Origins.

The Lancastrian Method, named for Joseph Lancaster, actually began with Anglican missionary schools in Madras, India. Under this method one teacher could supervise hundreds of students by dividing them into groups of ten to twenty each and putting them under the direct supervision of a class monitor, a somewhat more advanced student. These monitors, selected for their deportment and attention to studies, were rewarded either by weekly tickets, which could be redeemed for money, or with room and board. The system was brought to England in 1789 by Dr. Andrew Bell, an Anglican minister. Lancaster, a Quaker, learned the method from Bell and by 1805 was conducting his own school in London using this system, having one thousand students enrolled under his and the monitors' direction.

Success.

Lancaster and his proteges were able by 1809 to open twenty schools, educating nearly ten thousand students at...