USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > Official reports of the town of Wayland 1908-1911 > Part 15
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Membership and Attendance
The average membership of your schools for the past year was 345, the percentage of attendance, 94.4. The average member- ship and attendance for the past five years, are shown below.
Year
Average Membership. Per cent of Attend'e
1904-05
380
91.5
1905-06
382.5
93.2
1906-07
368
93.2
1907-08
359.2
94.3
1903-09
345
94.4
The number of children in the public schools seems to be dimin- ishing. Ten years ago the average membership was 429.9.
Promotion and Retardation
If schools were so organized and conducted that an annual report could convey not only the cost of education per capita, but, also, the results in as specific terms, a reliable basis of esti- mating the efficiency of a system would be had. Unfortunately this is not the case. The results of a teacher's work are largely of a kind not susceptible of measurement by material standards. Nevertheless, certain facts relating to enrolment and promotion are worthy of consideration.
The average membership of the grade schools last year was 288. Of these 252 reached the required standard of attainment in June and were promoted to a higher grade. According to the plan of promotion adopted last spring, no pupil was permitted to go forward on condition. The 36 pupils not prepared in June were therefore compelled to begin again in September the work of the previous year. Each was told that as soon as he proved himself superior to the grade he was in, he should have a chance to try the work of the next. Thirteen pupils availed themselves
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of the opportunity and are now doing the work of grades to which their promotions were due in June. It will be seen that 124% of the average membership of your schools failed to do their work satisfactorily in the allotted time. More than one third this number, through increased effort, and by means of extra help fromn the teachers, succeeded in making up their work and winning their promotions. About 8 per cent of the average membership of the schools are repeating their grades. Accord- ing to the findings of the Russell Sage Foundation, which is inves- tigating the efficiency of systems in the interests of backward children, sixteen pupils out of every one hundred are classed as "repeaters."
The greater number of children who fail to make their grades become delinquent through causes that could be removed. Among the most important of these are irregularity of attendance and defects in physical condition. The former is the most common cause of failure in our schools. It is significant that a large per cent of the pupils, whose work is, or has been, below grade during this year, have frequent unexcused absences recorded against them. By an unexcused absence is meant an absence not legally excusable. The pupil's sickness or physical disability, death in the family, contagious disease or quarantine, are the only con- ditions that render possible an excused absence.
Many non-promotions are due to physical defects that might have been remedied. Parents whose children are not doing satis- factorily the work of the school are urged to heed the notifica- tions resulting from the annual eye and ear tests, and to have an examination by the school physician. An important part of his work is that of ascertaining "whether any child is suffering from any disability or defect tending to prevent his receiving the full benefit of his school work, or requiring a modification of his school work in order to prevent injury to the child, or to secure the best educational results." Medical inspection may have a very definite and helpful relation to the work of the pupils in our schools.
Principal Jenkins has been investigating the causes tending to produce retardation among the pupils in the Cochituate build- ing. He has analyzed the report of the school physician and col- lated the unexcused absences. I wish to call attention to that portion of his report which deals with the results.
Unusual effort has been put forth this year to keep parents informed of the progress of their children. The customary re- port cards have been sent home each month, and in addition the teachers have given to the superintendent the names of each pupil below grade, and to the parent of each child a card has been sent like the following :
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TOWN. OF WAYLAND
Dear
I am sending this card to inform you that .
is not making satisfactory progress in his school work .. ... re- port indicates that. is below standard grade in the subject of .
The successful accomplishment of the required work by every pupil is the aim of the school. Any suggestion or aid you may give which will enable the securing of better results from ...... will be gratefully received. Your active interest and co-operation are earnestly solicited.
Respectfully,
Supt. of Schools.
The names of delinquent pupils in each month, the subjects in which they were below grade, and, in some cases, the reasons as- signed for the deficiency, are kept on file. The children are the subject of frequent conference of teacher with superintendent, parent with teacher, and occasionally of parent with superin- tendent. One feature of the year's work thus far has been the definite effort exerted to minimize the possibilities of failure to be promoted. Perfection will scarcely be attained, but at least non- promotions will be accounted for, and parents will have had ample opportunity to extend that co-operation which is necessary in securing good results.
