USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Norwood > Norwood annual report 1942-1944 > Part 35
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Applied Arts
With closed foreign markets, attention is again being directed to our native crafts. Special legislation has now made George-Deen Funds available for the establishment of such courses in trade and vocational schools. This year, we have two students for whom special programs have been arranged and hope this coming September that we may attract others to this course. Applied Arts offers a field to individuals who may wish to make part or all their living by the production of beautiful and useful articles of highest artistic standards. Every class in the school has four periods each week in art related to their trade.
Academic Department
We are very desirous of building up a strong Academic Department, flexible enough to take care of related and technical instruction and also to integrate English and the Social Sciences so as to bring all influences to- gether in helping the individual girl to solve many of her present-day problems; meanwhile, developing a background for living and working in the newer world.
This year, we have started Department libraries in a small way. The use of the public library has also been encouraged, and the Social Science teacher has stimulated interest in reading for enjoyment. Through loans, and some purchases, many current books have been available. Miss Barbara Jordan of the staff of the Norwood Public Library came to the school to give a review of recent books. The girls enjoyed hearing her very much and look forward to her coming again.
Extra-Curricular Activities
On the evening of May 26, 1943, the pupils of the Henry O. Peabody School entertained their parents and friends. We hope this will be an annual event when parents will have an opportunity to visit the school, meet the teachers, and see some of the work done. However, parents are welcome to the School at all times, as it is our desire to have closer contact with the home.
As there has been no formal dedication of the new building, it would be interesting to have an Open House Day for the townspeople of Norwood. Consequently, sometime in the late spring, we will plan for Open House Day.
So far, there have been no definite plans made for the awarding of certifi- cates, as the number eligible is very small. We plan, in the near future, to give some recognition of this award.
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As the School is organized by classes within the trade departments, it is necessary that we try to build up a fine school spirit as a whole, and each girl must feel herself a happy, responsible member of the Henry O. Peabody School. With the School in its formative stage, there has not been time to carry on School activities to the fullest extent. During the year, each group planned its own activities - held trips, special lectures, and theater parties. The Food Trades class spent a day at the Worcester Trade School for Girls. Several School parties were held, including the May Dance. In June, all girls and teachers had a picnic in a nearby grove. It was a happy way to close our first year together.
This fall, with so many girls working after school and into the evening, it was decided to plan a Hallowe'en luncheon party in the cafeteria. The girls of 1942-1943 entertained the entering classes. On December 17, the Annual Christmas Luncheon was held for the whole school.
Our girls who are regular members of the several classes in the Norwood High School are encouraged to take active part in all class affairs. We have 100% enrollment in the Junior Red Cross, and last year the girls made boys' blouses, slippers for hospital patients, utility bags and dressings. We have two delegate representatives of the Junior Red Cross, Metropolitan Chapter. Pupils take an active part in all community drives, and a Pea- body School girl won the prize awarded to the High School and Peabody School for bond sales for the Third War Loan.
Conclusion
Organizing a new school presents an absorbing series of problems, and I wish to express my appreciation to the teachers who have supported me in this undertaking. I realize full well that their efforts have carried them far beyond any ordinary school day or year. I also wish to express my appre- ciation to the Superintendent of Schools, whose forceful leadership has been inspiring to us all; and to the Principal of the High School for his con- tinued cooperation in helping to solve problems common to both Schools. I wish to thank the members of the School Board for their wholehearted interest and confidence in the future of the School and all those with whom I have had the pleasure to be associated in the School Department and the Town. Everyone has shown a friendly and personal interest in the new School.
BLANCHE L. MARCIONETTE.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
I take pleasure in submitting my fourth annual report as principal of the Norwood Junior High School.
Testing is a regular part of our program, for it provides an objective method of examining our educational strengths and weaknesses, so that we may more effectively teach our pupils. These tests, other than ones administered to guide students in choice of subjects, give continued evidence that our excellent teaching staff is doing its work efficiently.
Though we recognize that the teaching of subject matter is our primary task, we are not unmindful that we should provide experiences and activi- ties in which pupils participate. These are provided in part in the following manner: many games for boys and girls in the gymnasium after regular school hours; regular assembly programs in which pupils participate: twenty-five varied clubs; band training; student traffic officers. Our pupils have constantly been eager to take an active part in the many patriotic activities which are necessitated by the war.
In our Ninth Grade Social Science classes, we are continuing the study of social changes produced by the war and are emphasizing such problems as black marketing, rationing, price control and food waste. We were fortunate this year to have completed our Rugg Social Science sets so that each pupil in the school now has a copy of each volume in his grade. We hope to be able to do this in other subjects where such need is indicated within the next year or two.
