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Ann Arbor Public School S

Ann Arbor Public School S image
Parent Issue
Day
4
Month
September
Year
1895
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

To the Board of Education of the City of Ann Arbor: Herewith I have the honor of presenti n to you my twenty-fifth animal report oí the Public Schools of this city. statistics are not generally entertainiiiLT reading, but they present the fraine■vork of all industries and are essential to the best conduct of all enterpiises that cost money. Only such items as are elosely connected with the administration of the schools are here given. Population of the district, census of L8Sf4, 11,811. Cbildren of legal school age (between 5 and 20 years), census of 1895, 3,054. This is 78 less than reported last year. The discrepancy arises froui the fact that last year a mistake was made in the age limits, which made the number somewhat too large. srnisTR-S OF THE SCHOOLS. 1 SS b 2 g ha ITEMS. _ cfl Sfl - M Si S 5 o L_ 2 Enrollment exclusive of transfers- boys- 335 306 615 1256 Enrollment exclusive oítranstera- gjrls 323 269 480 1072 Total enrollment 658 575 1,095 2.JJS Average mmiber belongiug - 553.20 502.75 973.83 2029.78 Average dally aüendance. 529.36 589942.61 1961 1Vt cent. of a-ttendiince on No. belongIng 93.88 97.27 96.77 96.66 Namber of non-resi. dents 2J7 3J 34 315 Number men teachers S 8 Numbur of woinen teachers 9 13 22 44 Number of special teachers 3 Total number of teachers 55 Number of days schools In session 180 180 180 180 Average days attemlance of each pupil.. 144 159 160 156 Average puplls to each teacher 33 39 44 39 5 The grade enrollment was 70 more than that of the preceding year. To accommodate this additional number we employed one additional teacher. As might be expected, several oL the rooms were over-weighted in their enrollment. It is impressed upou us more and more that no teacher can do her best work with more than 40 pupils to care for; the table above shows that the average enrollment in the grades was more than that. And the fact is that more than half of the rooms had 45 to 5O.pupils, wliile 11 rooms carried 50 to 5S on the books most of the year. The inference from these facts is that the extensión of school accommodations is hardly keepiug pace with the increasing demanda upon them. We should also bear in mind, in this connection, that, by the action of the last legislatura, we have an efficiënt compulsory school attendance and truant law ; and it will be incumbent upon us to compel attendance upon school of those children whose education is being neglected by their parents. By the terms of this law all children between 7 and 10 years of age must attend some school continuously for four months during the school year. Many of these children are not enrolled in any school. Moreover, a considerable number of the vagraut class, even when enrolled as pupils, are likely to be irregular in attendance, or to remain in school but a short time. A vigorous application of the new truant law will be the corrective of all this class of evils. We liave been accoustomed to honor those pupils wlio maint:ün an uubroken attendance by printing their narnes in this report. The list for last year is as follows : IIK.II SCHOOL. M. Ethel Bancroft, Rosa E. Marsh, EmmaC. Weitbrecht, 'm. E. Wotzke. For two years.-'Mabel R. Van Kleek. For three years.-Geo. D. Shaffer. For four yean.- Pauline Wurster. Equal to one per cent. of enrollment. EIGHTJH GRADE. Francés L. Darrow, Geo. J. Frey, Henry W. Horen, Angola I. Maas, De' Lyle Peterson, Carry Pennell, Isaphine B. Salyer, Alfred G. Walker. For two !' "is.- Reuben J. Hoffstetter, Melinda A. Luick. Equals 9 per cent. of enrollment. FIRST WARD SCHOOL. Ward Ashley, BertBall, Leroy Childs, Alfred Finney, Dauiel Fletcher, Theodore Kiesselbach, George Leary, Earl Maynard, Dorothy Masón, Robert Moore, Bessie Maynard, Rebecca Ream, Bertha Sehaffer, Ellen Schaffer, Frederick Sehaffer, Waldo Schleede. For two years.- Adolph Isbel, Egmont Arnold, Augustus Johnson. For three yean.- Rudolph Kiesselbach. Equals 5 per cent, of enrollment. SECOXD WARD SCHOOI,. Hazel Bailey, Clara Binder, Lorena Bissenger, Clara Eiting, Fred Frey, Lizzie Feldhaeuser, Clara Feldhaeuser' Arthur Gaekle, Anna Lutz, Emma Martin, Edwin Noli, Osear Stollsteiiner, Luella Stollsteimer, Minnie Schantz, Emma Schantz, Amelia Staeb, Julia Wenjter. For two years.