USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5 > Part 23
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ideal of common-school education has not changed. Now, as always, it is the desire of parents and educators that chil- dren should come from the common schools resourceful, self- directive, and with good habits established. Fundamentally, the common school stands in the thinking of the people as an institution that ought to be kept quite free for utilizing such agencies as it may possess to aid the child in the development of his physical, mental and moral powers. Especially, the common school has in public opinion a very definite purpose- that of giving the child the rudiments of his education.
"The general aims of secondary education, while they have offered courses quite different from those of the common schools, have not until within recent years radically differed, save in scope, from the general aims of the common schools- except, of course, that the secondary school has always been charged with the responsibility for providing the right form of approach to collegiate education. The other aims of secondary education have been rather vague and indistinct. Within a few years, however, there have been increasing de- mands that secondary education should provide avenues of approach to certain fields of activity. As over against prep- aration for college, the general terms 'preparation for life' and 'preparation for practical efficiency' have been used in connection with courses for those students who are not plan- ning to go to college. Consequently, secondary education is now peculiarly the center of reorganization that is, to some extent, affecting all educational institutions."
SCIENCE IN GENERAL EDUCATION
The high and sometimes extravagant hopes of the men of science who advocated the introduction of science in the high school have not been completely realized. The adaptation of the subject matter to instruction has been more difficult than was at first expected. Teachers and textbooks have had to be slowly developed ; colleges have had to be persuaded that preparation in these subjects should be credited, if not re- quired, for admission. Too often the college teacher of chemistry or physics, finding his new students worse than unprepared, has expressed a preference for those whose prep- aration has been purely classical.
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REQUIREMENTS
Early in the present century it became gradually clear that the customary courses in chemistry, physics, botany, etc., as separate divisions of science, were not well adapted for intro- ductory school needs. Since that time there has been a notable development of courses and texts in general science. These naturally cover a wide range of the phenomena of daily life, with a view to teaching scholars to look beneath the sur- face of their experience, and they endeavor to rationalize such matters as weather, hygiene, food, water supply, familiar machinery, light, heat, electricity, etc.
This method, however, if rightly used, does not replace the systematic intensive study of particular subjects, but forms an excellent preliminary for such study as well as sufficient preparation for the practical purposes of life.
REACTION OF COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS ON THE SCHOOLS
The extent to which secondary schools should make college preparation their main objective has naturally varied widely with time and place. Requirements for admission to private colleges are not easily changed and are apt to be rigidly de- fined and rigorously administered. The classics and mathe- matics have long held a protected position from which it has been extremely difficult for newer high-school subjects to de- pose them. English, history and modern languages have gained full recognition; science subjects-usually chemistry and physics-have made some progress. What many schools have sought, with the strong support of the State Depart- ment of Education, has been the acceptance by the colleges of a substantial proportion of free electives as a basis for admission.
Of late years the considerable unification of college re- quirements through the College Entrance Examination Board has substantially relieved the difficulties in question. Co- operative relations of great value have also been much pro- moted by the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In other parts of the country it is cus- tomary to admit high-school graduates to college, on the basis of school certificates, which may, or may not, imply something more than the school diploma. In Massachusetts, Harvard College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
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Wellesley, Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges for women, require all applicants to take entrance examinations in all subjects which are generally considered to call for special preparation or require more than average capacity.
CURRICULUM
Notable development in the secondary school curriculum during the forty-year period have been the following.
Among the enlargements in subject matter have been the following: (1) the general disappearance of Greek and de- cline of such other traditional subjects as Latin and mathe- matics even in college preparatory courses; (2) the wider introduction of courses in science, particularly chemistry, physics and biology ; (3) some increase of attention to modern languages, with a marked decline, however, in German during and since the Great War; (4) increasing attention to voca- tional subjects and the establishment of specialized schools in which these are emphasized.
The evolution of the curriculum is interestingly illustrated by a comparison of the list of studies in a representative city high school in 1875 and in 1925. Common to both periods are Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, French, German, Book- keeping, Geometry, Latin, and Mechanical Drawing. Besides these, in the later years Natural Philosophy is replaced by Physics; Civic Polity, by Problems in Citizenship; Botany and Agriculture, by Biology and Physiology; General History, by United States, European, English, Commercial and Ancient History; Surveying, by Trigonometry; Greek, by Spanish; Rhetoric and Logic, by English; Political Economy and Moral Science, by Commerce and Industry and Commercial Law. Additional new subjects include Moral Science, Agri- culture, Stenography, Typewriting, Penmanship, Business Arithmetic, Salesmanship, Household Arts, Arts and Crafts, Freehand Drawing, Manual Training, and Music.
