USA > Connecticut > New London County > A modern history of New London County, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 7
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In answer to some people who feel that the new "frills" have been brought into our grammar schools at the expense of the "Three R's," the following paper was prepared and printed in the "School Review":
THE NORWICH TESTS, 1862-1909
In spite of the conclusive evidence of the well-known "Springfield tests"* of four years ago, one still hears not infrequently a lament that "the good old days" are gone. It may not be amiss, therefore, for me to submit to the readers of the "School Review" a brief account of another series of tests recently given in a Connecticut community, covering a period of about fifteen years later than that covered by the Massachusetts inquiry.
In 1906, shortly after the preliminary report of the Springfield tests, we decided to try some of our old examination papers on present-day pupils of Norwich, Connecticut. An arithmetic paper of 1856 was set before an eighth-grade division of the Broadway Grammar School of this city. Since we had the original papers of fifty years ago, we were able to make an exact comparison of results. The eighth-grade pupils of 1906 had still more than a year's work in grammar school before taking our regular entrance exam- inations. The results were as follows:
1856
73 1906 27
Pupils examined.
Members attaining 100 per cent.
3
4
Lowest mark.
40 per cent
10 per cent
Average mark 75 per cent
88 per cent
Average age .. 1514
131/2
In other words, the pupils of 1906 though two years younger than the pupils of 1856 did much better work on the very examination for which the pupils of 1856 had been prepared. A result so surprising led us to doubt our own tests. It was thought that possibly the division of pupils of 1906 was a picked division, or that possibly the school did not represent the average of our grammar schools; for, still retaining the antiquated system of district management, we have no such uniformity of grammar school work as is found in many communities. We resolved accordingly to make another test that should better represent our whole community and our average pupils. We sent out to three of our largest districts papers in arithmetic, geography, history, and grammar, given as entrance examinations in 1862 and 1863.
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BEGINNINGS OF EDUCATION
These examinations were given in February, 1909, without previous warning or preparation, and under supervision of school principals, who, in making their returns, were ignorant of the results of 1862-63, and likewise of each others results. It was declared by each principal independently that his own pupils would have done much better if the tests had been taken later in the year, after reviews had been completed. The papers given were as follows:
* See The Springfield Tests, issued by the Holden Book Cover Co., Springfield, Mass.
ARITHMETIC
1. A man bought a house for $4,000, and paid $250 for repairs, and sold it so as to gain 107/2 per cent on his investment. For how much did he sell it?
2. How much is 3/4x2/3x7/9 divided by 2/5x8/11x5/8.
3. Required, the simple interest on $90.36 for 3 years 6 months 12 days, at 6 per cent.
4. If six yards of cloth cost £4 13s. what will 11 yards cost?
5. Find the amount of $304.56 for four years, at 7 per cent, simple interest.
6. Suhtract 3x4 7/8 from 9x5 2/3.
7. What is the sum of 5 1/2, 6 2/3. and 7 1/4 in decimal numbers?
8. Reduce 0.425 to a vulgar fraction in lowest terms,
9. How many yards of carpeting 34 yard wide will cover a floor 27 feet long and 16 feet wide?
Io. A load of hay weighs 2,625 lbs. What is it worth at $15 per ton?
GEOGRAPHY
I. Where is Chicago situated? Cairo? Memphis? Pensacola? Richmond?
2. Where is Pike's Peak.
3. On what waters would you sail from Norwich to Baltimore?
4. What separates the Red Sea from the Mediterranean ?
5. What is the length of a degree of longitude?
6. What are the principal ports of the United States, south of Norfolk, Virginia?
7. Name the principal mountain ranges of Europe.
8. Draw a map of Virginia.
9. Through what State does the Connecticut River flow?
IO. When it is noon at Norwich, what time is it 15° east of this place?
HISTORY
I. What were the motives which induced the colonists of Virginia and of New England to form settlements in America?
2. What did Penn make the basis of his institutions?
3. What was the cause of the Revolutionary War?
4. What foreign assistance had the Americans during the Revolution?
5. When was the hattle of Bunker Hill fought?
6. When was the Constitution adopted ?
7. For what reasons was war declared by the United States against Great Britain in 1812?
8. In whose administration was Louisiana annexed to the United States, and from whom purchased?
9. What was the Missouri Compromise?
IO. Which of the States is called the Old Dominion ?
