History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 70

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 70

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" Before entering upon a new period of man-

agement and administration of the schools, there are certain points of interest in the past which deserve to be noticed. In the second year of the schools, instruction was given in Latin and Greek languages, and in the fourth year, classes and teachers were commended for thoroughness of training in those branches, as well as for others taught in the high school. When these were dropped does not appear, but probably during the suspension of the gram- mar school. We have seen the stand taken by the board in 1858 in reference to these branches, but, in August, 1865, Latin and Greek were again admitted by resolution. Tardiness and irregularity of attendance are a grievance from the first organization of the

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CITY OF AKRON.

schools-the refrain of every report down to 1865. Sometimes the remedy was supposed to be with the parents, and sometimes with teach- ers or pupils, or all combined. The expedient is tried of closing the doors against pupils a few moments after the hour for opening has arrived, and shutting them out until recess. This did not cure the evil. In 1864, three absences during one month were visited with suspension, and boards at succeeding meetings heard and granted restoration. This rule worked better. It put parents to inconven- ience ; made them feel the power of the board, and to see that Boards of Education had rights. In 1847-48, the percentage of attend- ance in the primaries was 553 ; in the gram- mar school, 88 per cent; while in 1866, the percentage of attendance reached 90 per cent for the schools. This improvement became a matter of gratulation with boards and Super- intendents. In the report of the board for 1861, jets of humor for the first time appear in these documents. As a Board of Education of Akron, after fourteen years' experience, may be supposed to know something of boards and teachers in general, this board may be allowed to speak on the subject. Of the numerous applications for places as teachers in our schools, and the qualifications, or rather the want of them, which many of those apply- ing exhibit, the board says : 'Without heads or hearts for the teacher's work, come the Jer- emy Diddlers, out at the elbows, and the Flora McFlimseys, with nothing to wear, seeking the salaries of the schoolroom to mend their coats and failing fortunes, and to enlarge their scanty wardrobes. Teachers and boards are often sadly at fault in their anatomy of the soul and body of the young. They would define a pupil to be a boy or girl from five to twenty-one years of age, having no heart to make better or keep pure, no bones and joints to grow strong and shapely, no muscles to train and develop to flexibility, no taste for the beautiful to be cultivated, but only a head to be filled with syntaxes and prosodies, with ratios and quantities, with ologies and osophies-only this and nothing more. Herbert Spencer's work on " Education" should be added to the library of all who give or accept this definition of a pupil.' Whether it was the expression of an abstract opinion by the board, or whether it was suggested by the state of things then

existing in the high school does not appear, but they say in substance that, inasmuch as the high school had taken the place of the academy and seminary, where attention was paid to ethics and the proprieties of social life, the high school 'should care somewhat for these things.' In 1859, a course of study was prescribed. For the grammar and high school it was a three-years course. There were to be exercises in singing daily by the pupils who could sing. Music was not a branch of in- struction, but an exercise. Moral instruction and attention to manners are enjoined upon the first division of the secondary, and in the grammar school, oral instruction in manners and behavior was to be given daily. The board regards its work with favor, and says ' the prominence which it assigns to moral culture, to drawing and to music, heretofore much neglected, will meet with the approba- tion of all whose approbation is worth having.' Two years later, the course of study was revised-that for the high school enlarged to four years, and the same prescription as to manners and behavior in the grammar school continued. Why this discrimination does not appear, for the board, as we have seen, this year suggested that these matters were being neglected in the high school. To all that the board enjoins in regard to 'morals, manners and behavior,' it may be objected that they 'stop too short.' Standards vary with persons and places, and what the ideal of this board was as to what constituted good morals and manners is left to conjecture. The ninth sec- tion of the act for the support and better regu- lation of common schools in Akron made provision for periodical visitation of the schools by persons to be appointed by the Council and Mayor. With thorough and sys- tematic superintendence of the schools, there would be little or no need of these visitations ; but that period had not yet arrived. Rev. S. Williams was appointed school visitor under that section of the law, and made, in the years 1858 and 1859, his reports to the Council, which were published, and, so far as appears, were the first official visitations made. Mr. Williams was a man of culture and of much experience as a teacher, and competent for the work he undertook. He was too kindly and urbane in manners for trenchant criticism, but he discriminates with candor, and leaves the

