USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > City Officers and the Annual Reports to the City Council of Newburyport 1906 > Part 13
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Ward Room School.
Retta V. Marr, Grade V 450
Moultonville.
Helen S. Merrill, Principal, Grades IV to IX
550
Carrie F. Merrill. Assistant, Grades I to IV. . . . 425
Storey Avenue.
Edith E. Davis, Grades I to IX 375
Johnson.
Adelaide P. Dodge, Principal, Grade IV 375
Charlotte K. Dickens, Assistant, Grade III 400
Jennie P. Haskell, Assistant, Grade II . . 400
Julia J. Hubbard, Assistant, Grade I ....
400
Bromfield Street.
Tula M. Reed, Principal, Grade IV 400
Feroline M. Woods, Assistant, Grade III 350
E. Belle Woodman, Assistant, Grade II 350
Elizabeth Boardman, Assistant, Grade I .. .. 325
Temple Street.
Edith M. Annis, Principal, Grades III and IV
400
Myrtle Allen, Assistant, Grades I and II ..... 400
Davenport.
Mary E. O'Connell, Principal, Grade IV
400
Goldia McArthur, Assistant, Grade III
400
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Hortense F. Small, Assistant, Grade II 400
Marguerite Pritchard, Assistant, Grade I 325
Curtis.
Frances L. Pettigrew, Principal, Grade IV 425
Sarah F. Badger, Assistant, Grade III 400
Grace E. Bartlett, Assistant, Grade II 400
Mary F. Whitmore, Assistant, Grade I. 400
Purchase Street.
Mary A. Doyle, Grades I and II 325
Special Teachers.
Florence M. Murphy, Drawing 600
Lucile Gravestein, (Substitute) Drawing 500
Elizabeth C. Adams, Music 600
Sarah A. Chase, Domestic Science 530
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the School Committee :
Gentlemen :- I have the honor to submit to you my first annual report ; the twentieth in a series of such reports, which had its origin in a vote of the Board October 25th, 1886, and which resulted on January 31st, 1887 in the election of Mr. William P. Lunt as Superintendent of Schools; the first to hold that office in the history of the city.
The short time which it has been my pleasure to serve you renders a complete report impracticable and uncalled for. The few points which are touched upon are based solely on observation in the schools since they opened on September 4th, last.
Inasmuch as the finances of the city are concerned so vitally with the maintenance of the public schools, I have thought it wise to include as a part of my report, a detailed account of the receipts and expenditures for the support of schools for the last fiscal year.
At the outset will be found a summarized statement of the receipts and expenditures for the year. Following this are the expenses of each school as nearly as it was possible to get at them, and a list of the firms and individuals from
I7
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
whom text books and supplies were bought, with the sums paid to each. This last list includes not only the bills which have been approved by the School Committee, but also those which have come from other departments and charged to the school account.
A glance at the financial statement will show that there has been an overdraft during the year of $2235.01. Not since 1899 have the Committee been able to keep the ex- penditures within the receipts.
Overdrafts have occurred each year ranging all the way from $931.72 in 1900, to $5768.59 in 1904.
It is evident that with the additional teachers already provided for and the increased cost of supplies, a sum ap- proximating $45,000 will be needed to support the schools for the coming year.
TEACHERS.
In the day schools of the city there are at present em- ployed fifty-five regular, and three special teachers. Of the regular teachers eleven are in the High School, and with a single exception all are college graduates.
Of the forty-four teachers in the elementary schools, twenty-seven, or sixty-four per cent. are graduates of our Training School. One of the twenty-seven is also a grad- uate of the Salem Normal School, and another attended Bos- ton University without graduating.
Of the elementary teachers three are graduates of the Salem Normal School, one of Bridgewater Normal School, two have taken college courses, while the remainder, eleven in number are high school graduates or have taken partial courses in the high schools.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Of the twenty-seven graduates of the Training School, six are serving as principals of buildings, ten are teaching in grammar grades, and twelve beside the six above re- ferred to, are teaching in the primary grades.
Without a single exception, so far as I am able to learn, all of these Training School graduates who are now serving in the city as teachers, are residents here, and have been most of their lives.
