Page images
PDF
EPUB

NEW YORK.-1. Five thousand dollars.-Abram B. Weaver, superintendent public instruction, Albany.

2. One deputy superintendent, and as many clerks as may be necessary. We have four clerks; two at $1,600 each, and two at $2,200. Salary of deputy, $3,000.

3. Yes.

ALBANY.-1. Two thousand dollars.-John D. Cole, superintendent of schools and secretary of the board of public instruction.

2. None.

3. It is not.

4. One clerk; salary from $800 to $1,000.

Remarks.-In 1866 the title of the "board of education" was changed to that of "Board of Public Instruction."

NEW YORK CITY.-1. Four thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.-Henry Riddle, city superintendent.

2. Four; two for grammar schools, and two for primary schools. Salaries respectively, $4,200, $3,500, $4,200, and $3,600. Duties, to examine schools and assist in examining candidates for teachers' licenses.

3. It is. Two clerks are employed in addition to the assistants above mentioned. Remarks.-The schools of this city, 276 in number, are visited and examined twice each year by one of the assistant superintendents. They are also visited and inspected by the chief superintendent as often as possible-at least once each year.

BROOKLYN.-1. Three thousand dollars.-J. W. Bulkley, superintendent of city

schools.

2. One assistant superintendent, salary, $2,500; secretary, salary, $2,500; two clerks, salary of each, 1,500; messenger, salary, $500.

3. No; not for supervision.

4. We need another assistant, salary, $2,500.

Remarks.—The assistant superintendent works with the superintendent in the general duties of his office. The secretary and clerks perform only office work, and attend to the supplies required, as also act as secretaries of the various committees of the board of education.

SYRACUSE.-1. Two thousand dollars.-Edward Smith, clerk and superintendent. 2. One assistant clerk, who attends to copying and writing up the books; a messenger, and a repairer clerk; the respective salaries, $600, $300, and $700.

3. I ought to have a superintendent of buildings, so that I might be relieved of everything pertaining to repairs, fixtures, &c.

BUFFALO.-1. One thousand eight hundred dollars.-Thomas Lothrop, superintendent of education.

2. None.

3. No.

4. One assistant superintendent and two clerks. The salary of the superintendent should be $4,000; that of the assistant, $2,000; and that of the clerks, $1,000. Remarks.-I am allowed one clerk, on a salary of $500. I have under my charge 42 schools, employing 338 teachers, and giving instruction to 15,000 pupils.

NORTH CAROLINA.-1. Two thousand four hundred dollars.-S. S. Ashley, superintendent of public instruction, Raleigh.

2; One clerk; salary, $1,000. The board of education employs an agent, who looks after the colored schools, as acting assistant superintendent; salary, $1500.

3. It is not.

4. One clerk qualified to conduct correspondence; salary, $1,200.

Remarks.-My time as superintendent of public instruction should be chiefly spent in visiting and inspecting schools, consulting with school authorities, and conferring with the people as to public school affairs. As it now is, my time is mostly consumed in office work and clerical labor.

OHIO.-CLEVELAND.-1. Four thousand dollars.—Andrew J. Rickoff, superintendent

of instruction.

2. He has virtually three assistants called, "principals of districts;" salary of each, $2,000. To each of these is assigned the care of from four to six schools, employing from fifty to sixty teachers. They classify the schools, give attention to all serious cases of discipline, and have, under the direction of the superintendent, the supervision of the work of subordinate teachers. No male teachers are employed under them, the heads of all the schools being women.

3. Last year we had four principals of districts, and, I think, the number was very properly reduced.

Remarks. I am glad that you are taking up the matter. Saving in a very few cities, the supervising force is altogether insufficient for thorough work. The question might be raised whether the supervision of principals of schools within their own school buildings is of that nature which will insure efficiency. My observation leads me to the belief that the value of their work is not proportioned to their number. It certainly is vastly more expensive than such an arrangement as we have in Cleveland.

CINCINNATI.-1. Three thousand five hundred dollars.-John Hancock, superintendent of schools.

2. I have no assistants proper. The principals of the schools are the local superin tendents in their respective houses.

3. It is not adequate to the thorough performance of the work properly devolving on the superintendent of the system of schools for a great city.

4. One English and one German assistant superintendent. Probably a salary of $2,500 would secure the services of persons competent for such positions.

Remarks.-The clerical force under the direction of the board of education is amply sufficient; and in local supervision we are sufficiently provided; our want is in general supervision. Upon the efficiency in this department of a school system will, to a greater extent than is generally imagined, depend the efficiency of that system. PENNSYLVANIA.-1. Two thousand five hundred dollars, and six hundred dollars for traveling expenses.-J. P. Wickersham, superintendent of common schools, Harrisburg.

