USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Shelburne > History and tradition of Shelburne, Massachusetts > Part 16
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As early as 1910 the school committee began to consider the idea of broadening the course of study in the high school, which up to that time had been purely academic. Indeed, one principal of Arms had stated in his annual report that it was the aim of the school to prepare its students for admission to any college or technical school in New England, and to preserve the best features of the old New England academy while falling into line with modern high school ideas.
It was about that period that educators began to feel that the time had come for a revision of high school curricula. They argued that a majority of all pupils ended their formal education with high school, and that they would be much better prepared to take up their life work if their high school studies had a more practical bearing on their future life, instead of being confined chiefly to languages and sciences. Many of the boys would become craftsmen or artisans, and many of the girls homemakers. Why not form classes to teach them the best practices along these lines, and give these studies an equal value with the purely academic subjects? Also, since Arms served a large agricultural area as high school, many of the boys would eventually engage in some branch of agriculture as their life work. It was their right to have in high school a course of studies which would acquaint them with the newest approved practices along these lines.
Circumstances were favorable to the development of this type of education during the years 1910-1940. It was the trend of the times. The professionally trained superintendent could keep in touch with the best phases of this trend and pass the information on. The State Department of Education was usually headed by men of foresight and sound thinking; they not only helped the schools to keep up to date, but they also induced the Legislature to appropriate large sums of money to help the towns meet the greater cost of this type of education. Those sums became available for Arms Academy when it ceased to be an academy and became a public high school.
That change occurred when new laws prevented public funds from being paid, for tuition or otherwise, to schools that were not publicly supported. The
dilemma thus presented to the town was solved by leasing the Academy building from the trustees and operating a public high school in it. In this way the town, through its school committee, bought books and fuel, paid the teachers' salaries, and determined the courses of study ; but if the roof leaked or desks broke down, the trustees came into action. On the surface such a situation seemed like an invitation to all sorts of squabbles, but that hasn't happened; both groups have been interested in the one purpose of furnishing good educational facilities. In the office of the State Department the school is officially the Shelburne High School, but it is called Arms Academy almost every- where else - on its diplomas, the athletic fields of its competitors, the desks of college admission officers, and the lips of its pupils and alumni.
Still another advantage of the school's new status as a public high school was that neighboring towns could send their pupils here by paying their tuition fees to the Shelburne treasurer. Buckland, Colrain, Heath, Hawley, and Rowe, and Conway until recently, have used this opportunity rather than try to maintain high schools of their own. At times these tuition pupils have constituted from two thirds to three fourths of the total enrolment, which at one time (the late 1930's) was 360. The advantages of a school of that size, as compared to a series of schools of 20 to 80 pupils each, are too obvious to need description. And be it said, to the credit of all con- cerned, that when these pupils entered the school, geographical lines were forgotten. Once enrolled, they were all Arms Academy pupils in the eyes of their teachers and of each other, regardless of which town they came from.
LEARNING TO EARN
Vocational education underwent many changes be- tween 1910 and 1940. At first it was too simple to justify that name. In the grades the girls did raffia work, basketry, and simple hand sewing. The boys had the same type of elementary manual training be- ginning in 1919 as the more advanced city schools had been using for some years - use of the basic hand tools in making simple articles, and the identification of native woods. Later this was extended into the Academy in a shed which had been a garage at the police barracks. Local craftsmen were used as teachers. At one time the older boys constructed a small set of bleachers for the Cricket Field.
In 1914 a beginning was made in domestic science, later called household arts. The Parent-Teacher As- sociation furnished the inspiration for this and backed it up by renting a house on Church Street for the use of the class and by buying or borrowing equipment for it.
During those years the Farm Bureau and the +-H organization were developing. Classes in agriculture are mentioned in school reports from 1912 onward, and a full-time teacher was employed in 1920.
Commercial training also was started early in this
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period with bookkeeping, stenography, typing, and at times business law and business arithmetic. These courses always enrolled a considerable number of pupils, but they never caused the amount of discussion or attracted the same attention as the other vocational work because they required no radical changes in class organization, no larger working area and, at first, no expensive equipment except the typewriters.
By 1935 the plans under which vocational courses were supervised and subsidized by the State Depart- ment were well established. The local school depart- ments were to furnish adequate space, set aside from one third to one half or more of each pupil's time exclusively for the vocational classes, and employ only teachers who had been specifically trained for that work. Also, the instruction had to follow certain basic outlines, although much freedom was allowed in details to comply with local needs.
In return the State treasury contributed heavily toward the teacher's salary and in lesser degree toward the expense of administration, equipment, and main- tenance. Parts of these plans had been developed in city trade schools and later modified for use in small schools.
