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<br />more regularly and constantly than has heretofore been
<br />the case. To secure this, there should be a free consul-
<br />tation among the inhabitants of each district, in order to
<br />have their schools open at such times as will best accom-
<br />modate the largest number of those pupils who most need
<br />the advantages of the school. And, when the school is
<br />opened, sacrifices should be made on the part of the pa-
<br />rents, in order to have their children always present. And
<br />then too, in order to secure more regular and punctual
<br />attendance, it would be well for parents to make their ar-
<br />rangements to have the amusements of their children, such
<br />as the exercises of the dancing school and frequent social
<br />evening parties of children occur in the intervals between
<br />ahe schools„ther than during the time of the school.
<br />The intervals, in the spring and in the fall, will afford
<br />sufficient time for these amusements, and time too, nearly,
<br />if not quite, as well adapted to them as any other portion
<br />of the year. And no one, who has not, in the capacity
<br />of a teacher been sorely tried in this way, can tell how
<br />entirely such amusements break up a school, destroy all
<br />interest in its exercises, and cause the money, expended
<br />for its support, to be almost wholly wasted. If some such
<br />arrangement, as that now suggested, could be made, the
<br />result would be that the enjoyment of these amusements
<br />would be secured, while the school, free from inter-
<br />ruptions of this character, would be left to exert its best
<br />influences for the good of the rising generation.
<br />Still further, in order to make our schools all that they
<br />are capable of becoming, it is important that parents should
<br />cordially cooperate with the teachers. And especially is
<br />it important, that they should endeavour to impress upon
<br />the minds of their children a due sense of the impor-
<br />tance of the privileges, which they enjoy ; of the objects
<br />they should have in view in attending school, and also
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<br />of the importance of ever cherishing and manifesting,
<br />while in school, a spirit of obedience, a teachable dispo-
<br />sition, and a desire for improvement. Some of the larger
<br />boys, in one of our schools, during the past winter, have
<br />wasted the most of their time and opportunities, and de-
<br />prived themselves of the beneficial results, which they
<br />might otherwise have secured. And to what has this been
<br />owing ? Not to the want of time to attend school,—not to
<br />the want of a good teacher,—not to any neglect on the part
<br />of the teacher to give them their full share of his time and
<br />attention :—it has been owing to the fact that they attended
<br />school with wrong feelings and dispositions. Parents then
<br />may do much to encourage and assist the teacher, and se-
<br />cure the best success of the school, by training their chil-
<br />dren at home to habits of prompt and cheerful obedience,
<br />by cherishing in their hearts feelings of affectionate regard
<br />for their teacher, and by impressing upon their minds a
<br />deep sense of the importance of improving aright the privi-
<br />leges they enjoy.
<br />Your Committee would suggest to those, who may be
<br />their successors in office, that it has occurred to them during
<br />the past year, that the improvement of our schools would
<br />be more rapidly promoted, if the several teachers of our
<br />schools could be induced to unite with the Superintending
<br />and Prudential Committees and other friends of education
<br />in town, in an educational association, for the purpose of
<br />holding occasional meetings, for free conversation upon
<br />such topics of school discipline and instruction as would
<br />naturally come before them. And your committee would
<br />also suggest, that the different districts in town would be
<br />gainers in the end, if their respective teachers should be
<br />encouraged in an occasional absence from school, for the
<br />purpose of visiting othcr schools and learning the modes
<br />of procedure adopted by other teachers. These absences,
<br />
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