The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-02-28
PORTLAND SCHOOLS.
VIGOROUS CONDENSATION OF THE
CAsC0 STREET BUILDING.

Its Sanitary Arrangements Declared To
he Dangerous 20 the Health OF the
PupiIs-More Room Needed for the
Kindcrgartcns II They Are To he
Used Asa Part or the Ci,y's school
system.
The annual report OF tie School Conn
mittec prepared by DR.. Stanley p. War
rem, is as follows:
10 the Citizens of Portland:
Education is progression. In narrow
sense, 1t is that amount of learning which
is acquired only in the school. or, By the
favored few In the university. II is pure.
ly for ones self; "A mental capital for the
exclusive advantage of its owner. The
1t is process OF development for all the
organs OF the individual that begins at
birth and ends only with life itself Such
growth is not simply mental, but there
is like evolution of the moral and physi-
cal powers as well. And the modern plsr
OF the higher education aims at this per-
lection of the individual not for his own
superiority for the survival of the flttest
but in u better. altruistio sense to make
him of the most use to his fellows.
That this grand idea is being already
SO mewhat realized, must be tie impress
sion received by the student of our public
school system. The teacher is now the
friend OF his pupil rather than his tyrant,
Suggestion Is the stimulus rather than
the ruler he scholar learns his three
X s-Rsadin', 'Ritin', 'Rithmetic-to-
gether with good manners, with morality,
with something of the uses of his mus
Giles, and of his proper social relations to
other folk. The child IS taught not only
that three feet mako yard, or that Cuba
is south of the United States, or how To
parse correctly, 1.-The child is father of the
man." He IL instructed by precept and
example how to sit and walk and speak
right. he is given higher ideals of life at
home, he gets glimpses of the elf-denyi Ing
love of the mother and father, he ubs of
his sharp angles of self-copsciousness and
begins to find his own place in his envir-
Onment.
Our children understand very early that
the daily lesson is only an introduction
| to the main topic. that mathematics Goes
not end with the arithmetic, and that
all of the history of the colonies is not 10
the textbook. 1t may DO questioned
WutlhtE iule ~ O AcaiibtiS pASeuht "a pai
| public schools No one can doubt 1t, who
with an unpredjuced eye studies the
lights and shades in the present Ameri
can system OF education.
As in the past, SO during the current
year, our Portland schools have been d.
rected along we'll inatured, conservative
| lines of teaching. The various depart
ments, Primary, Grammar and High
school have been well managed by their
principals, who have heartily carried
out the plans of this committee. In the
practical work, neither have the more adj
vanced theories Of pedagoRy-those which
might be styled the fantasies o: the
schoolroom- been attempted, nor have the
solid fundamental principles been neg
lected. Resort to corporal punishment is
lessening each year, as the scholars time
is arranged SO that he has 10 chance for
idleness or inattention. The attendance
has been generally higher for the several
schools, owing TO the loss of the Park
street schoolhouse, and to ths growth of
the city. A few of our teachers have re-
signed from various causes, an as far rs
possible their places have been filled by
gradu ties of our own Training school.
some OF those that remain, who are get
ting worn out by years of faithful toll,
must soon give way for Others, younger
and fresher in the service.
With this introduction, certain topics
of the general subject will now be more
directly considered.