USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1908 > Part 6
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6. All schedules must be approved by the Principal of the High School.
ARTICLE VIII. Eligibility.
1. No one shall play on any team who is not a member of this association.
2. No one shall play on any team who has failed to se- cure a full promotion until all conditions are made up.
3. No one shall play on any team who is not taking the minimum amount of work prescribed by the school, and who
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does not maintain a weekly passable standard, not only in scholarship, but also in deportment.
4. No one shall play on any team who shall use tobacco in any form during the season of the respective teams.
5. The eligibility rules in regard to players shall apply also to the managers of the several teams.
ARTICLE IX.
All matters pretaining to athletics in the Melrose High School not covered by this constitution shall be decided by the Governing Board subject to the approval of the School Committee.
ARTICLE X.
This Constitution may be amended at any time by a two-thirds vote of the Governing Board with the approval of the School Committee.
RULES GOVERNING GRAMMAR SCHOOL ATHLETICS.
Adopted by the School Committee, June 29, 1908.
I. General Management and Handling of Funds.
1. Principals of grammar schools shall act as managers of all athletic teams connected with their schools and shall have charge of all funds raised and expended for athletic purposes in connection with the schools under their charge.
2. Principals may permit such organization of pupils as they deem wise for the purpose of advanc- ing athletic interests in connection with their re- spective schools.
3. Annually, in June, principals shall submit to the Superintendent of Schools an itemized account of all receipts and expenditures for the year in con- nection with the athletic interests of their respective schools.
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4. No pupil in the Melrose Grammar Schools shall solicit money for athletic purposes in the name of the schools, or assist in any way in raising funds for such purpose, without permission from the principal of the school of which the pupil is a member.
II. Membership of School Teams.
1. Any pupil who wishes to play upon an athletic team connected with the Melrose Grammar Schools must maintain a monthly standing of a least "pas- sable" both in scholarship and in deportment; and no pupil shall play on any such athletic team who shall use tobacco in any form during the season of the team upon which he may be.
2. Pupils who play upon any Melrose Grammar School team must be members of the school with which the team is connected.
III. Contests.
1. Principals are empowered to arrange such ath- letic contests between their respective schools as they deem wise,-provided, however, that foot-ball and basket-ball contests shall not be permitted.
2. Principals are empowered to arrange such ath- letic contests with outside teams as they deem wise with the approval of the Superintendent of Schools. 3. Schedules of all contests must be filed at the office of the Superintendent of Schools.
As a result of the foregoing action of the Committee the athletic interests in our schools today are on a sound basis in that they are contributory to the intellectual, physical, and moral upbuilding of the pupils.
While I am gratified with what has been accomplished in this line, I feel that there are other steps to be taken that would distinctly benefit the athletic interests of the schools.
1. Some policy is needed to interest more of the pupils to participate in the athletic sports. To illustrate, in the
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high school during the present year only 154 pupils,-less than one-third of the membership,-are engaged in any of the several forms of sports, whereas it would be beneficial if nearly all could be enlisted in some form of physical activity.
2. Another need is for a gymnasium for in-door work. This will be met when the proposed addition to the high school building is completed.
3. It would greatly advance the interests of our school sports if there were an enclosed athletic field under the control of the school department. I am aware that, under existing conditions we cannot expect to secure an appropria- tion from the public funds for such a purpose; but I believe that the Committee would do well to bring this need to the attention of the Alumni of the high school.
4. I am convinced that a regular director of athletics is needed in the schools, if the best results in this direction are to be secured; and, inasmuch as the athletic interests of the schools are now under the general direction of the School Com- mittee, it seems to me proper that the Board consider whether or not in some way such an official may not be secured.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
Sec.11, Chap. 42, of the Public Statutes of the Common- mealth reads as follows :- "Any town may, and every city or town of ten thousand or more inhabitants shall, maintain annually evening schools for the instruction of persons over fourteen years of age in orthography, reading, writing, the English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, in- dustrial drawing, both free hand and mechanical, the history of the United States, physiology and hygiene, and good be- havior. Such other subjects may be taught in such schools as the school committee consider expedient."
In the annual report of the Department for 1898, atten- tion was called to this statute. I have not, however, urged compliance with its requirements heretofore because, until recently, so little demand has been made by our citizenship for evening instruction of the nature contemplated in the law
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that it has seemed more economical to arrange for the at- tendance of such as wished evening school work either at Malden or Wakefield where evening schools were maintained.
In the judgment of the Secretary of the State Board of Education such arrangement met the spirit of the law.
During the season of 1907-1908, we had 15 pupils in at- tendance at the Malden evening schools and 4 pupils at the Wakefield evening school. During the present season permits have been granted 36 pupils to attend at Malden and 2 at Wakefield.
