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11 what is called the "Ungraded School," an ingenious contrivance to pre- vent the uniformity of the classes from being broken by the influx of unprepared scholars. For the first four years of the child's school life, ha is taught without books, reading-books of course excepted. The elements of Language, Number, Place, Color, and Form; lessons on "Objects," Drawing, Singing, as well as Reading, Spelling. Arithmetic and Geography are taught by the living voiee of the Teacher, aided by Maps, Charts, Pictures, real "objects" wherever they can be introduced, and an unremitting use of the black-board. The same programme, both in matter and time, is followed by all the Schools in the City of like grade. The work for every two weeks in the Primary Schools, and the order of exercises for every half hour in the day, are prescribed in printed instructions, and are, I believe, strictly adhered w. In the other schools the work of every quarter is definitely arranged. Thus all the schools of similar grade are in exact correspondence with J each other, and scholars can be transferred from one to another without changing their rank in school. I am unable to say from personal observation how this uniform system works in practice; but I am inclined to form a very fa- vorable opinion of it. It must be a great assistance to both teachers and scholars to know exactly what they are to accomplish within certain short intervals of time; and it facilitates very much the intelligent su- pervision of the schools Of the "Objective" system of teaching pursued in these Primary Schools, I cannot speak too highly. I have examined it very closely and do not hesitate to say that it is not only a good system, but the only good system that I have seen, for the rational education of young child- ren. I cannot give a better idea of the character of the instruction given under this system rightly conducted, than by recounting what I wit- nessed at a short visit to the lowest class in one of the Primary Schools of Oswego. The children were from five and a-half to six years of age. They had not been at School longer than six months, and had had no instruction previous to entering. Tile School was opened by the child- ren singing a short hymn, accompanied by some simple and not un- graceful gestures. The Teacher then read a story from the Bible, ask- ing a great many questions as she proceeded, in order to keep up the attention and to make sure that they understood her. After repeating in concert the Lord's Prayer, the Hundredth Psalm, the Seventy-third, and tile Hundred and Twenty-Second, the Teacher asked, "Has any one a text ?" And one after another repeated a text of Scripture, until every one of the sixty children had recited; and no text was given twice. A. series of physical exercises was then performed by the children, after which the Teacher went to the black-board and printed rapidly a num- ber of the letters of the alphabet in Roman capitals. They seemed to me to be very good letters, considering the rapidity with which they were made, but they did not satisfy the critical eyes of the children One objected that the legs of the A wore unequal; another that the lower curve of the B was too large; a, third that the vertical line of the D was a, little curved; and so on, criticising minutely the form and pro- portions of every letter. After these exercises, the class separated into sections, each under the charge of a student-teacher from the Training |
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Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, 1866
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