Dame school
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A dame school was an early form of a private elementary school in English-speaking countries. They were usually taught by women and were often located in the home of the teacher.
Dame schools were quite varied - some functioned primarily as day care facilities, overseen by illiterate women, while others provided their students with a good foundation in the basics. The inadequacies of Dame schools in England were illustrated by a study conducted in 1838 by the Statistical Society of London that found nearly half of all pupils surveyed were only taught spelling, with a negligible number being taught mathematics and grammar. Dame schools became less common in Britain after the introduction of compulsory education in 1880, whereafter schools that were found to be below government-specified standards of tuition could be closed.
The first school in Australia, started in 1789, was a dame school in which children were taught basics by a convict, Isabella Rossen.
In modern times, dame schools exist in some states in the United States as a form of homeschooling. In states were home schools are considered private schools, homeschooling families will sometimes include children from other families. The [HSLDA] has complete information on each state's laws pertaining to homeschooling.
Unlike the original dame schools, which usually were for younger children, modern dame schools take children of all ages. Unlike traditional schools, dame schools will accept the student depending on a variety of factors, the chief of which is compatibility of the child with the family's schooling style, and the other children. Only a small percentage of homeschoolers will homeschool the children of others.
A family may choose to put their child in a dame school if they have decided to homeschool, or already homeschooling, and both parents need to work the same schedule, or if the child needs a change of scene but would not flourish in a formal school because of learning style or other factors.
[edit] References
- Rose, Jonathan (2002). The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes. Yale Nota Bene. 0-300-09808-1.
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