USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1900 > Part 4
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REPLY NO. I.
I. "It is."
II. (1) "Both better and poorer."
(2) "Decidedly."
REPLY NO. 2.
I. "It certainly is."
II. (1) "I think the better class."
(2) "I certainly think it will."
In view of such facts as the foregoing, while it is the duty of every individual concerned with the appropriation of money for the support of schools in Melrose to demand that the community shall receive an equivalent for every dollar that is expended for this purpose, it is worth con- sidering whether or not one who opposes the appropriation and expenditure of any sum of money needed to maintain a first-class school system, judged by the best educational standards of today, is not committing himself to a position of antagonism to the best interests of the city.
1I. Reference to item IV of the table under considera- tion reveals the fact that, although, as is shown in item I, the per capita taxation cost based on the average member- ship of the schools is less in Melrose than the average for
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SCHOOL REPORT.
the State, yet the percent. of the muncipal tax that was ex- pended for public school education in the city last year is 21/2 % above the average for the State. The careless ob- server might easily conclude therefrom that the schools of the city are conducted upon an extravagant basis. How- ever, an understanding of certain conditions relative to our school system will convince, I believe, any candid person that, on the whole, such a conclusion is not justified. There are good reasons why in respect to the item mentioned Melrose should be above the average for the State. Some of those reasons are the following :
(a). As related to the school population of the city, i. e., to the number of children from five to fifteen years of age, the average membership of our schools is unusually large. For instance, if the City of Everett be excepted, no other city in Middlesex County has so large a number of pupils attending school compared to the school population as Melrose. It is easy to see that, other things being equal, this condition tends to make a larger school expenditure relatively than the average, and as a result, to raise the per- cent. of the municipal tax that otherwise would be expend- ed upon the schools. There are several facts that explain why the average membership of the schools in Melrose is so large compared to the school population. In the first place, we had an average membership in our kindergartens last year of 143 pupils of whom nearly all were under five years of age, while in the majority of places there are no kindergartens. Again, the character of the population in Melrose is such that a larger proportion than the average of those over the compulsory school age remain in our schools for a longer or a shorter period. This is shown by the fact that in Melrose the ratio of high school enrollment to the total school enrollment is 9.4% while the correspond-
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SCHOOL REPORT.
ing ratio for the ten largest cities in Massachusetts is 6.7% and for the State at large is 8.3%. Again, Melrose edu- cates practically all her young people in the public schools while in many other places a considerable portion of the school population is taken care of in parochial schools at private expense.
While the above conditions are the cause in part of the expenditure of a slightly larger percent. of our municipal tax for schools than the average for the State, I believe that they are conditions which, on the whole, every citizen who has the highest welfare of Melrose at heart must re- gard with a degree of satisfaction, for, if they indicate any- thing, it is that the beneficent influence of education is be ing more widely diffused throughout our city than would be the case if the relative membership of our schools were less.
(b). Another condition that contributes to increase the total school expenditure in Melrose is the fact that the points at which the membership of the schools is increasing most rapidly are relatively costly. For example, in what may be classed as the primary grades, i. e., the kindergarten and the first four grades, the registration in December, 1900, was 13 less than in December, 1899, while in the grammar grades and the high school the registration in December, 1900, was IIO greater than in December, 1899,-the lowest grade in the high school alone showing an increase of 28 over the previous year's registration.
