USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Inaugural address of the mayor, with the annual report of the officers of the city of Quincy for the year 1921 > Part 20
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3. Another change made during the year is in the plan of promotions from grade to grade in the elementary schools. Previously, such promotions have been made upon the judgment of the individual teachers with the ap- proval of the Masters without reference to any uniform standard of rating.
It seemed to the Masters as well as to myself that justice to the children, as a whole, would be more nearly attained and that the effect upon the scholarship in the schools would be beneficial, if some common standard of rating were given teachers as a basis for promotions. Ac- cordingly, promotions, hereafter, are to be made upon the following basis: (1) pupils who get a rating of at least 3 on our scale of marking in all their studies will be pro- moted unconditionally ; (2) pupils whose rating averages at least 3 and who do not fall below 3 in more than one of the so-called major studies, viz., Language, Arithmetic, History, and Geography, will be promoted conditionally, i.e., they will be given a trial in the next higher grade, with the understanding that they shall be continued therein if their work is satisfactory; (3) pupils who fail to gain an average of at least 3, or who fall below 3 in two or more of the so-called major subjects, will not be promoted.
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It is hoped that the application of the foregoing stand- ards may stimulate pupils to greater earnestness in their school tasks.
4. Another change made during the past year has to do with the age of admission to Grade IB.
Previously, only those children were admitted to this grade who were six years old at the beginning of the semesters in September and February, or should become of that age within one month thereafter. Hereafter, in accordance with the plan approved by the Committee, any child who may become six years old by November 15 (the midway point of the first semester) will be admitted in September if the parents so desire, and, similarly, one who may become six years old by April 15 (the midway point of the second semester ) will be admitted in February.
5. Another change is the beginning of the policy of putting first year pupils in the elementary schools on a longer school day.
For some years, it had been the practice in the schools of Quincy for pupils to attend only a half-day throughout the first year of their school life. Whether this practice was adopted originally for educational reasons or because the schools were overcrowded, I do not know.
Consultation with the supervisor of the primary grades and with the Masters of the elementary schools, confirmed my own conviction, (1) that, as a result of half-day at- tendance during the first year, pupils were being inade- quately prepared for the work of the succeeding grades, and (2) that, from the viewpoint of physical well-being, there was no reason to fear that children who were six years old would suffer from a longer school day.
Moreover, it was ascertained that many parents, at least, desired a longer school day for their children during the first year. Therefore, with the approval of the Com- mittee, a two-session day for the first year pupils was put into effect at the opening of the school year in September,
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1921, in all schools where conditions permitted. The hours of attendance are from 9 to 11.30 A. M., and from 1.30 to 3.30 P. M.
Owing to lack of available rooms, first year pupils in a few schools still have the single session. It is expected that conditions will make it possible at the opening of the sec- ond semester on January 30, 1922, to add two more schools -the Atherton Hough and the Cranch-to the list of those offering the opportunity of a two-session day to first year pupils.
6. Another forward step during the past year is the more searching examination of pupils for possible physical defects that may interfere with their best development. The beginning of work in this line was made early in the present school year and thus far has been confined to second year pupils.
As rapidly as conditions permit, this work will be ex- tended to the pupils of the other grades. Before the ex- aminations were begun, the following communication was sent to the homes:
QUINCY SCHOOL DEPARTMENT Hygiene Division
Chap. 502, Sec. 5, Acts of 1906: "The School Committee of every city and town shall cause every child in the public schools to be separately and carefully tested and examined at least once in every school year to ascertain whether he is suffering from defec- tive sight or hearing or from any other disability or defect tend- ing to prevent his receiving the full benefit of his school work, or requiring a modification of the school work, in order to prevent injury to the child or to secure the best educational results. The committee shall cause notice of any physical defect or disa- bility requiring treatment to be sent to the parent or guardian of the child. .
In accordance with the above Act it is planned, with your ap- proval, to make an examination of your child at the
School on
This examination will be made privately by the School Physician and School Nurse, and will include Heart, Lungs, and Defects of
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Posture. You are cordially invited to be present at the examina- tion.
If you prefer to have your Family Physician make the neces- sary examination, a record blank will be sent you.
Please sign the accompanying card in the proper place to indi- cate your desire in this matter and return the same to the teacher of your child.
FRED H. NICKERSON, Superintendent of Schools.
The following card accompanied this communication :
QUINCY SCHOOL DEPARTMENT Hygiene Division
I am satisfied to have my child given the necessary physical examination by the School Physician.
Signed
(Parent or Guardian)
I prefer to have my child examined by our Family Physician. Signed. (Parent or Guardian)
Date
192
Parents, as a whole, have co-operated splendidly in this work, apparently feeling that it is a step forward in the fine work that our school nurses have been doing for the physical well-being of the school children.