- Kati Frey, Víctor Frey, Clara Martin, Osear Wehner. Equals 7 per cent, of enrollment. TIIIRD WARD SCUOOL. Wm. Hennindinger, Clarence Snyder, Edward Pardon, Wrn. Strong, Flora Schlanderer, Edward Schneider, Howard Snyder, George Tice. For two yean.- Florence Snyder. Equals 4 per cent, of enrollment. FQÜBTH WAED SCHOOI.. Citarles Burris, Harry Christensen, Bessie Earle, Regie Field, Emma Keubier, Alberta Maas, George Moe, Alice Schall, Oscar Walter, Albert Wurster. For tico years. - Ethel McCollum, Anna Wurster, Oscar Wurster. Equals 4 per ceut. of eurollment. III'TII WAED SCHOOL. Floy Barkham', Jolm Carson, Louise Griner, Lily Griner. Equals 3 percent, of eurollment. SIXTH WARD SCHOOI,. Eunice Bliton, Hollis Cooley, Arthur Hall, Albert Hall, Eva Johnson, Belle Xorris, Otto Steinke, Edward Taylor, Julius Weist. For two years. - Fannie Biggs. Equals 5 per ceut. of eurollment. The culminating feature of a system of schools is the graduation, and the moving forward to higher grades, of its pupils. This is the visible product, so to speak, of the industry. The following table puts these facts in a nutshell : i I i tfcH O o_ _&_ _h_ Number in classes at close of scliool year 47Í 865 1336 Number unclasslfied 10 119 129 Number promoled at close of year 330 650 4S0 Number extra proinotions (skipped grade] 5 6 11 Number passed half agrade 93 203 290 Number not passed (feiledj 48 12 60 Number sent to lower grade durIng the year 27 5 32 This table may serve as a text for what follows. Let it be understood that the word "grade" in a school system means a year's work; (it is sometimes made to mean the pupils in a grade.) There is tlien a year's interval between any class and the class above it, or class below it. Now in order that all the niembers of a class be justly profited by the instruction, they should all be at or near the same poiut of advancement, and be abont equally capable of mastering the subject oí study. But the facts are far otherwise. ín every class quite a section are unavoidably graded too low, and another section too high. Bright pupils are kept back waiting for the dull ones. They waste their time and lose the keen interest that comes of strong effort, while the dull pupila are goaded on to a f aster pace than they can profitably travel. Health, temperament, different home conditions, make wide differences iii the ability to get ahead in studies. The fifth item of the table shows that 290 pupils could not be promoted to the next grade but could be passed over half a grade. With annual proinotions the evil has been slightly lessened by perrnitting now and then a very bright pupil to skip a grade, or sending a dull one to a lower grade. Bilt these means are limited in application, and sometimes hazardous. The fourtli iteni in the table shows that only eleven pupils skipped a grade last year. The only remedy for the evil is shorter class intervals. The plan proposed is the semester promotion, .reclassification twiee a year. This will at least cut the evil in two. Moving from one elass to another either up or down will be comparatively easy. Perhaps the greater benefit will accrne to the bright pupils. They will be able to utilize their higher endowments, or better opportunities. The plan will also permit a closer classification and so raise the general standard of scholarship. Our semester plan of school terms makes the conditions inore favorable for the change here suggested. But there are difficulties vet in the way. Semiannual promotions require that each grade in a school be divided into tvvo sub-seotions, a half year apart. But such división can not be made without additional cost for rooms and teachers, unless the several grades of a school shall number about 40 pupils each, so that the sub-sections need not be unduly small. Even now the plan cannot be operated in soine of the ward schools, on account of the smallness of the grade classes; but we hope to exteud the oenents ot tüe plan by seuding some pupils from the smaller schools to schools where the Bub-clagsiflcation exists. "How can we improve the efficiency of our schools?" is the ceaseless refraiñ of all educational conventions and discussions. And the universal answer is "Improve the teachers." It is an age of warring educational doctrines and the battle makes much noise, but its importance is greatly subordínate to that of the equipment and quality of the teacher. In primary and grammar schools it. is an age of rapid evolution. The three R's of the old time school are being crowded to the wall by a troop of "thought" studies, moslly