The evident growing demand among our citizens for evening school instruction leads me to believe that there is a present need in this respect that requires the Committee to consider carefully the advisability of maintaining an evening school during the coming fall and winter.
SPECIAL SCHOOLS.
In the Annual Report for 1907, I stated,-"That one great source of waste in the administration of schools is the presence in the regular classes of pupils who are not amenable to the ordinary discipline of the schools and of those who are men- tally unable to keep pace with the regular class work," and I suggested that "In the interest of the schools as a whole, such pupils ought to be segregated in special rooms under the charge of teachers who are peculiarly qualified to direct and assist them and where, therefore, they may receive that train- ing which they need to promote their best development."
This suggestion was referred to a special committee for consideration. December 14, 1908, this committee reported that it was deemed inadvisable at present to establish such schools.
Notwithstanding this report the subject is one of such vital importance to efficiency and economy in educational effort that I desire again to lay the matter before you and to urge that it receive the full and careful consideration which its importance warrants.
The argument for special rooms for pupils who are slow or deficient in mentality rests upon two considerations.
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1. The child who is mentally deficient or abnormally slow in his intellectual processes has individual rights in the matter of school instruction which cannot be assured in the regular class-room work in our public schools. · Discussing this point, James P. Haney, M.D., Supervisor of Manual Train- ing in New York City, says ;- "The child must be with his peers. . The mental dwarf will not be aided by being made to stand with those who are to him as intellectual giants. For the dull child special teaching is necessary, and it must be given by special teachers,-teachers who aim to educate and not to instruct; teachers who can interpret signs given by children with little power to know and see, and little power to show what they know and see
No single course and class for instruction of both bright and dull boys can be satisfactory. In such a class the dull boy occupies more of the teacher's time than is his due, and yet, with the subject-matter unadapted for him, he fails of the development which he might attain. His adequate instruc- tion is difficult, is practically impossible, under such circum- stances . A separate class must be resorted to . . . . . in which the individual pupil may, in the course adapted to him, receive individual instruction."
2. The presence in regular class-work of pupils who are abnormally slow in mental action or deficient in mental power makes it impossible to serve well the interests of those who are normal in mentality.
With reference to this phase of the argument, Super- intendent Aldrich of Brookline says :- "As is the case in all communities, we have among our pupils a certain number of children whose needs cannot be met by the public school. Their presence makes unreasonable demand on the time and energy of teachers, and involves a measure of injustice to the more fortunate children." Therefore he suggests that children of that type should not be retained in the regular class-rooms but should be placed in small groups in special rooms in charge of "teachers who by sympathy and special preparation are qualified for this difficult form of instruction."
Now, since the needs of neither the bright nor the dull
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pupils are effectively served by having them taught together it would appear wise economy to form special classes in which to instruct those who are abnormally slow.
For the benefit of any who may question whether parents: would be willing to have their children assigned to a special class of this character, it may be pointed out that special classes for the mentally deficient in connection with the public schools are in successful operation in several of our · American cities today and that wherever such classes have been formed any objection which was manifested at first has soon disappeared as the advantages of the plan became evi- dent.
It is equally imperative in the interest of efficiency in the administration of our schools that pupils who, by ordinary methods of treatment, cannot be made to conform to the re- quirements of regular class-room discipline should be assigned to a special room. In almost every class there are a few pupils whom even the most tactful and patient teacher finds it diffi- cult and sometimes impossible to inspire with a purpose to do as they should in their work and conduct under the condi- tions of the regular class work. These not only exert a de- moralizing influence upon other pupils, but they demand an undue amount of the teacher's time and energy in order that they may be kept within bounds of toleration.
With no special room to which such pupils may be sent, they are frequently endured, to avoid the necessity of expelling them from school, long after they are a positive detriment to the welfare of other pupils.
In my judgment, it would distinctly increase the effec- tiveness of the work in our schools if special rooms should be arranged for the two classes of pupils pointed out.
VACATION SCHOOLS.
The Chairman of the Educational Committee of the Melrose Woman's Club has kindly submitted the following report upon the work of the vacation schools which were maintained by that Club during the summer of 1908.
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Mr. F. H. Nickerson, Superintendent of Schools.
Dear Sir:
In reply to your request regarding work carried on by the Educational Department of the Melrose Woman's Club last summer, I submit the following.
The school opened July 6, and closed August 14, under the direction of two paid teachers. 210 pupils registered and 50 more applied for admission later, making an enrollment of 260 pupils.
The departments this year were dressmaking, sewing, basketry, chairseating, and school gardens.
These branches were all practical and appealed to all of the pupils. The pupils kept up their interest throughout the entire term.
