USA > Rhode Island > Annual report of the Board of Education : together with the Annual report of the Commissioner of Public Schools of Rhode Island, 1875 > Part 17
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SCHOOL COMMISSIONER'S REPORT.
have no doubt that the agitation of this question will ultimately lead to the establishment of a high school in the town, for its need remains the same, and will remain the same, until it is realized.
Without a High School, several thousand dollars are sent out of the town every year for the education of the young. Scholars are compelled to go to Greenwich, Westerly, Providence, or some place in Massachu- setts or Connecticut to finish their education ; thus stripping our schools of the brightest ornaments, subjecting parents to unnecessary expense, sending children from the parental roof at a time when they most stand in need of it, and without which their welfare is most endangered.
The following cities and towns have taken the lead in establishing high schools, or one of an equal grade. viz. : Providence, Newport, Woon- socket, Pawtucket, Bristol, Warren, Westerly. Lincoln, East Greenwich, Barrington, Scituate, and whether they have done it from purely educa- tional, economical, or humane considerations, it matters not : The rea- sons which would suffice for them may possibly suffice for us .- ELISHA F. WATSON, Supt.
WOONSOCKET .- Notwithstanding the sorrows which have befallen the High School during the year, it has maintained a steady progress. There has been a gain in the moral as well as intellectual condition of the school. A professional spirit and a better appreciation of the advantages of a full High School course, have been apparent.
It is now two years since the new courses of study for the High School were adopted. Their importance to the school is shown by the continu- ous attendance of the two lower classes, which now number respectively twenty and seventeen. Of the advanced pupils there are several who propose to remain in the school and graduate. Four at least will be pre- pared to receive the honors of the school another year. Thoroughness may be said to have characterized the work of Principals and Assistants, and the classes have accomplished, in the different branches, all that was prescribed for them.
It is confidently believed that the high school now is such that no pa- rent ought to think of sending his son or daughter abroad to receive an advanced course of instruction, except for extraordinary reasons .- C. J. WHITE, Supt.
PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
BURRILLVILLE .- By no means of the least importance are the Primary schools. If we would improve the higher grades, the beginning must be made in the lower. The idea that anybody will do for a primary school teacher, is simply absurd. Ought we not rather to believe that the best that can be secured, are none too good? The instructing of a Primary School is a noble work. It calls for learning and experience,
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as well as the teaching of a Grammar School. It requires talent of a high order, and perhaps too rarely possessed, to handle a large, or even a small number of young children, who must be kept out of mischief, kept busy, taught correctly, and made happy in a school room, from four to six hours daily. Yet there are those thus richly endowed, and their services in the primary departments are well worth an extra com- pensation if they cannot be had without it. Like Father O'Flynn, they must ever be,
"Checkin' the crazy wans, Coaxin' onaisy wans, Liftin' the lazy wans on wid the stick."
Only the kiss, with the primary teacher, is often more helpful than the stick. Both are useful, both ordained of God. To the teachers of this grade it is given to lay the foundation of an education. By them those first impressions are made, which are said to be the longest re- tained .- WM. FITZ, Supt.
WOONSOCKET .- The Primary Schools of the town have more than an average or proportionate number of good teachers. There are examples of great energy and efficiency, admirable tact and good judgment, gentleness combined with force, and exactness of method with fertility of resources. And all have a hearty devotion to the work in hand. There is manifest but little of the conceit of being above the position of a primary teacher. The demands of the lowest grades are getting them- selves recognized, said the Superintendent of the Washington schools ; "I have advised and urged the members of the Board, upon whom the assignment of teachers devolves, invariably to place in charge .of the first or lower grade schools, primary teachers of known superior ability, and of experience, and to place in the second grade those whose servi- ces had not given so good satisfaction, or who were without experience ; and this has been done quite generally." When it is considered that to the teacher of the lowest grade is committed the charge of forming the most important mental habits that are ever formed-habits of observa- tion, attention, comparison, generalization, reflection and reasoning- habits of articulation, expression and deportment-one is not likely to over-estimate the importance of superior qualifications in a primary teacher.
