Читать книгу The Goslings: A Study of the American Schools онлайн

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She had been teaching Latin at Wadleigh High School, and found that ninety-four per cent of the pupils were being forced out because they could not pass the examinations. She proceeded to teach them so that they could pass; but it was against the rule to teach that way, and the principal sent for her and scolded her. She persisted in passing her pupils, and so the city superintendent sent for her; a teacher had no right to criticize her superiors, he declared, and flew into a passion. Suddenly a light leaped into Henrietta’s eyes, and the sword of the old revolutionary colonel swished over the superintendent’s head. “If you storm at me like a primitive man I’ll shriek like a primitive woman!” So at once the superintendent calmed down!

They wanted to give her some real trouble, so they put her in charge of a hundred defective girls. At that time no one knew anything about psychological tests, or what to do with mentally defective children in the schools. Henrietta worked out a course of study by easily graded stages, which the most feeble-minded of them could follow. The principal of the school took this and published it as his own, and so stated before the board of superintendents. Some of these pupils were homeless and sick, and Henrietta got the class to adopt them; that was an unprecedented thing, altogether against the rules, and Henrietta was stormed at some more. They sent her to the Julia Richman High School, one of those terrible old barns that was built apparently before the use of paint was discovered. It was supposed to be one of the most democratic schools in New York City. “But,” said Henrietta, “we can’t call the teachers together, we can’t pass a motion, we can’t send a statement to the press or make an application to the school board, without first having the sanction of the school principal!”