USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1843-1859 > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
There are now eighteen schools in Somerville, viz. : one High, four Grammar, one Mixed, (ungraded,) three Inter- mediate, and nine Primary Schools. Twenty-seven teachers are employed, five males and twenty-two females ; twelve of the latter having been appointed during the year ; and five of these were graduates of the High School.
The table on the next page will show the names of the schools and their teachers, the number of the pupils and the average attendance in each school, and the salary of each teacher, at the close of the term, ending February 27, 1858.
6
School Statistics.
SCHOOL.
TEACHERS.
No. of Average Pupils. atten'ce
Salary.
Cherry Street Primary,
Miss Lucy C. Homer,
27
25
$250 00
Spring Hill Primary, .
Miss B. P. Burgess,
48
40
300 00
Harvard Primary, .
Miss Jennett W. Hastings,
70
56
300 00
Prospect Hill Primary,
Miss Irene E. Locke, .
93
70
300 00
Prospect Hill Primary,
Miss Ellen P. Shute, .
Assis't.
-
250 00
Maple Street Primary,
Miss Elizabeth Welch,
83
63
300 00
Medford Street Primary,
Miss Mary O. Giles,
44
42
300 00
Prescott Primary (1), .
Miss Martha B. Cutter, .
60
46
300 00
Prescott Primary (2),
Miss Susan M. Priest,
44
29
250 00
Forster Primary,
Miss Emeline F. Wyeth,
89
76
300 00
Forster Primary,
Miss Maria A. White,
Assis't.
-
300 00
Franklin Intermediate,
Miss Lydia W. Locke,
74
58
300 00
Franklin Intermediate,
Miss Harriet Hill, .
Assis't.
-
300 00
Prospect Hill Intermediate,
Mrs. Lydia S. King, .
62
53
300 00
Prescott Intermediate,
Miss Ann A. Hall,
58
48
300 00
Franklin Grammar,
Mr. George T. Littlefield,
65
60
1,000 00
Franklin Grammar,
Miss Mary N. Howard,
Assis't.
-
300 00
Prospect Hill Grammar, .
Mr. O. S. Knapp, .
66
64
1,000 00
Prospect Hill Grammar, .
Miss Caroline S. Hopkins, .
Assis't.
-
300 00
Prescott Grammar,
Mr. D. B. Wheeler,
98
83
1,000 00
Prescott Grammar,
Miss Isabel S. Horne,
Assis't.
-
300 00
Forster Grammar, .
Mr. J. Jameson,
67
59
1,000 00
Forster Grammar, .
Miss Sarah A. Granville,
Assis't.
-
300 00
Walnut Hill, .
Miss S. C. Russell,
37
31
400 00
High,
Mr. S. J. Pike,
67
65
1,500 00
High,
Miss L. A. Dudley,
Assis't.
-
400 00
High,
Miss Lydia A. Pearce,
Assis't.
-
400 00
1,152
978
$12,250 00
It is a question whether the same number of Primary Schools can be found in any town of like size to this, more thoroughly taught or more carefully trained. And the Committee are happy to renew the testimony to the value of
7
the services of teachers who have been employed for several years. The Spring Hill, Prospect Hill, and Medford Street Primary Schools, are almost model schools of their class. Following closely upon their steps are the Prescott (1) and Forster Primary Schools. And there is no reason to believe that the teachers of less experience in the Cherry Street, Harvard, and Maple Street Primary Schools will not make their full mark. The last named school, now the largest in town under one teacher, and the most difficult of our schools to manage and teach, is certainly bearing indubitable evi- dence of devotion and ability on the part of the teacher.
The Intermediate Schools are all quite successful ; each has characteristics of its own; no two are exactly alike in forwardness in all branches; each might, perhaps, bor- row with advantage from the others; and yet, as already remarked, all are satisfactorily successful.