In the work of a Primary School especial prominence should be given to the enunciation, articulation and expression of the reading exercise. It is a mistake to suppose that imperfect articulation ought to be toler- ated in the lower grades. A habit is baneful in proportion to its in- veteracy, and there is no age so impressible as the earliest, and no time when the distinction of sounds can be better apprehended than in early youth. To the ordinary incentive of the teacher-"Excellence for ex- cellence's sake"-there is in this case the added one of patriotism. So long as a child is allowed to adhere to his foreign accent, he is not quite American. His speech "bewrayeth" his nationality. But the h's the d's and g's can be pronounced, and the graduate of our public schools ought to be able to defy the quickest ear to detect the
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ancestral accent, and to pass unchallenged as an American. In some of the primaries the effort in this direction has been commendable and the success encouraging, while in others the teachers seem to have lost heart, the influence of home associations and the repngnance of the pupils to practices different from those they are taught at home, seeming to them insuperable. But a teacher must not lose faith here; when she does, her usefulness is gone.
In the matter of correct expression, the teachers need a word of coun- sel. It is not enough to say to pupils, "Read as you would speak in your ordinary conversation." Those who take this current phrase as the key of good reading, will find it utterly delusive; for of twenty pupils who may be charged to read a paragraph in this way, not one will render it well. The articulation will be faulty, the expression dull, stupid, senseless. In a word, the pupil must catch the idea of correct, elegant, sprightly or eloquent expression from the teacher. The teacher must give an example of excellence and develop powers of preception and appreciation in the pupil. Not, by any means, that the pupil should merely imitate, that is folly ; but reading is the art of interpreting thought, and feeling by sounds. As such it is to be taught and learned.
In another matter more should be attempted by some of the teachers in the primary schools. In all the schools of lower grade the common errors of speech should be corrected. In the advanced primaries not only should ungrammatical forms be corrected, but language lessons should be given, requiring attention to the simplest relations of words. An empirical exercise in the correction of current errors, will not only be good for the pupil, but will also serve to guard the teacher from faulty habits. It is not infrequently the case that a teacher is heard using a plural subject with the singular form of the verb ; or employing one case for another-one part of speech for another. Such teachers, after some exercise of patience, onght to be dropped.
Another item in the conduct of these lower grades should be noticed. It is this,-more employment ought to be given to the little ones. It is not ununusal, after recitation, to see them remanded to their seats, to sit bolt upright with their hands behind them. Such a school is still-may be made to appear orderly, but it is the stillness and order of death. Ob- jectionable as disorder is, it is better than such an enforced idleness and stupidity. When the pupils return to their seats, they should have something to do. This remark is intended to apply to the youngest as well as the oldest. The once prevalent opinion that a child must not at- tempt the use of the pencil or pen, has passed away before the evidence already obtained of the facility with which the nimble little fingers get the trick of printing and writing in script hand. The teacher must not expect to satisfy a competent judge of a good school by the order of stillness of the room alone. Are the scholars profitably and happily employed ? are the pupils well taught? These are questions of highest importance. If these requirements are met, the failure cannot be serious in other directions. The school that is kept well at work, needs but little admonition in respect to order. In schools where there are many classes, the difficulties are very great. A teacher with only one or two classes can more easily keep seventy pupils at work, than when she has
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four or five classes, and has only forty scholars. In towns like this, therefore, where the school population is small, the size of the school should be small, not exceeding thirty-five, for it is impossible to so grade but there must be quite a number of classes in every school. This being true, what results ought to be expected in the Globe and Bernon prim- aries, where the numbers have run up to seventy and eighty, and as in the Globe, where there is not a single desk? If it was the extremity of heathen cruelty to require the Hebrews to make bricks without straw, what injustice shall it be considered when these faithful teachers present their cases for judgment? The introduction of the simplest drawing exercises into these schools is to be commended. In many instances quite surprising results have been obtained. There are many little ones who can give the direction, the equal and unequal division of lines, with great accuracy. Now and then one will give great naturalness to a picture, showing that the powers of observation are already well de- veloped.
