David Stow - Life

Life

Born Paisley, Renfrewshire, the son of a successful merchant, he was educated at Paisley Grammar School before entering the Port-Eglinton Spinning Co. in 1811, an affiliation he was to maintain to the end of his life. His early involvement in Sunday School teaching led him to believe in the importance of effective training for teachers at all levels. His motto was "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

A leader of considerable ability and energy, in 1827, Stow set up his first school in Glasgow. Its success led to the establishment of the influential Glasgow Educational Society. In 1836, Stow established a Normal School for teacher training. The school attracted students and observers from across the UK, including James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, education in England still being comparatively undeveloped at that stage.

Stow's school became part of the establishment and, following the Disruption of 1843, a legal ruling of 1845 held that the school was part of the Church of Scotland. Stow and most of his colleagues and students were adherents of the Free Church of Scotland; for this reason, they were compelled to resign from what had become state-funded teaching posts. Stow established a new college in Glasgow as the Free Church Normal Seminary.

Read more about this topic:  David Stow

Famous quotes containing the word life:

    Holinesse on the head,
    Light and perfections on the breast,
    Harmonious bells below, raising the dead
    To leade them unto life and rest.
    Thus are true Aarons drest.
    George Herbert (1593–1633)

    “From those constellations turn
    Your eyes, and sleep; for every man
    Is living; and for peace upon
    His life should rest;
    This must everybody learn
    For mutual happiness; that trust
    Alone is best.”
    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    We’ve only just begun to learn about the water and its secrets, just as we’ve only touched on outer space. We don’t entirely rule out the possibility that there might be some form of life on another planet. Then why not some entirely different form of life in a world we already know is inhabited by millions of living creatures?
    Harry Essex (b. 1910)