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 1924 > Part 22
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"Of the 251 seeking lost promotion, 244, or 97.2 per cent., were successful; of the 99 studying to remove conditions, 91, or 92 per cent., were successful; and of the 2 seeking double promotion, 1, or 50 per cent., was successful."
The steadily increasing cost per pupil that appears in the fore- going tabulation is due to two things,-(1) a slight increase in the pay of the instructors made necessary in order to secure the type of teachers desired for the best results, and (2) a reduc- tion in the number of pupils assigned a teacher in order to secure greater efficiency in the work, which necessarily is largely individ- ual.
While to my mind the educational benefit to those who attend this school amply justifies the added expenditure necessary for its maintenance, it may be noted, also, that such expenditure means ultimate economy in school costs. For example, it cost $2,187.82, as I have previously indicated, to maintain our summer school in 1924. Through this expenditure, 244 pupils gained a lost promotion. The cost of repeating their half-year's work in the regular schools would have been something over $8,000. Therefore, the work of the summer school for the past season represents an ultimate net saving in the city's educational expenditure of approximately $6,000. Hence, from no higher point of view than the ultimate saving of dollars and cents to tax payers, the summer school seems a profitable enterprise.
Thrift Training
Public schools exist primarily for the development of boys and girls to the end that they may be socially efficient. To the thoughtful person, it is clear that one fundamental element in the equipment of a socially efficient individual is thrift. It is equally clear that habitual thrift is not instinctive. Like other social virtues it must be developed, and the surest way, in fact the only certain way, to secure its development is through syste- matic practice in saving.
Therefore, since relatively few homes encourage and make pro- vision for such activity on the part of young people to the degree that is desirable, it is important that the school should provide its pupils with the needed opportunity and encouragement in this direction. In the fulfillment of its obligation in this respect, the school department of Quincy has maintained a school savings system for the past sixteen years. Weekly an opportunity is presented pupils of the elementary grades to deposit at the schools any amount from one cent upward, which is transmitted to the local savings bank and credited to their respective accounts. The co-operating bank in this important work is the Quincy Sav- ings Bank, and no little credit is due the management for the results that have been secured. During the sixteen years that this work has been carried on in our schools, the deposits of the pupils have totaled $207,054.95. During the past school year the number of different depositors was 5,142. This number represents
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practically 56 per cent. of the total enrollment of our elementary grades for the year and is 3.2 per cent. more than the similar per cent. for the preceding year. The deposits for the past school year totaled $37.567.08,-an increase of $10,833.28 or 4.1 per cent., prac- tically, over the preceding year's deposit.
From the foregoing figures, it appears that gratifying progress is being made in the development of this phase of work in our schools.
Dental Clinic Work
Another important activity of the Department is its Dental Clinic Work. Two such clinics are maintained, one at the Coddington School and one at the Daniel Webster School.
That at the Coddington School is mainly for operative work and is in charge of a skilled dentist, assisted by a nurse; the one at the Daniel Webster School is in charge of a dental hygienist, assisted by a nurse, and is for prophylactic work solely.
The dentist, Dr. Karcher, in addition to his work at the Codding- ton School Clinic, supervises the Daniel Webster School Clinic and, also, gives talks throughout the schools from time to time on dental hygiene to supplement the endeavor of the school nurses and teachers to impress upon the children the importance of proper care of the teeth and mouth.
When one understands the importance to general good health of a sanitary condition of the mouth and teeth and, also, the depend- ence of educational progress upon good general health, the value of the dental clinic work in the schools is evident.
For such as are interested the statistical details of the work of the clinics may be found in Appendix A.
State-Aided Activities
1. Day Industrial School for Boys.
The number of different pupils enrolled in this school for the school year ending June, 1923, was 164. The corresponding num- ber for the school year ending June, 1924, was 180,-an increase during the past year of nearly 10 per cent.
Of the number enrolled during the past year, 39 were in the Electrical Department; 33 in the Machine Department; 20 in the Sheet Metal Department; 18 in the Plumbing Department, and 75 in the Woodworking Department.
The instructors in this school have performed their duties with commendable zeal and efficiency, but there has been a degree of irregularity in the attendance of the pupils that is unsatisfactory.
While the per cent. of daily attendance in our regular day schools for the year is 93.9 per cent., that for this school is 89.78 per cent. Inasmuch as irregular attendance upon class work means on the whole poorer results, it would seem that particular attention needs to be given to improve the daily attendance at this school.
2. Home Making School for Girls.
The work of this school has progressed steadily during the past year along lines previously laid down. The membership remains practically the same as for several years, viz., approximately 35 pupils.
The present location of the Senior High School makes it possible for the girls of the Home Making School to have advantages in the lines of physical and musical training not possible for them hereto- fore, and it is planned to make those advantages increasingly avail- able to this school.
