JANET A. MILLER
Urban Education and the New City:
Cincinnati's Elementary Schools,
1870
to 1914
In 1903, Richard G. Boone, the
Superintendent of Schools in Cincinnati,
announced that schools in the city were
"gradually workng toward the
modern idea." The elementary
course, he stated, had been enriched,
treatment of children was more humane
and reasonable, and teachers were
awakened to what was being done
elsewhere in the nation.1 While still
plagued with traditional problems of
finance, facilities, and adequate
staffing, a new elementary educational
program had appeared in the city at
the turn of the century. During the late
nineteenth century, the Common
Schools of Cincinnati, a collection of
semi-independent and pseudo-
proprietary district schools struggling
to offer a uniform academic
program, gave way to a new elementary
school system which provided a
wider variety of educational programs
and attempted to meet the varied
needs of children in Cincinnati in the
early 1900s.2
A number of forces at work in the late
nineteenth century influenced
these changes. Increased urbanization
and industrialization, population
growth, and innovations in
transportation and communication combined
to alter the form and structure of the
urban community. The advent of the
telephone and electric streetcars
generated an outward migration of people
on an unprecedented scale and reversed
familiar residential patterns. Mid-
nineteenth century Cincinnati, a walking
city with its 216,239 residents
crowded into the basin, evolved by 1900
into a modern city, with the poor
in the basin or core of the city, the
wealthy on the hilltops or beyond, and
Janet A. Miller is Associate Professor
of Education at Northern Kentucky University,
Highland Heights.
1. Cincinnati, Board of Education, 74th
Annual Report for the School Year Ending June
30, 1903 (Cincinnati, 1903), 25-26. Annual Reports herein after
cited as AR.
2. For a detailed study of the
elementary schools during this period, see Janet A. Miller,
"Urban Education and the New City:
Cincinnati's Elementary Schools, 1870-1914"
(University of Cincinnati, Unpublished
Ed. D. dissertation, 1974).
Urban Education
153
the working classes huddled in between
in an area dubbed by some
sociologists, the Zone of Emergence.
This urban growth and change
created problems of housing, lighting,
safety, health, government and
personal adjustment, and led to efforts
to tighten political and social
control. It influenced traditional
patterns of family and community life and
fostered demands for new or significantly
altered institutions to promote
the social welfare and solve social
problems.3
At the same time, intellectual
perceptions of the city changed. While
earlier residents regarded the city as a
commercial or residential unit whose
leaders were responsible for fostering
and overseeing the economic growth
of the city, or the health, safety and
comforts of its residents, late nineteenth
century urbanites viewed the city as an
organic community-a "natural"
phenomenon, made up of mutually
interrelated components capable of
healthy or unhealthy growth and
functioning. The "internal state of the
urban organism," rather than
". . . growth at any cost," became a
dominant concern of city leaders.4 This
attitude, coupled with diverse
demands to meet particular social and
civic needs in the transformed city,
fostered an interest in the type and
quality of education, rather than just the
amount or extent of schooling available.
Much recent literature on the history of
urban schools has focused on the
development of school bureaucracies, the
rise of professionalism, role of
superintendents, politics, development
of specialized programs, social and
cultural roles of schools and the impact
of schooling on the individual.
Meanwhile, researchers have also tried
to learn more about the actual
experience of schooling for an
individual, or the conduct of education in
the classroom. While the reconstruction
of the past is limited by scanty
evidence and current perceptions of the
world, an examination of the form
of the schools, i.e., policies,
curriculum, procedures, methods, buildings
and classrooms, at certain junctures in
time may add to our understanding
of society and schools. The early
twentieth century witnessed the
emergence of a new form of education in
Cincinnati, which varied greatly
from the common schools of the old
walking city of the mid-nineteenth
century, and provided a vastly different
school experience for the young
people of the community.5
3. Zane L. Miller, Boss Cox's
Cincinnati (New York, 1968), passim. See also Robert H.
Wiebe, The Search for Order,
1877-1920 (New York, 1967); Sam B. Warner, Jr., Streetcar
Suburbs, The Process of Growth in
Boston, 1870-1900 (Cambridge, 1962);
Blake McKelvey,
The City in American History (New
York 1969); and Alexander B. Callow, Jr., Urban History
Yearbook 1977(Leicester, England, 1977), 6-14.
4. Zane L. Miller, "Urban History
in the United States, A Review and an Assessment,"
Urban History Yearbook 1977 (Leicester, England, 1977), 6-14.
5. See, for example, Raymond E.
Callahan, Education and the Cult of Efficiency (Chicago,
154 OHIO HISTORY
The Common Schools of Cincinnati
initially grew in a period when city
boosters sought to make Cincinnati
"the largest place in the West."
Schools were needed to help provide
"the rudiments of education" for the
youth in the many families they hoped to
attract to the young city. In the
late 1820s, city council established two
school districts and gave an elected
five-man Board of Trustees and Visitors
authority to levy and collect taxes
for school purposes. The board members
also served as local, or district,
trustees who had to find suitable sites
for schools, encourage support and
attendance, determine the course of
study and books, and examine the
students at appropriate times each year.6
While competing, in the beginning, with
many private educational
institutions and attracting "those
only who had not the means to study
elsewhere," the common school
system nonetheless grew rapidly. City
boosters and trustees of the schools,
drawn from "some of the best citizens
of Cincinnati," used various
schemes to arouse and maintain interest in the
public schools, and continually pressed
for an extension of common
schools to help in the struggle for survival
in the conflict for supremacy over
other growing urban communities on the
frontier.7
From the initial two districts
established in 1829, the number of schools
grew as the city's population jumped
from approximately 25,000 to a little
over 216,000 by 1869.8 During this early
period, which was characterized
by growth in the number of pupils and
schools, the board remained
preoccupied with meeting demands for
personnel and facilities in order to
offer at least a minimal education to
the increasing number of residents. In
addition, the trustees attempted to
achieve some centralized control so they
could provide a more uniform educational
program for all children across
the city. They voted, in 1846, to
implement a general examination of all the
schools instead of leaving it to the
principal and local trustees, to regulate
the textbooks used in schools, and to
appoint a superintendent who would
supervise and evaluate educational
programs in the district schools.9
1962); Carl F. Kaestle, The Evolution
of American Urban School Systems (Cambridge, 1973);
Stanley K. Schultz, The Culture
Factory (New York, 1973); Selwyn K. Troen, The Public and
the Schools (Columbia, 1975); David B. Tyack, The One Best
System (Cambridge, 1974).
6. J. Miller, op. cit., 3-4,
31-32; Zane L. Miller, "Cincinnati, A Bicentennial Assessment,"
Cincinnati Historical Society
Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Winter,
1976), 231-249. See also Zane
L. Miller, "Scarcity, Abundance and
Urban History," Journal of Urban History Vol. IV, No.