I wish that more of the people in our City could see the children's faces beaming with delight as they enter the school room the opening day of the Vacation Schools and note how pleased they are to receive their admission cards and how an- xious they are to accomplish their work.
The Vacation School has come to stay and I hope to see it identified with our system of public schools.
Respectfully yours, Adaline G. Reed,
Chairman of Educational Committee of Melrose Woman's Club.
The term Vacation School suggests an arrangement. whereby for two or three hours daily, for four or five days per week, during five or six weeks of the long summer vacation, when regular school sessions are suspended, children who are compelled to spend that vacation amid their usual surround- ings in the cities are given the opportunity to receive training: in such lines as wood-working, nature-study, cooking, draw- ing and color-work, sewing and loom-work, basketry, card- board construction, dressmaking, music, etc.,-the purpose of the idea being not only, on the positive side, to stimulate: the intellectual development of the children by an appeal to their activity in ways well suited to their interests and:
-
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adapted to the season, but also to benefit them on the negative side by supplying enough of the proper kind of occupation to lessen the chances for unhealthy thoughts and interests to possess their natures.
During the past ten or fifteen years the conviction has been extending itself in the public mind (1) that something definite ought to be done to benefit educationally those chil- dren who are obliged to pass the larger part of the long sum- mer vacation in our cities; (2) that the public school system is the most natural and the most efficient force to call into action in this work; and (3) that the closing of public school plants to usefulness for so long a period of the year, when there is important work to do for young people, is not econo- mical from the point of view of the highest public welfare.
As a result of the growth of this conviction vacation schools have been established as part of the public school system in many communities throughout the country.
Education is not simply a matter of the schools; it is a· continuous process, for better or worse, in the life of an in- dividual during all his conscious moments; and one who has studied to any extent the conditions surrounding the life of the average child in an urban community during the long summer vacation cannot fail to realize that the influences of the street life, which to a large extent is practically forced upon children, are demoralizing not only intellectually but physically and morally.
Superintendent Greenwood of Kansas City, Mo., says :- "The street influence unbridled is about the worst possible school of instruction the child can enter."
Statistics indicate that in cities in which vacation schools are not maintained juvenile misdemeanors multiply with alarming rapidity during the long summer vacation, in spite of the fact that a portion of the young people are away during that season. On the other hand it is demonstrated by the reports of police officials that wherever vacation schools have been established there has been a noticeable decrease in the amount of trouble given by youthful offenders during the sum- mer season.
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These results indicate that much of the misbehavior on the part of young people during the long summer vacation is due to a lack of proper interests and of sufficient opportu- nity to expend in legitimate ways that mental and physical energy which properly directed makes for strong manhood and womanhood later.
Therefore,if, as I conceive, public schools are supported to serve the best interests of young people not only by pro- viding instruction in certain traditional lines of study but also by fitting them, so far as possible, to get from their environ- ment in life the most that their individual natures can appro- priate, to the end that they may become thoroughly efficient social units; and, if any considerable number of young people remain in our cities during the long summer vacation, there would seem to be considerable educational waste in permit- ting expensive school plans to lie idle during so much of the time as is the general practice today.
Take for example our own City. The value of the City's permanent investment in school property,-i.e., lots, build- ings, and fixtures,-is approximately $450,000; under present conditions, with the exception of the use made of the build- ings by the Melrose Woman's Club in its vacation school work, this expensive plant lies idle over one-third of the calendar year; and, yet, statistics obtained from thirteen hundred and seventy-eight homes in the City indicate that three-fourths of the children in our schools spend the greater part of the summer vacation in Melrose and that about four-fifths of the parents favor the idea of vacation schools.
The belief of the public at large with respect to vacation schools is suggested by the following facts and utterances;
1. The General Court of the Commonwealth in 1899 stamped its approval upon vacation schools in a statute which reads as follows :-
"The School Committee of a city or town may establish and maintain schools to be kept open during the whole or any part of the summer vacation; but attendance thereon shall not be compulsory or be considered as a part of the school atten- dance required by law."
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2. The latest report of the Massachusetts State Board of Education shows that for an average term of six weeks dur- ing the summer of 1907, 14,359 pupils in the Commonwealth had the advantages of vacation school training at public ex- pense.
3. The press generally speaking has indorsed the move- ment for vacation schools. The Boston Globe commenting editorially upon the opening of such schools in Boston for the season of 1908 said :- "The summer vacation school seems to have become an established order of things. More than 60,000 boys and girls have been registered in New York. If stretched out in single file, they would make a line 20 miles long.
"The vacation schools ordered by the Boston School Board have opened this week with upward of 4,000 pupils .. ...