GRAMMAR
1. Give the principal parts of the verb to love, and write out the inflection of the tenses of the indicative mode.
2. Decline John, James, and men.
3. Write a sentence concerning General Lyon, which shall contain a relative clause.
4. Is the following sentence correct? If not, make it so: "I done the best I could."
5. "I intended to have been there." Is this sentence correct? If not, make it so.
6. In the following stanza parse the words in italics:
The muse, disgusted at an age, and clime Barren of every glorious theme,
In distant lands now waits a better time,
Producing subjects worthy fame.
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NEW LONDON COUNTY
7. Analyze the stanza.
8. Compare Good, bad, little, and strong.
9. Give the principal parts of go, strike, run, rise, and sit.
10. Name and define tenses.
It will be noted that in the fourth question of the arithmetic paper the table of English money is involved. Since we no longer require this in our entrance tests it is not usually taught in our grammar schools. Again in the eighth question the term "vulgar" fraction is used, a term superseded by "common" fraction in most of our textbooks. In history likewise the tenth question involves a term no longer taught in our schools. In one of the schools a substitute question was given instead of the fourth, and the word "common" instead of "vulgar." No suggestion was made, however, as to the tenth question in history. In the other two schools no comment whatever was made on any of the questions, and many pupils registered a flat failure on questions that they would have answered if worded in today's terms. The results of the tests may be tabulated as follows:
School
I
II
III
Total
Total
Number
31
25
35
91
88
Age
14
14
14
14
15
Arithmetic
95%
00%
85%
90%
54%
Geography
85%
80%
70%
78%
66%
History
77%
82%
71%
76%
57%
Grammar
85%
74%
75%
78%
63%
Combined Average.
80%
60%
1909
1862-63
I cannot say that the results were at all surprising in view of the previous tests of 1906. But that the average pupil of Norwich grammar schools today, at the age of fourteen, is better fitted in all subjects than was the average pupil of fifteen forty odd years ago, shows most clearly that modern fads have not brought with them a loss of the much-praised disciplinary studies of former times.
Even without the formal tests, a comparison of the old examinations with those set today for entrance to our school is sufficient to show the greater advancement of modern pupils. I do not submit for this brief sketch any samples of our present papers, but have taken pains to collect such samples from a number of the best high schools of New England. In every case the examinations of today are more difficult than those of forty or fifty years ago.
But someone may ask-as Cicero has it-"Did not the teachers of an earlier day, even if they were not so well trained or so skillful as those of today, did they not, after all, succeed in giving the pupil a stimulus to effort, a spirit of ambition, that modern teachers fail to give? See the great men that have come from those schools."
The reply must be that only time can tell what sort of men will come from the schools of today. Doubtless it has always been true, and always will be true, that men of great natural ability and energy will rise to prom- inence, whether schools be good or bad. The only pertinent question is whether the greatness of our leaders of today can be traced to the excellence of their grammar school training. Have we any evidence that their teachers roused them to power of thought?
A survey of the entrance records of those alumni of this school who have shown great intellectual power fails to suggest any such power at the end of their grammar school training. A few, out of many, examples must suffice
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BEGINNINGS OF EDUCATION
for illustration. One of the greatest oriental scholars of this country was able to secure only 65 in geography and 62 in grammar on such examinations as are printed above. Another alumnus, who stood among the very leaders of his college class and has risen to a position of prominence in many public affairs, secured marks of 55 in grammar, 60 in arithmetic, and 65 in geography. A professor of history in one of our greatest universities was marked 39 in grammar, and 60 in arithmetic, though he showed even then his natural bent for history by getting a mark of 90. A well-known editor received 62 in grammar. A prominent judge secured 60 in history. But further examples are needless to show that the grammar schools of their day did not rouse stich men to intellectual achievements.
