VOL. III. NO. 4.

 AKRON AND MASSILLON, OHIO, FEBRUARY, 1849

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY L. ANDREWS & M. D. LEGGETT

 

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT

Of the Executive Committee of the Ohio State Teachers' Association

For the year 1848 

     By the Constitution of this Association, it is made the duty a the Executive Committee " to carry into effect all orders and resolutions of the Association, and to devise and put in operation such other measures not inconsistent with the objects of the Association, as it shall deem hest." It is further made the duly of the Committee to present to the Association an annual report of its proceedings. 

     In accordance with this last requisition, the following report is respectfully submitted. 

     In assuming the responsibility of conducting the business affairs of the Association twelve months since, the Committee selected the following objects as most worthy of their immediate attention: First, the elevation of the Teachers of the State, through the agency of Teachers' Institutes, Course of Lectures to Teachers, Educational Conventions and Associations, and a more conscientious adherence to the law relative to the qualifications of Teachers, on the part of Country Examiners. The second object of the Committee was to encourage a reorganization of the schools in the cities and incorporated towns of the State. This was proposed to be accomplished by' addressing citizens publicly, and stating the importance, practicability, and economy of such a change in the Common School organization as would give to every child of a town or city, an education fitting him for his duties as a citizen ; and, lastly, it was the wish of the Committee, as far and as fast as practicable, to prepare the public mind for a school system for our State, unparalleled for the liberality of its provisions, the wisdom of its measures, and the harmony and efficiency of its operations. 

     During the past year these, objects have been kept steadily in, view. The varied success attending the labors of the Committee will be briefly stated. 

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES 

     Early in January last, the Committee made conditional arrangements for holding Teachers' Institutes in one half of the counties of the State in the spring following, and matured plans for holding in the remaining counties of the State during the succeeding autumn. Teachers of ability and experience were secured to visit these counties and give a course of instruction for one week to the Teachers of the county, provided the County Examiners, Teachers themselves, and friends of education should cooperate in the measures proposed. Several hundred letters were written by the Committee to public men and private citizens in the counties designated, asking their influence and efforts in behalf of the plans of the Committee. The following counties accepted the proposi­tions of the Committee, and Institutes were held during the mouths of March and April last: Ashland, 'Richland, Huron, Licking, Seneca, Stark, Columbiana, Wayne, and Washington. The number of Teachers attending the Institutes in the above counties was between six and seven hundred. 

     During the summer, proposals were issued by the Committee for holding an Institute, during the succeeding autumn in any county of the State where Teachers and friends would cooperate with the Committee. The following counties accepted the propositions of the Committee, and Institutes were held during the past autumn: Montgomery, Medina, Portage, Huron, Seneca, Miami, Sandusky, Champaign, Ashtabula, and Washington. 

     The number of Teachers instructed at the Institutes during the fall in the above counties was about eight hundred, making in all about fifteen hundred who have attended Institutes during the past year in connection with the State Association. 

LECTURES TO TEACHERS 

     In January last the Committee issued proposals for a COURSE of LECTURES TO TEACHERS, on subjects immediately connected with their qualifications and duties, and the improvement of schools, to continue nine weeks, and be given in any county of the State where the friends of education would offer the most liberal inducements to the Committee for the course. From all the propositions received, the offer from Huron county, pledging to the Committee nearly five hundred dollars, with a suitable building, was deemed best, and the course was accordingly given in that county. About one hundred and twenty persons attended the course. 

     The following are selected from among the resolutions passed by the Teachers at the close of the course: 

     Resolved, That as members of the Teachers' Profession, we will en­deavor to honor our calling by rendering ourselves more worthy of it and that we will make every effort, within our reach, suitably to qualify ourselves for discharging its responsible duties in a manner which will contribute to the progress of the great cause of Education in our State. 

     Resolved, That in our peculiar form of government, every citizen of the State ought to receive a substantial English education; and as such an education can be afforded only by an efficient system of public in­struction; therefore the Common Schools of Ohio ought first, last, and all the time, to receive the warmest aid and sympathy of every Philan­thropist, Patriot, and Citizen. 

     Resolved, That in our opinion, Normal Classes, and Teachers' Institutes, as conducted by out State Teachers' Association, are' among the most efficient auxiliaries for promoting the improvement of Teachers, and the consequent elevation of our Common School system. 

     Resolved, That we heartily approve of the manner in which the First Normal Class has been conducted by M. F. COWDERY, Chairman of Ex­ecutive Committee of the Ohio State Teachers' Association, and that we have been extremely gratified with the choice of gentlemen to lecture on the various subjects before us.

     Resolved, That Messrs. M. F. COWDERY, L. ANDREWS, H. BENTON, Prof. S. ST. JOHN, G. W. WINCHESTER, J. B. HOWARD, J. HURTY, T. W. HARVEY, Prof. H. M ANDE, VILLE, Prof. I. J. ALLEN, and M. D. LEGGETT, are entitled to our cordial gratitude for the untiring zeal of their efforts, and for the very able and interesting manner in which they have addressed us on the subjects assigned them. 

     During the summer, proposals were issued by the Committee for another course, similar to the one in Huron county, to be given where the best offer should he made. The offer of Summit county was deemed best, and the course was given in that county during the months of September and October. 

     The class numbered about sixty. Similar resolutions were presented by this class, and similar expressions of approval were given by citizens and the press. 

RE-ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOLS IN TOWNS 

     Gentlemen who have been employed to conduct Teachers' Institutes, have invariably presented the subject of Union Schools in all the counties they have visited, and it is believed that important results have already grown out of their labors. Several towns have already adopted the plan of classifying the pupils, and bringing all the schools under one uniform, and connected system, while others are making the preliminary arrangements to introduce the same general method. 

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