Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1896-06-27
The Past School Year.

The following resume Of the work done
in the schools during the past year is from
the pen of Prof. F. E. Chaplin. 1t will re-
pay careful reading
The high school register for the spring
term shows that there were registered 80
pupils of whom not one withdrew during
the term; the attendance has been good,
there being few tardinesses and dismissals,
while seventeen pupils had no absent mark
The total number of pupils in our schools
during the past term has been 681. Com
pairing our register with that of Brattleboro,
we have had this year a slightly
smaller total of pupils, though our high
school has been little larger all the year.
Of the 80 scholars in our high school, 81
are girls and 81 boys. If we notice the
names of the graduates from various high
schools as they appear in our daily papers,
we shall find that the girls optnumber the
boys in about the proportion of 3 to l, the
ratio, nearly, which obtained in this years
graduating class here. As long as our
local business interests continue to flourish
we may expect to find the boys dropping
out from the eighth grade all the way up
through the high school. 1t is natural
and praiseworthy ambition for boy to
wish to get into some actual work, though
in many cases it would be better to defer
this for few years. The problem is by
no means peculiar to Bellows Falls.
The high school seems to have entered
upon a period of rapid change in its
teachers during the past few years; this
condition of things cannot fail to bring a
lack of confidence on the part of parents
and of lessened interest to pupils. 1t re-
quires one year and often two for even a
good teacher to get to point where, under
new conditions, the best work may be
done. In spite of this great deal Of
progress has been made during the past
two years and the school is able now to do
good work in fitting for college. There
are several important changes, however,
which ought to be made in the course Of
study. theoretically our course ought to
be unit from the primary grade through
the college; and on that assumption the
best high school course is the one which is
most nearly in the line of well-balanced
fit for college. On the other hand, there
is large demand in our high schools fol
studies which aim at practical lite and il
would be wise thing to try to meet this
demand more fully in Bellows Falls. The
school is not particularly strong in science
many of our neighboring high schools en-.
gage a special teacher for this branch put
ting all the science work into the hands O
a teacher specially interested and qualified
There is hardly school in New England
where science work is done by the princi
pal. for the reason that it calls him away
from the discipline and management Of thu
main room where he is bound to make hi
presence felt. The securing of the right o
certifcation to Amherst, Wellesley ant
Smith is step in advance. Smith college
has not yet granted the right in some mino
subjects which we were unable to presen
during the winter term. Under the pres
emit method of granting certificates a
Smith few schools can obtain the full RICH
in one year papers in all subjects even a
the end of the year could hardly be pre-
sented and when these papers are callet
for during the winter it is inevitable tina
, something should be left for further exami
nation; we were fortunate in that all tn
work submitted by the school was accepted
Our French is not fully enough develops
to admit of certifcation, but the comm,
year will undoubtedly see this defec
, remedied.