Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-01-28
Report of the Public Schools for the
Term Ending Dec, 23d, 1870.
Continued from last meek

collection of like statistics in our own coun.
try. AT one time "in the ohie Penitsntiary
out Of 276 inmates, nearly all were reported
ignorant, and 175 as grossly So" ain the Au.
burn prison, N. Y, out of 244 inmates, only
80 could read or write" The Rev. Mr.. Luck
ey, for many years chaplain in Sing Sing prs-
on, reports, Nthst while there are always some
among the conylcts, WHO have been educated
yet the great mass Of them are stolidly ignor-
ant = Not five in hundred write otherwise
than in the most awkward and clumsy man
ner and with the grossest blunders in orthog-
| raphy, and not more than two in hundred
can write Q sentence dramatically. Out OF
the 100 then in the prison, only three were lib
orally educated and two of them were foreign
ers." need not give more OF these statemepts.
1t is well knewn fact that in those countries
where popular education is most neglected,
most crime and less safety to life and property
exist, and fffY rersai Italy and Prussia are ex-
amples in point. In the latter, education is
compulsory. The parent is fined or imprison-
ed If he fails to send his child to school Tn
cases of poverty, where the childs help is
needed to support the family, the parent is
paid sum equal to the value of the childs
services, and the child is sent TO school. In
his fleYlpth Report, as Secretary of the Mass.
Board of Education, Hon. Horace Mann
shows that the previous legislation of Massa-
chusetts and other States, settles the question
OF enforcing attendance that in most cases
II would be benefit TO the parent, and in all
to the child that III the case OF the yicious
and lndolent parent, who now lives ON his
chllds labor, ii is but justice and in the case
ni the honest and virtuous poor, to whom il
might be hardship, the State could and
should cGmpcnsqte f,f the loss of service"
While the people of the United States arc
not ready for such strong measures in matters
OF education, the time has fully CONG when
parents should he held responsible at the bar
OF public opinion, for the evils of acoidttJ!e
non-attendance at school. Officers should en-.
quire how far they are responsible for those
evils, and to what extent they may use their
power to prevent them. Paley wrote, "that
to send an uneducated child into the world is
injurious to the rest of mankind; it is little
Oetter than to turn out mad dog or Il wild
beast into the streets" If these things are
true, it becomes every friepl Of edcuaton and
good order to lend his influence, moral and
social, to bring about better state of things.
What has beens said OF the evils resulting
tlom irregularity in attendance, applies, in a
great part to tardiness. So far as loss to the
seh0ol.and the formation of bad habits are
concerned, it is even worse.
The loss to the school is unavoidable. if the
tardy pupl is admitted during that session of
school, think it quite low estimate to say,
that every case of tardiness causes loss of at
least one minute of time to the whole school.
In school of forty-five pupils, whiohi is about
the average rumber in each of our schools,
each case OF tardiness causes loss of AZ min
utes Of time. Hence it will be seen, that the
1919 cases reported have occasioned a loss
equal to about hours a day for the entire
term. But the formation of bad habits is the
worst feature Of the case. To be five minutes
late at schsol is thought to be little thing 4;
so, too, is the taking of glass of rum. And
yet the latter will no less surely lead to seri-
Gus consequences than the former, if persisted
in. The boy who is habitually tardy at school.
wishes TO take in after life
Closely connected with this subject of irreg-
ularity in attendance is another bearing direct.
ly upon the health of the pupils. Probably
o1a,half of the absence reported was occas-
Ioned by sickness 1t is claimed by some that
"over study" is fruitful source of i'll health,
and that the work required of our pupils ne
hpi II
High School the time is occupied about as fol-
lows; Opening exercises, 10 MINUTES; study,
hours and 35 minutes; recitation, hour SO
minutes; changing classes, % minutes re-
cesses the remainder of the day. In the Gram
mer school, ,t4qnsFing EXERCISES, 15m study, Oh.
2sm., recitation, lii. Bonn, changing classes,
45m. In the end intermediate, opening exer-
clses, 10m,, study. III. 55m., recitation, in.
55m, changing classes, 45m., singing, etc 15m
In the 1st intermediate, opening exercises,
1Om, study, III, 55m., reqitstion. H. bonn,
changing classes, 45m,, singing, etc, 15m In
the 2nd Primary, opening exercises, IOm.,
study, III. 10m., recitation, III. l0m., changing
classes, 4Om., oral exercises, 2Qm singing, ETC..
10 m. In the 1st Primary, opening exercises,
80 A''' SitfSJ' A"', ffNi'"'on' ih', NupuSlnS
classes, 4Om, oral exercises, 30m., singing and
general recreation exercises, 3Om. OF course,
these exercises are nearly equally distributed
throughout the day, giving frequent relaxa-
tions. Not over one hour of study has been
required of any pupil "cut of school hours"
so that the pupil in the higher departments
are not required tos:NSy even four hours
day, and less study is required of pupils in the
lower departments. l do NOT think, therefore,
that our requirements need cause any cover
study" In reply to the first part Of this
claim, / do not hesitate to say, that in my
opinion, dtere caR be no such MinQ as 0uer study,
prorided those ldlesof heaM are Observed, shich
must be ObserOed to retain healM in any depart
ment Of life.
No doubt there is much over study done,
and much i'll health and oflen death resulting
therefrom. But sipSy is not to blame. There
is nothing in the nature of mental application
and growth to produce such Consequences. If
the time which ought to be devoted to sleep,
or rest, and exercise in the open air is devoted
tp intense application of the mind to study,
the same or like consequences will .enspe that