John D. Pierce, founder of the Michigan school system; a study of education in the Northwest

Front matter

A STUDY OF EDUCATION IN THE NORTHWEST

Class .

Book.

Preface

The chief idea underlying the preparation of this volume has been to present to the people of Michigan a true account of the life and work of John D. Pierce, our first Superintendent of Public Instruction. Almost seventy years have gone since he entered upon his educational work, and more than twenty years since his death, and as yet no adequate study of his career has appeared. His memory is deserving of better treatment from the generation of to-day, and if this book shall contribute in any way to bring about even a tardy recognition of his services, its purpose will have been accomplished.

It is only proper to say that this study is based almost altogether upon original material which the writers have made use of for the first time, and whatever value it may have depends in no little measure on this fact. The task of collecting, sifting, and editing the data has been a difficult one, yet one which has fully compensated for the trouble, for in many of the papers and documents yellowed by age there have been discernible the motive forces in the life of a great man.

Falling as Mr. Pierce's labors in education did in the period coincident with the beginnings of our statehood, it has been thought desirable as an introduction to his life and work, to offer some preliminary observations concerning our national and local educational inheritances, as well as to sketch briefly the course of Michigan history up to the close of the Territorial days. What Mr. Pierce did to establish our school system marks an x PREFACE

epoch in the civilization and culture of the Northwest, and it has seemed only proper to call attention to those forces which culminated in his achievements, and the conditions in which they were wrought. The discussion has, therefore, been divided into two parts, — Part One, devoted to origins, and Part Two, given up to Mr. Pierce and his labors.

In this connection the authors wish to acknowledge their obligations to many people who have contributed facts and material: First, to Mrs. M. A. Emerson, and Mrs. Harriet Reed Pierce, of Waltham, Mass., without whose assistance the writing of the volume would have been impossible; to Miss Jane Hosmer, of Concord, Mass., Miss Florence B. Graham, of Greenville, Mich., Mrs. Prink, widow of the late Isaac E. Crary, of Marshall, Mich., Rev. John P. Sanderson, Lansing, Mich., and to Dr. Daniel Putnam, of the State Normal College. We also wish to express our indebtedness to the Hon. Delos Fall, of Albion College, who has kindly written the introduction which follows, and who did so much himself while superintendent of public instruction to revive interest in the career of Mr. Pierce.

C. O. IIOYT.

R. C. Ford.

Ypsilanti, MICH., June 1, 1905.

CONTENTS i.

ir.

in.

IV.

PART I.— ORIGINS America's Educational Inhkritanck Sketch of Early Michigan History ' ~~

Culture Conditions in Territorial Days ^^ . Two Direct Sources of tiik Michigan School System

TART II.— JOHN D. PIERCE: FOUNDER OF THE MICHIGAN SCHOOL SYSTEM

PAGE

5 21 31

V.

Early Ykaks in New England .

VI.

First Years in the Ministry

VII.

With Tiie Pioneers in Michigan

VIII.

IX.

Mr. Pierce's Educational Doctrine— The

Individual and the State

X.

Tin', Meaning and Aim ok Education

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

Mr. Pierce's Second Appearance in Public

LlFK

XV.

East Years

(In Part Personal Reminiscences by Dr. Daniel Putnam.)

XVI.

Quotations from Mr. Pierce's Education

AL

Writings

XI

ILLUSTRATIONS

John D. Pierce (From a Painting in the Library of Olivet

College) Frontispiece

PAGE

Mrs. Harriet Reed-Pierce at the Age of Ninety-Six 4

Coat of Arms of the Pierce Family .... 30

Diploma of John D. Pierce from Brown University 60

The Pierce Oak 80

Commission of John D. Pierce as Superintendent of

Public Instruction 86

John D. Pierce's Handwriting in Middle Life . 102

Grave of Gen. Isaac E. Crary 136

Grave of John D. Pierce at Marshall, Mich. . 146

INTRODUCTION

One Easter Sunday the writer made a pilgrimage to the City of Marshall, Mich., and visited the graves of two men, who by their services to the state were more than ordinarily distinguished. One grave was that of the first Superintendent of Public Instruction of Michigan, the one man to whom more than to any other, the state is under lasting obligations. To him must be given the credit of laying the foundations of a system of education which, from the time of the adoption of the state constitution to the present, has challenged the admiration of all intelligent students of education. The grave of John D. Pierce is marked with a simple monument, upon which is inscribed the date of birth and death, and the fact that the shaft was erected by the pupils and teachers of the schools of Michigan. Here, then, are the mortal remains of the man who in the early days of our preparation for statehood, when plans for the future were to be outlined, standards erected and a general educational policy adopted, declared that he would have as the great object of the common schools "to furnish good instruction in all the elementary and common branches of knowledge for all classes of the community, as good indeed for the poorest boy in the state as the rich man can furnish his children with all his wealth."