2. A deputy superintendent, salary, $1,800; a financial clerk, salary, $1,400; a statistical clerk, salary, $1,400; a recording clerk, salary, $1,400; a messenger, salary, $900. 3. Not for the amount of work that must be done, to say nothing of the amount that might be done.

4. With one additional clerk we could do quite satisfactorily the work that must be done. The salaries now given are not high, but reasonable.

Remarks.-The school department here occupies two large rooms in the capitol building. It is better provided with men and office fixtures than any other department of the State government.

RHODE ISLAND.-1. Two thousand five hundred dollars.-Daniel Leach, superintendent of public schools, Providence.

2. No assistants.

3. It is not.

4. One assistant, salary, $3,000.

Remarks.-Providence was the first city in New England to establish the office of superintendent of schools. The salary of all school officers are voted by the city council. The present incumbent has been superintendent nearly sixteen years.

NEWPORT.-1. Two thousand five hundred dollars.-F. W. Tilton, superintendent of

schools.

2. None.

3. No.

GERMAN SCHOOLS AND TEACHING GERMAN. The following communication and the article accompanying it are given to indicate the views entertained by a large class of our most intelligent citizens among the German population:

"ANNAPOLIS, November 12, 1870.

"DEAR SIR: The question concerning the education of the young has grown to be more and more interesting and important in proportion to the increasing number of German emigrants, particularly after 1848, when the percentage of men educated in normal schools and universities for the business of teaching steadily increased. Many States offer liberally, by their public schools, the means of obtaining a knowledge of the elementary branches of education; yet the system of recitations adopted by these schools differs essentially from that adopted in Germany, and the German language is in some States altogether ignored. The consequence was, that wherever a sufficient number of German families had settled elementary schools were founded by them, the settlers preferring to pay for the education of their children rather than lose all the advantages which the German method of school-teaching, in their opinion, offers. You will find, therefore, all over the West and North, and as far south as Baltimore, a large number of German-American schools, kept up by the people of German origin. With the growing number of educated teachers, and of children to be educated in conformity with the peculiarities of this country, grew also a desire to concert a general system of education all over the States, and to influence the public school organizations in the different sections. The Bureau of Education is most likely founded on the same principle, though it may require some time before the different States will be convinced that it is absolutely necessary to clothe the Bureau with powers similar to those of other branches of the central government. Centralization, without destroying liberty, is the spirit of the United States Constitution as well as of German institutions, and the German-Americans tried, therefore, for some time to form an organization of the teachers, being convinced that all reforms must originate in the people. It is not necessary to state, in this report, the causes which had hitherto prevented the

realization of this plan; it will be sufficient to state that the exertions of Mr. E. Fellner, president, and of Mr. L. Klemm, teacher of the German-American Seminary in Detroit, were crowned with success, so that a large number of male and female teachers met in Louisville, Kentucky, on the 1st of August, and who, after three days of very harmonious and intelligent labor, constituted themselves permanently as the 'DeutschAmerikanischer Lehrerbund,' (German-American Teachers' Association.) Mr. Fellner, having been elected president, stated in an address the object of the meeting, and of the proposed organization. (See Amerikanischer Zeitung No. 1, page 21 et seq.) Now, it will be well to state at once that the association does not intend to organize an opposition to the English-American system of teaching, but rather to remove the obstacles which oppose harmonious action; to bridge over the chasm which hitherto separated the two systems. The German settlers are far from wishing to be a separate people; they want to be Americans in the most extended meaning of the word. But they are convinced that every nation which becomes an element of the future homogeneous American nation should see its best qualities accepted as a contribution to the completion of the grand process of assimilation which is steadily going on in this country. The Germans can offer no better contribution to the people of the United States, besides their industry, than an improved system of education, which, when properly understood and adopted, will have a powerful influence on the intellectual and moral development of the western world, and will bring it one step nearer to its 'manifest destiny' to excel all nations in power, wealth, and happiness.

"In order that the greatest possible amount of work should be performed in the short space of time allotted to the first meeting, it was necessary to organize the labor without loss of time. The members were, therefore, divided into the following sections: 1, school in general and school discipline; 2, method of teaching in general, elementary laws, object-teaching, music, drawing; 3, German reading, writing, and speaking; 4, English reading, writing, and speaking; 5, mathematics; 6, geography, history, natural history, and sciences; 7, permanent organization of the GermanAmerican Teachers' Association; 8, Erziehungszeitung, (official organ of the association;) 9, gymnastics.

