Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

SACRAMENTO SCHOOLS.-We paid a flying visit to several of the Sacramento City schools, on our return from El Dorado County. A very neat and pretty primary school house, capable of accommodating one hundred and twenty-five children has just been completed, and we found it already full to overflowing. Under the able management of the City Superintendent, Rev. Wm. H. Hill, and the good sense of the City Board, the school affairs of Sacramento have been well conducted. In spite of straitened finances, comfortable rooms have always been open to the children, and the schools have been kept free during the entire school year.

The High School, now taught by Mr. Templeton, who was for several years Principal of the Grammar School, is not large in numbers, but is an excellent institution.

The Franklin Grammar School is taught by Mr. Howe, formerly teacher of the Auburn public school, and one of the most promising young teachers in the State.

In point of efficiency and classification the schools of this city compare very favorably with the schools of San Francisco. The annual examinations of the Sacramento schools are public and are reported in detail by the Sacramento Union, and as a natural result, the people fully appreciate their excellent system of education.

SONOMA COUNTY.-We visited several of the schools of this county some time ago, but have had no space for notes until now. Sonoma ranks next to San Francisco in the number of its school census children, and numbers seventy school districts. Children seem to thrive here quite as well as grain, potatoes, and vineyards. Santa Rosa has a fine new schoolhouse erected at a cost of $5,000, which is both well planned and well finished. It is already filled to its utmost capacity. This town has also a school for colored children. The old town of Sonoma has a fine public school, numbering one hundred and twenty pupils. This school was organized two years ago, and has had the good fortune to be taught, first by Sextus Shearer, who is well known to the readers of the TEACHER, and next by J. M. Sibley, member of the State Board of Education. The trustees have had the wisdom to pay good wages, and so have had a good School. Petaluma has a fine school under the direction of Prof. Lippett, who is an earnest, capable, and enthusiastic educator. The High School Department is largely attended by advanced pupils, who outrank the students of some of the so-called "colleges." The school at Bloomfield is taught by Mr. James Harlow, a graduate of the Bridgewater (Mass.) State Normal School. If any trustees in the State can afford to pay him a salary of $1,500 a year, he can probably be induced to change his school. The school tax in this county is thirty-five cents on the hundred dollars, the maximum allowed by law; four years ago it was ten cents. The written examinations of the County Board are carefully conducted, and will secure a competent corps of teachers.

ADVICE.-Buy and read "Herbert Spencer on Education," and you will thank us for this item of advice.

SANTA CLARA SCHOOLS.-We had the pleasure of attending the examination of these schools in the month of July. Santa Clara is now an incorporated town, having a special Board of Education of six members. Rev. Addison Jones is the City Superintendent. After a thorough examination, the schools have been graded preparatory to the next term. The present school rooms are wholly insufficient to accommodate the school children, and it is the intention of the new Board to erect forthwith a new house at a cost of $6,000. These schools are taught by an excellent corps of teachers, and only need a good schoolhouse to place them among the best in the State. Mr. Jones, the City Superintendent, is enthusiastic in his duties, notwithstanding he is allowed only one hundred dollars a year for his services. He is the right man in the right place.

THE SOLANO AND NAPA COUNTY INSTITUTE-Held at Vallejo, July 16th to 21st, was attended by all the teachers of both counties, some fifty in number. Prof. Lippett, of Petaluma, was engaged as a regular Institute teacher, for the whole session. He also delivered a very able evening lecture on the subject of a National School System.

Prof. Knowlton was present one day, and delivered an evening lecture.

Superintendent Simonton gave an able evening lecture on Electrical, Chemical, and Organic Forces; and Superintendent Higbie lectured on Astronomy, illustrating it by use of a magic lantern.

State Superintendent Swett was present three days of the session.

A thorough county examination was held in connection with the Institute, the Board using the entire set of the State Board. The teachers stood the test well. A delightful excursion was made to the Navy Yard, on Mare Island, and to the famous ironclad " Monadnock" and her consort, the "Vanderbilt." The joint Institute was a decided success.