2 (February, 1978), 131-155.
7. Jacob E. Cormany, "Board of
Education," in John B. Shotwell, A History of the
Schools of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, 1902), 30-31; "Board of Education
Members," in Shotwell,
loc. cit., 42-56; William H. Morgan, "General Sketches of the
System," in Shotwell, loc. cit., 6.
8. Richard C. Wade, The Urban
Frontier (Chicago, 1964), 245; J. Miller, op. cit., 29, 39;
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Ninth
Census (Washington, D.C., 1872), 652, 383.
9. Ohio, General Assembly, A History
of Education of the State of Ohio (Columbus,
1876), 107-108; Morgan, op. cit., 10-13.
Thus the "common schools," in the sense of schools
for the common man supported by the
community, began to become "common" in the sense
of equal or the same.
Urban Education
155
Centralization proved difficult,
however, because local trustees still
handled appointment of teachers and
janitors, requests for supplies and
equipment, and problems dealing with
pupil admission and control. As the
number of districts grew from two to
twenty by 1869, the central Board of
Trustees and Visitors actually had only
limited opportunity to control the
quality of education at the district
level, even though they controlled the
content or course of study.10
By the 1870s, Cincinnati's twenty
district schools embodied the common
school ideal. Designed to prepare
students to "meet the requirements of
civilized life and to assume the high
responsibility of American
citizenship," they offered a
universal program in basic literacy skills to
bring about "universal
intelligence." The district schools, as one trustee
noted, needed to be "a whole, unit,
an entirety, a totality," where a "sound
English education" could be
imparted to all, "high or low, rich or poor, Jew
or Gentile." Supporters of the
common schools called them "a miniature
society," where children could
learn to meet each other on an equal basis of
rights and duties, and urged that all
children in the community experience
the same common education.11
Cincinnati's common schools in the late
nineteenth century concentrated
on moral training and character
development. The board hoped a few years
of schooling would help young people in
the community achieve lives of
"respectability and
happiness." Therefore, they mandated a Protestant
oriented, textbook centered program
which they believed would produce
moral, disciplined, and patriotic
citizens. They charged teachers in all
district schools with the task of
fostering cleanliness, neatness, obedience,
order, and good health, while
Superintendent John Hancock spoke also of
gentleness, kindness, forgiveness,
temperance, courage, honesty, and
truthfulness as desirable goals for
children. Hancock urged teachers to use
devotional and moralistic songs and
recitations as well as the Bible in the
Opening Exercises which were required
the first fifteen minutes of each day,
with children sitting in "First
Position"-their feet upon the floor, backs
against the desk, and hands folded in
front. In addition, teachers
scrupulously reported any tardiness or
truancy, as they tried to develop
habits of punctuality, regularity, and
obedience.l2
School for many children began at the
age of six, when they entered
Grade F, the lowest level, and joined
other boys and girls in the struggle up
10. J. Miller, op. cit., 5, 35,
58, 71-72.
11. Ibid., 5, 30, 73-74, 102-103,
175, 197-198; Lawrence A. Cremin, The American
Common School, An Historic Conception
(New York, 1951); Cincinnati
Commercial, April
14, 1872, January 31, 1876, February 3,
1876.
12. J. Miller, op. cit., 52, 73,
105, 175; 41st A R, 1870, 65; Cincinnati Commercial,
April 14, 1872; The Principal of
Twentieth District School, Outlines of Moral Exercisesfor
Public Schools (Cincinnati, 1871), Passim; Cincinnati, Board of
Education, Minutes,
February 21, 1870.
156 0HIO HISTORY
the common school ladder to Grade A, the
highest-a level reached by
relatively few, since failure and
dropout rates were quite high.13 Scholars
worked in overcrowded, unadorned school
rooms under the direction of
women teachers, or male assistants and
principals, mechanically
memorizing a rigidly prescribed course
of study which included reading,
writing, arithmetic, grammar, spelling,
penmanship, composition, and
geography, as well as music, language
study, and drawing. The board
allowed little or no deviation from the
adopted course, asserting that
"grading, course of study, and
textbooks prescribed, shall be strictly
adhered to, and no other studies or
textbooks prescribed, shall be
introduced, nor shall any pupil be
required to provide or be permitted to
use other books than those herein
specified." Trustees on the board not
only controlled the course and the books
used, but specified amounts of
material to be covered by a certain date
in the school year.14
The school day, which began at 9:00 A.M. and ended
anywhere from 3:30
to 4:30 P.M., depending on the grade
level and the month of the year,
followed much the same routine all over
the city. Although it is difficult to
reconstruct what actually occurred
within the various classrooms, the
limited evidence available reveals a
picture of mechanical, highly
formalized instruction demanding rote
learning and memorization. In
most common school classrooms, children
copied number combinations
from the blackboard or dictation, read
or recited in unison, and competed
for high percentage marks in the daily
individual recitation periods.
Reading instruction in the Phonic
Readers and McGuffey's Readers
consisted of drills in oral reading,
with an emphasis on correct
pronunciation and elocution. Teachers
relied heavily on "concert
recitation" in reading instruction
as well as in other areas, which reportedly
resulted in "loud, harsh
sing-song" tones echoing through the halls of the
schools. In the primary grades, pupils
learned the "sounds" and the names
of letters by copying script letters on
slates or working with movable letters
and words, while in the upper grades
pupils copied special exercises on
paper tablets to develop composition
skills. They practiced speaking in
short sentences during object lessons in
the primary grades, and in all
grades teachers stressed parts of
speech, rules of English, and the use of
"pure," correct language. In
the lower grades, children worked arithmetic
problems on slates, while in the upper
grades they used math textbooks
which stressed "mental"
arithmetic. Some pupils may have been aided in
their practice with arithmeticons, a
type of abacus. In geography, which
began in Grade C (the fourth year),
pupils memorized descriptions and
13. Many Children withdrew from school
by the age of ten or eleven. 41st AR, 1870, 4-13,
151.
14. Ibid., 211.
Urban Education 157
definitions, relying on ideas developed
in object lessons. They used globes
as well as geography textbooks, from
which teachers tried to "fix in the
minds of the pupils the facts therein
mentioned." Very few children in the
common schools studied any history, as
it was not introduced until the
intermediate school, a level attained by
only a few.15
The course of study included several
special subjects. Drawing lessons
became a regular part of the program in
1868. These lessons, consisting of
rigidly structured and systematized
exercises, supposedly trained "the hand
to be more skillful. . . the eye to have
a true and keener perception of the
beautiful in art and in nature."