The chairman of each section was required to report, at the specified time laid down in the programme, the most important propositions which their sections in committee meeting had agreed upon, to write them at the black-board, and to offer them for discussion, after such preliminary remarks as he considered necessary. This arrangement worked admirably; it prevented all irrelevant questions, concentrated the labors of the association, offered the individual members an opportunity of expressing their opinions and experiences, and secured for the discussion the time which but too frequently is allowed to learned and less instructive essays. All sections had not an opportunity to report, the time being too short; they will be heard next year. Several very valuable essays, written by practical school men, were also read to the association in the interval between the section reports, or in public evening meetings. Referring for the detail to the minutes published in the Schulzeitung, I only beg to mention that the invitation to join the association is not only addressed to the German, but also to the American teachers, and to all friends of education. It is hoped that many English-American ladies and gentlemen will attend the next meeting in Cincinnati. The day of meeting will be fixed by the committee in St. Louis, which is charged with all the preliminary labors. I will lastly call your attention to two resolutions:

"1. The committee on statistics shall continue their labors during the year, and make monthly reports in the Schulzeitung.

"2. Practical teachers (their names, see Schulzeitung) are appointed in all principal cities of the United States, charged with the duty to examine, both theoretically and practically, candidates who apply for employment as teachers, and to give them a certificate as to the result of such examinations.

"I shall be happy to complete this short report-written at your request-by verbal communications, whenever you shall have appointed a Saturday (the only day of the week at which I am disengaged) on which I can be sure to meet you at your office. I beg to add that I have requested Mr. Hailmann, (editor of the Schulzeitung,) at Louisville, to send you a copy regularly.

"I am, dear sir, very respectfully, yours,

General JOHN EATON,

"Commissioner of Education."

"WM. STEFFEN.

As having a bearing upon the subject of Professor Steffen's communication, the opinions and facts given in a recent article by John Kraus, entitled "The German Language in the Public Schools, and the Germans in America," and published in the National Republican of this city, are here presented in substance. The object of the writer of the article was to answer some objections to the introduction of the study of the German language into our city schools, which had appeared in a number of the same paper. After stating that he had shown, in a former article, how the study of the German was

gaining ground, he quotes from a speech, made in 1856, by the president of the board of education in New York, that no modern language, other than our own, has a higher claim to a place in educational institutions than the German, to the extent that a liberal education is desired. It ought to have a prominence over all other modern languages; and none can be more useful in ordinary life and business.

Roference was made by Mr. Kraus to the fact that there are now in Berlin sixty American students attending lectures at the universities of that city alone, while in Heidelburg, Bonn, Jena, Leipsic, and the mining school at Freiberg there are as many more. Mr. Kraus continues:

"The question in regard to the German language in our public schools is at present agitated in New York; but the leading Germans lay particular stress on the circumstance that the introduction of the German language, as a regular branch of instruction, is desired only for a limited number of schools, and not for all of them.

"Last year the German Teachers' Society of New York and environs, by their re porter, Dr. Adolf Dousi, laid before Hon. Henry Barnard, Commissioner of Education, a statement respecting the German schools in existence in the Union. The first of the reasons and causes that have led to the foundation of these schools is that our Germanborn population find their children rapidly unlearn the German tongue, English being not only the common idiom of all nationalities in this country, but also a language easier than almost any other to acquire, to read, to pronounce. This fact sadly disturbs the family relations, the efforts of parents toward the education of their children, and the respect due to the parents from the latter; for when their children speak among themselves, even at home, nothing but English, they form, as it were, a foreign element within the family. The great mass of the immigrated Germans learn, during the first generation, hardly English enough to understand all their children talk among themselves, and thus they are unable to discover their secrets, to warn, to guide, to correct them. The children deeming English, the common language of the country, a better one than any other, begin to slight their parents, who have not a perfect command of the same, to enjoy the fun of having their own secrets, inaccessible to their parents, and end in refusing obedience to them, and in keeping no longer company, when half grown, with their nearest relatives not perfectly Anglicised. That these facts are productive of a great many evils, and even engender juvenile crime and profligacy, can be easily understood."

Another reason is thought to be more important, namely, that "Germany is the cra dle of the reformation of schools, and the German schools, as a whole, might, from the latter part of the eighteenth century down to the middle of the present, be justly considered as by far the best in the world. It is, then, but natural that immigrated Germans, coming from a great many excellent schools in their old country, and being conscious of and thankful for the great advantages derived from them, should desire that their children may grow up under the same benefits, and that the United States, this dear country of their choice, may profit to some degree from the existence of schools instituted after the German model, even though the latter be modified according to the peculiar circumstances and requirements of the American nationality and idea. Of the causes mentioned, each, according as it was prevailing over others, in the minds of the founders of German schools, gave rise to a different kind of school. Where the idea of preserving the family relations, and together with them the parental religious denomination, prevailed, there denominational German schools were founded, of which there are in this country nearly as many as there are German church buildings and societies. The adversaries of this movement are generally laboring under the mistake of supposing that the Germans wish to carry this reform into all the schools. Diversity of language is an obstacle to intercourse between different nations and races that the wisest have not been able to remove. It is a matter of course that the citizens of this great country should have a common language as a means of mutual intelligence, and a characteristic feature of their nationality; and, as Jacob Grimm, the great German philologist, says: No other living language is so well adapted to express every variety and shade of thought, or to express it so forcibly.' But it is not adverse to the American idea that the citizens of this country should derive untold advantages from their ability to freely converse and communicate with the natives of other countries, and enjoy their national literature.

