History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 51

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

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Another defect in teaching arithmetic is that of confining the atten- tion of learners to questions based upon tables of weights and meas- ures that were never used in this country. For instance, children are taught to calculate the cost of goods as bought and sold by the ell English, Flemish, and French, and groceries by the ton, hundred, quar- ter, pound, ounce, and dram as a single weight !

Still another defect is in practicing crude methods of solution. Instead of teaching children to use the fewest number of figures com- bined with the least mental effort, teachers pride themselves on the variety of ways by which the required result can be obtained; and the most operose methods are the most likely to be adopted because they happen to be governed by elaborate rules. In most arithmetics the method of computing interest and discount is taught by many different rules, not one of which is used by expert clerks. That there is a great wrong being practiced on the rising generation in regard to the study of arithmetic, every business man must know. How to rectify it, may soon be a popular question. As taught in this institution, arithmetic is one of the most interesting branches of study. Rules are discarded, principles demonstrated and applied, and vigorous drill exercises con- ducted daily.

The curriculum is further made up of mercantile law, correspondence, lectures on business habits, business morals or ethics, success in business, etc., and other kin- dred topics, and, generally, the young people are trained rather than taught. They learn by study and observation and the demonstration of principles, rather than by rule, and are thus prepared to take their places beside experi- enced clerks and book-keepers.

This new departure (if we may still call it new), at- tracted the attention of many of the leading educators of the country, not a few of whom availed themselves of the advantages the college afforded for learning business. At one time no less than six of Cincinnati's most promi- nent teachers were attending the institution, and the college register shows the name of a professor of mathe- matics from Andover.

At first the new system was ridiculed, then seriously proscribed, then copied, or, we should say, counterfeited, and to-day "The Actual Business Method" of teaching is advertised as the leading feature of every school that makes any pretensions as a business educator.

Mr. Nelson retired from the profession in 1872, having little competition when he left. In 1877 he resumed, to find active rivalry, and numerous colleges competing for the patronage of the city and the surrounding country. But the number of colleges is now again re- duced to two. Mr. Bartlett, having resumed, to test the practicability of what he considers an improved method of teaching, has re-opened Bartlett's Commercial Col- lege; and Mr. Fabor, a graduate of Nelson's college, has opened the Queen City Commercial College.

In claiming for Cincinnati the credit of originating the American business college, we may remark that Mr. Jona- than Jones, the pioneer commercial teacher of St. Louis,

is a graduate of Bartlett's college, and Mr. Packard, who owns the most prominent business college in New York city, made his first appearance in the commercial world as teacher of penmanship in Bartlett's college. A similar remark may be made of Mr. W. A. Miller, his chief teacher, who, after teaching for Mr. Bartlett, was in 1860 associated with Mr. Nelson.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to enumerate all the various schools that have from time to time made their appearance in Cincinnati. The first, as we have shown, was Bartlett's, which continued under his man- agement till about 1862, when Mr. J. M. Watters took its management and control for about six years. Then there were Head's, Gundry's, Bacon's, Smith's, the Ohio Commercial College, the Catholic Institute, Bryant, Stratton & De Han's, Granger's, Herold's, the Cincinnati Business College, the National Business College, and others of less note.

In the early winter of 1880-I a business college for women was opened under Mr. Nelson's presidency, and in immediate charge of Miss Ella Nelson, his daughter, in the Glenn building. The methods pursued are pre- cisely those practiced in the older college, the students being organized as a business community, and also taught practical arithmetic and phonography. The new school opened under very hopeful auspices.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. *

The public school system of Cincinnati is now in the fifty-third year of its existence; but as the city, on the twelfth day of February, 1829, was then, comparatively speaking, in its cradle, it is difficult to give more than a rapid retrospect of the early history of the public educa- tion of the masses of the children.

