Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

-We have been asked to explain what is meant by Slojd, and the following item will do so in a concrete form: "Slojd is the name of a system of handcraft in wood, now a prominent part of the entire educational system of Sweden. The first to introduce it here was Miss Meri Toppelius, an accomplished young woman and the daughter of a general of the regular army of Sweden. At the last National Educational Association she presented the Slojd system, and both the speaker and the subject aroused the greatest enthusiasm. She now goes to Bay View to become one of the summer university faculty, and will have a class for teachers, and also an observation class where children will be seen at work. From the number of applications already received it is certain both classes will be large. In the estimation of many of the leading educators Slojd is sure to be widely adopted, and be as much used in our educational system as are now the kindergarten principles. It is adapted to all grades, more especially to the lower ones, where it is a connecting link between primary teaching and manual labor. As a handicraft system it cultivates the constructive sense, trains the hand, develops health, taste and a sense of form. At the same time it early creates a love for labor, and it is said, where in use, study is made so much more a pleasure that educational progress is greatly forwarded."

-Sir John Bennett Lawes, the eminent agricultural scientist, of Rothamstead, St. Albans, has just completed the arrangements for bequeathing to the cause of agricultural science the sum of £100,000, together with fifty acres of land, and the laboratory and museum at Rothamstead. In the latter are

stored more than 45,000 bottles of experimental ground produce, animal products, and soils. The income of the fund will be handed over to a committee of nine persons, including the owner of Rothamstead for the time being.

-Cornell University has lost the $1,500,000 bequeathed to it by Jennie McGraw Fiske. The decision of the Court of Appeals of New York was declared November 27th, sustaining the lower courts. Justice Peckham holds that the University is by its charter limited strictly to $3,000,000 worth of property. These bequests would have made Cornell one of the richest Universities in the country. It is thought that an appeal will be taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.

-The School Savings Bank idea, which has not been neglected in the Province of Quebec, seems to have succeeded in the schools of Long Island City, where the system has been successful in teaching the pupils lessons of thrift. Every

Monday morning the roll is called, and the pupils who desire to do so make deposits of money with the teacher, who gives a receipt therefor, and through the principal of the school transmits the money and an account thereof to the Queen's County Savings Bank. The purpose of having the deposits made in this public manner is evidently to stimulate the pupils to efforts to save, but, it may be feared will do as much harm as good, awakening feelings of pride and jealousy and heart-burning, offsetting the good influences. The responsibility and risk are probably not very great, as the collections are small and the savings bank a well-established institution. An effort is being made to have the system extended through the United States, but thus far only fifty schools are reported as having established what are in effect agencies for savings banks. In Europe they are much more common, France alone, it is said, having nearly two and a half million dollars invested through the agency of schools. The lessons of thrift taught by the regular saving of small sums are undoubtedly of value, and the savings themselves may relieve unexpected distress or open the way to business advancement, but the lesson should be given in a way not to arouse bad feelings in the children, either of pride or envy, a result that seems inevitable from the Long Island system.

-Complaints are being heard on all sides in Germany as to the scarcity of efficient elementary teachers. This is hardly to be wondered at, considering the wretched salaries given and the low social status of elementary teachers in Germany. For instance, in the small district Stade, there are thirty-nine teachers' positions vacant in ungraded schools, and at least as many in schools consisting of more than one class. As there are only twenty-four students qualifying themselves for the examination in the local normal school, many posts will remain unfilled, even after the beginning of the new school year.

-The following item may be of interest to some of our teachers who know what the boycott in the country districts is, though they may never have experienced it from the same cause as Miss Evans. The story, as taken from an American paper, is entitled "A Teacher Boycotted," and reads as follows: "There is a strange strife going on in School District No. 3, in the town of Cumberland, R.I., resulting, as it has, in the boycott of the young lady who teaches the little district school there. A young fellow, son of a prominent farmer in the district, had been paying attention to the teacher, who has taught the school acceptably for two years. The young man seemed to be getting

along in his suit all right until last winter, when for some reason or other his lady love dismissed him; and since then young Jenks has been trying to get even with the fair schoolmarm, who, as he thinks, has been merely toying with his affections. Old man Jenks and the neighbors took up the case on young Jenks' side and tried to get the young lady displaced, but one of the trustees sided with her. At the annual school meeting last month the Jenks people tried to oust the trustees and failed. Then they set to work to boycott the school. There were some fifteen pupils in the school. Seven of them did not live in the district, and they were promptly instructed to go to school in their own district. Then a family with one more child moved out of town. Of the six remaining two were relatives of young Jenks, and these were withdrawn, and only four are now left. As the law requires at least five pupils in a school to secure the town support, the school house is likely to be closed, and the trustees are hustling, without success so far, to secure another youngster who will go to school. The friendly trustee says he has a good mind to attend himself. The whole town is getting excited over the matter, and the friends of the trustee and the teacher who are blessed with children think of moving into No. 3 District to send their children to school there.

