USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1890-1892 > Part 8
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SCHOOL REPORT.
to the safe enjoyment of proper sports and pastimes. In ad- dition to this, and in perfect harmony with the spirit and purpose of our entire educational system, a portion of each school yard, if possible, that portion lying between the front of the schoolhouse and the highway, should be made as at- tractive with turf, trees and shrubs even flowers, are both possible and desirable, as are the lawns in front of our pri- vate residences, and for equally good reasons.
I would respectfully recommend, therefore, that during the present year, some one of the school yards be placed in good condition, as the first step toward establishing a policy that faithfully carried out will in a few years, and at a slight annual expense, render our school grounds as helpful in the proper training of our children, as they will be at- tractive and ornamental to the town.
REPORT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.
Mr. Guy C. Channell, Superintendent of Schools, Dear Sir :
The following report of the High School is respectfully submitted, in compliance with your request :
The changes in the high school building having been completed about the Ist of October, the school began at that time with a larger number of scholars than at any previous time in its history. The work of organizing was ren- dered somewhat difficult by the necessary presence of the two grammar schools on the first floor. The three upper classes, numbering eighty-eight, were placed in the hall in charge of the principal; and the fourth class, numbering seventy- five, was put on the second floor in charge of Miss Ballou. The remaining rooms on the second floor are used for reci- tations and for laboratory work in chemistry. The absence of adequate blackboards in the hall has made necessary frequent changes of classes to the recitation rooms below.
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The heating and ventilating apparatus was not at first sat- isfactory, but it has received frequent attention and is now giving better results. It is a pleasure to make record of the wholesome air of the hall, as compared with the close and vitiated air that our scholars have been compelled to breathe in former years.
Several important changes have been made in the course of study, which the Committee has long considered desira- ble ; and others are to be made as soon as our rooms will per- mit. With the aid of physical and chemical laboratories, it · was felt by the Committee that the time had come to re-ar- range our whole list of studies, and give greater prominence to the physical sciences, and to a preparation for the Institute of Technology. A full four years' course is contemplated for the Technology scholars that will be as specific and thorough as that for College. The study of some branch of Natural History is recommended by the Superintendent, for each of the four classes, to be made continuous with a simi- lar line of work begun in the lower schools. The best re- sults are predicted for this plan.
Early in the year it was found necessary to divide the fourth class of seventy-five scholars into two sections. In order to do this, and carry out the other plans, the Commit- tee decided to select a sub-master; but failing to secure the right man, Mr. Channell offered to take three classes a day for the remainder of the year. Two divisions of the fourth class in History, and one in Rhetoric, the first class in Chemistry, and the singing of the school in the morning are in his hands. The good effects of his skilled assistance are felt in all departments of the school.
It has been customary to make promotions only at the end of the school year ; and such scholars as were not qual- ified to pursue the work of the next class successfully, were required to go over their work again. Thus scholars fre-
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quently remained in a class a large portion of the year after it was apparent that better results would be attained in a lower class. The importance of classifying pupils accord- ing to ability and industry is very great, for both the indi- vidual and the class as a whole, are benefitted. For this reason, it has been thought best to make transfers to higher or lower classes at the end of each quarter. The case of each pupil is carefully considered by the Superintendent and the teachers. The good effect of this plan, upon the school, is already apparent.
At the end of each quarter a testimonial of merit will be sent to the parents of such scholars as attain special excel- lence in all departments of the school work, and whose de- portment is in all respects worthy of commendation. It is hoped a large number of our scholars will attain this honor.
The Franklin Fraternity prizes have been continued dur- ing the year to the satisfaction of the donors. The charac- ter of the Essays was, in the opinion of the Fraternity Com- mittee, better than in any former year. These prizes have become a special feature of our school, and their effect in stimulating better work in Literature and Mathematics is excellent. The wish has been expressed that some of our citizens would establish prizes in other departments. A prize for industry and effort would be sure to go into worthy hands.
