Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5, Part 22

Author: Hart, Albert Bushnell, 1854-1943, editor
Publication date: 1927
Publisher: New York, States History Co.
Number of Pages: 922


USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5 > Part 22


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CHENEY, MRS. EDNAH DOW (LITTLEHALE) .- Reminiscences (Boston, Lee & Shepard, 1902).


DAKIN, EDWIN FRANDEN .- Mrs. Eddy; the Biography of a Virginal Mind (N. Y., Scribner's, 1929).


DORR, RHETA CHILDS .- Susan B. Anthony, the Woman who Changed the Mind of the Nation (N. Y., Stokes, 1928).


EARHART, AMELIA .- 20 hrs. 40 min .; Our Flight for Friendship (N. Y., Putnam's, 1928).


FIELDS, MRS. ANNIE (ADAMS) .- James T. Fields (Boston, Houghton Mif- flin, 1881).


HAMILTON, ALICE .- Carbon-Monoxide Poisoning (U. S .- BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, Bulletin, No. 291, Washington, 1922).


HAMILTON, ALICE .- Industrial Poisons in the United States (N. Y., Mac- millan, 1925).


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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY


HANSCOM, ELIZABETH DEERING, AND GREENE, HELEN FRENCH .- Sophia Smith and the Beginnings of Smith College (Northampton, Mass., Smith College, 1925).


HARPER, MRS. IDA (HUSTED) .- The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (3 vols., Indianapolis, Hollenbeck, 1898-1908).


HOWE, MARK ANTONY DE WOLFE .- Memories of a Hostess; a Chronicle of Eminent Friendships (Boston, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922)- Drawn chiefly from the diaries of Mrs. James T. Fields.


HUNT, CAROLINE LOUISA .- The Life of Ellen H. Richards (Boston, Whit- comb & Barrows, 1918).


HUNT, RICHARD, AND SNOW, H. H .- Amy Lowell, Sketches Biographical and Critical (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1921).


KELLER, HELEN .- The Story of My Life (N. Y., Doubleday, Page, 1905)- Includes her letters 1887-1901, and an account of her education by J. A. Macy.


KELLER, HELEN .- The World I Live In (N. Y., Century, 1920).


LIVERMORE, MRS. MARY ASHTON (RICE) .- My Story of the War (Hart- ford, Worthington, 1888).


LIVERMORE, MRS. MARY ASHTON (RICE) .- The Story of My Life (Hart- ford, Worthington, 1897).


LOWELL, AMY .- John Keats (2 vols., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1925).


LOWELL, AMY .- Selected Poems (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1928).


MARKS, MRS., JOSEPHINE PRESTON (PEABODY ) .- The Collected Plays of Josephine Preston Peabody (Mrs. Lionel S. Marks) (Boston, Hough- ton Mifflin, 1927).


MARKS, MRS. JOSEPHINE PRESTON (PEABODY ) .- The Collected Poems of Josephine Preston Peabody (Mrs. Lionel S. Marks) (Boston, Hough- ton Mifflin, 1927).


MARKS, MRS. JOSEPHINE PRESTON (PEABODY ) .- Diary and Letters (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1925)-Edited by C. H. Baker.


MARKS, MRS. JOSEPHINE PRESTON (PEABODY ) .- The Piper (Boston, Hough- ton Mifflin, 1909).


MASSACHUSETTS : DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION .- Annual Report (Boston, 1920 and later years)-Continues the annual reports of the Board of Prison Commissioners. Contains the annual report of the Reform- atory for Women, at Sherborn, of which Mrs. Jessie D. Hodder became superintendent in 1911.


MITCHELL, MARIA .- Maria Mitchell, Life, Letters, and Journals (Boston, Lee and Shepherd, 1896)-Compiled by P. M. Kendall.


NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION .- The Hand Book of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and Proceed- ings of the Annual Convention (N. Y., 1869, and later years).


Our Famous Women (Hartford, Conn., Worthington, 1884)-Contains chapters on Louisa May Alcott, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Elizabeth Blackwell, Emily Blackwell, Charlotte Cushman, Julia Ward Howe, Mary A. Livermore, Maria Mitchell, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, and Frances E. Willard.


PALMER, GEORGE HERBERT .- The Life of Alice Freeman Palmer (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1908).


PALMER, GEORGE HERBERT, AND PALMER, MRS. ALICE FREEMAN .- The Teacher; Essays and Addresses on Education (Boston, Houghton Mif- flin, 1908).


