most frequently used school
books up to the time of the Revolutionary War. This would
be expected in the more or less isolated agrarian villages
\where only women or churchmen would be available to under—
take teaching children to read. During the post—war period,
however, state legislation was passed prohibiting the use
of religious books in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Children
might hear only the teacher read a passage from the King
James Bible, along with some brief patriotic theme before
starting the school day. Such state and local ordinances
undercut the Rush argument. It was no longer profitable

for booksellers to stock such material for school use.

The moralists were appeased by the absorption of Biblical
and moral themes in the ”Bible Extracts,” ”Bible Histories“

that were incorporated into the new and varied school books.

 

 

1Appearing in New England Magazine, II, 1832.

 

 

 

219

The Bible disappeared from the cities and the larger towns
before 1800. It persisted in the South and on the frontier
for a longer span of time.
Mass Media V

In the Colonial period, a single article reported
that reading ”Spectators, Ramblers, and Monthly Magazines“
were required in the College and Academy of Philadelphia,
in order to ”improve style and knowledge of life.” Benjamin
Franklin and many Americans sought upper class elegance and
self improvement by carefully imitating the essay style of
these British periodicals.

In contrast to this Colonial focus on adult and
higher education, post-Colonial magazines reviewed media
use in lower schools and among the young. In the Federalist

period, Noah Webster's American Magazine compared types of

 

schooling with modes of government. It was noted that
”newspapers" were considered the coequal of schools in
diffusing knowledge and love of the laws to the masses.
Other magazine articles commented on the continued popu-
larity of the British Spectator. After reading some of its
contents, schoolchildren would be asked to parse the words
and to paraphrase what they had read in written composition.
Finally, the instructor would read the studied essay aloud,
then put the children to work imitating his correct and
elegant oral delivery.

Ten Federalist articles were printed on the subject

of novels and romances. The popularity of novel—reading

 

 

 

 

220

was deplored by most of the magazines. Such reading was
neither utilitarian or morally-uplifting. Girls who read
novels to excess were in great danger of loving every man
they met. However, the inclusion of extracts of novels in
the new reading series and the genius and moral purity of
the books of Walter Scott and Charles Dickens tended to
dissipate American fears by the early 18005.
School Materials

One Colonial magazine touched on popular interest in
the recent publication of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary. The
few other Colonial articles touched on John Locke and the
ancient Quintilian in describing such aids to reading as
te-totems, ivory letters, dice, and lotteries. Subscribers
were reminded that Locke and Quintilian had urged that
children should learn the names of things from the presenta-
tion of objects, and not by mere bookish definitions. The
quality of hardness was learned by the father having his
son knock on a table. Certainly, "hardness” should not be

a matter of rote memory. The Independent Reflector article

 

endorsed the use of dictionaries for their etymological
value, because "we are ignorant of the languages from whence
they are derived.” Secondary sources related that during
this time there was much fear about the decay of the English
tongue. Thus, the dictionary was looked upon as a bulwark
in preserving the true grammar of the past.

The Federalist period articles, in contrast, were

written with the view that the dictionary provided an

 

 

 

 
 

 

221

acceptable standard for correct oral pronunciation, in—
cluding the ”force" of oral delivery, and a standard for
correct writing (spelling.) Federalist era children now had
a standardized aid to understanding the meaning of words and
for grammatical parsing. British dictionaries, particularly
Walkers, gave Noah Webster's contribution fierce competition
for the educational market. The importance of the diction—
ary to the development of modern education was underrated.
Coarse and isolated adults could by serious study learn to
speak in the measured accents and elegant tones of the upper
classes. The Yankee Doodle bumpkin image given to Ameri-
cans by their British cousins could be overcome at last.

