USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1901 > Part 5
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In any study of our school expenditure for the past few years, one must not lose sight of this rapid increase in the attendance upon the High School. While such an increase should be gratifying to one who has the best interests of the city at heart, it nevertheless serves not only to increase the total school expenditure more rapidly than would otherwise be the case, but, inasmuch as high school education is rela- tively costly, it forces up the per capita cost throughout the city.
Another point that should not be overlooked in this con- nection is the ratio of our High School enrollment to the total school enrollment for the city. Statistics show that this ratio for Melrose is practically 12%. In Everett the corresponding ratio is 51/2% ; in Chelsea, 7% ; in Malden, 71/2%; in Lynn, 8%; in Somerville, 8% ; in Cambridge, 81/2% ; and in Medford, 10%. The average for the fore- going seven cities is approximately 8%. It appears, there- fore, that Melrose has in its High School 4% more of its total school enrollment than the average in a similar line for the seven above mentioned neighboring cities.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
While this fact tends, obviously, to increase the per capita cost for education in the city, it is well to bear in mind that from a broad point of view it means much to the prosperity of a community to have a high standard of educated intelli- gence prevailing.
(b) An interesting fact to note in connection with this school is the decrease in the annual loss of pupils from the three lower classes during the past three years. Computa- tion based on the foregoing table reveals that during the period from September, 1898, to September, 1899, 23% of these classes severed their connection with the school; from September, 1899, to September, 1900, 22%; and from Sep- tember, 1900, to September, 1901, 13%.
This steady decrease in the per cent. of annual loss from the membership of the school is due largely, in my judg- ment, to the well-directed efforts of the principal to conduct the school so that pupils of moderate ability or indifferent intentions educationally may be encouraged to continue their work in the school as long as possible.
Two antagonistic ideas prevail in the administration of public high schools. One assumes that a pupil who does not easily perform the school tasks, and who does not promise to do credit to the school should be encouraged to end his school days in the early part of his course; the other assumes that it is the duty of high school teachers, as it is of teachers everywhere, to do everything within their power to encourage even the most indifferent student to definite purpose, reasonable acquisition, and the continuation of his course.
The first conception, which has prevailed too largely in the past, is held today by a diminishing number of high school teachers of the old school. The second conception which is coming to prevail in the best school systems, I am
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pleased to say is being carried into effect, as a rule, in our school with the result indicated above.
II. Regarding Graduates : Of the forty-one pupils who graduated in June, 1901, six are taking courses in College, three in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, three in Normal schools, five are doing post-graduate work in the High School, four are at home, and twenty have entered upon a business career.
The uniformly excellent standing of our graduates in higher institutions of learning speaks well for the thorough- ness of the work that is being done in the High School.
III. Regarding Commercial Work: Statistics regarding the last two graduating classes of this school reveal that 43% of the class of 1900, and nearly 50% of the class of 1901, passed directly into what may be termed business life. Records show, also, that, during the time that commercial work has had a place in our High School, an average of 62% of the pupils have taken more or less of the commer- cial work. During the present year, notwithstanding the fact that penmanship has been abolished as part of the work scheduled for the two lower classes, nearly 46% of the pupils are taking some of the distinctively commercial work. When one remembers that, with the exception of English, the studies that a pupil takes in our High School are elective, the above figures would seem to indicate that the introduction of commercial subjects into the school work meets a need of our young people.
One hears it occasionally said that commercial work has no place in High Schools. I am inclined to think that those of our citizens who have assumed this attitude with relation to our local High School fail to understand two things, (1) the facts regarding the demand for commercial training on the part of young people, and (2) the arrange-
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SCHOOL REPORT.
ment regarding such training in our school. Therefore, a brief exposition of what we are attempting may not be out of place.
