EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Pedagogy at the Orphan House school resembled that in the free schools, with the important exception of mandatory attendance. Both institutions used older students to supervise the younger, thereby allowing student teacher ratios to balloon to almost unimaginable proportions, like the 107 : 1 ratio in the free school of 1834.

The Orphan House separated its pupils by sex, with a schoolmaster and schoolmistress for each. Still, in many years its student teacher ratio must have resembled the free schools. In the 1820s, when the free school had 64 students for each teacher, there were 120 or so boys to challenge the schoolmaster and about 60 girls for the schoolmistress. Likewise, in the 1850s when the free school ratio was around 60:1, the Orphan House was positively bursting at the seams, with over 140 boys and about 75 girls. The two schools seem to have followed similar disciplinary procedures, with little stinting on corporal punishment. In September 1803 the angry father of 13-year-old Henry Barry lashed out at Orphan House commissioners for allowing him to be beaten and flogged. Commissioners agreed

Pedagogy at the Orphan House school resembled that in the free schools, with the important exception of mandatory attendance. Both institutions used older students to supervise the younger, thereby allowing student teacher ratios to balloon to almost unimaginable proportions, like the 107:1 ratio in the free school of 1834.

The Orphan House separated its pupils by sex, with a schoolmaster and schoolmistress for each. Still, in many years its student teacher ratio must have resembled the free schools. In the 1820s, when the free school had 64 students for each teacher, there were 120 or so boys to challenge the schoolmaster and about 60 girls for the schoolmistress. Likewise, in the 1850s when the free school ratio was around 60 : 1, the Orphan House was positively bursting at the seams, with over 140 boys and about 75 girls. The two schools seem to have followed similar disciplinary procedures, with little stinting on corporal punishment. In September 1803 the angry father of 13-year-old Henry Barry lashed out at Orphan House commissioners for allowing him to be beaten and flogged. Commissioners agreed

Classroom activities were similar in the two schools. In the winter (November– March) both provided six hours of schooling between 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M., with two hours off in midday. In the summer the Orphan House initially  ran one hour longer than the free schools, but by 1811 the Orphan House had reduced its afternoon session to have a school day of the same length.   Both schools used similar books. Texts assigned in the free schools included Webster’s spelling book, Lindley Murray’s English grammar, and a simple catechism. The Orphan House used Introduction to the English Reader, also by Murray, as well as Jedidiah Morse’s Geography Made Easy, Martinet’s Catechism of Nature, and Dilworth’s Assistant for arithmetic.   Where the free schools had participated in the Lancastrian system in which older students taught younger students, in 1818 the Orphan House allowed its schoolmaster to introduce a competing scheme of Andrew Bell, whose method was similar to Lancaster’s but more open to the teaching of specifically Anglican religious instruction to the children. Bell’s own assessment of his system may not have been a good omen: “It is not proposed that the children of the poor be educated in an expensive manner, or even taught to write or cypher.”  Later improvements resulted in the ability of his students to learn to write “in less than no time,” according to Bell (Barnard 1861, p. 485). His intention to provide some education to the poor but not too much was less important to Orphan House officials than its economy. The Orphan House schoolmaster, John Kingman, thanked the board for providing him with tutelage in Bell’s system, “whereby my labors are much abridged.”   At least one downside to leaving the education of younger children in the hands of the older ones emerged in James Barry’s bitter observation that it was the “boy schoolmaster” who had beaten his son so terribly.

The Orphan House had one great advantage over the free schools insofar as the schooling it offered might have effectively taught its children to read and write: attendance.  As a residential institution, it could and did require its children to remain on the grounds and could enforce school attendance.  The free schools, however, could not, and members of their board of

Commissioners usually reported unfavorably on the share of pupils who actually came to school (Pyburn 1960, p. 88). Given the importance of attendance, especially among families as destitute as those who sent their children to free schools— and those who sent theirs to the Orphan House but for whom the free schools might have been the next best alternative—it is possible that the reason the Orphan House pupils learned so much was that they were forced to attend school. This is the most obvious difference between the Orphan House and the combination of free schools and family assistance available to children before coming to the Orphan House, since the time in school, methods, books, and student backgrounds appear to have been similar. 

