Christian History Home > Issue 53 > Education: Classrooms in Hell
Education: Classrooms in Hell
The first Sunday schools were not for respectable and well-mannered children of believers.
Kelvin D. Crow | posted 1/01/1997 12:00AM
One day in 1780, Robert Raikes's newspaper business took him to an impoverished suburb of Gloucester. He was shocked to see so many children "wretchedly ragged, at play in the street." He asked a local woman about this.
"On a Sunday you would be shocked indeed," she replied, "for then the street is filled with multitudes of the wretches who, released on that day from employment, spend their day in noise and riot … cursing and swearing in a manner so horrid as to convey … an idea of hell."
In 1700s England, it was generally agreed that something must be done about such children's poverty and ignorance. After his firsthand exposure, Robert Raikes figured out what to do.
Dandy reformer
He wasn't the first to try. In the 1700s, 1,500 charity schools had been established by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. Wesley and Whitefield had preached to the young. But most efforts were like the school conducted by Hannah Ball, a Methodist stalwart. She had worked "instructing a few ... To view this item, you must be a member of ChristianHistory.net.
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