APPENDIX: CONTAINING A SHORT SKETCH OF THE NEW SYSTEM OF EDUCATION In a Letter from the Rev. Dr. BELL (the Inventor of that Syftem) to the LORD BISHOP of LONDON. MY LORD, Parsonage-House, Swanage, TO obey the commands, with which you have been pleased to honour me, must needs be as much my inclination as it is my duty. In discharge of this duty, it would ill become me to enlarge on the plan, so happily suggested by your Lordship, to diffuse the blessings of Christianity among a race of our fellow creatures, who are in a peculiar degree entitled to the consolations in this life, which Religion can alone sup→ ply. There are no other means now left, adequate to this end, than those which you have proposed and recommended to the British West-India Islands. These silent and gradual means of Religious Education can scarce fail of ultimate success. It is not what a few select spirits may have done, or may still do, for the diffusion of the Gospel in foreign regions, which is to produce extensive and permanent effects. It is what any one may be enabled to do for himself, and for those those about him, which is to pour into every bosom the blessed comforts of our holy religion. If, in performing the task assigned to me, I shall, under your sanction, contribute my mite to this great and good design formed by your Lordship, it will prove a new source of comfort to me under the difficulties I have encountered, and the years of toil which I have spent in contriving, demonstrating, maturing, and digesting a system of Education, singularly adapted to the religious instruction of those to whom your Lordship has extended your paternal care and Protection. This fitness of the system to the condition of the Negro Children in the West-India Islands, will appear manifest as I go along; and I shall therefore, without further preface, proceed to draw up, as required, a short account of my new system of Educa tion for the Poor. This method of practical tuition, which has appeared under different shapes in this country, origi nated in the Military Male Orphan Asylum, founded at Madras in the year 1789. There it gradually grew to maturity, and, after the experience of several years, was established in all its forms in that school. Thence it was transplanted into England in the year 1797, when it was partially adopted with good success in the oldest charity school in London, that of Aldgate, and in several parts of the kingdom, and is now esta→ blished at the parochial schools of Whitechapel, and of Lambeth, and at the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea. This system rests on the simple principle of tuition by the Scholars themselves. It is its distinguishing cha racterstic, that the school, how numerous soever, is solely taught by the Pupils of the institution, under a single Master, who, if able and diligent, could, without difficulty, 13 difficulty, conduct ten contiguous schools, each consisting of a thousand scholars. In addition to this general principle, and independent of it, the Madras School furnishes certain individual practices, or helps, in the art of tuition, by which it's Pupils are initiated into the elementary 'processes of Reading and Spelling, to say nothing here of Writing and Arithmetic. For the guidance of those who may be desirous of conducting Education on this principle, adapted in a peculiar manner to large schools for the lower orders of youth, and according to these practices (see p. 41.) which are alike applicable to private tuition, and schools of every description, the following instructions, chiefly extracted from the "Analysis of the Experiment in Education made at Madras," will, it is hoped, suffice. 1. The Asylum, like every well-regulated school, is arranged into forms or classes, each composed of as many scholars as, having made similar proficiency, unite together. The scholar ever finds his own level not only in his class, but also in the ranks of the school, being promoted or degraded from place to place, or class to class, according to his proficiency. 2. Each class is paired off into tutors and pupils. The Tutor sits by the side of his Pupil, and assists him in getting their common lesson. 3. To each class is attached an Assistant Teacher, whose sole business it is to attend his class, to prevent idleness, to instruct and help the Tutors in learning their lesson, and teaching their Pupils, and to hear the class, as soon as prepared, say their lesson under 4. The Teacher, who has charge of the class, directs and guides his Assistant, intends him in hear ing ing the class, or himself hears both the Assistant and Scholars say their lesson; and is responsible for the order, behaviour, diligence, and improvement of the class. 5. A Sub-usher and Usher are appointed to inspect the school, to watch over the whole, and give their instructions and assistance wherever wanted, as the agents and ministers of 6. The Schoolmaster, whose province it is to direct and conduct the system in all its ramifications; and to see the various offices of Usher, Sub-usher, Teacher, Assistants, Tutors, and Pupils, carried into effect.— From his place (chair or desk) he overlooks the whole school, and gives life and motion to every member of it. He inspects the classes, one by one; and is occupied wherever there is most occasion for his services, and where they will best tell. He is to encou rage the diffident, the timid, and the backward; to check and repress the forward and presumptuous; to bestow just and ample commendation upon the diligent, attentive, and orderly, however dull their capa→ city, or slow their progress; to stimulate the ambitious, rouse the indolent, and make the idle bestir themselves; in short, to deal out praise and displeasure, encouragement and threatening, according to the temper, disposition, and genius of the scholar. He is occasionally to hear and instruct the classes, or rather to overlook and direct the Teachers and Assistants while they do so. 7. Last of all comes the Superintendent, or Trustee, or Visitor or Chaplain, or parochial Minister, whose scrutinizing eye must pervade the whole machine, whose active mind must give it energy, and whose unbiassed judgment must inspire confidence, and maintain maintain the general order and harmony of the system. For this purpose there is kept by the Usher, Teachers, or others equal to the office, 8. A Register of the daily tasks performed; and by the Schoolmaster, 9. A Register of daily offences, or Black Book, to be expurgated weekly by 10. A Jury of twelve or more boys, selected for the purpose. To this sketch of the Madras system, I do not here subjoin, as I had proposed at the outset, an exposition of the practices alluded to above, namely, the processes of teaching the alphabet in sand, of syllabic reading and unreiterated spelling, &c. &c. as they would occupy too much of the space allotted to this letter. Having thus briefly detailed the principal outlines of the Madras system of education, I proceed, as enjoined, to state some of the peculiar advantages of this method of educating and instructing the lower classes of the people. The simple contrivance of daily reports is admirably fitted to correct idleness and detect negligence in their origin, and to bear permanent testimony to merit and demerit, even if overlooked in passing. The Black Book too is a simple and effectual instrument in maintaining order, diligence, good conduct, and the most rigid discipline, at the least expence of punishment; of which it is a main point to be frugal, and a good economist. It is the boast of this system, that, by the perpetual presence and intervention of our little Masters, as well out of as in school, it not only detects, convicts, and corrects the offender, but for the most part preyents |