It is interesting to note that in developing those plans for small schools, Arms Academy was one of two schools chosen to start operating agricultural courses and the first small school to begin a really vocational shop department. It was the only school with such a department in the entire territory between Greenfield, Brattleboro, North Adams, and North- ampton. In the early 1940's the then State Com- missioner of Education, in addressing the high school principals of the State, spoke of "the four school sys- tems which have been most successful in meeting the needs of their own communities: the great systems of Springfield and Newton and the smaller ones of Shelburne and New Salem."
OUR PLANT EXPANDS
The work of those vocational courses in the 1940's and early 1950's may be understood better if mention is made here of the two buildings added to the plant.
The Academy building became overcrowded and otherwise inadequate as the vocational courses attracted more pupils, and in 1916 the Science building was erected. There were two classrooms in the basement ; five, and a science laboratory on the first floor, and above them a gymnasium with the usual locker rooms, showers, and coaches' offices. The gymnasium was equipped with folding chairs, and was also used as an auditorium. A "baby grand" piano was given in memory of former ( 1898-1910) Principal C. A. Hol- brook by the alumni who had studied under him. The building is not as substantially constructed as the Academy building, but the arrangement of its rooms is more like that of a modern high school - except of course, for having gymnastics and games going on over the heads of classes in a building that is far from soundproof. It was paid for by the trustees
from their funds, and they in turn were reimbursed by the town through increased rentals.
As the school grew and the variety of courses in- creased, the space again became inadequate, and a special town meeting was called to consider the con- struction of a gymnasium with ample room for a good shop in the basement. The need for it was one argu- ment. Another was the financial encouragement which the Federal government was giving to the construction of public buildings (WPA) during the depression years. A third was that certain other funds were available. The Academy Trustees had a surplus of $8000 which they contributed in the logical belief that it would be in keeping with Major Arms's pur- pose. Finally, a sum of $5000, the "Cowell Fund," was donated. This money had been raised by the pupils of the previously-mentioned principal, Hervey S. Cowell, as a memorial to him and, originally, as a source of assistance to young people who needed help in continuing their education. The members of those classes who were still living contributed it on the condition that the new building be named for him. The town voted to bond itself for the remainder of the cost, approximately $20,000.
The completed building was turned over to the town on March 1, 1937. Most of the main floor was used for the gymnasium, and the shop occupied a large area in the basement. This building, by the way, is owned and controlled by the town rather than the school department, but a very satisfactory division of time is provided for both school use and community activities.
BIGGER AND BETTER COURSES
With these buildings to work in, the depression of the 1930's a thing of the past, and the country recov- ering from the tension of the war, the vocational courses of Arms Academy reached their peak.
In agriculture, two specially trained men were employed, and their classes spent two full hours daily on agriculture studies. Text books, pamphlets from the State University and Federal Department of Agriculture, together with practical laboratory activi- ties, occupied this time, and the boys all had projects on their home farms under the supervision of their teachers. The core of the work was the four major agricultural activities of the area - vegetables, fruit, poultry, and dairy cattle. Simple but careful farm accounts were kept, and the boys were trained in judging the quality of their crops and their livestock. Interest was increased by competition of various sorts with similar departments in other schools, and by an exhibit each fall in the Cowell Gymnasium.
After the war an evening class was organized for veterans who wished to go into agricultural work. Some of these were employed on farms and others were buying their own. They not only met for group instruction, but had the benefit of individual super- vision in their work.
Interest in household arts was increased when
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Science Hall was built. Rooms for classes were arranged in the basement, including a foods laboratory, a pantry, and a dining room, which was later used as a sewing room. At one time the girls in this course served hot lunches to the students, but this practice had to be given up after awhile because it took up too large a part of the girls' time.
In 1928 the household arts course was given State and Federal aid. All girls taking it were required to devote one half of their school time to this work, which was under State and Federal supervision. This lasted for seven years, when a change was made plac- ing only the first two years under State and Federal supervision, with the town directing and supporting the last two years.
When Cowell Gymnasium was built, the depart- ment was moved into more pleasant quarters. The rooms formerly occupied as girls' locker and shower rooms on the top floor of Science Hall became a class- room for sewing and discussion classes, while the rooms directly underneath, formerly the boys' locker and shower rooms, were changed into a large, and a small, kitchen and a pantry.
The same year (1937) a rearrangement of the course was made in which the girls could combine the household arts and the commercial courses, and this attracted a large number of the freshman girls.
The work was no longer limited to cooking and sewing. Instead, many phases of homemaking were studied, such as care and management of the home, furnishings, preparation of foods, nutrition, personal problems, and so forth.
Home projects were carried out by the students, such as making dresses, suits, and blouses; planning and serving meals at home for a definite period; tak- ing charge of younger children for a given time; and redecorating their own rooms, including painting, papering, and so forth.