An average of two hours of earnest work at home is ne- cessary to prepare for the daily recitations; and very much depends upon the kind of study at home as well as at school. The attraction of other interests is so great that school work is too frequently neglected. The encouragement of parents in forming habits of study can hardly be over estimated, and habits of industry once formed, the pursuit of knowledge becomes a pleasure rather than a burden.
A. G. WHITMAN.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
Some additional suggestions, in a measure supplementing the above report of the principal, occur to me, which may properly be presented here. Having served as acting sub- master of the school during the whole of the second term, I may with propriety lay claim to an intimate knowledge of what the school has accomplished since September, and what it aims to do in the future.
Because of its peculiar relations both to the community and to the work of the lower schools, the High School be- comes an important part of our system of public education. Any effort, therefore, to so improve and strengthen the High School as to better adapt it to these peculiar and im- portant relations, should meet with prompt and hearty co- operation from the entire community. That such efforts are now being made under the direction of the principal and with the help of his assistants, is a fact to which I testify with great pleasure. These, to my mind, important changes, presented in the report of the principal, I desire to empha- size in passing, and in addition, to suggest that the High School course of study be further strengthened by the intro- duction of systematic physical training and military drill.
Although for many years the theoretical importance of physical training as a part of any logical scheme of popular education has been recognized, it is only within the last few years that such training has been systematically attempted in our colleges and public schools. At the present time, however, rapid progress is being made in this direction as is evidenced by the fact that in many of the cities and towns in this vicinity, such as Boston, Newton, Somerville, Brook- . line and others, physical training has already been added to the regular courses of study in the schools.
The introduction of such a department in our High School
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is now rendered feasible, at a purely nominal expense to the town, by the recent action of the Melrose Athletic Club in tendering to the school committee the use of its gymnasium and apparatus for the above mentioned purpose. By this action, a large and well-equipped gymnasium is placed at the disposal of the school, upon the sole condition that it be used under the direction of a competent instructor. With- out further elaboration therefore, I would respectfully urge that the proposition of the Melrose Athletic Club be accept- ed, and that the pupils of our High School be given this op- portunity for intelligent and systematic physical culture. Concerning the merits of military drill in High Schools little need be said. Wherever such drill has been introduced un- der proper direction and control, both the general bearing and deportment of the individual pupil and the public senti- ment of the entire school have been changed for the better.
Believing these results to be inevitable and of a nature fully justifying all that may be urged in favor of this measure, I present the recommendation concerning military drill, and the kindred one relating to physical training, in the hope that they may receive the carly attention of the committee.
GRAMMAR AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
Owing to my brief term of service and to the unusual stress of other duties, it has been impossible for me to gain that close and detailed knowledge of the grammar and primary schools that it is my purpose to acquire during the remaining months of the school year. The amount of time that I have been able to devote to these schools, however, is sufficient to warrant some general observations concerning the work that they are doing, the limitations under which that work has been accomplished, and their most urgent needs for the immediate future.
·
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SCHOOL REPORT.
With no assumption that faults do not exist, the attempted correction of which is properly a matter for personal con- sideration between the teachers and the Superintendent, it is a pleasure to testify to the general excellence of the work that is being done in these grades.
The results of earnest, painstaking and intelligent teach- ing, supplemented by wise and helpful discipline are very generally apparent.
Wherever such conditions obtain, good work will be ac- complished in spite of even a multitude of minor faults, and in the face of many difficulties. That such conditions with their inevitable results do exist, to a gratifying extent, in the schools under discussion, is a judgment based upon careful though brief observation.
It is with no hesitation therefore that these schools are commended to the citizens of Melrose as being in every way worthy of their earnest and loyal support.
Reference has been previously made to certain unnatural limitations under which our schools now labor. These limi- tations are chiefly those resulting from overcrowded rooms and imperfectly graded classes. A careful consideration of these difficulties with a view to their removal, involves a dis- cussion of the whole question of additional school accom- modations.
ADDITIONAL SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS.
