ABSTRACT
Robert Owen pressed on energetically with the building of his new schools, and with other plans for improving factory conditions. In establishing his new schools, Owen conceived himself as laying the only sure foundation for a revolutionary change for the better. Between 1815 and 1825 nearly twenty thousand names were inscribed in the visitors’ book at New Lanark; and the visitors ranged from the future Czar Nicholas of Russia to deputations from parochial bodies and humble believers in the new educational ideas. Moreover, he objected strongly to the dancing, singing and military exercises which Owen had introduced into the curriculum, and greatly preferred the Lancasterian system of education to that in force at New Lanark. Owen was compelled to dismiss some of his teachers, and to install an orthodox Lancasterian, John Daniel, as head of the schools. In Switzerland Owen paid a round of visits to the new schools organised by Father Oberlin, by Pestalozzi, and by Fellenberg.
