IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ■0 lU 122 E B4 ■" 1.1 L25 1 1.4 1.6 ^\ ^ ^.^* > Hiotographic Sdences Corporation •1>^ V ^ <> ^ '^^V^ %l«^>^ 23 WIST MAIN STRieT WnSTIR.N.Y. MStO (716)«72-4S03 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquas Technical and Bibliographic Notat/Notaa tachniquas at bibliographiquas Tha Instituta has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy availabia for filming. Faaturas of this copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua. which may altar any of tha imagas in tha raproduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. • L'Institut a microfilm^ la meilleur exemplaira qu'il lui a AtA possible de se procurer. Les details da cet exemplaira qui sont paut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier una image reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la m6thode normala de f ilmage sont indiqute ci-dessous. Coloured covers/ Couvarture da couleur Coloured pages/ — 1 Pages de couleur Covers damaged/ 1 — 1 Couverture endommagie — Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^as The toti □ Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurta et/ou pelliculie I I Cover title missing/ D D n D Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes giographiquas en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Peli^ avac d'autres documents Tight binding may causa shudows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serr6e peut causer da I'ombre ou de la distortion ie long de la marge intirieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within tha text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout S § ^ s > 9 U O s *t ; ,•-!.;* 4 / / 1/ n BRIEF PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS on the Mode of Organizinjf and Conducting Day-Sciioois of Indiisthy, Modei. Farm Scjioolf, and Nor- ma i- Schools, as jiart of a System of Editcation for the Coi.oiped Races of the BRITISH COLONIES. Privtf Council Office Jf^hitehuU, Sin, January^, 1847. Tmk letter which, I)y the direction of Earl Grey, was transmitted to this ofRce on the 3()th of November, together with the (lespatclies from go- vernors of the West Indian Colonies which accompanied it, have been under the consideration of the Lord President of the Council. Under his Lordship's directions a short and simple account is now submitted of the mode in which the Committee of Council on Education consider that Industrial Schools for the coloured races may be conducted in the colonies, so as to combine intellectual and industrial education, and to render the labour of the children available towards meeting some part of the expense of their education. From this account will be purposely excluded any description of the melhoJt of intellectual instruction, and all minute details of the organization of schools. Whatever suggestions rcsiMJcting discipline may be off'ered \vill be coudensed into brief hints, or confined to those general indications which are universally a])])licable. It would be presumptuous to attempt to describe those varieties in discipline which might be suggested by a better knowledge of the peculiarities of a race which readily abandons itself to excitement, and perhaps needs amusements which would seem unsuitable for the peasantry of a civilized community. While endeavouring to suggest the mode by which the labour of negro children may be mingled with instruction fitted to develope their intelligence, it would be advantageous to know o re of the details of colonial culture, and of the ])eculiaritic>s of household life in this class a.id thus to descend from the general descriptirn into a closer adaptation of tlw plans of the school to the wants of the coloured races. This, however, cannot now be attempted. In describing the mode in which the instruction may be interwoven with the lal>our of the school, so as to render their connection as intimate as possil)Ie, it will however be necessary to repeat the illustrations in various forms, which may a)))K;ar trivial. But this mutual dependence of the moral and physical training; of the intellectual and industrial teaching ; and even of the religious education and the instruction of the scholars in the practical duties of life, r^uire a detailed illustration. Christian civilization comprehends this complex de- velopment of all the faculties, and the school of a semi-barbarous class should be established on the conviction that these several forms of training and instruc- tion mutually assist each other. Instead of setting forth this principle more fully, it is considered exjiedieat to furnish numerous though l)rief practical details of its application, which may with local knowledge be easily expanded