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3. Continuation School.
This school is maintained in accordance with a vote of the City accepting the provisions of the Continuation School Act passed by the General Court in 1913.
This Act provides that boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 16 years who are working not less than 6 hours a day shall attend a Continuation School for 4 hours weekly or, if not working or in attendance upon the regular day schools, for 20 hours weekly.
Obviously, the attendance upon this school is a continually changing number. The Director reports thus: "Since September 9, 1924, we have enrolled 71 boys and 28 girls. Up to December 31, 1924, 21 boys and 7 girls have been discharged, leaving an active membership at the latter date of 51 boys and 21 girls. Although the numbers change slightly from time to time as the result of business conditions, these may be taken as a fair example of our current membership during the year."
For the fiscal year ending December 31, 1924, we expended for the support of this school $5,593.18. Evaluated on the basis of average membership and hours of instruction received per pupil as related to those received by regular day school pupils, this ex- penditure means a per capita cost for Continuation School support several times that for regular day school maintenance.
As a result of its removal to improved quarters in the new High School building, the working conditions of this school are better than at any previous time in its existence, and the Director has in mind certain additional readjustments, possible in the new quar- ters, that are calculated to increase the advantages offered our part-time pupils in this school. Nevertheless, in view of the com- paratively small number who attend the school, the brief time of such attendance, the relatively large per capita cost for the in- struction received, and of the further fact that probably many of those who attend this school would otherwise attend evening school classes, it is to be questioned whether the City was entirely wise in accepting the provisions of the Continuation School Act.
4. Evening Industrial School for Men.
Another phase of our school activity is the Evening School in- struction for men in the industries. Classes for this purpose are opened each year and continued so long as the attendance warrants. The following statements with respect to this school are taken from the Director's report for the school year 1923-1924: "Five classes were conducted as follows: Machine Shop Practice, Sheet Metal Drafting, Electric Wiring, Roof Framing, and Drawing for Granite Cutters.
"The registration for the several classes was as follows: Ma- chine Shop Practice, 27; Sheet Metal Drafting, 45; Roof Framing, 47; Electric Wiring, 16, and Drawing for Granite Cutters, 11.
"The Machine Shop Practice, Sheet Metal Drafting and Electric Wiring classes started October 1, 1923. The first two continued until February 28, 1924, and the class in Electric Wiring closed January 30, 1924, for lack of attendance. The Granite Cutters' class opened November 26, 1923, and continued to January 30, 1924. and the Roof Framing class started February 5, 1924, and con- tinued to April 23, 1924."
5. Practical Arts Classes for Women.
Another phase of our school endeavor is the evening and after- noon Practical Arts Classes for women. In these classes instruc-
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tion is offered in dressmaking, millinery, home nursing, and cooking.
The total registration for the several classes in November, 1924, was 857, which was 23 per cent. larger than the registration at the corresponding date of the preceding year. This registration was distributed as follows: Dressmaking, 591; Millinery, 220; Cook- ing, 34; and home nursing, 12.
During the school year ending June, 1924, the women in the dressmaking classes made 1,582 dresses and those in the millinery classes made 1,601 hats. The worth of material used in the dress- making classes was $8,269.22 and the commercial value of the fin- ished garments was $22,581.70, which represents a saving of $14,- 312.48 for the 591 members of these classes.
The worth of the material used in the millinery classes was $5,412.12 and the commercial value of the hats made was $12,- 602.95, which represents a saving of $7,190.83 for the 220 members of these classes.
While the foregoing facts indicate the worth-while nature of these classes from the monetary standpoint, there is another point of view that is more important, perhaps, than that. It is suggested in the following quotation from the report of the Director of these classes: "In the Practical Arts Classes the women not only attain much knowledge of materials used and of designs and patterns, but they also acquire many useful skills, some worth-while habits, and certain social and civic ideals, the value of which can be measured only as they add to one's future happiness and contentment. Hence, it is impossible to evaluate in dollars and cents the economic and social worth of the instruction received."
6. Americanization Classes.
These classes are maintained to provide instruction calculated to prepare the foreign-born people among us to be more helpful than they otherwise might in promoting the well-being of our American social and political institutions.
In view of the large and increasing per cent. of foreign-born people in our American population, of whom many are unable to speak or understand the English language readily and who have come to us with social and political ideas and ideals different from and, in many cases, radically opposed to those of America, one need not be a social philosopher to recognize the importance to our na- tional well-being of assisting our foreign-born neighbors to acquire as rapidly as possible not only a speaking and reading acquaintance with the English language but also an understanding of and sym- pathy with American social and political ideas and ideals.