Another lesson is easily learned from the perusal of old records-it is unsafe to estimate a child's mental capacity by the casual blunders he may make, even if they seem to us colossal. To conclude that because a boy cannot locate the Nile River he is therefore entirely ignorant of geography is as unsafe as it is common today in the writings of critics of our schools. To infer that because a boy makes some stupid blunders in judgment in his examinations he is therefore unable to reason at all, is equally unwise. What can be said of the intelligence of a boy who could make the following answers in history ?
I. When was the battle of Bunker Hill fought? Ans .: 1492.
2. When was the Constitution adopted? Ans .: The same year.
3. For what reasons was war declared by the United States against Great Britain in 1812? Ans .: Admission of Texas into the United States.
Yet in other studies, and in general intelligence, this boy seemed to be above the average of his class.
One suspects that much so-called disciplinary study was of a wooden and mechanical sort. Those were the days when pupils memorized geometry propositions by number, recited history verbatim, and memorized in Latin grammar exceptions that they would never meet in their reading of Latin. The only argument in defense of the older grammar school training that seems sound may be stated somewhat as follows: All effort that ends in success has a strengthening effect on character. The grammar schools of bygone days made learning difficult. Therefore they built up character.
For the few boys or girls who won the fight, surmounted the difficulties of poor instruction. and worked out their own salvation, undoubtedly the process was a strengthening one, but for the mass of the pupils the process was not worthy of comparison with that of our modern schools.
On the whole the tests show us, not that we are perfect, for our imper- fections are glaring and discouraging, but that we must look for aid to the best educational thought of the present and future in our own land and abroad, rather than to a past system on which we have made many im- provements.
Speaking in broad terms, the progress since 1856 might be grouped under the following heads : Better trained teachers, better text books, better school buildings and equipment, better supervision, better teaching methods, com- pulsory attendance laws, graded schools, evening schools, continuation schools, trade schools, high schools, medical inspection, better financial sup- port of schools, education of the deaf, care of the defective and the orphaned and destitute, restriction of child labor, and many forms of welfare work closely connected with education. These improvements are of course not
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NEW LONDON COUNTY
peculiar to our county, but have been worked out in many cases with a view to the special needs of a given community.
New London county, too, has a history rich in private generosity. An unusual number of institutions have been started by private bequests. As a part of our outline of education we take pleasure in tracing the history of some of these foundations. It is well for us to remember, however, that, with all the modern devices for making education and life itself an easy process, there is grave danger that in many cases the young people of today fail to attain the strength of character and mind that comes through over- coming difficulties and hardships.
The summary given below, based on a report of the State Board of Edu- cation, shows the course of legislation since 1700, a period of 215 years. Most of this legislation deals with support and maintenance.
Support of Public Schools .- The system of public instruction in Con- necticut in 1700 embraced the following :
I. A tax of "forty shillings on every thousand pounds of the lists of estates," was collected in every town with the annual tax of the Colony, and payable proportionately to those towns only which should keep their schools according to law ;
2. A school in every town having over seventy families, kept eleven months in the year, and in every town with less than seventy families, kept for at least six months in the year ;
3. A grammar school in each of the four "head county towns" to fit youth for college, two of which grammar schools must be free;
4. A collegiate school, toward which the general court made an annual appropriation of £120.
In 1773 an act was passed granting all the moneys that should arise from the sale of seven townships, in what is now Litchfield county (viz .: Norfolk, Goshen, Canaan, Cornwall, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon), to the towns of the colony then settled for the support of schools, "to be divided in proportion to the number of their polls and ratable estate." The amount realized from the sale of all these townships cannot now be determined. Norfolk was sold for £6,824 IOS .; Kent for £1,225 19s. In the revised statutes published in 1750, the "Act for educating and governing children" remains nearly the same as it was in 1650 with the addition made in 1670. The "Act for appoint- ing, encouraging, and supporting Schools" was the same as in 1700, with the additions mentioned above. In 1754 the amount to be paid from the treasury was reduced to Ios. on each £1,000; in 1766 it was raised to 20s .; and in 1767 it was restored to 40s., where it remained till 1820.
