The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-09-13
ADVANCE IN EDUCATION.
INTERPRETING FACTS HR0U6HToUI SsUPT. cURTIs' REPORT.

s.ties-Great Changes Which Have Come About in the sehoois-Part of Principal
 ThomAs' Report.
 1.-The following are extracts From Inc fourth annual report of Superintendent Of Schools Virgil c. Curtis:
 To the Honorable Board of Education of the New Haven City School Dis .trict:
 Gentlemen:-In accordance with the rule governing the duties of superin- tendent. have the honor of submit ting herewith my fourth annual report of the condition and progress of the public schools of New Haven for the year ending August si. 1894.
 The regulation requiring an annual report at the close of each school year has been so faithfully observed Curing the past forty years that every con- ceivable topic bearing upon schools and school instruction has been presented, and discussed in every possible phase
 While these reports seem to vary but little from year to year, while they re- cord no radical changes in school ad- ininistration. no startling innovations on time-honored customs. yet they are valuable contributions to those means and agencies that shape public opinion, and they serve an excellent purpose to indicate the advancing steps along the road of educational progress.
 Although the changes have been gradually brought about by forces that were unseen and subtle, yet compari- son of the early reports with those of the last few years will show such marked differences that they can be re- tional revolution.
 The cheaply constructed, poorly ven- tilated. meagrely equipped school buildings of forty years ago have been almost wholly replaced by superior sub stantial structures, models of architec- tural beauty. we'll heated and lighted. furnished with all modern appliances, attractive in every way, themselves a telling educational force.
 Books and Illustrative apparatus em- bodying the best thought of the day are free to the hand of every pupil. To the 'three R's" so long deemed the only re- quisites of a common school education, new branches have been added until drawing, music, cooking, sewing, wood work and physical training all now bear their part as regular branches of the school curriculum; while temper ance, patriotism and morality are ex- pected to be fostered and inculcated in every school relation.
 In place of the narrow conceptions of teaching formerly in vogue, new meth ods of instruction, based on accepted educational principles, have been in troduced, and teachers, as rule, are inspired by higher motives and loftier ideals. They bring to their work broader comprehension, a greater en- thusiasm and more devoted consecra- tion to their duties. Much of the me- chanical routine and verbal drill that once prevailed in the schools has been dispensed with, and a more rational, more practical system of mind train ing substituted, a system which bears directly upon the affairs of life, and which better prepares the youth for the busy activities of this progressive age.
 The kindergarten methods, the man. ual training in its various forms, the drawing and form study. the nature study, and, the objective methods of teaching history, geography, number and language that are now insepara- ble features of the schools of to-day, great changes that have been wrought in the schools in the course of forty years.
 These changes have come by the will of the people acting through their pro- per representatives, They have made their way slowly and have maintained their supremacy at every step by posi- tive proof of their superior value as means of training the young to meet the complex conditions of modern life The marvellous changes which have been made in every other department and pursuit of life are readily recog- nized, and the new demands of what we deem higher civilization, are promptly and willingly met. Greater security to life and health, better op- portunities for travel and entertain ment, improved facilities for doing bus mess, higher skill in dealing with the forces of nature, all these are accepted without question and provided for with . lavish hand. But there are still some people among us whose eyes are closed to the fact that there must necessarily be a corresponding advance along ed- ucational lines. Some who are not will ling to provide fof the increased ex- penditure which is inevitable if the schools keep in touch with the ad- vanced thought and spirit of the age. Most of our citizens, however, are proud of their public schools and ap- preciate the benefits which accrue to a municipality from a broad and gene rous support of it's educational inter- ests. Such public spirited citizens do not consider the tax which is imposed l upon them for the support of the l schools as burdensome, provided the l youth of the city receive the instruc- ton and training which will fit them to | bear their parts in the various walks l of life. It is the earnest desire of the | superintendent to conduct the schools l in such a manner as to merit the com- mendation of the public. and at the same time to meet the demands of the ] times.
 Since in each of my former reports I l have presented to the board and to the 1 public the pressing demands for more room and better facilities for High school instructions; since the utter in-