The responsibility for the accomplishment of these results has been placed largely during the past few years upon the schools. With a considerable foreign-born element in its midst, Quincy has accepted its share of this responsibility resolutely and the work that its schools are accomplishing in this line has won commenda- tion from both State and Federal authorities.
During the past year, 791 persons have been enrolled in the 34 classes that have been held throughout the City. Three grades of work are carried on,-one for beginners who are principally con- cerned with the mastery of the English language; one called the intermediate grade for those doing somewhat more advanced work, and the third, or Citizenship grade, for those preparing for their final paper of American citizenship.
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At the close of each year's work, certificates are granted all who successfully finish the outlined work of their grade. At the close of the past year's work, 347 persons received such certificates.
Valuable aid has been given the School Department in this work by the Federation of Women's Organizations, the Chamber of Com- merce, the local branch of the North American Civic League, the Public Library management, the clergy of the several churches, the managers of our large industrial plants, and various other organi- zations and individuals of the City having at heart the importance of interpreting America and American ideals to our immigrant population.
The success of this phase of our school endeavor is due in large measure to the efficient and tireless effort of our supervisor, Miss Nellie Perry, who to an unusual degree has won the confidence and co-operation of all with whom she has come in contact.
The Junior High School Idea
The Committee's approval of the Junior High School plan of administration for the Quincy schools makes it advisable, possibly, to discuss this idea briefly at this time and to outline the general plan of the Committee for the establishment of junior high schools in the City and the progress thus far made toward the realization of that plan.
The form of public school organization familiar to the majority of our citizens is an elementary school system of eight or nine years followed by four years of high school work.
Under this form of organization much that is commendable has been accomplished toward the preparation of young people for the efficient discharge of the obligations of citizenship in our American democracy.
Gradually, however, thoughtful students of public educational procedure have come to feel that, as thus organized and adminis- tered, the schools were not accomplishing all that is desirable.
Some of the causes for this feeling are as follows:
1. There has been an alarming amount of wastage in school endeavor, due to the large percentage of pupils who have dropped out of the schools before they had secured the degree of educational training necessary to fit them to discharge the obligations of mem- bership in our social organization to the best advantage either for themselves or for society as a whole.
The extent of that wastage is suggested by the following sta- tistics secured through a nation-wide study of the problem by competent investigators. It has been ascertained that, of every 100 pupils who finished Grade VI in the schools, 21 per cent. aver- aged to drop out before finishing Grade VII, and 42 per cent. failed to finish Grade VIII. Moreover, that of every 100 who graduated from Grade VIII, 23 per cent. failed to finish Grade IX (the first high school year) and 59 per cent. failed to finish Grade X (the second high school year).
Deplorable as this wastage is, from whatever cause it may arise, it is more deplorable in view of the fact that the majority of those who drop out during these years do so not because of economic necessity in the home.
2. It has come to be recognized by students of child nature that, during the years from 12 to 15 approximately, young people re- quire for their best development a type of school program and
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a kind of school management that it is hardly possible to provide sufficiently under the form of school organization that has existed.
3. Thoughtful school administrators have come to realize that, as our schools have been organized and administered, they have not been democratic.
Democracy predicates equality of opportunity, and equality of educational opportunity means that every boy and girl shall have the chance to receive that training which his or her personality and probable vocation require. This the schools have failed to give. What we have had in the schools is universal, not equal oppor- tunity.
Such considerations as the foregoing have led to a nation-wide movement for modification of the old-type school organization and program which has resulted in the establishment of the so-called junior high school.
While the type of such schools varies somewhat in different communities, that most generally approved has the following chief characteristics :
1. It is a three-year school, including pupils of the last two years of the elementary grades and of the first year of the former high school grouped in a centrally located building or in a lim- ited number of local centers as the area and conditions of the community to be served warrant.
2. It has more or less differentiated curricula of studies and activities to meet more nearly the varying needs of its pupils.
3. It provides for more or less departmentalized instruction in place of the system whereby one teacher handles practically all subjects of the grade program.
It is significant of the worth of the junior high school idea that it has been formally approved by the National Bureau of Educa- tion, by the Departments of Education of practically every state in the Union, by the National Association of State Universities and by all the leading educational associations throughout the country.
Any community, therefore, that reorganizes its school system on the junior high school basis is in line with progressive thought and practice in educational procedure.
The following are some of the advantages to be gained through the junior high school:
1. It tends to reduce the percentage of pupils who drop out of school unnecessarily.
The broader program of the junior high school, with its more or less differentiated curricula, whereby pupils have larger op- portunity to take work more nearly suited to their individual needs, tends to arouse greater interest in school tasks and, there- fore, to hold the pupils longer in school.
That this is not merely a theoretical conclusion is demonstrated by the experience of communities that have junior high schools. For example:
(a) In Berkeley, California, of the last seven classes to graduate from Grade VIII under the old organization, 40.58 per cent. aver- aged to enter grade IX; while, of the first six classes to finish grade VII after the establishment of junior high schools, 65.53 per cent. averaged to enter Grade IX.