This question will be considered from two points of view, the first being that of its relation to the present overcrowded condition of the schools; the second, its relation to the proper grading of classes and to other kindred questions pertaining to the economical and efficient administration of the entire school department. The need of additional
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SCHOOL REPORT.
school accommodations has not failed of due recognition, a fact that is made apparent by the action of the town last year in authorizing the construction of two new school- houses. The completion of these buildings and the remod- eling of the High School house will furnish ample accommodations for the High School, the seventh and eighth grammar grades now occupying a part of the High School building, the six grades at the Centre school and the pupils living in the present Upham street district.
At Melrose Highlands, however, the natural growth of that section and the recent opening of an eighth grade at the Franklin school have caused a rapid and considerable increase in the number of pupils to be accommodated. To meet the growing needs of that section of the town, there are three school buildings with a total of six available rooms. The Franklin school building already contains as many pupils as it can properly accommodate, and no further re- lief can be expected from the Green street building, as it has but one available room and is too far to one side of the district to be accessible to any number of pupils. The old Franklin building, west of the railroad, has seating capacity for a few additional pupils, but in all other essential respects it is unfit for school purposes, and together with the Green street building, should be permanently abandoned at the earliest possible opportunity.
At Wyoming, especially in the Grove and Lynde street districts, the need of additional accommodations is even more immediate and urgent than at Melrose Highlands.
There are at present thirty-nine pupils of the two upper grades from the Grove street school, and forty-six pupils of the seventh grade properly belonging in Wyoming, who are forced to attend school in the stores under Franklin Hall ; making a total of eighty-five pupils for whom proper accom- modations should be provided somewhere in Wyoming.
In this connection it should be borne in mind that the
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same reasons which caused the citizens of Melrose Highlands to petition the school committee to open an eighth grade at the Franklin school may properly be urged in favor of the opening of the same grade at Wyoming. Should this be done, and I would strongly recommend such action, the number of pupils to be provided for will be still further increased ; giving a total of about one hundred and fifteen. This does not take into account the probable in- crease in the lower grades since September, 1890, as such increase will not appear in the schools until the spring term, and cannot be estimated at the present time with any de- gree of accuracy.
Having attempted to make clear the immediate necessity for further accommodations in Wyoming, and the anticipated demands from the Highlands in the near future, any specific recommendations based upon the above facts will be deferred until the additional phase of this question previously alluded to has been considered.
This leads to the discussion of a question upon the proper solution of which the future progress of the schools, as well as their economical administration, to my mind, largely depends. In dealing with this question I wish it clearly understood that anything which I may urge in defence of my position will be intended as in no way re- flecting upon any past action of the school committee or of the town. Leaving the past entirely alone, my purpose is simply to suggest such a policy for the future as will in my judgment best advance the common interests of the schools and of the town.
CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS.
In all large cities and towns here in Massachusetts the annual appropriation for the support of schools forms a
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SCHOOL REPORT.
large part of the entire tax levy. It becomes a question of vast importance to tax-payers, therefore, whether or not this appropriation is expended so as to yield the largest possible return for the outlay. This is especially true under a city government because of the statutory limitations of the power of taxation which make a wise economy in all departments absolutely necessary.
The population of Melrose is rapidly advancing to a point that will soon demand a municipal form of government. It is not too early, therefore, to consider any proposition for a more economical and efficient administration of the school department. Believing that these two results may be ef- fected by a change in the policy of constructing new school buildings and in the organization of the schools, I wish to present to this committee, and through it to the citizens of the town, certain statements in support of my position.
It is a fact established by wide experience that a large school, carefully graded, costs less, and makes far better work possible, than several small schools containing in the aggregate the same number of pupils.
This proposition reduced to mathematical form is simply . this:
Given; four hundred and fifty pupils of all grades below the High School.
Required for their accommodation; nine rooms, cach seat- ing fifty pupils.
If these four hundred and fifty pupils are accommodated all under one roof, that is, in our building containing nine rooms, the initial cost of the school building and the annu- al cost of maintenance will be about one-third less than if provided for in three buildings of three rooms each.