Common school pupils also studied music
and practiced gymnastics. Although
originally taught by special teachers,
in the 1870s regular classroom teachers
generally assumed the responsibili-
ty for music instruction and directing
daily calisthenics with dumbbells and
rings. In most of the districts, the
schools offered a program of shared time
instruction in German. Upon petition
from a sufficient number of parents,
the local district school had to provide
such instruction, and by the early
1870s approximately 6,358 pupils were
enrolled. The German program
included reading, penmanship,
composition, translation, grammar, object
lessons, and orthography.16
Each spring the superintendent and some trustees
personally examined
pupils in all the district schools,
evaluating work in reading, writing,
spelling, and a few of the other
subjects. During the exam, individual pupils
read material from the board, as well as
the Phonic Readers in Grade F and
the McGuffey Readers, textbooks,
and special dictation in the later grades.
Examiners asked questions about every
subject covered in the grade, to
which children responded orally. The
questions essentially measured recall
of facts and rules, and provided the
basis for determining percentages for
each child. According to board rules,
students had to achieve at least a 75
percent average on the examination in
order to be promoted to the next
grade. In addition to the examination of
students, the visiting committee
also carefully observed and evaluated
the order the classroom teacher
maintained in the room.17
15. J. Miller, op. cit., 102-126,
133. Object lessons, a Pestalozzian notion, according to
Delia Lathrop, principal of the Normal
School in Cincinnati by 1870, were "conversational
lessons" in which "an object
or its representation is studied by the pupils in the use of their
various senses . . . given, primarily
for the purpose of encouraging children to investigate
for themselves, and secondarily, for the
knowledge of the facts to be discovered-i.e. first, for
discipline; second, for
instruction." NEA, Addresses and Journal of Proceedings of the
American Normal School and the
National Teachers' Association Session for the Year 1870,
51-55. Lathrop came to Cincinnati as a
result of Superintendent John Hancock's contacts
with Edward A. Sheldon and the Oswego
Normal School. Cincinnati, Board of Education,
Minutes, March 30, 1868, January 10, 1866, August 2, 1869.
16. 41st AR, 1870, 48-49, 55, 64,
111-114; Cincinnati Commercial, May 22, 1870; J. Miller,
op. cit., 111-116.
17. Cincinnati Commerical, May
22, 1870, June 24, 1870, July 10, 1870; 41stAR, 1870,48-
49; J. Miller, op. cit., 121-123.
158 OHIO HISTORY
The yearly exam system served as a means
of control over the district
schools, for it provided a strong
incentive for teachers to adhere to the
course of study. However, the
"memoritor" tests, as they were called,
produced great anxiety on the part of
students, according to some
observers. Parents, some educators, and
local critics of the schools
frequently expressed concern about the
exams and the over-emphasis on
memorization and rote learning.
Opponents to testing noted the strain on
the pupils, possibilities for error in
determining percentages, and other
forms of "unfair" treatment of
individual pupils in almost yearly attacks on
the system. Letters in the daily press
complained about the severity of the
examinations and the intense pressure on
the pupils who failed to get
transferred. It was, some said,
"not that they are really unfit to go forward,
but because the memory so long on the
strain fails at the critical moment."
In addition, some questioned the
practice of using the results of exams to
evaluate individual teacher performance.
Despite criticism, however,
yearly examinations remained a part of
the school program for many years
and contributed, no doubt, to uniformity
in the schools.18
Many children in the common school
classrooms in the 1870s suffered
from more than the boredom of concert
recitation, pressure of
memorization, and abuses of the
examination and percentage system.
Evidence indicates that teachers and
principals across the city used
corporal punishment freely. Large
classes, the mechanical nature of
instruction, and pressure to memorize as
many facts as possible combined
to make classroom management a difficult
problem. Superintendent
Hancock believed teachers needed
"strong will, great force of character,
and unwavering persistence" in
their efforts to control the pupils. However,
while Hancock urged teachers to use
efficient methods, strong character,
and a high moral tone in their
classrooms, many teachers reportedly
preferred other methods, such as the use
of a "ratan" on the hands, ear
pulling, whipping and locking children
in closets, and other forms of
physical punishment. Reports of severe
punishment and complaints from
parents appeared frequently in the
public press and resulted in numerous
investigations. Although the board tried
to establish some general rules on
punishment, to protect board employees
as well as pupils, teachers
continued the practice and according to
many observers made "lives of the
children miserable."19
18. Cincinnati, Board of Education, Minutes,
August 24, 1868, April 19, 1869, May 3,
1869, June 14, 1869, July 14, 1869; 41st
AR, 1870, 51-51; Cincinnati Commercial, September
4, 1870.
19. Ibid., September 4, 1870; J.
Miller, op. cit., 126-129; Cincinnati, Board of Education,
Minutes, August 24, 1868, April 19, 1869, May 3, 1869, June
14,1869, July 12,1869; 41st AR,
1870, 50-51.
Urban Education
159
The schools in Cincinnati were common in
several senses. Children from
all segments of the city's population,
with the exception of blacks, attended
school together. Although most children
of wealthy families attended
private schools, and well over 40
percent of Cincinnati's school age children
attended parochial schools, the common
schools attracted sufficient
numbers of students from all levels of
society that pupils mingled with a
mixture of children from differing
economic and ethnic backgrounds.
Since Cincinnati remained in 1870
essentially a walking city, the
population was not yet sorted out
residentially by economic class and
nationality. As a result, each school
had a share of the poor children of the
city who, according to one principal,
were frequently tardy and
unfortunately missed the opening
exercises. Children from native-born
stock studied and played with children
whose parents recently immigrated
from villages and provinces of the
British Isles and Europe.20
The board was unable, however, to
provide a common setting for
schooling, as conditions and facilities
varied somewhat across the city. In
1870 most of the residents of Cincinnati
still lived within the basin of the
city, making Cincinnati one of the most
densely crowded metropolises in
America. At the same time, the city was
annexing territory to which people
previously "hemmed in by the
surrounding hills" now moved, as a result of
the horse-drawn street railway and the
incline. Shifts in population resulted
in overcrowded conditions in school
houses in some areas and empty
rooms in others. Immigration, increased
use of the public schools,
attendance in the city schools by
children living outside the city limits, and
the postponement of construction of new
facilities during the Civil War
contributed to the overcrowded
conditions. Common school pupils
frequently attended classes with as many
as fifty-five other children of
varied backgrounds, and in several
districts only questions of sanitation
kept trustees from allowing up to
sixty-five pupils in a room. When main
schoolhouses became intolerably filled,
trustees formed "colonies" in
rented rooms near the main building,
added to or changed existing
structures, or used half-day sessions
for the lower grades. During the early
1870s, the board altered many existing
facilities and completed construc-
tion of three new buildings in the
crowded basin and Over-the-Rhine, a
"dense and growing population"
area which served as a port of entry for
many of the German immigrants pouring
into the city. Concurrently,
children in the newly annexed areas
received instruction in a wide variety of
situations as the board faced the
difficult task of providing schools for a
scattered population. In those areas,
one board president recommended
20. Ibid., 151; The Principal of
the Twentieth District School, op. cit.; Robert L. Black,
The Cincinnati Orphan Asylum (Cincinnati, 1952), 118,153; Cincinnati, Board of
Education,
Minutes, August
13, 1868, January 25, 1869, March 3, 1869, January 13, 1869.