A further characteristic of education in the Orphan House was that the rules of the institution specifically spelled out that girls were to be taught.  Not for as long as boys—in the 1790s they were to get three hours of schooling compared to six for the boys, but some teaching nonetheless.  By the end of the antebellum era, the politician, school reformer, and Orphan House alumnus Christopher Memminger was urging that the free schools cast off their role as charity schools and become universal institutions for all Charleston’s children, not just the poor. This was to include girls as well, although not blacks (Jordan 1982, p. 111). During the antebellum era the evidence suggests that girls were in fact much less likely than boys to learn to write, both before coming to the Orphan House, when they might have been taught by family and free schools, and even after some years in the Orphan House, when they undoubtedly did receive some training in basic literacy.

In the eighteenth century boys were sent out to a private school upon reaching age 8, while girls were kept in the Orphan House to help with daily operations such as making new clothes for fellow residents.   The schoolmistress was allowed to order different books for her girls than the schoolmaster ordered for the boys, for example, substituting the simpler Reading Exercises for the Use of Schools by David Blair while the boys read Aesop’s fables. 

The intentions of the commissioners were that children of both sexes learn their subjects well, however those subjects might have differed in complexity.  They examined the children regularly and at times even criticized those in charge of the girls who had allowed their training in writing and arithmetic to lag behind the boys, which, the commissioners claimed, “was equal to any seminary in the city.” The commissioners acknowledged when comparing writing samples

School.----The School being the great agent of reform and improvement, to which must be committed for the most part the physical, moral and intellectual culture of the children, it is expected that the highest standard, tone and efficiency shall be maintained and the best facilities provided.

1. The School shall assemble every morning at nine o'clock, and continue until twelve, with two intermissions of fifteen minutes each, for the four classes of younger children, and one for the other portion of the scholars. It shall again assemble at three o'clock, and continue until five, with such intermissions as the Principal may direct.

2. The School shall be opened with the reading of a portion of the Scriptures, and the appointed prayer and singing, and closed in the evening with prayer and singing. The service to be performed by the Principal or Teacher, or by a Commissioner or invited visitor. During this service the doors shall be closed, and the School guarded from interruption, so that the greatest solemnity shall be secured.

3. Every child in the Institution capable of receiving benefit from the School, shall attend the same, under such regulations as the Principal shall prescribe; and no child shall be kept from School, or taken therefrom, for fatigue or other duty, but with the consent of the Principal, who is responsible for the children during school hours.

4. No child of officer or stranger shall be received into the School without the special order of the Board, when its guardian shall sign a pledge that the child shall wear the same dress, be subject in all particulars to the same rules and regulations; and then such child shall be entitled to equal rights and privileges with the other children.

5. No child shall be received into the School that is not whole, clean and neat, but shall be reported and sent to the Steward or Matron-- taking note of the child and its nurse. Nor shall such child e received afterward, but at the hand of such officer, or upon a certificate. Nor shall any child be received who is not presented in proper season, but be proceeded with as above. All absentees to be reported daily at the office.

6. The School shall have two sessions daily, throughout the year, excepting Saturdays and Sundays: fourth of July, two weeks in August, eighteenth day of October, thanksgiving and fast days, Christmas and the days following to the first regular school day after the first of January. But the Principal and other Teachers shall be entitled to four additional weeks, to be taken at such times as may be most convenient to themselves, and, in the judgment of the Board, least detrimental to the School.

7. There shall be at least one public examination of the children every year, in September, or at such other time as the Board may direct, when every child on the register able to attend, shall be presented and thoroughly examined by its Teacher in the various studies assigned to its grade in the established curriculum.

8. Premiums, upon a standard of merit, will be presented on each anniversary, to the excelling children of each class. The grade of merit to be determined by their numbers on their class book, meritorious conduct to count equally with proficiency in studies.

Powers and duties of Principal.

II.--Principal.--1. The Principal as the chief of the schools, shall have the supervision and management of the same, under the direction of the Committee on Schools; direct the order of exercises and studies to be from time to time pursued; establish, with the approval of this Board, rules for its government, and report irregularities and suggest reforms.

2. She shall see that the system of education, as prescribed by the Board and as now practiced in the School, is duly observed.

  3. The course shall be established by the Board, and no change in the same shall be allowed without their
  previous sanction.

