CHURCH Iiielubitds/Lh SCOTLAHD
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OH gpVcfiVofi " A SURVEY OF CHURCH IIIELUBITds/lH SCOTLAHD I3ST THE 19TH CS1TTUHY. WITH SPECIAL KBPgKBUCE TO THE EXTEOT AID COSTTEITT OP EBLIGIOUS TEACHIm I3ST THE DAY SCHOOLS BE POKE 1 8 7 2 . " Church Donald M. Me Parian, ProQuest Number: 13849057 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 13849057 Published by ProQuest LLC(2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 7 'summery of T hesis i f ’/ " A SUIIVNY OF CHURCK INFIXjTNCN ON N DU CATION IK SCOTLA ND IN THE / 19TH CBNTURY. J l TIi SPECIAL KANFFINCC TO TH , NXTNNT - IIP COBTTBT OF lU L IG iO U S YC CHING IN T ill D /Y SCHOOLS BNFORN 1 8 7 2 ." Scottish parochial education in the 19th century has its roots in the Reformation. The Scots Confession of 1560 and the First Book of Discipline furnish the doctrine and ground-plan for an educational system which evolved over three centuries. Behind these documents lies the teaching of John Calvin, who inspired Knox to plan for 'the virtuous education and godly upbringing of the youth of this realm,' and to make every citizen in the commonwealth ’a p ro fitab le member w ithin the s-me.’ At the beginning of the 19th century the Church was in control of education by means of i t s p arish schools, or through Assembly end Society schools. Bible nd C techisra were the supreme text-books. In the reading, writing and memorising of Scripture the minds of the children were to be informed by the truth of God, and right manners and morals inculcated. The C;techism, founded on and derived from the Bible, was e. vade-mecum to the understanding of right doctrine. The teachers were men approved by the Church, subject to the Presbytery, and. under the oversight of the perish minister. The 19th century situation shows the traditional system of belief gradually breaking down in changing social and economic conditions. The outcome of the in d u s tria l revolution was a s h ift from s ru ra l to Oo • here end enjoy him through eternity.* Various Government end Church reports in the 1860s, however, revealed th a t the means of education were s t i l l d e fic ie n t. The outcome was the establishm ent of r national system of education by the Act of 1872. Bible and C techism were to be, by ’use and wont1, the basis of Scottish education. To the Church leaders of the time i t seemed th a t the 1872 ct had set a seal on John Knox's plans for the Christian good of Scotland. State education, so long as i t was informed by the teaching of Bible and Catechism, would foster 1 •? public form of religiorf*, end achieve in widest measure what the Church had hitherto sought to do within the limits of its own resources. CONTENTS Page Chapter Ones The Parent of Our Schools* 1 Chapter Twos Doctrine and Ground - Plan. 27 Chapter Three: The Rural Scene. 48 Chapter Pour: The Rural Classroom. 74 Chapter Pives Religious Teaching in the Rural Classroom. 94 Chapter Six: Town and City. 124 Chapter Seven: The Urban Problem. 150 Chapter Eight: David Stow and the Training System. 155 Chapter H ines N u rser ie s for the Church o f Ch rist1. 212 Chapter Ten: fUse and Wont1. 250 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 267 1 Chapter One: THE PAREHT OP OUR SCHOOLS ”Our youth also aucht to he nurischit and mantenit at the schuilis, that thairoutof efterward micht spring Preicheris, Counsellouris, Phisiciounis, and all uther Kyndes of leirnit men that we hare neid of, Por the Schuillis are the seid of the Kirk and commoun-welth, and our Children ar the hope of the posteritie, quhilk heing negiectit, thair can nathing he luikit for, hot that harharous ignorance sail overfloY/ a ll.” - David Pergusson. Scottish parochial education of the 19th century has its roots in the Reformation. In a speech at a tradesmen’s meeting in Edinburgh, 1838, Dr. Thomas Chalmers said: ”It was religion in Scotland which gave the first impulse to Education. John Knox and his associates convinced the popular understanding of the country, that the Bible was the genuine record of communica- :tion from God to man; and that within the four corners of that hook there were the words which were able to make them all wise unto salvation. It was this that inspired them with a universal desire to possess the faculty of reahing, that they might unlock the mysteries of the Scriptures, and acquire that knowledge of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, which is life everlasting. It was this which created a universal demand for Education among the 1. Prom: Ane Sermon, Preichit hefoir the Regent and Hbbilitie, upon a part of the thrid Chapter of the Prophet Halachi, in the Kirk of Leith, at the tyme of the Generali Assemblie, on Sonday the 13 of Januarie, Anno. Do. 1571. Be David Pergussone, Minister of the Evangell at Dunfermlyne. 