160 OHIO HISTORY
building "many small houses for
primary schools . . . as near as possible
to the centers of population." The
older children, he reasoned, could be
expected to walk longer distances to
finish their common school course.
Meanwhile, the board maintained classes
in various buildings or old school
facilities which had been used prior to
annexation.21
Although city facilities differed
somewhat, First District School, located
at the intersection of two busy streets
on the near northeast side of the city,
was considered "typical mid-century
school house construction." The four-
story brick and stone building, with the
first floor well above street level,
was located on the sidewalk edge. Inside
the building, classrooms
surrounded a large center hall from
which separate steps for boys and girls
led to the upper floors and basement.
The classrooms, lighted by four or
five windows on the side, generally
contained a variety of furniture. In spite
of board attempts to shift to more
standardized equipment, some students
still used the old primary or recitation
benches which held several children
others sat at the newer double desks and
seats, and a few had the benefit of
single desks. Trustees wanted more
uniformity in furniture which would be
"in accordance with the principles
of anatomy and physiology," yet they
were undecided about a complete adoption
of single desks and chairs.
Although single desks allowed for more
adjustment to individual sizes,
they also required more space and
therefore might result in the need for
additional rooms and buildings. In
addition to furniture for students, the
rooms generally contained a teacher's
table, washstand, and various
teaching materials.22
Physical conditions of the schools and
surroundings were especially
poor in certain parts of the city. While
trustees approved remodeling or the
construction of new schoolhouses in some
districts, many of the older
buildings-particularly those in the
inner-city-deteriorated. Children in
one district attended an old school
located on a noisy, crowded
thoroughfare which reportedly
interferred with the work of the teachers
and pupils. The building lacked good air
and the lighting was so poor it was
"necessary to light gas every day
except when the sun shines." In another
part of the city, residents complained
that the district school building had
"old and dingy rooms," and was
the "most ancient and most poorly
constructed school-house of the
city." Parents of children in one
neighborhood argued that their
schoolhouse was "delapidated, dingy and
entirely too small for the necessities
of the district." Trustees and residents
21. Harry L. Senger," The
Cincinnati Schools, Then, Now, and Through the Years," article
from the Cincinnati Times-Star, April
25, 1940. In Clippings File, Cincinnati Historical
Society, Cincinnati, Ohio; 41st A R,
1870, 18-19; Cincinnati, Board of Education, Minutes,
July 11, 1870; J. Miller, op. cit., 90-94.
22. Ibid., 90-98; Cincinnati,
Board of Education, Minutes, July 11, 1870; 41st AR, 1870,
18-19.
Urban Education
161
complained about old, unsafe, and
inefficient hearing equipment in many
buildings and deplored the lack of
playground space.23 Throughout the late
nineteenth century the board repeatedly
suffered considerable criticism for
its failure to keep pace with the need
for more and improved school
facilities, while board members sought
to limit spending within certain
financial boundaries imposed upon them by
the continued shortage of
adequate funding and public demands for
economy and efficiency.
The basic course of study remained
essentially the same throughout the
1870s and 1880s. Increasingly, however,
educators and community leaders
began to express concern about the type
of education provided by the
district schools and the effective role
of the school in the city. Some raised
questions about what subjects children
should study in the common
schools and how they could best be
prepared for the "rough and turbulent
business and commercial" world.
They wondered how the schools could
educate the diverse pupils then being
compelled to attend school for a
longer period of time, and how they
could deal with the "dull pupil," as well
as those inclined to scholarship. Others
doubted the efficiency of the kind of
education provided by the common schools
and complained that schools
were currently not meeting the needs of
pupils "too poor to go further," or
turning out men and women "competent
to the ordinary duties of
citizenship."24 Meanwhile,
some members of the community complained
about the lack of moral training and
criticized young people's behavior,
characterized by the press as
"rudeness and savagery." Other critics of the
schools questioned instructional
techniques which involved great masses of
material which children copied from the
board, and charged that the three
R's in Cincinnati meant "rule,
rote, and routine."25
At the same time, superintendents
publicly defended the work of the
schools, and teachers and principals
struggled to upgrade their instruction
and the school program. School
authorities proudly pointed to successful
exhibits of students' work displayed at
various expositions in the United
States and Europe as evidence of the
high quality of instruction in
Cincinnati schools. Teachers tried to
improve or keep abreast of
developments in education by attending
institutes on teaching methods,
participating in after-school
instructional classes and lectures, adopting
more precise means of classifying and
grading pupils in order to meet more
individual levels of ability, and making
occasional changes in the
23. Ibid., 38; 42nd AR, 1871,
1, 13; 45th AR, 1874, 11; J. Miller, op. cit., 90-94,
202-205.
24. Ibid., 102; Cincinnati, Board
of Education, Minutes, November 8, 1869; 41st AR, 1870,
203.
25. J. Miller, op. cit., 123,
178, 179, 186, 210, 280; Cincinnati Commercial, May 6, 1872,
March 8, 1874, February 2, 1876, March
18, 1877, May 21, 1878, June 23, 1882; Cincinnati
Gazette, August 22, 1883; Proceedings of the Ohio Teachers'
Association at Its Twenty-Fifth
Annual Meeting, 1873, 23.
162 OHIO HISTORY
curriculum and textbooks.26 Superintendent
Hancock at one point
reminded critics that teachers could
only do so much because they had to
teach "en masse."27
By the 1870s, Cincinnati's educational
leaders had managed to forge a
fairly uniform common school program out
of the loosely organized and
diverse district schools which had
initially appeared in the city. In order to
provide for the safety and comfort of
its residents, the city looked to these
schools to instruct its youth in basic
literacy skills and moral behavior in
the hope that they would be able to
participate in community life as law-
abiding, self-sufficient citizens. As
the city and the perception of the city
changed, however, it became increasingly
clear to some that the old
common school program did not meet the
needs of the community.
Concerned about the healthy growth and
functioning of all parts of the
organic city, sensitive in a new way to the
diverse needs of the population,
and no longer secure in the belief that
a common, universal education
would guarantee social stability,
progress, or economic efficiency,
educators and community leaders began to
look for new ways to provide
the kind of schooling which would be
more appropriate for all children.