PARK, JOHN EDGAR .- New Horizons (Norton, Mass., Wheaton College Bookstore, 1929)-Transcripts of brief talks given at daily chapel in Wheaton College.


PEABODY, ELIZABETH PALMER .- Education in the Home, the Kindergarten, and the Primary School (London, Sonnenschein, Lowrey, 1887).


PRICE, WILLIAM THOMPSON .- A Life of Charlotte Cushman (N. Y., Brentano, 1894).


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THE WOMAN MOVEMENT


RADCLIFFE COLLEGE .- Radcliffe Looks to Its Future (Cambridge, 1929).


RICHARDS, MRS. LAURA ELIZABETH (HOWE) AND ELLIOTT, MRS. MAUD (HOWE) .- Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910 (2 vols., Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1916).


SHAW, ANNA HOWARD .- The Story of a Pioneer (N. Y., Harper, 1915)- Autobiography.


STANTON, MRS. ELIZABETH (CADY), ANTHONY, SUSAN B., AND GAGE, MA- TILDA JOSLYN .- History of Woman Suffrage (6 vols., N. Y., Fowler, & Wells, 1881-1922).


STEBBINS, EMMA, editor .- Charlotte Cushman: Her Letters and Memories of Her Life (Boston, Houghton, Osgood, 1878).


STONE, MRS. LUCY, compiler .- Woman's Rights Tracts (no imprint)-Five Essays by W'endell Phillips, Theodore Parker, Mrs. J. S. Mills, T. W. Higginson, Mrs. C. H. Nichols.


STRACHEY, MRS. RACHEL (COSTELLOE) .- Frances Willard, Her Life and Work (London, Unwin, 1912).


TIFFANY, FRANCIS .- Life of Dorothea Lynde Dix (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1890).


WHITING, LILIAN .- After Her Death; the Story of a Summer (Boston, Roberts, 1897).


WHITING, LILIAN .- Kate Field; a Record (Boston, Little, Brown, 1899).


Who's Who in America .- A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living


Men and Women of the United States. (Chicago, Marquis Company, London, 1928)-Brief personal sketches, with some lists of publications. Who's Who in New England (Chicago, A. N. Marquis, 1909; later edition, 1915).


Woman Citizen (3 vols., June, 1917-May, 1919)-Official organ of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.


Woman's Journal (48 vols., Boston, 1870-1917).


WOMAN'S NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT .- Save America (Boston, 1923)-Edited by Elizabeth Tilton.


WOODY, THOMAS .- A History of Women's Education in the United States (2, vols., Science Press, Lancaster, Pa., 1930) .


ZAKRZEWSKA, MARIE ELIZABETH .- A Woman's Quest; the Life of Marie


E. Zakrzewska (N. Y., Appleton, 1924)-Edited by Agnes C. Vietor. For some of the persons mentioned, information has been furnished direct to the author of the chapter.


CHAPTER VIII


EDUCATION AND SCIENCE IN MASSACHUSETTS (1890-1930)


BY H. W. TYLER Professor of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


ANTECEDENTS AND CONDITIONS


The educational history of Massachusetts has been set forth in several earlier chapters in this work. The leaders of the original Colony were educated men, and they early estab- lished a college for the preparation of godly ministers, and provided for schools and grammar schools in the towns. Nevertheless, for two hundred years after the foundation of the Colony, education was limited in quantity and quality. The rescue of the State from frontier conditions was the task of the nineteenth century. By 1890 the system of public and private schools, of colleges and scientific and engineering schools, of education for women, and the training of defec- tives was firmly established.


The main principles of this complicated and interlocking system may be summarized as follows: (1) The organization of education for young children, in kindergarten and formal primary grades, was a foundation for properly graded work thereafter. (2) The grammar schools (the so-called grades) were distinguished from elementary work, and gave oppor- tunity for as much as six years of consecutive study, includ- ing many interesting fields of learning. (3) Public high schools, flanked by private and endowed schools and academies, were open to the whole population of ages from fourteen to eighteen or nineteen years. (4) A considerable diversification of secondary education was achieved by the gradual establishment of technical and, vocational schools, and by the introduction of such specific subjects in schools of the traditional type. (5) College education was opened to an


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ever increasing population, both by increased facilities in the older colleges and by the opening of new institutions, includ- ing several colleges for women. (6) The development of professional schools was based upon high-school preparation in some fields and on college training for schools of law, medi- cine and theology. (7) Extraordinary inventions and prog- ress in applied science reacted powerfully on the promotion of interest in natural and applied science in both schools and colleges. (8) A general recognition by the people of the State of the value to the individual, the family and the com- munity, of thorough and coordinated education, brought about a new correlation of the various types and grades of schools into a recognized system of education. (9) A vast increase of attendance at every age and in every stage took place, so that education permeated almost the entire population. (10) Massachusetts came to realize the many values to the State of widespread and thorough education, and the special needs of those who are to make their own living.