TEXTBOOKS
In the period of relatively fixed and stable curriculum, text- books tended to be long-lived, and incentives to improvement in form and substance were few. With the progressive diver-
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MENTAL TESTS OF PUPILS
sification of the curriculum and the development of at least partial freedom of election, the new subjects, if not yet worked into perfect pedagogic form, have the advantage of freshness and the stimulus of making a place for themselves in the face of resistant inertia. On the other hand, the older required subjects, reacting to this increased competition, have been forced to an increasingly thorough review of their subject matter and a new attention to improvement in form. Notably in arithmetic, the numerous ancient but relatively useless and wasteful complications have been vigorously attacked and gradually eliminated. Elementary geometry has ceased to be a memorized ritual and has been enriched by concrete applications and original exercises.
The law requiring the provision of free textbooks has simplified the process of improvement, and has eliminated the confusing tendency to use a variety of inherited texts in a given class. Mechanical processes of illustration have been highly developed. The school texts of the present day pre- sent an extraordinary contrast to those of forty years ago, both in interest and attractiveness, as well as in their naturally wider range of subject matter. The present law under which cities and towns are required to furnish free textbooks dates from 1884-the first of its kind. It may be regretted that it is thus made easy not to keep textbooks for later needful reference.
MENTAL TESTS OF PUPILS
Since the extensive utilization of psychological tests in con- nection with the World War, there has appeared interest in developing tests of a type which may be of service in the grading of elementary schools and in the guidance of high- school pupils either into college or into vocations. These tests help to solve complementary questions, evidently of great public importance; such as whether many college stu- dents fail from lack of native ability which might have been ascertained in advance; and whether many high-school pupils of high native ability fail to enter college. As yet the methods of testing native ability in advance of school work, and in review of school work, would seem to be in the ex-
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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
perimental stage, with possibilities of high interest. A re- cent survey of mental tests has led to the following statistical conclusions :
(1) About ten thousand seniors in Massachusetts public high schools plan to continue their education after graduation, although not over one half of this total has a reasonable prospect of success in an ordinary liberal-arts college.
(2) About one third of the pupils who are now in senior classes of Massachusetts high schools, and who intend to con- tinue their education, are planning next year to enter a liberal- arts college or a higher technological school. Of these, two fifths are likely to succeed; while more than a quarter, if they actually attempt to carry out their expressed intentions, seem doomed to failure.
(3) A considerable number of girls (about an eighth of all the seniors in Massachusetts high schools) plan to go to normal schools. Of these more than half are below the in- telligence levels of their sister pupils who plan to go to liberal- arts colleges.
(4) Those seniors who plan to enter business schools have about the same average capacity as those intending to enter normal schools.
(5) About 6,000 of the seniors now in the Massachusetts high schools are planning no further education after gradua- tion. Of this number, the majority would have little chance of success in a liberal-arts college. Nevertheless, some of them, possibly two thousand in all, show distinct promise. Of these the number who will not go on with their studies, because they prefer to work, is about equal to the number prevented from going to a higher school from lack of funds.
(6) Hence, as a generalization, not more than a third of these graduates would find the academic college an institution suited to their needs and abilities.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOLS
An interesting survey of existing conditions, made by a special committee in 1924, classifies extra-curricular activities from various points of view. The number of activities re- ported were 67, of which the most frequent were athletics, assemblies, debating, drama, orchestra, glee club, class meet-
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JUNIOR COLLEGES
ings, and school paper. There were, however, 2 Greek Clubs, 2 Poultry Clubs, 1 Aero Club, 1 Etiquette Club, 1 First Aid and Nursing Club, besides 5 student Courts and Traffic Of- ficers, 6 Forums, and a considerable group of foreign- language clubs. The general opinion of the committee was favorable to the reaction of most of these activities on school work. They are regarded as developing initiative, responsi- bility and cooperation, fostering rational school spirit, and in some cases increasing personal interest of teachers in pupils. Department clubs often stimulate interest and establish use- ful contacts with problems of daily life. The gradual or- ganization of self-government develops personal responsi- bility, and does away with much of the traditional antagonism between teachers and scholars.
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS
For many years the elementary school consisted of nine annual grades and the high school of four years. During the past two decades the traditional ninth grade has been abandoned by nearly all Massachusetts communities. About one hundred towns and cities now have their schools or- ganized on the so-called 6-3-3 plan or a modification of it; that is, six grades in the elementary school, three grades in the junior high school, and three grades in the senior high school. These towns and cities include more than one half of the school population of the State. The educational arguments for or against this change are somewhat technical. and conflicting.