Several exhibitions of the work in this department were held, sometimes as part of the art exhibit, some- times as part of a vocational education exhibit. In 1945 this course was taken by thirty-eight girls.
By 1950 the enrolment began to decrease, and soon the staff was reduced from two teachers to one. The reasons for this lack of interest may be surmised : more convenient, semiautomatic housekeeping equip- ment, more prepared and semiprepared foods on the market, a wider variety of ready-made, comparatively inexpensive clothing available; and, perhaps the most potent of all, the widespread tendency of young women to continue in employment after marriage. Many, however, still take the courses for one or two years.
The commercial department has always been im- portant, especially to the girls. Two teachers have always been employed and sometimes a third has worked in it for part of her time. Equipment has been kept up to date; an electric typewriter, a tabulator. two different kinds of computing machines and several types of duplicating apparatus are available for instruc- tion. The graduates are not only well trained, but
are instilled with a real interest in their work, and are very successful.
When the Cowell Gymnasium was completed, the real development of the shop course began in the large basement area. Instruction in shop work was begun on a small scale in 1935. Two small garages, near the former site of the police barracks on Maple Street, were purchased by the trustees, and in one of them a course in automobile repairs was set up. This work and a course in woodworking were the chief classes offered that year to boys taking the agricultural course and to boys of the seventh and eighth grades of the Baker and Crittenden Schools. Ten boys enrolled the first year, and the following September there were thirty. Instruction was given by local craftsmen. It was the aim of the course to provide elementary in- struction in such lines as automobile repairs, wood- working, carpentry, sheet-metal work, pipe fitting, and electrical wiring. There was no desire to turn out finished workmen.
"This course," says the 1937 school report, "fills the largest gap in our local school system. A begin- ning has been made for boys who are capable of becom- ing competent craftsmen, but would be wasting their time in the so-called white-collar jobs. They are good candidates for beginners' places in skilled industries, where there will be a big demand for efficient workers for years to come."
By 1937 it was necessary to employ a full-time teacher. In 1938 many new tools were added to the shop equipment, such as power lathes, saws, and other electrically-powered machines. Many boys enrolled in this course at first because they thought it would be easier than the regular school work. When time proved this to be far from the truth, the boys began to drop out in the second year of the course. This helped to relieve a condition of overcrowding which had caused school authorities some anxiety, as the enrolment had reached sixty boys from high school, and twenty from the grades, three teachers were required.
In 1939 the woodworking class made several sub- stantial tables and benches for the new building at Sanderson Academy in Ashfield. They also made such articles as desks, filing cabinets, wheelbarrows, floor lamps, and a four-poster bed with fluted columns and hand carving.
When the course was in full operation, the first year was given over to woodwork - first with hand tools and then with power. The second year the boys turned to automobiles. The training on principles of the internal combustion engine and of gearing was brief but thorough, and from then on, the instruction was based on actual repair work. Some boys continued this into the third year and others turned at once to metal work ; in the fourth year all got metal training.
The shop was valuable in other respects while the war was on. Two evening courses for adults were organized by our own teachers at government expense. One was for instruction in the repair of farm ma- chinery, and much valuable and irreplaceable machin-
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ery was kept in service. The other course was in the use of micrometer calipers and other instruments for inspecting parts of tools turned out by the industries in Greenfield and elsewhere.
During the latter part of the period under discus- sion a development occurred which changed the pic- ture. There was a state-wide rearrangement of the regulations under which all vocational schools and all shop departments should operate. This applied to all schools, large and small, and called for such changes in the organization of Arms Academy that the school committee wisely refused to accept it. This resulted in an end to its "vocation" status with the department and a loss of some financial assistance.
OUR COLLEGE STUDENTS
Of the five curricula whose development we are tracing, none has attracted so little attention as the preparatory, although it is the rugged road traveled by the capable young people who are presumably to assume the heavier responsibilities of our community and national life.
English has always been the backbone of this cur- riculum, dating from the town's first abortive attempts at secondary education. Of the three foreign languages taught, Greek has been dropped, Latin is continued but taken by fewer pupils, and French is usually the modern language. By the turn of the century mathe- matics (at least algebra and plane geometry) had been added; biology, physics and chemistry became available, of which each pupil should take at least one; and courses in general and United States his- tory were required.
These five studies or groups of studies, are today the standard entrance requirements for almost all colleges and scientific schools, but important changes have occurred in the methods of teaching them. Col- leges do not specify certain books to be studied, but they do require ability to read intelligently and use good English in speaking and writing. In mathematics they do not ask for training in long and complicated manipulations, but they insist on accuracy and a grasp of mathematical reasoning. In history, facts are used as a basis for tracing cultural, economic and political developments.