-A letter signed by, among others, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. W. H. Smith, Lord Grimthorpe, the Lord Mayor, and the Rev. Henry Wace, has been sent to the papers in support of an appeal issued by the Council of King's College, London, for the contribution of a sum of not less than £50,000, to enable the college to meet the increasing demands of education, particularly in modern science and experimental research. For nearly sixty years (say the writers) the College has maintained its position as one of the two University Colleges of London by successive additions to its original foundation, until a total sum of more than £200,000, raised by voluntary subscription, has been expended upon the construction and equipment of the building required for its educational work. But, in the absence of any general endowment, the Council experience the greatest difficulty in satisfying the fresh demands continually made upon them by the development of education.

-The following is a description of what the new Normal School will be like when it is finished; The present building on Belmont street was erected in 1840 for the use of the High School. On the Government establishing normal schools, as

already related, it, in 1856, purchased the building and fitted it for Normal school purposes. The grounds occupy one and a quarter acres, and are well known, fronting, as they do, north on Belmont, south on Palace and west on St. Genevieve streets. The new building additions are being carried out in every detail with a strict view to adaptability and comfort, the ornate in architecture being kept, partly through limited funds, strictly in abeyance. The new building will extend from the present one down to Palace street, a distance of 140 feet; the narrowest part is 64 feet. There are two wings, a total width of 85 feet. It will be four stories high on Palace street, but not on Belmont street, owing to the 25 feet slope of hill on approaching the former street. On the ground floor on Palace street will be the janitor's apartments, 57 by 24 feet, and immediately above will be the technical school-room, same size; the play-rooms for wet days are also here; the remainder of this flat contains heating apparatus, closets, etc. The flat above this is on the ground floor proper, and here is the main corridor, ten feet wide, connecting with the present building and leading to the classrooms. Two large kindergarten rooms, 40 by 25 feet, here form a special feature, and are succeeded by the library room, 35 by 25 feet, together with rooms for the accommodation of the primary department; teachers' rooms, etc. The last flat, above, is reached by two flights of fire-proof stairs, and comprises drawingroom, large and very commodious demonstrating, lecture and principal's rooms, besides several convenient minor rooms. This corridor connects with the main hall in the present building used on commencements and general public occasions. The building will be of rock-faced stone in courses on Palace street as high as the ground floor; above this the walls are of brick, with stone facings, and are built hollow the more effectually to render the school fire and damp-proof; for the same reason the roof is hollow and without eaves. The heating and ventilation is on Smead's system, as in the present building. Particular attention has been given to the admission of light, the windows rising to within six inches of the ceiling. The floors are secured by steel girders and the inside walls are of 12 inch brick thickness. The estimated cost of the whole is $50,000, and it is expected to be ready for occupation by October 1.

-Mr. Morgan Owen, in speaking at a distribution of prizes at the Wrexham National Schools, told one or two good stories. He said one of H. M. Inspectors was one morning on his way to examine a school, when he saw a fine little fellow busily enjoy

ing himself in a puddle, with dirt and water up to his little thighs; so, being a bachelor, he was somewhat surprised at the sight, and he called out to him, "Why are you not at school, my lad?" And the lad replied, "Please, sir, I've got the bronchitis, and my mother won't let me go to school." This is another of his anecdotes:-There is in some schools a person who is generally known by the name of "bully." Well the school I refer to had a bully in it, who, among other pranks, broke the school windows. Luckily for him he was caught in the very act; and the master (an excellent man, who afterwards became a clergyman) determined to take advantage of the opportunity to improve the occasion. So he formed the scholars into a jury, and he said he would be judge. The broken windows were shown, and the stone that did the mischief was shown, and all the circumstances of the case were related by him; then the jury was asked to give its verdict. They did so, and that, too, without the slightest hesitation, as they shouted out with one voice, "Not guilty!" Thereupon the schoolmaster, being shocked at the verdict, thrashed the offender and the jury.

In the reorganization of the Montreal High School, provision is to be made for instruction in manual training, The Boston School Board has been moving in the same direction, having taken the initial steps for the purchase of land on the Back Bay and the erection of a building at an expense of $100,000 for a new high school for manual training. Boston is too far behind other cities in this regard. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Toledo, Cleveland, San Francisco, Cambridge and other cities have admirable plants of this kind, but the proposed appropriation will place her easily in the front rank. The school board is a unit, and the mayor is thoroughly committed to the plan. The closing paragraph of the report of the sub-committee is worthy of quotation: It is after all not altogether what our children. learn, but the habits they form and the noble purposes awakened that give to schools their greatest value. Manual training quickens the perceptive faculties, while at the same time it trains the eye and is invaluable to the earnest work of life right at hand. That is the broadest, truest education that trains the hands, the eye, and the mind, for while it is the mind that plans and the eye that guides and directs in the educational world, it is always the hand that executes. The motto, The Cultured Mind, the Skillful Hand,' which is over the entrance of the manual training school of another city, is our ideal."

-There are always some quaint relics of an age which never

« ForrigeFortsæt »