been large and comparatively large expenditures for buildings were required. Even by the exercise of the most rigid economy it was impossible to make ends meet. Because of these conditions, the legislature, in 1855, passed an act raising the maximum tax to be levied by the council for school purposes from $1 to $2 per child, ages 4 to 18 years. Another legislative amendment in 1857 sought to give the board still further financial relief by authorizing the common council to levy a tax of not more than $20,000 a year to be expended for the acquisition of buildings and sites. The original Trowbridge building was opened the same year. Elect First Superintendent. J. F. NICHOLS The first law in Michigan authorizing the establishment of high schools and a superintendent of schools was a part of this legislation. As a result of this act, the board in 1856 appointed John F. Nichols, principal of the Miami Avenue school, as the first superintendent at a salary of $900 a year. Of this appointment, at the end of the first year the board said:10 "The appointment of a superintendent during the past year, we think has been attended with the most useful results, both in reference to the schools and the general interests of the board." Superintendent Nichols made his first report in 1856 in the form of a general survey of the needs of the school system.11 The defects of the system, as he saw them, may be summarized as: 1. Absence of proper classification or grading, 2. Lack of uniform course of study, First city school superintendent appointed in Buffalo in 1837; in Chicago in 1853. 10 Report of Board for 1855, p. 8. "The complete report may be found in the appendix. 3. Too much time devoted to concert recitations, 6. Lack of uniform time for school sessions, 7. Lack of trained teachers in the primary schools, 8. Irregularity and tardiness, 9. Necessity for coöperation by parents in securing better discipline, and 10. The lack of a high school to complete the system. Lack of Uniformity. Reports of the board show that there was so little uniformity in teaching that it was impossible to transfer a child from one school to another without loss of time which in many cases amounted to more than a term's work. In the same year the visiting committee for the eighth ward began to question the time spent in preparation for the annual public exhibition on the grounds that: "The pupils might.... be so absorbed in preparation for the pleasantries.... of the examination as to operate to the injury of their preparation in the solid branches of learning."13 Mr. Nichols resigned at the end of the year because of the small salary. He retired to his farm near Saline, Michigan, and taught in Ann Arbor for one year. He was appointed principal of the Bishop union school in Detroit upon the opening of that building in 1858, and in 1866 transferred to the Cass building, where he remained until his death. 14 13 Report of Detroit Board of Education for 1855, p. 37. 14 Superintendent Nichols was born at Ogden, New York, in 1820. In his early youth he apprenticed himself to a carpenter, learning carpentry and joinery from him. With his trade to depend upon, he enrolled in Oberlin (Ohio) College, working his way through by the use of his skill in building. While in college he decided to take up the profession of teaching, and his first public school was the district one of Bridgewater, Washtenaw County, Michigan. He moved from there to Saline, and came to Detroit in 1848, to take charge of the Middle" school, at a salary of $400 per year. In addition to holding the superintendency and the principalship of the Bishop school, he was appointed supervising principal of the Cass, Tappan, and Houghton schools, a position he held for many years. He was one of the oldest teachers, both in years and service, in Detroit. In 1850, Mr. Nichols had married Miss Elvira E. Robinson, whose brother, William E. Robinson, later became superintendent of Detroit schools. Mr. Nichols was an able, earnest, and efficient teacher, a leader in his profession. He devoted his whole life to the cause of free education, and his death, in 1883, was a loss to the state. CHAPTER IX THE DEVELOPMENT OF GRADED PUBLIC SCHOOLS (1858-1863) The defects of the public schools, as noted by Superintendent J. F. Nichols in 1856 were fully discussed by citizens as well as by the members of the board, for the public schools had been operating upon a laissez-faire instructional policy for 16 years. For a time no action was taken, but D. Bethune Duffield had been giving his serious attention to several defects, particularly those of grading, uniformity in course of study, and the development of the high school. In his report for 1859 he restated the cardinal aims of education as three in character, viz: to communicate information, to discipline the mind, and to form character. Union School Organization Fixed. Mr. Duffield first organized the union schools into uniform and distinct departments. Prior to this time the terminology and classification had been, generally: primary, 2 years; intermediate or middle, 2 years, and senior departments, varying length of time. The plan he submitted, which was adopted by the board, called for the following union school organization: primaries, first grade, two years; second grade, two years; junior grade, two years, and senior grade, three years. A uniform course of study for these divisions was laid out upon a textbook program of achievement. After a year's experience the course of study was changed somewhat and certain subjects omitted.1 These changes were confined to the senior department and consisted of adding natural philosophy, geometry, astronomy, mental philosophy, Tytler's History, and Welch's The time schedule was: geography, five years; arithmetic mental and intellectual, 5-2/3 years; practical arithmetic, 4 years; grammar, 2 years; science of government, 2 terms; physiology, 2 terms; algebra, 2 terms; history, 2 terms; botany, 1 term; bookkeeping, 3 terms; reading and spelling, 9 years; penmanship, composition and declamation, 3 years. English Sentence, to the English course of the high school. The primary, second grade, was now called the secondary department.2 Union Schools Criticized. At this time the union schools were severely criticized. Parents who had become accustomed to the one-teacher, detached primaries in the immediate neighborhood objected to sending their children to larger schools. The TROWBRIDGE SCHOOL, 1857 members of the board were constantly called upon to defend this "innovation," the union school, and they did it by appealing to the parents through a statement of costs. In 1858 there were four union schools with 4,000 pupils, taught at an annual per capita cost of $4, while the primaries' system cost $6.95 per pupil. The union schools were further said to secure the highest order of instruction and discipline at the smallest expense. In the less crowded districts, however, the board continued to maintain primaries. High School Established. The high school movement met with some opposition and with a great deal of indifference, but Mr. Duffield fought so long and hard that the Detroit high school was opened in the Miami building on August 30, 1858. This "A copy of this course of study may be found in the appendix. 3 First American high school established in Boston in 1821. Massachusetts law of 1827 required a high school in every town of 500 families, or over. Others were established as follows: New York City 1825, Philadelphia, 1838; Buffalo, 1839; New Orleans, 1843; Cleveland, 1846; Cincinnati, 1847; Toledo, 1849. About 321 high schools were established by 1860. was made possible by transferring the union school to the new Bishop building just completed at a cost of $23,365. The first principal and faculty was Professor Henry Chaney, formerly connected with the University of Vermont, who was employed at a salary of $1,000. The high-school curriculum during the first year was rather flexible and included only the addition of the classics to the ordinary studies of the union schools. There were 54 students in membership with an average daily attendance of 40, or 74 percent. Some advocated the immediate expansion of this school into a junior college, but Mr. Duffield felt that it should be developed into something similar to the Chicago high school, or "high-toned, substantial academy" preparing both for college and for life. Need for Supervision. The Cass union school was opened in 1861. In 1862 the board had come to realize; first, that the growth of the system and the continuation of a uniform system of instruction demanded the services of a general supervisor or superintendent; and second, that there was great need for well and carefully trained teachers. John Hosmer, chairman of the committee on schools, reported 5 that: 5 Registration (10, 11, 12 grades) for 1921-22 was 9,463. Report of the Board of Education, 1862, pp. 23-24. |