Shelburne pupils (and their classmates from neigh- boring towns) have been fortunate in receiving train- ing somewhat better than in most towns of its size (and even some larger ones). The town report for 1950 shows that the class of 1949 took a total of 79 courses in several standard colleges and scientific schools and earned first-year honor grades in 44 of them as against failures in two; and both of the fail- ures were by pupils who had been accepted without full certification. A slightly different set of figures is reported for the class of 1956 which included schools of nursing, commercial studies, and other similar places, as well as four-year colleges. Twenty-four members of this group took 129 subjects, earned first- year honor grades in 65 and failed in three, with two
of the latter charged to uncertified pupils. Those were not exceptional classes.
For many years Arms Academy pupils have been accepted at even the most exacting institutions. More of them have attended the University of Massachusetts than any other one college, but as a rule they have scattered widely; and the Academy files list fifty-nine four-year colleges and scientific schools which its grad- uates have attended successfully in the past twenty- five years. These preparatory pupils have been trained in careful thinking and independent study. The courses have been maintained at the level the colleges expect, and not made easier for laggards or for those not adapted to academic work. Careful advice is available in choosing a college. Finally, the "recommendation" from the Academy's office has been a frank and factual statement of both the strong and weak points of the applicant, from which the college may judge of his fitness for that particular institution.
SOME VALUABLE ACCESSORIES
In a modern school system, even a small one, there are many supplementary activities which have been added from time to time to the studies usually con- sidered as fundamental. Some contribute to the cul- tural aspects of life, some are accessories for instruc- tion, others carry definite health benefits, and still others are natural outlets for youth interests and exuberance.
MUSIC HATH CHARMS
The school report of 1845 states that, "singing is be- ing practiced in District No. 4 and District No. 5 by two instructors 'with charming voices, both well qualified to give good examples of vocal melody.'" Similar statements appear in subsequent reports.
In 1885 the committee had this to say: "We were pleased to see that singing had been introduced. This is not only a pleasing, but a profitable enterprise, for while it calls into exercise the vocal powers, and unites the voices in song, it is calculated to soften and subdue the harsh and unpleasant feelings which may, and often do, arise in the breasts of children. Consequently, we feel that the exercise cannot be too highly commended, and we hope the time may soon come when music shall be taught in our schools as commonly as are geography and arithmetic."
In 1888, forty-three years after the first mention of music, a teacher originally employed for District No. 8 was made a special teacher of music. The in- struction was of a most elementary nature, as few of the pupils had any knowledge of written music. The aim was to teach the children to sing and read music correctly at sight, without the help of any instrument except a pitch pipe.
Competent leadership aroused interest and brought results. Choral concerts were given from time to time and showed the effect of careful training. Occasion- ally outside talent was invited to take part, and there were concerts with the band each spring. In more re-
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cent years, elementary pupils also have had instruc- tion on band instruments which their parents have purchased for them.
CRAYONS AND BRUSHES
Instruction in drawing and various other forms of art work began much later than in music and by its nature attracts far less attention. Previous to 1900. it is probable that a number of elementary school teachers had the taste and inclination to do something independently. Later, instruction in drawing was given by the regular teachers, who followed the course ad- vised by the State Board of Education. Frequent visits by agents of the board to the different towns gave the teachers an opportunity to learn how the study was conducted in other places, and the best way of obtaining the desired results in the schoolroom. The work in the earlier years was mostly pencil sketching, with some water-color, and picture appre- ciation. For this last subject, many of the teachers at the Falls furnished the pictures themselves, and felt that the enthusiasm displayed by the children was a sufficient reward.
Special provision for trained instruction was begun in 1906, but with frequent changes. One supervisor after another held the position, each with a different angle of approach, and the scope of the work broad- ened. Three years later the supervisor reported that :
"By the time they leave the grades, pupils should understand the principles of drawing, form, propor- tion, and perspective; the application of design to common utilities, the harmony of colors in dress, and the blending of colors in home decoration; the first principles of working drawings, and elementary wood- working."
Much later the scope of the work was summarized as follows: The aim in the first five grades was to give the children freedom of expression, to teach them form and color, and how to apply the principles studied in the drawing classes, in the making of objects to be used in the homes. They made use of color washes, crayola, and pencil.
Work at Arms Academy called for much sketching. pen and pencil drawing, leather work, charcoal and water-color study. The increased attention given to this work was particularly acceptable to the household arts department, as they could readily make use of many of the things taught in the art classes, such as flower designs, monograms, and applied designs in home decoration. They decorated trays of tin, sten- cilled fabrics, and also decorated a set of curtains for the classroom windows, and made use of some of the designs in their home sewing projects.
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