7. Another new undertaking of the year was the maintenance of a summer school for the benefit of pupils who for one reason or another were not up to grade in their work. The school opened on July 5 and continued for six weeks. Sessions were held on five forenoons of each week from 8.30 to 11.50 o'clock. Pupils from grades VB to VIIIA inclusive were eligible and attendance was volun- tary. Three types of pupils were admitted: (1) those who had failed of promotion in June and, in the judgment of their teachers, might, during the summer session, reason- ably hope to make up their deficiency so far as to be ad- vanced to the next higher grade in September; (2) those who had been promoted with conditions in June and de- sired to remove their deficiencies so as to be better quali-
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fied to do satisfactory work in the advance grade; and (3) pupils who had been regularly promoted in June but felt the need of additional instruction in subjects in which they were relatively weak.
Three centers of work were established,-one at the Willard School, one at the Francis W. Parker School, and one at the Daniel Webster School. Five teachers were assigned to each center. All of the teachers were chosen from the regular corps and were selected for special fitness for the kind of work to be done. One teacher at each cen- ter was designated to have charge of the administration of that center,-the Superintendent of Schools acting as gen- eral director of all.
The total number of pupils enrolled at the combined centers was 391 ; the average membership, 334.84; the aver- age attendance, 310.10; and the per cent. of attendance 92.61.
Of the number enrolled, 217 were seeking to gain a lost promotion; 120 were seeking to remove handicapping conditions under which they had been promoted; and 54 were seeking to strengthen themselves for the work of the coming year by reviewing phases of work in which they had been passed but in which they felt the need of addi- tional instruction and drill.
Of the 217 who were striving to gain a lost promotion, 169, or 78 per cent., succeeded ; of the 120 who were work- ing to remove conditions, 96, or 80 per cent., succeeded ; and, of the 54 who were reviewing to gain a better under- standing of subject matter in which they had previously "passed," 45, or 83 per cent., made distinct gain. In other words, of the 391 pupils enrolled, 310, or nearly 80 per cent., were entirely successful in accomplishing the purpose of their attendance, while 81, or practically 20 per cent., al- though they did not fully accomplish their purpose, never- theless, benefited educationally to a greater or less degree from their attendance.
The cost per pupil for the maintenance of the school,
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based upon the average membership, was approximately $4.56.
The general attitude of the pupils toward the school is indicated by the following statements from a report of one of the head teachers: "One pupil remarked that he had done more problems in three weeks than in his whole life before; another expressed the wish that he might 'go to summer school all winter'; another, who arrived at 9.30 one morning, replied, when questioned regarding his tardi- ness, 'Well, you see it was raining and my mother did not want me to come because we had no umbrella, but I went to everyone's house near us until I could borrow an umbrella and that made me late.'"
The feeling of the teachers is suggested by the follow- ing statements from the report mentioned: "The spirit of the school was delightful. After the first week, we found pupils already assembled when we arrived at 8.05, working on lessons which had been assigned previously. Although the weather was trying, pupils worked untiringly. In the six weeks there was no case of discipline and teachers and pupils closed with the happiest recollections of their work."
While a summer school as part of public school ac- tivity is new in Quincy, it is in no sense an experiment in public school practice in general. For some years such schools have been held in many progressive towns and cities, and, in nearly every community where tried, they have become a regular feature of the school system. The extension of the summer school idea is due to the belief of thoughtful educators, (1) that the child who must pass the greater part of the long summer vacation amid city condi- tions is better off physically, mentally, and morally to be engaged during part of that period in directed educative work than he is to be left largely to the unsupervised ac- tivities of the street; (2) that the public school system is the logical agency to provide such educative work, and (3) that to close public school plants entirely during the long summer session, when they might be utilized to the edu-
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cational advantage of young people, is not an economical procedure from the point of view, either of dollars and cents, or of the highest good of democratic society.
From my observation of the results secured during the past season in our summer school, as well as from pre- vious experience in the management of such schools, I am convinced that the summer school should be a permanent feature of Quincy's public school system.
COMMENT ON STATISTICAL MATTER
Such statistical tables as it has seemed necessary to prepare for reference from year to year may be found in Appendix B of this report.
Comparison of the statistics in Table V, Appendix B, with similar figures for the preceding year shows the fol- lowing significant facts :
I. The regularity of attendance of pupils for the sys- tem as a whole for the school year ending with June, 1921, was 94.I per cent. This is 1.2 per cent. higher than for the preceding year, and 2.5 per cent. higher than the average for the State at large according to the latest report of the State Department of Education.
Inasmuch as regularity of attendance is an important factor in determining the character of school results, this relatively high per cent. of attendance for our schools dur- ing the past year is gratifying.