Our Junior Red Cross work has grown a great deal during the past year, and much time has been spent outside of school hours by both teachers and pupils in work requested for various military hospitals. We organized a Junior Red Cross Bicycle Corps this year and these boys deliver yarn and other Red Cross material for the Norwood Branch of the American Red Cross. Our school has received special recognition from the Boston Ameri- can Red Cross for the work it has done in various projects. As has been our custom in past years, we carried on a Christmas project at the Norwood Hospital again, supplying gifts of all kinds for the various wards of the Hospital.
A National Honor has come to Norwood through the "Junior Narrator" our school magazine which is written and edited by our pupils. The "Junior Narrator" in a national contest sponsored by Columbia University was awarded first prize for general excellence in its class.
In September we introduced three new clubs into the school, namely, Air Scouting, Explorer Scouting, and Sea Scouting. This program is carried on in connection with the National Victory Corps and the clubs are being taught by Mr. Nee, Mr. Bowler, and Mr. McAuliffe.
Our Magazine Drive was successful again this year, and we realized a profit of $234 through the efforts of our pupils and the cooperation of citizens of Norwood. We now have a balance of approximately $600 in our Band Fund and we hope that soon we shall be able to outfit our Junior High School Band in new uniforms, so that we may be able to have two complete units
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outfitted, one the Bugle and Drum Corps, and the other our Junior High School Band.
Our records show that an average of $150 to $160 per week has been spent for the purchase of war stamps by our pupils and though we haven't succeeded in getting 90% of our school to purchase stamps as a whole, we did succeed in having ten out of eighteen individual homerooms display the Minute Man poster during the year. During the Third War Loan Drive recently held, our pupils sold over $25,000 worth of Bonds in con- nection with the drive.
A machine shop has been partially set up in a section of the lunchroom, but we cannot obtain full use of the machinery due to lack of priorities in obtaining the necessary electrical equipment to install the machines.
The building is in good condition generally, and several repairs and re- placements recently made have helped considerably. A new floor is being laid now in the Print Shop.
I recommend that the drain near the rear entrance on the Bond Street side be relocated to prevent the surface water from following the walk toward the street.
May I take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the co- operation which the teachers have always given me. I am particularly grateful to you, Mr. Lynch, for your guidance which has been so helpful to me.
JOHN J. CORCORAN.
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION
Herewith I present my report on Home Economics Education for the year ending December 31, 1943.
The Role of Homemaking Education in a World at War
Before us in our High Schools sit the girls who will eventually have a large share in the work now facing the women of the nation. Many are even now sharing in war endeavors or as home helpers where mothers have taken emergency war positions. We, as teachers of Home Economics, are privileged to be in a position to assist them to be useful in all these en- deavors. It is also our great task to help educate the whole girl to become a social being, a helper in her home today and the leader of a home tomorrow. Never has Homemaking Education had a stronger challenge to contribute effectively to the well-being of the people of America. Conditions which have been imposed by America's will to victory and a good peace have brought many changes and adjustments in home living. New problems of unprecedented complexity confront families. The world of youth is upside- down. All their plans and dreams must be adjusted if not entirely laid aside. There is consequently no time for theorizing in our teaching. We must take action. Our teaching must take the form of experiences. All homemaking problems undertaken must be made a functional part of daily
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living. It is not enough to tell our girls to save, serve and conserve. We must provide the experiences in serving and conserving. We must be realistic, concrete and practical. Results must be seen and felt.
In addition to carrying heavier home responsibilities, many young people are answering the increasing demand to participate in community service and in the urgent work of production of needed commodities. What does this imply in the teaching of Home Economics? It means that greater emphasis must be placed upon topics having to do with health, nutrition, care of children, home nursing, home management, preparation of meals, care and conservation of all household equipment and clothing.
Our pupils are more practical than formerly. They are thinking of the immediate needs of their families. For instance, in the case of food, they are not thinking in terms of cooking one meal, but of budgeting, planning and buying many meals; not of appearance and flavor, but of nutritional value for points expended. Here we can demonstrate that adequate nutri- tion is possible under the rationing program and be of positive help in interpreting food adjustments. We can explain the issues involved in price control programs and show how we may cooperate to make the effort a success. We can show through illustrations and exhibits the meaning of inflation and its effect upon living standards. Concrete and specific help such as this is an urgent need and we must reorganize our teaching plans to- give this necessary aid at once. Our classroom can be a place where false: rumors and impressions can be cleared up. Immeasurable good can be accomplished if every Home Economics teacher becomes a crusader for true facts. These unique teaching opportunities challenge us in Home Economics Education and must not be missed. It appears that no other profession offers more opportunities for extending real, immediate and effective service in this hour of need than Home Economics Education. If our activities are considered superior activities, having great social signifi- cance and value, especially in the present crisis, we can attain our goals, and thus Home Economics Education will function at its best and fullest.
