USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Annual report of the school committee of the city of Manchester, N.H. for the year ending 1878 > Part 2
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Our second " R" leads us into the High School. How many regret that while they think some thought, or know some fact, which might interest or instruct their fellow- men, they do not know how to express themselves, for want of the necessary training! There are many "mute Miltons," " inglorious " only because they do not know
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how to speak. And whether it belong to this " R," or the first, in our schools ought to begin the training of youth to express their thoughts properly and promptly upon their feet; readily to write upon the minds of others, with their tongues, without the intervention of the pen, their own mental product : as the telegraph writes upon the mind of the experienced operator through the ear, without the intervention of white tape, the message from afar. Draw- ing has become an indispensable adjunct of this department of school work. It aids in the mechanical operation of writing, and is itself a mode of writing -the writing of forms. It is often needful, to aid in description or illus- tration, when words fail.
And where is the limit of Arithmetic as a school study ? Shall it go only so far that one may calculate the cost of articles bought or sold at retail ? Or shall we extend it to cover all kinds of wholesale business ? Shall it include Book-keeping - the method of recording the financial his- tory of a business ? We probably find but one voice in reply. Yet it is not the object of our schools specially to train book-keepers, more than to train bricklayers, survey- ors, engineers, or lawyers. But we discern general value in the knowledge and the skill which may be.thus applied. Let us, however, remember, that the same value may be found in studies that do not deal with dollars and cents, but may be otherwise applied. Shall our arithmetic be permitted to include the measurement of masonry or of lumber ? Shall it further concern itself with the contents of surfaces and solids - gauging and surveying ? Shall it go beyond, and take up the mechanical powers, trian- gles and spheres ? We have carried our third "R" into the High-School course - through Algebra, Geometry, Surveying and Trigonometry. There is no reason why the common-school system should teach a boy or girl to calcu-
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late the contents of a stone wall, that does not demand that he should have the opportunity of learning how astronomical calculations are made. He may never become an astronomer : he may never become a mason, and we do not want all to be masons. We need astronomers, as well as masons ; but more than that, we need intelligent citi- zens, who may know upon what grounds scientists make such wonderful numeral affirmations.
" The three R's," then, are no longer completed with the old limitations. There is as much need now of the wider application, as there was originally of the more re- stricted course. Without broader teaching than that which is employed in our grammar schools, and necessarily lin- ited by the age of the pupils, such a periodical, for instance, as the " Popular Science Monthly," can not be read. That is not a publication for specialists, but for general readers. Ought we not, in the public interests, to teach youth to read it and other works like it ? Ought we not, for the public wel- fare, to teach the principles of Civil Government and Political Economy, that our youth may be prepared with defenses within themselves against the arts of demagogues and sel- fish men ? The only ground upon which a public tax for popular education can be maintained, is the promotion of intelligence for the safety of the ballot and the good order of society ; and these are not secured by the elementary knowledge obtained in the lower grades of school. They now need a training of faculty and a. complement of knowledge obtained only in the high school. In connec- tion with this we make special reference to the remarks of the Superintendent upon the subject of vicious literature, when treating of the High School.
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THE CONDITION OF OUR SCHOOLS.
We cordially commend our schools as favorably compar- ing with others of similar grades. We think our teachers, as a class, constantly improve in efficiency. The grammar schools, especially, in which during the past year no change has been made by which experience has been substituted by inexperience, are more efficient. By the easy gradations of the course of study, and particularly by its frequent re- views, the best work possible under the circumstances has been assured. The mode of examination employed, by printed questions at unexpected times, two or more in each term, instead of public oral competition, yields not only a better test of knowledge, but relieves pupils from special preparation, interfering with the regular work of the schools, and accompanied by an anxiety both mentally and physically harmful. The schools are open to the public, who are invited to visit them at any time, and observe the character of the teaching employed, and the general atmos- phere of the school-room. By the recent policy, company days, when teachers and pupils put on their holiday attire, and take on unusual airs for exhibition, are suspended. But every interested citizen has the opportunity of observ- ing their every-day dress and work. He will. see orderly groups of children and youth, showing general proficiency according to their several grades, and busy teachers inter- ested, and interesting pupils, in their work. More of this. visitation ought to be done, by parents and tax-payers. They may see for themselves the utility of educational ex- penditure, and the usual propriety of school administration, while their interest will promote the interest and efficiency of those who are serving them in this department of mu- nicipal affairs.
