Randolph town reports 1901-1906, Part 38

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Town of Randolph
Number of Pages: 1168

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Number of pupils over 15

Number of pupils in-

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

Seventh Grade

Eighth Grade

Ninth (High School)

Tenth (High School)

Eleventh (High School)

Twelfth High School

Number of cases of truancy

Number who have not been absent

Number who have not been tardy 337

Number who have neither been absent nor tardy 45

Number of grade promotions 553

Additional statistics and other details may be found in the appendix to this report.

TEACHERS.

No changes in the corps of teachers occurred during the school year ,1904-5. but in October. 1905. Miss Mary A. Molloy. teacher of the Sixth Grade in the Prescott School. resigned her position to accept an appointment in the Boston schools. She has served with marked efficiency and success in our schools, and her resignation was accepted with regret by the Randolph school authorities. The vacancy in the Prescott School was filled by transferring Miss Hannah F. Hove from the Town Hill School; Miss Fannie M. Devine, a graduate of the Bridgewater State Normal School, who has

447 52

83 TS 77 78 71 TU 61 64 53 16 17 13

had experience in teaching at Oxford and elsewhere, was appointed to the Tower Hill School.

The Randolph corps of teachers improves from year to year, not by frequent changes, but by increasing skill and efficiency of the individual teachers. It is a mistake to sup- pose that improvement is only found among young teachers who are getting their first experience. If teaching were like some, handicrafts, it could soon be learned, and after that there would be no further improvement. But such is not the nature of the teacher's work. Her field is mind, not matter ; character, not form. Her profoundest study will never reach a complete solution of all its problenis. She has a boundless field and she has highest motives for study. She must not only improve. like the workman, in technique, but if she would attain the best results, she must earnestly study the best adaptation of her teaching in each individual pupil. A teacher's work is cumulative. If competent and efficient, the longer she remains in one 'school, the greater her value. Each year broadens her acquaintance, her knowledge of her pupils, of their home influence, of the conditions under which they live and the individual guidance and help which they each need. She is able better to influence both their mental and their moral development. A prominent superintendent recently said that a grade teacher outlives her usefulness in four or, at most, five years unless she is a persistent student. The young teacher is as much in danger of falling into a lifeless routine as an older one. If her thoughts and in- terests are engrossed with other things, she will grow narrow and mechanical faster than her older sister under the same conditions. But a teacher who grows in her love of children and in her patience with them will never outlive her useful ness. Her interest in them compels her, perhaps uncon- sciously, to become a student. Each year she knows more about them, is able more skillfully to adapt her instruction to them. is able to arouse them to greater effort. Such a

teacher does not reach the limit or even the zenith of her usefulness in four or five years; she does not reach it in twenty years ; her wider experience and riper thought enrich her work, just as experience and study bring improvement to a lawyer or a physician. It is true in teaching, and it is true in every profession. that whenever one loses his interest in his work, whenever he feels no further need of improve- ment, his work will become mechanical and he will soon have outlived his usefulness. The danger of falling into a lifeless routine is no greater for the teacher than for other workers. While we rejoice in the vitality and enthusiasm which the young teacher brings to her work, we also rejoice in the greater knowledge of childhood and sympathy with children and greater skill in teaching which the years should bring.

When the revival of education in Massachusetts began. seventy-five years ago. the teacher became the center of in- terest. The spirit and purpose of the movement were well expressed in the motto : "As is the teacher, so is the school." The plans and efforts of Horace Mann looked principally to the improvement of the teacher. Great changes in educa- tional work have since come, but the motto was never more true than it is today. We cannot exercise too great care in the selection of new teachers or in the encouragement of those we now have to make constant improvement in their school work.