.
Home Economics and the Family in a World at War
"The most important basis of American unity is the American home."
"The most important work that woman can do in a world at war springs right from her own doorstep."
With the women and girls of the nation participating through necessity in many phases of the war effort to a greater degree than in any other national emergency, homemaking has assumed a greater importance than at any other time before in the history of the nation. The home maker is on duration duty; she is Captain of her Home - the kitchen or the nur- sery -, Chief of Supplies, and often a reserve officer in Home Front activi- ties. She must master the complexities of rationing and balance her bud- get; she must cooperate in and understand all government regulations affecting her home; she must campaign for and buy bonds, grow a Victory garden and conserve its yield, become a conservation expert and work over- time at her wartime job.
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. Home Economics teachers have at the present time an unparalleled op- portunity to help our pupils adjust themselves satisfactorily to the new ways of living and through them reach directly into the homes with the timely help that Home Economics Education is prepared to give. The field of Home Economics developed out of a concern for family living. No other field has had the same interest in basic and fundamental values of home life. Home Economists were first to teach ways to meet home and family life needs. Now that the problems before Home Economics Educa- tion are even greater than before the war, the greater is the challenge to our ingenuity. It would seem that the most important thing before us is to help our girls to save the spirit of the American home and show them ways to health, happiness, comfort and well-being. We must work with the pupils toward achieving a fundamental philosophy of life - the at- taining of a set of values which may be a guide to future conduct. Let us help our pupils to see a guiding purpose behind successful living. Let them note that those leading satisfying lives are tolerant, thoughtful and open- minded, stand on their own fect, care for their health, share responsibility and live happily within their own limitations.
Students should observe our philosophy at work as they learn. There- fore, in our daily teaching let us practice ideals for home life and interpret them into everyday behavior in all relationships. It is easier to live up to ideals if translated into simple rules of behavior. If pupils can be shown the long-time implication of their own behavior, the idea of values will become clear to them. Especially will our pupils need reassurance and encourage- ment and we must give generously in this direction. Does this type of teaching carry over? Many girls questioned since they left school stated that Home Economics had been of more help to them than any other sub- ject and that they now wish that they had received more of this valuable help during their school life.
Home Economics teachers can feel that they have served well toward the making of successful American homes if they have helped their girls through all difficulties to set ideals for living to appreciate values in human relationships, to understand and desire the democratic way of life, to make wise choices in the expenditure of time, money and energy. Let it be said of our girls that they have foresight, courage, honesty; they can look the world in the eye, unafraid: they love life, profit by yesterday, live today and look to tomorrow.
The High School Cafeteria and Wartime Feeding
School Feeding is now a vital part of school life. The school noon-day lunch has become a part of a total school program to help children grow better in body, mind, and spirit. The importance of a complete school lunch to the health of the pupils is obvious. For all, it is important, for some, the noon meal served at school is the best meal in the day. The school lunch activity is the concern of the whole school. It offers a natural social situa- tion, for here all come together for relaxation from school work and for en- joyment. They meet friends socially and the pupils know that cating to- gether is a social matter. The school lunch also offers an opportunity to
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stress nicety of serving, to practice dining-room courtesy and to enjoy pleasant conversation.
The school lunch has been established for some time in our Senior High School. However, it seems especially appropriate to call attention to this activity at a time when food occupies the center of attention in a world at war. Nutrition and diet stand for something that has rapidly become strong and significant things-to-be-considered in the world. New findings in nutrition are constantly presenting themselves, keeping us always on the alert and bringing about constant changes in our feeding problem. Add the problems of food shortage, point rationing, difficulties in marketing and securing foods, food allocation, the effects of increased purchasing power on our food supply, price control and it will be seen that the school lunch problem has become a challenge to those responsible for keeping the pupils well-fed. The school must provide complete and balanced menus in order that pupils may supplement meals at home or have a satisfying and ade- quate meal away from home.
How do all these food problems which arise from the war affect the school? Just as they affect the home-maker, only on a larger scale. We must serve the very best lunches possible at lowest prices. We must first procure the food - possibly our biggest problem, especially when our plans do not carry and orders cannot be filled and we must take what we can get and make substitutions at a moment's notice. We must figure ration coupons to get the most food value at lowest prices, which means stretching the points to the utmost. Although economies are not new to us, we must spend much more time than formerly eliminating waste and practice, apply and expand in our kitchen all the war saving habits which the housewife is urged to follow and this on a very large scale. Not the least of our problems is making over our recipes to adapt them to the various food shortages.
