Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-02-06
CODE OF RULES.

I 1esiC44lhN, SEhSuA
 made a partial report of changes. which. in his opinion. were desirable. Rs follows:
 CODE OF RULES.
 The code of rules passrd by the board oi
 education. defining the duties and require m Ants of principals, teachers and pupils, wa. | adopted in 1886. They need revision Tn the following re~prets:
 l There should be a fuller statement of tn,
 duties of principals and Ot the assistants 10 | he principals, IS sue duties hav- been in. creased hy various votes of the board during l tha last few years.
 l The duties of teachers, the duties of assis | tant teachers ana the duties ot candidates il | 'rainInV fir teachers should also be moFt l clearly defined.
 Ihe present me'hoi Of deducting from the | payroll for the absence of teachers anu thr l :resent method of paying substitutes should | 04 Incorporated in the rules.
 | The rules governing evening schools should l Oe included
 The matter of punctual attendance ct l pupIs, of diemIssing pupils Def re the resu- | lar hour should be clearly Sc, forth.
 The plan Of dIs nrOlling, suspending and | xpellIuH pupl's for misconduct should be ! carefully revised at clearly stated. l TEe votes 0f the board requiring pupils 10 | ttteud school in their own -ub-iIstric anu | h limits of such sub districts should form
 part ot Inc matter printed with Ihe rules. l The dates Of special teach ITS should be defined.
 IL may be we'll to have printed with the 1 rules th requirements of the law with regard 1 to Compulsory education.
 Teachers in grades to VIII inclusive l may not expect school visitors during the last two weeks of any term.
 REvI ION OF THE COURSE OF STUDY. Che last printed outline of study was issued l m April, 1891, about four Years ago. At that l time the couree preparatory to the High | school had been shortened from nine years to l -Ighr. The course, then experimental, has 1 proved fairly satisfactory, but il needs revs- l lon in some important matters. The teacaers ! dnd thsmseves burdened with more work 1 tnan they eau well HCcUm Ili-h under lhv l D esent conuiiious. The special studies oi 1 dr wing, musIc and sowing now demand a1out uue fifth ot the scho' time and this time must he taken from the reHuiar studies 1 \ proper correlation of ths regular studies | under u new course should eLHUle teachrIs s 1 aud pupils to accomplish better resIuS and 1 mors easily, and at the ssme :Ims allow the 1 special studies their proper share Of the pro- l Sramme
 Course in arithmetIc.-Thr prasent course ! ln HTi hmetlc for grades l. Il And III Hn. 1 SSers very well -Scept that the obi 'ct worE should be more systematic and bo better cor related with other studies Iu grade " d larger and more difficult textbook is used 1 and special direc ion should bs given to tn- ! teacher deantng what suSte Is Are most i'm 1 portant and therefore should receive the l most attention. The same suggestion would 1 apply to grade Y. Common and decimal frHc- l Hons are ldukul LII IllS SEdOc anu luc cdI 1 work Is very importan'. Following the 1 order of th- text-oooE. the sutjsct of de- nominate numbers including measurements l aow fall to grade VI. The children of this grade are hardly mature enough for this. IL ! would he better for them to review fractions l and take up per entage, leaving denominate ! numbers and measurements for later ! grade. Pupils are not generally pro- dcient in ri'hmatic in the upper grades, 1 md the couI s needs strepSthe lIuE. Course in I-adinS.-NearIy all the teachers l of grades l and II teach this subject well. l The pupils make rapld progress and show much prof 'leDcy. Alter grade II lh" pro 1 Sress is much less satisfactory, The average 1 Ot the ora! reading in the upper grades Is | quite low. Other studies have been allowed i .o cTow1 out the reading and less attention ! las been given to tt. The cOutSs Tn reading , should be revised so tO include more of ! literature and science and less ot the technI- ! cal graded readers. The proper correlation i Of studies may be of great service here. Tu9 l primary grades, especially. are sadly deficient 1 in books for supplementary reading. 1 Psnmanship.-Fhe average penmanship is 1 not 60 good as it Was some years ago. The ! special studies have taken from the time for | msrly devoted 10 penmaDship. The large l quantity of written work calle for in the uI- l per grades makes pupils hurried and cAIe- less. The introduction ot b2oH-keePing dur ! ing one term in grade VIII has much im = 1 proved the handwriting of IuPtl- of that i grade. VeriieAI wTi'ttG Is attracting The | attention of many committees and has been adopted in many cities.