In May, 1766, the selectmen in each town were authorized to collect any sums which remained unpaid at that date for excise on liquors, tea, etc., and pay the same to the school committee in the several towns and societies, to be set apart as a fund to be improved for the encouragement of schools. And at the October session, 1774, the treasurer of the colony is directed to pay out to the several towns the principal sums paid in by them as excise money,
45
BEGINNINGS OF EDUCATION
together with the interest due at the time of payment, "which moneys shall be appropriated to the use of schools." The money received from this source, with that received from the sale of the townships in Litchfield county, con- stituted the principal part of the so-called School Society funds.
By the Charter of 1662, given by Charles II., Connecticut was bounded on the north by the Massachusetts line, and on the south by the "sea" (Long Island sound), and extended from Narragansett bay to the "South sea" (Pacific ocean). The parts of this territory covered by the grants already made to New York and New Jersey were never claimed by Connecticut ; and the part covered by Pennsylvania was given up to the claims of that State; the remaining portion was held by Connecticut till after the Revolu- tionary War, when it was all ceded to the United States, except about 3,300,- 000 acres in what is now the northwestern part of Ohio. The territory was known as the "Western Reserve," or the "Lands west of Pennsylvania." In May, 1795, an act was passed appropriating the interest on the moneys which should be received on the sale of these lands to the support of schools, "to be paid over to the said societies in their capacity of school societies according to the lists of polls and ratable estate of such societies respectively." The societies here referred to were formerly known only as parishes or societies, and later as ecclesiastical societies. This act recognizes them in a distinct capacity and denominates them school societies.
The "lands west of Pennsylvania" were sold August, 1795, for $1,200,000, by a committee appointed for that purpose, and their report was accepted by the legislature in October of the same year.
The first apportionment of the income of the school fund was made in 1779. In March, 1800, the dividends were $23,651. Up to this time the fund was managed by the committee that negotiated the sale. In 1800, three persons, with the treasurer, were appointed "managers" of this fund. In 1810 Hon. James Hilhouse was appointed commissioner of the school fund. Dur- ing the fifteen years of his administration the annual dividend averaged $52,061.35, and the capital was increased to $1,719,434.24.
In 1810 the expense of keeping a district school above the amount of public money, was apportioned according to the number of days of attend- ance of each person at school; in 1811 this was so altered as to authorize the apportionment according to the number of persons attending.
In 1820 an act was passed providing that the appropriation of $2 upon every $1,000 (40s. on every £1,000) in the list of each school society should not be paid whenever the income of the school fund equalled or exceeded $62,000, which it did the next year. From this date the income of the fund was apportioned to the several school societies and districts according to the number of persons over four and under sixteen in each, on the first Mon- day of August in each year.
In 1836 the United States revenue was in excess of the expenditures, and Congress directed all the surplus except $5,000,000, to be divided and depos- ited with the several States, according to their representation in Congress.
46
NEW LONDON COUNTY
The amount thus appropriated was $37,468,859.97, but owing to the financial revulsions only three-fourths of this amount was paid to the States. This State received as its share $764,670.60. At the session of the legislature the same year an act was passed requiring this money to be distributed among the several towns in the State in proportion to their population, and that one- half at least of the entire income received from such funds should be annually appropriated for the promotion of education in the common schools. This is denominated the "Town deposit fund." The amount actually distributed to the several towns was $763,661.83.
In 1841 an act authorized the school societies to divide the public money either according to the number of persons in the districts between four and sixteen, or according to the number who had attended the school; but no district was to receive less than $50; and dividends from the school fund were not to be paid to any district unless its school had been kept at least four months of the year. It was also provided that "two or more adjoining school districts might associate together and form a union district with power to maintain a union school, to be kept for the benefit of the older and more advanced children of such united district." In 1842 the act constituting a board of commissioners was repealed.
In 1846, the act passed in 1841 requiring the school societies to appro- priate to each district at least $50 was amended, making the amount $35, pro- vided there were not less than twelve children in the district.
In 1854, each town was required "annually to raise by taxation a sum equal to one cent on the dollar on their grand list (as made up at that time) for the support of schools," and the whole amount to be annually distributed to the several school societies within each town, under the direction of the selectmen and town treasurer. When the amount of public money received by any district was less than thirty-five dollars, it was to be increased to that amount from the money raised by the town for the purposes of education, and the year for school purposes was to end on the 28th of February.