Operating under the notion that the
schools should help promote a new
urban discipline, which would result in
a "more humane and democratic
society" and an improved
environment in the "organic city," community
leaders sought to implement an even more
efficient and far-reaching school
system for mass education. Gradually,
more centralized authority in the
superintendent's office placed greater
decision-making power in the hands
of the professionals and facilitated
efforts to reach all levels of the
community with educational programs.
Superintendents John B. Peaslee,
Emerson E. White, William H. Morgan,
Richard G. Boone, and Frank B.
Dyer all initiated some changes in the
school program during their tenures,
but Boone and Dyer, in particular, made
fairly radical changes in the
course of study and encouraged the board
to open special classes in order to
provide an educational program which
would help all children fit into an
effective role and contribute to the
healthy functioning of the city.
Educators continued to emphasize moral
training, but also tried to
influence and direct children's
attitudes about scholarship, respect for law,
peace and prosperity, kindness and
mercy, conservation of the natural
environment, personal and public health,
patriotism, and citizenship. In
26. J. Miller, op. cit., 160,
176,215,265-266,294-295;51st AR, 1880, 212; 56th AR, 1885,
138; 59th AR, 1888, 44-46; 60th
AR, 1889, 49-50; Cincinnati Commercial, March 9, 1873,
January 30, 1873; Cincinnati, Board of
Education, Minutes, October 6, 1813.
27. National Education Association,
Department of Superintendence, Cincinnati (1915),
69.
Urban Education 163 |
|
the process they drew upon the home, family, and neighborhood, and brought about greater involvement of the school in the community.28 By 1915 Cincinnati's fifty-seven elementary schools offered a new and expanded educational program designed to "suit the varying needs of the pupils." Not only had the number of schools increased, but the structure, role, and content of the new schools differed from that of the earlier nineteenth century common schools. Characterized by centralization, bureaucratization, professionalism, and diversification, the new urban school system assumed a greater custodial role for larger numbers of children and tried to provide a suitable but varied education for all its clients.29 Cincinnati educators in the early twentieth century believed schools could contribute to making all classes "contributing members of society." They wanted to provide the kind of education "that would best fit them [the children] for their particular sphere in life." In order to reach more children, educators encouraged the passage and enforcement of truancy laws and tried to make schools more attractive to more children for longer periods of time. Increasingly concerned about social control in what seemed to be a chaotic and disintegrating environment, and adamant in
28. J. Miller, op. cit., 378-379. 29. Ibid., 379-395, 416-434; 71st AR, 1900, 38-39; 72nd AR, 1901, 36; Cincinnati Gazette, May 19, 1901. |
164 OHIO HISTORY
their belief that the schools could help
cure the social ills of the urban
community, they spoke of the need for
"systematic, simple, and concrete
training in the vital civic
relations," "healthful employment of energy,"
"care of the person," and the
importance of overcoming, modifying, and
neutralizing the "unfavorable and
antagonistic influences of the home and
the street." They did not, however,
ignore the needs of the individual child
and expressed concern about the
"talent and capabilities of all pupils."30
The elementary schools no longer offered
the narrow uniform common
school course of study organized around
the three R's which was designed
in the mid-nineteenth century to produce
moral citizens steeped in the
Protestant ethic. The new schools
offered a new education which included a
wide variety of courses and activities
designed to equip students with
knowledge and skills necessary for a variety
of roles in an organic urban
environment. They stressed efficiency,
punctuality, regularity, obedience,
order, industry, self-reliance, and
resourcefulness, as well as social virtues
for the greater good of the community,
and sought to develop habits of
cleanliness, awareness of health and
sanitation rules, and respect for public
and private property as aspects of civic
responsibility.31
The school program changed significantly
under the new education.
With the help of a wide variety of local
organizations, including labor,
businessmen, women's and neighborhood
groups, educators revised the
elementary course of study considerably.
Designed to "meet local
condition," get and "keep in
harmony with the educational sentiment of the
age," the reconstructed curriculum
continued to emphasize the so-called
"essential branches," such as
reading, arithmetic, geography, and
grammar, and included most of the same
special areas such as drawing,
music, and physical education. However,
the nature and content of these
subject areas changed and some new
subjects were added. Adapted to the
needs, interests, and the growth of the
normal child in "response to
investigations in child
psychology," the new curriculum came as a protest
to the "overmechanism of methods
and overformalism" of the old
program.32 Instead of a list
of textbooks, the new course of study outlined
the overall program and served as a
guide to the selection and sequence of
topics. The board no longer rigidly
mandated specific amounts of pages or
material to be covered in a specific
time, but allowed more freedom for
30. J. Miller, op. cit., 385-387,
391-395, 427; 71st AR, 1900, 37-38; 72nd AR, 1901, 35-36,
42-43; 79th AR, 1908, 47; 81st
AR, 1910, 26; Cincinnati Tribune, September 6, 1900, April 6,
1908, May 10, 1908; Cincinnati, Board of
Education, Minutes, July 20, 1901, May 5, 1902.
31. J. Miller, op. cit.,
385-384,419,422; Cincinnati, Board of Education, Minutes, July29,
1901; 71st AR, 1900, 37-38; 72ndAR,
1901, 35-36; 75th AR, 1904, 27; 77th AR, 1906,52-53;
79th AR, 1908, 50; Cincinnati
Tribune, September 24, 1904, July 2, 1905, March 7, 1908.
32. J. Miller, op. cit., 396,
419; Superintendent Richard G. Boone was a personal friend of
and particularly impressed with G.
Stanley Hall.
Urban Education
165
principals and teachers to choose
lessons on the basis of what they believed
most useful to the children, given the
conditions which prevailed in the
particular situation. Courses of study
included suggestions for teaching the
branches of study, and recommended
"practical instruction and applica-
tion" wherever possible in an
effort to relate the various school studies to
the real life and community of the
child.33
The curriculum now emphasized
citizenship education. Teachers
endeavored to develop civic
responsibility and community awareness, as
they stressed values which encouraged
respect for private and public
property and the care and improvement of
the city. Superintendent Dyer
recommended the "actual
participation of pupils" in the affairs of the
school and community. Some districts
formed civic clubs, and teachers
called upon local residents and
businesses to help in special projects.
Students participated in cleanup
activities in the school yard and streets,
and teachers organized older children to
help younger ones at the
dangerous street crossings. In addition,
the Business Men's Club urged
schools to teach Cincinnati history in
order to strengthen civic pride.34
Citizenship education was supplemented
by the addition of history and
civics to the academic program at all
levels. Each year children focused on
some phase of local, state, or national
history, as well as simple studies of
primitive life or contemporary foreign
peoples and civilizations. The year's
work centered on a certain theme and
helped children learn "civic
operations," "rights,
privileges and authority of family life," "service of a
rich commercial neighborhood life,"
and the "advantages of public control
in affairs of great public
interest." In addition, the elementary curriculum
now included nature study and
"occupations." Children studied physical
conditions which influenced industries
and various occupations of man,
exemplified by local trades and economic
interests, and examined
geographical and industrial relations of
the great nations of the world.35
Other traditional academic subjects
remained in the curriculum.