into a manual for schools of industry for the coloured races. Even within tin? limits which will be assigned to the instruction of the chil- dren of these races in tliis paper, it may be conceived that, bearing in mind thw present state of the negro population, and taking into account the means at present at the disi)osal of the colonial legislatures in the different dependencies, a too sanguine view has l)een adopted of the amount of instruction which may be hoped to be inii)arte(l. Certainly it is true that some time must elapse before the limits assigned in this ])aper to such instruction, even in the day-schools, can be reachtnl. But less, tliat. what is described could not be regarded as a transforming agency, by whicU the negro could hv led, within a gen»'ration, materially to improve his habits. If we would have him rest satisfied with the ineagie su1)sistcnce and jjriVation of comfort consiniuent on his liabits of listless contentment with the almost spontaneous girt,s of a troj)ical climate, a less efficient system may be A ' W PI ^ 'V*^ -^^ ^ //-/-- adopted ; Imt if the native labour of the West Indinn Colonies is to hv ni.ide generally available for the eultivation of the soil by a settled and industrious jH'asiuUry, no a;3;ent ean \w so surely de|H'nded upon as the inlluenee (»f a system of foinl»in«'d intelleetual and industrial instruction, carried to a hi;;her dej;ree of elTiciency than any example which ucav <'\ists in the colonies. N«)r will a wise (\)lonial (»(»vernnu'nt ne;^lect any means which aflTords even a remote prospeci (d" gradually i-reatiiii; a nativt- middle class amoni; the nei^ro populiition, and thus, ultimately, of the Knu:lish laiiijuai^e, as the most im]>ortant at;ent of civili/atioii, for the coloured population of the colonies. To make the school the means of im|)rovinf; the condition of the peasantry, by teachinj^ them how health may lie preserved by pn)per diet, <'ieanliiiess, ventilation, and clofhiiif^, and by the structure ol" their dwellin<;s. To f^ive them a i)ractical trainini;: in household economy, and in tin- cultiva- tion of a cottaj^e tjardeu, as well as in those conunon handicrafts by which a labourer may improve his domestic comi'ort. To communicate siu'h a knowle(lLi;(' of writinu: and arithmetic, and of their a])plication to his wants and duties, as may enable a peasant to economi/e his nu'ans, and give the small farmer the power to enter into calcidations and agr«-em<'nls. An improved agriculture is n-tpiired in certain of the colonies to rei)lace the syst«'m of exhausting tin virgin soils, and then leavin-^; to natural inlluen<«'s alone, the work (d' reparation. Tlu- education of tlx- coloiu'td races woidd not, therefore, be comi)lete, for the cbiblren of small I'armers, ludi-ss it iiuliided this oliject. The lesson books of colonial schools should also teach the mutual interests of till- mother-coimtry and her dependencies; the rational hasis ol" llu-ir con- nection, and the domestic and social duties of the coloured races. These lesson books shoubl also simply set forth the relation of wages, ca|)ital, labour, and the influence of local ami general government on personal security, indeirndence, and order. For the attainment of these objects, the following (lasses of institi-iuus are re(iuired. l)ay-scho(ds of industry and model farm schools. A training scho(d for the instruction of the masters and mistresses of day schools. The order in which these institutions are enumerated is that in which they may l>e most conveniently described. A day school of industry might, in the tro])ical climati's, with the exception of a nuxlerate salary for the schoolmaster, be made self-supporting. The school should be n'garderincipally d(>vofed lothe business ol'the household and oi'tbe school garden. Their instruc- tion would I (• such as would prepari' tliem fop tlie ilulit^ ol their st;;1ion in life. To this end the school premises should comprise — 1. A house for the mmiter and for the mistress. 3. A school-room for the boys, and another for the girls, each convertible into a dining-room. 3. A class-room for undisturbed religious instruction. 