THE BACKGROUND OF CALVIN E. STOWE'S
"REPORT ON ELEMENTARY PUBLIC
INSTRUCTION
IN EUROPE" (1837)
By CHARLES G. MILLER
In 1836, Calvin E. Stowe was a professor
in a theological
seminary (Lane) in the young state of
Ohio. Though no formal
connection existed between the seminary
and the State, there
already existed the idea of the higher
schools' responsibility to
the State to such a degree that the
General Assembly requested
Stowe, with no mention of compensation
(but see below), quite
as a matter of course, and with no
anticipation of possible re-
fusal by Stowe, to prepare a report on
current educational sys-
tems in Europe for the guidance of the
General Assembly.
The leaders of the new State realized,
that although Ohio
was then an agrarian state, the temper
of the times pointed to-
ward an increasing tempo of
industrialization. By analogy with
the history of the then-current European
events and of the In-
dustrial Revolution, the leaders of the
new State implicitly
realized the importance of mass
education for industrialized
(specialized) labor, and its direct
benefits for the State.1
A direct support for the last contention
may be found in
Stowe's report2 in which
Stowe points out that modern lan-
guages are taught to aid trade
intercourse in the border states of
Rhenish Prussia, Prussian Poland, and
the Russian border states.
Stowe would not be likely to urge modern
languages being taught
in Ohio except as he anticipated less
emphasis on agriculture and
more on industry.
In the manner of the day, Stowe imputes3
the growing im-
portance of mass education to the
pressure of the general popu-
1 Edgar Wallace Knight, Reports on
European Education (New York, 1930),
256, 270.
2 Ibid., 305.
3 Ibid., 251.
(185)
186 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
lation's insistence on "popular
rights," and does not connect it
with the diminishing importance of
agrarian (feudal-type) cul-
ture. Yet, we have the interesting
example of Japan, which was
a completely feudal economy until 1857,
the year of the
"Western" penetration of
Japan, where there were no ideas of
"popular rights" to force the
establishment of popular schools.
The accompanying economic necessity to
change to an industrial
nation, demanded schools. Hence they
were established in 1871.
Presumably it was to counteract the
internationalistic ten-
dencies of the period that Stowe speaks
of the exaggerated in-
culcation of "nationalism" in
Prussia.4
It is an interesting but little-known
fact that the Ohio state
legislature, after accepting Stowe's
report, appropriated $500.00
"to Prof. Stowe for labor."5
Curriculum and Internal Arrangement of Prussian Schools
Stowe speaks at length of the internal
arrangement of the
Prussian schools, and it is of interest
to examine the technical
arrangement of the schools to see how
applicable this arrange-
ment would be to Ohio schools.
The Prussian schools were arranged in
three distinct branches:
Rudiments, Elements, Applications. The
first two-year sequence
of studies would be termed rudiments,
the second two-year se-
quence adds geometry, language (grammar)
and music, consti-
tuting the elements of school training
to prepare the student for
the third and fourth two-year sequences
of application of the
studies to practical life problems.
I. The first rudimentary course
included:
A. Logical exercises: A euphonious term
to cover the attention-stimu-
lating division of the curriculum,
possibly intended to overcome
in part the disinterest usually evinced
in the rote-learning of items
B, C, and D, below.
B. Elements of reading: According to the
ideas of the times, elements
of reading were learned as logical
exercises in the juxtaposition
of sounds to represent words, and the
corresponding juxtaposition
of letters to represent the words. We
should probably hesitate
to recommend that a child learn the four
letters in a definite
order as H-A-R-D to spell Hard, rather
than the total ensemble
4 Ibid., 255-6.
5 January 16, 1838. See Ohio Laws,
Statutes, etc. Acts, 36 Assemb., 1838, 404,
MILLER: STOWE'S "REPORT" 187
of markings Hard considered as a
unit, but this was so thoroughly
in accord with the pedagogy of the times
that Stowe makes no
comment upon it.
Few comments are made on these, beyond
C. Elements of writing: Jconveying the impression that the Prussian
D. Elements of arithmetic: instruction
was similar to good American
practice at the time.
II. The elementary instruction included
continuation of the above
four courses, and added:
E. Language or grammar: Stowe considers
this as a continuation of I-A,
logical exercises, but it is doubtful if
there is any carry-over from
directed conversation to the technical
grammar that this course
included.
F. Geometry: This was distinctly a
tool-subject intended to prepare the
student for III and IV below.
G. Music: According to Stowe's report,
we would consider the music
instruction to have been primarily for
the benefit of the esprit de
corps, for the benefit of the school discipline, since the
only advan-
tage he assigns the child as receiving
is added "progress in their
other studies," while present-day
educators deny such carry-over.
III. This two-year course would
correspond to the beginning of
"higher studies," where
elements have been mastered and studies are begun
which will be of direct usefulness to
the community. Instruction is con-
tinued in the studies enumerated for the
I and II groups, in a manner
suitable for the 10-12-year age group,
and instruction is begun on the
application studies, termed "Real
Instruction." This last is a broad term
for the study of the relationships of
man with his environment and needs.