Contrary to previous practice, the board
permitted, indeed encouraged, the
use of materials other than adopted
texts and teachers were urged to relate
the skills and content of the various
branches to the practical lives of the
children. Pupils still used McGuffey Readers,
because they had "carefully
graded" selections and considerable
subject matter for character building.
In addition, however, children read from
a wide variety of materials,
including library books from their
classroom or school libraries. Other
English language subjects, including
phonics, writing, spelling, dictation,
33. J. Miller, op. cit., 385-386,
419.
34. Ibid., 422-425.
35. Ibid., 386-387; 71st AR,
1900, 28; 73rd AR, 1902, 52-53; Commercial Tribune,
September 6, 1900.
166 OHIO HISTORY
language, and composition, received
considerable attention, especially in
the primary grades. In all areas, the
superintendents encouraged teachers
to make the work both useful and
entertaining and focus on the practical
application of skills in an effort to
prepare students for the business and
commercial world. Superintendent Dyer
personally enlisted the direct aid
of the postmaster in Cincinnati to help
teach correct styles of letter writing
and addressing and build an
understanding of the regulations of the post
office.36
Concern about the practical application
of the work, as well as meeting
the interests of children, fostered
changes in textbook selections and
methods of instruction. The board tried
to adopt texts which appealed to
the interests of children and which gave
more attention to social and
practical application. Superintendent
Boone initiated intra-class grouping
of students so that one group could work
with the teacher while the other
engaged in "self-directed studies
in constructive seat work." Further,
children actually participated in a wide
range of activities, including the
production of plays, special zoo
programs, and trips to the public library
for planned instruction on the use of
the library facilities.37
The special areas reflected the new
education, as well. The drawing
program, which changed into art,
stressed "inventive and creative" work
and included a series of lessons
designed to develop individual creative
abilities, imagination, free expression,
and knowledge of the art world.
Children studied reproductions of old
masters, using either "penny size"
study pictures or larger copies borrowed
from the public library, and
explored the lives and works of the
different artists. Meanwhile, they
engaged in free hand drawing and
constructive work.38
Concern for the physical well-being of
the students resulted in more
athletic activities for young people to
"provide moral rescue and control,"
and greater emphasis on personal health
and hygiene. Teachers led
children in daily calisthenics, not only
for recreation, but to improve
posture and health. Students engaged in
a variety of individual and team
sports and some boys participated in
inter-school sport events organized
during these years. Individual schools
held field days as part of the whole
physical education program and awarded
badges for achievement in
various physical endeavors. Schools
responded to pleas of health officials
and others in the community by making
special provisions for children
36. J. Miller, op, cit., 331,
388,422,387-390,423-426; Commercial Tribune, September 28,
1908, October 28, 1908, September 25,
1913, January 11, 1914; 80th AR, 1909, 39.
37. J. Miller, op. cit., 384,
387-388, 390.
38. Ibid., 420-421; Commercial
Tribune. March 7, 1905, June 2, 1905, November 7, 1905;
77th A R, 1906, 52-53; 79th A R, 1908, 50.
Urban Education 167
with health problems, expanding the
health and hygiene programs in the
classrooms, and bringing about
improvements in physical conditions in the
schools.39
While changing the scope and focus of
the traditional academic course,
providing for civic awareness and
responding more fully to physical needs
of students, the board also addressed
itself to social and economic
responsibilities of the schools. After
years of agitation on the part of
educators and community leaders, the
schools opened manual training and
domestic science classes in 1905. By
1912 some 10,000 boys and girls
worked with wood and various tools, or
in sewing and cooking. While
many of the schools in the city
initially introduced manual training and
domestic science classes at the
sixth-grade level, several in the tenement
districts provided instruction at a
lower grade. In some basin schools, for
example, girls worked in hand sewing in
the lower grades and machine
sewing in the upper grades. One school
gave instruction in "all the activities
of the home," while another helped
girls learn to work with simple tools
and boys prepare "plain and
substantial" meals in addition to their usual
40
manual training program.
While recognizing the school's role in
preparing children for life after
elementary school years, the board also
accepted the notion of the school's
responsibility in the pre-school years.
Initially allowing private
organizations to use school facilities
for kindergarden work during the
1890s, the board assumed responsibility
for two classes by 1905 and by
1915 maintained fifty-five public
kindergardens across the city. In addition
to classroom activities which stressed
"correct conduct and cooperation"
and prepared children "for school,
for a healthy home life, for good
citizenship, and the reception of high
ideals," the program included some
visiting and mother's clubs, which
facilitated home-school relations and
helped spread the new urban discipline.41
Educators demonstrated considerable and
growing awareness of the
influence of the home community. Noting
that pupils of Cincinnati's
schools "represent all dines,
nations and conditions," Superintendent
William H. Morgan initiated the
collection of background family
information about children who entered
school in the 1890s. Activities
39. J. Miller, op. cit., 419-420;
79th AR, 1908,57;80th AR, 1909,44,83,96;83rdAR, 1912,
69; Commercial Tribune, September
19, 1911, June 5, 1909.
40. Cincinnati, Board of Education, Minutes,
May 16, 1881, March 1, 1886, April 12, 1886;
J. Miller, op. cit., 280-281,
429-430, 391-392; Cincinnati Gazette, August 17, 1883, September
4, 1883, March 2, 1886.
41. M. Miller, op. cit., 393,427-429;
NEA, Department of Superintendence, op. cit., 71-71;
75th AR, 1904, 34; 76th AR, 1905, 11, 48; 77th AR, 1906, 59;
78th AR, 1907, 22; 79th AR,
1908, 58-71; 81st AR, 1910, 9; Commercial Tribune, August
20, 1905, November 26, 1905,
February 1, 1906, December 15, 1906,
September 4, 1907.
168 OHIO HISTORY
such as "poor children's
festivals" held at Music Hall or local enter-
tainments planned jointly by teachers,
pupils, and local citizens brought,
Morgan claimed, "parents and
teachers into closer relations and helped
teachers become more aware of the
wretched home conditions of some of
their pupils." And Mothers'
Meetings and Parents' Associations,
organized in the early 1900s, and home
visitation programs carried out by
classroom teachers contributed to home
and school relations.42
New education not only resulted in
changes in the curriculum, but
brought about changes in instructional
practices. In the early 1890s Joseph
Mayer Rice, a social and educational
critic writing in The Forum, claimed
Cincinnati's schools were "scarcely
opened . . . to the'new'" education,
as most teachers used mechanical methods
"to cram the minds of children
with words . . . or cut and dried
facts" and that "corporal punishment
still rules supreme." Some
classrooms in the early 1900s still matched that
description. Yet, evidence suggests many
teachers tried to vary instruc-
tional techniques in order to make
learning more interesting and
meaningful and employed "other
means of government and discipline quite
as effective as whipping." Some
teachers involved children in realistic
activities such as collecting and
arranging illustrations and materials for
displays, or construction projects with
wood, clay, sand and paper mache'.