One at all familiar with the administration of schools knows that it costs considerably more to educate children in the higher than in the lower grades, therefore it is easy to see that increased attendance in the upper grades, especi- ally in the high school, works to increase the total school expenditure and consequently to affect the percent. of the municipal tax devoted to school purposes.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
(c). Another fact that has helped to swell the propor- tion of the municipal tax that has been devoted to the schools during the past year is an abnormally large expen- diture for fuel. This is chargeable neither to extravagance nor lack of judgment on the part of the school committee, but to the fact that in accordance with the recommendation of the Town Finance Committee, too small an appropria- tion for fuel was made by the town in 1899. As a result of this mistaken policy of economy, the school committee found the schools practically without fuel on January I, 1900, and were obliged to purchase the coal needed to supply the schools from that time until the end of the school year at prices that averaged about one dollar a ton higher than they had been accustomed to pay. Again, the total expenditure for fuel during 1900 has been larger than was needed to supply the schools from January, 1900, to January, 1901, because, when the committee made the con- tract for the fall supply, it was deemed wise to fill the bins with sufficient fuel not only to last until January, but to carry through as far as possible into the spring months of 1901, in order that the contract for the succeeding year's supply of fuel might be made at a time when prices are relatively low. While this larger expenditure has been made, as I have suggested, in the interest of ultimate eco- nomy, it has had the effect to increase temporarily the per- cent. of municipal tax devoted to the schools.
(d). Still another fact that has an effect to increase the total school expenditure for Melrose is the relatively large percentage of male teachers employed in the school corps. For example, the relative number of male teachers in the corps in Melrose is 5% larger than the average for the ten other cities in Middlesex County, and 4% larger than the average for the State at large. While I believe that this
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SCHOOL REPORT.
larger percentage of male teachers in Melrose is an element of strength in our educational system which we can ill afford to lose, yet it makes the expenditure for teachers larger than it would be if our percentage in this respect were down to the State average.
Reference to the following figures will show the ground for this statement :
1900.
Average wages of male teachers.
Average wages of female teachers.
Average wages for all teachers.
State, .
. $136.54
$52.50
$57.40
Melrose,
121.67
52.25
59.87
While the above table shows that the average wages in the case both of male and of female teachers in Melrose is less than the corresponding averages for the State, it shows also that the amount paid out monthly for teaching is $2.47 more per teacher on an average than the corresponding av- erage for the State. In round numbers this increase means that it costs us annually for teachers $2000 more than it would at the present rate of wages if the per cent. of male teachers in our corps were no higher than the average for the State.
During the past ten years the proportion of male to fe- male teachers throughout Massachusetts has shown a slight decrease. In his latest report the Secretary [of the State Board of Education calls attention to this fact and makes the following significant comment : " This is a questionable trend, not that women do not make excellent teachers, but that the schools cannot afford to dispense so fully with the services of men."
While, as I have shown, the policy of Melrose in this re- spect involves a slightly larger annual outlay than would be required otherwise, it is gratifying to know that the school administration of the city is in line with the best education- al thought regarding a vital need in public school work.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
The foregoing facts set forth fairly the principal reasons why Melrose is expending for schools a little more of its municipal tax than the average for the State.
While the other items in table X contain much informa- tion that is interesting to one who wishes to study the dif- ferent lines of school expenditure, I shall refrain from dis- cussing them, inasmuch as the two that have been discussed contain the principal facts of interest to the average tax- payer in his consideration of the relative cost of the schools.
TABLE XI. CHANGES IN THE TEACHING FORCE DURING 1900. 1 .- WITHDRAWALS.
Name of Teacher.
Position Held.
Date of Withdrawal.
Grace J. Aldrich .
1st grade, Horace Mann.
· March 1900
Marion Snow .
Assistant. Commercial Dept., High.
. June 1900
Margaret J. Cockburn.
4th and 5th grades, Franklin .
. JJune 1900
Carrie D. Peterson .
5th grade, Lincoln.
. June 1900
A. W Clark ..
Supervisor of Writing.
. June 1900
Aimee L. Sears .
Principal's Asst., Lincoln
. June 1900
Addie E. Wentworth .
7th grade, Lincoln ..
July 1900 .
M. Agnes Maddock
7th grade, D. W. Gooch
July 1900
Marion P. Goodwin
Kindergarten Asst., Whittier
July 1900
Martha E. Dodge ..
6th grade, Washington .
. November 1900
Mabelle S. Merrill.