 GeuGraphy.-GeoHraIh hy :s Rn informatIon 1 study and A culture study. In Ordrr ot tune l tt is tns first culture study of the course. ! The two important culture studies are | geography anu history. They tend to broad- 1 en Ur expand the mind. they have to do with higher forms Ot thIpklnC they take the pupil l "ut Uf his limited Individuality and supply
 him with interesting, noble and elev :ting subjects ot thought. Five years ago tte u' @ of introductory SeoSi aphy in grade " | ~as given up. Alter two ytars experience this was found to b3 a mistake and two years ago the study of Hu introductory geoS raphy l was sumeds Hu6 with the new text book II has been tOund Ia 3e quite satisfactory. The ! stu"y of geography il grades V, VI and VII ! Is hard and burfeusomr. The text book 's | difficult and not very attractive. The course Iu
 these grades needs 10 be revised. The modern
 methods ot grouping by topics, of omIttInG l unimpoTtRrt details and of paving attention
 to tha essentials of the study. should be
 adopted. This woud sive some time ana
 secure better results. Much more atteLtlCn
 should be paid to the geography Of COnnec-
 iicut This should include matters of Im.
 portance pertaining 10 the state m the !Ccal
 governments. tho offices. titles and the
 names of those in authority over us. the
 manner of electlng them, etc.
 l History. Much of what has been said un .
 der geography would apply to history. IL
 should be studied topically. The textbook Is
 an excellent one-possItiy R little too difficult
 for the first grade in which it Is used. The
 schools should be supplied with many more l TtLtEeUCS DOOAS anu Ot ICE uSlpS, IOlh TUT tue
 study of geography and ot history.
 | Language and Crammar.-LanguaGe work
 in grades l, II, III and " IS 10. the most
 part satisfactory. except that maeh more at.
 tennon should be paid To good form in
 written work. Grades and VI have a text
 book which does not accomplish much tor the
 pupils. Conkitn's grammar, used in grades
 VII and VIII, is regarded by ail the teachers
 As an excellent textbook, but 1t calls for toe
 much effort on the part of tue pupils to com, | ple'e 1t in two years. 1 would recommend
 nat the textbook now used in grades V ana VI be omitted entirely from the course, and
 that the study of Conklin's grammar be dI-
 vided among grades V, VI, VII and VIII
 The first division ot this grammHr Is devo e
 principally 10 language work This plan
 would give more thorough and less hurried
 cNurs 6 in language and grammar. and time
 might be saved for the pursuit of other | studies.
 Physiology.-The course in physiology wa.
 revised last year and no change Is recon
 mended.
 Morals and manners,-The last printed
 outline of study d, votes more words to th,
 -ubjeet of morals aud manners than to any
 other single subisct. There ts no text-booS
 In the hands of either pupils or teachers anC
 no definite course has ever been outlined This has been a grave mistake and should b,
 corrected as soon as possible
 The special teachers of manual tr ming
 and drawing. of music and sewing are giving
 their instruction according to the sDecIa
 courses adopted by the board at differen times during the last two years. No i'm
 mediate change is recommended.
 In order that the schools may accomplish 2 their work in a better way and the demand , of modern education may be fully met, muel
 more attention must be paId to the correia ton and uniication of studies. These terms as used by modern instructors, imply tha many studies are closely related. that ther Is an inteT-dependence among them, Iha | they can be taught much more successfully P 1 and in a shorter time by recognizing this de l pendence and relationship. At last year , | meeting of the National Association of Super | | lntendsnts Of Schools "A commlttes Of hfteel } WAa anu,Oinied consider fhls hi acf arnnni