Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1861-04-05
Report of the experimenting
School Committee of the
town of Ellsworth.

4
been three terms. In the three largest dis.
tricts the principle of Classification has been
more or less perfectly applied, by dividing
! district No. Is into hco schools. and districts
/ No. ; and l. into Hrcc. The aggregate
number of terms in all the districts would
thus amount to j6. Over all these Schools
your Committee have eudeayorci to exercise Il
watchful supervision, and they are happy to
report a very commendable progress in most
of them. There has been harmony and
good order, with but trihing exceptions. in
all of them. In but single instance has a
school been seriously disturbed by insubord-
nation. The teachers have all, we believe.
been dilgent and faithful-most Of them
eminently so.
For several years past there has been a
constant and decided improvement in the
schoolhouses in the town-within n few
years six or seven new ones have been built
which have added much to the comfort of
the scholars and to the good order and use
fulncss Of the Schools. The most marked
Improvement in this respect has been in dis
trict No. ;. During the past year school
house has been completed at an expense of
about $1,000, which does honor to the dis
triet and has Immensely increased It's school
accommodations As the first fruits OF these
increased facilities, opportunity has for the
first time been given for initiating the sys-
TEN of thorough grading of the schools,
which when perfected, will be of great utili
ty. There has also been an addition of more
than 20 per cent to the average ATTENDANCE,
Comfort, order and progress have all been
promoted. There are other districts in
which a reform IN this respect is urgently
needed-cspccially is this true Of districts.
>, 5, aud Is. In the last named district
the room occupied by the primary school is
entirely unfit for that purpose. With such
arrangements, order, comfort and good sue
cess are almost entirely out of the question.
The time is fast going by, and we trust will
be soon gone forever. when without regard
to fitness, any place viii be regarded good
enough for a schoolroom. 1t is an insane econ
omy that would crowd our children intoineon-
yenient i'll warmed, i'll ventilated rooms at the
expense Of their comfort improvement health
and lives even. 1t has long been decided
conviction of some of your Committee that
a union Of the two village districts, would
promote in high degree the cause of good
education. rs this has always been decided
y aud succcs sfully opposed, we do not urge
il further. We will however venture a sug
ccstion to those whom it especially concerns.
1t mus. be obyio,,,s TO every intelligent friend
of education, that l,';eh School for the Vii
lage is Of the first necessity. One well ar
ranged would be all that the necessity oil the
case demands Could no: some equ.'taoie
plan be adopted by which the two districts
could 50 far unite their resources as to give
one High School an efficient support This
would give all the youth in the village who
might desire it, all the advantages Of a thor
ongh education in the higher branches Of
study which have hitherto been ohtancl at
a burdensome expense.
Nothing binders the prosperity Of our
schools more than the Irregular attendance
Of many Of the scholars. An advance has
been made in some Of the districts in right
directon-still it is an evil of great magni-
tude--it Is a perplexity and diseouragement
to the tcaehers-a hindrance to those who
attend regularly, and a source of constant
disorder. 1t is not an uncommon thing to
find in some of the schools one-fourth or one
third of the scholars absent
The accomplished Superintendent of Com
mon Schools Tor this State, regards the evil
Of such magnitude, that he suggests IN his
Report the propriety OF excluding from the
Schools all scholars who are habitually irreg
ular in their attendance.
Your Committee have constantly urged on
the teachers and scholars the importance of
more thoroughness in the elementary studies
Teachers, scholars and parents are too apt to
estimate the progress of scholar by the
ground gone oy,r rather than by the thor
oughness of the cultivation. Superficial
scholars are apt to make superficial men and
women.
With all the drawbacks on the prosperity
Of our schools, vast amount OF good has
been secured-enough to justify and more
than justify all the interest and expense that
have been bestowed upon them.
Our public schools are justly the pride
and glory of New England.
Sir William Berkley, one of the early
Governors of Virginia, sixty-four years at
ter the founding of that Colony, wrote to
England thus Z" thank God there are no
free schools nor printing presses here and |
hope We shall have none for a hundred years
to come" Had this been the mind Of the
Fathers Of New England, how different
would have been It's history and fame. We
owe it as grateful tribute to their memory
to foster ard protect the system they estab-
lished, We owe it to the children God has
given us-to society-to our country, and to
the world, that We send forth to tue conflicts
and responsibilities of manly life no youth
undisciplincd in virtue and knowledge In
behalf of the schools, we would thank the
town for their past liberaLty, and would
commend them to its generous patronage.
5 5 T T. Ny, S4Pe< S4st,3
- ~ -hAANhHLi 4 INV"