CITY SCHOOL CENSUS.-The total number of children in San Francisco between 5 and 15 years of age, according to the last census, is 17,288. Of this number, 17,023 are white, 146 negro, and 19 indian. The number of children under 3 years of age is 13,306, or 4,000 more than the whole number now attending school. Look out for full primaries next year. The whole number reported as having attended public schools at any time during the school year, is 9,206; attending private schools, 4,403; attending no schools, 3,746 ; making in all, 17,335, which very nearly agrees with the whole number reported as between 5 and 15-17,288; showing the returns to be quite accurate. Last year, the number between 4 and 18 years of age was 20,581, the number attending public schools, 7,805; private schools, 5,450; not attending school, between 4 and 18, 3,065; total, 16,320—showing a discrepancy of 4,000 children unaccounted for. Of the number who attended school last year, 59 per cent. attended public, and 41 per cent. private. This year, 68 per cent. attended public schools, and 32 per cent. private schools; a relative gain of public over private schools of 9 per cent. The number of children who speak German is 1,275; French, 530; Spanish, 400; Italian, 221; Chinese, 68.

PERSONAL.-George Tait, Ex-Superintendent of Common Schools of San Francisco, on his return from a trip to the Eastern States, has taken a position as instructor in the Oakland College School. Mr. Tait is a capable and popular educator, and we congratulate the Oakland faculty on their good fortune in securing his services.

Mr. Brayton has also enticed J. M. Sibley, of the State Board of Education, by the allurements of a higher salary than the public schools could pay him. Mr. Sibley has been doing good service in the public schools of this State for ten years, and has not grown rich; so we don't blame him for entering a better field of labor. Oakland College, however, must bid high to keep him, as we shall do our best to get him back.

J. A. Louttit, Graduate of the California State Normal School, has taken charge of the Public Grammer School at Brooklyn, Alameda County. Mr. Louttit has proved himself a very successful teacher, and we congratulate him on his promotion, and the school on its teacher.

Wesley Tonner, County Superintendent of Santa Clara county, has taken a four months' trip to the Eastern States. We wish him a pleasant trip and a quick return. Santa Clara can't do without him.

H. N. Nutting, of Butte County, holder of a State Educational Diploma, has taken charge of the Redwood City Grammar School. We congratulate the trustees on securing so capable a teacher.

Silas A. White, graduate of the California State Normal School, and holder of a State Diploma, is teaching in the Grammar School at Martinez to the entire satisfaction of everybody concerned. The holders of State Diplomas seem to be appreciated.

E. D. Humphreys, graduate of the State Normal School, has been elected to a position in the schools of this city.

Mr. Moore, from the State Normal School, has been elected to the position of assistant teacher in the San Francisco Industrial School.

Misses Holmes, Flint, Gummer, and Miller, all graduates of the State Normal School, have been elected to positions in the city schools.

Miss Bertha Comstock, graduate of the State Normal School, has taken charge of the new public school at Lakeville, Sonoma county.

Capt. Lorenzo D. Allen has been elected sub-master at the Spring Valley School; Bernhard Marks, Principal.

Miss Pohbe Palmer, recently from Connecticut, has been elected assistant in the Union Grammar School; Mr. Myrick, Principal.

S. R. Bradshaw, a graduate of the State Normal School, has been elected Principal of one of the city schools of Oakland. It cannot be said that the graduates of the State Normal School are not in demand.

REPORT OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS.—The delay in forwarding blanks for the reports of county superintendents was owing to the fact that the State Printer was occupied in getting out the "Great Registers," which, being of greater importance, took precedence in time. So the "Registry Law”—that general "scape goat"-was the cause of the delay.

BARNARD'S JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.-We have received the June number of this invaluable educational quarterly. It contains a steel engraving of J. S. Goodnow, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Kansas, and H. D. McCarty, second President of the Kansas State Teachers' Association, with a biographical sketch of each. It also contains a fine cut of the Oswego State Normal and Training School, with a sketch of the organization of the institution. Among the valuable papers of this number are the following: The Educational Duties of the Hour, by S. S. Greene, President of the National Teachers' Association; Object Teaching, its General Principles, and the Oswego System, by S. S. Greene; Normal Schools in the United States, by Richard Edwards, Principal of the Illinois Normal University; Education as an Element in Reconstruction, by J. P. Wickersham; A National Bureau of Instruction, by A. J. Rickoff; Formation of Moral Character, by M. F. Cowdery; Public Instruction in Austria; and sketches of Educational Conventions and Associations in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Missouri, Delaware, Texas, Alabama, Maryland, District of Columbia, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oregon, West Virginia, and Kansas. There ought to be one hundred subscribers for this journal in California. The articles in this number alone are worth the subscription price for the year-only $4.50 in currency. Address Henry Barnard, Hartford, Conn.