2. The average membership of the regular day schools for the school year ending with June, 1921, viz., 8,493, is 408, or 5.4+- per cent. more than that for the previous year. This increase of 408 pupils during the past year is suf- . ficient to fill a ten-room building with forty pupils to a room. A study of average memberships for the seven pre- ceding years shows an average increase of 312 pupils yearly. These figures suggest the necessity of a steady and generous building program by the City to keep pace with the annual growth in school membership.
3. Studying the Table previously indicated with spe-
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cial reference to the growth in attendance at the High School, it appears that the average membership of that school increased 143, or 12.5 per cent. during the past year. It is interesting to note that, during the same period, the average membership of the elementary grades, i.e., those below the High School, increased 265, or 3.8 per cent. In other words, in spite of the congested conditions at the High School, which tended to turn away some who other- wise would have gone there, the rate of increase in the membership of that school during the past year is over three times that for the elementary grades. In view of the foregoing showing and of the further fact that, for the seven years immediately preceding the past year, the aver- age rate of increase annually in the High School member- ship is 1.4 per cent. higher than that for the elementary grades, it is obvious that the suggestion that one occasion- ally hears to the effect that the High School is not growing as rapidly as it should is without foundation in fact.
4. Another significant fact appears from comparison of the figures in Table V with similar figures for previous years, viz., that the ratio of high school membership to the total school membership for the past school year is larger than for any one of the seven preceding years. This ratio for the past year is 15 per cent. The nearest approach to that during the seven preceding years is 14.2 per cent. in 1917. In this connection, it is interesting to note that by figures given in the latest published report of the State Department of Education covering the school year ending June, 1920, the average ratio of high school membership to the total school membership for the 37 other cities of the Commonwealth is 14.2 per cent .- a figure slightly less than that for Quincy.
It appears, therefore, that, so far as this ratio may be taken as indicative of the efficiency of a school system, Quincy stands well in comparison with the other cities of the State.
5. Comparison of Table IX, Appendix B, with simi-
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lar statistics for the preceding year, shows a remarkable increase in the attendance upon the industrial evening classes. The enrollment in these classes for the past two years is as follows : 310 during the year ending with June, 1920, and 650 for the year ending with June, 1921, an in- crease of 109.6+ per cent. during the past year. This in- crease has been principally in the Practical Arts classes for women,-the classes for men showing an increase of only two members. The rapid growth in this phase of work demonstrates that it meets a practical want of the community.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SCHOOLS AND THE SCOPE OF WORK UNDERTAKEN
Convinced by repeated experiences that the public at large has a very inadequate conception of the scope of the work undertaken in the schools, and of their organization, it has seemed best to bring together in a brief statement the essential facts along this line for the benefit of our citizens. Those facts are as follows :
I. Kinds of Schools.
The following types of schools are maintained :
(1) The regular Academic Schools, consisting of one high school which offers four years of training in any one of six different courses of study organized to meet the various needs of pupils who have completed the elemen- tary school course, and of seventeen elementary schools which offer an eight-year course to all children who have reached the age of six years.
(2) The Pre-Vocational School, which offers special op- portunity, largely in manual work and domestic science, to pupils who have completed the seventh year in the regu- lar elementary schools and seem to need a modified pro- gram for their eighth year.
(3) The Independent Industrial School, for young men
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between 14 and 25 years of age who are preparing for work in the trades. This school is supported in part by the State, and, as now organized, provides training in cabinet making, electrical work, machine shop work, sheet metal work, and plumbing.
(4) The Home Making School, for girls who have com- pleted the elementary school course, and desire, in addi- tion to a certain amount of work in the major subjects of the academic course, training of a specialized character in cooking, sewing, millinery, dressmaking, home nursing, and the general theory and practice of homemaking.
(5) The Continuation School, for boys and girls be- tween the ages of 14 and 16 years who have left the regu- lar schools to work and are obliged by law, if working, to attend the school for at least four hours per week, or, if not working, to attend a minimum of twenty hours per week. This school, like the preceding, is State-aided.
(6) The Evening Industrial School, for men in the in- dustries who desire further training in their special fields of work.
(7) The Evening Practical Arts classes, for women who desire special instruction in millinery, dressmaking, cook- ing, nursing, etc. Classes for these purposes are formed throughout the City, wherever a sufficiently large group de- sire the work. The work done in these classes as well as that in the Evening Industrial School for men is supported in part by the State.
(8) The Academic Evening School, for young people who are not attending any of the day schools and desire further instruction in academic subjects.
(9) The Americanisation Classes, for the purpose of preparing our foreign-born population for efficient Amer- ican citizenship. This work is also State-aided.
(10) The Academic Summer School, for pupils of the regular schools who for one reason or another require spe-
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cial aid beyond what they have received during the regu- lar school year, in order that they may secure satisfactory preparation for advance work and avoid the necessity of repeating a grade. The importance and success of this school is discussed in another part of this report.
