Paris High School - Arena Yearbook (Paris, IL)

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limited to one sex and to a select class. Its liberal curriculum appealed to all classes; the children of the masses were as welcome as those of the classes. But above all else its prestige was enhanced by its attitude toward girls. The academy stood for coeducation. The movement reached its highest development in the country as a whole in 18 50. There were at that time 608 5 academies with an enrollment of 263,000 pupils. The academy was, however, destined to be a temporary institution only, since it did not fulfill the democratic ideal of a public system of education, free from the lowest to the highest state. By the middle of the 19th century opposition to the academy had begun to develop on the ground that it was a select, exclusive, and aristocratic school, catering chiefly to those who could pay fees. A movement now arose for the establishment of a system of free public high schools supported by public taxation, equally open to all. The first high school in the U. S. was founded at Boston in 1821. Unlike the Latin Grammar School and the academy it was an indigenous product, neither the institution nor the idea of it having been received from abroad. To meet the growing spirit of American freedom and democracy, there was needed an educational institution of a different type, one that should be free and under public control like the grammar school and that should offer a practical, cultural course of study like the academy. The free public high school met this demand and it grew, slowly at first, but with startling rapidity after its usefulness was tested and recognized. Up to 1840 the es- tablishment of high schools was confined largely to Massachusetts. The Civil War of necessity checked the development for a time, but after the close of the war high schools multiplied rapidly. There were probably about 500 high schools in the U. S. in 1870, about 800 in 1880, while by 1890, the first year for which complete statistics are available, the number was 2526. By « Yl itf, , : •'. ' , y . V A-, • A.w- . ■ 'V ,v ''■' . 'W- , A • rt '' 'A . . ■ + t ,i, y.r y ••••■ ■ S' .; 4 6.1 4 , v , •. t. ,%,r{ '■ . f . ' irt't ✓?Vf 'tXi.' • ■,! tiff it fru t■ .' . . | trcts r frit t MO ' ■ r 4it A ....j, ........ . f,h ' £ « v . y,,,fn ■ ' ,! . Ls.y m.f , , , . A ... 0 .-A0 V-fe. w ; ,'J . g,’ A A.- wt '• ■ '• '■ l ' ■ ') - tjtiU r- f 4 r i Ai. -T, , . f 4n (''vWv, ■ A A !•»', 4 ' t'u ‘ 01 Y.h.w 4 ,. . f | r ’ I T ‘ I A. « J 4,H . first teachf;r’s CONTRACT IN PARIS 1915 this number had increased to 12,000 and today, according to the latest estimate of the Federal Office of Education in Washington there are slightly fewer than 26,000 high schools in the land, ministering to the needs of approximately 7,000,000 adolescent youths.

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DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH SCHOOLS IN AMERICA The school year of 1934-3 5 marks the tercentenary of the founding of the first high school in America, the Boston Latin School. The establishment of this school was due in great measure to the influence of the Reverend John Cotton, who sought to establish in the new world a school like the Free Grammar School of Boston, England, in which Latin and Greek were taught. The following excerpt was taken from the Boston town records: On the 13th of the second month, 1635,—Att a Generali meeting upon publique notice—it was—Generally agreed upon that our brother Philemon Pormont shall be intreated to become schoelmaster for the teaching and nourtering of children with us.” —Town Records. BOSTON LATIN SCHOOL Beginning with the Latin Grammar School founded at Boston in 1635, the course of development of American secondary education has been thru the Academy to the free public high school. Any student who had mastered the elementary art of reading was eligible to enter the school to train for the professions, regardless of race, creed, or purse. Tuition was free and democratic with one major exception; two hundred years passed before secondary education extended the same privilege to girls. Boston boys 300 years ago studied Latin almost exclusively. There was some instruction in Greek, and of course in religion. Among those who in its early years sat on the rough benches of Boston Latin School, repeating declensions after the master on the platform were Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock, all of whom later became signers of the Declaration of Independence. These young hopefuls drilled, declaimed, and translated from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon during the summer and from eight to four in the winter. The grammar schools, however, were never very popular with the people at large. The people who wished their sons to go to college supported the grammar school; those who could not patronize the college were usually unable to see the practical benefit of pursuing a course of study, the main part of which consisted of Latin and Greek. Consequently, in time it yielded prestige to another kind of institution, the academy. The academy, like the Latin Grammar school, also has an English ancestry. The earliest American academy was the one established at Philadelphia in 1751, which afterwards developed into the University of Pennsylvania. The academy struck a popular chord. It began at a time when secondary education was

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The earlier schools were very different from those of today. The small, rude buildings were plain and often poorly heated. The attendance was usually small, but many of the students were eager to learn and walked long distance in all sorts of weather. The main subjects were readin’ 'ritin’, and ’rithmetic,” and sometimes geography and history. The teachers of the earlier schools also had their difficulties. Often their pupils were unruly and mischievous. The teachers usually had little schooling themselves, high schools being few in number and colleges scarcely heard of. They had much to endure and their small salary was well earned. The schools of today show that great progress has been made. Teachers must have certain qualifications and schools must meet certain requirements to be on the accredited list. Modern schools owe much to those of earlier times, which laid the foundation and made possible those of the present.