We forget that pupils bring their moral and physical powers as well as their mental powers to school. During the years of school life the tastes, the settled preference, the habits of thought and conduct are rapidly forming. The school is one of the factors in this adjustment and growth. It is of the utmost importance that its influence should be clear and strong. Only a teacher who is happy and earnest in her work and familiar with it can secure the best results in character building. The ambition and high ideals of the teacher are contagious: they cause wonderful transforma-

tions in her pupils. During the formative years of school life the question is usually settled whether the lower or the higher instinct in each pupil shall predominate. A superior teacher will gradually change the point of view of a group of pupils, giving them a broader horizon and filling their minds with enthusiasm for the highest and best things. She creates an atmosphere in which the pupil's intellectual and emo- tional powers unfold. It is as necessary that this atmos- phere should be bright and sunny and stimulating as that a garden should have plenty of sunshine. A change of teachers is to a pupil like the transplanting of a flower from one gar- den to another: it may sometimes be unavoidable, but it should not occur too often. We cannot overestimate the im- portance of having in our schools strong, earnest, inspiring teachers. We want those who can develop not only the men- tal but also the moral powers of their pupils. They are not very abundant, not easy to find, but when we have them it is important for the best interests of the schools that we should retain then.

ATTENDANCE.

The importance of regular attendance has been dwelt upon in previous reports. Most rooms show a steady gain in this particular from year to year. One of the evidences of a teacher's interest and efficiency is found in the constant at- tendance of her pupils. Of course this depends somewhat upon the age of the pupils and will be affected by bad weather and prevalent sickness. But there are other causes of ab- sence which are more serious, especially the indifference of parents, neglect to send their children to school and the dis- inclination and lack of interest of the pupils. It is one of the most responsible and most delicate duties of the teacher to overcome these obstacles to good attendance-to make pupils enjoy their school work and to enlist the home influ- ences in behalf of regular attendance and earnest work.

Perhaps the subject has been sufficiently emphasized in former reports, but the following figures giving the number of pupils neither absent nor tardy during the fall term- September to December-in each year are gratifying and and will be of interest to friends of the schools.

Pupils neither absent nor tardy during the fall term :

Term ending December 20, 1901 71

Term ending December 19, 1902

Term ending December 18, 1903 139

Term ending December 23, 1904 147

Term ending December 22, 1905

180

CO-OPERATION OF PARENTS.

Parents seldom visit the schools for the purpose ot becom- ing familiar with their work and methods of instruction and to encourage teachers and pupils by their presence. It is much to be desired that such visits might become more fre- quent.

The superintendent would be glad to have this interest of parents in the schools find expression in many ways, all tending to promote their improvement and foster pleasant relations between the pupils and their teachers. In how many homes the school and its work seldom becomes a sub- ject of conversation unless a child brings some complaint against his teacher! It would benefit the schools if, instead of this apparent indifference, parents would often talk with their children about their studies, keep the run of their work so as to know what they are doing from day to day, commend progress and improvement, explain difficulties if they are able, magnify school and school occupations in the children's minds and stimulate their ambition to do the best possible work. A man who is now famous as a lecturer and author relates that from the day he first entered school, his mother

kept herself familiar with his school work. She studied the same lessons and mastered them every day while he was passing through the grammar school and the high school, and even when he went away to college she procured sets of the same text-books which he was using and kept abreast with him in study until he received his college degree. No one will question that this was a natural expression of a mother's love and enthusiasm for her boy. While it is not suggested as practicable or necessary for most mothers, some small degree of such co-operation with the teacher ought to be possible and joyfully given by every home. Why should not parents know what their children are doing? When such intelligent interest and appreciation is felt, children will not become truants nor be kept from school to do errands, and visits and shopping expeditions will be postponed until Saturday. Frivolous excuses will not be given for detaining pupils from school, but on the contrary parents will feel an honest pride to see their children's names on the Roll of Honor. If, as occasionally happens, a child discovers special aptitude in some study, as in drawing, or some other school occupation, he should be encouraged to improve and develop his talents, otherwise an early promise will fail of fulfilment and a gift which might have afforded pleasure and profit and even distinction will be atrophied and lost in the growth of other powers. How many "mute, inglorious Mil- tons" have thus been lost to the world we shall never know. On the other hand, the biographies of great men usually re- veal the fact that the first aspiration and impulse to great- noss was received at the mother's knee, that she first saw the spark of genius and that her love and wisdom fanned it into flame.

