1870-1871 School Committee Report

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. - 12 13 short time to plant a new .civilization between the waters of the And something more than a good appearance will be gained by Missouri and the Pacific. this; an improved state of health will also be seen. Teachers need to be continually informing themselves of these It is no small matter to secure a good physical development, and changes, in order that they may give correct and fresh information it is well known that the foundation for many a disease is laid at to,their pupils, and it would be well often to bring to the notice '` school through the neglect of proper rules of health. Children of our school children important intelligence, concerning different should be taught that an erect position, whether in sitting, standing countries, to.he found in the newspaper. The events and locali- ^* or walking, is necessary to a free and vigorous expansion of the ties of the late war in Europe, might be chosen .as themes .for lungs, and teachers should always attend scrupulously to the matter composition, or as topics for brief familiar remarks suitable for a of ventilation. Much of the dullness of schoolchildren is owing weekly exercise, to the impure air which they are obliged to breathe. And it ought The ,History of the United States has been studied in our not to be beneath the attention of any teacher to give his pupils Grammar schools,,and needs still further attention. (whether they have any school-book on the subject or not) sound The National Series of Readers (Parker and Watson), was intro- advice concerning such common-place matters as dress, diet, sleep, duced at the beginning of the. year, and has given general satis- cleanliness, &c. faction., No book can be of greater service to the teacher than a Some of our citizens have rightfully complained .of the habits well-arranged Reader, when judiciously used. It answers many of children when out of school; they sometimes go along the purposes, being at once a reading and spelling book, a manual of street, with a pencil, or stick, scratching the fences, and otherwise history and biography, a collection of prose and poetry, a treatise mutilating private property ; they often get together at'the railroad on punctuation and elocution, and a store-house of miscellaneous y. + station, the very last place that a child should enter without a information such as every one ought to possess. 'It might also guardian. Officers of the road state that school boys have even furnish a sufficient guide for vocal exercises, such as we should be 'amused themselves, at the imminent risk of their lives; by running glad to see practiced daily in every school. Some of our children back and forth across the track to see which could best dodge the seem never to have learned to open their mouths in speaking,•' approaching train. Now- this is a most serious matter, and it they mumble their words in an unnatural tone, as if they were belongs not to the School Committee, nor to the teacher, but to ashamed to be heard distinctly. There is no "reason why the the parent, who has the highest interest in the welfare of his own easy, natural quality of voice, common in good society, should child. We trust, therefore, that it will not need again to be not be heard in the school-room. The forced, stilted, harsh noticed in our Report. tone in which many scholars, and some teachers also, are in All public schools need the support, and are open,to the inspec- the habit of 'reading a lesson, or explaining a sum" in Arithmetic, tion of the entire community, and the .utmost harmony and would sound oddly enough in a social .gathering, or even in a confidence should be established between them. School Commit- public hall. tees and teachers are but the servants of the public, and as such, Intimately connected with this is the attitude and `bearing of the all their acts are open to fair and candid criticism, but unfavorable pupil in school. We ,often see children sitting; lazily at their remarks which are not warranted by facts, and which are produc desks, as if they did not know what to do with their limbs, and, tive only.of ill-feeling towards the schools, surely cannot in any when called to recite, standing in an awkward, listless, inattentive �,. view of the case, be justified. manner. . All this can be remedied by proper attention and drill. Even the most unpromising cases will soon yield to careful train- In conclusion, the Committee would .call special attention ing, and when a new and better standard of manners has been to the percentage of attendance which is given in the accom- fairly established, the scholars will take pride in conforming to. it. panying Table of Statistics. It will be seen-that many schools