Of the Grammar Schools, the Committee are prepared to say much the same. They are happy to note a decided improvement, recently, in the lower classes of the Prospect Hill, which brings that into line with the others; except that the recent private examination of the Forster School was less satisfactory in some respects than previous exami- nations have generally been. It is due here to add, that the former greatly crowded condition of the Forster Primary School, and the consequent precipitate admission of one or more unprepared classes to the Grammar School, must have been unfavorable to the latter; a disadvantage which has been again increased by an unavoidable change of one of the teachers.
The Walnut Hill School is a difficult school to conduct with uniform and entire success. It is the only ungraded school in Somerville ; and, though small in numbers, is very large in classes. Its teacher las, for several years, enjoyed a well-earned and well-sustained reputation for fidelity and ability. It is not meant to detract from that too seriously in saying, that, at the recent examination, classes in some of the branches were not altogether satisfactory.
8
The Committee approach the High School with great diffi- culty. To say that it has fully answered their reasonable expectations in all respects, would be to say that against which the long-protracted and oft-repeated and solicitous discussions, at their many meetings, would protest. To say that it has, in any sense, failed in all respects, would be to contradict evidence easily deducible from the obvious acquirements of many of its pupils. It is plain that it does not take the position, with those who wish to be its friends, which such an institution ought to hold. The whole subject of its existence and management is so serious to its pupils, and so important to the welfare of the town, and the School is necessarily so expensive, that the Committee feel it incum- bent upon them to offer here, in an extended form, the views which careful and prudent consideration has suggested.
The High School exists, not only by a town vote, but in compliance with the laws of the State. It is nearly thirty years since an older statute was re-enacted (Rev. Stat. chap. 23, sect. 5) concerning High Schools. As it forms the basis of all subsequent legislation, it is here given in full : "Every town, containing five hundred families or house- holders, shall, besides the schools prescribed in the preceding section, maintain a school to be kept by a master of compe- tent ability and good morals, who shall, in addition to the branches of learning before mentioned, give instruction in the history of the United States, bookkeeping, surveying, geometry and algebra ; and such last mentioned school shall be kept for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the town, ten months at least, exclusive of vacations, in each year, and at such convenient place, or alternately at such places in the town, as the said inhabitants at their annual meeting shall determine ; and in every town containing four thousand inhabitants, the said master shall, in addition to all the branches of instruction before required in this chapter, be competent to instruct in the Latin and Greek languages, and general history, rhetoric and logic."
9
In 1840, (chap. 76,) this section was modified for the relief of certain towns falling under its provisions ; but that modification was repealed in 1848, (chap. 283.)
In 1850, (chap. 274,) another modification of the original law was enacted, to exempt towns " of less than eight thou- sand inhabitants by the next preceding decennial census," from its requirements : "provided, that they maintain in each year, two or more schools, in such districts as the School Committee shall approve, for terms of time that shall, together, be equivalent to twelve months, and for the benefit of all the inhabitants, kept by masters competent to give instruction " in the branches enumerated in that law : " pro- vided, also, that no one of said schools shall be kept for a less term than three months."
In 1857, (chap. 206,) the statute of 1850 was repealed entirely ; and the requirements of the original law (Rev. Stat. chap. 33, sect. 5,) were made to include, in addition to the branches therein specified and prescribed, " natural philosophy, chemistry, botany, the civil policy of this Com- monwealth and of the United States, the French language, astronomy, geology, intellectual and moral science, and political economy."
The penalty for non-compliance with the school laws, which determine the character and kind of schools to be maintained, is (Rev. Stat. chap. 23, sect. 60,) a forfeiture of " a sum equal to twice the largest sum which had ever before been voted for the support of schools" in the delin- quent town ; "and one-fourth thereof shall be for the use of the county, and three-fourths thereof shall be paid by the county treasurer to the School Committee of such town, &c., for the support of schools therein."
Such are the legal requirements under which the High School exists and is managed in Somerville. Its existence, then, is a necessity ; and its character is just as much pre- determined by the statutes of the Commonwealth. It has, therefore, only been the office of the School Committee to fulfil the requirement, as far as practicable, by the employ-
2
10
ment of competent teachers, and by looking to them for proper services for their salaries.
