372 
COMMON ERRORS IN SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
COMMON ERRORS IN SCHOOL ARCHITEC¬ 
TURE. 
Under this head it will be sufficient to enume¬ 
rate the principal features of school houses as they 
are. 
They are almost universally badly located, ex¬ 
posed to the noise, dust, and danger of the high¬ 
way, unattractive, if not positively repulsive, in 
their external and internal appearance, and built at 
the least possible expense of material and labor. 
v-~vv w vim 1 
for boys and girls appropriately fitted up ; no suffi¬ 
cient space for the convenient seating and neces¬ 
sary movements of the scholars; no platform, desk, 
nor recitation room for the teacher. 
They are badly 
ov/ nva m tLreo or four sides oi the room, without 
blinds or curtains to prevent the inconvenience 
and danger from cross lights, and the excess of 
light falling directly on the eyes or reflected from 
the book, and the distracting influence of passing 
objects and events out of doors. 
They are not properly ventilated. The purity 
of the atmosphere is not preserved by providing for 
the escape of such portions of the air as have be¬ 
come offensive and poisonous by the process of 
breathing, and by the matter which is constantly 
escaping from the lungs in vapor, and frnm tbc 
surface nf tbp body in insensible perspiration. 
They are imperfectly warmed. The rush of cold 
air through cracks and defects in the doors, win¬ 
dows, floor, and plastering is not guarded against. 
The air which is heated is already impure from 
having been breathed, and more so by noxious 
goepe -xrioiiig from the burning of floating particles 
of vegetable and animal matter coming in contact 
with the hot iron. The heat is not equally dif¬ 
fused, so that one portion of the school room is fre- 
Elevation.—Fig. 88. 
quently overheated, while another portion, espe¬ 
cially the floor, is too cold. 
They are not furnished with seats and desks, 
properly made and adjusted "to- cadi other, and or 
ranged in such a manner as to promote the comfort 
and convenience of the scholars, and the easy su¬ 
pervision on the part of the teacher. The seats 
are too high and too long, with no suitable support 
for the back, and especially for the younger chil¬ 
dren. The desks are too high for the seats, and 
are either attached to the wall on three sides of the 
room, so that the faces of the scholars are turned 
from the teacher, and a portion of them at least are 
tempted constantly to look out at the windows—or 
the seats are attached to the wall on opposite sides, 
and the scholars sit facing each other. The aisles 
are not so arranged that each scholar can go to and 
from his seat, change his position, have access to 
his books, attend to his own business, be seen and 
approached by the teacher, without incommoding 
any other. 
They are not provided with blackboards, maps, 
clock, thermometer, and other apparatus, and fix¬ 
tures, which are indispensable to a well-regulated 
and well-instructed school. 
The} r are deficient in all of those in and out-door 
arrangements which help to promote habits of or¬ 
der and neatness, and cultivate delicacy of manners 
and refinement of feeling. There are no verdure, 
trees, shrubbery, nor flowers for the eye : no scra¬ 
pers and mats for the feet; no hooks and shelves 
for cloaks and hats; no well, no sink, basin nor 
towels to secure cleanliness • and no places of re¬ 
tirement for children of either sex, when perform¬ 
ing the most private offices of nature. 
The following plans, &c., of school house, Dis¬ 
trict No. 6, Windsor, Ct., are selected for re¬ 
presentation and description, not because it is supe 
