Part 20 (1/2)
I would respectfully suggest, and even _urge_ the propriety of locating the school-house on a piece of fir the same with a suitable fence The location should be dry, quiet, and pleasant, and in every respect healthy The vicinity of places of idle and dissipated resort should by all means be avoided; and, if possible, the site of the school-house should overlook a delightful country, and be surrounded by picturesque scenery The school yard, at least, should be inclosed not only, but set out with shade trees, unless provided with those of Nature's own planting It should also be ornamented with beautiful shrubbery, and be hborhood--the pleasantest place for resort within the boundaries of the district This would contribute largely to the formation of a correct taste on the part of both children and parents It would also tend to the formation of virtuous habits and the cultivation of self-respect; for the scholars would then enjoy their pastiht_ to be, and need no longer be hunted as _trespassers_ upon their neighbors' premises, as they now too frequently are
SIZE AND CONSTRUCTION--In treating upon the philosophy of respiration at the 92d page of this work, it was stated that, exclusive of entry and closets, where they are furnished with these appendages, school-houses are not usually larger than twenty by twenty-four feet on the ground, and seven feet in height The average attendance in houses of these dimensions was estimated at forty-five scholars in the winter It was also stated that the s at each inspiration is thirty-six cubic inches, and that respiration is repeated once in three seconds, or twenty ti of the inconvenience which soa house of so narrow di no allowance for the space taken up by desks, furniture, and the scholars themselves, a simple arithmetical computation will show any one that such a room will not contain a sufficient amount of air for the support of life three hours But I will here simply refer the reader to the fourth chapter of this work, and will not repeat as there said
In deterard should be had to several particulars There should be a separate entry or lobby for each sex, which Mr Barnard, in his School Architecture,[69] very justly says should be furnished with a scraper, mat, hooks or shelves--both are needed--sink, basin, and towels A separate entry thus furnished will prevent much confusion, rudeness, and impropriety, and promote the health, refinement, and orderly habits of the children
[69] ”School Architecture,” or Contributions to the Improvement of School-houses in the United States, by Henry Barnard, Commissioner of Public Schools in Rhode Island, p 383 This excellent treatise embodies a mass of most valuable information in relation to school-houses and apparatus It contains the plans of a great number of the best school-houses in various portions of the United States, and should be consulted by every co upon a plan for the construction of a valuable school-house
The principal room of the school-house, and each such rooh to allow each occupant a suitable quantity of pure air, which should be at least twice the common amount, or not less than one hundred and fifty cubic feet There should also be one orto the size of the school and the number of scholars to be accommodated
Every school-room should be so constructed that each scholaror in the least incoed will enable the teacher to pass at all times to any part of the room, and to approach each scholar in his seat whenever it may be desirable to do so for purposes of instruction or otherwise Such an arrangement is of the utmost importance; and without the fulfilleously superintend the affairs of a whole school, and especially of a large one
In detere circumstances of country and city, as well as to the number of scholars that may be expected in attendance, the nurades of schools that may be established in a community
COUNTRY DISTRICTS--In country districts, as they have long been situated, and still generally are, aside from separate entries and clothes-rooms for the sexes, there will only be needed one principal school-room, with a smaller roo and fitting up this room, reference must be had to the requirements of the district; for this one rooes, for summer and winter schools, and for the secular, but hborhood But in its construction primary reference should be had to the convenience of the scholars in school, for it will be used by them more, ten to one, than for all other purposes Every child, then, even the youngest in school, should be furnished with a seat and desk, at which he may sit with ease and comfort The seats should each be furnished with a back, and their height should be such as to allow the children to rest their feet comfortably upon the floor The necessity of this will be apparent by referring to what has been said on the laws of health in the third chapter of this work, at the 68th and following pages
No one, then, can fail to see the advantages that would result to a densely-settled community from a union of two orin each a school for the younger children, and of establishi+ng in the central part of the associated districts a school of a higher grade for the older and more advanced children of all the districts thus united If four districts should be united in this way, they er and more advanced scholars, and four ser children The central school ht by a male teacher, with female assistants, if needed; but the priement, could be more economically and successfully instructed by feal provisions are already made for such a consolidation of districts This would invite a more perfect classification of scholars, and would allow the central school-house to be so constructed, and to have the seats and desks of such a height as to be convenient for the larger grade of scholars, and still be coht occasionally be necessary to occupy it Such an arrangement, while it would obviate the almost insuperable difficulties which stand in the way of proper classification and the thorough government and instruction of schools, would at the sareater inducements to the erection of more comfortable and attractive school-houses
--------------- | | | | P | P | |------C------| | | | | P | P | ---------------
CITIES AND VILLAGES--The plan suggested in the last paragraph es For this purpose, where neither the distance nor the nureat, some prefer to have all the schools of a district or corporation conducted under the same roof However this s of various kinds, each room should be appropriated to a particular department, and be fitted up exclusively for the accorade of scholars that are to occupy it In cities, and even in villages with a population of three or four thousand, it is desirable to establish at least three grades of schools, viz, first, the primary, for the smallest children; second, the interh school, for scholars that have passed through the priement is favorable to the better classification of the scholars of a village or city, and holds out an inducerade of schools to perfect themselves in the various branches of study that are pursued in them respectively as the condition upon which they are perrade, it also allows a more perfect adjustment of the seats and desks to the various requirerade of schools
NEW YORK FREE ACADEMY--In the public schools of the city of New York, two hundred in number, six hundred teachers are employed, and one hundred thousand children annually receive instruction The Free Acaderade, and which is represented in our frontispiece, was established by the Board of Education in 1847 The expense of the building, without the furniture, was 46,000, and the annual expense for the salaries of professors and teachers is about 10,000 Out of twenty-four thousand votes cast, twenty thousand were for the establishment of this institution, in which essentially a coiate education may be obtained No students are admitted to it who have not attended the public schools of the city for at least one full year, nor these until they have undergone a thorough examination and proved themselves worthy Its influence is not confined to the one hundred or one hundred and fifty scholars who raduate from it annually, but leaches and stimulates the six hundred teachers, and the hundred thousand children whom they instruct, and thus elevates the common schools of the city _in reality_ not only, but places them much more favorably before the public than they otherwise could be
Ses with a population of but a few thousand, can not, of course, maintain so extended a system of public schools; but they can accoh on a smaller scale For the benefit of districts in the country and in villages, I will here insert a few plans of school-houses
[Illustration: _Plan of a School-house for fifty-six Scholars_
Size, 30 by 40 feet
Scale, 10 feet to the inch]
D D, doors E E, entries lighted over outer doors, one for the boys and the other for the girls T, teacher's platform and desk R L, room for recitation, library, and apparatus, which le door, as represented in the plan, or by two, as in the following plan S S, stoves with air-tubes beneath K K, aisles four feet wide--the re aisles are each two feet wide _c v_, chimneys and ventilators I I, recitation seats B B, black-board,the wall a colored hard finish G H, seats and desks, four feet in length, constructed as represented on the next page
The seat and deskfastened pere, which will ad under and behind them
[Illustration: _Primary and Intermediate Department, on first floor_
Size, 36 by 64 feet
Scale, 12 feet to the inch]
A, entrance for boys to the High School C, entrance for girls to the High School P, entrance for boys to the Priirls to the same D D, doors W W, s T, teacher's platform and desk G H, desk and seat for two scholars, a section of which is represented at X, in the Primary Department I I, recitation seats B B, black-boards S S, stoves, with air-tubes beneath _c v_, chimney and ventilator R, room for recitation library, apparatus, and other purposes