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

reader of his reports means of an opinion as to excellences and defects of particular schools. He marked the absence of historical studies from the grammar and high school, and, in the year following, we find history in the course of study for those departments. With the fifteenth annual report of the board is published the re- port of R. O. Hammond, Esq., as school visitor for that year. His report shows the value of in- dependent criticism and observation of the conduct and management of the schools. He commends warmly and censures unsparingly. He says : 'The board say in their report that mental philosophy, political economy, moral science and evidences of Christianity are taught in the fourth year. But they are not taught. And yet there is no good reason why they are omitted.' He urges the cultivation of vocal music. 'This, in my judgment,' he says, ' should be taught in our schools as a compo- nent part of daily instruction. I mean that the principles of music should be taught- taught as a science. In this way, at a small expense, singers with well cultivated voices, able to read music readily, may be fitted for the choir, the concert and the parlor.'

"The school year beginning September 1, 1868, was the beginning of a new period in the history of the Akron schools. Akron had become a city. Its school population numbered 3,007. The growth and promise of the place had brought in new men, and with new business success and prosperity, larger and more liberal views had come to prevail. Akron had no in- stitution or interest it cherished as it did its schools. They had acquired a sure footing in the regard and affection of the people. The re- port of the board by its President, Dr. Bowen, shows this by its tone of cheerful assurance. Mr. Hole and other teachers of the high and grammar schools had resigned, and it became the duty of the board to fill their places. 'They cast about for teachers who had attained a high rank in their profession, and were known by competent judges to have come honestly by their good reputations.' There were not many such, and the demand was large. 'Other Boards of Education were abroad as bidders, and having made selections, based, as was believed, on a full fitness for the work to be done, it remained for us to pay such prices as would take the teachers we wanted from other bids, and bring them to our schools, instead of allowing them

to go elsewhere.' This is frank, free from tone of apology, and the board is to be commended for carrying out so good a programme. Mr. Samuel Findley, a gentleman of good scholarly attainments and ripe experience as a teacher, was secured as Superintendent ; Mrs. N. A. Stone, of State-wide reputation as a teacher and disciplinarian, was put in charge of the high school, and Miss Herdman, a teacher of much experience and rare excellence, was put in charge of the grammar school. At the close of the year, the board was justified in saying of the work done, that it was well done. Mr. Findley had shown rare executive ability. The leading features of an improved management of the high school, under Mrs. Stone, assisted by Misses Saunders and Trowbridge, 'were thoroughness in preparing the lesson, an ani- mated, accurate and full recitation of it, and more of polite deportment.' The grammar school, under Miss Herdman, assisted by Misses Voris and Worthington, 'has become a well- behaved room, where decorum prevails, and where lessons are thoroughly studied and well recited. Never in all its life has its order been so good and its teaching so thorough.' The primary schools also were well taught. The board makes a financial exhibit for the year ending September 1, 1869, showing a total of disbursements of $32,763. Of this amount, the salaries of Superintendent and teachers were $14,002.50 ; building sites, building and repairs, $15,752.60 ; fuel and other contingent expenses, $2,907.98 ; total receipts, $35,553.34. * * * For the work Mr. Find- * ley has shown rare fitness and ability. With great firmness he unites courteous manners and an openness of mind to what is new and also good in school management and instruction. He found it necessary, carly in the year, to re- duce the eleven primary school districts to six, giving two schools to each district, except one, and making two grades of primary scholars. By this change, the teaching force was nearly, if not quite, doubled, without any increase in the number of teachers, or in expense. With this came a course of study for the primary and grammar schools, of four years in each de- partment. Text-books are excluded from the primaries, except readers, and the school hours of the lowest grade reduced to four. There are to be monthly written examinations in the high and grammar schools. English literature takes