IV. The concluding course for 12-14-year
age group includes a con-
tinuation of the "Real
Instruction," applications of the elementary studies
to the proposed business of life of the
children, and concluding courses in
language, drawing, and applied
mathematics, as surveying, civil engineer-
ing, etc.
As was to be expected, much emphasis was
laid upon re-
ligious instruction, this instruction
continuing throughout the
whole eight years of the Prussian
schooling. This again was
suitable for transfer to Ohio schools,
for the times demanded
close integration of religious and
secular instruction. Accus-
tomed as we are to complete separation
of secular and religious
instruction, it is not easy to
understand this emphasis, but where-
ever we turn in early educational
history, the most active teachers
were trained in the seminaries, and were
generally trained for
the ministry. In a number of instances,
this leads to what at
this day, in retrospect, we may term
"seeming educational
naivete" on the part of the
teacher. See for instance, the episode
on p. 265 in re boys
appropriating nails from school property
for their own uses. The ready acceptance
by the school super-
188
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
intendent of the boys' expressions of
contrition, expressions, the
sincerity of which an administrator of
today would doubt very
much, might be indicative of the lack of
study of the children's
motives and of lack of understanding of
the need of schools de-
signed for children's needs. The
treatment of "Institutions for Ref-
ormation" shows that Stowe's views
were in common with the
educational view of the time, that
"reformation" was directed
more toward the benefit of the State
than to the benefit of the
children directly.
Now, laying aside all considerations of
benevolence and of religious
obligations, is it not for the highest
good of the State, that these minds
should be withdrawn from vice and
trained up to be enlightened and useful
citizens, contributing a large share to
the public wealth, virtue and hap-
piness; rather than that they should
come forward in life, miserable crim-
inals, of no use to themselves or the
public, depredating on the property
and violating the rights of the
industrious citizens, increasing the public
burdens by their crimes, endangering the
well-being of society, and under-
mining our liberties? They can be either
the one or the other, according
as we choose to educate them ourselves
in the right way, or leave them
to be educated by the thieves and
drunkards in our streets or the convicts
in our prisons. The efforts made by some
foreign nations to educate this
part of their population, is a good
lesson for us. All the schools and
houses of reformation in Prussia, do not
cost the government so much as
old England is obliged to expend in
prisons and constables for the regula-
tion of that part of her population, for
which the government provides
no schools but the hulks and the jails;
and I leave it to any one to say
which arrangement produces the greatest
amount of public happiness.
This idea was to continue in Europe for
a surprisingly long
time. To bring it up to date, we might
remember that the English
"nursery schools" and
"pre-schools" were instituted by public-
minded individuals as a means of
averting juvenile crime, and as
a direct benefit to the state. The
conception of nursery schools
and pre-schools as existing for the
benefit of the child directly
is a comparatively modern idea.
It is also interesting to reflect on the
viewpoint of the good
Dr. Kopf, surely not much given to
levity, as expressed in his
observation, "I always keep these
little rogues singing at their
work. . . ."6 Surely this is an
imperfect conception of children's
motives and schooling.
6 Knight, Reports, 263.
MILLER: STOWE'S "REPORT" 189
Policy Regarding Education of
Immigrant Minorities
The State generously welcomed European
immigrants, the
more for the possibility of having cheap
immigrant labor7 than
from any magnanimous principles, but
Stowe realized 8 they must
be assimilated and not allowed to become
an alien unassimilable
minority within the State. This was a
rather forward-looking
step, for although in retrospect, the
immigrants are sometimes
considered as "hardy
pioneers," as venturesome and therefore
desirable stock, we must not forget that
they occupied much the
same position as the recent dust-bowl
immigrants to California--
those who were dispossessed and
unsuccessful in their native
regions, and who were not resourceful
enough to remain and re-
establish themselves in their own
country--for surely, as a
general rule, no one who was successful
in his own bailiwick
would willingly leave and desire to
re-establish life among
strangers.
That Stowe's work (and that of his
contemporary, Samuel
Lewis) was instrumental in forming the
policy of Ohio and
middle-western schools, is apparent in
comparing the present
curriculum with the Prussian school
curriculum just outlined.
Stowe's greatest doubts apparently
centered upon the question
of financial support for such a complete
(and costly) system of
education. His concluding remarks on
"Means of sustaining
the system"9 are evidently the
point of the report, to which all
the rest was merely substantiating
arguments.
There is no point, in a paper of this
type, of repeating
Stowe's arguments, but his six points on
"Means of sustaining"
may be summarized as follows:
1. Teachers must be skilful, hence must
be trained.
2. To be trained, teacher training
institutions must be established.
3. Adequate pay and pension systems are
necessary if the State is to
have the best of its population as
teachers.
4. Schools must be comfortable and
planned for the pupil's benefit.
5. School discipline must be maintained
for the general benefit
(probably a reference to interference by
parents).
7 John
R. Commons, Races and Immigrants in America (New York, 1907), 108.
8 Knight, Reports, 314.
9 Ibid., 308-13.
190
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
6. The whole program probably cannot be
introduced as one, but
may be separated into two parts until
population learns to appreciate its
advantages.
The work of Stowe and his contemporaries
provided a basis
for the development of American
education, modeled along
Prussia's lines where applicable, which
has been lasting and
useful in formulating a definite policy
for the development of
middle-western American education in
general.