When Napoleon said that what France needed was mothers. he uttered the greatest need of every land and time. It is not household drudgers, not women of fashion, but mothers in the home that every community needs. Intuitive wisdom

and sympathy enable them to detect the good and discrim. inate the evil in their children long before it becomes woven into life and character. It is the mother's part to dwarf and overcome the evil impulses in her child by stimulating the better side of his nature. It is her sacred privilege to breathe into his wondering soul the love of the best things and the possibilities of the life which opens before him. It is her office to kindle aspiration and arouse the will, to turn the little obstacles in his daily pathway into stepping stones by which he may rise to worthy achievement and grow strong in purpose and character. And such, too, in some degree is the work of teachers. They also wield a mighty influence. They quicken the dormant powers and help pupils to see the need of thoroughly preparing themselves for the opportuni- ties which are before them. How important that these two great influences, whose aim and purpose are the development and highest good of the child, should act in harmony: How important that the home and the school should unite their forces, that the devoted mother and the patient, toiling teacher should intelligently co-operate for the awakening and enrichment of the mind and heart of the child !

HOME OCCUPATIONS VALUABLE TRAINING.

On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that a large part of a child's education is gained at home, not in study. not in text-books, but in the manifold occupations and duties which devolve upon a boy or girl in a well regulated home. It is a pity that the school cannot do more to educate the hand. A generation or two ago the boy learned many lessons in the use of his hands on the farm. He not only trained his hands to do useful work, but he also acquired habits of appli- cation and perseverance, ingenuity and tact in the adapta- tion of means to an end, contempt for shams and preference for the best things. He acquired a splendid power of initia-

tive and he thus became fitted for the success which so many country boys have won in after life.

We cannot return to the conditions which prevailed in those days. On the whole, we do not wish to. But much which was most valuable in the home education of the boys and girls of the olden time is still within our reach. In such a community as this there are, or should be, home tasks and duties for every child who is old enough to perform them. Do not let him despise or shirk them. Let him learn the great lessons of fidelity and helpfulness. Let him get the knack of doing things quickly and well. Do not let him spend his time upon the street or loafing under demoralizing influences when he should be helping in the home or learning to make things. There is coal to be carried, a stove or fur- nace to be cared for, ashes to be taken away; for the girls there are rooms to be swept and dusted, beds to be made, mending to be done, opportunities to help in the kitchen. Let the boy learn to use tools, making boxes for rubbish, for window gardens and other household uses. Let him trans- form the back yard from a mud hole or dumping ground into a garden for flowers and vegetables. Let him see what he can do to improve the condition and products of the chickens or other animals. Give him something TO DO, something to be interested in, and you not only throw a safe- guard around his habits, but you touch the springs out of which are the issues of life. Such methods as these have saved boys from truancy and moral ruin, and they have given to many boys who were not addicted to truancy or bad habits the physical, intellectual and moral stamina which has strengthened and enriched their whole life.

The paper folding and cutting, the drawing. the use of the pen and the crayon, give considerable manual training in the school room. It is greatly to be desired that we might have much more, but the expense has seemed to preclude. But no amount of school training, mental or manual, will ever

render useless or unnecessary the practical lessons in home duties which should be recognized as a fundamental part of every education.

THE WORK IN LANGUAGE.