As I have previously suggested, the elective system pre- vails in our High School. With the exception of English, which every pupil is required to take throughout the four years, a pupil, guided by the advice of the principal of the school and with the written approval of his parents, is per- mitted to select his list of subjects for the year's work. Obviously, therefore, there is no such thing as a commerci- al course in the school in the ordinary sense of that term. There is a general course of study which schedules for each year a list of studies from which pupils must select enough to enable each pupil to have at least 16 periods of prepared recitations each week. Selection is confined to the studies scheduled for the class in which the pupil is and to the studies of previous years. In the arrangement of the course of study, the commercial work is scattered through the four years, so that, if one takes the maximum of com- mercial work for each year it is only possible for him dur- ing the first two years of his course to make up 3-16 of his program from the commercial work, and during the last two years to make up II-16 of his program from commer- cial work. It is evident, therefore, that it is not possible, by any combination, for a pupil to get more than 7-16 of his work throughout his course from the special commer- cial studies. Such a course of study must have a large educational value, which, to my mind, removes the objec- tion that can be justly made to short commercial courses designed to fit pupils for office work as quickly as possible.
The purpose in the Melrose High School is not simply to train for proficiency in office routine, but to give pupils a good general education and at the same time a comprehen-
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CITY OF MELROSE
sive business training; and, as the Commercial department in our school has been conducted thus far the work that has ยท been done in it ranks well in educational value with that done in any other department in the school.
IV. Regarding the Choice of Studies: The following table shows the number of pupils at present registered in the dif- ferent lines of study in the school and is interesting in view of the fact that the elective system prevails in the choice of lines of work. In studying the table, it should be borne in mind (1) that German, Greek, and Science are open only to the three upper classes, and (2) that Stenography, Type- writing, Book-keeping, and Penmanship are open only to the two upper classes.
CLASSES.
LINES OF STUDY.
Totals.
Fourth.
Third.
Junior.
Senior.
Post Graduate.
English
107
87
53
43
S
298
History
83
38
22
27
1
171
Mathematics
102
45
25
10
1
173
Book-Keeping
13
S
1
22
Science
53
22
16
1
92
Latin
57
39
21
14
1
132
Greek
12
6
9
1
28
German.
16
22
11
2
51
French
39
50
30
30
1
150
Stenography
15
18
2
35
Typewriting
15
18
2
35
Penmanship
13
S
1
22
Music
67
47
22
18
4
158
Drawing
62
41
9
12
124
V. The following table gives the total and the per capita cost for the different items of expenditure in connection with the High School for the past two years.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
EXPENDITURES FOR HIGH SCHOOL. A. GENERAL STATEMENT.
1900
1901
ITEMS.
Expendi- tures.
Per cent. of
Expenditures
for all schools
Ex pendi- tures.
Per cent. of
Expenditures
for all schools
Salaries, teachers, janitor, engineer ..
$14,313.33
24
$14,202.50
23
Books and supplies
2,105.98
41
1,716.44
30
Fuel .
1,428.17
20
1,800.51
24
Sundries
340.93
19
409.33
27
High school library
79.61
Total for support of school.
18,188.41
$18,208.39
Repairs and permanent improvements
320.66
12
591.20
16
Total for all purposes
$18,509.07
24
$18,799.59
23
B. PER CAPITA COST. Based on average membership for financial year, 278.74.
1900
1901
Salaries, teachers, janitor, engineer
$57.19
$50.95
Books and supplies
8.42
6.16
Fuel .
5.71
6.46
Sundries
1.36
1.47
Repairs and permanent improvements
1.28
2.12
Library
.28
Total for all purposes.
$73.96
$67.44
One who notes the fact revealed in the above table that, in 1900, 24% of the total salary expenditure of the school department and 41% of the total outlay for books and sup- plies for all the schools of the city were expended for this school can hardly escape the feeling, as I suggested in my last report, that the cost of our High School is abnormally high, in spite of many excellent reasons therefor.
I feel certain that no one appreciates this condition better than the school authorities, and the closest economy, con- sistent with reasonable efficiency and with existing obliga- tions, has been exercised regarding the expenditure for this
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CITY OF MELROSE
school during the past year with the result that there has been a reduction of 1% in the proportion of the total school expenditure that is devoted to this school and a reduction of 9% in its average per capita cost.
