Report of the Special Committee of the Primary School Board, on a Portion of the Remarks of the Grammar Masters.
Boston: John H. Eastburn, City Printer, 1844. 13 pp. 8vo. Disbound. First edition. Removed from a larger volume else a very good, clean copy. American Imprints 44882. Item #38801
The Primary School committee was much agitated by the Secretary of the Board of Education, Horace Mann's Seventh Annual Report which complained that there was no real system of education in Boston, specifically that the teachers in the higher grades were forced to teacher the basic elements that should have been covered earlier: "The elements must be taught somewhere. If neglected in the primary schools, they must be taught in the grammar schools. And thus the order of things is reversed, and disarrangement introduced into the whole school system. The teacher who is employed, and paid, for instructing in the higher branches, is compelled to devote time and attention to the studies appropriately belonging to schools of a lower grade. This is found to be the case, to too great an extent, in the schools of our city. We do not say this to the disparagement of the primary school teachers, or from the belief, that there is a want of fidelity on their part. We believe it to be, in part, at least, owing to the system of teaching, or rather want of system, in the primary schools." The Primary School committee attempted to rebut his criticism point by point. Over 175 years later this problem remains as intractable as ever.
Not at AAS. OCLC locates 8 printed copies.
Price: $75.00