I am glad to report a gradual improvement in the language work. Much more is accomplished in some grades than was done a few years ago in this important subject. But still more is desirable. It is interesting to observe how few com- plete sentences, each containing subject, predicate and suitable modifiers, are exchanged between children in their ordinary conversation ; indeed, they are seldom given, unless specifically required, in pupils' answers to questions by the teacher. In such cases the thought is as incomplete and fragmentary as the language. In the reaction which took place some years ago against memoriter work,

learning text-books verbatim, another and more

serious danger was met. The danger of acquir. ing words without ideas led many teachers into the danger of attempting to dispense with words altogether. It was called concrete work, objective teaching, development, neither of which is to be despised or neglected in the school room. But in the hands of unskillful teachers this kind of instruction. carried to excess, has brought great evils. No one now wishes to defend memoriter work; it was a source of weakness in the schools. But no idea can be fully developed in a child's mind. nor long remembered without words. The memory is more used than any other mental power. Con- sciously or unconsciously, it is employed every waking mo- ment of adult life. Every sentence we use, every word we utter. is. an illustration of its importance. It is a serious and far-reaching mistake, affecting one's whole life, to fall into the habit of incomplete, disconnected thinking. Noth- ing in education is more important than to teach pupils to

think clearly and connectedly. If they are to do this they must form the habit of expressing themselves fully and accurately.

It cannot be said too often that every recitation, whatever the subject, should be a drill in language. This is as true in the high school as in the lower grades. But teachers are apt to be so intent on teaching the subject itself that they forget to require complete expression of ideas from the pupils- expression of themselves, of their own ideas, not the ideas of others. It is always easier for a pupil to say "don't know" than to make an effort to recite. And it is also easier to cut short the statement or explanation required and give fragments which evince a little knowledge, leaving the rest to be taken for granted, than to follow consecutively through the necessary line of thought. It is one of the most im- portant duties of the teacher to require this, to establish the habit, to encourage excellence in it and an ambition to speak correctly. Written work is necessary and oral work is neces- sary, but at present it seems that talking rather than writing should be emphasized. Reproduction is not sufficient. It has its value, but it should lead to original and independent thought and expression.' A written exercise should be ordi- narily a sequel to an oral language exercise in which teachers and pupils have talked over the given subject and to a con- siderable extent developed and arranged their ideas upon it.

PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE.

One of the frequent criticisms of the public schools is that their courses of study and their work are impractical. It is not always easy to find the grain of truth which is sometimes involved in these charges, but one point is certainly worthy of attention : The schools should contribute, as far as they can, to train their pupils to live hygienically and to avoid disease. This does not imply the scientific study of anatomy

and physiology in the grades, nor premature attempts to do systematic work along these lines. It is possible to make the treatment of most of the subjects taught in the grammar school, and even in the high school. so technical as to destroy their interest and their educational value. Such mistakes are often made in every grade of school work, and even of college work. Almost any teacher possesses the requisite knowledge. but it requires one who also possesses in some degree the enthusiasm and personal interest of an Agassiz, a Chadbourne or a Seton to make that knowledge minister to his pupils' upbuilding. He must give them a desire for more knowledge and the capacity to apply it in matters relating to their daily life and conduct.

An effort has been made to introduce into our nature study and other oral lessons considerable instruction in the care and uses of the parts of the human body and to emphasize according to the age of the pupils the need of cleanliness, pure air and exercise. Occasional familiar talks on these and kindred subjects are better than more systematic in- struction which is not understood or remembered. We can scarcely begin too early to make children understand some of the simple, ordinary conditions of preserving their health. This is implied if not distinctly required in the laws of the state relating to public education. As their years increase pupils find the need of some knowledge of hygienic and sani- tary principles. No small number of girls and boys are called into service at home, "mind the baby," or perform some other duties closely related to the health of the family.

For this and other reasons the State Board of Education has recommended that more attention be given to physiology and hygiene in the grammar grades-assuming that the more elementary instruction has already been given in the grades below.

The following are some of the topics in which instruction is desired. relating largely to the hygiene of the home. sug-

gested by the State Board for the seventh and eighth grades :

SKIN, NAILS AND HAIR.

Bathing.

Why necessary, frequency, warm, cold.

Temperature of room.

Kind of soap and towels.

Removal of wet clothing.

Airing of clothing and of beds and bedding.

Antiseptic treatment of wounds and burns.

Cleanliness of hands in cooking.

SENSE ORGANS.

The Eye.

Danger of eye strain by artificial light in the house by reading at twilight and by reading lying down.