First, in order of time, John Kidd, in 1818, devised one thousand dollars per annum, charged upon the ground-rents of his estate, to be expended for the educa- tion of the poor children and youth of Cincinnati. This devise was unfortunately frustrated by the title to his es- tate, which proved defective; but in 1824 Thomas Hughes, an Englishman, who had long made his home here, left a tract of land yielding a perpetual ground-rent of two thousand dollars, "to be appropriated and applied to the maintenance and support of a school or schools in the city of Cincinnati, for the education of destitute children whose parents and guardians were unable to pay for their schooling," and Mr. Woodward's bequest fol- lowed some years afterward. These were the founda- tions of our High schools.

The law of 1825 simply provided for State educa- tion. It was soon evident that the action of the legislature would be, if not inoperative, at least incapable of pro- ducing the desired fruits. The plan of the law was in itself defective, and the tax it authorized insufficient for the purpose. The schools were, moreover, opposed not only by the heavy tax-payers and the proprietors of private academies, but also neglected by the people for whose benefit they were set on foot, upon the ground that

* Abridged, chiefly, from J. Haughton's sketch in the Annual School Reports.

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they were "charity" or "poor schools. These advantages soon became so obvious that, in February, 1829, the friends of education, taking advantage of amendments to be made in the city charter, secured the passage of a statute giving an independent organization to the schools of Cincinnati and empowering the city council to levy special taxes for building school-houses and supporting schools. The terms of this act required the city council to divide the city into ten districts, in each of which within ten years they were to purchase a lot and erect a substantial building of brick or stone, to be two stories high, and containing two school rooms, all of the same size and dimensions. For the cost they were author- ized to levy a tax of one mill on the dollar, and another mill for the expenses of the teachers.

The board of education was composed of one mem- ber from each ward, elected annually by the people. Their duties were to appoint teachers and superintend their work, to select a board of examiners, examine and report every three months, and file the necessary certifi- cates. Unfortunately their means were stinted, and close economy prevented the expansion and complete useful- ness of that system conferred by the act of 1829. Even so late as 1831, some of the schools were in the base- ments of houses, amid stagnant water, and subject to the inconveniences of a disregard of all the most vital principles of hygiene. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that during the early years of the system, the people, in great measure, refused to avail themselves of the opportunities it offered.

Even then, too, in that very civic inauguration of the march of education, another grievous evil arose. The keen compilers of educational manuals perceived their chance, and a war of spelling books and dictionaries and geographies arose. The result was the resignation of the trustees, and the consequent injury of the schools.

At length in 1833 a resolution was adopted to bring the real advantages of public education more vividly be- fore the eyes of the public. In pursuance of this, an- nual examinations of the pupils were set on foot. Teach- ers from other States, public men, members of the press, and friends and relatives of those whose progress was to be tested, were invited. The city caught and acted upon the spirit of the affair, and the memorable procession of boys and girls in 1833, through the streets of the city at the close of the examinations, marks an epoch in the history of our schools. It was also at about this time that another great impetus was given to the good cause by the first annual meeting held by the Western College of Teachers in Cincinnati; and with the view of permit- ting the city teachers to reap every possible benefit from the association, the whole general school work was sus- pended during their sittings.

But time was passing, and but little progress had been made in the erection of the ten substantial school-houses provided for by the act of 1829. In 1833, however, a model school-house was finally built upon Race street, near Fourth. It was of brick and stone, in accordance with the law, and within two years afterwards its leading features had been copied in the remaining nine districts.

This "model school-house" is still standing, just opposite the west end of the Emery Arcade, though partially con- cealed by a low row of business structures in front of it.

The total cost of the lots and buildings was ninety-six thousand, one hundred and fifty-nine dollars and forty- four cents, most of which was raised by five per cent. city bonds. All were of neat proportions and substan- tial construction, having two rooms in each story, divided by passages, with a separate entrance for boys and girls. The rooms were thirty-six in number, each thirty-six by thirty-eight feet in dimensions, and every house had separate play-grounds for boys and girls. These were our earliest schools built under the law, the fundamental principles of which still animate our system; and, insuf- ficient as they may now appear to be, they were a boon extraordinarily great to the rising generation.

No uniformity of grading or classification had yet been reached, but by 1836 two thousand, four hundred pupils were assembled in daily attendance, under the superin- tendence of forty-three teachers. The large majority were males, and the salaries varied from five hundred dollars for principals to three hundred dollars for assist- ants. The female principals then received only two hun- dred and fifty dollars, and the assistants two hundred dollars a year.

In 1836 the city teachers formed a faculty association, and met twice a month to prepare plans for the improve- ment of the schools, and a short time afterwards quar- terly conferences were regularly held between the trustees and the teachers. During the same year the trustees of the Woodward high school offered to receive for the same year, for gratuitous instruction, ten boys from the common schools, to be selected by the school board.

These vigorous steps resulted in the improvement of the school board in 1837, which thenceforth was to con- sist of two members instead of one from each ward; and by the united efforts of managers and teachers, and the decided improvement manifest in the pupils, the schools rapidly grew in numbers and popularity.

In 1839 the board adopted the plan of providing schools for orphan asylums; and in 1840 an important step was taken in providing for instruction in the German language. The necessary powers were given by an act of the legislature on the nineteenth of March, 1840, es- tablishing in certain district schools a German depart- ment, where children were taught the German language, simultaneously pursuing the ordinary studies in English.

The department was divided into two grades, the jun- ior comprising all who were in the primary grades in English, and placed under the joint care of an English and German teacher, while in the senior grade were classed all pupils who had attained to the higher grades in English. These attended once or twice a day in the German teacher's room, for the rest of the school hours remaining under the supervision of the English masters.

In 1842 night schools, authorized by the same law which had provided for the German schools, were opened and sustained during the winter months until 1857, when, in consequence of the paucity and irregularity of the scholars, they were suspended, and their success has not

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been strongly pronounced until, comparatively speaking, a very recent date. It was also about 1840 that special professors of penmanship were first added to the general staff, and their influence for good in bringing about prac- tical success in subsequent commercial and professional life has been so clearly demonstrated that, with a few in- termissions, owing to enforced economy, they have since been maintained upon the roll of teachers.

In 1842 a delicate question which, in one respect or another, has since that period been debated with the greatest and most unnecessary acrimony, first threatened the harmony of our public schools. It was stated by the president of the board that the Catholic bishop of the diocese objected to the text-books in use in the schools, and also to the books in circulation in the public libraries, upon the ground that they contained matter repugnant to the faith of Catholics, and also that the children were positively required to read the Protestant Bible. The board promptly directed that, in the event of any objec- tion by parent or guardian, the children should not be required to read the King James version of the Bible or permitted to borrow books from the libraries, and teachers were prohibited, in general terms, from dwelling in a hortatory form upon any notes or comments, or in any way insisting upon anything approaching even to a sectarian explanation of the text.

In October, 1845, another stride in advance was made. Mr. Symmes, of the school board, proposed the estab- lishment of a central school for the instruction of the more advanced pupils of both sexes. On the eleventh of February, 1846, the school board was authorized by the legislature to provide for such other grades of schools, in addition to those already on foot, as might seem necessary and expedient, and also to contract with any persons or institutions "in relation to any funds for school purposes that might be at their disposal." This directly referred to a contract with the trustees of the Hughes fund, which as yet was without any connection with the public schools.

A contract, to which brief reference only can be made, was subsequently concluded for the establishment of a Female academy, free for the admission of girls upon terms and with instruction similar to those already af- forded to boys of the Woodward High school; but it was defeated by an injunction issued from the court of com- mon pleas, sued out by members of the council. The interposition, at first sight so ill-judged, turned out most fortunate. In 1847 the school board established the central school, and on the eighth of November of the same year it was opened with one hundred and three pupils, selected by examination from all the schools. It continued in successful operation until 1851, when it was merged into the present constitution of the High schools. This arrangement, by a fortunate union of the funds given by Woodward and Hughes with the system of com- mon schools, resulted in our present High schools, ac- complishing all the benefactors could have hoped, and preserving inviolate the trusts created under their wills. These High schools were thenceforward to be controlled by a union board of thirteen members-five Woodward

trustees, two Hughes trustees, and six delegates from the school board.

In 1849 an act of the legislature authorized the estab- lishment of separate schools for colored people; but, ow- ing to legal obstacles, they soon passed under the control of the school board. The success of the school system as a whole had been already fully proved, and in 1850 there was a total attendance of five thousand three hun- dred and sixty-two scholars, with one hundred and thirty-eight teachers, meeting and working in fourteen school-houses.

By an act dated the twenty-third of March, 1850, the election of a general superintendent by popular vote was authorized, but in 1853 it was wisely modified by providing for a choice by the school board. In Novem- ber, 1854, a very important change was introduced into the organization of the schools, by the creation of the in- termediate schools. The motive was primarily one of economy. The schools had been uniformly classified into six grades, each pursuing strictly one course of study and text-books; and, it being a rule that

each teacher should have an average attendance of forty-five pupils, it had been observed that in the two highest grades necessarily requiring teachers of the most experience and the highest qualifications, the daily attendance did not exceed thirty-five and in many schools thirty pupils to the teacher. It was therefore de- cided to concentrate the two upper grades of all the dis- trict schools into four schools, to be called intermediate; and in this way it was expected that the same pupils might be instructed by a much smaller number of teach- ers, and thus a great improvement be gained in the man- agement of the over-crowded grades of the primary schools. The plan was gradually carried into effect, but not without opposition, and the result rapidly proved the wisdom of the scheme.

In 1857, a difficulty began to be felt in supplying the demand for experienced teachers, then numbering a corps of three hundred, and to remedy this defect a normal school was founded for the training of teachers, upon a scientific plan, in accordance with the advanced require- ments of the age. A separate sketch of this will be given.

From 1857 till the present time, the great work of prog- ress and improvement has gone on. 'There were lapses and delays, caused by the war and other causes; but, overcoming all and rising superior to all obstacles, the genius of the American desire for progress and enlight- enment has won its way with a step sometimes tempora- rily checked, but ever resolute in its aim and march.

In 1869 the same question which, under a partially different aspect, seemed so dangerous in 1842, again cropped out. An active movement was set on foot to exclude the Bible from the schools. The contest was strenuous and vigorous. The case, after many public meetings, held for and against the object at stake, came up before the courts, and eventually, in appeal, the doc- trine was laid down that the board had cognizance of the admission of all books and subjects of study, the Bible included, and the exclusion was consequently maintained.

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It is useless to recapitulate the arguments or to analyze the decision. They have been printed in a separate vol- ume as a report of what is known as one of the causes cel- ebres of the West.

On the first of May, 1873, an act was passed by the State legislature, entitled, "An Act for the reorganization and maintenance of common schools," in which, with a few trifling amendments upon points of detail and read in connection with the city charter, will be found all the present provisions regulating our schools. Section 50, which may now be called the magna charta of Ohio free public education, enacts that "each board of education shall establish a sufficient number of schools to provide for the free education of youth of school age within the district, at such places as will be most convenient for the attendance of the largest number of such youth, and also may establish one or more schools of higher grade than the primary schools, whenever they deem the estab- lishment of such school or schools proper or necessary for the convenience or progress in studies of the pupils attending the same, or for the conduct and welfare of the educational interest of such districts; and the board shall continue each and every school established by them, for not less than twenty-four nor more than forty four weeks, in each school year; provided that each township board of education shall establish at least one primary school in each sub-district of their township." The sec- tion contains many other provisos, but these essential elements, recognizing the right of the public tax-payers to demand adequate provisions for the due training of their children, are the elements underlying the whole frame of our modern system.