JUNIOR COLLEGES
The history of the junior college in Massachusetts is as yet exceedingly brief. It must be considered in this chapter, inasmuch as the establishment of a system of junior colleges was recommended by the State Education Commission in 1923. The junior college at its best makes the college work of the freshman and sophomore years more accessible by of- fering it at a larger number of centers. The results of this work may or may not justify continuance of the student in a senior college or university. The plan meets a real need
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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
in regions where colleges and universities are difficult of access or overcrowded. On the other hand, there is not a little danger that the local junior college will be a college only in name, perhaps only an appendix of the high school. At present (1930) there are but two junior colleges in Massa- chusetts; one public, in Springfield, one private (for girls), at Bradford.
At Springfield, the school committee authorized the estab- lishment in 1917 of courses in English, Latin, Greek, Mathe- matics, Physics, French and German, corresponding with freshman college work, with parallel commercial subjects. The enrollment so far has been very small.
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION (1915-1930)
In 1915 a University Extension Division of the State De- partment of Education was established "to cooperate with existing institutions of learning in conducting University Extension Courses." Twelve years later 32,900 students were found to be enrolled for class instruction, 3,950 for correspondence ; and nearly 1,600 for instruction by radio. Eighty-three courses, out of 220 offered, are listed as of college grade. The average age of registration is about thirty. Tuition fees are planned to cover approximately the cost of instruction, materials, and courses. In 1929 the total appropriation for university extension work by the State was $174,821. $160,722 was received in tuition fees, reducing the net cost to the public to $14,100.
NEWER TYPES OF SCHOOLS
Increasing recognition of educational values and needs by the parental population has steadily and very greatly in- creased high-school attendance, and at the same time has caused a very marked differentiation of aims and curricula. Forty years ago the high school was still to a great extent the straight and narrow path to the liberal arts college. Now it has become all things to all men's sons and daughters. Notable phases of this evolution have been the introduction of Manual Training in the 'eighties and after, followed by Domestic Science and, a little later, by the comprehensive de-
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NORMAL SCHOOL TRAINING
velopment of vocational education. In recent years the term "modern school" has acquired a special significance in connection with various interesting educational experiments.
NORMAL SCHOOL TRAINING
No educational system can succeed without due provision for maintaining a steady and adequate supply of good teachers. Doubtless good teachers are born rather than made ; but natural gifts need training and cultivation for this as for other professions.
In January, 1922, of nearly 17,000 teachers in the elemen- tary schools of Massachusetts, about 15,600 had received sub- stantial professional training. At the same time, with an annual call for about 1,000 elementary teachers, the aggregate enrollment in the normal schools of the State was about 3,000. It seems fair to infer that the proportion of untrained teachers is due rather to the failure to require training than to any lack of opportunity for later employment.
Less adequate is the provision for the training of teachers for secondary schools. Recent statistics indicate that about two thirds of the high-school teachers in the State have college degrees, with a far lower proportion in the case of teachers of manual arts, music, etc. The teacher of limited experience or training naturally is more apt to find a post in a small high school where, with a wide range of subjects and little supervision, the probability of poor results is greatest.
The requirements for admission to normal schools, as determined by the Department of Education, imply graduation from an approved high school; and an effort is made to select only students whose personal qualities justify the expectation of future success in teaching. Besides their direct service to the State, the normal schools render substantial aid through teachers' institutes, summer sessions, etc.
All normal students pay a fee for incidentals; nonresidents also pay $100 tuition. Less than a tenth of the students are men, and of these one third are in the Massachusetts School of Art, where preparation of teachers is not the main objec- tive. It has been the recent policy of the State Department
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EDUCATION AND SCIENCE
of Education to specialize the preparatory training of teach- ers ; so that, for example, commercial subjects are emphasized at Salem, household arts at Framingham, academic subjects at Bridgewater, etc. These with the Junior High School in Boston now give degrees, the other schools devoting them- selves to preparation of teachers for elementary work.
As a group, the ten normal schools make specific provision for subjects essential for teachers in the elementary schools, including kindergartens, the junior high schools, the com- mercial departments, the fine arts, the industrial arts, the household arts, and the school library service. Recruits for positions for teaching academic subjects in senior high schools are still drawn predominantly from the colleges; and no State provision is made for the more advanced professional education of school administrators.
The graduates are, as a rule, engaged in public-school work in the State, and a substantial proportion make the service their life work. Of about 18,000 public-school teachers out- side of Boston, which has its own normal school, more than two fifths are graduates of the State Normal Schools.
In the words of the report of the State Commission of 1923: "In respect of the salaries paid to its normal-school workers, Massachusetts stands with the less progressive states ; in respect of almost every other standard that can be applied in comparing states with reference to education, Massachusetts is well toward the top of the list." Fortunately conditions have improved since this was written.
Another agency which has had a marked effect on prepar- ation for teaching of the natural sciences, particularly in Greater Boston, is the Teachers School of Science, maintained since 1878 by the Lowell Institute. This school has provided lectures and fieldwork in geology, zoology and botany. An outgrowth of the association of its past members has been the Children's Museum of Boston, maintained by private subscription.