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION. We have received a very pleasant and pressing invitation from B. G. Northrop, President of the Institute, to attend the next meeting, to be held at Burlington, Vt., on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of August, 1866. The programme is a tempting one, and if we could get there, we would like to go. It is one of the disadvantages of living so near the setting sun, that we must lose all the pleasant gatherings of eastern educators. Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Northrop, but the continent is too wide.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS.-Mr. Northrop is also President of this Association, which meets in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Monday and Tuesday, August 13th and 14th, and we are again tempted to go East to this important meeting; but the law does not allow a State officer to leave the State without special permission of the Legislature, and we really cannot get away.

ROLL OF HONOR OF RED BLUFF PUBLIC SCHOOL.-Term commencing September 25th, 1865, ending June 9th, 1866. W. A. Sanders, teacher.

Miss Ella S. Tuttle,
Miss Mary Vestel,
Mr. Geo. W. Sullivan,
Mr. Ambrose Black,

Miss Sarah E. Baker,
Miss Lovina Williamson,
Mr. Wm. D. Rambo,
Mr. J. Floyd Vicars,
Mr. Charles B. Fitzgerald.

Miss Zuritha J. Eachus,
Miss Katie Nagle,
Mr. John Lee,
Mr. Byron Vicars,

SAN JOSE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION. The last monthly meeting of this association was well attended. Lectures were given by Prof. Knowlton and Supt. Swett. This association has the largest and best teachers' library in the State.

1

NOTICE. The graduates of the State Normal School can have their Diplomas by calling at this office. The State Certificates which were issued to the following persons, on the results of the last examination, can be obtained by calling for them at this office :

Diploma-Mrs. Ira G. Hoitt.

2d Grade Certificates-Miss Clara C. Howell, Miss M. S. Richardson, Miss Phoebe Palmer.

3d Grade Certificates—Mrs. Mary Humphrey, Miss M. Brady, Mrs. Lois W. Hopkins, Miss Zillia M. Hyde, Miss M. E. Dames, Mrs. Kate McLaughlin.

CITY INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.-A few days since we had the pleasure of visiting this excellent institution, which now numbers one hundred and fifty boys and twenty-five girls. It is under the superintendence of Col. Wood, who evidently is a good business manager.

Through the active interest of Director Kennedy, the school has been graded, the city series of text-books adopted, and the school rooms rearranged and refitted, with the intention of making the school, in all respects a first class public school. John A. Moore, of the State Normal School, has recently been appointed one of the teachers. The position will test his Normal training. We intend to visit this school again in a short time, and will then give a detailed report of it.

DISTRICT CLERKS.-In accordance with the provisions of the Revised School Law, two copies of the CALIFORNIA TEACHER are now mailed to each District Clerk-one for the use of the Board of Trustees, the other for the District School Library. It is the duty of the District Clerk to deliver one copy to the teacher of his district, for the use of the school and the teacher, to be kept on file at the school house. If any Clerks fail to receive their copy, they will please forward their address to this office. As the "District Clerks" are frequently changed, any new Clerks will of course take from the office the CALIFORNIA TEACHER, even though it still be sent to the address of the former Clerk.

COUNTY AND CITY SUPERINTENDENTS.-A copy of the TEACHER is now sent to each County Superintendent, and each City Superintendent. If any fail to receive it, they will notify us of the fact.

INYO COUNTY. This new county is rapidly organizing its schools, under the direction of County Superintendent Earl. The rate of county tax is thirty-five cents on a hundred dollars. One school is already in operation.

When will Mono County organize a school?

CLARK'S GEOGRAPHY is meeting with great success. The author has favored us with two or three additional pages of a "pronouncing vocabulary," in which each name is divided and accented, and the pronunciations of doubtful syllables are represented in italics. It will prove of great assistance to those especially whose knowledge of Spanish is imperfect.

« AnteriorContinuar »