(b) In Evansville, Indiana, for the last five semesters before the establishment of junior high schools, the entrants to Grade IX
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ran from a minimum of 52 per cent. to a maximum of 59 per cent. of those who graduated from Grade VIII; while, for the first five semesters after junior high schools were in operation, the entrants to Grade IX ran from a minimum of 59 per cent. to a maximum of 84 per cent. of those who finished Grade VIII.
(c) In Rochester, New York, for the year before the first junior high school was started, 51 per cent. of the graduates from Grade VIII in the district in which it was established entered Grade IX; while, for the year following the establishment of the junior high school, 94.5 per cent. of those who finished Grade VIII con- tined on into Grade IX.
Such facts as the foregoing, which are characteristic to a greater or less degree of practically every community that has estab- lished a junior high system, afford reasonable proof that this form of school organization does tend to reduce unnecessary loss of pupils from the schools. This result is an important consideration in educational administration, since one of the best tests of the efficiency of a school system lies in the degree to which it retains pupils.
2. A second advantage from the junior high school is that it tends to lessen the pressure under which pupils must work to prepare adequately for college in the four years of the ordinary high school course. This relief is secured by the fact that the junior high school program permits pupils to begin certain sub- jects required in preparation for higher institutions at an earlier point than heretofore, thus giving more time for such prepara- tion.
3. A third advantage from the junior high school is the better opportunity it affords, through the grouping of a relatively large number of the same grade, to maintain classes more nearly at the normal size,-a result that contributes not only to greater educa- tional efficiency, but also to more economical administration.
4. A fourth advantage is that the junior high school enables the time and energy of supervisors and special teachers to be utilized to better effect by cutting down the waste of time in getting from building to building.
5. A fifth advantage of the junior high school is that it enables the plan of departmental teaching to be carried out more effec- tively and, thereby, contributes to the development of better schol- arship.
6. A sixth advantage to be noted is that the grouping of a con- siderable number of seventh, eighth, and ninth year pupils at a single center makes it possible to organize and develop various extra-curricular activities, of great educational worth to young people, which cannot be maintained, except in rare cases, under the old eight-four organization.
The foregoing advantages are sufficient, I think, to indicate that there are important educational gains to be had through a junior high school organization.
It is planned to establish four such schools for Quincy,-one in the old high school building; one in a new building to be erected in the northern section of the city, for which the Committee has requested land to be taken; one in a new building to be erected in South Quincy, for which land has already been acquired, and one in the Quincy Point area, for the accommodation of which it is proposed to enlarge the Daniel Webster School building.
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At the opening of the school year in September, 1924, a begin- ning was made upon this program by the opening of the first junior high school in the old high school building. Owing to over- crowded conditions in the elementary schools, it was necessary to place in this building pupils from several schools not properly included in this district, so that it was not possible to organize this school as a real junior high. Therefore, this school must be re- garded as only a step toward the ideal, although, even in its pres- ent imperfect form, noticeably improved results are being secured.
Conclusion
The length of this report makes it advisable to omit various matters that, otherwise, I might wish to discuss. Additional in- formation of interest and profit with respect to the schools may be found in the several special reports and the statistical matter included in the Appendices in this report.
In closing, I desire to express my appreciation of the efficiency and co-operation of my entire staff of fellow workers, without which the results secured would have been an impossibility, also my obligation to the Committee for its unfailing support and wise counsel at all times.
After years of experience as a school administrator, I can say, without reserve, that I have never worked under happier condi- tions than those that prevail in the School Department of Quincy.
Respectfully submitted,
FRED H. NICKERSON, Superintendent of Schools.
APPENDIX A
SPECIAL REPORTS
1. Report of Supervisor of Grammar Grades
MR. FRED H. NICKERSON, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass.
MY DEAR MR. NICKERSON :- In accordance with our ideals of growth and with the best thought of present progressive education, our teachers have again been definitely occupied with a unit of work. This unit has been the preparation of objectives in certain subjects for each month of a semester: By objectives are meant problems. These problems have been framed from the standpoint of providing all possible "urge or drive" for the pupils, and will be "set up"-given out-for the pupils the first of each month.
Since the taking of this forward step toward the better mastery of the prescribed subject matter involved a number of adjustments, the objectives were limited to one subject for each teacher. The assignments of the subjects for the grades were as follows: Geog- raphy in the fifth, History in the sixth, Arithmetic and History in the seventh, and English and Geography in the eighth. At the close of each month during a semester, the teachers sent in objec- tives, which they believed would not only help the pupils "to deter- mine upon beginning work just what was to be done," but would
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