4. A largi! garden plot, sufficient to provide garden stuff for the dinners of the 8ch(H)l during the whole year. 5. A tool-house and cariwnter's shop. C. A kitchen, stori'-room, larder, and scullery, 7. A wash-house and luun school plot the combination of individual efforts, for a common obj(?ct, and the advantages of order, method, harmony, and subordination would Ix; exemplified. For the management of the garden two or three i)artie8 could therefore be detacluxl, according to the work appropriated to the season. The repairs of the tool-house and of the implements of gardening, as well as the fencing of the garden, would sometimes employ a party in the carpenter's shoj). In the colonies in which the slave jwinilation has recently been emanciimted, and in those very recently settled, it mi^r>:<, also Ijo desirable to have at hand, as a part of the school stock, a quantity oi the rough material of which lalxiurers* dwellings are constructed. With this material a cottage might l)e built on an improvetl j)lan, with a due regard to ventilation, to drainage, to the means pro- vided for the escaije of smoke, to the nature of the floor, the provision of rude but sul>stantial furniture, and the most healthy IxHlding, together with the out- buildings required for domestic animals and the family. Such a cottage, when built, might be again altered, enlarged, or pulled down and rebuilt, as a jiart of the industrial instruction, imiK)rtant in its civilizing influciut«. The master would suiH^rintend, direct, and explain the garden ojierations. While in the field or worksbed, he would have an opix)rtunity of improving the niauners and habits of his scholar' not by the rigidity of a military disci- pline, tNutting an enforced order, but by the cheerful acquiescence of a sense of duty and convenience arising from his patient suiwrintendence. The harmony, industry, and skill of his scholars should Ix; promotetl by his vigilance, and encoui'a;2;e(l by his example. Tlu' garden oi)erations of the month would form a subject of oral instruction in the school. A 2 t* \ III these oral lessons would l>c cxplniiied tlio rcnM>nH for the Hiiccession of cro|M ; for the hn>atlth sown ; for the nature of the manure sclerted ; for the m; and the uses to whieh it wan to Ih* devoted.^ The accidents to which the crop i^ liul>Ic, and the means of providing against them, might even leail the teacher into a familiar account of the iiahits of various insects; their mode of projKigation ; tlie iMTuliaritics of sc^nson which favour their tlevelopment ; oml the mode of detecting and destroying them, before their ravages are extensively iigurious or fatal to tlie crop. Familiar lessons on the cflTects of night and day, of heat and light, of dew and rain, of drainage and irrigation, and the various kinds of manure, and of the sue* cession of the seasons on vegetation, would not only infoim th(; minds of the scholars, but give them a more intelligent interi>st in the common events of the natural world. In the s<*hool also would lie kept an account of the exjienses incurred on the garden. To this end the reception of all articles on which outlay had l)ceii mcurred, as for e\ami)Ie, tools, manure, wood, weur should he brought into one bahmce sheet, showing the profits of the garden at the close? of the year. As a preiwration for this general account keeping, each lM)y might also enter, in a suljordinatc account, the outlay and produce of his own allotment. In both cases the amount of lal)Our should be daily registered, and its value fixed, as an element U) Ik; ultimately entered in the balance-sheet. Once or twice in the week the girls and l)oys would bring from home early hi the morning a bundle of clothes U) l)e wa.shed at the school. The wash-house should be filtjul up with the utensils commonly found in the best lalwurers' cottiiges, or which, with frugality and industry, could Ix; pur- chasccl by a field workman ; and the girls should be employed in successive parties in washing, drying, and ironing their cloth(>s. They should likewise bring from Iioin(! clothes requiring to be mended, and cloth to be made into shirts and dresses for their families, and the mistress . should Uracil them to cut it out, and mak(> it up, an accomi)anied with familiar lessons on the best mode of husbanding the means of the family, on the priccj and comparative nutritious qualities of various articles of food ; and on simple reciiK's for preparing them. I'ach f^irl should write in a book, to be taken with her from the school, the recipes of the cottage meals she had learned to prejiare ; and the familiar maxims of domestic economy which had been in- culcated at school. Such instruction might profitably extend to domestic and personal cleanliness. I i J i- The noanagement of children in infismcy, and general rules as to the prewrvation of health. On the subject of cottage economy, it would be well that a class book should be prepared, containing at least the following heads: — 1. Meant of preterving Health. A. Cleanliness. B. Ventilation. C. Drainage. D. Clothing. £. Exercise. F. Management of children. 