Others utilized a wide variety of
instructional supplies and materials such
as stereopticans, slides, globes, and
specially prepared cabinets on birds,
insects, wood, vegetables, and rocks
borrowed from the Society of Natural
History. Teachers in some schools
encouraged independent work and self-
directed study, and experimented with
intra-class grouping to meet the
great diversity in potential and
achievement among the pupils. Moreover,
responding to the belief in the school's
role of contributing to the healthy
balance and functioning of each child as
an important member of the
organic community, teachers used
pictures and flowers in many classrooms
to create a more beautiful environment
in the room. This, they believed,
would "uplift and inspire
children" and combat the bad influences of the
urban industrial society.43
In addition to a new education in the
regular classroom, the Cincinnati
system opened educational opportunities
to children with special needs
42. J. Miller, op. cit., 339-341,
432, 407; Cincinnati; Board of Education, Minutes,
December 1, 1890, January 22, 1894,
March 19, 1894, September 17, 1894; Commercial
Tribune, December 19, 1897; Commercial Gazette, December
23, 1894, May 19, 1901; 72nd
AR, 1901, 67.
43. Joseph M. Rice, "Out Public
School System: Schools of Buffalo and Cincinnati," The
Forum, XIV (November, 1892), 294-303; J. Miller, op. cit., 389-390,
425-426; NEA,
Department of Superintendence, op.
cit., 96. 75th A R, 1904,24; 77th A R, 1906,62; 78th A R,
1907, 86; 79th A R, 1908, 47; Commercial
Tribune, September 7, 1900, November 17, 1908,
November 18, 1908; Cincinnati, Board of
Education, Minutes, May 21, 1901, October 21,
1901, April 6, 1902.
Urban Education
169
through a number of special programs and
classes. Children could, if
needed, attend a special school for the
blind, for newly arrived immigrants,
truant and delinquent boys, stammerers,
mentally defective or "low
mentality," or "backward or
retarded children." The board also
maintained two "rapidly moving
classes" for the exceptionally bright, and
open air classes for tubercular or
anemic children. They used Douglass
School in Walnut Hills as a separate,
but reportedly outstanding, school
for black pupils drawn from all over the
city. Inspired by the desire to make
all classes "contributing members
of society," the board operated
continuation schools for apprentices who
might otherwise not be able to
attend school, and summer academic
schools for students who had "failed
in the previous year's work."44
Increased involvement of the community
and the schools, and greater
awareness of physical and social as well
as intellectual needs of children,
fostered other important changes in the
elementary schools. Efforts on the
part of local citizens resulted in the
opening of school playgrounds, penny
lunch programs, vacation schools, and a
school gardening program. In the
late 1890s, under considerable public
pressure, the board opened several
school yards in the basin and a few
other densely populated districts to
children under fourteen. In the
following years, more schools opened their
gates to neighborhood children for
afternoon and summer playgrounds.
The penny lunch program, instituted in
several of the downtown schools by
concerned lay women and teachers,
provided a healthful meal of hot
weiners, baked beans in a cone, graham
crackers, candy, and fruit. Summer
vacation schools, originally
"confined to the densely-populated sections of
the city," offered children
opportunities to participate in arts and crafts,
musical and physical activities, and
included weekly excursions for
children and concerts for mothers. In
addition, by 1912 twenty school
gardening programs, supervised by the
Cincinnati's Woman's Club,
introduced children to a direct
experience with nature and "took the place
of the dirty yard" in many areas of
the city. Further, the board gradually
reversed its old policy and opened the
schools to the community, making
them available as social centers, public
baths, and places for evening
meetings of various groups such as the
business men's clubs, mother's
clubs, and improvement associations.45
Response to the new education varied.
Superintendent Boone's
proposals endured considerable criticism
for supposedly neglecting
reading, writing, and arithmetic in the
"interest of nature studies, object
44. 79th AR, 1908, 63-65, 73; 82nd
AR, 1911, 33, 62; 83rd AR, 1912, 61; 84th AR, 1913,
194-195; 85th AR, 1914, 78; Commercial
Tribune, June 10, 1907.
45. J. Miller, op cit., 394-395, 406,408,445,449-451; 75th AR, 1904, 34-35,
76th AR, 1905,
61; 77th AR, 1906, 73; 79th
AR, 1908, 37, 73-74; 80th AR, 1909, 58, 78; 81st AR, 1900, 87;
82nd A R. 1901, 68-69, 146-147.
170 OHIO HISTORY
teaching and the more modern methods of
mental learning and discipline."
While Boone argued that the issue was
clearly a "traditional academic
education as opposed to the new child
centered and practical education,"
others charged that schools tried
"to teach a number of things to children
before they are old enough to understand
them," and complained about the
"decline of teaching" caused
by "new fads and foibles."46 Some board
members and principals opposed
professional visits, initiated by Boone to
help Cincinnati's educators learn
firsthand what other professionals were
doing elsewhere in the country.47 Several
principals felt threatened by the
new procedures, programs, and enlarged
school activities, and Superinten-
dent Boone, in fact, brought about the
dismissal or early retirement of a
"score of aged principals and
teachers in the early 1900s to improve
Cincinnati's schools "on modern
lines."48
Criticism and conflict, combined with
lack of effective political strategies
on the part of Boone, resulted in a
change of superintendents in 1903.
Although the public anticipated that
Frank B. Dyer, the new superinten-
dent, would not be as
"progressive" as Boone, he actually made no specific
promises other than to formulate a
course for Cincinnati that would "meet
local conditions, and . . . keep in
harmony with the educational
sentiment of the age."49 As
a result, changes in Cincinnati's elementary
schools which had begun in the earlier
administration in response to
prevailing social conditions and
perceptions of the needs of the city
continued.
As school programs changed and the role
of the school in the community
expanded, school construction continued
to be a critical problem. Many
children, particularly in the older
parts of the city, attended classes in the
early 1900s in "worn out,"
"over-crowded . . . antiquated and un-
sanitary" school buildings of
mid-nineteenth century vintage. Some,
however, eventually benefitted from a
building program which began in the
1890s and culminated with the
construction of nineteen new schoolhouses
between 1906 and 1914.50
The impetus for construction and
renovation varied across the city. In
some parts, particularly in the basin,
buildings were frequently old and in
"deplorable conditions," or
"dark and gloomy" places where "laws of
health are . . . ignored, the classrooms
being overcrowded and poorly
46. J. Miller, op. cit., 411-421;
Commercial Tribune, April 17, 1903, November 7, 1903.