No problem connected with the work of the teacher is more important than the question of what shall be done for and with the children who, for one reason and another, fail to do the average work of their grades. In so many directions does this problem have a vital significance that it sometimes seems incapable of satisfactory solution under ordinary conditions. It faces the school system, and its solution has a bearing on the course of study and organization, influences its standards and measures its efficiency; it faces the teacher, judges her as a teacher, and gages her value; it faces the home, appeals to parental pride and love, touches the pocketbook, and arouses friendly co-operation with the school, or develops hostility and indifference, and it faces the child, keeping alive in him pride and ambition in achieve- ment, giving him to the utmost of his capacity the value of each year's work, or crushing desire to excel, and sending him forth from school before he has finished his course, handicapped by an equipment inadequate to his needs and incommensurate with his capacities. Says President Eliot: "To discriminate between pupils of different capacity, to select the competent for suitable
143
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
instruction, and to advance each pupil with appropriate rapidity, will ultimately become the most important function of the public school administrator.'
Medical Inspection
The usual eye and ear tests have been held by the teacher. The results are as follows:
Number of pupils examined .347
Number found defective in eyesight . 37
Number found defective in hearing. 6 Notifications sent 26
The present school physician is making an unusually careful examination of each child in the schools. On forms prepared by the superintendent the results are being recorded. These will be kept on file in each school and parents are urged to call and examine them.
There was a time when medical inspection in the schools was generally considered a fad. After it became compulsory, many people continued to think it was merely an unnecessary obligation imposed by the state. As its possibilities of usefulness are becom- ing apparent, people are realizing that it is destined to become one of the most helpful factors in school work.
The law requires that each child in the public schools shall be separately examined at least once each year. It is the duty of the school committee to have this examination made. It is doubtful if it can often be made within the special appropriation for that purpose. If the law is to be carried out in spirit and in a way to be valuable to the schools, a more adequate remuneration to the school physician will need to be provided.
High School
The relations which a small high school sustains to the com- munity are numerous and rather complex. The demands made upon it are constantly growing, and in most cases, the possibili- ties of expenditure and equipment have not kept pace with them. A just measure of the efficiency of such a school is not obtained by comparing it with other schools working under different con- ditions, but by ascertaining the results possible to it within its own circle of possibilities. Again the question of efficiency is in no way decisively answered by a comparison of the present and the distant past of the school. Local conditions change, the student body vary in quality from year to year, different ideals of
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TOWN OF WAYLAND
what a high school should accomplish, evolve and gains in one direction are often offset by losses in another. Ancient history needs to be analyzed if it is to yield either inspiration, instruction, or judgment to the present.
An item of interest to the thoughtful citizen is the extent to which the high school meets its possibilities of enrolment. Under careful investigation the somewhat common impression that the high school serves only a selected few is discredited. The re- verse may be true in some instances, but in Wayland a large per cent of those who enter the primary school finish the grammar grades, and do some work in the high school.
The average membership in all your schools last year was 345, that of the high school, 56.7. If conditions were perfect and each pupil passed through all the grades, including the four grades of the high school, each grade would contain 1-13 of the pupils. Disregarding the necessary losses, there could never be more than 4-13, or about 30.8 per cent of the total enrolment in the high school. If 16 2-5 per cent of the total enrolment is n the high school, which was the case last year, then the ratio of this percent- age to the percentage of the school's possibilities, 30.8 per cent is approximately the percent of children who are reaching the high school. This is 54.3 per cent. In 1900 the per cent was 27. There is no steadiness of gain or loss since that time, but for five years the per cent has remained substantially the same. It is thus seen that a not inconsiderable number of your children are receiving some of the benefits of a high school course. Inasmuch as only a comparatively small number of these will ever enter college, it is highly desirable that this high school training be as thorough, practical, and cultural as possible.
Regardless of the fact that only a relatively small number of graduates enter college, it will probably remain true, for some time at least, that the merit of a high school will be measured by the ratio of its success as a college preparatory school. Such a school must, therefore, while this opinion obtains in the community, be organized and conducted with reference to this class of students. In larger schools the curricula can be broadened to include a good commercial course, a good course in manual training, elementary agriculture, domestic science, and physical culture. All' these phases of education are highly desirable and of great practical value in fitting young men and women for useful living, but they are beyond the attainment of the small school, unless college preparation becomes a less important course.
Wayland High School offers a college preparatory course and a general course, which may include the commercial branches. The student of unusual ability, having a definite purpose at the
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS
beginning, will be able to accomplish successfully either prepara- tion for college or for business. The average student, with earnest- ness and definite aims, should be able to get adequate preparation according to his needs. It needs to be emphasized that more must be done by the pupil in a small school than in a large one. If the school is to be particularly strong along one line or the other, it must narrow its aims and specialize more than it is doing. If preparation for college is to be the guiding aim of the school, if the people of Wayland desire, first of all, that their high school shall rank high as a college preparatory school, not only is further expansion in the way of practical courses undesirable, but it can best attain this end by eliminating the commercial course and limiting still more those branches not required for college entrance. I do not advocate this, but am merely expressing my judgment of the situation.