3rd grade, Winthrop .
. November 1900
Blanche Andrews.
1st grade, Sewall
. November 1900
Nina A. Duley ..
6th grade, Washington .
. . .. . December 1900
Inez A. Hunt. ..
6th grade, Mary A. Livermore . .
. January
1901
Hubert G. Shaw .
Science Dept., High .
. January
1901
Mildred A. Wagg
.....
Assistant, Warren & Livermore
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February 1901
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SCHOOL REPORT.
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2 .- TRANSFERS.
Name of Teacher.
Position Held.
Position to which Transferred.
Date of Transfer.
Mary J. George.
Assistant, High ...
Principal's Assistant, Franklin. . June
Mabelle S. Merrill
3rd grade, Washington
3rd grade, Winthrop . . . . June
2d grade, Washington
1st grade, Winthrop ... . June
A. Arline Merrill .
1st grade, Winthrop ..
1st grade, Sewall . .
.. Jan. 1901
Martha A. Briggs.
6th grade, Lincoln .
Principal Sewall ... . June
June
Etta J. Call .
5th grade, D. W. Gooch ...
5th grade, Washington
June
Harriet A. Saunders
4th grade, D. W. Gooch ..
4th grade, Lincoln
June
Mary L. Loring ...
3rd grade, Winthrop ..
3rd grade, Washington ..
· . June
Mary R. Clarke .
Principal, Sewall ....
6th grade, Lincoln .
. . June .
Mary E. Nye ..
Principal, Converse ..
4th grade, D. W. Gooch.
June
Lois M. Holmes
5th grade, Washington . ...
5th grade, D. W. Gooch.
June
Fanny L. Warren .. .
Kindergarten Assistant, Lincoln ..
Kindergarten Assistant, Washington . ...
. Sept.
Mabel Price ..
Principal West Side Kindergarten .
Assistant, Whittier Kindergarten .. Sept.
Ethel Clark . .
Assistant. Warren & Mary A. Livermore| 6th grade, Livermore .
.. Jan. 1901
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SCHOOL REPORT.
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Minnie R. Donaldson
3rd and 4th grades. Lincoln
5th grade, Lincoln ..
3 .- NEW TEACHERS.
Name of Teacher.
Position Held.
Position to which elected.
Began Work.
Aimee L. Sears.
Student, Boston University .
Principal's Assistant, Lincoln .
.. Feb.
Annie G. Balch .
Grade 1, Wakefield . .
1st grade, Horace Mann.
. April
Mildred A. Wagg.
Student, Wellesley .
Principal's Assistant, Franklin . . April
Margaret McGill .
Natick High.
History Dept., High. Sept.
Helen M. Armstrong
Commercial Dept., High .
. Sept.
Alice C. Day
Student, Salem Normal
6th grade, Franklin .
Sept.
Maud E. Brown ..
Private Kindergarten Work
Washington Kindergarten ..
. Sept.
Annie M. C. Washburn ..
Grade 7, Weymouth. . .
Principal Assistant, Lincoln.
Sept.
Cora S. Burleigh .
Farmington, Me., High
7th grade, Lincoln ...
Sept.
Lena D. Marshall .
Student, Salem Normal
2nd and 3rd grades, Lincoln.
Sept.
Mae Goodwin ..
Grade 7, New Bedford.
7th grade, D. W. Gooch.
Sept.
Mabel Gilbride.
Trainer .
Assistant, Converse ..
Sept.
Ethel Clark. .
Assistant, Wakefield .
Assistant, Warren and Livermore .
. Nov.
Nina A. Duley .
6th grade, Washington.
. Nov.
Annie Dinnie ..
Ungraded School, Winchendon . ..
3rd grade, Winthrop .
.. . Dec.
Ethel A. Thomas. .
Grammar School, Stockton Springs, Me., 6th grade, Washington .
Jan. 1901
George A. Hutchins
Science, Amesbury High ..