Part of this reduction is due to an increase of 6% in the average membership of the school during the year.
With the same rigid scrutiny of the expenditure for the school that has been exercised during this past year and with the increase of membership that we have reason to expect, it is probable that the per capita cost of the school may be still further reduced during the present year without impair- ing its efficiency.
THE KINDERGARTEN PROBLEM.
At the opening of the school year in September, 1901, a significant change was made in the character of the work done in the first grade in our schools, so that, at a very slightly increased expense, all children in the first grades throughout the city, excepting the few who are in our two mixed schools-the Ripley and the Converse,-are receiving practically as much kindergarten training as was formerly given to about 40% of those who entered that grade. This result has been brought about (I) by discontinuing the few kindergartens that it had been possible to maintain as sepa- rate and distinct institutions in the city, (2) by making the program of work in grade one a combination of the kinder- garten and the easier portions of the first grade work, (3) by placing two teachers in each first grade room,- one a trained kindergartener, the other a regular first grade teacher - and (4) by admitting to such work no child un- less he is either five years old or will attain that age before the first of January following his admission in September.
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SCHOOL REPORT.
In December, 1900, when our kindergarten work was being done in separate schools, 132 pupils were being given the advantages of the kindergarten training. In December, 1901, after the above indicated change had gone into effect, 356 pupils were receiving kindergarten training, although in attendance upon what is nominally a first grade.
In the Melrose Journal for December 27, 1901, the follow- ing statements occur in an editorial on "The Kindergarten:" "The kindergartens in Melrose have not been extended to the extent that earnest friends of the system had hoped. . . The friends of the kindergarten hope that the coming year will see the work somewhat extended and especially in the sections where many little children need especially the kindergarten training. There is a feeling that the School Committee is inclined to favor the higher grades at the expense of the kindergartens, where the money is not sufficient for all."
In view of the facts in this matter, the feeling expressed in the foregoing editorial statements can be accounted for only on the supposition that more or less of our citizens fail to understand not only the attitude of the school officials toward kindergarten work but also what is actually being done at the present time in our schools in this line. There- fore it may be wise to treat this subject somewhat fully.
And, first, let it be understood by all that the Superin- tendent of Schools and the School Committee of Melrose thoroughly believe in the desirability of kindergarten train- ing and stand committed to do all that seems wise in view of prevailing conditions to secure the benefit of such train- ing not simply to a portion of our pupils, but to all children in every section of the city.
At no time during the five years that kindergartens had been established in Melrose previous to September, 1901,
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CITY OF MELROSE
had more than 44% of the children who entered the first grades received kindergarten instruction.
Now, as I suggested in my last annual report, such a condition as a result of which more than half of the pupils in grade I were getting no advantage from the expenditure for kindergartens was far from satisfactory, and presented a problem that the committee should carefully study.
There seemed only two solutions to the problem. One was to establish independent kindergartens enough to sup- ply all pupils with kindergarten training previous to their entrance into grade I; the other was to merge kindergarten work into our first grades in such a way that all pupils should be reached in that way.
In view of the fact that the school expenditure was prac- tically 30% of the total tax levy of the city and that this expenditure could not be materially lessened if the schools were to be kept at a point of efficiency satisfactory to our citizens, and also in consideration of the fact that to supply the necessary rooms, teachers, and equipment to enable all children who enter grade I to have had a year's training in the kindergarten work, if these schools were to be kept separate and distinct institutions, would require upon the most conservative estimate from $5,000 to $6,000 additional annual expenditure, the first solution did not seem feasible.
To those who were anxious to make it possible for all the children in our schools to have the advantage of kindergar- ten training, it seemed wiser to study the feasibility of merg- ing the kindergarten work in some way into the first grades. Conditions making it possible, an experiment in this line was tried in one of our first grades for a portion of the school year beginning September, 1900. Two teachers were placed in this grade-one a regular first grade teacher, the other a kindergarten teacher-and the entire work of the
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SCHOOL REPORT.
grade was changed to correspond to the idea underlying the trial.
