USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1884 > Part 9
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Aug.,
1858,
66
1859.
George C. Brackett
1858,
April,
1860.
H. H. Babcock
Harriet E. Reed
.
April,
1860,
1867.
Harriet E. Guild .
May,
1860,
1861.
Elizabeth S. Owen
Sept., 66
1861,
June,
1862.
Sarah L. Graves .
1865,
July,
1862.
George L. Baxter,
Susan R. Osgood .
1867,
Feb.,
1868.
Mary E. Davis
Feb.,
1868.
Annette E. Long .
Sept.,
1869,
July,
1882.
Walter F. Marston
Oct.,
1871,
66
1875.
William S. Forrest
Sept.,
1875,
66
1879.
Luther B. Pillsbury
1878,
66
1879.
Frederick Farnsworth .
66
1879,
Frank M. Hawes .
66
1879.
Kate W. Cushing .
66
1882.
Eudora Morey .
66
1882.
Minnie C. Clark .
66
1882.
Laura E. Giddings
.
66
1882.
.
Aug.,
1854,
Sept.,
1856,
Aug.,
1858,
66
1859,
Aug.,
1867.
.
Aug.,
1867.
May,
1875.
Julia A. Stetson
1876,
1880.
1880,
July,
1882.
Fannie W. Kaan
.
.
1853,
Dec., 1854.
Leonard Walker,
Maria A. Merriam
May 3, 1852,
March, 1854.
1856.
1856.
Sarah W. Fox
1867,
1878.
1880.
Sarah F. Litchfield
165
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
The following are the public statutes relating to the establishment and maintenance of evening schools.
CHAPTER 44.
SECT. 7. Any town may, and every city and town having more than ten thou- sand inhabitants shall, annually make provision for giving free instruction in industrial or mechanical drawing to persons over fifteen years of age, in either day or evening schools, under the direction of the school committee. [Enacted in 1870.
CHAPTER 174.
SECTION 1. Every town and city having ten thousand or more inhabitants shall establish and maintain, in addition to the schools required by law to be maintained therein, evening schools for the instruction of persons over twelve years of age in orthography, reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, drawing, the history of the United States, and good behavior. Such other branches of learning may be taught in such schools as the school committee of the town shall deem expedient.
SECT. 2. The school committee of such towns shall have the same superin- tendence over such evening schools as they have over other schools, and may determine the term or terms of time in each year, and the hours of the evening, during which such schools shall be kept, and may make such regulations as to attendance at such schools, as they may deem expedient.
SECT. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. [Approved May 14, 1883.
Our experience with evening schools has failed to give us a high estimate of their utility, and has produced the conviction that their continuance, as heretofore, is inexpedient and unwarrantable. But these statutes have placed them upon the same basis as day schools, and have made their maintenance obligatory. Thus guaranteed, they are destined to become a permanent and important part of our.public- school system.
Profiting by our failures, the causes of which are apparent, we shall establish and maintain evening schools that will be creditable to the city, and profitable to those who may avail themselves of their advantages, To insure their success, however, they must be made attractive, and be furnished with all the conveniences and appliances of day schools, and must be placed under the direction and instruc- tion of teachers of ability and experience, and who are skilful in organizing and controlling.
Measures will soon be inaugurated to establish, in some central locality, a school for instruction in mechanical and industrial drawing,
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
and, in different localities, as many grammar schools as may be required.
FREE TEXT-BOOKS AND SUPPLIES.
The following law has been enacted by the Legislature of Massa- chusetts, and approved by the governor.
SECTION 1. The school committee of every city and town shall purchase, at the expense of said city or town, text-books and other school supplies used in the public schools ; and said text-books and supplies shall be loaned to the pupils of said public schools free of charge, subject to such rules and regulations as to care and custody as the school committee may prescribe.
SECT. 2. Pupils supplied with text-books at the time of the passage of this act shall not be supplied with similar books by the committee until needed.
SECT. 3. This act shall take effect upon the first day of August, 1884.
· Regulations adopted by the school committee of Somerville, June 23, 1884, for the distribution and care of text-books : -
1. Teachers will see that all text-books which belonged to pupils March 28, 1884, are used by them until worn out.
2. Teachers are responsible for all books furnished them for the use of their classes. They will make an entry of them when they are received, in a book provided for the purpose, and will account for them to the superintendent at the close of each school-year.
3. All books shall be labelled, numbered, and charged to pupils before they are distributed. Upon the label, in each book, the name of the pupil using the book shall be written.
[FORM OF LABEL.]
PROPERTY OF THE CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
This book is loaned to the pupil on the following conditions : -
1. It is to be carefully used, and not marked or defaced.
2. It is not to be taken from the schoolroom without the consent of the teacher.
3. If lost or injured, it is to be paid for by the pupil using it. Cost, cents. No. School.
To whom loaned, When,
4. As far as practicable, each pupil shall use the same books during his entire course. Books of promoted pupils will be credited to the teachers whom they leave, and charged to their next teachers.
5. Teachers will carefully examine all city books at least once each month. and report all injuries or loss of books, as soon as discovered, to the principal or the superintendent, with the name of the pupils to whom such lost or injured books were loaned.
6. When any book is worn out, or is so injured that it is no longer fit for use, it shall be discharged from the teacher's account.
167
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
7. At the close of each school-year, the principal will indicate to the super- intendent, upon blanks furnished for the purpose, all text-books and supplies that will be needed for the use of pupils in their respective buildings the next succeeding year. Requests for additional books or supplies during the year must be made by written orders.
8. All books and heavy supplies will be placed in the several school-buildings in such manner as may be determined by the superintendent.
