THE
ЖЖТН-СШША
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.
Von. III. JULY, 1860.
No. 7.
COMMON BRANCHES.
We extract from the report of Mr. I'hilbriek, the able anil efficient
Superintendent of Public Schools of the city of Boston,” the follow¬
ing practical and sensible remarks, on the best inodes of teaching some
of the common branches. Many of our teachers seem, to think that
but little labor, and no special preparation, is necessary to enable them
to teach these things successfully: yet these constitute the foundation
of all education; and will they contend that a good and durable edifice
can be built on a badly laid foundation ? The foundation may indeed
be re-constructed, after llic house is erected, but this is done with
great difficulty, especially if the building is one of much weight, and
it is by no means the natural order of proceeding.
PENMANSHIP.
This branch, to which I gave special attention, is evidently in bet¬
tor condition than it was last year, and probably It has never, on the
whole, been taught so well in all the grades of our schools, as during
the present year. In this practical branch, the proficiency ef the pu¬
pils in the Latin and English High Schools has been very remarkable.
As I stated in a former itcporl, the writing in most of the first and
second divisions of the Grammar Schools is good, and now having ex¬
amined six or eight thousand of the writing-books of the lower divis¬
ions, I am prepared to speak definitely of their progress also. The suc¬
cess of the lower divisions appears to be generally better than hereto¬
fore; still, the exceptions are more numerous than they need bo, and
the difference between the best classes and the poorest is greater than
should be tolerated. 1 found some teachers, though I am happy to
say the number was not large, who did not seem to understand the
first principles of teaching this branch. They had evidently taken
little or no pains to inform themselves on the subject. In consequence
of this neglect on the part of teachers, the pupils suffer a great loss.
Some divisions could be named, where the pupils have been using
writing-books for a year or more, and yet have made no more progress
M