Eye strain cause of habitual headache.

Protection of eyes of infants in house and in sunlight.

Care of eyes and ears after measles, scarlet fever. etc.

MUSCLES. BONES AND JOINTS.

Care of infants. Danger of continuing in one position in sitting and lying. Too early sitting and walking. Position in arms and in carriage.

ATHLETICS.

Use and abuse.

NERVES, BRAIN AND SPINAL COLUMN.

Sleep.

Necessity, times and amount at different ages.

Conditions for baby and adult, quiet, darkness, fresh, cold air, warm body and feet. For baby and young child proper nourishment before going to sleep.

VALUE OF LABOR AS RELATED TO HEALTH.

Fatigue, indications, necessity for rest. Value of recrea- tion.

FOOD.

Time and manner of eating. The table, clean, orderly, attractive.

Behavior at table, relation to digestion. Keeping of food. Care of milk. Care of refrigerator.

Economy of food. Disposal of waste. Use of alcohol in food.

Preparation of food.

Excessive use of condiments.

Danger in decaying fruit or food.

DIGESTIVE TRACT.

Care of first teeth ; sixth year molars. Suitable dentifrices. Care of teeth in sickness. Harmful medicines.

EMERGENCIES, CHOKING, VOMITING.

First aid in accidental poisoning.

LUNGS AND RELATED ORGANS.

Larynx, proper use of voice.

Effect of furs or neckwear.

Need of pure air.

Nature of dust.

Effect of dust upon organs.

Sweeping, protection of hair.

Dusting, damp cloth.

Furniture and hanging.

Wiping of feet. Brushing of clothes.

IMPURE AIR.

Personal cleanliness.

Decayed teeth. Soiled clothing.

Care of sick as to odors.

Care of refuse.

Standing water in basement and vard. Refuse in cellars. Gases and odors from stoves.

Value of sunshine.

Care of invalids. Cleanliness of person and room.

Disinfection.

Heating and ventilation on house. Lack of moisture.

HEAT.

Taking the pulse.

Effect of position upon circulation. Fainting. Effects of alcohol and other poisons.

As has been said, some of these subjects are already in- cluded in the Nature Study and other oral lessons, but a review and somewhat fuller discussion of them in the Seventh and Eighth Grades cannot fail to be beneficial. and I feel that this recommendation of the State Board

should as far as practicable be adopted. Of course the familiar talks with pupils on these subjects should be adapted to the age and mental powers of the pupils.

THE STETSON HIGH SCHOOL.

In my report two years ago a brief statement was made of the need of a new high school building. I reminded you and the citizens of Randolph that the schools are dear to the hearts of the people and that the high school is the crown of the public school system. It is the keystone of the arch. Its influence is felt in every other school, not only uniting them into one system. but also stimulating the am- bition and effort of every pupil. Whatever detracts from its ascendency weakens the system. Pupils in the grades below should look forward with eager interest to the time when they will enter the high school. It should be one of their first ambitions to be enrolled among its graduates.

The Stetson High School has borne an honorable part in the history of the town of Randolph. Public-spirited citi- zens, recognizing its importance and its intimate relation to the general welfare, have given generously for its endow- ment. They wished that it should be a source of strength and of pride to the community. Many of the fathers and mothers of the pupils now in the high school are among its graduates. They wish, and every loyal citizen wishes, that the children and youth of Randolph should enjoy advantages equal to the best which are afforded in the surrounding towns.

It has never been doubted that the people were willing to provide a suitable building for their high school. Economy or narrowness seldom reaches the point where it is willing to sacrifice the public schools. With the issue clearly before them. the people will invariably vote right on a question relating to the welfare of the schools.

Accordingly, when the question of erecting a new high school building came up at the adjourned annual town meeting, last year, the following resolution was unanimous ly adopted.

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Randolph town reports 1901-1906, Part 38

Author: Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Town of Randolph Number of Pages: 1168

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Town of Randolph
Number of Pages: 1168