Music, consisting of juvenile songs, is made in most of the schools to serve as a relief and refreshing exercise, and is, in most instances, well managed.
Many of the primaries need better apparatus, books, charts, boards and the like. Recommendations will be made concerning them as soon as the status of the districts is determined .- CHARLES J. WHITE, Supt.
PROMOTIONS.
BURRILLVILLE .- As the graded system exists, and is likely to increase, I would suggest that some prescribed course of study should be adopted by the School Committee, the mastering of which shall constitute a pre- requisite for promotion through the different grades. I also suggest, in place of the present irregular and irresponsible practice, that promotion be only by the Committee or Superintendent .- WM. FITZ, Susst.
EAST GREENWICH .- It is very desirable, that there should be some regular system of progress from one grade to another. If there was an examination for advancement it might stimulate pupils to better schcl.r- ship and increase the interest of teachers .- D. C. KENTON, Bup ..
HOPKINTON .- Curriculum .- The Committee recommend and adopt the following curriculum of study in the several departmente of the graded schools, and scholars for promotion must pass a satisfactory examine- tion in the branches named, before they are permitted to enter a Ligher department. The studies to be pursued in the several departments of the graded schools are as follows :
Primary Department .- Alphabet and Word Reading. Leading in the First and Second Readers, Spelling in the same ; Juvenile & .. ] Primary 7
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Arithmetic, including table of Numeration, Notation, Addition, Subtrac- tion, and Multiplication, as far as Division. Primary Geography. Writing, with pencil or ink, if the Superintendent thinks best.
Grammar Department .- Reading in the Third and Fourth Readers. Orthography. Classification of Letters into Vowels, Consonants, Dip- thongs and Phonetics. Writing in Nos. 2 and 3. Geography and Map- drawing. Grammar, Greene's Introductory Analysis. Composition. Declamation. Arithmetic, intellectual and written. History. Drawing.
Higher Department .- Reading in the Fifth and Sixth Readers. Or- thography. Phonetics. Geography. Map-drawing. Writing in Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7. Grammar, analytically. Composition. Rhetoric. De- clamation. Botany. Physiology. Natural Philosophy. Intellectual Philosophy. Arithmetic, intellectual and written. Algebra. Geometry. Surveying. Book-keeping. Drawing. Latin and Greek.
In the ungraded or mixed schools all pupils are to study Reading; Orthography ; Writing in number adapted to their advancement ; Geog- raphy ; Map-drawing ; Grammar ; Composition ; Declamation ; Arith- metic, intellectual and written ; Phonetics, and such other advanced studies as the Superintendent may from time to time recommend. Pu- pils are to be classified, as far as practicable, according to attainments.
At the close of each term, all classes should be subjected to a thorough examination on the studies pursued during that term. Such examination should be public, and previous notice given, and parents and friends of our schools invited to be present .- J. R. IRISH, Chair- man.
Graded Schools .- The graded schools at Hope Valley and Ashaway, although perhaps they may not have fully met the expectations of all are evidently accomplishing much. They need to be more thoroughly graded, so that each department may know what it must accomplish in order that their pupils be promoted. And no pupil should be allowed promotion until he passes a satisfactory examination on those branches required .- S. S. GRISWOLD, Supt.
NEWPORT .- Examinations .- The half-term examinations given by the teachers were kept up during the past year, and the year previous, many teachers exchanging questions with those of the same grade, in order to test the knowledge and standing of their respective classes.
This, I think, has done away with much of the fear and anxiety usually attendant upon the annual examination for promotions in July. Yet not wholly ; for occasionally we find that thorough nervousness, consequent, probably, upon the continued mental effort required in the higher grades, some who have ranked highest during the year, barely reach the required per cent. at the annual examination.
To obviate this, I would second the suggestion made by my prede- cessor, Mr. A. D. Small, that the hours of examination be limited to the forenoon of each day, thereby giving the pupil the advantage of the afternoon for rest.
