Defects of the Boston Primary Schools.

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while there is such an amount of business accessible which is so much more lucrative.

23. Extent of qualification demanded of elementary teachers? Mr W. In Scotland, there is no general rule.

Mr K. & Prof. S. In Prussia and Baden, the demands are ample, and rigidly enforced.

24. Governmental supervision of private schools?

Mr W. Of doubtful expediency.

Mr K. Very strict in Prussia, and altogether beneficial in its influence.

Prof. S. Leave the private schools free, but regulate them, and see that the teachers do their duty.

25. Associations of teachers?

Mr W. Not yet introduced in Scotland, but very desirable. Mr K. & Prof. S. Highly useful, and demanded and regulated by the Government. Written essays and discussions, and mutual communication of experience, the business of these Associations.'

BOSTON PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

In the introduction to a small work, published in this city, by Allen & Ticknor, about five years ago, the author made the following remarks. They were founded, not on hearsay, nor partiality, nor narrow observation; but on facts which had come before him, and comparisons which had been made during an examination of our schools, from one end of the Union to the other.

'Many a teacher has sighed for an opportunity of visiting the far-famed primary schools of New England's metropolis. Let them be visited, then; but alas! they are far from affording a very encouraging specimen of early instruction. With an ample pecuniary support,-compared, I mean, with many other schools, and with a good measure of public interest enlisted in their favor, I am sorry to believe that the primary schools of Boston, as at present conducted, chain the mental and moral, and I might add, the physical powers of children, from three or four to seven years of age, to as dull and unmeaning a routine of exercises as I know of in this country. It is believed that the blind, at similar ages, acquire more real knowledge in three months, in the Institution of this city, than the children of the primary schools do in as many years. And what is still worse,

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Report of Messrs Woodbridge and Fisher.

there seems to be abroad among their patrons, a dread of innovation, that ought not to prevail any where but in an ignorant and unintelligent community; and there, if other weapons fail, it ought to come under the lash of ridicule.-The infant schools of Boston, and some of the grammar and other high schools are in a better state.'

These statements gave considerable offence to the friends and patrons of the Boston primary schools, and called forth from a correspondent of the Christian Register, a series of remarks quite personal, and sometimes rather severe. The author of the Word to Teachers,' was regarded as wholly ignorant of the character of our schools, in Boston and elsewhere; and as having sinister and unworthy objects to accomplish. One or two friends stepped forth to confirm his statements; but it was deemed best, on the whole, to let the matter rest.

In the autumn of the same year, that is, about four years ago, Rev. Wm. C. Woodbridge, the Editor of this Journal, accompanied by Dr J. D. Fisher, visited and examined all the primary schools in the city, except those of South Boston; and a Report was drawn up by them, and presented to the Chairman of the Primary School Committee. This Report was published at the close of Vol. III. of this work; but as a large number of our present subscribers have never seen that volume, we venture to make the following extracts from it.

'We commenced our examination with the conviction founded on the experience of physicians and boards of health, and observing teachers, that impure air, and that which is exhausted by too long breathing, impairs at every breath the purity of the blood, and thus with every pulsation of the heart, sends an unhealthy circulation to every limb and organ of the body, which tends to enfeeble and disorder, instead of invigorating, the whole system. We are satisfied on the same evidence, that confinement to one position, for a long time, especially on a seat without support, in the early period of childhood, not only enfeebles the limbs and checks the growth, but also interrupts the operations, and affects the vigor of almost every organ; and often lays the foundation for permanent debility and disease.

'We know of no mode of guarding against these evils in our schools, but by providing for them large rooms, with proper means for ventilation at all seasons; by allowing them a recess of not less than half an hour in three, for relaxation of body as well as mind; and furnishing a suitable yard, or play-ground, of sufficient size to permit the free movement of the children in the open air, during this period. We have regretted to find, as will appear from details annexed, that in most of our schools,

Statements of Dr Perry.

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no one of these points is fully secured; and in many, all are neglected.'

This Report was not very well received at first, and some were quite offended with its honest plainness. It did great good, however, as we have reason to believe; and as is confidently stated by a writer in a late number of the Mercantile Journal. This writer speaks of the results, as he calls them, of the investigation so perseveringly made by Messrs Woodbridge and Fisher.

School rooms,' he says, of improved construction, have been erected in various parts of the city. Two just completed in Moon street, reflect great credit upon their architect. They appear to be of the best materials and workmanship. Attention has been paid to light and ventilation. They ought to have been, perhaps, of larger dimensions; they certainly ought to have had much larger yards attached to them. With these exceptions, they are worthy of being adopted for every school.'

The same writer, however, subsequently complains of an 'universal difficulty,'-the want of sufficient room for exercise during recess. 'The rooms,' he says, are not clean enough; the walks are not kept well stained or colored; the wood work is either not painted or of a very doubtful hue; there are no pictures, prints, illustrations, models, or apparatus provided; there are too many pupils in almost every school;' no one teacher being able, as he adds, to take care of 75, 80, or 85 children. We are happy in being able to confirm the statements of this writer, in relation to improved school rooms. There is certainly a great deal doing, in the way of improvement, for which credit is due somewhere. Still, however, much remains to be done. There are yet many miserable school houses, with their miserable or sickly occupants. Of this we have the most abundant and unequivocal evidence.