Notwithstanding the fact that this was pioneer work, the experiment was sufficiently successful to warrant the belief that the plan was practicable.
Owing to the fact that few of the children in this grade were under five years of age, it was found possible for the kindergarten teacher to accomplish with them practically the program of work outlined by the Supervisor of kinder- gartens in Boston for use in the kindergartens of that city in addition to the easier features of the primary work that the primary teacher did with them
After this experiment had been in operation for six months, I submitted the following questions to the teacher who had charge of the kindergarten work in the above mentioned grade :
I. Do you think that the experiment of combining kindergarten with first grade work which has been tried in your room during the present year is a practicable plan to be adopted for the first grades throughout the city ?
II. Do you think such a plan, if carefully developed and carried out, would benefit the pupils who enter our first grades more than the present plan of work for that grade ?
III. Do you consider such a plan better for the school interests of the city than to have 50% of the children who enter the first grade receive training for a year in a distinct kindergarten school and the remaining 50% enter without any such training?
The answers given in the order in which the questions were put are as follows: (1) I do. (2) Yes. (3) Yes.
At this point the problem was referred to the sub-com- mittee on kindergartens for further investigation and report.
After a careful study of the subject in all its bearings, the
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CITY OF MELROSE
following unanimous report was submitted to the full com- mittee for consideration:
REPORT OF SUB-COMMITTEE ON KINDERGARTEN.
The Committee on Kindergarten, after due consideration and with a view to the greater efficiency of that branch of our educational system, desire to offer the following sugges- tions:
First-It is a well-known fact that, as now conducted, the advantage of the kindergarten work is (unavoidably) un- evenly distributed, and entirely inadequate to a realization of results which the theory of such teaching warrants us to expect.
Second-Requiring, as we do, more room and better accommodations for our advanced grades,-which by law we must supply,-we are powerless, with our present school buildings, to furnish rooms for more kindergarten work, (or in fact to continue all we now have), even if our appro- priation was sufficient to cover the extra expense involved for teachers and supplies. That it does not do this requires no argument.
Third - Less than one-third of our children do, or can, avail themselves of the advantages of kindergarten work. The remaining two-thirds, consequently, start in their school course relatively handicapped from lack of such preliminary preparation for the work of the first grade, and a majority of them continue handicapped longer, perhaps, than we realize.
Confronted with these facts and believing that it is the desire of our citizens, that in our public school system no discrimination or favoritism should be shown to locality or condition, but that all should share alike the benefit of the
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SCHOOL REPORT.
kindergarten, which in a modified form, we consider almost indispensable, we submit the following plan of consolidation outlined by the Superintendent which, when perfected and adopted, we firmly believe will tend to the mutual advan- tage of every scholar entering the first grade.
GEORGE H. HILL, EDWARD B. MARSH, BESSIE B. DEARBORN, Committee on Kindergarten.
April 9th 1901.
In accordance with the above report, it was voted that at the opening of the schools in September the Superintend- ent of Schools should organize each of the first grades in the city (the Ripley and Converse schools excepted for obvious reasons) along the line of the suggestions presented in his last year's report. This was done, and today, with the ex- ception of the two mixed schools above mentioned, every first grade in the city is a modified kindergarten in which, when the plan of work has been carefully worked out through experience, all of our pupils will receive practi- cally as much kindergarten training as 2-5 formerly re- ceived.
It is too early to point to results as a justification of the wisdom of the above arrangement; but it may be said that the kindergarten teachers with hardly an exception feel that the plan is working better than they had expected, al- though, all things considered, they had indorsed the wis- dom of the move at the start.