EDUCATIONAL COMMISSIONS (1891-1909)


In 1891 Governor Russell appointed a commission to in- vestigate existing systems of manual training and industrial education under the chairmanship of Louisa P. Hopkins. The recommendations include the following: that the principles and practice of the kindergarten, of manual training, and of domestic science be taught in the normal schools; that high schools in which mechanic arts and domestic science shall be taught be established in cities of 20,000 or more population.


In 1905 a Commission on Industrial and Technical Educa- tion was appointed under the chairmanship of Col. Carroll D. Wright. The commission recommended the introduction of industrial instruction in the public elementary and second- ary schools, with a view to emphasizing applied science with provision for agricultural, domestic and mechanical arts, and also the appointment of a commission on industrial education. It was particularly concerned to meet the need created by the passing of the apprenticeship system through the better use of time during the later school ages.


The Mechanic Arts High School in Boston was established


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LATER COMMISSIONS


in consequence of this investigation and report. Likewise in 1906, a Commission on Industrial Education under the chair- manship of Professor P. H. Hanus, of Harvard University, received authority to investigate and also to report advice and aid in the introduction of industrial education; and to initiate and superintend the establishment and maintenance of indus- trial schools, with the cooperation of the local authorities. A report was to be made to the legislature annually relative to the condition and progress of industrial education. The work of this commission during succeeding years had far-reaching effects in the development of both manual training and voca- tional education. It published comprehensive annual reports in 1907, 1908 and 1909, dealing in a broad and thorough manner with both American and foreign conditions.


LATER COMMISSIONS (1918-1928)


In, 1918 a commission was appointed to report on the sup- port, supervision and control of all educational institutions and undertakings maintained directly by the State, or jointly with cities, towns and counties ; State Senator G. D. Chamber- lain, of Springfield, was chairman. The recommendations of this commission covered a very wide range: discontinuance of ninth grade; junior high schools; compulsory continuation schools, combined with properly organized trade schools and vocational guidance; physical education and medical inspec- tion; evening schools and university extension; better com- pensation of teachers ; establishment of a normal college; re- organization of the State Board of Education; restriction of the right of incorporation; equalization of opportunity by State aid; Americanization of immigrants, etc.


In 1920 a commission under the chairmanship of Dr. Pay- son Smith, Commissioner of Education, prepared a report on teachers' salaries, recommending extension of state aid to small communities for payment of more adequate salaries.


In 1922 a special commission was appointed, under the chairmanship of President L. H. Murlin of Boston Univer- sity, to report on the opportunities and provisions for tech- nical higher education, and the possible need of a State uni- versity or further cooperation. With the service of Dr. G.


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F. Zook of the United States Bureau of Education, the com- missioner made an important report in December, 1923, recommending the establishment of standards for the certifica- tion of public-school teachers, increased support of research and university extension, and the establishment of junior colleges. The commission deemed a State university unneces- sary. The so-called "University of Massachusetts," chartered in 1917, has not functioned as a teaching body.


EFFECT OF THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE (1889-1929)


The world around us and the way we live in it have been revolutionized during the last four decades. In 1889 electric lighting and the telephone were in their infancy; some of the inventions then undreamed of were airships and airplanes, automobiles, X-rays, wireless communication, motion pictures -to say nothing of such more recondite matters as relativity and modern theories of matter. All these have reacted power- fully on that popular interest in science on which its status in school programs so largely depends. The World War, revolutionizing everything else, has also not failed to react on education and science throughout the world. It has become evident that military success can no longer be hoped for on the basis of mere courage or strategy, but in case of future need must depend upon previous scientific research and in- dustrial efficiency.