My own experience in a town where both kinds of schools exist, has demonstrated to my entire satisfaction the truth of the above proposition. In the large buildings containing
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SCHOOL REPORT.
from seven to ten rooms the average cost of each pupil was about seventeen dollars per annum. In all of the small buildings containing one, two, or three rooms, the average cost varied between twenty-two and thirty dollars.
A study of like conditions in other towns leads to the same conclusions, and there appears to be no reason why Melrose should prove any exception to this general rule. The additional advantages of a large building over several small ones, arising from the possibility of a more careful grading of the pupils and a consequent gain in the quality of the work accomplished are so obvious as to need no fur- ther discussion.
Accepting the logical conclusions to be derived from the above mentioned facts, I would make the general sugges- tion that hereafter in considering the question of additional accommodations for the three important sections of the town, Melrose centre, Melrose Highlands and Wyoming, the policy of building either eight or nine room buildings, or such buildings as can readily be enlarged as necessity may require, be adhered to, to the end that our schools may be rendered more efficient and less expensive to the town.
In application of this general suggestion, I would recom- mend that the school committee ask the town at the annual March meeting for an appropriation to enlarge the Grove street building to meet the immediate needs of the present Lynde and Grovestreet districts. These two districts are united in this recommendation in order that their con- solidation may be effected and the old Lynde street proper- ty be permanently abandoned for school purposes.
The building is practically worthless, but the land is avail- able for building purposes, and could probably be disposed of tofadvantage.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
Plans and estimates for the proposed enlargement of the Grove street schoolhouse, will be in readiness for the inspec- tion of the school committee sometime before the annual March meeting.
COURSES OF STUDY.
Courses of study are of value to teachers, chiefly because they aid in securing a unity and harmony of purpose and of effort, without which the best results are impossible. This statement implies a relation between the two factors, the teacher and the course, that should be kept clearly in mind both in the preparation, as well as in the use of the latter. In the tendency that frequently manifests itself to make the teacher subordinate to the course of study, lies a danger that cannot be too carefully avoided both by supervisors and by teachers themselves.
A careful examination of the authorized course of study now in use in the primary and grammar schools, leads me to suggest that it be referred to the proper sub-committee, with a view to its complete revision before the beginning of the new school year in September, 1891. Although the detailed discussion of such proposed revision should be deferred until the matter is considered by the sub-committee, the presentation of any new material for addition to the courses is not out of place here. I will, therefore, briefly call your attention to the desirability of adding a simple branch or department of manual training, to supplement the work that is now being done in this direction in the form of mechanical drawing, clay modelling and original designing. At it is the sole aim of this portion of my report to present such recommendations and suggestions as may find imme- diate and practical application in the schools of Melrose, no attempt will be made to discuss questions of a purely
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SCHOOL REPORT.
general nature in pedagogics, such as are suggested by the term manual training. I may, however, and with no impro- priety call attention to the work which our schools are now doing to provide the elements of such training, and to sug- gest the simple extension of the work in another direction.
Drawing in its several departments, as has already been suggested, is now taught in our schools, not as an accom- plishinent in itself, but as a means of both mental and man- ual training. Ideas of form and of color are first developed by the careful training of the sense of sight, after which the hand is trained to the accurate expression of these ideas in clay modelling, paper cutting and folding, and in free hand and mechanical drawing.
A just recognition of the value of such training, because of its practical application to all of the vocations of life, has rendered the position of drawing as a department of study in our public schools absolutely unassailable. Excellent op- portunities for this kind of training are now afforded the pupils in the schools of Melrose by the special department of drawing recently introduced. My suggestion for the further extension of such opportunities is that sewing as a special department be introduced into all grades below the High School at the earliest possible opportunity. This branch, though unquestionably less important and far-reaching in its applications than drawing, has demonstrated its extreme usefulness in all of the large number of cities and towns in which it has been introduced. Believing that no argument in. its defense is necessary, I would simply urge that its intro- duction be considered in the revision of the courses of study.
Before leaving the subject of the courses of study, I wish to call attention to the needs of the Primary and Grammar grades in relation to supplementary reading matter; also, of the general need in all grades, of proper reference books,
-
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SCHOOL REPORT.
with the suggestion that these needs be met as rapidly as the appropriations will allow.