But we are far from intimating, either that our system is perfect or that our teaching is the best possible under any
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circumstances. We know that, whatever reforms have been accomplished, there is yet great room for improve- ment. We claim that progress has been made ; that our newer school-houses better answer their purpose ; that bet- ter methods of discipline and instruction are superseding the old ; that more is done than formerly to cultivate the perceptions and rational faculty. Yet we remember that our teachers are human, and therefore imperfect in wisdom, and often unobservant ; that architects have not yet dis- covered the best methods of arranging school-rooms and ventilating them ; that the school cannot obviate all the contrary influences of the street and of some homes; that wisdom will not die with this generation, though it may be more advanced than that of former days ; that, in fact, our teaching is not thorough enough ; our school-houses not what they should and will be ; the proficiency of many pupils not what might be expected from the labor bestowed, nor the administration of our schools wholly what we would desire ; and that something is left to our successors to im- prove upon. We remember, as well, that our homes, our other public buildings, our churches, our halls of entertain- ment, our railway systems, our state and national and mu- nicipal governments, our highways, our manufactures, our newspapers, are far from perfect, and in many respects widely open to criticism.
INCONSIDERATE CRITICISM.
But he is not wise who overlooks the relative excellences of our institutions, domestic, public, or industrial, and magnifies their imperfections by a critical, rather than a sympathetic, view of them. And we deprecate that incon- siderate criticism which recognizes nothing good in our educational system, and observes it through such a dense medium of prejudice or spleen or self-importance or igno-
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rance, that the light is unequally refracted, and the object distorted out of all form and character. Thus, criticism of our school-houses would intimate that they are unfit, by want of proper ventilation, for the temporary accommoda- tion of our youth, and productive of disease. Admitting that the ventilation is not as complete as is desirable, it is all that science has yet rendered possible, and is better than that of any church or public hall in the city ; probably better than that of most of its dwelling-houses. And the critic himself, after venting his opinion, proceeds, for economy of fuel, to shut out of his dwelling-house, as far as he may, all possibility of the entrance of fresh air, and, perhaps, prepares his child for a social party in a room with whose atmosphere that of the school-room is pure as moun- tain breezes. If critics will seek and find a practical rem- edy for the evil, as discerned in the school-room, but in less degree there than in many other places of abode, temporary or permanent, he will be a benefactor to society. But his selection of the school-room for special criticism, and that so intense, accomplishes no good, and if it were generally believed, would do great harm. Certainly, the destruction and rebuilding of all our school-houses is not practicable ; and if accomplished, the new houses, in the present status of science and the arts, would probably average no better than those destroyed. Being all that we have, let us make the best of them, seeking to improve them from year to year, as advancing science may suggest.
Nor is the criticism which suggests that our school-rooms, defective as they may be, are generators of disease, con- siderate of the facts. A writer speaks of what he calls a " school-room headache," as if it were the normal result of attendance at school. Examination of two of our gram- mar schools shows that : first, but a small minority of pu- pils are troubled at all with headaches ; and, second, not
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one pupil in a hundred suffers pain in such a way, trace- able to the school-room or to study, or even refers it to either. It is true, some others suffer ; but the causes are generally neuralgic, catarrhal, or, as we might expect, gas- tric. The very few who do suffer from study or from the brief confinement of the school-room, need special treat- ment. The physician, or the judicious parent, not the teacher, the school committee, or the public, should deal with the case. Certainly, it would be a grievous wrong to the great public to change the whole course of study and of administration, to suit the very small number of invalids among youth of school age.
We know that perfection of heating apparatus, as of ven- tilation, has not been attained, and that teachers, absorbed in their work, are sometimes forgetful of temperature. But this is not characteristic, and can probably be matched by sextons, janitors of halls, and even householders. It may be that, during the winter, colds are occasioned by the want of judgment of those in charge of buildings or of classes. We have known severe colds, however, to be taken outside of the school-room. Why should not the complaint be made, rather, of the weather ? Every school- room is provided with a thermometer, to which it is the habit of teachers to refer. These are instructed to open the windows freely at recess, for change of air ; and, as a rule, they are not injudicious in reducing the temperature, when it has gone beyond the prescribed limit, 70°. It is certainly not fair, or for the public good, to make whole- sale charges against school administration, for individual fault or accident.
Nor are our schools in any sense convectors of contagion. There is less danger of scarlet fever or diphtheria in school than out of it. We will not say that either disease has never been communicated through neighborhood at school.
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It is both dangerous and foolish to affirm negatives. We do say, however, that there are defensive regulations in our schools, and none at all in other juvenile gatherings. Our teachers are instructed, and are specially prompted, by per- sonal care and regard for those at home, to exact obedience, to exclude all children of the same family with persons affected, until the physician's certificate shall assure them that all danger of contagion is over. The physicians of the city are to notify teachers of cases of contagious disease, for their information ; and children themselves are apt to carry the news of infection with great promptness. We confidently repeat that children are safer from such peril- ous diseases in regular attendance at school, than at their usual liberty of movement.