Anything that I may say here or later in this report, re- garding them I trust will not be interpreted as reflecting in the least unfavorably on their work, nor upon their Alma Mater as a trainer of teachers. Nothing of the kind is intended. I have found them faithful to their calling, honest in their work, that they consider first of all the welfare of the school as a whole, while at the same time they study the needs of each individual pupil. The quality of their work being what it is, of a high standard of excellence for the most part, leads one to ask what their work might be, had their prepara- tion for the work of teaching been longer in time and broader in quality. Leaving out the added scholastic attainments which result from attendance at the higher institutions of learning, that one who leaves the scenes and surroundings under which he was born and reared, has a wonderful advan- tage over the one who does not. Two, three or four years away from one's native heath gives to him what a lifetime at home could never possibly give him. While that some- thing which he gets would be hard to define or describe, you know, and I know that it is desirable.
TRAINING SCHOOL.
In a recent meeting I asked the Board to consider the
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
advisability of requiring the graduates of the Training School to serve one year successfully elsewhere before being eligible for positions within the city. I did so for two reasons. The first reason has already been touched upon and has to do only with the educational preparation of the teachers for their work.
The second reason is found in the bearing of the present custom on the question of salaries. A few comparisons at this point, with similar schools, may not be amiss.
Seven cities in this state support institutions more or less like our own. These cities are Fall River, Newburyport, Lynn, Cambridge, New Bedford, Lowell and Chelsea.
The first two only, Fall River and Newburyport admit high school graduates without additional study. Fall River, New Bedford and Lowell however, require the passing of more or less difficult examinations for admission. Cam- bridge, Chelsea, Lowell. Lynn and New Bedford, all require that candidates shall have completed a course and hold a di- ploma either from a normal school or a college of the first class.
The length of the course of training in these schools, is in all cases from one to two years. In five out of the seven schools more advanced work in preparation is required than in our own. In all others, the difficulty of gaining admission is greater than in ours, either because of the examinations, or because of the requiring of more advanced study.
Fully two-thirds of the graduates of our Training School are natives of the city. They are ready on graduation to take schools in the city at a much lower figure than would secure teachers from without because of the fact that thev can live at home.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
It often happens that the local supply of teachers is not equal to the demand. We must go outside to find them. What confronts us ? We must accept either an inferior or an inexperienced teacher. If we get an inferior one, she will quite likely fail. If we secure an inexperienced teacher who proves to be a success, we must soon lose her because someone else, seeing her worth, is able to offer her a better salary.
SALARIES.
Not long ago a suggestion was made to increase the salaries of the teachers in the primary grades so that they would be equivalent to those in the grammar grades, in the hope that the temptation to shift the teachers about would be removed. This would better conditions somewhat. Out- side of a few cases which are special in their nature, all salaries in this city are too small.
Counting as we must, fifty-two weeks to the year, the average weekly wages of thirty-eight of the women teachers is something less than eight dollars. Though not certain of my ground I venture the statement that the average for women in the factories and workshops within the city is not so low. If so, we are not allowing much for the years of work and study which teachers give, at a time not only when they are earning nothing, but expending much in fitting themselves for their chosen vocation.
In Middlesex county, a careful study of the matter has revealed the fact that while the salaries of teachers have been advanced less than ten per cent, in the last ten years, the cost of living had increased double that amount. What is true of that county is doubtless true of our own community.
When we consider that the average teacher in New-
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
buryport receives less than eight dollars per week and that in some cases she pays six dollars ot that for board, we may get some idea of the margin she possesses on which to draw for dress and luxuries. Few vocations are so poorly paid. None deserve more to be well paid.
DOMESTIC SCIENCE.
Although the reports of the special teachers will be found on later pages of this report, I cannot forbear to add a few words of commendation for the excellent and thoroughly practical work being done in the cooking and sewing de- partments of our school system. From almost an unbeliever in the practicability of this somewhat modern annex to the public school work, I have been converted into a thorough- going advocate of it on account of the results which I have witnessed in this city.
The popular idea that a large part of the time and atten- tion in this department is given to trifling and unnecessary training would be dispelled by a little personal investigation.
The more we can do in these practical ways for the pu- pils, the better fitted will they become to meet the conditions of their later lives. This cannot but bring us to the question why do all this for the girls in our schools, and at the same time, nothing for the boys.
MANUAL TRAINING.
A recent editorial has this to say on "American Boys and Trades." "Recently the Manufacturers' Record called attention to the predominance of foreign born workmen in many of our great plants. Operators complained that help was always scant, and that the only way of keeping up the
23
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
force is to use imported labor, which for many reasons is un- desirable, but must be employed or work will stop. "Every- where one goes the same story is heard," declares this paper, arguing that American boys are fast becoming unwilling to work at mechanical pursuits.
In the finer trades employers complain that they cannot get work done in a workmanilke manner by men who re- ceive high pay. Materials are ruined and valuable time wasted by incompetent hands. The dearth of native me- chanics is paralleled in a dearth of artisans of any nationality. Whereas our widespread and continuous boom in building the highest order of structures, hotels, theatres, churches and public institutions ought to develop a race of capable artı
sans, the very reverse is happening. Men are not asked devote their talents to art for art's sake. The pay is good and the prospect of permanence of the best. A trade is the best resource in the world to fall back upon in a pinch. It is about time to have a new craze among young people, and a revival of the mechanical and artistic trades would make rolled up sleeves and overalls fashionable.
Perhaps there is a surer way, but means should be found and that speedily. to supply from our own people, not from Europe, all the artisans and skilled laborers that can be given work, work now actually suffering because the right kind of toilers are so few."
Could not something be done for the boys in the coming year, that would in some way be equivalent to these special lines of work in the cooking and sewing schools, which are doing so much for the girls ? Could not a beginning be made by introducing manual thaining, at least into the High School? If the work in this branch could be introduced and
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
made as practical as is the cooking and sewing for the girls, the period of apprenticeship for many of our boys in the fac- tories and workshops of the city would be shortened and result in an actual increase in their earning capacity.
Speaking of the Rindge Manual Training School in Cam- bridge, Superintendent Bates, in his last report said "The manual dexterity and the thorough knowledge of tools, ma- chinery, and mechanical processes acquired in the shops, at an age when time can most easily be spared for such training, is of inestimable value in any scientific pursuit." I believe such a department here would in time pay dividends to the city.
NEW BUILDING.
The recent agitation in favor of a new school building in ward six, I trust, has aroused public opinion to such an extent that we may ere long secure the advantages of an up-to-date building in that locality. The need of it, no one questions. Of the financial ability of the city to erect such a building as is needed, there can be no doubt, once the city government votes to do so. The matter should not be allowed to rest too long where it now is.
THEN AN NOW.
There is a strong public opinion that the three Rs do not now, as formerly, constitute the fundamental studies. But they do, and in them more and better work is done than was the case in the days of our fathers and grandfathers. There is always a halo of glory around the days which are in the dim and distant past. To use the words of another, "Chil- dren were more respectful, more properly restrained, more polite and more intelligent, when the old men of today were
25
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
boys. So we are led to believe. It is always the good old days of fifty years ago."
Of course it would not be seemly for us to doubt in the least, the testimony of those who have come down to us from those times. It is however on occasions extremely rare that any actual comparisons can be made which are re- liable. Such an occasion came about a year ago when test questions and the pupils answers to them, were found in the old Springfield High School. They had been stowed away in the attic and undisturbed for more than sixty years.
These test questions, which in the olden times were given to some class in the high school, were given to the ninth grade in the Springfield schools, 250 in number. The results together with the editor's comments are interesting, and are quoted below :
Comparisons of Tests Made in Springfield-Spelling, Arith- metic and Geography Show Better Work Now Than Then-Elementary Studies Are Well Taught by Some Modern Methods.