THE RELATIONS OF EDUCATION AND LABOR. In the United States there is some danger of mistaking the elements of education for education itself, through leaving to private effort, rather than the community, the providing of means for such comprehensive and thorough instruction in the practical arts and sciences, which is demanded more and more by the industrial necessities and progress of the age. Humboldt long since declared "that the time was not far distant when science and manipulative skill must be wedded together; that national wealth

and increasing prosperity of nations must be based on an enlightened employment of natural products and forces." The truth of this is daily more apparent. Here we have laid broad and enduring foundation for a comprehensive common school system, which, if it has not yet reached its full measure of usefulness, is in a fair way to do so. But for special instruction, either elementary or higher, which all modern industrial life establishes as absolutely necessary for success, our provision is wholly insufficient. On the other hand, the interest felt in this matter of industrial education in Europe is strikingly manifested by the following summary of what is being done in the leading states thereof:

AUSTRIA,

in common with other German States, has an extensive system of special schools, designed for persons employed in the useful and mechanic arts. They are of different grades, from those wherein apprentices are trained to the polytechnic schools, where the mining, civil, and mechanical engineers, the architect and constructor, the industrial and practical chemist, and the scientific manager of factory, foundry and workshop, can all obtain the training essential for success in their several pursuits. The system pursued in Austria and other European states may not be the best adapted for our wants, but it will show what is being done elsewhere in this important matter.

[ocr errors]

In Austria proper there are 45 superior schools and academies for scientific instruction in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, the culture of the vine and the silkworm, and veterinary surgery; also of mining, navigation, and commerce; with 7 polytechnic schools, in all having 5,951 pupils and 426 professors and teachers, (1868.) These schools are in part sustained by the imperial government, and are under the general direction of the minister charged with educational matters. Hungary has 13 similar schools, with 116 teachers, and 1,311 pupils. Bohemia has an extended system of industrial instruction, more diffuse than in other parts of the empire. What are termed burgher schools," answering to our secondary or grammar schools, have special courses designed for mechanical and commercial training. Besides, there are throughout the Austrian provinces a large number of workman and apprentice schools, usually teaching some special trade. In Vienna and Prague there are a number of these. In the latter city there is one whose course includes the technical sciences, practical weaving, linear and free hand machine and constructive drawing, lectures on machinery, practical chemistry, and modeling. There are classes for machinists, building trades, weavers, dyers, industrial art, as for goldsmiths, jewelers, porcelain makers, &c. The Austrian polytechnics have been in existence for more than a century. They are in part sustained by the government, and in part by the fees received from students. These are small, and provision is made for gratuitous instruction. The course of studies pursued is comprehensive, and the collections of models, tools, laboratories, museums, and libraries attached are large and constantly being increased.

BADEN.

The duchy of Baden boasts of not less than 50 special technical schools, with 5,772 pupils; among these, 41 schools of "arts and trades," with 4,803 pupils. There are several for teaching watch-making, weaving, agriculture, straw-plaiting, (for girls,) which give instruction not only in those pursuits, but in studies of a general character. The Carlsruhe Polytechnic School is regarded as among the model institutions of its class. It was founded in 1814, as an engineering school; but has been gradually enlarged, until it now includes divisions or schools of engineers, architects, builders, foresters, chemists, machinists, commerce, and of posts. The latter division is common in the European schools, and is designed to educate men for government postal service and in the management of roads and telegraphs. The student may select his studies and follow any given course. The qualifications requisite are elementary knowledge. The preparatory course is one or two years in length, and their technical studies last from two to four years. The fees are $3 admission, and 66 Rhenish florins per annum. Some are admitted to lectures only. The buildings are regarded as among the best in Europe: as are also the collections, laboratory, museum and library. In 1868 there were 589 regular pupils in attendanco.

BAVARIA.

The Bavarian system is extensive and highly praised. It includes, besides a good system of elementary, secondary, and high schools, a large number of technical and industrial schools, embracing, besides normal, music, painting, sculpture, and other belonging to the fine arts, 4 superior agricultural academies, with 29 sections for similar instruction in that number of superior trade schools. These latter have commercial as well as mechanical and industrial art courses. The pupils in attendance number several thousand. Schools of forestry, horticulture, veterinary surgery, and commerce are also

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »