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<br />dential Committee -man of the district, to be by him handed,
<br />at the commencement of a new term, to the teacher who
<br />may next succeed. The advantages, which it is hoped may
<br />result from the adoption of this suggestion, are several.
<br />Each teacher, who is called upon to record the precise point
<br />to which the several classes have been carried by him or
<br />her, in their respective studies, for the inspection of the
<br />committee and of succeeding teachers, will be anxious to
<br />have the work which is labelled with his or her name, as
<br />having been professedly done by him or her, well and
<br />thoroughly done. Then too, a succeeding teacher will be
<br />prevented by such a record from wasting the time of the
<br />pupils, by carrying them over studies with which they are
<br />already familiar. It is true that a succeeding teacher may
<br />find classes, which are not, in his or her opinion, thoroughly
<br />acquainted with the studies recorded against their names,
<br />or it may appear that, in the interval between the schools,
<br />they have forgotten what they had previously learned. And
<br />it may therefore be deemed important that the classes, some
<br />or all of them, should spend some time in reviewing. But
<br />the teacher, who deems it his duty to make the classes re-
<br />view, may state in the record, which he leaves, the fact that
<br />he has done so, and the reason why he has thought it neces-
<br />sary. Still further; such a record may exert a healthful
<br />influence upon the scholars, prompting them to faithful en-
<br />deavours to show themselves thoroughly familiar with the
<br />studies which they are recorded to have passed over. And
<br />finally such a record will be of great assistance to the
<br />Superintending School Committee, especially when new
<br />members are placed upon the Board, as is frequently the
<br />case, who have not previously been acquainted with the
<br />characters of the several schools, and the points of progress
<br />which the several classes in them may have reached.
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<br />The expense of carrying out this suggestion, of purchasing
<br />such a book, will be but trifling, and the committee are of
<br />opinion that the benefits to our schools, resulting from its
<br />adoption, may be very great.
<br />Our schools can never become all that they might be, and
<br />ought to be, unless the attendance of the pupils is more
<br />regular, punctual, and constant than it now is. There
<br />seems to be, with many, a very strange state of feeling upon
<br />this subject. They are anxious to have the school in their
<br />district kept open as many weeks as possible during the
<br />year. But, at the same time, they are not careful to have
<br />their own children attend regularly upon all the sessions and
<br />exercises of the school, while it does continue. From one
<br />of our school Registers it appears that, out of one hundred
<br />and ten days, during which a certain child was connected
<br />with the school, fifty-three days of absence are marked a-
<br />gainst that child's name. Nearly one half of the school
<br />term was lost to that child. The parents of that child would
<br />have thought it very strange had there not been money
<br />enough granted to continue the school more than half the
<br />usual length of time ; we should probably have heard, from
<br />the lips of those very parents, bitter complaints of the very
<br />limited school privileges which their children enjoyed. And
<br />yet, by their own carelessness or negligence, perhaps, they
<br />have themselves cut short the schooling of their own child,
<br />to one half what it might have been. It is even worse
<br />than this. For fifty-three days of schooling, where the
<br />child attends regularly day after day, and all things are
<br />in readiness for the work of the school, will be of far
<br />more value than seventy days' attendance, scattered, by the
<br />frequent absence of the pupil, over a term of one hundred
<br />and ten days' duration. Your committee would express
<br />the earnest hope that parents will think more of this mat-
<br />ter, and will strive to have their children attend school
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