Page images
PDF
EPUB

and all the arrangements are such as to approximate to perfection in all the necessary appendages and accompaniments to each of such edifices.

We are not of those who believe that youth cannot learn in schools without being encompassed by a splendid and costly edifice, and all the appliances which large expenditures of money alone can produce; but we do think that the school house should present a respectable and inviting appearance, and should be so situated and surrounded, with out-door conveniences, that the innate sense of propriety and modesty of the pupils shall not be blunted, and the germ of impropriety implanted in their youthful minds. It should be so arranged internally as to promote habits of order and cleanliness; should be properly warmed, ventilated and cleansed, with seats and desks of proper size, height and length, and all its arrangements such as to adapt the building to the purpose for which it is intended.

As these subjects are all considered in Appendix "B," it is unnecessary to go into details here.

Many teachers think that the most difficult part of their ddties is to establish and maintain good order and discipline, and to adopt a system and method in the management and instruction of the school. Without order and good discipline in school there can be no progress, for all is confusion and distraction, and without system in the management of the school, progress must be comparatively slow. An ill-planned school room is an absolute prevention of good order and also operates against the establishment of a good system, so that in this respect alone there is a strong reason for well arranged school rooms. Another consideration is the health of the pupils and teacher. This is not properly cared for in a room where the dust is arising from the filth upon the floor, and is drawn in upon the lungs of the scholars; nor where they are exposed to currents of air from cracks in the walls of the building, or about the doors and windows; or where they are forced to breathe impure air for want of proper means of ventilation, or

obliged to sit upon ill-constructed seats, producing temporary pain and sometimes resulting in permanent distortions of the body. Time is another consideration. It is not seldom the case that one-half of the morning session in the winter season is lost to the pupils, in consequence of the insufficient provisions for warming the room, by means of a poor stove-pipe of as many different sizes as there are joints, belching clouds of smoke into the room, and green or decayed wood taken from the snow or mud at the door; days of valuable time are thus lost in a single term. Such a state of things tends to familiarize the pupils with disorder and confusion, and to destroy all inclination to respect or observe it. It also causes a want of punctuality and regularity in attendance up. on school, when in the morning and in severe weather the pupils have no assurance that they will be comfortable at the school house. Poor school houses serve also to increase the number of non-attendants upon the public school, and occasion a withdrawal of the influence of their parents from public schools and a bestowal of it upon private ones.

TEACHERS.

Of all the things necessary to be done to improve the public schools there is none more important than the improvement of teachers themselves. We may provide school houses suitable in every respect, awaken a deep interest in the cause of education on the part of parents, so that minor evils referred to will vanish and cease to harass the teacher and injure the schools, and if the teacher is not what he should be, all previous trouble will prove nearly useless, the school will be as a body without a soul. There is too great indifference in many districts of the state as to the necessity of having well qualified teachers to instruct their children, and too little discrimination on the part of school officers, as well as others, beween the value of good and poor teachers. Children cannot attend school six hours each day for eight or ten years of their early life, when the mind is most susceptible of impressions, and the most retentive when once impressed, without becoming con

-

taminated if associated with vice, and without continuing virtuous if associated with virtue. It is in the school room, during these years, that the character of the pupils, in a great measure, is formed for life; and the direction there given to their moral and intellectual nature, and the self-control and self-reliance there attained will follow them through their future career in life. Hence the importance of engaging teachers of learning and ability, of good habits and precepts, possessing the tact and ability to maintain such discipline as will secure courtesy, kindness and politeness on the part of the scholars, and a due appreciation of the moral and 'social obligations under which they exist.

As the teacher is, so is the school. He teaches by example as well as by precept. If the teacher is boisterous the scholars will be so; if he is uncourteous toward his scholars they will be so to him. and to each other; if he disregards his word in his own communications with his scholars, they will do it and lose all considerations of the value of truth; if he is careless in hearing recitations and teaching principles, they will be careless in preparing themselves for recitation, and indifferent as to understanding principles; if the teacher is superficial in his teachings, the knowledge of the scholars will be of the same character; if the teacher manifests no zeal or energy in the discharge of his duties, he will soon observe a listlessness on the part of his scholars; if he tolerates wrong, he must expect his school to become riotous; if he is unnecessarily severe in his government, he will lose the moral power he should possess over his pupils.

Teachers can much benefit themselves by frequent association with each other, and discussing subjects connected with their duties as such. Town associations of teachers might be formed with great advantage, as there seems really no obstacle to prevent them. School officers and parents would attend them, and thus an interest would be awakened in the minds of the people and a better understanding exist between them and the teachers, resulting from such associations. Of county associations and institutes and nor

mal schools for better preparing teachers for their duties, we have spoken elsewhere.

TEXT BOOKS.

Another serious obstacle to the greater efficiency of our common schools, is the great diversity of text books in use. By the reports made to this office it appears that the books which are most used in the different towns comprise a list of fifteen different spelling books, eighteen readers, ten geographies, fifteen arithmetics and twenty grammars; and it is believed that if all the school books in use were known, they would comprise a list nearly as extensive as that reported in Connecticut a few years since, which, in the five studies named, included the works of one hundred and ninety-one different authors. The same diversity of text books extends to History, Algebra, Philosophy, Chemistry, &c. In a majority of the schools this evil of a diversity of text books exists, and that it should be overcome no one, who is at all acquainted with the routine of duties in a school room, will attempt to gainsay. Where there are different text books in the same school there will be just as many different classes, which in many instances so divide the time of the teacher among a multiplicity of classes, that he is able to devote but a few minutes to each, and has necessarily to hurry through recitations, imparting little or no instruction and making them mere exhibitious of memory on the part of pupils. It is evident to every one that under such circumstances, little or no progress can be made by a school, and the unlucky teacher is too frequently made to suffer as the sole cause of this want of proficiency.

The primary object to be accomplished in this respect is not so much to secure the use of the same text books in all the schools of the state, or of a county, as in towns and particularly school districts. For each school district is a separate and distinct organization, entirely independent of all others, and such means and appliances should be used to improve and perfect it, as will make it the means of conferring upon the district, upon the youth at

tending it, the greatest possible benefit. It is not necessary for the school of district No. 2, to use text books by the same authors as those used by district No. 1, in order that No. 2 may be equally as proficient; as there are almost innumerable works, by different authors, upon the same subject, thrown before the public, and many of them are of nearly equal merit, and if introduced into the schools will be regarded with equal favor, and produce like results. An occasional change in the books used, especially in schools of a higher grade, is useful.

As the town superintendent exercises a supervision over the schools within his town, it is, for many reasons, an advantage to the schools to have a uniformity of text books in all the schools of the town. It will aid the town superintendent in his inspection of teachers and schools, and render the intercourse between teachers more profitable to themselves and their pupils.

The law provides that "it shall be the duty of the state superintendent to recommend the introduction of the most approved text books, and as far as practicable, to secure a uniformity in the use of text books in the common schools throughout the State." And it further provides, that "the board in each school district shall have power under the advice of the superintendent of public instruction to determine what school and text books shall be used in the several branches taught in the school of such district." This is the extent of the law on this subject, and is sufficient, in my view, to accomplish all that is necessary in the premises. As the town superintendent is privileged to give his advice and direction to district boards, and to teachers, as to the government of the schools and the course of study to be pursued therein, let such officer so advise with the district board and see that in each of the schools within his jurisdiction, a uniformity in the use of text books is secured. No other act of reform which he can induce, will produce a more beneficial result than this. Were all persons employed to teach our schools professional teachers, possessed of all the qualifications necessary to render them worthy of that ex

« PreviousContinue »