ASSOCIATIONS OF TEACHERS
An important influence on the teaching, particularly of science, in secondary schools has been exerted by the associa- tions of teachers of Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics,
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TECHNICAL EDUCATION
each including in its membership both college and school men. The oldest of these is the Eastern Association of Physics Teachers, organized in Boston in February, 1895, "to afford an opportunity for a heart-to-heart interchange of ideas and a kindly criticism of current methods that would greatly im- prove the teaching of the subject in our schools and lead to a more intimate acquaintance of men of kindred tastes and occupations."
The association has exerted a strong influence in reducing the size of laboratory divisions, and has been helpful in drawing attention of members to improved equipment.
The New England Association of Chemistry Teachers has for its object the promotion of efficiency in the teaching of chemistry. It was organized in 1898 and membership is unlimited. The similar Association of Teachers of Mathematics dates from 1903.
VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
In 1872 the legislature approved an act to authorize cities and towns to establish industrial schools and instruction in "the elementary use of hand tools." This system was given permissive recognition in 1884. In 1895' every city of twenty thousand or more inhabitants was required to main- tain as part of its high-school system the teaching of manual training. The Springfield Manual Training School (1886), the Mechanic Arts High School (Boston, 1893), and the Cambridge Rindge Manual Training School for Boys (1888), represent efficient leadership in this field.
Massachusetts was the first State to undertake in a serious way and on a large scale vocational education below college grade. In this broad field, particularly in industrial, com- mercial and home-economics education, the Commonwealth has been a leader.
Since the establishment of State-aided vocational education, it is estimated that more than 160,000 persons have received training in the day vocational schools. Ninety-seven schools are now in operation, providing instruction in forty-five dif- ferent vocations, including agriculture and home-making occupations. At the present time nearly 60,000 persons are
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enrolled in such schools. Of these about 26,000 are in part- time compulsory continuation schools ; 800 in part-time indus- trial schools; 22,250 in men's and women's evening classes ; and 18,300 in boys' and girls' day industrial, homemaking, agricultural schools, and in high-school agricultural depart- ments.
PRINCIPLES OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION
Conditions of educational organization and policy in Massa- chusetts, as in the United States generally, are such that no very sharp line can be drawn between collegiate and non- collegiate technical education. Certain institutions are easily assigned to one group or another ; but for others the classifica- tion would be difficult; and in some cases work is carried on at both levels. The temptation for a school doing good inter- mediate work to aim higher, appropriating collegiate forms without reaching corresponding standards, is not easily re- sisted-particularly in Massachusetts, a State prone to lean to the side of toleration. A complementary tendency on the part of the American student and the American parent is the too frequent one of seeking the highest in form rather than the best in substance. Equality of opportunity is not matched by equality of capacity. The boy for whom the degree of the university is too difficult of attainment goes properly and honorably to a school of lower standards. It may be a dis- service to him and to the community to offer him a cheaper degree. Particularly, credit is due those schools which, recognizing the great need and importance of intermediate technical education, have resolutely devoted themselves to that function.
While any definite measurement of the need just mentioned is impracticable, it is of interest that as long ago as 1906 a State Commission on Industrial and Technical Education re- ported : "In the long run industry, wherever in the world it is located, which combines with general intelligence the broadest technical knowledge and the highest technical skill, will command the markets of the world." The succeeding Commission on Industrial Education later added: "All in- dustries, whatever their grade, need more men than are now obtainable, who are capable of acting as foremen, superin-
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FRANKLIN UNION
tendents, or managers; men possessing the comprehensive in- sight, interest and skill necessary for the organization and di- rection of a department or shop. In general, such men are now developed only by chance; and they are then self-made men possessing the merits, but also the shortcomings of their training." Since that time substantial progress has been made as exemplified in the development of the Wentworth Institute and the Franklin Union and the Lowell Institute School for Industrial Foremen, as well as of the Textile Schools at Fall River and New Bedford.
OTHER VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS
A considerable number of day and evening schools offer instruction in business subjects to several thousand pupils. Of the two textile schools not giving degrees, and both under the direction of the State Department of Education, that at New Bedford, with about 1,500 students, offers courses of three years in length dealing with chemistry, design and engineering of cotton manufacturing. That at Fall River, with about 1,900 students, is partly on a two-year basis. In both the proportion of evening students is very large. On the whole, these vocational schools not only render a great public service, but are of particular advantage both to many young people who are not well qualified for collegiate training and to many industrial workers whose productive capacity can be materially. increased by supplementary education. Unfortunately most of the opportunities are available only in the metropolitan district.
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