2. Mean* of procuring Comfort. A. The cottage garden. B. The piggery. C. The cottage kitchen. D. The dairy. E. The market F. Household maxims. The various industrial employment of the scholars would curtail the ordinary hours of school. Certainly, all tha^ has been described might be accomplished, and at least two or three hours daily reserved for religious and other instruction. The Holy Scriptures should be used only as a medium of religious teaching. They should not be employed as a hornbook, associated in the mind of the child with bw. T-mdgery of mastering the almost mechanical difficulty of learning to read, at an age when it cannot understand language, too often left unexplained. On the contrary, the Holy Scriptures should only be put into the hands of those children who have learned to read with fluency. To the younger children a short portion of the Scripture should be daily read, and made the subject of an oraLlesson. Those of riper age should be taught to receive and read the Scriptures with reverence. The art of reading should be acquired from class l^ooks appropriate to an industrial school. Besides the class book for the more advanced scholars on cottage economy, the earlier reading lessons m'!^t?t contribute instruction adapted to the condition of a class emerging from slavey or barbarism. The lessons on writing and arithmetic, as has beoi before observed, ought to be brought into daily practical use in the employment of the scholars. Nothing is learned so soon or retained so surely as knowledge the practical relation of which is pelt»ived. The scholar should thm be taught to write from dictation, as an exercise of memory, and of spelling and punctuation, as well as of writing. They should be gradually trained in the composition of simple letters on the business of the school, the garden, or kitchen ; and exercised in writing ab- stracts of oral lessons from memory. Tlie power of writing on the actual events and business of their future lives would thus be acquired. Within these limits the instruction of the coloured races, combined with a systematic training in industry, cannot fail to raise the population to a condition of improved comfort ; but it will also give such habits of steady industry to a settled and thriving jieasantry, as may in time develope the elements of a native middle class. This would probably be a consequence of an education within these limits ; ]f\xi if this were accomplished, and time permitted further instruction, an acquaintance might be sought with the art of drawing plans, and those of land-surveying and levelling. Some instruction in geography also would enable them better to understand the Scriptures, and the connection of the colony with the mother country. The master and mistress should be assist*^! by apprentices, whose number should he proportioned to the size of the schools. 1 hese ap])rentices should be cbosou from the most proficient aud best conducted scholars, who are also likely to have an exami)le set them by their parents in harmony with their education. At the age of thirteen, they should be bound by agreement for six years, and might receive in lieu of stipend a quantity of the garden produce, suffi- cient to induce their jjarents cheerfully to consent to their employment in the school. (Careful separate instruction should be given them by the master, at a ptM'iod daily set ajjart for the purpose, and they should be furnished with l)ooks, as mt?ans of seU'-education. With the aid of such ai)i)renticed assistants, the school might be divided into classes varying in sizi', according to the skill and age of the apprentices, and the number of the scholars. In the early stage of their apprenticeship, it may not l)e expedient to entrust these youths with the management of a class containing more than twelve children. At the age of sixteen, thev might teach sixteen B 1 ! IM fe: i "."*'■ ¥ ♦ t children ; and at the age of cigl)t(\>n, prolMibly twenty children. The master would instruct twenty-four, or thirty, or more children in a class, according to circumstances. The school, therefore, will be divided into class«?s of twelve, sixteen, twenty, and twenty-four children. The Model Farm Sehwd may be descrilunl with greater brevity, Ixnrause much that has been said respecting tht; Day School of luduttry is applicable to it The Model Farm School is sit •' d Ibr the class of labourers who have accu- mulated sufficient money to I>ect) ,<; small farmers, and for the small farmers, who with more knowledge and skill, would hv enabkxl to emi>loy their capital to greater advantage. Its olyect is to create a thriving, loyal, and religious middle class among the agricultural jmpulation. As the process of culture must differ in the various colonies, it is not possible to give more than general indications respecting it. As it would be improtmble that a sufficient numlwT of scholars could lie collected