For my own part, the confidence with which I recom- mended the change has been strengthened by the character of the work that is being done, and I firmly believe that, so far as the interests of the whole city are concerned, more is
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CITY OF MELROSE
being done today for our children in the line of kindergar- ten training than has ever been done before or could be done under previous conditions. For, in spite of the easy going statement that one occasionally hears to the effect that Melrose is able and willing to pay for independent kindergartens enough for all, I believe that the logic of things, when we look our school expenditure and our school needs squarely in the face, as well as the experience of nearly all places in which kindergartens exist, is suffici- ent to convince any cool headed individual that Melrose neither could nor would afford to maintain enough inde- pendent kindergartens to give all pupils the advantage of such training.
It is not alone from the kindergarten standpoint that the change in our first grades is a benefit. The thought that I have in this connection was expressed in my last report in the following words : "It will be readily admitted, I think, by any one who is familiar with public school work that it is impossible for one teacher to handle thirty or forty pupils in a first grade as they ought to be handled to secure any- thing like the results that are possible for children taught under proper conditions. In my judgment, the assignment of one teacher to a first grade of that size results in a waste of at least one-half of the pupil's time in the school. Pupils from five to six years of age are incapable of using their time advantageously in school work without constant supervision. However carefully a teacher may arrange 'busy work' for those children who are awaiting their period for recitation work with the teacher, children, in the main, secure from such work little more than amusement if left to themselves. Therefore, if educational results are the primary consideration in the organization of the schools, wise economy would seem to dictate that two teachers be
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SCHOOL REPORT.
assigned to every first grade for all or part of the time at least. This result would be secured if the plan suggested for the combination of kindergarten and first grade work should be adopted in our schools."
Now the desired result suggested in the foregoing quota- tion has been secured through the present organization of the work of our first grades, as well as a much needed mod- ification of the severity of the program of first grade work as formerly carried on.
GRAMMAR SCHOOL DIPLOMAS.
During the year it was voted upon recommendation of the Sub-Committee on Rules and Regulations that no diplomas or certificates be granted pupils upon the completion of the work of the ninth grade. This action carried with it, naturally, the abolition of graduation exercises at the close of the grammar school course.
The public school system is a unit from the kindergarten grade to the close of the high school course, and it was the feeling of the Committee that the pupils in our schools should be impressed with this fact as far as possible, and that the schools should be so administered that the transi- tion from grade nine to grade ten (the first year in the high school) should appear to the pupils as natural as the transi- tion from any grade to another in the system. It was felt that graduation exercises and the granting of diplomas at the end of the ninth grade tended to perpetuate a gap between the grammar school and the high school which, in the interest of the school system, should not exist.
Because this gap has existed in popular thought too long already, I believe that many pupils have closed their school days with the grammar schools who might and, otherwise, would have gone further.
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CITY OF MELROSE
Another fact influenced the Committee in its decision in this matter. It was felt, also, that graduation exercises put upon many parents an unnecessary financial burden in the way of expenditure for clothes, flowers, class-pictures, etc., which they could not afford to bear; and it was understood that there had been pupils who had left school before the completion of their grammar course because their parents were unable to bear the expense necessary to enable the pupils to compare favorably with their mates in the above lines at the graduation season.
Therefore, in the interest of the schools and of those of our citizens who may be in moderate financial circumstances, it has seemed best to the Committee not to grant diplomas to pupils until the completion of the full public school course; and it is my opinion that careful thought on the subject will convince the public that the Committee acted wisely.
SCHOOL EXHIBIT.
For the past few years public visitation days have been set apart near the close of the school year to enable parents and all interested in the schools to study the character of the work that is being done in the schools, both through the observation of classes at their regular work, and through an examination of specimens of the written work of the pupils.
During the school years ending in June, 1899, and 1900, these exhibitions were held at the respective school build- ings. In June, 1901, an exhibit of work from all the schools in the city was massed in the high school building. This exhibit embraced work in nearly every line of study that is pursued in the schools and contained specimens from every pupil. It was open to the public during two afternoons and evenings and the work was viewed by thousands of our citi- zens and many from other towns and cities.
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