We are making continuously the many adjustments to wartime feeding and are pleased that so far we have not been obliged to raise our selling prices to pupils. This fact we can attribute to a decided increase in pa- tronage since so many pupils have been earning money. The pupils appre- ciate that they are receiving good values and seem to understand our efforts to provide them with good and nourishing food at low costs. Al- though our quotas have been cut decidedly on commercial foods, viz. ice cream, cakes and cookies, etc., and we receive no candy, substitutions have been made and our sales have increased in our own homemade puddings and desserts. We have not curtailed our menus, have met all food shortages (potatoes, etc.) with adequate substitutions which have been received graciously by the pupils.
We feel that we are aiding in building good diet habits and through our menus are proving that people can be well-fed under wartime conditions. Many pupils have carried home suggestions as to food combinations and substitutions and thus we are indirectly sending nutrition information into the home. The cafeteria has had another good year, we have covered all expenses and fed our pupils well without raising prices. This is an important part of the work of the Home Economics Department, requiring much time, thought and effort.
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In Conclusion
The past year has seen changes in our teaching personnel through the loss of three valuable and successful teachers. Both Miss Marion Rhodes and Miss Ruth Fahey of the Junior High School staff resigned to accept teach- ing positions in Milton and Waltham respectively. As a result, the Home Economics work at the Junior High School has been consolidated under one teacher. We were fortunate to secure Mrs. Malcolm White, a former teacher in this department, who is well acquainted with the work and will hold standards until more teacher help can be given. Several Junior High classes are so large that they cannot enjoy the real benefits of participation in creative work. This condition does not make for happiness or enjoyment of the work or the development of skill in the homemaking arts.
At Senior High School we lost Miss Elaine Fulton at Christmas time to study for the plastic industry. She had been connected with this depart- ment for twelve years. Her place has been filled by Miss Katherine Ryan, formerly of Watertown. A tea in Miss Fulton's honor was given by the Home Economics Department and enjoyed by the High School faculty.
The work of the department has been presented along the lines and objectives outlined in this report with attention given to all timely home- making problems.
For the future we look for continued interest in general Home Economics with gradual clarification and stabilization of understanding between (1) vocational courses for pupils wishing to specialize in a branch of Home Economics for occupational use and (2) the general Homemaking educa- tion offered in the Senior High School for all future homemakers. The many girls who do not wish to specialize, but who wish homemaking in- struction "because they like it and find it helpful in their personal and home life" will continue to find in our courses the information which will lead them to satisfying life and leaders of happy and comfortable homes. It will be seen that Home Economics in its broadest sense cannot be limited to vocational uses for it has a wider function in our schools than training groups that plan to use the work for remunerative occupation only. Home- making is every woman's profession and the fundamentals of Homemaking Education are needed by all girls and women, regardless of their present interests, for every girl finds herself eventually in a home in one capacity or another.
It is especially important that our major elective High School Courses be shortened to make them available to many who would like to take some of this work if a program could be built to include Home Economics. It is impossible for most girls to elect Home Economics as it now stands on a ten-periods per week basis without sacrificing other courses of value to them. This condition should be remedied to make our courses and facilities more available to pupils who desire them.
Although Home Economics is an accepted subject in Junior and Senior High Schools, it is not offered to the elementary grades who should derive some of its benefits during the formative period of their lives, when it would exert the greatest influence. Results would be worth the effort and the children would be very happy and benefit greatly from this type of teaching.
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We look forward to the day when we may introduce and develop some home- making courses in the elementary grades.
May I take this opportunity to thank all who have participated in the work of this department so faithfully this past year, which has been a year full of adjustments, and to all who have cooperated to make it a success- ful year.
AGNES M. BRIDGES.
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF INDUSTRIAL ARTS
I submit herewith my annual report of the Industrial Arts Department for the year ending December 31, 1943.
Industrial Arts in the Post-War Era
Once again the submission of this annual report finds us in the midst of an ugly war and facing a period of adjustment for which some of us in edu- cation are not ready.
Wars do affect education, as we have learned in the past. Its effect on industrial education requires study and is of vital importance particularly to those closely connected with the training of boys who will eventually find their place in industry.
This is true because war always supplies an extraordinary stimulation to industry, whereby its every aspect is intensified, modified in character, and enormously expanded. Old, inefficient training practices are quickly elim- inated while at the same time new production methods are rapidly evolved.
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