The revised course of study went into full effect in September. Where necessary its requirements were modified so as to cause no losses of time or continuity in subjects to those pupils advanced in the former course. Says an educator in regard to high school courses: "The present tendency is toward fewer courses and toward more thorough and exact knowledge of those that are: pursued. There should be a broad divergence in the beginning of the high school course; those subjects and arts that will fit a boy or girl to earn a living when they leave the high school, and those that prepare for college or university work." The present course of study shows this tendency and possesses the characteris- tics mentioned.
In last year's report it was stated that one disadvantage of having so many electives and so few requirements was the fact that it did not enable the full utilization of the teaching corps, through inability to adjust the program. The following com- parison of teaching periods makes clear the point then made :
SUBJECTS
NO. OF RECITATIONS
Former Course
Present Course
Languages (English, French, Latin)
1600
1880
Mathematics (Algebra, Geometry)
440
480
History
480
600
Total
2520
2960
The amount of teaching done in the Language courses has been increased by 17.5 per cent; in Mathematics, by 9.1 per cent, and in History by 25 per cent. There is a gain of nearly 18 per cent
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TOWN OF WAYLAND
in the number of recitations devoted to the subjects mentioned . These changes do not produce improvement in results immediately perceptible, but they will certainly secure them. Teachers have met cheerfully the increased demands made upon them, realizing that the classes needed the additional work.
I wish to call attention to that portion of the Principal's report which relates to the college entrance certificate privilege.
In the report of last year the need of a new recitation room was discussed. The town voted the necessary appropriation and the room occupied by the sloyd department has been finished. It is the best recitation room of the school and a distinct addition to our facilities.
The present condition of Wayland High School is, in my judg- ment, excellent. Gains in every direction have been made during the year. In organization, in quality of teaching, in standard of scholarship, in discipline, progress has been made. Perfection has not been attained, the results of larger and better equipped schools are not being equalled, present possibilities have not been exhausted; nevertheless, a visit to other schools working under similar conditions will result in a comparison distinctly favorable to the local school.
Manual Training
The room on the third floor which has been fitted up for the use of the sloyd department is well adapted to its purpose. In several respects it is superior to the room formerly occupied.
The work in manual training continues to be very valuable and interesting to the boys and girls of the grammar grades. The results grow better as the effects of previous training become manifest. Increased effort to make the work practical has been put forth this year.
Owing to inability to arrange for teachers of sewing, this work did not begin until November. Since that time the classes have been held weekly. The normal school has sent us some excellent practice teachers this year and they are getting better results than usual.
Course of Study
No changes in the grade course of study have been made during the year. There is now in each school a definite outline of the work to be covered in each subject. The work in Language and Grammar has been greatly forwarded by the purchase of more up to date textbooks. The commercial department of the high school has been strengthened by the introduction of one of the
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS
"Tablet Method " systems of teaching book-keeping.
Every other month during the year a Suggestion Bulletin is being issued by the superintendent. Its purpose is to supplement the course of study in various ways, and to be a source of real assistance to the teachers. Many of the ideas contained therein are being used in the schools.
Meetings, Institutes, etc.
Several teachers' meetings have been held during the year. The schools were closed one day in the spring to permit the at- tendance of the teachers at an Institute held in South Framing- ham under the auspices of the State Board of Education, and one day during the fall term to enable attendance at the Middlesex County Convention. In December the teachers of Dover, Way- land, and Sudbury met together in Wayland, and listened to an address on "The Teaching of Reading," by Mrs. Gordon, author of the system in use in the towns mentioned. Visiting Day was observed by the teachers in the Cochituate building, who brought back useful suggestions from Chelsea, Newton, and Dedham. The Teachers' Study Club has held six meetings. Five of these were devoted to a study of the "Teaching of Elementary Mathe- matics." One open meeting was held in Wayland, when Dr. A. E. Winship, editor of the Journal of Education, gave an interesting and inspiring address on "Rescuing Rascals." It was unfortunate that the inclement weather prevented a larger number of people from hearing him.
The No-School Signal
The no-school signal was abolished in Wayland several years ago. As I understand the matter, so much unfavorable comment was made in regard to it by the patrons of the school that its re- tention seemed no longer wise. There seems now a considerable demand for its readoption. In view of this, it may not be out of place to indicate some considerations both for and against the change.
The purpose of the no-school signal is protection of the health of children and teachers. Exposure incurred while going to and from school in inclement weather frequently results in illness. If the schools are kept in session, many parents deem it their duty to send their children, despite the fact that they know it is detri- mental to health to do so. The responsibility of determining whether children shall endanger health by going to school in bad weather is, therefore, placed on the school department.