4. The Principal shall take charge of all books and supplies received at the School, and distribute them as needed--shall have a supervisory power over the rooms of her department, and report any neglect of the same to the School Committee.

5. It shall be her duty to keep a register of her own, and of her teachers' attendance.

6. When deemed necessary by the Principal, for the interests of the school, for the detention of insubordinate or negligent pupils, or for the improvement of any pupil or class, in the preparation of their lessons, or for any discipline or duty, she is authorized to require the attendance of the teacher or teachers, to take charge of such pupils, and render such assistance, at such time as may be directed, beyond the usual school hours.

7. In cases of evident neglect of duty, or of evidence of want of proper spirit or of attainments in the position held, the Principal shall notify the party of the same, and if the party so warned of their failings, shall disregard her counsels, she shall then report the facts in writing to the Board at their next meeting.

  8. She shall reside in the house, and in case of the death or absence of the Matron, shall perform her duties;
  shall conform to the rules of the Institution, and strive to promote its interests.

General duties.

Teachers.--It shall be the duty of every teacher, by example and precept, to impress upon the children the importance of punctuality, regularity and neatness.

2. No teacher shall be permitted to be occupied in any other than the legitimate business of the School, during school hours, or to undertake any conflicting arrangements.

3. The books and stationery used in each class shall be considered as under the care and supervision of the Teacher of the class, who shall accordingly be held responsible for a prudent and proper care of them.

 4. The Assistant Teachers shall strive so to discipline the classes under their charge, as to avoid, if possible, a report to the principal, who alone shall have power to inflict or direct corporal punishment in the School.

5. In ease of the expected absence of any Teacher, the Principal shall be apprised and consulted as early as possible as to the contemplated absence and its probable duration.

6. It is expected that all the Teachers shall pursue a course of study to improve themselves as teachers; and an evidence of self-improvement shall be deemed indispensable to promotion or increase of salary.

7. In the absence of the Principal, the charge of the School shall devolve upon the first Assistant, and so on in the regular order of assistants.

8. If a Principal or Teacher violate any of these rules, or the instruction of the officers, the Board reserves the right to determine whether such Principal or Teacher shall be longer retained.

9. Any Teacher intending to resign from, or otherwise abandon the duties in the School, shall give one month's notice of such intention, and in default of such notice, shall forfeit all arrears of salary.

The Sunday School for the religious, but not sectarian, instruction of the children of the Institution, shall be under the superintendence of one of the Commissioners, who shall select the teachers, arrange the classes, determine the text books, and govern the school, subject to the approval of the Board.

High School and College of Charleston.--Such boys of the Orphan House as exhibit superior talents, united with approved moral qualities, may be sent by the Commissioners to the High School of Charleston, and thence to the College of Charleston, for the completion of their education.

2. The High School and College boys, residing in the Institution, shall be subject to the rules of the house and the superintendance of the Steward.

State Military Schools.--The Commissioners of the Orphan House are authorized to select, once in every four years, two youths from the number educated and maintained on the bounty of that Institution, for the purpose of completing their education at the Military Schools of the State and graduating therein, provided, that it does not increase the number to which Charleston District is now entitled.

2. All expense incident to the education and maintenance of the said youths shall be defrayed from the amount annually appropriated by the Legislature to the said Military Schools.

3. As the youths so chosen shall graduate, or in it the case of the death, expulsion or removal of any of them, the Commissioners are authorized to fill up any vacancy occasioned thereby.

South Carolina College.--The Commissioners of the Orphan House are authorized to select annually one youth, educated and maintained on the bounty of that Institution, for the purpose of completing his education at the South Carolina College.

1. All expense incident to the education and maintenance of the said boys, (clothing excepted,) shall be defrayed from the amount annually appropriated by the Legislature to the South Carolina College.

2. As the youths so chosen shall graduate, or in the case of the death, expulsion or removal of any of them, the Commissioners are authorized to fill up any vacancy occasioned thereby.

3. The sum of one hundred and fifty dollars is annually appropriated for the clothing of each of the said boys while they remain at the College, not exceeding the term usually allowed candidates for the first degree.

4. The sum of eighty dollars is annually appropriated by the City Council, for the purpose of aiding the object of the State Legislature in the provision made for the education of the boys of this Institution.