National leaders saw the dictionary and the mass of reading

 

materials as a tool for unifying the language and the

 

thinking of the scattered and isolated American peoples.
With the aid of a dictionary, teaching reading in English
could rise to the scientific level of teaching Latin and
Greek. The rise of the English grammar schools as coequal
institutions with the old Latin schools was one outcome.
Parents could resort to teachers with more assurance that
what they taught could be measured by an outside criterion.
Spellers and reading series were printed with careful
attention to dictionary grammar. Public spelling bees be—
came a source of entertainment and competition among little
towns with the dictionary acting as interlocutor. At last,
teachers could be quickly trained scientifically in the

rudiments of English grammar and their capabilities

 

 

 

 

IIIIIIIIIZZZT_______________________________________-__“T II‘ F'

222
measured. Teacher supervision could advance from the
Colonial overseeing of religious orthodoxy to the Federal—
ist superintending of learning progress.

The role of the dictionary and grammar materials in
the development of normal school teacher training would
make for interesting future research.

Reading Series

There were six post-Colonial articles about the new
reading books which were organized in a "graded" sequence.
These series could be sold to progressive school boards to
permit them to teach children reading from the very be-
ginning (orthography) up to and including_good literature

for oral reading (prosody.) The reading series helped the

 

teacher by providing a sequence that could be used by the
thirty or more children in a single room. Thus the infant
could be amused with ABC pictures while the restless and
unruly teenager could find escape in romantic excerpts.

As towns progressed, the school series could be easily
divided among several teachers as enrollment increased.
Inevitably, crowding and age range would lead to depart—
mentalization and grading, which the reading series could
easily accomodate. Bingham produced the most popular
”American” reader set, which was built around a grammar,
speller, Bible extracts, and story books. Magazines con-
tained reviews of Bingham, Hillard, Pickett, Adam, and
Webster reading series. Webster built his series as a

"Grammatical Institute” around his famous dictionary.

 

 

 

 

223

However, the most popular readers in America came
from Britain. For some reason, Lindley Murray fled America
during the Revolutionary War. In England, he produced his
"English Reader" series which proved a popular export.
Despite the critical reviews of Murray in the magazines,
and especially in the new teacher journals, Murray's books
prospered. (Thus, although magazines were an important
source of information about past happenings, their authority
and ability to influence the public are subject to question.)

American reading series editors were sensitive to the
needs of the new American government, the new moral and
utilitarian standards, as well as the cultural lags to be
found in the school trade. Thus the readers tried to touch
all the bases by incorporating into their contents patri—
otic, moral, and religious themes, picture alphabets,
spelling lists, recipes, dictionary definitions, and speeches
of Patrick Henry to be read aloud.

Webster wrote that spellers came into common use
shortly before the American Revolution began. There it
joined the Bible and the Psalter (hymn—book) as the only
books in popular common school usage. More than likely,
the first speller was the British import of Dilworth.
Webster also noted the limited use of the spellers of
Fenning and Perry. The speller continued to gain ground in
the schoolhouses, but really blossomed with the advent of
Webster's famous "blue-back" speller. Rural America used

the Webster book for nearly a century. But, Webster himself

 

 

 

 

224

complained, in a magazine article that they never caught
on in the larger towns or cities. Urban areas preferred
the reading series.

The Primer, Psalter, and Hornbook

Four Federalist magazines contained articles on the
primer. Most were nostalgic writings about the use of the
primer in the good old days. Mrs. Sedgwick wrote in Godey's
Ladies Book that when she was a child the primer was used
as a catechism. It was a text to be learned by rote. She
maintained that the modern materials were superior to the
old catechism—primer, despite its nostalgic appeal. One
new primer-—the Alden Primer—-was reviewed in a magazine.
The reviewer complained that it was not receiving the
attention it merited. Much of the primer content was ab—
sorbed in the new spellers and reading series.

Two articles treated the Psalter or hymnbook in
nostalgic fashion. Its use in the old schools was described
by one commentator who remembered children prattling over
the Psalter, loading their memory with hymns. State and
local ordinances, as well as the competing new books,
probably caused the demise of this old churchbook.