Science, High .
. Jan. 1901
Katherine V. Rowe ...
Grade 5, Wakefield .
Assistant, Warren and Livermore. . .
... Feb. 1901
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SCHOOL REPORT.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
COMMENT ON TABLE XI.
In addition to the above scheduled changes under the head of withdrawals, the schools have sustained a severe loss in the death of Principal Frank L. Titcomb of the Franklin School who passed to rest January 19, 1901, after an illness of several weeks. Mr. Titcomb had served Mel- rose faithfully and efficiently for the past three years and his loss is keenly felt by all. Of the other teachers whom we have lost, four left for increased salaries, four to be married, two on account of poor health, two because the positions that they had held were abolished, two because the interests of the schools seemed to require a change, and one to enter business.
Regarding the new teachers who have been employed it may be said that a great deal of care has been taken in making selections, and I feel that, notwithstanding the loss of some very able teachers during the year, the corps of teachers today is, on the whole, stronger than it was a year ago. While this result must be ascribed in part to the efforts put forth by the teachers who have been with us some time to render themselves more efficient, no small part is due to the zeal and efficiency which the new teachers have displayed in their work.
TABLE XII.
PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF TEACHERS.
1. Proportion of teachers who are graduates of Normal Schools, 31 %
2. 66 have had partial course at Normal 8%
Schools,
3. Proportion of teachers who are graduates of College, . 14 %
4.
5. are graduates of Kindergarten
" have had partial course in College, 4% Training Schools, 11 %
6. Proportion of teachers who have had course in City Training Schools, . 20%
7. Proportion of teachers who are without training in Normal School, College, Kindergarten School or City Training Class, 12%
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SCHOOL REPORT.
COMMENT ON TABLE XII.
I. The advance sheets of the forthcoming annual report of the State Board of Education show that 79% of the teach- ers throughout the State have had either a complete or a partial training in Normal Schools. Reference to the above table shows that only 39% of our teachers have had such training. Now this showing does not indicate, by any means, that the quality of the teaching in Melrose is inferi- or, but it does indicate that school officials throughout the State, as a rule, are putting a higher valuation upon Normal training than has been the practice hitherto in Melrose.
Normal training by no means assures a teacher's success ; but, other qualifications being equal, the teacher who has had such a training is a more valuable factor in a corps than the one who has not, because she brings to her work a de- gree of enthusiasm, professional zeal, and devotion to high educational ideals that, as a rule, does not characterize the teacher who lacks definite professional training.
While I do not forget that some of the best teachers with whom I have labored have lacked special preparatory train- ing for their work, and while I believe that those qualities without which no teacher can reach a high degree of suc- cess are inborn, yet I feel confident that it will contribute to the strength of our corps, as vacancies may come, to increase the percentage of teachers who have been trained in Nor- mal Schools, provided sufficient care is exercised in the se- lection of such teachers.
2. While the above table indicates, also, that 12% of our teachers are without training in either College, Normal School, Kindergarten, or City Training Class, it must not be inferred that such teachers are entirely untrained. Many of them through diligent study under private instruction, through attendance upon summer schools, through wide
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SCHOOL REPORT.
reading, and through careful observation have secured a preparation for their work that puts to shame the prepara- tion that many a would-be teacher brings from the Normal School.
In this connection it may not be out of place to say that, as a whole, the teachers of Melrose are manifesting a devo- tion to self-improvement in the line of their profession that is highly commendable. In my judgment, if our citizens could only understand the sacrifice of time and strength that many of our teachers are making, not only in term time, but during vacations, in order that they may become better fitted to train properly the boys and girls who are committed to their care, there would be less readiness on the part of parents to magnify mistakes that teachers make in common with the rest of humanity.
THE COURSE OF STUDY FOR THE ELEMENTARY GRADES .