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its place in the high school, and vocal music becomes a specialty of instruction in all de- partments of the central building. Drawing, heretofore neglected, ' has been promoted to the rank of a regular study,' and runs through the grammar and lower grades. Morals and man- ners run through the three first years of the primary course in this specific form : 'Incul- cate reverence and love for God as the Great Father of all, obedience to parents and teachers, and a kind, forgiving spirit toward brothers and sisters and schoolmates. Guard against rude- ness of manners, and suppress profanity and other immoral practices.' This is a rule on the subject of moral instruction of all the schools : ' It shall be a duty of the first importance on the part of the teachers, to exercise constant supervision and care over the general conduct of their scholars ; and they are especially en- joined to avail themselves of every opportunity to inculcate the observance of correct manners, habits and principles.' Results for the first year must be regarded as satisfactory. The percentage of punctuality in no school falls be- low 96, and in many of them reached 98 and 99, and the average for all was 98.4. The per- centage of attendance on average number be- longing, for all the schools, was 93.1, and but two fell below 90. How much of this was due to the steady toning up of the Superintendent, is best known to the teachers.

"Reports of the board and Superintend- ent, after the year 1869, are for the school years 1871-74-75. The board reports are plain and intelligible statements of the finan- cial condition and transactions of the board and the general state of the schools. In 1870, there were paid for building, repairs, furniture, etc., $17,412 ; and, in 1874, for sites and buildings, $17,200. In 1871, the primaries are crowded, and the necessity pressing for ad- ditional accommodation for the present and in- creasing population of the city. The board has settled upon a plan of systematic enlarge- ment of school structures, which is thus ex- plained in the report of G. W. Crouse, Esq., President of the Board : In providing addi- tional buildings, it is the present policy of the board that each additional school building erected shall be part of a general plan, which shall have for its object the supplying of each seetion of our city with a suitable school build- ing, located centrally with reference to the part

of the city it is designed to accommodate, and which shall contain not less than six rooms.' The estimated cost of such structures was $15,- 000, and, in pursuance of this plan, the North Broadway building has been enlarged to the capacity above named, and the school edifices known as the Perkins and Spicer, have been erected and occupied. The estimated value of all school property, in 1874, was $136,000. To this is to be added the Spicer Schoolhouse, since built, estimated at $25,000. In the report of this year, by Lewis Miller, Esq., President of the Board, attention is called to the fact that, about twenty-eight years ago, the experiment of free graded schools was authorized in Akron, by special act of the Legislature, and that about a year since the Legislature, by general act, had extended the principle to all the public schools of the State.

" In the year 1872, Middlebury became a part of the Akron School District, bringing with it 163 pupils, and the Board of Education, from 1872, consisting of twelve members, instead of six, as formerly. The reports of the Superin- tendent that accompany these reports of the board are instructive reading. They relate to matters that come under his official supervision and are within the legislative sphere of the board. He carefully considers what he says, and gives trustworthy information and matured opinions on educational matters. The follow- ing summaries from the Superintendent's ta- bles, contain evidences of good condition and healthfulness. The averages are so high that they leave little room for improvement in that line :

1874-Number of youth between six and

twenty-one . 3,809

1875-Number of youth between six and

twenty-one. 3.964

Number of schools:

High school.

Grammar schools. 8

Primary schools. 24

Teachers in high school. 4

Teachers in grammar schools 13

Teachers in primary schools. 24

Music teacher .. 1

Average number of regular teachers. 40.3

Average number of pupils in daily attendance at

High school .. 111.8

Grammar schools. 513.8

Primary schools . 1,128.8

Total average daily attendance. 1,754.4

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

The percentage of average daily attendance on the average number belonging

In the high school. . 95.6

In the grammar schools. 94.8

In the primary schools. 95

In all the schools. 94.9

" The number of graduates from high school prior to 1869, beginning in 1864, were 15; in 1869, 5; in 1871, 4; in 1872, 17 ; in 1873, 11 ; in 1874, 16 ; in 1875, 18.