The second grave visited was that of General Isaac E. Crary, a member of the first constitutional convention, and chairman of the committee on education, who did more than any other member of that body to give form to the educational system of the state. He was the leader in a movement which depended for its success more or less upon political methods, and he was able to command the attention of the convention. It may

2 INTRODUCTION

safely and consistently be said that without the timely assistance of Mr. Crary, many wise provisions for education would not have been adopted.

There are three names which every teacher in Michigan should learn to pronounce in logical order, and with a due appreciation of their worth and the great part which they played in the formation of the state, — Victor Cousin, Isaac E. Crary, and John D. Pierce.

The first one, a Frenchman, was born in Paris and educated at the Ecole Normale. Later he became a teacher. During a visit to Germany in 1824-5 he was suspected of revolutionary tendencies, and sent to Berlin, where he was detained for six months. On his return to France, Cousin was elected to various important offices, and after the revolution of 1830 was made a member of the Council of Public Instruction. In 1832 he became a peer of France, then director of the Ecole Normale and virtual head of the University of France. In 1840 he was appointed Minister of Public Instruction in the cabinet of Thiers. He exerted great influence upon education, not only in his own country but throughout the world. His efforts were directed particularly toward the organization of primary instruction along the lines of the report which he had made concerning the conditions of public education in Prussia and Holland. This report which, as Dr. Hinsdale says, "was one of the most quickening educational documents ever written," appeared first in England, and later in this country only a year before Mr. Pierce took charge of educational matters in Michigan.

The history of any state is the cumulative history of the successive generations of men who have made that state. In each epoch of that history some man is providentially raised up who has been fitted by previous preparation to meet the emergency of the hour, and provide those factors which are needed for the advance of civilization. So it has been with the commonwealth of Michigan. At the time when this territory was knocking for admission into the family of the states, when a constitution was to be framed and adopted so that the future empire between the Great Lakes might be inducted into a life of continual

INTRODUCTION 3

progress, men appeared who were the providential instruments in accomplishing this work. John Davis Pierce was the man for the hour, and in his previous training, in the breadth of his vision, in his ardent patriotism, were found factors which were of the greatest importance to the future of the state. And it was necessary that these qualities should find expression in the state constitution, for without them the cause of education would have been hampered throughout all succeeding years.

One or two facts will clearly show the close relationship which, through a sequence of cause 'and effect, connects the three names already mentioned into a chain, the forging of which has most forcefully aided in the upbuilding of the commonwealth. M. Cousin's report was translated and circulated in this country. A copy of it fell into the hands of Mr. Pierce and Mr. Crary. Its salient features were incorporated in the constitution, and provisions were made for a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a complete system of elementary schools, township libraries, and a state university. The present volume deals with the life of a man, whose labors were destined to put into successful operation the provisions of the constitution. How well he wrought, and how grandly he fulfilled the mission which Providence entrusted to him, will be known by those who read the pages which follow.

The results of Mr. Pierce's labors, when viewed in the perspective which nearly seventy years give, are the glorious fulfillment of a prophetic statement made in his first annual report: — "To enter upon a high career as a State is undoubtedly an object of paramount importance. It is so because it involves the reputation of the State, and also the highest good of present and coming generations. If we would preserve inviolate the sacred principles of liberty, — of liberty, civil and religious, if we would hand down to those who are to come after us a constitution, government and laws, based upon the essential and unperishable rights of man ; if we would rear a superstructure of elements more durable than crowns or pyramids, we must dig deep and lay broad and permanent the foundation of knowledge and virtue."

If now the question is raised as to whether we, as the direct

4 INTRODUCTION

beneficiaries of his labors, appreciate as we ought the great service rendered by this man, we must answer that toward him, as toward many another man of great and beneficent deeds, we have shown that ingratitude for which states and nations are proverbial. A small and iucouspicuous monument has been raised over his grave, his portrait hangs in the executive office of the State University, and with that the record of recognition is ended. It may be said here, however, that a Commission consisting of the present Superintendent of Public Instruction, two ex-Superintendents, and two City Superintendents, has been appointed to inaugurate a movement which shall result in some fitting and worthy monument to his memory.