comprised uader elementary science aud literature. Therefore we must have a new order of teacher, a teacher with a new order of equipment and a new order of temperament and spirit. Our old time teacher must take in a new stock of mental furniture and breathe deeply the atmosphere and inspiration of the new non or tiie procession will move on without her. Our new teacher must remember that preparation for teaching implies much more than a high school diploma. It wiíl not be enough that her classes pass examination on a set of questions in spelling, geography, aritlimetic, etc, they must exhibit the scholarly spirit, the ambitious interest, the waked ap mind. Mechanica! lesson hearing must give way in the school room to soul, life, individuality. All this makes the duties of the appointing authorities more delicate and difficult, for they must constantly take into account, not only mental equipment faut also the teaching ability and the teaching spirit or we cannot have good schools. Nothing in all the realm of sociology is more certain than tliat superior ability and skill in teaching are no more cominon and no more easily procured than are the same qualities in other professions. We may here properly refer to some of the newer demanda upon the grammar schools, which are agitating the educational world. Such autliorities as Pres. Eliot and the fanious "Report of the 'Conmiittee of Ten' " would have about half of the studies of the High School brouglit down into the grammar department. Latín, Germán, French, Algebra, Geometry, Natural Science ani l'hysics would thus take their beginniogs in the tirades below the High School. With ideal conditions such a scheuie might be wofkable and measurably useful. As social conditions develop we shall probably seemoreinit to commend and apply ; hut for the present the scheme is, for the most part, impracticable. Sorne of the ideas of the above plan we have adapted rather than adopted. In the eighth grade, along with arithmetic, we carry an excellent course in constructivo geometry, and we expect to add some algebraic methods the coming year. In the same grade we have, for several years, given courses in geology and physiology with satisfactory results. Besides this, for two years past, we have permitted a few eighth grade pupils to begin Latin or French in the High School, when their previous record has been such as to justify expectation of success. No attempt was made to accommodate High School methods of instruction to the capacity of these pupils and apparently none was needed. In the seventh and sixth grades it seeras better to extend and accentuate such subjects as liistory, literature and geography, because of their wealth of interesting subject matter, suited to the needs of pupils at this stage of their education. Improvements in the primary grades are espenially directed to overcoining the difliculties of formal reading througli a practical use of the phonetic, synthetic niethod ; to makiug more complete and educative the course and instruction in nature study; and to bringing literature to bear more directly upon the aspirations and motives of the child in the successive stages of his school life. The monthly meetings of the grade teachers, during the year, have been exceedingly profitable. The theoretical work of the meetings was done mainly with McMurry's "General Metbod"- a most suggestive and inspiring volume. Pedagogical studies do not insure good teaching, but we find, in general, that teachers do tliings better when they have a reason for doing theni. I regard attendance upon these meetings essential tO the SUCCeSSflll Onnraf.irm r,f H, schools. There is much discussion in the educational world upon the raerits of vertical writing, and the argument seems to he in its favor. The shorter loops and capitals, and simple forma of the letters, reinier it more economie of movoment and so of nervous tensión. It is certainly easier to learn, easier to write, and easier to read, than slanting wrïting. Some of our teachers have tested It during the past year, and all such heartilj' endorse it. I recommend that ít be autbomed in grades one, two, three and four, and tbat suitable copybooks be adopted. A very interesting and praiseworthy exliibitof pupils'. work in drawing was made at the close of the year in June. All the schools and grades were properly represented. The paper cuttiug and mounting in designs, the color work in lower erades, object drawing, drawings to Ilústrate