In 1858, school districts were authorized to fix a "rate of tuition" not exceeding two dollars for any term; but they might exempt therefrom all persons whom they considered unable to pay the same, and the town was to pay the amount abated. In 1862 this was raised to six dollars a year, and to twelve dollars for high schools.
In 1860 the amount to be raised by the town for schools was fixed at not less than three-tenths of a mill on the dollar, which is about the same as the amount fixed in 1854. In 1866 this was raised to four-tenths. In 1861 an act provided that the amount raised by towns for school and the income of the town deposit fund should be distributed under the direction of the selectmen and school visitors; but that no district should receive less than thirty-five dollars of the public moneys.
In 1868 the amount to be raised by the town was "such sums as each town may find necessary to make the schools free, not less than six-tenths of a mill on the dollar," and in addition to four-tenths of a mill before
47
BEGINNINGS OF EDUCATION
required ; and the public money, with the exception of so much as was neces- sary to make the amount to each district fifty dollars, was to be divided "according to average daily attendance."
In 1869 the amount to be raised by the towns was fixed at not less than one mill on the dollar ; sixty dollars to be apportioned to each district, and the balance of the public money to be "divided according to aggregate attendance."
In 1871 an annual appropriation was made from the State treasury of a sum equal to fifty cents for each person between four and sixteen years of age, to be paid to the several towns with the dividends of the school fund.
In 1872 the legislature voted an appropriation to schools from the State treasury "equal in dollars to one-half the number of persons between four and sixteen years of age." In 1872 the sum of $1.50 for every person between the age of four and sixteen was voted.
In 1893 an act was passed providing that when the income of the school fund did not warrant the payment of seventy-five cents per enumerated scholar, making with $1.50 a grant of $2.25 to the towns for each enumerated child, the deficiency should be paid from the State treasury. In 1897 it was directed that the income of the school fund be covered into the treasury, and that $2.25 be paid to the towns for each enumerated child.
In 1903, an act was passed giving towns having grand lists of less than $500,000, a grant from the State treasury upon the basis of average attend- ance in addition to the grant of $2.25 per child enumerated to enable them to make an expenditure of $25.00 per child in average attendance for support of schools. Each of these towns was required to expend the proceeds of a four-mill tax for the support of the schools. This act was amended in 1907 so that all towns having grand lists of less than $1,000,000 could obtain the grant. In 1909 this law was further amended so that all towns having grand lists of less than $1,750,000 could obtain the grant. The tax rate for towns having lists under $500,000 was reduced to three mills; those having lists over $500,000 and less than $1,000,000, three and one-half mills; those having lists over $1,000,000 and less than $1,250,000, four mills ; and those having lists over $1,250,000 and under $1,750,000, six mills. In 1911 this law was again amended so that all towns having grand lists under $2,500,000 could obtain the grant. Those having lists under $500,000 were required to expend two and one-half mills; those having lists over $500,000 and less than $1,000,000, three mills; those having lists over $1,000,000 and less than $1,500,000, three and one-half mills ; those having lists over $1,500,000 and less than $2,000,000, four and one-half mills; and those having lists over $2,000,000 and under $2,500,000, six mills.
District System .- In May, 1717, the obligation heretofore imposed on towns of seventy families to maintain a school for eleven months, was ex- tended to parishes or ecclesiastical societies having that number of families; and parishes having less than seventy families were to maintain a school
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NEW LONDON COUNTY
for half the year ; and the majority of householders in any parish were author- ized to lay taxes for the support of the school.
In October, 1766, a law was passed authorizing each town and society to "divide themselves into proper and necessary districts for keeping their schools, and to alter and regulate the same from time to time, as they shall have occasion ; which districts shall draw their equal proportion of all public moneys belonging to such towns or societies, according to the list of each respective district therein." In his report of 1853, Dr. Henry Barnard says that "this act, with the operation of other acts transferring to school societies the direction and control of schools, which should have been confined to towns, has resulted in distributing the means of education most unequally over the state, and lowering the standard of education."
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