Di:i,os Fall, Albion College,

MRS. HARRIET REED PIERCE AT THE AGE OF NINETY-SIX

PART I. ORIGINS

Chapter I

In order to understand and appreciate the significance of the educational work of John D. Pierce, it will be necessary for us to know, in addition to our knowledge of the political and social conditions of early Michigan, something of the ideals and conceptions of education prevalent in Europe and in the New England states. We must see how these world ideas became American ideals, and how they were adopted and appropriated, with certain modifications, by Mr. Pierce, and used by him as the fundamentals of the Michigan Public School System. We shall, therefore, proceed to a somewhat cursory examination of the facts and principles, as well as the methods that seem to make up our educational inheritance.

A nation forms ideals which are expressed in institutions. Institutions become realized ideals as soon as the people grow conscious of their necessity, and see in them a means for the satisfaction of desires. The world has come to see that great national events or achievements are not the result of chance or of some unseen and unknown force, but that they are builded upon and grow out of the past. Every nation inherits the ideals of its predecessors, together with some elements of institutional life, and with this endowment, under new conditions in a new environment, it will evolve a new ideal by forming new associations and organizations. This will, in turn, be transmitted to posterity, and succeeding generations will repeat the process. A dominant life ideal may enter into the consciousness of a group of individuals with such intensity that freedom and independence will be expressed in the peculiar character of the organized State, or a religion, expressed by a particular creed will be realized in the established Church, but in order to perpetuate this ideal and transmit it to succeeding generations, it is necessary that a

6 JOHN D. P1KRCE

system of education, expressed in a school, be well organized.

Less than three hundred years ago, certain peoples left the parent country in Europe and sought an abiding place in the unbroken wilderness of America, where they hoped to erect a new home for themselves and their posterity. Each group was actuated by its own controlling motive, and was more or less influenced by the home ideal. Some came to these unknown shores in search of gold, or were prompted by the love of adventure. Some hoped to found landed estates, in imitation of the home model, and some were in search of a place where they might be free to think and act as their consciences dictated. There were governments that sent their emissaries to the new land, for the express purpose of conquest for both church and state, but in no instance have these European countries ever contributed anything to American civilization. Our forefathers, however, remembered the past, and being controlled by the old associations and acting under the influence of the old institutional life, they formed new institutions and looked with hope into the future.

It will be necessary, therefore, in order to understand the principles governing the foundation and organization of the educational system in America, first to direct our attention to the fatherland and ascertain, if possible, what influences surrounded these people. What were the problems, and what ideals of education prevailed in Europe during the three centuries of our American life? How had the people endeavored to realize them, and with what result? If they had failed, can the cause of this failure be construed into a motive for migration?

The controlling tendency in Europe was a movement away from authority and toward individual freedom, — the development of the individual by means of voluntary acts originating in man himself, rather than by the performance of acts or duties imposed upon him by an outer authority. This tendency found a definite expression in four ways, and resulted in the perception, by the individual, of certain fixed principles of life, which came, at last, to control his actions, in spite of the traditional authority of church, state, or school.

a) A new philosophical method was discovered. This method, when fully comprehended, was employed in the solution of all classes of life problems, and was applied to every phase of human activity. Descartes (1596-1650) , starting with doubt, established the certainty of self, and demonstrated the diference between the results, upon the individual, of an act that was self active, and one imposed by outer authority.

b) The development of science and a new scientific spirit and and method. While this was, at first, bitterly opposed by theology, it gradually wrought out a revision of church creeds, and succeeded finally, either in working reforms in the old church, or in establishing new ones.

c) Absolute and unlimited monarchies had been built up, but, with the growth of new ideas and the consequent development of man's reason, revolutions became frequent, and absolutism was replaced by constitutional governments. Thus the chasm between church and state was widened, and a greater development of individuality was made possible.

d) It now became possible for the common people to come into the possession of a great ideal. Each individual saw the possibility of seizing upon it, and making it his own by realizing it in his acts. Everywhere there was a growing demand for universal and public education. School systems with new and better courses were organized, and new books and better school appliances came into ready use. Great teachers were produced, and new and improved educational theories and methods were evolved aud practically applied.

The Discovery of America, the Copernican System of Astronomy, the translation of Aristotle into the vernacular, and the invention of printing made the free public school necessary and possible, and marked the beginning of modern education. In Prussia, the people took the initiative and founded schools which were afterwards organized into a system and administered by the sovereign government. Under Louis XIV., in France, the state originated and formulated a system which was imposed upon the people. In America

8 JOHN D. PIBB.CB

tlie people soon grew to know no king, and refused to recognize any right other than that of the individual conscience, as it was expressed by the will of the people. Their government was organized on this basis, and universal education was the only form compatible with this great principle. John D. Pierce expressed this ideal when he said: "Let free schools be established and maintained in perpetuity and there can be no such thing as a permanent aristocracy in our land, for the monopoly of wealth is powerless when mind is allowed freely to come in contact with mind. Children of every name and age must be taught the qualifications and duties of American citizens and learn in early life the art of self control. Therefore education must be free aud public, and ultimately compulsory, and it matters not whether the school maintenance be by public tax, private means, or both." '

American education has felt the direct influence of three European countries, England, France, and Germany. In the seventeenth century in the New England colonies, English schools and systems were the models. The force of French thought aud realism was beginning to be felt in the eighteenth century, while the dominating influence that inspired the revival of education in the nineteenth century, and did much to shape its policv was of a distinctly German character.