The colored schools, under the same act, were placed under the control of the board of education, and in 1875 were reorganized by the superintendent.

When it was decided to represent the Cincinnati schools at the Centennial exhibition, the school board appropri- ated one thousand six hundred and twenty dollars, and the union board of high schools one hundred dollars for the purpose-one hundred and twenty dollars of the joint fund to pay for histories of the schools, and the remainder for the preparation of an exhibit. Ninety vol- umns of examination manuscripts, from the various grades, were prepared, beautifully bound in full Russia, and ex- hibited to thousands of admiring citizens before they were shipped to Philadelphia. All the schools and grades, in- cluding the normal, were represented; and some parts of the display, as the volume of specimens of teachers' penmanship and that containing work from the colored schools, were unlike anything else in that department of the exhibition. The result was a triumphant success. The universal expression, on the part of visitors inspect- ing it, was one of enthusiastic admiration. Many com- plimentary notices were given in the school and other journals; and the drawing was mentioned with special commendation.

Among the foreign visitors whose attention was attract- ed by the Cincinnati exhibit was M. Rauber, director of public education for the French Republic, who wrote for fuller information. When the exposition of 1878 in

Paris was preparing, Superintendent Philbrick of Boston, who had charge of the educational displays from this country, requested that the entire Centennial collection from the Cincinnati schools might be included. The board instead decided to prepare new work, and voted a grant of two thousand dollars for it. Eighty-four vol- umes were prepared as before, under the regulations of General Eaton, Federal superintendent of education. Only about three weeks were given the schools for their part of the preparation ; but a superb and most attrac- tive exhibit was made. Mr. Philbrick afterwards stated at a meeting of the National Educational association ; "No other exhibition of scholars' work equal to that of Cincinnati was ever made in the known world." Gold- medal and silver-medal diplomas-the two highest of the five grades of honor allotted to this section-were awarded by the International jury to the schools of this city, and Superintendent Peaslee, among other honors, re- ceived in consequence a diploma of membership from the Royal industrial museum at Turin.

The last annual report of the Superintendent, bearing date August 31, 1880, represents the total number of dis- trict schools for white children in the city as twenty-eight ; for colored, six; intermediate, white, four; colored, two; high-schools for whites, two, and one colored high school. There were also intermediate departments in sixteen dis- trict schools. Number of school buildings in use, fifty- four; school-rooms in use, five hundred and sixty-two; not in use, seventeen. The different female teachers employed numbered five hundred and thirty-three; males, one hundred and twenty-eight; total, six hundred and sixty-one; averages on duty, respectively, five hundred and five, one hundred and twenty-three, six hundred and twenty-eight. Pupils enrolled: In the district schools- white, twenty-eight thousand three hundred and eighty; colored, one thousand one hundred and two; total, twen- ty-nine thousand four hundred and twenty-eight. Inter- mediate-white, two thousand six hundred and ninety; colored, one hundred and twenty-nine; total, two thou- sand eight hundred and nineteen. High-white, one thousand one hundred and sixteen; colored, sixty-four ; total, one thousand two hundred and twenty-five. Nor- mal school, eighty. School for deaf-mutes, forty-eight. Night schools, two thousand and ninety. Grand total, thirty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty. Different pupils enrolled, exclusive of night schools, thirty-two thousand one hundred and ten. The average age of white pupils in the district schools was nine years; of colored, ten and five-tenths years. In the intermediate schools, thirteen and two-tenths, and fifteen and three- tenths. High schools, fifteen and eight-tenths years and seventeen and three-tenths. The average number of pupils belonging to the schools was twenty-five thou- sand eight hundred and forty-two white and nine hun- dred and ninety-five colored; total, twenty-six thou- sand eight hundred and thirty-seven. Average daily at- tendance, twenty-five thousand and ninety-five white, nine hundred and fifty-four colored; twenty-six thousand and forty-nine in all. Percentages of attendance on en- rollment-district schools, seventy-six and seven-tenths;

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History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 51

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666