I would again bring to your notice suggestions made to our Board while in session December 5th, 1873. First: That the Intermediate
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department be divided so that each teacher may have but one class instead of two as at present. This is the only department not fully graded. In the Grammar department there are four grades, and in the Primary three. I think that in the Intermediate there should be two. More can be done by the teacher with the same number in one class, though they of necessity be divided into sections, than with two classes of different attainments.
The number of schools would remain the same in the event of such gradation, and the cost of maintaining would not be increased, while all of that grade would be presented for examination and promotion in July the same as those of the other grades, thereby giving the pupil opportu- nity to hold his place on the " Roll of Honor," for two or more suc- cessive years, and the parent a knowledge of his child's attainments during the year.
Second : The Ungraded School. I hope this will meet with your favorable consideration. A school representing any or all the grades below the High School, and above the Primary.
Frequently, pupils are admitted to the department, who stand be- tween two grades ; not advanced far enough for the one, yet too far for the other. More especially is this the case during the Spring and Sum- mer terms when all the classes are advanced, and a scholar entering be- hind grade, cannot be prepared to go on with the class, except at great expense to the teacher and school, while at the same time it would be manifestly unjust to place such scholar in a class, with the studies of which he is fully acquainted.
My plan has been during the past year, to admit conditionally ; allow- ing the candidate to prepare for a higher class, or if not quite up to grade, giving him an opportunity to hold his place by using extra effort. In nearly every case such have succeeded in holding position, while some have advanced one and even two grades, having passed a rigid examina- tion before such advancement .- T. H. CLARKE, Supt.
WARREN .- In December, the plan of the " six months promotion," was dispensed with, and the grading of the Miller Street School was changed from three Primary, and one Intermediate departments, to two Primary, and two Intermediate, the studies were also graded accordingly. The following is the present order of the departments : First Interme- diate ; Second Intermediate ; First Primary ; Second Primary .- School Committee.
Last year the plan of promoting pupils once in six months, in all classes below the second year in the Grammar school, was adopted. After a trial of several terms, it was found to be impractical.
To meet the necessity of some change in the grade below that year, it was thought best to form the second year of the Intermediate department into a Second Intermediate department. This was accordingly done. All the rooms in the Miller Street building are now furnished and occu- pied. We have in them good teachers, and it is hoped that this change will remedy the evils for which the change was made. Slight changes have also been made in the course of study .- S. K. DEXTER, Supt.
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WOONSOCKET .- The written examination which those who enter the High School are subjected to, has wrought a good effect. The pupils have been made to realize that when that test is applied, if they know the subject, they can recite ; but without the knowledge, there is no help for them. And that is the true test, knowledge ; and if they have it not, there ought to be no help for them .- CHAS. J. WHITE, Supt.
RULES AND REGULATIONS.
CRANSTON.
ARTICLE I .- TO THE TRUSTEES.
SECTION 1. The School Committee, with the approbation of the State Commissioner, hereby direct that the time of school instruction through- out the town, be divided into four terms in each year, as follows :
The 1st or Summer term, shall commence on the first Monday in May · and continue at the option of the trustees.
The 2d or Fall term shall commence the first Monday in September, continue ten weeks and be followed by a vacation of one week.
The 3d or Winter term, shall then commence and continue ten weeks and be followed by a vacation of one week.
The 4th or Spring term shall then commence and continue at the op- tion of the trustees.
SEC. 2. The careful attention of trustees is respectfully called to Chapter 52 of the General Statutes, and they are especially requested to hand the School Returns to the Chairman of the Committee, at or before the time of receiving the school money.
ARTICLE II .- TEACHERS AND THEIR DUTIES.
SECTION 1. All teachers in the public schools are required to ob- serve and carry into full effect all rules, regulations and directions of the school officers in regard to the instruction and discipline of their respective schools.