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TOWN OF WAYLAND
The objections to the no-school signal are twofold. In the first place a large number of children who would attend school in bad weather expose themselves in an equal degree if the schools are not in session. Experience has proven that the no-school signal means to some a holiday with no compensating advantage. Secondly, it is often impossible to decide in the early morning whether the weather is to be favorable or unfavorable, and the decision to be of value must be made, and the signal sounded before the children start to school. If a mistake is made and the weather clears, the school plant is idle for the day and both the town and the pupils are losers to that extent. For these reasons an increasing number of school departments prefer to keep the schools open, to have the teachers work with those who attend, and place the reponsibility for health of the child upon the parents.
I present this matter to the school committee with the recom- mendation that an expression of the wishes of the parents be secured and that this determine the action upon it.
School Savings System
In looking over reports of former superintendents I find that two of them have suggested the adoption of a School Savings System. In hopes that one more effort will secure the desirable result, my recommendation is added to those of the others.
On the margins of a folder issued to pupils of the Natick Schools, in which are recorded for a time the deposits, are the fol- lowing quotations. They express concisely the chief points in favor of the system. Elaboration of these is unnecessary :
"Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."
"The masses know how to earn better than they know how to . save."
"The habit of saving is an essential part of a true, practical education."
The following "Regulations " printed on the folder aforemen- tioned suggest a method of conducting a school savings system which seems feasible for use in Wayland.
REGULATIONS : - Deposits of one cent or more will be received every Monday at the morning session by the teacher of each class. The amount will be delivered to the Principal, who shall deposit it the same day in the Natick Five Cents Savings Bank. The Principal shall issue to each depositor a card which shall contain an accurate record of his deposits and drafts or withdrawals. When a pupil has a deposit of three dollars or more, the Savings Bank will issue a bankbook in his name free of charge, and his
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS
deposit will bear interest. Deposits should be withdrawn only in case of necessity, in case of sickness, or removal from town. All withdrawals must be made through the Principal and at the personal request of the father, mother, or guardian of the pupil who withdraws money. When a depositor graduates or leaves school he will be given his bankbook or the money due him."
School and Home Association
Any effective effort to make schools better must spring from a thoughtful consideration of conditions and a just ideal of what can be expected from them. The schools of no community are perfect. In this connection a clipping from the Journal of Edu- cation is to the point :
"Thomas Edison says that no piece of machinery now made is more than 10 per cent perfect. That is a remarkable statement, but it is undoubtedly relatively correct. If so, how foolish to waste time in claiming that machines less perfect than now were better than now."
No school work is more than 10 per cent perfect. It was not more than one per cent perfect thirty years ago. How foolish to harp on the virtues of old-time work, or to claim per- fection in the present ways and means. Machinery is vastly better than it used to be, so is school work, but it is not worth while to waste time on those who are walking backward when we are chiefly concerned in trying to crawl forward.
There can be no doubt but that the citizens of Wayland have a genuine interest in their schools. They wish to make them better. Is there not some way in which their interest can be directed and utilized so as to make it more helpful? Can we not have a School and Home Association which shall hold monthly meetings for the discussion of topics which concern school work? New phases of education are constantly being presented, and many old ones are as yet only partially understood and applied. As a means of usefulness to the community, and incidentally as a means of culture, such an association ought to appeal to pro- gressive fathers and mothers.
The reports of the special supervisors and the usual statistical tables may be found elsewhere.
Permit me to express to Principals and teachers my apprecia- tion of the feeling of co-operation which has existed, and of their efforts in behalf of the schools.
To the School Committee are due my appreciation of the cour- tesy accorded, the degree of freedom permitted me in my work, and valuable suggestions relative thereto.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES F. PRIOR.
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TOWN OF WAYLAND
REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF THE HIGH SCHOOL
To the Superintendent :
Herewith is submitted the annual report of the Principal of the Wayland High School.
A marked progress has been noted throughout the year, and this progress has been due to several factors.
The recitation room completed last summer has made it possi- ble to have a room for each teacher with blackboard facilities and ample seating capacity.
The unbroken continuity of the teaching staff has given the school an opportunity to proceed with teachers experienced in the needs of the students and classroom. The enthusiasm and efforts of the teachers have been commendable. The teachers have been responsive to the additional work of the new course of study, and the spirit of the teaching corps has, at all times, been for improvement.
The attendance record shows improvement for the past year and the per cent is good.
The revised course of study which went into effect in part last spring and as a whole in the fall, by increasing the number of recitation periods and by better outlining and defining work, has been productive of improvement. In Latin, English, Mathema- tics and in the Science courses, the total hours given to these sub- jects correspond more nearly to those given in the best schools of the State.
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