It is in the popular appreciation of science, even more than in science itself, that the real revolution has taken place: a revolution brought about by the application of scientific dis- coveries, rather than by the discoveries themselves. So mo- mentous a change has profoundly affected education as to content, method and aim. In the words of a distinguished physicist : science "claims the whole world for its parish, and so far from contenting itself with work in the laboratory, it goes into the market place and into public life and seeks to make its influence predominant in the world of business and of government. It holds up social effectiveness, power to serve the community, as the end of education, rather than individual knowledge or individual culture."


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


PUBLIC ORGANIZATION AND SUPERVISION OF EDUCATION


Public education in Massachusetts is at present based on the following main principles, (1) Compulsory school attend- ance in general to age 16, (2) Support by local (city and town) taxation, supplemented by State aid for certain pur- poses, (3) Local administration and control, through school committees of curriculum, appointments, building, etc., sub- ject to certain State minimum requirements and restrictions, (4) Expert supervision through city, town or union superin- tendents, (5) A State department of education, of which the main functions are outlined below. The total amount of taxation for public education by State and local authorities in 1928-1929 was, in round numbers: local, $72,000,000; State, $18,000,000.


The legal requirement for the school year is 160 days for elementary schools, and 180 for high schools. The State De- partment, on application of a parent or guardian living more than two miles from school, may require the town to furnish free transportation of pupils to schools within the town, and in certain cases tuition and transportation for attendance in an adjoining town. Towns not maintaining high schools are required to pay tuition and transportation or board for high- school pupils. These expenses are to some extent reimbursed by the State. About 45,000 pupils were thus transported in 1929. Massachusetts has perhaps gone farther than any other State in consolidating and centralizing its schools. At the present time more than 97 per cent of the pupils are attending graded schools of two or more rooms. Since the days of Horace Mann, described in a previous volume, the number of one-room schools has been reduced from about 3,000 to a few more than 500.


STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (1909-1930)


The first Massachusetts Board of Education, established in 1837, resembled the present United States Bureau of Educa- tion ; it exercised functions largely advisory, informative, and cooperative with local authorities. Its personnel included citizens of distinction, with a succession of capable secretaries and agents, publishing voluminous annual reports.


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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE


In 1909 this Board was reorganized with some increase of power and provision for the appointment by the Board of a Commissioner of Education. In 1919, as a part of the gen- eral plan for consolidating the boards and commissions of the State, the Board was succeeded by the present Depart- ment, under the general direction of Dr. Payson Smith as commissioner. Besides an Advisory Board of six citizens, the following administrative divisions have been established : Elementary and Secondary Education and Normal Schools ; Vocational Education, including agriculture, industrial, house- hold arts, etc .; University Extension; Immigration and Americanization; the Blind; Public Libraries. The Depart- ment also has charge of three textile schools, the Nautical Training School, and the Teachers' Retirement Board, as well as the ten State Normal Schools.


Appropriations under its direction amount to about $10,- 500,000, the larger items being in round numbers: General School Funds, $5,000,000; Industrial Schools, $1,300,000; Normal Schools, $1,500,000; Textile Schools, $300,000. In recent years the department has conducted a considerable service of appointment and placement of teachers and school executives.


SCHOOL BOARDS AND SUPERINTENDENTS


The tradition of lay supervision of public schools in Massa- chusetts is of long standing. The introduction of professional supervision is comparatively recent. In 1870 an important step was taken by authorizing the formation of union districts of two or more neighboring towns with a common superin- tendent; and in 1888 State financial aid for such combina- ations was provided. As early as 1895, more than 90 per cent of all teachers and of pupils in Massachusetts public education were in supervised schools, while in 1902 the plan was made compulsory and applied throughout the State.


SCHOOLS FOR THE DEFECTIVE


The record of the State in this difficult field is one of real distinction, as may be indicated by the mere names of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, in Boston, the Perkins.


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Institution for the Blind, in Watertown, and the Walter E. Fernald School, in Waverley. At the twenty-fifth anniver- sary (1894) of the first mentioned school, Alexander Graham Bell stated : "The telephone is one of the products of the work of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, and resulted from my attempts to benefit the children of this school."


HEALTH IN EDUCATION


In no respect has progress been more marked or more bene- ficial than in the attention given to the health of school chil- dren and the physical conditions under which they work. This has in course of time come to include the following features : health protection, including location, equipment and care of school buildings; systematic inspection of scholars; and con- trol of epidemic diseases. Since the war, Massachusetts has constructed nearly 300 new school buildings, with approved heating, lighting, ventilation, and sanitation.