But the existence of such a school has here, as elsewhere, revealed the existence in the community of three classes of citizens : 1. Those who do not wish for any school of higher grade than a Grammar School for their children ; 2. Those who, desiring such an advanced school, prefer to send their children to private schools, and so have no interest in this ; 3. Those who are deeply solicitous that a High School, in character as well as in name, shall be faithfully maintained.
1. The first class can have no arguments which are not all answered by the school laws, as no choice is given to this town in the matter. The law operates somewhat onerously upon a town of this size, with large local expenses of various kinds, and situated in a centre of expensive habits. The rapid increase of population, requiring one or more new schools to be established and maintained nearly every year, has not been accompanied by an increase of ability to raise the necessary means to meet school expenses ; and the per- centage of taxation is thus continually rising.
Still, the law is in itself fundamentally correct, if any schools are to be maintained at public expense. The High School is a natural and necessary complement of the rest of our educational system. It properly affords to those who wish for its privileges, the advantages which a poor man's child may very much desire, and can nowhere else procure, " without money and without price." There is no righteous reason why a lad born in a small town should not find his chance of education as good as if he had been born in the metropolis itself. This is the only doctrine which our free institutions will tolerate.
Then, to make the provision for schools to be dependent upon the estimate of those who do not wish for them, would be to leave off where we ought to begin. Our compulsory system says, Education is every child's birthright in Massa- chusetts. So it compels each of us to pay, according to supposed pecuniary ability, a fair and equitable proportion
11
to give suitable school privileges to every child living within our limits. If it relaxes a little of its rigor to the smaller towns, it is thus indulgent because it supposes their means to be limited, and not because they should not do more if they were able. To towns of the size of Somerville, it extends no leniency. It says, If you do not wish to support a High School, you nevertheless must; and if you will not do it out of good will for your offspring, and voluntarily, and to enable your own sons and daughters,-rich and poor alike,-to compete with young men and young women trained in other places, and to become, if they are so inclined, learned men and wise women, you shall do it in avoidance of a penal enactment.
2. It is a matter of fact, and, it is said, always will be, that some parents will prefer to send their sons and daugh- ters to private schools rather than to a free High School. This they have an unquestionable right to do, unless they feel an obligation to assist, in every way, in maintaining the credit of the public school, and in supporting the general school interests of the town. It is a great deal more than doubtful, whether a private school, under any practicable circumstances, can become so beneficial in all respects to its pupils as the public school may be made ; and the former is not usually, as things now are, so exacting or so faithful as the latter. It is only better suited to favor the caprices of parents, the often ill-judged preferences and inclinations of its pupils, and the purses of its teachers.
But the very fact that sometimes the highest wishes of parents and guardians are not met in the administration of public schools, is the argument for their improvement, not for their abandonment. For instance, if it should be proved that, of one hundred pupils of suitable age and attainments to belong to the High School, ninety are to be taken out and sent to private seminaries, to procure better advantages, the argument would be, at once, that the High School for the ten, whose parents cannot afford, or do not wish, to send their children out of town to school, should be made as
12
good as the richest man in Massachusetts can desire for his son or daughter. For nothing is more plainly recognized in the policy of this State, than that no man, at whatever cost to himself, can find for his own son a school so good and so well furnished with competent and well-paid instructors, within the range of common school requisitions, that like advantages will not belong to the poorest boy of equal intelli- gence, and equal ambition to be a scholar, or to become a leader among other men.
The Committee freely grant the right of every parent to do as much as he pleases more than the town will consent to do for its youth; but they do not grant the propriety of confining the highest advantages to those only whose parents can afford to pay for them. And he who nobly pours out his treasure like water to buy choice opportunities for his own flesh and blood, must not marvel that a republi- can form of government,-which recognizes its relation to the lowest victim of ignorance and neglect, and magnanimously expends more money upon a few drivelling idiots than it annually pays to educate twice as many young men at col- lege,-should divert some of the beneficent streams of pri- vate wealth into the large public channel, which passes by and waters the homes where indigence involuntarily sits in ignorance.
