CHAPTER X THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF J. M. B. SILL (1863-65) AND OF DUANE DOTY (1865-73) The general characteristic of the period from 1863 to 1900 is the development and expansion of the elementary and high-school curricula. Other elements are the growth in strength of the superintendency, the changes in the basic law, the changing character of the school board, and the development of teacher training. The period covers the administrations of three superintendents and the beginning of a fourth. Politically, it covers the greater portion of the period of national development (18651913). During the early part of the period of conflict and political readjustment retarded the development of public education somewhat. The period of industrial development, which started in 1877, has continued to the present. Economically, Detroit suffered with the rest of the country from the effects of the civil war financial policy. The issues of greenbacks resulted in a fluctuating premium on gold and a rise in commodity prices. The government paid a big price for this policy, but the people and business as a whole paid even more. Using 1860 as a base (100), prices increased to 216.8 in 1865, while money wages increased to 143.1 and real wages decreased to 66.1 During the reconstruction period the crisis of 1873 affected the entire country; the city did not recover until 1878. On January 1, 1879, specie payment was resumed and the greenback went to par. In 1893 the country was again struck by one of the most severe financial crises ever experienced. By 1894, one-fourth of the railroad capital was in the hands of receivers; commercial failures amounted to 4,171 in the first 1 Aldrich report of 1893 on wholesale price, on wages, and on transportation. 104 six months, and to 8,105, from April 1 to Oct. 1 in 1893. The farmers suffered by the failure of the 1894 corn crop and foreign demand for wheat fell off. Strikes, riots, and the march of Coxey's army were evidences of industrial unrest. The result of these economic crises, together with large general tax burdens made it difficult for cities to finance properly their educational programs. The struggle of the various school boards with councils and boards of estimates for funds, the almost immediate and ever present charge of extravagance that followed the building of necessary schools, are all indicative of the feeling of the people on financial matters. The general character of the history of education in the country as a whole during this time was the reorganization and redirection of the conception of the elementary school as a result of the influence of Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel, and of the needs of a democratic government—a development that left behind for all time the original school of the three Rs. From all of these movements Detroit received an undeniable inspiration. Superintendent Recommended. The size of the public school system-there were 7,986 children enrolled in 1863-made it impossible for the members of the board to "inspect” and supervise the schools as they had found time to do in earlier times. The lack of uniformity in teaching at different schools, the absence of generally accepted standards of achievement, resulted in constant difficulty and criticism and made professional supervision necessary. President William A. Moore 2 said of this question: "One of the important recommendations of the report (Committee on Schools) is that of the Superintendent of Schools, the adoption of which recommendation I desire most earnestly to urge upon the consideration of this board. When the number of schools and teachers was much less, and the attendance was less pressing than now, the more general supervision might have been perhaps safely left with the proper committees of the board, and the immediate supervision with the teachers of the several schools. But with the present proportions and scale of the system, the services of a competent, earnest superintendent, who can give his whole time to the examination and selection "Board of Education Report for 1863. of teachers, to the grading and classifying the schools, and in rendering them the most efficient at the least expense, are imperatively demanded. As well might the directors of a bank or railroad expect efficiency without any immediate supervising management or head, but leaving and expecting each employee to perform his respective duty well, but without any special reference to the general harmony and efficiency of the whole; as well might the people of this country expect efficiency and power in the army for the suppression of this unnatural rebellion if there were no general commander-in-chief, and the whole control and management were vested in the committee of the senate on the conduct of the war, that committee remaining engaged in their high legislative duties, as to expect that the schools of this city will produce the same beneficial results, at the same expenditure of money, without such an immediately controlling head as with one." J. M. B. SILL J. M. B. Sill Elected Superintendent. The Board, therefore, under the authority of the law, in 1863 chose John M. B. Sill, as superintendent of schools and secretary of the board at a salary of $1,800. He was given practically no administrative power, but acted as chief supervisory officer while the several committees of the board continued to administrate the schools. Superintendent Sill, in his first annual report, emphasized, or discussed the following: (1) the necessity for the strict enforcement of school attention rules; (2) the necessity for carefully trained teachers in the primary schools; (3) the necessity for careful grading; (4) the desirability of mixed schools rather than segregation of the sexes; (5) the importance of discipline in the conduct of the schools; (6) the type of teacher encountered; (7) the praise-worthy method of teaching arithmetic; 3 John M. B. Sill was born at Black Rock, on November 24, 1831. His parents both died when he was only eleven years old, and he was sent to (8) the undesirable method of teaching geography; (9) the desirability of developing records for the keeping of more accurate school statistics and child accounting; and (10) the recommendation of a wider curriculum, including the introduction of music and drawing. The board was evidently well pleased with the first year of Mr. Sill's administration, for President William A. Moore said :* "Its good results appear prominently in the better grading and instruction of the schools; in the measures employed to secure greater regularity of attendance; in the uniformity in the time of graduating classes; in the full and excellent system of school statistics introduced and carried out; in the facilities now offered for comparison with the schools of other cities; in the careful supervision of the financial affairs of the board; in the diminished amount of friction in operating the schools, and in their increased uniformity and efficiency. "In a school board, subject, as ours is, to constant changes of men, and of plans; of men, often, who have had little or nothing to do with schools for years, such an officer, holding over from year to year, familiar with all the details of the system, and with its accepted and established policy, is an invaluable element of conservative strength, without which, in my judgment, the schools can never be carried on effectively." Attendance Emphasized. Mr. Sill always placed much emphasis upon attendance; his instructions in regard to its enforcement were rigid. In his second report were presented for the first time comparative statistics of public schools in other Jonesville, Michigan, to live with relatives, who sent him to the Jonesville schools for his elementary and secondary education. He entered Michigan State Normal College, upon leaving high school, and was graduated with the first class to receive diplomas from that school, in 1854. Mr. Sill then entered the teaching profession as an instructor at the Michigan State Normal College. At the same time he worked on an English Grammar, which was later published in New York. In August, 1865, he was appointed Superintendent of Schools in Detroit, and was installed in his office, but the same year he resigned, to become principal of the Detroit Female Seminary. For many years he acted in this capacity, but in 1873, when he was asked to assume the superintendency a second time, he accepted, and for 15 years he directed the Detroit public schools. As Regent of the University of Michigan, from 1867 to 1869, and as President of the Michigan State Normal College, Mr. Sill further demonstated his ability as an educator and administrator. Report of the Board of Education for 1864, pp. 12-13. |