"Judging by the course of instruction laid out, the good air provided and the general utilities secured, it would not be surprising if the summer schools should finally prove as bene- ficial as the winter."
In the editorial columns of the Boston Herald of corres- ponding date the following statements appeared :-
"That any children should be willing to attend school in the summer vacation appears strange to most adults who remember their own youthful sentiments on the subjects of schools and vacations. But it must be taken into account that the schools of today are not such schools as were common fifty or even thirty years ago, where the process of education was unrelieved by such agreeable means as have been intro- duced later. The ordinary schools are more apt to be places of pleasure and contentment. The notice which the old-time master nailed to the door of the schoolhouse, when vacation was expiring,-"Children, trouble begins next Monday," would not be understood in the same sense in these times. On the other hand, for a large portion of the children and their parents, the summer vacation, lengthened, as it has been, from four weeks to ten weeks, is not, in the cities and for the poor, quite the same thing that it used to be. Parents who cannot find employment for their children, and must let them play in the streets or wander beyond care with such com-
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panions as they may find, have good reason to feel that the long vacation is a season of peril, and often of loss.
"The summer schools are an inspiration of benevolence. They save many boys and girls from that aimless idleness or questionable activity that demoralizes character, and in some degree undoes the work of the rest of the year. The experi- ment has not been long in practice, but it makes progress and wins favor. In the beginning it was sustained by the benevo- lent. School boards have in a degree, more in some cities than in others, adopted it, taking responsibility for it and pro- viding for it. There is no reason for supposing that it will not continue as a regular feature of the educational work.
"This year seven vacation schools have been opened in various parts of the City, and the enrollment of pupils at the opening showed a total of more than 4,000, which will be increased. Last year there were only four schools. Because they were so well patronized and so plainly advantageous, three additional ones have been opened. .
"What the ultimate development of the vacation school may be cannot be predicted. It may be much more important than now appears probable. It may become so clearly an essential feature of education that all children will desire to participate in its opportunities more or less. It may contribute to the introduction of more manual training into the regular schools, thus substantially modifying present systems of education. It may lead to a system of all-the-year-round schools, with schemes of instruction that are adjusted to seasons, something like the scheme of Chicago University, which has no long general vacation. The experiment is yet in its infancy, but it is so promising in its accomplishment that it is likely to have a large development."
Discussing briefly the character of vacation schools in the annual report for 1907, I said in part :- "Schools for this purpose may well add to the manual work, which is ordinarily the major part of their programs, more or less instruction in the regular lines of school work. Every year more or less pupils, on account of sickness, neglect of duty, or lack of ability, fail to secure promotion at the regular time. Some
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of these at considerable expense for private tutors fit themselves during the summer vacation to go on with their classes in September. Others who would be glad to do this are prevented by the inability of their parents to stand the expense for pri- vate teachers. A school such as I have indicated maintained during the summer at public expense would provide opportu- nity for all such pupils to make up their deficiencies and there- by prevent them from losing a year's time in repeating their work in grade.
"Again, there are more or less pupils in any community whose home conditions are such that they must leave school and become wage earners as early as the law will permit. A properly organized vacation school would afford oppor- tunity for such pupils to advance in their studies further than they otherwise could in the time that it is possible for them to remain in school."
During seven weeks of the summer of 1907, a school for boys, doing work of the character suggested above, was main- tained by the Malden Y. M. C. A. There were sessions on five days of the week from 9 to 12 a.m., and such pupils as desired to avail themselves of the privilege were taken upon an excursion each Saturday, which combined both pleasure and educational profit.
Work was offered in the school similar to that done in the public schools in grades five to nine inclusive :- and, notwith- standing the fact that pupils were required to pay for their instruction, either $7.00 for the term in advance, or $1.25 weekly during attendance, 64 boys from the fifth, sixth, sev- enth, eighth, and ninth grades of the public schools were in attendance. These pupils represented all grades of deficiency in their work. Some had been promoted with conditions; others failed entirely on their year's work; and I am in- formed by the principal of the school that a large majority of them gained their grades as the result of attending the summer school and that no one of them appeared to suffer any physical deterioration by his effort.
If only fifty per cent. of those who attended that school saved a grade thereby, the financial gain to the City of Malden
.
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was more than twice the amount paid the instructors for their services.
As to the need for similar summer instruction for pupils of the public schools in Melrose, note the following facts:
1. During the summer of 1908 sixty-three pupils in our schools did definite work under private instruction either to secure a full promotion or to gain a grade.
2. These pupils were distributed as follows,-six in grade III, eight in grade IV, six in grade V, one in grade VI, seven in grade VII, five in grade VIII, and thirty in grade IX.
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