GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. The term gram mar school is generally used at the present time to denote a school maintaining a full elementary or preacademic course and housed in a build ing or buildings by itself separate from the high school or academic department. Less fre quently a school having only the seventh and eighth grades is called a grammar school. The term is usually not employed except in a city or large village.
The course of study in a grammar school is essentially the same as that commonly prescribed in the rural school or the elementary department of the village high school which usually in cludes both elementary and academic depart ments. The difference is in the number of studies offered,- the length of time given to class periods, and, in rural schools, the number of classes or grades instructed by a single teacher.
The subjects usually taught in the grammar school are reading, arithmetic, elementary Eng lish (including composition, oral and written, grammar and literature), geography, elementary United States history, physiology and hygiene, drawing, music, and in the more fully equipped schools, cooking, sewing and manual training. More or less physical training is also usually included in the course of study. In an occasional grammar school there are taught the beginnings of certain subjects which in the past have ordi narily been considered as belonging in the high school. These subjects are Latin, modern lan guages, algebra and elementary general science. Graduation from the grammar school implies adequate preparation for high school work The typical grammar school offers eight years or grades of work, with, in many in stances, a year in the kindergarten where pupils, usually not more than six years of age, are given preliminary training• before beginning the regular first year school work. An occasional grammar school has nine grades, at times using nine years to complete the work ordi• narily done in eight, and more frequently in cluding some high school work in the gram mar school course.
The number of teachers varies greatly. There are seldom less than eight, one to a grade, although in small outlying schools one teacher may instruct two grades. A typical city gram mar school has from 16 to 32 teachers. Each of the eight grades is divided into sections ac cording to the number registered, and'a teacher is assigned to each section. The number and arrangement of sections varies greatly to corre spond to local needs. According to common practice, one or more sections of each grade does the first half of the year's work while the remaining section or sections is doing the second half. This organization makes possible a series of 16 steps rather than eight in the course, and permits closer adjustment to the needs of individual pupils.
The size of a school depends chiefly on two factors : The density of population, since little children cannot be expected to walk far to school, and the number of teachers whose work can be effectively supervised by one principal. If the number is less than about 16 it is not good economy to pay the salary required to secure the highest type of supervising principal; if it is more than 32 it will be impracticable for one man to supervise properly unless as sisted by departmental supervisors. With such assistance, the number of teachers may be largely increased.
Registration in each room normally varies from 25 to 50. The ideal registration is prob ably from 30 to 35.
Recent developments in school organization tend to change the number of grades in the ele mentary school from eight to six and to organ ize a so-called junior Ligh school consisting of what has been in the past the two upper grades of the elementary school and the first year of the high school. For a full explanation of the reasons for this change see the article on the JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.