" The course of study adopted in 1869 has been adhered to. The high school course has been cut down to three years, and the scholars of the A Grammar Grade, who have been hitherto included in the high school have been confined to their proper department. Written examina- tions are twice a term instead of monthly, and promotions twice a year instead of annually. School hours have been reduced to five. Musical instruction runs through all grades, and is in the hands of a specialist in that department. ' The lessons in music,' he says, ' are given daily, and occupy from fifteen to thirty minutes, ac- cording to the age of the pupil. The instruc- tion is thoroughly graded, commencing in the lowest primary grade with the simplest exer- cises in distinguishing and making musical sounds, and advancing by regular gradations to the practice of classic music in the high school.' As Mr. Findley declares himself an original skeptic on the subject of musical capabilities, he may be allowed to state his conversion in his own words: 'Before investigating the subject and hearing the testimony of those who had made the experiment, I shared in the common belief that musical talent is a special gift, and that only the favored few have it in sufficient degree to make its cultivation desirable. That this is a fallacy has been amply proven. Noth- ing else in all my experience, in connection with the work of instruction has given me such enlarged views of what is attainable in the di- rection of the cultivation of the human powers. We can fix no limits to the possibilities of hu- man culture.'

" The competence of women for instruction and discipline has been fairly tried in the Akron schools, and the results thus stated in the report of 1874 : 'The average number of regular teachers employed was thirty-seven- all women. I have no hesitation in saying, that the experiment we have made the last six years in employing none but women as regular teachers in our schools, has been eminently

successful.' Moral and religious instruction is a subject which undergoes discussion in these reports. The views entertained on this subject by successive boards and Superintendents may, so far as they have given them expression, be briefly stated. In the second year, the moral nature is recognized as of equal rank with the intellectual. But this cannot have been a senti- ment rather than a conviction, though it led to no definite provision then and there for the moral nature. With teachers of the right ethical tone, the whole matter of 'morals and manners' in schools might, with safety, be left, and this is where the early boards seem to have left them. In the tenth year. came the rule for the qualified reading of the Bible as an opening exercise. In the twelfth year. ' moral culture,' heretofore neglected, or but little cared for, 'was assigned a rank with draw- ing and music.' In the fifteenth year, Mr. Hole gave 'moral training' a prominence, and introduced Cowdery's ' Moral Lessons,' but the board protested . that nothing sectarian has been introduced into your schools-nor any sectarian practice permitted.' All Mr. Hole's convictions inclined him to do in the schools whatever could be done for the moral nature, and the twelfth board quotes this with ap- proval : ' It has become quite evident that moral education, not occasional and irregular, but systematic and thorough, is entitled to a fixed position in every system of instruction.' We share the surprise and conviction of Super- intendent Findley, as expressed in his report of 1869: 'It seems strange that any attempt should be made to divorce intellectual and moral culture. The two are inseparable. Our moral and intellectual faculties are so closely allied as to be scarcely distinguishable to our consciousness ; at least, life's intellectual activi- ties and pleasures find their culmination and ful- fillment in the moral. The moral is the pinnacle of our whole being. A man is whatever his heart is. His faith, his love, his purposes-these deter- mine his character.' He touches the key-note to the whole great question of the Bible in the public schools, in the above passage, and others in the same and subsequent report : 'It is not so much what the teacher says, as what he is and does, which effects for good or evil the future lives and characters of his pupils. All the moral and religious influences of the school which is of any worth must come as an

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emanation from the teacher's character and life.'

