Perhaps no profession can better lay claim to the “swinging pendulum” than that of education. In the mid-to-late 19th century the annual School Committee Report was made up of input from the Prudential (like today’s principal) of each of the nine district schools, in which he evaluated the performance of the schoolteacher he had appointed. A look at the reports of 1868, 1881, and 1884 suggests that, despite the arcs in the intervening years, Harvard’s elementary school education today is, in many ways, on the same “swing” in its philosophies and practices.

Apparently, absenteeism and disorder were the chief concerns of the district schools in the years around 1868. The Prudential of one district writes, “There are instances of scholars having 33, 27, and 29 tardy marks in a term of 65 days. The indifference and coldness indicated by such absences and tardinesses are enough to chill the ardor of the whole school, and discourage the most earnest of teachers.”

In the annual report of 1868 the attendance of each school was reported down to the fraction. For example, in District #2 (Oak Hill), for the summer term of three months, there were 25 scholars, and the average attendance was 18 and 48/59. (This writer, admittedly mathematically-challenged, is impressed by such exactness but hard pressed to understand its meaning!) The honor roll did not name students for achievement, but rather acknowledged names of scholars who had not been absent or tardy during a term.

By 1881 the reporting of fractions of attendees was dropped, and figures were given for all the schools together, rather than by district. In 1877 the first recorded act of the newly centralized School Committee was to institute truancy bylaws, and the report of 1884 proclaims the attendance problem “solved.” Still, the honor roll remained for attendance. The reports list the total number of students under five (usually around five) and over 15 (usually around 14).

It was these older students that caused discipline problems: “The examination was disturbed by the sullen disobedience of one large boy.” In districts having a number of “large” boys, a male teacher often had to be hired. In 1881 Miss Emeline Knight had charge of the West Bear (sic) Hill school and, although she was a “pains-taking, conscientious teacher,” for the winter term it ”was thought best to place it in charge of a male teacher.” (He seems to have had his problems controlling the students, too, but is forgiven: “If some of them rebelled it was perhaps more their fault than his.”) While there have been times, most recently in the 1960s and early ‘70s, when there was less emphasis on attendance and order, today we would agree that they are necessary for anything else to happen.

The curriculum focused on the three Rs, and memorization and recitation were deemed important skills. One Prudential in the 1868 report applauds the fact that at the final examination “the lessons were well and promptly recited, showing a familiarity with the text-books.” Where scholars did not progress, it was suggested that “more thorough drill” would remedy the problem. However, there are instances where individuals recognize the need for other kinds of learning than just the basics. In the report of 1868 Chairman John Willard wrote a separate section expressing his “minority view.” In it he states that the schools are teaching only scientific knowledge and that they should also include the teaching of wisdom, which he defines as an understanding of the underlying principles of life, the lessons of life’s success. He proposes to do this through the study of first-class reading-books.

In 1881 the superintendent recommends including White’s school series of industrial drawing, claiming that, ”The larger part of inventions and manufactures first take form on paper in the shape of two dimension drawings, and it is of great advantage to anyone to be able to make and read them with facility.”

We can recognize these opposing views as the educational pendulum that swings between “back to basics” and curricula which favor expanded offerings in the arts and life skills.