3. Those who favor the High School, and are personally or otherwise interested in its success, are so fortunate as to have on their side the laws of the State, and thus far, the voice of the community. And for them it is only necessary to discuss the subject by examining briefly the objections which they and others may raise to the present condition of this school.
The principal objections which have been urged, within the knowledge of the Committee, against the High School, have been founded upon its size, its expensiveness, or an alleged want of entire success.
1. Size. The school was originally designed for one hun- dred pupils, and has seats to accommodate that number.
13
During the year, it has registered one hundred and twenty- six different pupils, and sixty-seven were connected with it at the close of the last term. The average attendance during the year has been sixty-seven.
At first sight, this loss of pupils may appear wholly dis- advantageous and unsatisfactory ; yet it may not be so. The necessity for early labor on the part of many of the pupils, takes them from school before they complete their course. And the Committee, recognizing this fact, have endeavored to adjust the studies so that such pupils may get the best possible advantage of attendance, by attention during their stay principally to branches of most immediate practical value to a young man or young woman ; while the other studies required by law are to be pursued later in the course. Thus, mathematics, history, natural science, physi- ology, &c.,-subjects which every one will wish to study,- have been placed among the special branches for the first two years. It is certainly not to be regretted, that so many, who cannot take advantage of the whole three or four years' attendance, to which all are by law entitled, will avail them- selves of the opportunity of going thus far in knowledge and mental discipline. And the argument is favorable to the school, that it may annually take up so many who are constrained by circumstances to leave the school within a year or two.
The school is also somewhat smaller than it otherwise would be, in consequence of its location. But if that were a point to be decided anew to-day, it is not likely that any one section of the town would consent to any greater inconvenience to itself, for the sake of accommodating another section. A territorial centre is, after all, the right place for a school " kept for the benefit of all the inhabi- tants," when they are, or will be, so equally distributed around it. It is, nevertheless, far more convenient for many pupils to attend school in Charlestown, or in Boston, than to attend the High School. But as far as the method of conveyance is concerned, perhaps a combination of those
14
residing in any given neighborhood would probably secure all needful conveniences, at less rates than are now paid for car and omnibus transportation, and obviate the necessity of exposing young persons to the usual influences of public conveyances, and give the High School of the town the benefit of the co-operation of all classes and conditions in its support.
Be that as it may, the size of the school cannot touch the question of its character. That is settled by law. And no one will presume to say, that a small school is not as all- important to its members as if they were twice as numer- ous. Large or small, it is their school, and the only school of the kind for them.
2. Expensiveness. It will be asked if size has not some- thing to do with expensiveness ? And whether the expenses of this institution are not disproportioned to its attendance ? Your Committee, qualifiedly, answer these questions in the negative.
The expense of such a school cannot be exactly graduated upon its numbers, inasmuch as it must take the same amount of learning and capacity to teach well a few as to teach many ; and these are the qualities for which salaries are paid. The smallness of a class will not materially lessen either the labor of its instruction, or the requisite attention to be paid to it. Nor can the lack of company to form a large class, such as any one may properly desire to enter, diminish the right of the pupil to claim, or the demand of the law upon the town to furnish, the necessary aid in the school. And it is out of the multiplicity of necessary studies, and not out of the number of the pupils, that the necessity for a strong force of teachers grows.
These conclusions have been reluctantly reached by this Board, in their repeated attempts to simplify the work, and to reduce the number of teachers employed; and the attempts have, at last, been completely relinquished, though unwillingly, by the unanimous conviction that no especial change was possible without most manifest injustice to the
15
pupils now in the High School. Three teachers have there- fore been continuously employed during the year ; and that has been the number, with the exception of a few months in 1856, since 1854.
If it be asked how this multiplicity of classes can be rem- edied, the Board will refer to the partial discussion of the subject in the Annual Report of the School Committee for 1856-7; and will add, that they know of but three ways of meeting the existing condition of the school: 1. By the abandonment of the advanced class; 2. By omitting, for one year, the admission of a new class; or, 3. By letting the evil gradually wear itself out.