There were two nostalgic articles about the hornbook.
An 1832 article was noteworthy because it described the
hornbook as if it were something completely foreign to his
reading public.

The Colonial College Books and Rostrum

Except for scant attention to the dictionary and the

 

 

 

 

225

Quintilian devices, Colonial magazines revealed an interest
in the materials of higher education. One female complained
about being excluded from college where she might have
studied Newton and Locke. There were inferences in the
article that the major tool used by females in learning to
read was the ”needle." Another article advised youth to
read ”history” for the value of its moral lessons. The
rostrum or pulpit was an important tool for teaching oral
reading in the College and Academy of Philadelphia. These
isolated interests of the Colonials were not found in the

Federalist magazines of the next period.

Concluding Summation

 

A summary table was devised to show how motives,
methods, and materials were combined in the two historical

periods to produce certain basic reading themes.

TABLE 4

PREDOMINANT READING THEMES IN COLONIAL
AND FEDERAL PERIODS

 

 

 

Colonial Federal

Period Period
Motive Religious Nationalistic-Moralistic
Method Home Instruction Primary Schools
Material The Bible The Reader Series

 

l. The leading motive of the Colonial period was

eligious. Reading would make one a good Christian.

 

 

 

226

Following closely behind religion, were important other
motives including the nationalistic, moral, and female
issues.

2. The leading motive of the Federalist period was
clearly moralistic. Associated with it was patriotic and
nationalistic interests.

Method

1. The parent—tutor educating his children at home
with the handy Holy Scriptures was pictured as the dominant
method during the Colonial days.

2. Reluctantly, home instruction showed signs of
waning in the Federalist period. Magazine discussion of
the public school method reflected curiosity as much as
advocacy.

Material

1. The Bible was integral to the closely knit
family—church structure of the Colonial period. It was
clearly the dominant material.

2. The reading series had the edge among a wide
variety of materials covered by Federalist magazines.

Suggestions for Further Study

 

1. Magazine articles on reading instruction from
1741-1840 tended to be vague, general, and sentimental. But
from 1840 to 1956, magazine descriptions of the reading pro—
cess become much more clearly defined. The magazine arti-
cles from 1840 on have been collected and wait the analysis

of some scholar in the future.

 

 

 

227

2. The role of the new dictionary in the develop-
ment of a science of teacher education would make a fas-
cinating study. The role of the graded reading series in
materially suggesting the_grading of hitherto open class-
rooms would also be a timely study.

3. American History is receiving reinterpretations
at the hands of modern historians. Educational historians
are revising the history of education. This study and
future studies of magazines on this topic might serve as

outside criterions by which the school world might be more

 

 

 

 

 

impartially evaluated.

4. If this study were to be continued, the next
period to be considered (1841—1880) would show some inter—
esting trends. The beautiful and novel children's litera-
ture of John Newbery would find a place in the new graded
elementary systems of many towns. Reading for vicarious
pleasure, aesthetic pleasure, and for recreation would
tend to push utilitarian motives for reading aside. The
Criterion of good reading ability would remain oral. The
expression of proper sentiments during oral reading would
be as important as factual comprehension. Globes, charts,
Object cabinets, and scientific apparatus would share the
window shelves with Webster's Dictionary. The moralistic
motive for reading would continue in the McGuffey reading
series, but there would be much more opportunity for

children to read the works of Poe, Scott, and Dickens. A

228

departmentalized subject matter curriculum which included
geography, natural science, art, American history, elocu-
tion and arithmetic would reflect the new highly special-
ized textbooks as well as the subject matter specialist
faculty. The old hedge, field, and log cabin schools that
attempted to lure the unruly_gypsy scholars, the Ichabod
Cranes, in as schoolmasters would disappear from the more
settled areas. They would be replaced by two—story brick
edifices complete with principal, permanent staff, and

state supervision.

 

 

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