San Pedro), Safford, and a few other points. There were Catholic schools at Yuma and Tucson, and Indian schools had been established by the Federal Government at San Carlos and Sacaton.[1]
The opening of the public schools in the various towns in the Territory, according to McCrea, McClintock, and the school reports on which these later writers are based, may be summarized briefly for convenience.[2]
Apparently the oldest schools in the Territory, both in the matter of actual age and in that of practical continuity, are those of Tucson.
McCrea says:
Under the law of 1868 or, as some claim, by private subscription, a public school was opened at Tucson, probably the first in the Territory, in the spring of 1869, by Augustus Brichta. The school term lasted six months, for two of which Mr. Brichta never received any pay, and 55 Mexican boys were enrolled. The school room was 25 by 40 feet, with a dirt roof and a dirt floor and no furniture except a few rudely constructed benches. The teacher found it difficult to obtain schoolbooks. There were no geographies in the school, and the pupils relied solely on the teacher for a knowledge of the earth beyond what they could see of it. Mr. Brichta was a man of character and ability and of prominence as a clerk in the legislative assembly, both before and after his experience as a schoolmaster in the Old Pueblo.
Apparently the next school in Tucson was that of John Spring, which was opened early in March, 1871. Of this school McCrea remarks:
The term continued for 15 months, and 138 boys were enrolled, most of whom were Mexicans. The attendance for the term was excellent, reaching 78 per cent of the enrollment.
Few of the pupils knew any English, and the teacher had to go over their lessons with them in Spanish before trying to teach them in English. A few of the older pupils had attended school for brief periods in Mexico or had received a little private instruction. The entire 138 seem to have been present by the third day. How one teacher could handle so many can be explained only by their known gentleness of nature, their general willingness to obey, and the constant support of the teacher’s authority by the parents.
The school facilities were of the most primitive character. The schoolroom was a long adobe structure with dirt roof and dirt floor and homemade benches and desks in one piece, notable in no way except for solidity and liability to shed splinters.
It took much tact and persistence on the part of the teacher to break up truancy and keep tardiness within bounds and to induce pupils to “put in their appearance washed, combed, and brushed.” The process was accelerated by reporting truancy to all parents and by the teacher taking some of the negligent boys to the school well and assisting them in their morning ablutions.
Gov. Safford showed his interest in this educational experiment in his capital in various ways. He presented the school with two dozen Ollendorf’s Grammars, which were very useful for the more advanced class. Mr. Spring does not fail to pay a hearty tribute to the man who made the school possible. He