In concluding this, my first report of the schools, which you have committed to my charge, I wish to express to the committee, the teachers, and the citizens of the town, my appreciation of the kind reception and cordial support that have been accorded me in the discharge of the duties of this office.
Respectfully submitted,
GUY C. CHANNELL, Superintendent of Schools.
In School Committee, Melrose Mass., Feb. 17, 1891. 5
Ordered :- That the annual report of the Superintendent of Schools be accepted and adopted as the report of the School Committee to the town. J. C. MAKER,
Sec'y.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
1890. " Ye ende merites ye labour."
GRADUATION EXERCISES,
MELROSE HIGH SCHOOL, TOWN HALL, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 24. Exercises commence at 7.45. PROGRAMME. PART I.
ORCHESTRA SELECTION .- "Princesse de Trebizonde," Offenbach SALUTATORY ESSAY .- The Education of the Indians.
ALICE H. GRADY.
RECITATION .- "Rhyme of the Duchess May."
EUGENIE D. UPHAM.
ESSAY .- The Law of Wages.
FRED H. HODGE.
RECITATION .- "Elizabeth."
SARAH J. TWITCHELL.
ESSAY .- The Lesson of the Vestal Virgins.
GRACE BARRELLE CARR. PART II.
ORCHESTRA. Spanish Waltz, "Andalusia," . Ch. Le Thiere AWARDING OF THE PRIZES OF THE FRANKLIN FRATERNITY.
*ESSAY .- The Carboniferous Age.
ASA C. PULSIFER.
RECITATION .- "The Bay Fight."
GRACE L. BRADBURY.
ESSAY .- Wealth and Civilization.
EDWARD A. TUCKER.
ESSAY AND VALEDICTORY .- The Gods of Achilles.
GRACE CLARA ALBEE.
AWARDING DIPLOMAS. ORCHESTRA. Ballet Music, "Faust, *Excused.
Gounod
NAMES OF GRADUATES.
c. GRACE CLARA ALBEE.
L. GRACE LOWELL BRADBURY.
E. SARAH JACKMAN TWITCHELL.
E. EMMA FLORENCE BUSH. E. EUGENIE D. UPHAM.
c. GRACE BARRELLE CARR. E. LOTTIE HAMPTON WAITT.
P. EVELYN CHURCH COGGSWELL. L. ALICE I,AURETTA WHITE.
E. LILLIAN RAYMOND COPELAND. L. WM. NELSON BARTLETT.
E. CARRIE LOUISE EVERSON. L. & T. HERBERT MUNROE COX.
E. FLORENCE ADELAIDE FULLER. c. FREDERICK HUMBERT HODGE.
E. ALICE HARRIET GRADY.
E. ALICE MAY HOWES.
L. M. EVELYN MCINTYRE.
L. ASA C. PULSIFER.
P. JENNIE G. STONE. E. STEPHEN HERBERT ROBERTS. L. & T. EDWARD AUSTIN TUCKER.
E. ETTA SWEET.
T. J. EDWARD MCCULLOUGH.
T. J. FRANK POPE.
c. College Course. L. Latin Course. E. English Course. T. Technology Course. P. Partial Course.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
Honorable mention is made of the following scholars, for excellence in literature.
First Class.
Grace Lowell Bradbury, Grace Barrelle Carr, Evelyn Dodge Coggeshall, Emma Florence Bush, Alice Harriet Grady, Eugenie Dodge Upham,
Frederick Humbert Hodge,
Stephen Herbert Roberts,
Edward Austin Tucker.
Second Class.
Sara Cone Bryant, Sarah M. Fisher, Fred P. Woodbury.
Alice M. Burr, Maud L. Sanford,
Third Class.
J. Helen Bartholomew,
Sarah Conant,
Ella M. Fisher,
Anna May Kitching,
Effie L. Shapleigh, Alice M. Tufts.
Marie H. Cass, Mary Griffith Ellis, Susie M. Flint, H. Maude Marshall, Albert E. Small,
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