The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-07

N%%>%<<<>>>< The report of pr. J. H. Phillips, for
 the year ending June 30. submitted yes
 terday to the Board of Education is one of the most compreh ensve ever issued. It covers every feature of
 what he considers the most eventful year in the history of the city. He first gives summary of sta | tistics, showing that the school popu- lation was 39,536, the number of pu- pills registered 20,260, the average mem- bership 15,495, and the average daily
 attendance 14.O62, which is 91 per cent
 of the average membership. and 70 per cent of the registration. There were 2O,So5 cases of tardiness and corporal punishment was administered 4469
 times while 230 were suspended. The
 tuition receipts were s17,164.52, practic- ally all of which was collected at the high school. This tuition has been abolished and will not be collected this | year.
 After discussing statistics the report takes up a narration of the process of | amalgamation of the school system
 when Greater Birmingham came in the
 first of this year and how, after stren-
 uous efforts, it all became harmonious
 whole.
 "The Immediate Future is the sub
 ject discussed and in tlfis pr. Phillips
 makes about the same recommenda-
 tions as were made by President Par
 ker.
 A few small reports on the spe-
 cial work done last year then follow,
 showing how enthusiastically the chil-
 dren aided in the city beautiful move
 ment and giving the result of an ex- animation of the pupils on Bible his tory. which proved very poor knowl- edge of Biblical history.
 A long paragraph discusses the
 school playgrounds and athletics and
 tells of the great progress made in these lines. In another he discusses
 the normal training school while oth- CT subjects are '"rhe Economic Use of School Buildings" "Qualihca tions of | Teachers" Teachers Study Courses, '
 The Place and Function of the High School" "The School Improvement As | sociation,'' "Education and Public Health" Medical Inspection, School Government" Manual training and Do-
 mestic Science," "The Kindergarten, | Uniform Text Books," "The Public Li- brary,' etc.
 | Here are a few extracts from the rec concentrations:
 There are a few unfortunate chill ] dren in every community that need a degree of special attention which l they cannot get in the regular school.
 These children, while not imbecile, are
 of such slow type of mind that they
 cannot keep pace with the average child. In some instances the retarda-
 ton of the mental processes is the re-
 suit of illness or physical accident.
 While these children are educable to a limited degree they require several years to accomplish the work mastered by the average child during the first year in school.
 q recommend that the board author ize the opening of a special school for this class of children. It would not be advisable in my judgment to pro- vide rooms for these classes in a reg
 ular school building suitable resi-
 dence with lawn playground and gar
 den would be ideal A special course of
 study would have to be provided and
 
 velopments would be required. For a class of these pupils a teacher of spe-
 cial training and skill would be re- quired and not more than 5 pupils to the teacher should be permitted. Tn some instances 1t may be diff cult to draw the line between the de- fective and the backward child. In the great majority of cases the co-opera- tion of the parents can be secured and
 the pupils may be withdrawn from the regular schools where they are now
 drag upon the classes. I advise that the experiment of a special school for
 these subnormal children be made by the board during the next school year." My attention has been called repeat edly during the past year to the fact that there is no opportunity given by the