Rewards of Merit

"Approbation" for Good Work
Time flies unless you're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. In 2020 the CSAA was forced into lockdown with the entire country and had to postpone its annual national conference. We took a different route for 2021. We offered a VIRTUAL CONFERENCE on our own website that actually turned out to be both popular and productive! Twenty-one presenters submitted video and live-streamed programs to share with attendees who watched from the comfort of their home offices and iPads for a nominal registration fee. This fee went to fund numerous small grants for 2022! 

As I look back, it might not be a bad idea for the future to hold another VIRTUAL CONFERENCE those who are unable to travel. Attendees had almost two weeks to watch and enjoy the presentations! To give you a glimpse of what we offered in the 2021 VIRTUAL CONFERENCE, we've posted a few of  those programs here on The Report Card since we started our blog in 2023.

This month enjoy a program from one of our favorite all-time CSAA members and a CSAA director from 2006-2023, Susan Webb. Sadly, Susan passed away in November of 2023, but left behind a legacy of country school programs and publications that her husband, Bill Webb, is proud to allow us to share.

                                  Rewarding the Merit
                                    Susan Webb, "The Traveling Schoolmarm" 
                                                                                     See, Father, Mother, see!
                                                                           To my Brother, and to me,
                                                                         Has our Teacher given a card,
                                                                    To show that we have studied hard!
                                                                    To you we think it must be pleasant
                                                                      To see us both with such a present.
 
Summary:
           This presentation will explore early American citations issued by teachers to young scholars, rewarding them for their good behavior and academic accomplishments. Numerous authentic Reward of Merit examples will be viewed as their origins are explored and their artistic and motivational value measured. Suggestions will be offered as to how Rewards of Merit can be adapted for current historical schoolroom interpretations and reenactments. 
            The awarding of prizes and rewards for achievement can be traced back as far as those given by kings to loyal aristocrats, by civic rulers to worthy citizens, and by organizers of sports competitions to the best athletes. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, parents in England and the newly established New England colonies were encouraged to make certain their children could read and write.  Grammar schools developed a system by which scholars received praise and commendation for academic achievements, even in theological truths and instruction in Latin “Grammar.”  Teachers rewarded students with  encouragement, not punishment, issuing items such as medals, pens, books, thimbles, knives, and even kits and toys.
            The most common eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century Rewards of Merit in America were made of paper. They varied in size, physical characteristic, and color.  Some were large enough for framing while others were merely slips of paper.  Whether imprinted from a crude carved wood block, an artful pen, or by other means of lithography, Rewards of Merit were all treasured papers which declared “merit”, “approbation”, and “esteem” to the deserving scholar.