* * *

"In his report of 1874, the Superintendent called the attention of the board to the neces- sity of employing untrained and inexperienced teachers, as the greatest evil with which they have to contend, without, however, suggesting at that time any remedy. It is but one step from the discovery of an evil or want, to the invention and application of a remedy. The remedy in this case is simple, and consists in the conversion of the new Spicer building into a training or normal school. Young ladies, graduates of the high school, without experi- once in teaching, are employed, nominal salaries for the first year, and set to teaching. Over them is placed a teacher of tried skill and ability in the instruction and government of schools, who oversees and directs the work of the new teachers. It is an experiment which has been entered upon during the present year, and has the merit of originality and simplicity, with a promise of good results. * * * *

* Certain results have been reached, which are a promise of good fruits in the future. One of these is a demand for a higher education, as shown by the increased attend- ance upon the high school, which amounts for the six years ending January 25, 1875, to 234 per cent, while the increase in all the schools has been 50 per cent for the same period. That the supply has kept pace with the demand, may be seen in the fact that, at the close of the spring and summer term of 1874. four boys of the Akron High School passed creditable ex- aminations for admission to Western Reserve College, and three of them entered that insti- tution the fall following. Three of the four were prepared wholly under Miss Oburn, assist- ant in the high school, and the fourth in part. Another gain is the punctuality of attendance, and the substantial cure of tardiness and irregu- larity. This subject is referred to in the report of 1871, which says : 'Irregular attendance and tardiness have become unpopular with the pupils themselves, and the majority of parents appreciate the importance of punctual and con- stant attendance.'

" Miss IIerdman remained in charge of the Senior Grammar School with the same eminent success that marked her first year, until the spring of 1874, when she withdrew on account ,

of ill health, and died in the November follow- ing. Her Superintendent says of her: 'Her strength of character, combined with fervent affection and genial humor, gave her great power over her pupils. She governed by the strength of her own character, rather than by the inflictions of pains and penalties.' Miss P. H. Goodwin, for many years an assistant in the high school, paid a touching tribute to her memory in a paper read before the teachers' meeting : 'She has given to us an example of a true teacher, wrought out before our eyes in characters of light-a grand six years' object lesson that increases in significance as we study its harmony of parts.'

" Mrs. N. A. Stone continued in charge of the high school as Principal until the close of the school year, 1873, a period of five years, with the same success and ability which marked her first year, and then resigned for a year of rest and travel. She was succeeded by Miss Maria Parsons, who still holds the position, and is eminently faithful and successful in it. Many teachers in the Akron schools, not already named, have attained a high degree of success ; but for a long and faithful service of sixteen years, Mrs. M. L. Harvey deserves honorable mention. During the first ten years of the schools, the labor of supervision, now per- formed by the Superintendent, was thrown upon the Board and Examiners ; and for the faithful and valuable services, the three first Presidents of the Board, Messrs. Bierce, Carpenter and Howard, and the three first Examiners, Messrs. Carpenter, Berry and Smith, deserve to be hon- orably remembered ; especially Gen. Bierce, for eight years of service on the board-six of these as President ; and Judge Carpenter, for four years of service as member of the Board of Examiners-who gave to the schools in that period of construction and organization, the full benefit of their practical ability and generous public spirit.

" The first death that occurred in the board was that of Dr. Joseph Stanton, in the year 1855, of whom the board of that year say : 'In his death the board has lost a valuable member, the State an honorable citizen, and the cause of education an earnest friend.' The death of Houston Sisler, member and late Treasurer of the board, is announced in the report of 1861- 62, and of him the board say : ' We can bestow no fitter eulogy upon him than to say that he

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HISTORY OF SUMMIT COUNTY.

was an honest, intelligent and conscientious man, just to himself, and just and generons to his neighbors.' The death of J. K. Holloway is recorded at a meeting of the board April 18, 1874, and in him the board 'mourn the loss of a valuable member, a congenial companion, an esteemed friend, and useful citizen.' The fol- lowing have been Presidents of the Board of Education of Akron for the periods named : Gen. L. V. Bierce, six years ; Judge J. S. Car- penter, two years ; Dr. E. W. Howard, two years ; C. B. Bernard, two years ; Rev. S. Will- iams, three years ; M. W. Henry, two years ; Dr. I. E. Carter, two years ; Dr. William Bow- en, one year ; Judge S. H. Pitkin, two years ; George W. Crouse, two years ; Lewis Miller, two years ; Dr. Thomas McEbright, one year. There was fitness in the choice of these gentle- men as presiding officers of the board."

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 70

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104