I. READING. During the past year the work of rearrang- ing the course of study, which was begun in 1899, has been advanced a step by the adoption of a carefully prepared outline in Reading and Literature for all grades below the high school. The general features of the plan include (I) a list of books and selections for class reading and study in all grades, (2) a list of books and selections to be read by the teacher to the pupils in grades I to VI inclusive, (3) a list of selections to be memorized in all the grades, and (4) a list of suggested home readings in grades V to IX inclus- ive.
The guiding thought in the preparation of the outline has been that the schools should aim to do more in connection with the course of reading than to enable pupils to get the thought of an author readily from the printed page and, if necessary, to express that thought effectively to others.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
They should aim to implant in pupils a permanent taste for good reading by putting them in touch with the writings of many of the best authors under the guidance of apprecia- tive teachers; they should aim to store the pupil's mind with choice selections as a means of present improvement and of future inspiration; and they should aim also to em- ploy a portion of the pupil's leisure out of school with inter- esting and improving reading, both because such reading has a helpful influence on his daily work and because it lessens the desire and opportunity for the perusal of trashy and enervating literature. One cannot state positively the fit- ness of the present course for the accomplishment of these aims, until it has been fairly tested, nevertheless, an opinion may be formed by a careful study of the following outline.
GRADE I.
To be Read in Class: Ward's Primer, Cyr's Primer, Ward's First Reader, Cyr's First Reader, Bass's Beginner's Book, and Stepping Stones to Literature, Book I.
To be Read by Teacher to Pupils: Adventures of a Brownie ( Muloch), In the Child's World (Poulsson), Selec- tions from Heart of Oak Stories, Book I, Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard (Kirby), and Selections from Whittier's Child Life in Poetry.
Selections to be Memorized: "I like little pussy," "If ever I see," " Hearts, like doors, can ope with ease," The Rock-a-by Lady (Field), The Busy Bee, (Watts), Dutch Lullaby (Field), The Daisy (Lovejoy), The Sunbeams (Poulsson). (At least five of the above are required ).
GRADE II.
To be Read in Class: Ward's Second Reader, Cyr's Second Reader, Baldwin's Second Reader, Blaisdell's Child
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SCHOOL REPORT.
Life, Book II, Stepping Stones to Literature, Book II, Bass's Animal Life, Bass's Plant Life, Ford's Nature's By- ways, Beckwith's in Mythland, Brook's Stories of the Red Children.
To be Read by Teacher to Pupils : The Bird's Christmas Carol (Wiggin), Ballads For Little Folks (Cary Sisters), The Barefoot Boy (Whittier), Poems by Eugene Field.
Selections to be Memorized: Suppose (Phoebe Cary) , Who Stole the Bird's Nest (Child), The Brown Thrush (Larcom), Goldenrod (Lovejoy), Sunshine, They Didn't Think (Cary), The Bluebird (Miller), The Child's World, The Mountain and the Squirrel (Emerson), America (Smith). (At least five of the above are required.)
GRADE III.
To be Read in Class: Ward's Third Reader, Blaisdell's Child Life, Book III, Carroll's Around the World, Book I, All the Year Round, (Autumn), (Winter), (Spring), Robin- son Crusoe for Youngest Readers, The Story of Hiawatha, Pratt's Stories for Colonial Children, Wilson's History Reader for Elementary Grades.
To be Read by Teacher to Pupils: Selections from Whittier's Child Life in Prose, Village Blacksmith, ( Long- fellow), Little Pussy Willow (Stow), Little Lord Fauntleroy (Burnett), Thanksgiving Day (Child), The Landing of the Pilgrims (Hemans), The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (Longfellow). (Connect the last three with History work).
Selections to be Memorized: Parts of the Barefoot Boy (Whittier), Discontent (Jewett), Hurrah for the Flag, The Cotton Plant, The Sand-piper (Thaxter), The Village Blacksmith (Longfellow), Learn a Little Every Day, The Flight of the Birds (Kimball), Faded Leaves (Alice Cary ),
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SCHOOL REPORT.