Can school children of today spell as well as school chil- dren half a century ago? Is arithmetic taught as effectively now as it was when our fathers and grandfathers were boys? Are we neglecting the three Rs? These questions disturb teachers, agitate school boards and sometimes produce vio- lent controversies. The general opinion seems to be that in the "common branches" the modern school is inferior to the school of 50 or 60 years ago. There is only one way of settling these ever-recurring questions, and that is by giving examinations to pupils of today which were given in the schools of half a century ago, and coolly comparing results.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
But it is almost impossible to find sets of old test papers suit- able for comparison. Springfield, however,, has such pa- pers-probably the most interesting set in the state. Mr. Parish, the second principal of Springfield high school, gave examinations to his pupils in penmanship, spelling, arithme- tic and geography in the fall of 1846 and the papers-the ac- tual work of our worthy grand-parents-are today in a bound volume in the office of the superintendent of schools on Ver- non street.
Two of these tests, spelling and arithmetic, were given to about 250 ninth grade pupils of our local schools, last March, and the results were carefully compared. The tests should in fairness have been given to the sophomore or at least to the freshman class of the high school. The questions in arithmetic were reprinted exactly as they appeared in the original papers, and both tests were given under the direc- tion of one principal. The children of five schools took part in the examinations. The papers were sent to the directing principal, and he examined and marked, according to a uni- form standard, the papers of the new and old tests. Follow- ing are the results :
1846 1905
Number of pupils
85. 24.
Spelling, per cent correct
40.6 51.2
Arithmetic, per cent correct
29.6 65.5
The grammar school pupils of today not only did much better work in arithmetic, but they actually averaged higher in spelling.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
THE BAD WORK IN SPELLING.
Below are the words of the spelling test-a formidable list-with the results of the examination in 1846:
Time Correct
Incorrect
I accidental 61
24
2 accessible
31
54
3 baptism 54
31
4 chirography
30
55
5 characteristic
39
46
6 deceitfully 40
45
7 descendant
24
61
8 eccentric
39
46
9 evanescent
17
68
IO fierceness
42
43
II feignedly
28
57
12 ghastliness
23
62
13 gnawed
33
52
14 heiress
42
43
15 hysterics
40
45
16 imbecility
50
35
17 inconceivable
20
65
18 inconvenience
32
53
19 inefficient
33
52
20 irresistible
I3
72
Of the class of 1846 only 15 of the 85 pupils stood as high as 70 per cent. in this spelling list, the present "passing" mark in the schools. Two pupils had none spelled correctly ; nine had only one right ; while 23, or more than one-fourth of the entire class, misspelled 17 or more words. The mistakes were interesting. The 31 pupils who misspelled "baptism" speled it 15 different ways; and "heiress" was written by 43 pupils in 22 different ways, proving thus that originality in spelling was not unknown to the children of Mr. Parish's school.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
MANY MISTAKES IN ARITHMETIC.
Below are the problems in arithmetic :
I. Add together the following numbers: Three thousand and nine, twenty-nine, one, three hundred and one, sixty-one, sixteen, seven hundred two, nine thousand, nineteen and a half, one and a half.
2. Multiply 10,008 by 8,009.
3. In a town five miles wide and six miles long, how many acres?
4. How many steps of two and a half feet each will a person take in walking one mile?
5. What is one third of 175 1-2?
6. A boy bought three dozen of oranges for 37 1-2 cents and sold them for I I-2 cents apiece; what would he have gained if he had sold them for 2 1-2 cents apiece?
7. There is a certain number, one-third of which exceeds one- fourth of it by two; what is the number?
8. What is the simple interest of $1200 for 112 years, 11 months and 29 days.
More than one-fourth the examples were passed over as too difficult to attack, and the incorrect answers were so far from the mark as to overwhelm one with the conviction that the children were entirely lacking in power to mentally ap- proximate the results. Answers to the fifth example varied from 5 1-3 to 6312.
Less than one-half of the class got the correct answer to the first example ; 50 had the second correct ; only II secured the desired result in the fourth, and seven-all boys-ob- tained the mastery in the sixth.
Of 29 girls, not one had the answer right to the fourth
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
or sixth, and only three worked the interest problem to a successful conclusion. The girls averaged 49 per cent. on the test.
THE GEOGRAPHY WAS POOR.