SEC. 2. They shall be at their respective school-houses, at least fif- teen minutes before the specified time for beginning school, and open the room for the admission of scholars, and shall at said time cause the bell to be rung, and shall further cause the bell to be rung a second time, at the precise time of beginning school. The morning session of the school shall be opened with reading from the Bible by the teachers.
SEC. 3. They shall enroll the names of pupils as soon as admitted, and carefully note all cases of absence or tardiness each half day ; and shall exercise a careful supervision over the scholars at all times, while on or about the school premises.
SEC. 4. They may spend one day each term in visiting schools, for
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the purpose of observing the discipline and modes of instruction in the same. They shall also dismiss their schools every Saturday and on all legal holidays.
SEC. 5. Whenever the misconduct of a pupil is such that he is deemed not a fit member of the school, the teacher may suspend him temporarily, giving immediate notice in writing to the Committee or Superintendent, and to the parents or guardian of the scholar. Such scholar shall not be re-admitted to the school, without a permit from the Committee or Superintendent.
SEC. 6. The teachers shall occupy five or more minutes previous to the closing of the school each day, in oral exercises, in all the branches taught in the school, each branch in succession, in the manner that to them shall appear most profitable, and shall also have a partial review every Friday afternoon.
SEC. 7. The government and discipline of the school should be of a mild and parental character. The teachers should use their best exer- tions to secure obedience and preserve good order, by mild measures and kind influences, and in cases where corporal punishment becomes necessary it shall be inflicted with judgment and discretion and always in the presence of the school or of witnesses.
SEC. 8. Singing shall be encouraged, and as far as practicable, taught in all the schools.
SEC. 9. The teacher shall make a report in writing to the Committee at the close of each term, stating the number of pupils admitted, the average attendance, and such other information as may be required.
SEC. 10. There shall be a recess of not less than ten, nor more than fifteen minutes in each half day, and in no instance shall any scholar be wholly deprived of this privilege.
SEC. 11. All teachers shall keep a record of the recitations of the classes under their charge, and of the manner in which each member of the class acqnits himself in his recitation, using either figures or letters to indicate degrees of merit. Every flagrant act of disobedience or vio- lation of good order, shall be noted and the record shall be at all times subject to the inspection of the Committee, Superintendent and Trustee.
SEC. 12. The teachers shall enter the names of such pupils as are especially meritorious in deportment and recitations, in the Roll of Honor, provided in the School Register, and shall also report their names, together with the names of those who have not been absent or tardy during the term, to the Superintendent. ·
SEC. 13. The teachers are expected to make the teaching of their schools their main business and shall thoroughly prepare themselves daily in all the studies pursued in their several schools.
SEC. 14. They shall keep a copy of these Rules posted up in the School Room, and cause the same to be read aloud in school, at least once in each term.
ARTICLE III .- PUPILS.
SECTION 1. All scholars are required to enter the school-room as soon as convenient after the first bell rings and take their seats in a quiet
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and orderly manner, and they shall use proper care that their books, desks, and the floor around be kept in good order.
SEC. 2. Any pupil who shall make use of impudent and disrespectful language to the teacher, or make unnecessary noise, or refuse a prompt obedience to the commands of the teacher, or be guilty of other disor- derly conduct, shall be liable to suspension by order of the Committee or Superintendent.
SEC. 3. Any pupil who shall accidentally, or otherwise. injure any school property, whether fences, gates, or trees, or any building, or any part thereof, or break any window glass, or injure any instrument, ap- paratus, book, map or furniture belonging to the school, shall be liable to pay all damages and shall be punished at the discretion of the teacher.
SEC. 4. Pupils are strictly enjoined to conduct themselves in an orderly manner, both in and out of school, to be diligent and attentive to their studies, to treat each other politely and kindly in all their inter- course, to respect and obey all orders of their teachers, and be punctual in their attendance.
Approved, October 13th, 1873.
HOPKINTON .- Let it be remembered, that the school year begins on the first day of May, and closes on the last day of April, annually, and that all reports must be made to conform to that statute of the school law. Hence the necessity of some calendar to regulate the terms and vacations of the schools, and reports of trustees.
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