The following table presents the names of the eleven earliest New England high schools cited by Brown and Inglis, together with the dates of their establishment. TABLE IV EARLIEST NEW ENGLAND HIGH SCHOOLSa 4. Haverhill, Massachusetts FOUNDED 1. The English Classical School, now the English High School, Boston 1821 2. The High School for Girls, Boston. Discontinued 1828. Reestablished 1852 ... 1826 3. New Bedford, Massachusetts. 1827 1827 1827 1829 1831 1835 1835 1835 1837 5. Salem, Massachusetts 6. Burlington, Vermont.. 7. Lowell, Massachusetts 8. Medford, Massachusetts.. 9. Augusta, Maine..... 10. Brunswick, Maine II. Pittston, Maine.. Using the data given in the Federal Commissioner's report of 1903-4, Inglis has compiled the following table (Table V) which shows, in a general way at least, the rate of development by decades of high schools in the United States." In view of the fact that the academy was the forerunner of the public high school, no other educational institution played a larger part in determining the character of the latter. In a considerable number of cases academies were converted into public high schools with free tuition. In other cases academies with endowments reduced the tuition charge to a small fee, and thus were able to compete with the free high schools. Chemistry, occupying, as it did, a rather prominent place in the academy, was a part of the large heritage which the high school gained from the academy, and its introduction into high schools was contemporaneous with their development. In this study of the teaching of chemistry in the early high schools, our attention is necessarily directed to those states and cities which first provided public high schools, namely, Massachusetts and Ohio, and the cities Philadelphia, Chicago, and St. Louis. 8 Inglis, Rise of the High School in Massachusetts p. 44. Ibid. p. 155. All data in this table except as otherwise indicated are taken from Brown. (See footnote 6.) TABLE V ESTABLISHMENT OF HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATESB TOTAL The early Massachusetts high schools quite generally provided instruction in chemistry. The findings of Inglis in his study of The Rise of the High School in Massachusetts support the thesis stated on page 1 of this study, namely, that during the first half of the nineteenth century instruction in elementary science was prominent in many secondary schools. The second high school to be established in the United States, the Boston High School for Girls, was the first to provide definitely for chemistry.10 This school was founded 1826. It was provided that the course of study "should include as much chemistry as would be useful in domestic economy." Chemistry was placed in the third year and made a required subject of the first course of study offered. From the reports of Massachusetts high schools issued previous to 1861, Inglis has computed the per cent of the total high school students who were enrolled in the various subjects included in the curricula. The following table summarizes the total 10 Boston High School for Girls. Extracts from the Records of the Boston School Committee. American Journal of Education 1:99. b Some of the schools included in this report apparently reported as the date of their establishment the date at which the academy, which later became the public high school, was established. There is no record of any free high school in existence previous to 1820, yet this table includes thirteen. number of students enrolled in four Massachusetts high schools, together with the per cent of enrollment taking chemistry.11 TABLE VI PER CENT OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN CHEMISTRY IN FOUR MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOLS FOR YEARS INDICATED In addition to the towns included in Table VI, in three towns considered collectively the number of students enrolled in chemistry in 1860 was 41.2 per cent of the number enrolled in algebra," and of five towns considered collectively the number of students enrolled in chemistry in 1860 was 50.7 per cent of the number enrolled in algebra.13 In 1857 Massachusetts passed a law which remained in force until 1898 when it was repealed. This law provided that Every town may and every town containing 500 families or households . . shall maintain a school kept by a master . . . . who . . . . shall give instruction in general history, book-keeping, surveying, geometry, natural philosophy, chemistry, botany and . . . .' 14 In 1860-61 there were in Massachusetts 55 towns of 500 families or over.15 Inglis found that of these 55 towns 52 included chemistry in their course of study. 16 Not only did the high schools in Massachusetts generally teach chemistry, but instruction in chemistry even outstripped the development of high schools. It is significant that in 1840, when 301 towns reported, there were 57 which claimed to offer instruction in chemistry, yet the best information available shows that there were but II public high 17 11 Rise of the High School in Massachusetts, Tables XXVII p. 88, XXXI p. 91, XXXII p. 93. 12 Ibid. Table XXIX p. 89. 13 Ibid. Table XXX p. 90. 14 Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education together with the Twenty-fourth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board 1861 p. 91. 15 Rise of the High School in Massachusetts p. 84. 17 Ibid. Table XVIII p. 75 and Table XXXV p. 155. schools in Massachusetts in 1840. It is interesting to note that other natural-science subjects were taught at this time in many towns which had no high school. Of the same 301 towns reporting in 1840, 170 taught natural philosophy, 58 taught astronomy, 9 taught botany, and 2 taught anatomy and physiology.18 No subject of those commonly taught in secondary schools, except United States history, was more widely taught than natural philosophy, and there were more than twice as many towns offering instruction in chemistry as in geometry. It is evident therefore that the natural-science subjects occupied a very prominent place in the public schools of Massachusetts during the first half of the nineteenth century. TABLE VII NUMBER OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF OHIO, NUMBER A brief consideration of the early high schools in Ohio will show that chemistry was quite generally included in the secondary 18 Rise of the High School in Massachusetts p. 84. 19 Number in parenthesis refers to page in report of Commissioner for year indicated, from which data are taken. course of study in this state also. The first published Annual Report of the Ohio State Commissioner of Common Schools appeared in 1854. In this report and in the subsequent annual reports are given definite statements of the number of students in the state enrolled in high schools, and the number of students enrolled in the various high-school subjects. Table VII presents this data for the years 1854-72 inclusive. Table VIII is inserted for the sake of showing the importance of chemistry in Ohio high schools compared with other high school subjects in the year 1856.20 TABLE VIII NUMBER OF PUPILS STUDYING VARIOUS SUBJECTS IN OHIO IN 1855-56 Chemistry was quite generally included in the high-school curricula of the larger cities in states other than Massachusetts and Ohio. In the Central High School of Philadelphia, established in 1838, and the first in that city, James C. Booth was appointed instructor in chemistry in 1842.21 The first building did not contain a laboratory. In the new building which was occupied in 1854 a laboratory for chemistry and natural philosophy was provided.22 In the first high-school buildings erected in Chicago23 and St. Louis,24 provisions were made for chemical laboratories. Further evidence of the importance of chemistry as a subject in 20 Third Annual Report of the State Commissioner of Common Schools (Ohio) for the Year Ending August 31, 1856 p. 6. 21 History of Central High School of Philadelphia, p. 57. 22 Ibid. p. 142. See also article by John S. Hart, Description of a Public High School in Philadelphia, Barnard's American Journal of Education 1:93. 23 W. H. Wells, Public High School in Chicago, Barnard's American Journal of Education 3:531. J. H. Tice, First Annual Report of the St. Louis Schools, Barnard's American Journal of Education 1:353. C e James C. Booth, 1810-88, was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1829. He afterwards studied at the Rensselaer School and later under Wöhler and Magnus in Germany. He had an eminent reputation as a chemist. He served in the Central High School of Philadelphia from 1842 to 1845, after which he was appointed refiner in the United States Mint at Philadelphia, which position he held until his death. Edmonds' History of Central High School of Philadelphia p. 57. |