Health is promoted also by direct instruction, by hy- gienic arrangement of programs, by physical training, and by the development of playgrounds, gymnasiums, and out-of- door sports. In 1921 Massachusetts enacted a law requiring every town and city to employ a school nurse. This require- ment has been faithfully carried out by the local communi- ties, so that all public-school pupils have the benefit of school nursing service. In 1906 Massachusetts passed the first State law requiring the employment of school physicians and an annual physical examination of all pupils.


In 1921 a law was passed providing for physical education in outdoor games and athletic exercises in all schools.


STATE EDUCATIONAL AID AND CONTROL (1919)


Down to 1917, a group of privately managed institutions received partial support from the State. The so-called Anti- Aid Amendment to the State Constitution, adopted in 1919, though aimed particularly against possible grants of public money to sectarian institutions, applied to a group of four tech- nical schools and colleges. This made it necessary that any institution accepting State aid must accept full State control, ceasing to be a private institution. This condition was ac-


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cepted by the Massachusetts Agricultural College and the Lowell Textile Institute; but not by the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.


STATISTICS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE (1890-1930)


Massachusetts, in comparison with other States, is one of the most densely populated, much the greater part of the pop- ulation living in cities of considerable size. The proportion of foreign-born is also exceptionally high. In 1925, of 129,- 438 children between the ages of five and seven, 75,154 were in public schools; out of the 138,953 children from fourteen to sixteen, 101,333 were in public and 15,936 in private schools.


From 1890 to 1922 the population of the United States increased 68 per cent, but college enrollments were more than quadrupled. Massachusetts in 1889 harbored fourteen colleges and higher technical schools, with an aggregate registration of 7,225. In 1927 the corresponding figures were thirty-one institutions and a registration of 44,730, not including the five normal schools authorized to give degrees at the later date. In 1889 the 241 high schools were attended by 25,317 pupils. In 1929, there were 249 high schools attended by 129,926 pupils. School expenses, exclusive of buildings, in 1888-9 were $5,366,605 : approximately $15 for each child between five and fifteen. In 1929, they were $69,244,997; a cost of $99 per pupil. The average monthly compensations for public-school teachers in 1889 were: for men $108.88; for women $45.93. In 1926 men received an average of $249 and women $149.


Nearly one fifth of the school population-an exceptionally high proportion-attends the private schools. The State Census of 1895 listed 400 such schools, including 32 kinder- gartens, 19 colleges and universities, 6 theological institutions, 17 industrial and normal training schools, 11 schools for de- fectives, 19 for music, art, etc., 11 for language, 31 for com- mercial purposes. In 1928 the statistics were as follows : out of 146,954 children between the ages of five and seven, 100,- 954 were in public schools and 29,816 in private schools. Of the 546,905 children aged from seven to fourteen, 445,605


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were in public schools and 115,341 in private schools. Of the 148,966 children from fourteen to sixteen, 107,800 were in public schools, 15,354 in private schools, and 16,211 in public continuation, vocational, and special schools.


Among private schools, by far the largest group is the extensive system of parochial schools, maintained by the Roman Catholic church, now leading without a break from the elementary grades to the three Catholic colleges for men : Boston College, Holy Cross and Assumption Colleges at Worcester; and to Emmanuel (Boston) and Regis (Worcester) Colleges for Women.


Of other private schools, particular mention may be made of the relatively ancient and excellent private foundations of the Boston and Roxbury Latin Schools, and of Phillips Academy at Andover. Schools of more recent date are Gro- ton (1884) and Middlesex (1901). Most of these are essen- tially preparatory schools for leading colleges; some of them draw pupils from distant States. Recently, an increasing number of private elementary schools aim at preparing younger boys for the secondary schools just mentioned.


ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION


Among the facts which determine the character and aims of public education should be mentioned : (1) General recogni- tion of the need and value of education to the individual, both in enriching his personal life and increasing his economic efficiency ; (2) recognition of the social utility of public edu- cation; (3) taking advantage of economic conditions which make it easy or difficult to prolong education through adoles- cence; (4) ideals or prejudices of the older generation as to the choice of the subject matter of studies; (5) reaction of more advanced schools upon the lower.


In general, educational institutions lean to the side of con- servative stability : school programs and texts, school condi- tions and requirements yield but reluctantly to external in- fluences. Only in the so-called "student activities" does youth have a free hand for the initiative, which is reputed to belong to the immature.


Commissioner Smith, in his first annual report (1917), discussing conditions affecting reorganization, says: "The




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