How Did Hannah More Contribute To Education

Hannah More – Reflection and Influence
Writer, educator, abolitionist – each of these occupations have one person in common: Hannah More. More devoted her long life to the work and betterment of others in all these areas. She was born in 1745 and lived until 1833, living through many different paradigm shifts: the Age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and the Victorian Era. Highly intelligent, and arguably ahead of her times, she wrote, taught, and argued for social change. More echoed the Victorian values of her day through her lessons and structures of the schools that were developed by her. Education had always been a strong focus in More’s early life. Her father had opened a grammar school in Stapleton, an area of Bristol
Since class was every day of the week, she wanted to make sure that her students would be able to advance their own lives and thus make society better. Many of these schools suffered backlash from the local churches, especially in rural Blagdon, a village in Somerset. It was in this area that the school was forced to close, due to the accusation of its teaching Methodist scriptures. The school shortly reopened, because the accusation was retracted (Demers 108). A local clergyman wrote and published an entire pamphlet that More’s school was the downfall of all good things. He continued to say that with the school closing, Miss More was not the evangelical radical that everyone thought she was. She did not stand up to the local authorities. The local clergyman believed “… More should have ‘defended her own cause’ and ‘that her apologists, with more zeal than judgement, have hurt her…” (Demers 107). This was later found to be untrue. Others believed that More was doing such good work for the community, they wanted to have the school
She realized that those attending school had little motivation, so she would try to find ways that would keep them in school. In several accounts, she stated that those who attend school should be rewarded for doing so. They should have something that would enable them to keep their attention on books. Her answer was to allow some fun on the outside. Her ideas included baking gingerbread cookies during wintertime, having picnics on nice Spring days, and also to have rewards given to them at other times (Demers 104). Additionally, More believed that students should be treated with kindness and respect. Her motto for teaching and establishing schools was “I have always found that kindness produces a better end by better means” (Stott 124). This was modern thinking during the Victorian age. The majority of schools during the Victorian era based their educational system on punishment for misbehavior. More’s approach was revolutionary as she believed that others should not be punished for their social position, but should be treated with the same respect as everyone