During the last autumn, Dr M. H. Perry of this city, in the prosecution of his duty as an officer of the primary schools, was led to note several remarkable evils in connection with these institutions; to which, in a lecture on Consumption, delivered before the Physiological Society in Boston, Dec. 19, he freely but kindly adverted. He mentioned, in particular, the unhealthy location of three or four of the schools. One of these in Boylston square, was very badly situated. He found the teacher, and many of the pupils, more or less sickly; and, on inquiry, was not surprised to learn that the very pupils on whom his mind has been fixed as tending to consumption, were among those who had been longest in the school. His statements drew forth critical remarks in the Mercantile Journal, already spoken

122

School in Boylston Square.

of, which were replied to by a writer over the signature of X., in the following manner :

Dr Perry's remarks upon Primary School Rooms, sprang from none but the highest and best motives. His attention was directed to a school room in Boylston square. He visited it. He found sixty children, in a close, dark, hot room, 25 feet 3 inches long, 13 feet 5 inches wide, 6 feet 10 inches high; with no means of ventilation except the windows; with half a dozen privies either underneath or adjoining it; and deprived of sunlight and air by the high buildings around it. The children were pale and sickly.

6

The teacher complained of being often affected by a nausea and headache. He asked how long the committee had been contented with such accommodations, and he was told thirteen years! He learned all this-it was his opinion that no child could be exposed to the air of this room, six hours in a day, for two years, without the formation of tubercles in the lungs. Was he not bound to speak of the evil? He was lecturing upon Consumption, was it not his duty to point to this room, where the seeds of that disease are inhaled, with every breath the children draw?

If any one supposes we have used too strong language, let him visit the room in question, or that in Theatre alley, the room at the corner of Salem and Prince streets, or that in Carver street. Let him go one or two hours after school has commenced, and judge for himself. I venture to say, he will be satisfied that he never met with a more offensive or corrupt air. These poor children have been obliged to breathe it for years; and they will have to do so for a long time to come, if the committee can quiet their consciences with such tame strictures as our correspondent quoted in his reply to Dr Perry.'

Excited by the foregoing statements, we visited the school in Boylston square, a few days afterward; and were sorry to find things in a worse state, if possible, than represented by Dr Perry. The air was even more impure than we had supposed. The clothes, hats, caps, bonnets, &c., were hung up on every side of the room, so as to line nearly one half of the walls; for there was no other place where they could be deposited. The children looked pale and sickly, and we verily believe that the seeds of disease are already sown in more than two thirds of them.-The teacher, who has been employed now nearly thirteen years in the school, assured Dr Perry that she often felt, in the forenoon, as if she should be unable to continue her school through the afternoon; but that the walk at noon, to her lodgings, and the intermission of two hours, partly restored her.

Another Bad School Room.

123

We have also visited the school alluded to by Dr Perry, at the corner of Salem and Prince streets. Its location is much more healthy than that in Boyslton square, being surrounded by fewer receptacles of filth, and having a commodious entrance for depositing clothes, fuel, &c. It is very far, however, from being what it should be. It is in the third story of an old and decayed building, is at the junction of two noisy streets, from one of which it is entered; and it can be reached only by a narrow and somewhat dark flight of crooked stairs. The windows and ceiling are low and dirty; the benches are narrow and without backs; the room itself is small; and its general shape, quite inconvenient. There was nothing in it cheerful and comfortable, like an agreeable parlor or joyous fireside; and nothing calculated to form pleasant associations, except the teacher's kind voice and smiling countenance. These, though she had been 'mistress' of the school eighteen years, had not become staid. and monotonous, as we have often found them in similar instances. The number of pupils was little more than forty; but even this number was too many for the accommodations which existed, as well as for only one teacher. Nor is there, even here, any provision for ventilation except by means of the windows; and these, in consequence of the inconvenience, are seldom opened, at least in winter. The air was exceedingly impure when we entered the room, which was between the hours of eleven and twelve; and most of the pupils bore the marks of habitually inhaling it, as well as of neglect of healthy and agreeable exercise.

It is a matter of astonishment-utterly so-that individuals worthy of being chosen as School Committee men, should slide over these matters from year to year; and only promise, from time to time, to procure better school rooms.* How they can even endure certain exhalations long enough to make a visit to such a school room as that in Boylston square, especially in warm weather, is more than we can divine. But we trust the statements which have recently been so publicly made, and which cannot be successfully controverted, will have the effect, at length, to awaken public attention, and to produce some good degree of reformation.

Since writing the above, we have seen an unpublished Report of the Standing Committee of the Boston Primary Schools, which appears to confirm, most fully, the statements we have expressed, especially in relation to the bad location and condition of the school rooms; twenty or more cut of seventyeight, the whole number, being loudly complained of. We ought, however, to say here, that this Report shows the Committee to be awake at length to the ubject of improvement; and we trust they will not slumber any more till the work of reforination is accomplished.