The prevailing thought of Europe in the seventeenth century regarding education was the development of a new philosophy on a non-scholastic basis, and the organization of a school .system that should be realistic rather than humanistic. The first prepared the way for the second, and the second applied the principles which grew out of the first movement. Descartes in France, and Comenius, in Germany, were representatives of each of these movements respectively, while John Locke, in England, in attempting to harmonize the two tendencies, exerted an indirect influence on early education in this country. His theory of the development of the human mind, if accepted, would tend to change humanistic into realistic methods, but his was a sys-

(i) First Annual Report \ 1S36, pane 31.

AMKHK'A'S I'IM'OATIONAr, IN 1 1 B}R ITANCK

Icmii suited only to royally, and adapted to Hit: education of a gentleman; it, therefore, found little favor in America, and made no lasting impression upon men who claimed t<> in- free and equal. Comenius' system, on the contrary, when understood, was appreciated and adopted. He was obliged to evolve his doctrine and to apply the same in the midst of the Thirty Years War. He was forgotten hut afterward discovered and appreciated hy the Germans. They incorporated his ideas into their state system, and in this way his influence came to America. John Amos Comenius was a member of the Moravian Brotherhood, a sect following the religious teachings of John IIus. He was horn in Moravia, in 1592, and died at Amsterdam in 1671. He was educated at Herborn College, and came under the influence of Ratke through the teachings of John Alsted. He was a teacher, a pastor, and afterward a Bishop in the Moravian Church. He suffered exile, afterwards visited England, where he mingled with the great scholars of that country, and then repaired to Sweden and prepared a series of text- hooks. Tradition tells us that he was at one time called to the Presidency of Harvard College. Finally, his people having received no consideration in the Treaty of Westphalia, he, like many others, found a refuge in Holland, and here he spent his declining years in peace.

His educational system has a distinct religious basis — education being regarded as a preparation for eternity. He began hy attempting to reform the poor methods of leaching Latin, in vogue at that time, and hy going to nature for suggestions, he dually evolved a plan for a system of universal education. He embodied his entire system in the Great Didactic. In the series of illustrated text-books which he prepared, he showed how the child could be led from the study of meaningless words to the study of real things. He graded the schools under bis charge and bequeathed to posterity a plan for a system in which it was possible for a child to advance step by step, from the most elementary school, to the university.

He wrote and thought in advance of his age. It was more than a century afterward before Europe was ready to incorporate

10 JOHN D. PIERCK

his ideas iuto an educational system, and still another century hefore American educators were ready or willing to adapt and apply any of his principles under the new conditions. A complete English translation of the Great Didactic was not made until 1896, although it was originally written in the Czech in 1631, shortly afterward translated iuto Latin by Comenius himself, and subsequently translated into the German. '

The revolutions of the eighteenth century in Church and State were necessary before the idea of the development of the individual, anticipated by Comenius, could find a reception in the minds of the people, or become realized in the institutions of church, state, or school.

The seventeenth century, like those previous, was an age of extreme institutionalism, but gradually there had developed a growing tendency toward a realization of the worth of the individual as such. This led naturally to the consideration of great and complex social questions. France seemed to be the best suited for an attempt at a solution of these problems and the establishment of certain empirical principles. The conditions of its society were best adapted for the propagation of the principles of liberty and equality, and the human paradox, Rousseau, was the best exponent of the old tendency in a new form.

Jean Jacques Rousseau's life (1712-1778) affords an example never worthy of imitation, yet at the same time, one the good influence of which has been far reaching. His purely subjective individualism reflected the social life of his time, aud furnished the world a striking illustration of the extreme reaction of an individual against authority — the triumph of the supremacy of the feelings over reason and blind submission.

The first half of his life was a passive or dependent one. He lived a life of absolute freedom, aud performed only such acts as his feelings prompted. He associated with the common people, learued to feel as they felt, and with them rebelled against the restrictions of a corrupt society, and chafed under the bonds of convention and propriety. When he rebelled and lived accord -

i Mouroe— John Amos Comeuius.

AMERICA'S KDTICATlONAIy INHERITANCE 11

ing to Nature, he gave the world a great object lesson in individualism.

The second half of his life was productive, or creative. He associated with people of high estate and came in contact with some of the brightest intellects of the French court. He responded to the impulse to write, and gave expression to his feelings rather than to his reason. Accordingly, in the Social Contract and the Kmile, although expressed in paradox, he showed how he would reform society by educating a child according to nature, out of society, and the application he would make of this principle to the state and to the school.

A comparison of the Social Contract and the Declaration of Independence will reveal more than one point in common, while a study of the Fniile will show that he anticipated much that is accepted today, regarding the individual development of the child, according to nature.

Rousseau laid bare the defects and abuses of the society and education of his time, and demanded reforms in the direction of truth and simplicity. It has truly been said of him: — "It has been given to few men to exert with their thought an influence so deep and persuasive as that of Rousseau. This influence, due to the fact that he took the 'motives' which were 'toiling in the gloom' of the popular mind of his time, and made them flash, with the lurid lightning of his own passion, before the eyes of an astonished world, extended to all departments of human activity — philosophy, science, religion, art, politics, ethics, economics, and pedagogy." l

The central figure of the educational influence of the eighteenth century was Henry Pestolozzi, who was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1746. With him, as with many another, the right man found himself in the proper environment. A force was thus generated from which radiated an external influence. For contemporaries he had Kant and Hegel, Goethe and Schiller, Herbart and Froebel, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Mann. He was among the first to study educational problems on a psychologic

1 Thomas Davidson— Rousseau and Education According to Nature, p. 234.

basis, and by so doing he anticipated the science of education, which was later perfected by Herbart and his followers. His first activity was in his little school for poor children at Neubof. It was here, after the failure of this school, that for twenty years "he lived like a beggar, that he might teach beggars to live like men;" it was here that he wrote Leonard and Gertrude. This book made the whole of Europe conscious of the need of a social reform, and of the great truth that education is the only means for the accomplishment of this end. We next see him as the educator of the orphans at Stanz, where he learned the value and place of industrial education. After establishing the common school at Burgdorf, and exerting an influence upon Felleuberg in the founding of his school at Hofwyl, we find him for the last twenty years of his life as the educator of humanity at Yverdun. It was from this school that influences radiated to every country of the civilized world and acted as potent forces in reforming educational method, and in influencing teachers everywhere to do better things for the children.

Pestalozzianism offers suggestions along two lines: — practice and theory, — practice in the organization and supervision of schools, and theory in the methods of teaching and in the training of teachers.

Flchte, in his celebrated Addresses to the German People, in calling attention to the work of Pestalozzi, shows that education for all of the people is the only means by which a nation may become free. Queen Louise reinforced this suggestion, and by her influence made this organization possible. From henceforward we see a perfected Prussian Educational System, and Comenius is reinforced by Pestalozzi.

German, French, and English tutors, together with their pupils, had been in attendance at the famous school at Yverdun, and upon their return to their homes had done something to inaugurate educational reforms. Americans began to visit Europe for the purpose of study and observation, and we next see these various influences spreading across the sea, where they are to operate under new and decidedly different conditions. It now remains to be seen how the schools of the United States were influenced by these European forces.

The educational system of America rests, fundamentally, upon our peculiar form of government. How did the young republic in the western hemisphere, in its endeavors to establish a new and hitherto untried form of government, transform and adapt the ideas of education of the old world to the peculiar conditions found in the new? One may well wonder how the national ideal was evolved. At first, it was undetermined and was imperfectly understood; but with time it grew so strong and became so prominent in the consciousness of the people that we can look about us today and see its full and perfect realization.

The line of march was from Europe to the eastern colonies, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and, with increased facilities for transportation, thence westward to the Northwest Territory. The people of the new state of Michigan, being themselves "Easteners," held pretty definite notions as to schools and the value of education. Their ideas, it is true, were the European thought modified by the conditions of early colonial life and doubtless, until the time of Mr. Pierce, they were not directly influenced |by Europe. These people had, however, a controlling motive in founding a school system by modifying other systems to fit the needs and conditions peculiar to this new environment.

In order to understand how the American people came into possession of its educational inheritance, it is necessary first to know how much direct influence was exerted upon the American school, and the sources through which it came; and, in the second place, it is equally as necessary to know how much, that is regarded as American, is original. We shall then be prepared to understand the origins of our system. If the nature of the past experience of the pioneer is known and his motive can be understood, it will not be a difficult matter to explain his acts or trace the steps in the development of local institutions.