Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-04-24
FATHER OF FREE EDUCATION.
Splendid Foundation That Was Laid
by Robert Raikes.

| "a iHEH OF FHEG EDOCA ION.
Splendid Foundation That Was Laid
by Robert Raikes.
Among the Pathfnders Of History,
Robert Ralkes, the founder of the Sun
day school, and Indirectly. of the Free
Public Schools. deserves an honorable
mention.
Before telling the story Of Raikes'
life work, however, 1t may be well to
take a bird's-eye view of the kind Of
education that prevailed before the IN
auguration of our modern methods.
1t may be said, briefly, that the
schools of ancient Egypt and Judea
were largely ecclesiastical, the object
Of which was to impart to a COMPARE
lively small number of the population
a certain esoteric wisdom which should
ft them to officiate in the religious
temples or In the councils of the
state.
In imperial Rome education was
mainly political, its purpose being to
equip the Sons Of the Patrician Order
for the proper discharge Of their duty
as generals. governors and legis!a-
tors.
Greece made great stride beyond
all other peoples Of the ancient world
by organizing what may be called the
Science of Education, distinct from all
religious or even political training.
For the first time In history the
Greeks-or. to be more precise, the
Attic Greeks-got hold of the idea Of
education In its true sense as a means
of individual development quite apart
from AL other considerations.
II the evolution Of Greek civilization
had not been broken into by the Roman
!egions, and the remnants Of that CIV
ilization among the Romans been wip-
ed out by the Northern Barbarians,
there Is no telling the splendid educa-
tional results that would In all proba-
bHity have followed: but there came In
the dark interregnum, known as the
Middle Ages" when for a round
Thousands years education was practi-
ca.ly unknown and Ignorance was al
most universal.
The schooling Of the Middle Ages
was chiefly that Of the cloister and the
castle, its aim being to make, on the
one side, monks, on the other knights.
AS intimated the masses Of the peo-
,io ,yara 6apoaI,, ioporo nt manu- ayen
among the nobility of church and state,
being obliged to make their mark
when it became necessary for them to
sign a sort of document.
With the dawn of learning in the
fourteenth century known as the Re
vival of Letters" education received a
pronounced boost In spots, but Its
education was largely Of the academic
sort, Greek and Latin for the Sons of
the Upper Tendon.
Indeed until we'll along toward the
close Of the eighteenth century there
was no such thing as education In the
modern sense OF the word-that Is to
say, no such thing as popular educa-
tion.
The glory Of introducing such edu-
cation belongs to the man whose name
stands at the head Of this article.
Without trying to detract one
lota from the honor belonging to such
men as Come MUS. Pestalozzi and Froe-
bel, 1t may be said that the father of
popular education was Robert Raikes.
Raikes was born In Gloucester.
England. in the year 1875. and died
in 1911. He was the son Of Robert
Raikes, printer, and later. owned
the Gloucester Journal.
While acting as reporter for his
fathers newspaper young Raikes
came in touch with Gloucester life In
all its phases, and among other things
| he saw the crying urgency that there
was for some sort Of intellectual and
moral training for the young people
of the town.
With Raikes, to think was to act,
and he fmmediately-in the year
17SO-organized a Sunday school
because on that day he could better
get at the boys and girls he was try
ing to help.
The London papers struck by the
novelty Of the movement, gave 1t a
great deal Of free advertising, and a
widespread interest was awakened.
With wonderful patience Raikes
stuck to his work for more than
thirty years, and when he died, in
1911, he had the satisfaction Of know
ing that his idea had been put into
practice all over England.
1t was out of the Sunday schools
that Raikes started, that the modern
Free Public School was born, the lat
ter being the natural, we may say
the inevitable evolution OF the
former.
Horace Mann once declared that
las an innovation upon all pre-ex-
listing policy and usage the estab-
| lishment of free public schools was
the boldest ever promulgated since
the Christian era''-and the noblest
Mann might just as we'll have added.
Less than two centuries ago no
system Of free schools was main
tanned anywhere on earth. To-Day
there is no civilized country on the
face Of the globe that does not pos
sess its advantages.
From Robert Raikes' first Sunday
school founded in 1880, the figures
are now sublime.
In the United States alone there
are 100000 public school teachers
| with 100000 pupils an army
compared with which the host with
which old King Xerxes invaded
Greece was nsignifcant!-Rev.T Thos.
B. Gregory. in New York American.
fI Learn to labor while you wait II
Won would work wonders