Fully as interesting were the results in geography. This examination consisted of 12 questions, all tests of the mem- ory. Twelve pupils thought the St. Lawrence river flowed north, nine south, seven east, four west, twenty-two north- east, two northwest, four southeast, eleven southwest, and one north and south. One-third of the class couldn't name a single county in Massachusetts; another third named less than one-half of them; while two pupils wrote Worcester, Providence, Lowell and Hartford as the only counties they could remember. The last question was, "What is the largest river in the eastern part of Massachusetts?" Twenty- three pupils failed to answer it ; 24 named the Merrimack; 22, or one-fourth of the class, wrote "Connecticut," and among other answers were St. Lawrence, Hudson, Mississippi and Fall River.
Whatever may be said in favor of the schools of half a century ago-and much can be said-these old test papers present indisputable evidence of their inferiority as compared with the schools of the present day. Those who are thor- oughly familiar with the modern school readily see why the work in reading, spelling and arithmetic is better, today, than it could have been years ago. Excluding the text-books in geography, history and physiology, II different books were read below high school, in 1846, about one a year ; children now read 73, or about eight each year, in taking the same course. The taste for reading is, today, stimulated and directed and from the amount and quality of the reading mat-
30
SCHOOL COMMITTEE
ter the child acquires a larger vocabulary and learns to spell many new words unconsciously. Children are not only re- ceiving much solider and more sensible and skilled instruc- tion in the three 's but many of their homes are being ele- vated, their lives broadened and enriched, and their usefulness and capacity for enjoyment increased as never before. The old school, in its meagreness, starved the imagination and emotions, and its harsh discipline suppressed and warped activities. Even a superficial reading of the old records and reports proves that the intelligent people of those times were cognizant of its defects and struggled to remedy them. The leading educators of today are probably fully as cogniz- ant of the defects of the modern school and are struggling with equal sincerity and earnestness for better things .- (John L. Riley, in the Springfield Republican.)
In closing I wish to call your attention to the report of the Principal of the High School, and to the reports of the special teachers which will be found on succeeding pages.
The department of music, during the past year, as for several years before, has been conducted under the efficient leadership of Miss Adams. I would call your particular at- tention to the fact that music as well as the other so called special subjects, are not as yet recognized in the ranking lists of the other studies, and would recommend that they be re- garded as a regular study and that teachers keep records in these, as in the regular studies.
The continued illness of Miss Murphy made it necessary at the opening of the school in September to secure a substi- tute to carry on her work in the drawing department. Miss Lucile Gravestein, of Hyde Park, Mass., was secured for this work. She has been using the outlines of work prepared by
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Miss Murphy, and as far as was possible carried out Miss Murphy's plans for the year. The success with which she has done this confirms the belief that no mistake was made when she was secured for the position.
The resignations of Miss Leonard and Miss Cheever were received and took effect at the close of school in June last. The place of Miss Leonard was filled by the election, during the summer, of Mr. Charles Irving Peabody, a recent graduate of Amherst College.
In accepting the resignation of Miss Leonard, the Com- mittee, at its regular meeting held June 25th, adopted the following resolutions by a rising vote ; "In accepting the resignation of Miss Sarah A. Leonard, the School Committee of the city of Newburyport hereby express their appreciation of her earnest and faithful service of twenty years in the High school.
Her devotion to the interests of this institution, her con- scientious performance of a teacher's duties ; the high moral influence exerted by her in thought and action which have made her presence in the school a powerful agency in training character, merit the approbration of the Board as well as the gratitude and affection of the many students who have profit- ed by her teaching and example."
The position made vacant by the resignation of Miss Cheever as principal of the Davenport School, was filled by the promotion from the third grade in the same school of Miss Mary E. O'Connell. Miss O'Connell's place was taken by Miss Goldia McArthur, a graduate of our Training School, who has been teaching for several years in Amesbury.
Soon after the opening of school in September, the res-
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE
ignation of Miss Bailey of grades one and two in the Temple Street School was received. £ Miss Myrtle Allen of Malden, who was teaching at the time in Wenham, a graduate of the Salem Normal School, was chosen for the position.
The addition of another room in the Currier School for Grade Eight, made another teacher for that building neces- sary. Miss Louise E. Urquhart, also a graduate of the Sa- lem Normal School, teaching in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, accepted this position.
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