Nuts and Bolts

BENICIA NEWS AND VIEWS John Swett

Gene Pedrotti

With the post-pandemic return to in-person classrooms, there will be a lot of attention on education. And so, it would be an appropriate time to look into our California schooling system, which took root in the mid 1850s. It was influenced by a progressive reformer who settled in Martinez… a man named John Swett. Old-timers in Benicia know the name. Or, rather, the school – John Swett High School. Back in the ‘70s, when Benicia was still farmland and in the league of tiny communities, students of Benicia and John Swett were arch rivals and homecoming games were as much about post game brawls as they were about sports. While Benicia has grown and is now part of a larger sports league, John Swett HS is still small. In fact, it graduates about 125 students a year… the same it has been for decades.

John Swett was instrumental in the creation of our schooling system. Born in 1830 and educated in New England, he became a teacher at age 17, earning $10/month. At 22 years old, Swett sailed out of Boston Harbor, embarking on a 153 day voyage to San Francisco and on to the Feather River. Why? Gold! After five months of modest success, he returned to San Francisco to work on a farm in Hayes Valley… (where sixty years later a school would be named in his honor!)

Soon after, he secured a teaching position at Rincon Grammar School in San Francisco, where his students excelled in examinations and he became recognized as a leading educator in the city. Progressive – he promoted daily calisthenics and gymnastics – Swett was also controversial; he believed in secular public schools and opposed the support of parochial schools with public funds.

While serving at Rincon, he met Miss Mary Tracy, daughter of a local judge, and they married in 1862. That same year, Swett was persuaded to run for the Office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He won. From this post, he made his mark by drafting and lobbying the legislature to pass a law providing for the levying and collection of school taxes. He also created a program for testing and certification of teachers, established uniform textbooks and later lobbied for the creation of school libraries and established the State Board of Education. These were remarkable developments, laying the groundwork for the education system we have today. What is also noteworthy is his long friendship with environmentalist John Muir. Swett first met Muir in 1874 and they became fast friends. In fact, Muir was known as “Uncle John'' to the Swett family and he lived with them for two years in the Swett home! One summer, with pack-horses and camping equipment, Swett, Muir, William Keith (great painter of American landscapes), and Oakland High School principal J.B. McChesney embarked on a four-week trip to the Sierras, which was later reported by Muir in articles in the San Francisco Bulletin. Swett retired briefly in 1889 to his Martinez farm but returned to San Francisco in 1891 when he was elected City Superintendent of Schools. And it was in 1891, when visiting Muir at his Martinez home, that Swett noted the scenery of the This story continues! For more visit online at: Beniciamagazine.com Alhambra Valley which led him to purchase land not far from Muir’s home. During this time, Swett served on the Board of the Crockett Union High School, (later re-named John Swett High School.) On June 20, 1913, he presented diplomas to the high school graduates and made a brief address. This was the last time Swett spoke in public. He died on August 22, 1913 at the age of 83. We all, even past student rivals of John Swett High and Benicia High, owe our education to John Swett, the father of the California School System! For an exciting story between artist William Keith and John Swett and a remarkable personal revelation, continue online at https://www. beniciamagazine.com/nuts-bolts-john-swett/

John Swett and John Muir