from one neighbourhood, they should Ix? boarders, and the cost of their lodging, maintenance, and in some colonies, also of their instruction, •should be defrayed l)y their parents. The buildings therefore should pro- vide A lofty dormitory divided by partitions, six feet high, into sejiarate com- partments, each containing one IhxI, and affording the master the means of overlooking the room from his own apartment. A refectory. Class-rooms. A kitchen, &c. &c. § !. . Store-rooms. Apartments for the masti^r and his assistants. To these school buildings should l)c added — Farm buildings, comprising all the arrangements necessary in each cli- mate for the shelter of the produce of the iarm, and wlien necessjiry for its preparation for exportation ; for the housing of stock ; for the dairy ; for the preparation of manures, and of food lor tlie cattle ; and for the shelter of agri- cultural machines and implements. The industrial occuj)ations of the scholars would be those of farm cjervants. In the field, the draining or irrigation of the land ? ])loughing, harrowing, and the preparation of tbe soil l)y various manures adapted to its chemical character ; the sowing of the diffirent crops with machines or by the hand ; the exjjetlients for jireserving the seed thus sown ; the weeding, hoeing, or drill-ploughing of the growing croj). The gathering in of the harvest would «'ither be done solely l)y tlu; labour of the scholars or with such assistance as might be requiretl by the climote. In the homestea(l, with a similar ri'servalion, they would conduct the management of the stock ; of the manures and comj)osts ; the housing of the crop, and its i)re|)aration for exportation, and the economy of the dairy. Besides these purely farm occupations, it would be well to have on tbe premises a wheelwright's and blacksmith's shop, in which they might learn to mend the carts, waggons, and farming machines an l)est method of economising materials, with a due regard to permanence of structure. \Vlu'rever peculiar processes are required for the preiMiration of the crop for exportation, the object of them, whether mechanical or chemical, should be explained to the pupils. Some knowledge of the laws of natural phenomena would enable them to comprehend the use of the tliermometer, barometer, and other com n instruuK'nts, and would free them from vulgar errors and popular su- perstitions. Tlu; head master of tlie farming school should be competent by experience and skill to superintend the farm, jxs well as to give the combined practical and theoretical agricultural knowledge of the coui-se proposed to be taught. He would re(iuire assistant masters, according to the size of the school, to teach the rudiments, and thus prejjare every class for his instruction. lOach class should be taught in a separate room. The assistant masters would probably be promoted to these offices, from the charge of day-schools of industry, and might there be deemed to be in training, as candidates for the head mastership of farm-schools. A matron or house-steward would manage all the domestic duties, with the aid of some servants. It is not necessary here to rejjcat the general indications given, respecting diseii)liiie, which have been set Ibrtli in relation to the day-school. The same principles are applicable to tlu* model farm-school. The eourM' of study should extend, if possible, from the age of 14 or 15 to"* that of Is or 19. There would iiol be the same need of ai)prentices in these schools, as ill the day-schools, because the scholars would be of a riper age, and might In* more fitly intrusted, jis monitors, with the sui)erintendence of Avorkiiij;- partk-s. The whole of tlie instruction in ela.sscs would be conducted by the luad master and his assistants. The (1i .s,'!iool of uuhistr;/, and the vwdrl farm-school, having thus l)cen described, il is now convenient to set forth the arrangements for the training of tho iiiupil teacher should be admitted to a com])Ctition of bursaries or e\hil)itions to the normal school, to be held annually. The most jjroficient, skilful, and best conducted should Ix- selected for these rewards, and sent m ith a hursary, which would defray the chief part of the exjM'nsc of their fmlher training, to the i,i>niiitl srhixtl. If the day-schools of industry wen- ellicient, the ri'sidcnce in the normal school mi^ht be limited to a year or a year and a half ; but if these schools were not in an eflicient state, the period oi training; in the normal school would have to In; proportionately e\tenid would adjoin a tnixl I ilii>/:vr/iiil. All the subjects of instructi«ni pursued, either in the m(»del li>rm schools, or in the day schools of industry, should Ih' here resumed. The