The first method has been talked of. It is liable to grave objections. It will leave the school a head too short, defeat the chief end of such an institution by failing to meet the wants of the best scholars just when they are most likely to be profited by instruction, and the school will not answer then the demand of the law. To these conclusive objections, it may be added, that, considering the past low standard of admission, it would be more reasonable to add a year than to take one away from the course .- The second method would reverse the policy unhappily adopted in 1854, out of which all this perplexity has arisen, when the standard of admission was dropped, to pass in, for prudential reasons, a large and unfitted class of pupils, and three teachers were employed instead of two. From that policy the High School has been gradually recovering, to the present time. If it should be decided not to admit a new class, the pupils in the first class in each Grammar School could receive more attention, and pass into the High School a year later in time, but with a full year's advantage to themselves. It is quite likely that the services of one teacher could then be dispensed with for the year .- The third method has been in operation, as already intimated, for four years, with the consent of the several successive Boards, and it is slowly approaching to completion ; but it offers no possibility of economy.
The current expenses, for salaries, of the High School
16
Y
amounted, for the year ending February 28, 1858, to $2,250. They are not quite so large in amount as they would have been at this time, by the schedule of salaries in operation in 1855, and now repealed. They are no higher than the sala- ries of many similar schools in different parts of the State, though higher than in towns where all kinds of labor, and all other expenses are lower than in this vicinity. They are meant to be kept at such a rate as will command the necessary ability, and be neither niggardly nor prodigal.
The salary paid to the Principal of the School has been, to this time, $1,500. But, on the recurrence of the annual meeting in August last, when the teachers were elected, and their salaries determined for the ensuing year, the Board did not feel warranted, considering the internal condition of the School, in re-electing either of the teachers. They accord- ingly made provisional appointments for three months, and communicated the result to the parties, with the reasons which led to it. Early in November, the Board took action again, and re-elected the three teachers then employed, for the remainder of the current year. But as the just expec- tations had not been realized from the augmented salary paid to the Principal, either in regard to the interest awakened, or in the increased confidence of the community, or in the pre-eminently good influence upon the pupils, they determined that duty required a reduction of that salary to its original amount of $1,200; but, with an intention to be liberal to the teacher as far as justice to their constituents would allow, the salary was permitted to remain at $1,500 for the six months of service expiring February 28, 1858.
This action was immediately communicated in writing to the incumbent ; and it is due to Mr. Pike to say, that he took exception to the action of the Board, and requested a hearing upon the proposed reduction. In courtesy to him, the Board heard him in advocacy of his claims ; but, after several weeks' additional reflection and renewed observation, they finally voted, unanimously, to adhere to their former action ; and, at the same time, informed the Principal of the
17
School that they should not hold him bound by his election for the year, except at his own option.
This statement has been deemed necessary, that all con- cerned may perfectly understand a matter which is liable to misapprehension and misrepresentation. And, other than this, the Board are not able now to see any practicable reduction in the expenses of the High School, unless the parents and pupils will forego the advantages of the variety in the course of study, and the Commonwealth will relax its rigor regarding the branches which must be taught in such a school.
3. Alleged want of entire success .- An opinion has already been given as to the present standing, in general, of the school; and some suggestions have been thrown out which may as well apply here as where they were advanced, concerning the multiplicity of classes, and the insufficient previous training of many of the pupils.
But this is not all that the Board deem it proper to say. The school has been in operation nearly six years. There are young men and young women in town, who in past years have enjoyed the advantages of its training, and their lives and conversation speak well for its success. Several valued teachers-nine they are in all-are now employed in our public schools, who completed their school training within its walls. And many of its present pupils furnish conclusive evidence that they too will quietly and unosten- tatiously show what it has done, or is doing, for them.
But the Board do not claim any pre-eminent position at present for the High School. The two private examinations during the year, it is true, have borne testimony to general exactness and thoroughness of instruction ; and the average attendance, according to the Register, exhibits a fact which speaks well for the gratification taken by the scholars in their school, that pupils amounting to more than ninety per cent. of the whole number belonging to the school, were present on every school day during the year! These things will elicit suitable commendation. . But they do not contra-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.