nature studies,cast drawing, and faiicy sketches of plans and scènes by the High School class, all showed the skilled teaching and the painstaking work of the pupil. HIGH SCHOOI.. Tbe High School did not reach ita largest meinbership during the past year, but it graduated tlie largest class iu its history. In all important respects the school enjoyed a prosperous year. lts courses of instruction and programs of work operated without stress or tion; the attendance was regular; the instruction was of a high character; the scholarship evinced by the several classes for the most part was excellent; while its administration was better systematized and ordered than formerly. Considering the size and complexity of the High School, it needs a well-considered, thorough organization, ly planned methods of management and uniformity and precisión on tho part of teachers in carrying out adopted regulations. I know of no way to secure the successful on-going of such an institution (as of any other complicated establishment) but for each one with assigned duties to feel that ita welfare dependa upon liis being always at bis post ready for action. The matter of secret fraternities in the High School may bere be referred to, at least, as a matter of record. Theoretically there are no such societies at present among the students, because forbidden by a rule of the Board. Even if such fraternities have in them any good for the few, they are a serious detriment to the school as a whole and so must be prohibited. For a complete compliance with the rule on this subject we must in some cases rely upon the good sense and authority of the parents of our pupils. Shall we continue our Athletic Associátion and the physical training of the past year? It is hoped that we may. The Association has been the source of some evil, but we believe it bas prevented much more than it has caused. And as time brings knowledge and experience to onr aid, ve are learning how to conduct it so that it is more likely in the future to accomplish the end of its institution, and to be an honor to tli e school. The Board and our patrons may be assured that the Association is under healthful influences and safeguards. The special classes, comprising elocucution, singing and drawing were none of them large, hut the instruction in all of them was excellent and greatly appreciated. I trust that proper provisión rnay be again made formusic and drawing. The action of the Board making elocution compulsory in the junior and senior classes for one semester each, is an important step and it is hoped will be rightly appreciated by pupils and patrons. . I may properly say here for general information that the Board have passed a re.solution to the effect tliatno student shall take more than the regulation amount of work at one time as prescribed in the catalogue without the wntten approval of parent or guardián. It is lioped thereby to prevent some ambitious pupilsfrornover-working, and to prevent others from taking more work tlian tliey can thoroughly perform. As usual we here insert a table showing what branches have been taught the past year and the number in each branch. BOYS. GIRLS. TOTAL. Astronomy 29 20 49 Botany _____ S2 ,g jf Chemistry 74 26 ]0(J Phyaiology S 23 qi Commercial Law III""" 10 n 26 Correspondence 15 _i og Book-Keeping 53 41 g4 General English 207 215 422 French 28 30 ?s Greek S S Politieal EconomylII 9 ÍS of Germán " ts 5Í ,-i u. s. Hi8toryzz::i::::: 95 i? i Grammar 52 en 11 English Literal ,ire____""" 28 27 j Bhetorio - - 24 21 4I'liysical Geography..! 7 ,5 ?, Greometry ao --, ,i„ ïrigomnnetry,...:;::!.";;;; 6 " K Civil Government 15 25 40 Roman History i g g 'invk s 22S General Hislory-- 101 qq íñV English History 10 Ï6 4 Arlthmetlo _s íq ,ñT Algebra H jg $ On account, of the semester plan of school terms, the time of the Junior Exhibition was changed from the middle of March to Feb. 2d, the close of the first semester. We give the speakers and their subjects : .lohn v. Bradslïawt a n,, Charlotte W. Walker. HemïDe Tont) L. P. Eay Willougl,by......Tl" Ketoem ! It was an excellent exhibition. The Gradnating Exercises of the Senior Class were held June 21st, before a large assembly of friends in High School Hall. The music was by the Chequamagon orchestra. Prayer was offered by Rev. T. W. Young, and the following programine was carried out: [Conthmed on Ctli page.J

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Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier