Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-12-24
Results Of the Quincy Experiment.

On this point, the Quincy committee had
said, The studies pursued in our common
school course should be SO pursued that
they may result in something of direct use
in the ordinary lives of New England men
and women" This being the object they
had in view, the success or failure of their
new departure was TO be measured by what
it actually accomplished in that way, and
by nothing else. The faculty of easily
writing an ordinary letter on a business
topic, correctly spelled aud properly ex-
pressed, is valuable faculty to have of
everyday utility. A knowledge of the rules
Of grammar may be useful to critics and
scholars, but in the lives of ordinary men
and women it can be regarded only as use
less accomplishment. The complete expul-
sion of the grammar from the schools seemed
to take away the breath of the old.time
masters.
But what were the practical results
After three years, class brought up under
the new system was put to the test, the
examiner expressed doubt if one scholar
in ten knew what a noun, pronoun, or an
adjective was, or could have parsed SEN
tence, or explained the difference between
its subject and its predicate" They could,
however, put their ideas into sentences on
paper with correctness and facility. The
scholars could read at sight, without bung-
ling and stumbling over every unusual
word the moment they left the familiar page
of their readers,-that they could write a
simple letter without being painfully con-
scous of an unaccustomed labor. In the
upper grade as well as the lowest primary
there was an entire change of spirit and
going to school was no longer what it had
been. Not only was there a marked i'm
provement in attendance, but the attend
ance was cheerful. The whining school
boy" was no longer seen "creeping like a
snail unwillngly to SCHOOL," and, remem-
bering what had been, it was certainly most
| pleasant to go into the rooms and feel the
atmosphere of cheerfulness, activity and in
terest which pervaded them.
The improvement of the schools under
the new departure was made even more
clearly apparent by the general interest the
experiment excited. Before 1875 no visitor
ever entered the schools of Quincy, except
some parent now and then, or an occasional
acquaintance of teacher. In 1878 the
number of those coming to observe the new
system, especially teachers and specialists
in education, was three hundred and eighty.
five visitors during the five months, Febru.
ary to June, and one hundred and thirteen
in April alone. But while the improvement
was apparent, the all-important questions re-
mained, at what money cost was it bought ?
If it involved heavy addition to taxes,
no matter how great the improvement, it
was none the less failure. The average
annual cost of educating child in Quincy
had increased five-fold in thirty years pre-
vious. The effort had, therefore, been to SO
economize expenditure by better and more
intelligent direction that the town should
| get in value received one hundred cents for
each dollar spent, instead of fifty or per-
haps only forty cents as had before been the
case. On this economical calculation the
whole action of the committee was based.
In 1875, when the new departure was made,
the annual cost of educating each child was
$40 "a; three years later, in 1873. it was
sl5.6S. While the quality of the instruc-
tion given had been immeasurably improved,
its cost had been reduced one-ffth. The
Quincy committee, therefore, now conf
IDENTIFY claim that they have demonstrated
the fact that good common school educa.
tion could be had at reasonable and aver
age cost.
In conclusion, whatever degree of success
has marked the recent experience of Quincy
has been due to three concurring circum-
stances the town, by its action, retained a
superintendent in Office long enough to en-
able him to mature and carry out an edu-
cational policy that committee had dis
tinct idea of something necessary to be
done, and of method of doing and, finally,
the assistance of competent and intelligent
teachers was secured.