Another inconsiderate criticism is that which affirms that high-school study indisposes our youth for work and leads them to desire to live idly, " by their wits." That now and then a young man, educated academically, has that grovel- ing desire, is not to be denied. What is there in his stud- ies to induce it ? The effort of the school is to make him industrious ; not only to show him the beauties of litera- ture, and to give him power of expression and intellectual taste, but to teach him the wonders of science and its use- ful applications. There is nothing in the course to make him idle or low. If he hankers after an easy life, with or without the means of supporting it, it is because of home and social, and not of school, influences. As matter of fact, our youth, graduating from the High School, gener- ally go to forms of industry of various kinds. Some are at work in our factories, some employed in trade, some working at trades, some studying farther on, and a small share of them in professional life. Should a few choose this, what is the disadvantage to the community ? What right have we to hinder ? The intelligence of physicians,
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clergymen, and lawyers contributes to the intelligence of the masses. If at any time professional skill is a glut in the market, a many-sided education ought to enable the man of small income to " turn his hand" to some other vocation, for which he may show more aptitude. And, on the other hand, a many-sided education makes it easier for a mechanic or clerk to adapt his labor to his circumstances. The "re-adjustment" of industries, as this or that depart- ment is glutted, is a problem pressing upon our communi- ties, and only to be solved by a more varied general educa- tion.
Two criticisms balance each other: 1. That the high school encourages a division of our youth into classes, the rich attending and the poor not able to attend. 2. That " the son of a bricklayer or a washer-woman " may study the branches of learning taught in high schools, and thus be "made discontented with his 'rank and station in life.'" Both of these objections to the high school can- not be true. The former certainly is not. The free high school democratizes learning. It is its glory that it places on a par the children of the most fortunate and of the most humble family of the city. Whatever the " station in life," if he has a studious disposition and has proved his intellectual aptness, and his parents are disposed to make the necessary sacrifices, any pupil may receive the best edu- cation the city can furnish. Why should it not be so ? What is there in the nature of republican institutions that requires any one to be satisfied with his station in life, or to maintain it his a day longer than circumstances require ? It is to the public interest that all shall have an equal chance in the struggle for life, and that the best shall win. It is the most beneficent work we can do, as regards the welfare of our community, to lift from the dust the masses prone. In our natural philosophy class may be some wash-
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er-woman's son, who, there receiving the first intimations of the principles of physics, shall become a public bene- factor through his inventions ; in the class in chemistry, a bricklayer's son, who is to be a great discoverer in the realm of nature. It is a good thing if our communities recognize intelligence as superior to wealth, and as monop- olized by no " station in life."
CONCLUSION.
Such as they are, with abundant need of improvement, though with abounding points of excellence, we resign our charge into other hands. No department of public admin- istration is of more importance ; none, we believe, yields better or more copious fruit. The investment of the city of Manchester in her schools is one making sure returns, in an intelligent, orderly community. Our best wishes go with those who are to have charge of her interests. May their efforts for the further advancement of public educa- tion be grandly successful.
G. L. DEMAREST,
For the School Committee.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
To the School Committee of Manchester : - -
GENTLEMEN : - In accordance with your rules, I herewith respectfully submit the following as my second annual report, the same being for the year 1878, and the twenty- third of the series of annual reports prepared by the Superintendent of Schools : -
GENERAL CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS.
The present condition of the schools, though not claimed as perfect, is to me far more satisfactory than that of a year ago. There has been more uniformity in the amount and character of the work done; fewer schools have failed to meet requirements ; greater earnestness and a more thorough discharge of duties have been observed in respect to teachers in general ; and better results have been attained as the reward of doing less rote work and more real teaching, the attempt at which has also greatly improved the general spirit of our schools.
APRIL REPORT.
As an appropriate introduction to a more special con- sideration of some particulars relating to the condition of the schools, I repeat some conclusions, supplemented with additional statistics which should have a permanent place
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in our school history as rendering more complete the annual report for 1877, which I presented you at a regular meeting of your honorable board on the fifth of last April :
" During the past few months I have been impressed that in some instances there might be a more economical expen- diture of that portion of our appropriation allowed for teachers' salaries, without, in the least, impairing the efficiency of our schools ; and I now feel it my duty to make known to you my thoughts in that direction, assured that the superior judgment of the eighteen members of the school committee will not suffer itself to be misled by my statements and inferences. Nor should teachers in schools designated feel that any personal reflections are intended. My sympathies naturally extend to all of that class, and I would make no mention of any conclusions in regard to . the propriety of reducing the number of our teachers, or the salary of any portion of the same, were it not that in my present capacity, I am trying, conscientiously, to act in accordance with my official oath to subserve the interests of the city to the best of my judgment.
" The total expenditure for teachers' salaries during the year 1877 was $38,118.56, and the average number of pupils belonging to all the schools was 2,571. These items make it appear that the average cost of tuition, per pupil, in all our schools, was $14.87, based upon the item of teaching alone.
" The schools to which I would call your special attention, are three small suburban schools and the Intermediate School. The school in the Stark District, for the year 1877, had an average number of twelve pupils, and the cost, per pupil, for teaching in that district was $36.67, or about two and a half times the average cost, per pupil, for all our schools ; at Webster's Mills the cost was $20 per pupil, for an average number of twenty pupils ; at Mos-
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quito Pond the cost was $21.05 per pupil, for an average number of nineteen pupils ; and at the Intermediate the cost was $34.44 per pupil, for an average number of thirty-six pupils.
" Now I would submit that this board may put into each of the three small suburban schools a good teacher, who would work with enthusiasm, at least one year, at the minimum salary of $300 per annum ; and it may be ques- tioned whether teachers can be found who would keep up great earnestness of work in schools so small for more than one or two years. These schools are all important, and the citizens of those districts have a right to insist that we maintain, for them, schools of high character ; nor would I have turned your thoughts in their direction, if I had any suspicion that they would be impaired by my sug- gestions.
" Ordinarily we might not feel that we could always sup- ply them with good teachers ; but the graduates of our train- ing-school have now become so numerous that we should be safe in selecting the best of them for these schools, and they would go there and so work that they might have hope of securing a more lucrative position at the end of the year. I would have it understood that they should remain a year in these schools before they could be considered can- didates for the larger schools ; and I would now take occa- sion to recommend that no new teacher be elected to any school for more than one term, till the result of such a trial has been observed.
" In regard to the Intermediate School, I would say that for the past year it has been of such a size and character, I have felt that the expense of it has been out of propor- tion to its usefulness, when compared with other schools in the city.
" From the first of April, 1877, to the first of January,
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1878, the greatest number of pupils in that school, during any month, was thirty-six, for two teachers ; while for the same months at Goffe's Falls, and in the higher depart- ment of the school at Bakersville, the average number of pupils, in each school, was more than forty, for one teacher. I know the Intermediate School is ungraded ; but the same is true of the other schools with which it is now compared, and I have reason to think that without more pupils than it had during these months last year -an average of twenty-five - it may undoubtedly be so classified that one teacher can properly manage it. Indeed, it may be inquired why a first-class lady teacher cannot control and as success- fully manage it during the spring and fall terms, as that a lady should properly conduct the school at Goffe's Falls or at Bakersville, with fifteen or more additional pupils. If an equally good teacher could be put into the Intermediate School, at the salary ($425) paid at Goffe's Falls, she might conduct that school alone during the spring and fall terms, and remain during the winter as an assistant to a male principal, who could be put into the school for the win- ter term of three months, at a salary of $75 or $100 per month, and in this way the expense of this school could be reduced from $1,225, now paid for teaching, to $725 or $650, according to what might be paid the male teacher per month during the winter. There is no lack of applications for winter schools from young men who come out of college to teach during the winter, many of whom have testimo- nials of good success in teaching for one or more terms ; and I cannot think it particularly important that the same teacher should have the principalship of this school for many terms, since the pupils are constantly changing, and the assistant would be permanent, under the plan I have sug- gested. It cannot, however, be certain that this school will be so small or easily managed for a year to come ; but,
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though the school in the past has been subject to great variation, in respect to numbers and the degree of difficulty in its management, I should not have presented another plan for conducting it, without, at least, a reasonable assur- ance of its success.
" The changes which I have now suggested, would reduce the expense of teaching four schools $825, to which $150 more might probably be added for the same.
" It is for you to decide, in the light of such suggestions as I have presented, whether or not these changes can be effected without impairing the efficiency of the schools.
" I presume it is no secret that some members of the board have thought for several weeks that the efficiency of the High School might not be unfavorably affected if its corps of teachers should be reduced by one ; and, because I learn that the sub-committee of that school will soon meet to consider the advisability of any change there, I would recommend that power be granted that committee to act in accordance with its convictions, in order to obviate the necessity of calling a special meeting of the board before the opening of next term.
" During the past week I have made up a statistical report of our schools, as required by law, for the State Superin- tendent of Public Instruction, and it occurs to me that you should be informed in regard to some errors and omissions in the printed report of the school committee for 1877. These occurred through some misunderstanding by which the proof-sheets were not submitted to the author of that report, as they should have been.
" In the first place, there should be added to $48,295.47, the amount reported as expended by the school committee, $153, which was expended from the tuition fund, and the full amount expended by the committee is thus found to be $48,448.47. To this sum add $3,706.25, the amount ex-
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