miwters should here learti and miHtresNcs nre still more important. The diiiciplinc of the apprentice and student should afford no encouragement to the presumption and |NHlantry, which ollen accompany an education, nei-es- mrily incomplete, yet raised alwve the level of the class from which the pupil teachers are taken ; yet it should not ))c such, as to weaken the 8])ring of tlic natural energies, or to 8ubntiment8, than that which exacts an unnu < !;.ing obedience. The discipline which thus sulxlues the will, makes the pupil ftwbler for all virtuous actions. To train the student in simjdicity, humility, and truth ; and at the same time to strengthen his mental powers, to inform his intelligence, to elevate his prin- ciples, and to invigorate his intellect, are the objects of his education. On this account, the domestic life of the apprentice with his own iiarents, under the iMHjt influences of his own class in society, might, if his family were a religious household, UM>fully alternate with the discipline and duties of the «lay si'hool. He would understand, from exjierience, the wants, the cares, and hojM^s of the labouring class whose children he would have to educate. Instead of Ixiing repelled by their coarseness and poverty, and thus unfitted for daily contact with them, he would have a sympathy with their condition, which the training of the school would direct to proper objects. I le ought to enter and to leave the training school, attracted by jjrcferciu e to thle dinner of the day school, for a better diet in the normal school. His meals should be suih only as he might certainly liope to procure by his vocation as schoolmaster. In like manner, while, in his bedroom, provision was made for privacy, every arrangement should be marked by a severe simjjlicity. More al)undant comloVt, approaching to luxury, would make it diiricult to the candi- date in after life to encounter tin- inevi'tal)le privations of his profession, as a teacher of the poor. The household life of the normal school should be marked by reverential attention to religious exereises and duties. , , , ,. At an early period in the morning, the school should be assembled lor i)raveis. Ait«'r prayers, the principal would speak to the students on subjects connected with the' moral disciplint; of the school. He would endeavour to U'ad (licni to feel under what inlluences their life could enable them to fulfil the highest aims <.f their calling. Whatevi-r bad happened incompatible with such a'^Niew of their duties, and which was not rather a subject for private per- sonal jHbnoniti<.n, nii->bt heconuN alter prayers, a source of instruction, in which should mingle no element of rebuke. In like manner the pursuits ol the day sliould close. . ,. ^ 1 • * No part of the discipline of the establishment should contradict such instruc- tion. Ill everything an ai)peal should be made to the reason and the conscience. 10 Vigilance, to be wiaelv exerted, should wear no appcanncc of* distrust <^ sus* picion, but it should also be inrcssant The intercourse between the principal and the candidate teachers should bo frank and confiding. Whenerer conceidnient and evasion cmnmence, even in slight matters, the authority and influence of the principal arc in danger. It would become him then to reflect on the grounds of his regulations ; to explain them fully to hiM atudents, and to endeavour to establish in their minds a conviction of their value. On some occasions it may be wise to make some relaxations in his rules, in a matter not essential to principle, and which is found to be galling in practice. In this way, and not by any system of "espionage'* the whole life of the students should constantly inmh in review before him. The advice of the principal should be open to his scholars as that of a friend. Their time should be as fully occupied as possible. Relaxation should be found in change of em)>loymcnt and exercise in the duties of the field and garden. If the sense of life in a family were maintained, and a filial subordi- nation chamcterised the discipline, the most wholesome results would ensue. With those brief indications, I am directed to solicit vour attention to those portions of the Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education which relate to the establishment and 8U])port of Normal Schools, and to the Reports presented by Her Miycsty's inspectors on the condition of the Normal and Model Schools now existing in Great Britain, in which will be found further details of the principles on whicli these institutions are conducted. I have the honour to be. Sir, Your obedient Servant, B. KAY SHUTTLEWORTH. Bei^. Hawes, Jun., Esq. M.P. Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.