Study On British Sunday School In 1780-1870

Thanks to the industrial revolution, the Sunday School was able to come into being. After the first one built by Robert Raikes in 1780, it mushroomed all over the England in a short-time, Sunday School Society and Sunday School Union played very important roles in establishing the Sunday School. The scale of Sunday School is up to top in the middle of 19th century, since then Sunday Schools had gone downhills under the influence of various factors. The Elementary Law enacted in 1870 became the symbol of the decline of Sunday School.Though the Sunday Schools exist up to now, they have been totally different since they initially served as a kind of religious entertainment institution in people's life. As a major education institution for the poor, the Sunday School was created by churches and philanthropic organizations with strong financial support from the middle class. Religious education was given the priority in teaching. Sometimes, it also offered some secular courses such as reading, writing and arithmetic. In addition, Holy Bible acted as the primary textbook. On their own purpose, the government, churches, middle class and working class participated in the operation of Sunday School. Churches were for publicizing doctrines and increasing religious believers. The middle class were for the purpose of controlling the working people, and training them to become new style workers who service for themselves. The working class were for their own development. In order to fight for the controlling of working people education, the government participate in Sunday School ,too, in the 19th30s,.The development of Sunday School had proceeded with the balance among these powers, so they had a great impact on the development of modern England. Sunday Schools decreased crime rate on Sundays and made up for the lack of working class's education on weekday, in addition ,they improved the cultural level of the working class, so that they became a new type of industrial society workers, and promoted the formation of the working class.