2. Division of Health Work.
The health work done in the schools is without ques- tion one of the most valuable phases of school endeavor. It is accomplished (1) through careful medical inspection and systematic instruction under the direction of three trained school nurses and a school physician, (2) through regular physical training exercises in all the schools directed by specially trained instructors, and (3) through the maintenance of two dental clinics, to stimu- late proper care of the teeth, and to provide opportunity for pupils to have dental treatments at a nominal expense, provided parents so desire. That these clinics meet a need of the community is indicated by the fact that, as shown by the Report on Dental Clinic Work in Appendix A of this report, 5,468 patients were registered and 10,190 operations were performed during 1921.
3. Employees of the Department.
For the administration of the various activities of the Department a force of 356 workers is required, viz., a superintendent, 10 supervisors and special teachers, 13 head masters and principals, 296 teachers, 5 clerks, I at- tendance officer, I school physician, 3 nurses, 2 dentists, 2 dental assistants, I chief janitor, and 21 janitors.
THE COST OF THE SCHOOLS
From time to time one hears the idea advanced that our schools are managed extravagantlv. One of the most marked suggestions to that effect appeared in the "Quincy Merchants' Bulletin" of October 19, 1921, under the cap-
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tion, "Apply the Brakes to City Expenditures." The fol- lowing are some of the statements therein :
I. "No school board has any right to demand more education for pupils than the income of the City warrants. They have no moral right to run the City into debt just because they think this thing or that thing essential. They have added course after course of study which is all right for a wealthy municipality, but which is not right for a poor municipality like Quincy."
2. "The school board 20 or 30 years ago did not think it necessary to have singing, harmony, drawing, cooking, dressmaking, millinery, art of homemaking, bookkeeping, typewriting, commercial geography, Spanish, German, etc., etc. These things cost money-money that a poor municipality cannot afford."
3. "Our cost for school education is all out of propor- tion. The school appropriation ought to be cut down at least $100,000 per annum."
Regarding statements I and 2, it may be said, (1) that school committees do not, as is suggested, arbitrarily form- ulate courses of study for our public schools, but that, practically every subject in our modern school curriculum is there either because its inclusion is mandatory by law, or because experience has proved that parents desire it in sufficiently large number to warrant its inclusion; (2) that the mission of our public schools is to prepare young peo- ple to become efficient members of the social organization of their day, and that, since social conditions today are more complex than formerly and are certain to become still more complex when the boys and girls who are now in the schools come to play their parts as men and women of tomorrow, it follows that the present-day school curri- culum must, necessarily, be more comprehensive than that of past generations; and (3) that, even if it were legally permissible and educationally wise to eliminate from the school curriculum, as the writer of the above-mentioned article suggests, singing, cooking, dressmaking, millinery,
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art of homemaking, bookkeeping, typewriting, commercial geography, Spanish, German, and much more that he hints at in his "etc., etc., etc.," one of two results would inevi- tably follow, either a considerable number of pupils would drop out of school because they failed to find there what they desired, or, if they remained, would simply take up other studies which were kept in the curriculum. If the latter were the result, no appreciable financial saving would be effected since no material reduction could be made in sittings to be provided, in books and supplies to be furnished, or in the number of teachers required for instruction.
If, on the other hand, the former condition should re- sult, viz., that pupils dropped out because the schools failed to provide the studies they desired, a financial saving in school support might be made, but it would be accom- plished by the application of a principle that is viciously undemocratic, i.e., by denying to those less fortunate in a financial way the right to develop at public expense God- given talents whose development, not only would fit them better for opportunities to which they aspire, but also would add . something to the sum of public well-being. If one's thinking on policies relative to public education is to be sound, it is necessary for him to keep in mind that the public schools are maintained, not for any one class of people, but to promote the interests of society as a whole by equalizing, so far as possible, educational opportunities for all the children of all the people; and, in my judgment, one who advocates the saving of the public's money by a policy that will tend to drive children from the schools sooner than they need to go has yet much to learn with re- spect to the fundamental principles upon which our great system of public schools rests.
With respect to the third statement from the above- mentioned article to the effect that an annual saving of $100,000 could and should be made in Quincy's school ex- penditure, it may be said that without doubt that amount might be cut from the cost of our schools, provided the
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citizens desire to pay the price of such an attempt at economy. That price is inevitably inferior educational op- portunities for the boys and girls of Quincy as compared with those offered in other communities of good standing. Now, when it becomes known that Quincy is providing an inferior brand of public education, the type of men and women that will be most helpful in upbuilding the best in- terests of the city will not seek Quincy as a home in which to rear their children. As a result, property values and rental rates will decline, so that, in the end, property holders in the City will lose more thereby than it would cost them to contribute their percentage of the amount necessary to support first-class schools. Simply from an economic point of view, it would seem poor policy for a community to reduce the school expenditure to a point that will result in inferior schools.
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