2 people of Scotland. Therefore, let them never forget that { 2 ) religion is the parent of our Schools." v 1 ( It would he impossible to write of Education in 19th century Scotland without a long backward look to the Beformation. In a period prolific in speeches, sermons, pamphlets and reports on the subject of popular education almost every printed paper | concurs with Chalmers1 view on the main features of the Scottish j l j educational heritage: that it was the Reformers who prepared the ; I ground-plan for parochial schools; that such schooling was to be based on the Bible; and that it was for everyman. It is true that learning was not altogether lacking before the days o f Knox. Prom the a rriv a l o f St. Columba in Iona, in 563 Mother Church was the parent and nurse o f the schools o f Scotland. The parish system which John Knox bodied forth in his plans for general education goes back to the days of the I Roman Church, where, within the parish, the priest was usually the instructor. Young priests-to-be were the tutors of the j [ sons of the nobility. j The first compulsory education Act was that of the Scottish ! I } Parliament of 1496, in the reign of James IV, which required: j t "It is statute and ordanit throw all the realme, that all barroni (U and frehaldaris, that ar of substance put thair eldest sonis and J aires to the sculis fra thai be aucht or nyne yeiris of age, and | till remane at the gramer sculis quhill thai be competetlie I 2. Prom a speech by Dr. Thomas Chalmers at a meeting o f the tradesmen of Edinburgh, Novermber 14, 1838. Reported in The Scotsman, Saturday, November 17, 1838. Vol. XXII. No.196$ foundit,and have perfite latyne. And therefter to remane thre yeres at the sculis of art and Jure, sua that thai may have knawledge and understanding of the law is." These youths were to he the 1 quality1 of the land in more than pride of place, j for the object of the Act was that "Justice may reigne uni- :versalie throw all the realme. So that thai, that ar sheriffis or Jugeis Ordinaris under the kingis hienis, may have Knawledge to do Justice, that the pure pepill suld have na neid to seik ( 3) our soverane lordis-principale auditores for ilk small Injurie. " Of this pre-Reformation Education Act it may be said, as ] o f so many la te r enactments, that i t was far from being honoured j in the observance. At best, education was the apprenticeship of a profession rather than the habit of a people, nevertheless, it ensured that John Knox had the support of a literate nobility in his proposed reforms. He himself came to the notice of the rulers of Scotland in troubled times because he was priest-tutor of "some gentlemenfs children whom for certain years he had nourished in godliness. It was at the intercession of their I fathers that he came to the Castle of St. Andrews, from which place a l l h is adventures started . I t was in St. Andrews that he taught h is pu pils "grammar and other human authors" and made 3. The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland. Vol.. 2. p. 238. Apud Edinburgh: 13th June, 1496. 4. John Knox: The History of the Reformation of Religion in ! Scotland, ed. Cuthbert Lennox, p. 84. them memorise a catechism for public repetition in the Parish (5) Kirk of the town. Like many another after him Knox was a schoolmaster before he was a minister. Later events in Scotland were to lose him the support of some of the nobility; the love of many waxed cold in the intrigues for power and position at the Court of Mary, Queen o f Scots; h is demands on the patrimony o f the old Church for the practical realisation of his parish schools touched the self-interest of the nobles too nearly, nevertheless, it was men nurtured, like himself, in the old schooling, who supported him in his plans for Scotland.