The Song of the Wind, Portions of Hiawatha (Longfellow), Hail Columbia. (The last two and at least five others are required ).
GRADE IV.
To be Read in Class: Stepping Stones to Literature, Book III, Baldwin's Third Reader, Blaisdell's Child Life, Book IV, Carroll's Around the World, Book II, Seven Little Sisters, Each and All, Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children (Andrews), Baldwin's Old Greek Stories, Bald- win's Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Eggleston's Great Americans for Little Americans, Dodge's Stories of Ameri- can History.
To be Read by Teacher to Pupils : The Jungle Book (Kipling), Beautiful Joe (Saunders), Little Men (Alcott), Five Little Peppers, (Lothrop), The Story Hour (Wiggin), Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill (Holmes), The Dis- covery of America (Trowbridge), Barbara Freitchie (Whit- tier). (Connect the last three with History work).
Selections to be Memorized : The Bluebell, Little Things, Little by Little (Clark), One Step and Then Another, The Minutes, Children (Longfellow), The First Snow Fall (Lowell), Somebody's Mother, Jack Frost, The Star Spangled Banner (Key), The Landing of the Pilgrims (Hemens). The last two and at least five others are required ).
GRADE V.
To be Read in Class: Stepping Stones to Literature, Book IV, Baldwin's Fourth Reader, Sewall's Black Beauty, Pratt's Storyland of Stars, Hale's Little Flower People, Frye's Brooks and Brook Basins, Pratt's American History Stories, Vol. I and II, Pratt's Stories of Massachusetts, Hawthorne's Wonder Book.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
To be Read by Teacher to Pupils: Swiss Family Robin- son (Wyss), Rollo in London (Abbott), The Revolu- tionary Rising (Read), The American Flag (Drake), Independence Bell, Selections from Evangeline (Long- fellow). (Connect the last four with History work).
Selections to be Memorized: True Worth (Alice Cary), The Use of Flowers (Howitt), Doing Nothing, One by One (Proctor), "The Mill will Never, Never Grind," From My Arm Chair (Longfellow), The Common Ques- tion (Whittier), Our Pattern ( Phoebe Cary) My Window Ivy (Mary Mapes Dodge) Paul Revere (Longfellow), Barbara Freitchie (Whittier). (The last two and at least five others are required.)
Suggested Home Reading: Nelly's Silver Mine (Jack- son), The Prince and the Pauper (Clemens), Zizzag Journey Series (Butterworth), Rollo in Paris (Abbott), Little Women (Abbott), Timothy's Quest (Wiggin), Captain January (Richards). (Three are required.)
GRADE VI.
To be Read in Class: Baldwin's Fifth Reader, Stepping Stones to Literature, Book V, Robinson Crusoe, Eddy's Friends and Helpers, Long's Ways of Wood Folk, Haw- thorne's Tanglewood Tales, Four Great Americans, Four American Patriots.
To be Read by Teacher to Pupil: Howell's A Boy's Town, Being a Boy (Warner), Rab and His Friends (Brown), The Story of a Bad Boy (Aldrich), Angel of Buena Vista and Laus Deo (Whittier), John Burns of Gettysburg (Harte), The Sword of Bunker Hill (Wallace), Madam How and Lady Why (Kingsley).
To be Memorized: The Builders (Longfellow), The Mountain Torrent (Mackay), "Some love the outward show"
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SCHOOL REPORT.
(Swain), "I'll find a way or make it" (Saxe), A Fable, Independence Bell, The American Flag (Drake). (The last two and at least three others are required.)
Suggested Home Reading: Bolton's Poor Boys Who Became Famous and Poor Girls Who have Become Famous, Brooks' Abraham Lincoln, Coffin's Old Times in the Colonies, Whitney's Faith Gartney's Girlhood, Alcott's Old Fashioned Girl, Dodge's Hans Brinker. (Three are re- quired).
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