47. 71st AR, 1900, 33.
Cincinnati. Board of Education, Minutes, May 6, 1901, June 14,
1901, June 28, 1901, February 25, 1901,
February 26, 1901; J. Miller, op. cit., 397.
48. Ibid. 397-399; Cincinnati
Times-Star, May 30, 1900, June 1, 1900, June 5, 1900, June
13, 1900.
49. Commercial Tribune, June 18,
1903, September 22, 1903, September 24, 1904; 75th
AR, 1904, 27; J. Miller, op. cit., 413-419.
50. Ibid., 439, 446-449.
Urban Education
171
ventilated." City health officials
marvelled that "an epidemic of typhoid
"had not swept away thousands of
pupils" because of disregard for
"hygienic principles" at some
of the schools. The old schools suffered
"filthy school yards,"
"damp, moldy basements," "abandoned cisterns,"
"rubbish in the cellars," and
"filthy cesspools sending their 'noisome
odors' through the corridors and rooms
forcing children to breathe
'noxious vapors'." Several
buildings were called firetraps because of "dirty,
unsafe flues and inadequate" wooden
steps, while others were so dark that
"gas lights burned nearly all year
long and teachers and pupils were afraid
of the dark stairways."51
While the board remodeled some buildings
to correct sanitation
problems, they also built new structures
to meet demands for new and
larger schoolhouses because of increases
and shifts in population and
changes in the school curriculum.
Residents in the Zone and hilltops, more
organized, politically significant, and
effective in expressing their needs,
called for construction of new buildings
for their neighborhoods, while
civic associations and reformers urged
the board to make improvements in
lighting, ventilation, sanitation, and
"interior arrangements" in the schools
in the basin of the city.52
As a result of the new education,
community pressure, and advances in
technology and architectural design, the
new schoolhouses of the early
1900s differed greatly from the
mid-nineteenth century structures. They
included shower baths, sterilized water,
greater fire protection, improved
playgrounds, and gymnasiums and
auditoriums for student and communi-
ty use. Usually long and narrow, the
two-or-three-story classical or tudor
style buildings displayed considerable
uniformity in interior arrangements
and facilities. Classrooms and a few
smaller rooms opened off long, narrow
corridors. Metal stairways led to the
upper floors, where builders located
the principal's office, teachers' rooms,
and libraries. Auditoriums were
placed on the first floor to afford
convenient utilization by the public, while
shower baths, playrooms, gyms, toilet
facilities, manual training, and
domestic science rooms were located in
the basement. Several of the newer
buildings had separate but equal roof
playgrounds for boys and girls.
Classrooms remained traditional
rectangular enclosures in which children
sat in straight rows of six or eight at
single desks made of wood and metal.
Blackboards still lined the wall;
however, more space was provided for
pictures and displays, and flowers and
plants occupied the window sills
despite objections from the
custodians.53
The new elementary education in
Cincinnati which emerged at the turn
of the century represented an attempt to
insure the balanced and healthy
51. Ibid., 363-365.
52. Ibid., 400-406, 441-443.
53. Ibid., 443-444, 446-449; Commercial
Tribune, November 17, 1908, November 18, 1908.
172 OHIO HISTORY
functioning of the entire community.
While changes in education were
related to many factors such as new
educational thought, the development
of psychological theories, the rise of
professionalism, and the development
of school bureaucracies, they occurred
within the context of a changing
society and in relation to perceptions
about that society.
Two factors help account for the drastic
change in education which
occurred at the turn of the century and
set the pattern for elementary
education for many decades to follow.
Alterations in the form and
structure of the city, from a compact
nineteenth century walking city to a
dynamic and growing urban center made up
of more specialized and
differentiated neighborhoods and units,
made Cincinnatians more aware
of the diversity within their community.
Further, changes in the definition
or perception of the city from a
municipal corporation whose func-
tionaries, including school personnel,
were to help make the city an
attractive residential and commercial
community, to an organic social unit
of interrelated parts encouraged
educational and community leaders to
broaden the mission of the school.
The organic interdependent city required
rationally planned and
centrally nurtured institutions to help
it function efficiently. Therefore,
"reform" boosters concentrated
energies on the healthy and balanced
functioning of all the city's
components. This translated into concern for
the internal growth and development of
the schools and the active and
capable participation of all members of
the community, including children,
in the schools. The new education, which
included a wide variety of courses
and activities, was designed to equip
students with knowledge and skills
necessary for an effective role in this
new community. Perceiving different
needs in the organic city, educators and
city leaders sought to provide
academic as well as vocational
education, social and civic training, and
health and welfare services through a
complex educational system of
elementary schools.
JANET A. MILLER
Urban Education and the New City:
Cincinnati's Elementary Schools,
1870
to 1914
In 1903, Richard G. Boone, the
Superintendent of Schools in Cincinnati,
announced that schools in the city were
"gradually workng toward the
modern idea." The elementary
course, he stated, had been enriched,
treatment of children was more humane
and reasonable, and teachers were
awakened to what was being done
elsewhere in the nation.1 While still
plagued with traditional problems of
finance, facilities, and adequate
staffing, a new elementary educational
program had appeared in the city at
the turn of the century. During the late
nineteenth century, the Common
Schools of Cincinnati, a collection of
semi-independent and pseudo-
proprietary district schools struggling
to offer a uniform academic
program, gave way to a new elementary
school system which provided a
wider variety of educational programs
and attempted to meet the varied
needs of children in Cincinnati in the
early 1900s.2
A number of forces at work in the late
nineteenth century influenced
these changes. Increased urbanization
and industrialization, population
growth, and innovations in
transportation and communication combined
to alter the form and structure of the
urban community. The advent of the
telephone and electric streetcars
generated an outward migration of people
on an unprecedented scale and reversed
familiar residential patterns. Mid-
nineteenth century Cincinnati, a walking
city with its 216,239 residents
crowded into the basin, evolved by 1900
into a modern city, with the poor
in the basin or core of the city, the
wealthy on the hilltops or beyond, and
Janet A. Miller is Associate Professor
of Education at Northern Kentucky University,
Highland Heights.
1. Cincinnati, Board of Education, 74th
Annual Report for the School Year Ending June
30, 1903 (Cincinnati, 1903), 25-26. Annual Reports herein after
cited as AR.
2. For a detailed study of the
elementary schools during this period, see Janet A. Miller,
"Urban Education and the New City:
Cincinnati's Elementary Schools, 1870-1914"
(University of Cincinnati, Unpublished
Ed. D. dissertation, 1974).