Early in the summer vacation, measures were taken to meet the requirements of this law ; and at the opening of the schools, in Sep- tember, all books and supplies necessary for their use were in the several school-buildings.
During the year, $7,325 have been expended for text-books, and $1,785 for writing-books, drawing-books, stationery, and other school- supplies.
About two-thirds of all the books in the schools, at the present time, belong to the city. In all probability, $3,000 a year will meet the demand for books the next two years, and $4,000 a year subse- quently. Writing-books, drawing-books, and all school-supplies must be replenished annually. Demands arising from an increase of the school population, and for evening schools, are not included in these estimates.
STUDIES.
We can report satisfactory progress in nearly all the studies pur- sued in the schools.
SPELLING. - Various expedients are employed in teaching spelling, and satisfactory results are secured. Definite lessons in the spelling- book are assigned each day ; and new words, as they occur in daily work, are studied. Oral spelling receives less attention than written spelling, but is practised each day, and is valued as a vocal exercise.
The following recommendations of Swett, in his "Methods of Teaching," are timely : " Make a judicious combination of oral spell- ing and written exercises. Oral spelling secures correct pronuncia- tion, and awakens a keener interest in pupils ; written spelling is more practical, but is apt to become wearisome if carried on exclu- sively. In oral spelling, require pupils to divide words into syllables ; but, in long words, do not require the syllables to be pronounced or repronounced. The teaching of spelling should be so conducted as to unfold something of the meaning of words, and something of the formation of derivative from primitive words and roots. The exercise
168
ANNUAL REPORTS.
then becomes a part of good intellectual training, instead of a blind effort of memory."
READING. - The schools are liberally supplied with reading-books. By much reading, pupils are acquiring a degree of fluency not at- tained in former years. We need to guard against the tendency to neglect vocal culture. The importance of securing distinct articula- tion and such a command of the voice that it can readily adapt its force and emphasis to the sense, and its modulations to a proper expression of all the emotions, cannot be overestimated.
WRITING has been well taught in our schools for many years. The results of the present year give no indications of decline in this im- portant art. Compared with former years, no marked improvement is observed in the general appearance of the work performed, but a decided gain has been secured in freedom of movement and rapidity of execution.
DRAWING. - Teachers are becoming more skilful in teaching drawing as the years pass on ; and, as a consequence, a constant im- provement in the excellence of the work performed by the pupils is apparent. In several schools very satisfactory progress has been made in drawing from objects. Similar practice in all the grades is strongly recommended.
MUSIC. - Under competent and skilful leadership, and by the earnest, persistent co-operation of the regular teachers, results have been attained in this interesting and important branch of instruction that compare most favorably with the best in any city.
GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. - By a careful and discriminating selec- tion of the more important portions of these studies, they are easily completed in the time allotted them, and are pursued with great interest and profit.
MATHEMATICS. - To this department of instruction the following question is applicable : "What is the cause that the former days were better than these?" In rapidity of abstract computations, there has been a decided gain within the past few years ; but in ability to rea- son, to apply principles to concrete examples, and to solve problems requiring close thinking, a loss has been sustained for which there is no adequate compensation.
Among the causes which have contributed to this degeneracy, the following are apparent : 1. Tendency to underrate the value of mathematics as a disciplinary study. 2. Less attention than for- merly to analysis and the mental solution of concrete examples.
169
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
3. Undue attention to processes in all work, mental and written, to the exclusion of requiring reasons therefor. 4. Increase in the num- ber of studies pursued, and the consequent diversion of time and attention. 5. Excessive assistance received by pupils from their teachers during their entire course, thereby diminishing the necessity for that independent thinking which is a prime factor in the develop- ment of intellectual vigor, acuteness, and activity. Teachers prob- ably feel the necessity of rendering much aid to their pupils, in consequence of the amount of work required of them. But of all the causes of the evil under consideration, the one last mentioned must be regarded as the most potent and the one most to be depre- cated. It may be wise to retrace the steps which have led to this divergence from the better way.
PROMOTIONS.
Ninety-two and one-half per cent of all pupils in the high school, and eighty-four per cent of all in the grammar schools, were pro- moted at the close of the school year, in June last.
The promotion of many meritorious pupils is prevented by irregu- lar attendance, consequent upon their own sickness or the presence of contagious diseases in their homes. Some pupils of good ability and commendable habits require more than the allotted time to com- plete the work assigned. The advancement of others is prevented by inexcusable irregularity of attendance, and culpable neglect of daily duties.
By mutual agreement, such studies have been selected for the schools, from the almost illimitable range of subjects of knowledge, as seem best suited to develop mental strength and activity, and a knowledge of which is most helpful in the ordinary avocations of life, and in the pursuit of more extended study. Thirteen years are re- quired for healthy pupils, of good school habits, to complete all the work assigned to the public schools. In the apportionment of the work for this series of years, a regular and systematic gradation of studies, corresponding to the known average advancement and devel- opment of pupils, is observed ; thus pupils who are regular in attend- · ance, and faithful in the performance of their duties, find, each year, a correspondence between the demands made upon them, and their ability to meet those demands. The acquisitions in knowledge and mental power, consequent upon the accomplishment of the work
170
ANNUAL REPORTS.
assigned to any year, form an essential and sufficient preparation for the successful prosecution of the work assigned to the next suc- ceeding year.
The conditions of promotion, as indicated in the regulations of the school board, give every encouragement of advancement to faith- ful and punctual pupils : such rarely fail of success.
Premature promotions, so far from being a kindness to pupils, always result in permanent injury. Pupils who find themselves equal to the accomplishment of the work assigned them, and equal to their associates in ability to perform their daily duties, gain thereby confidence, self-reliance, and, what is vastly more important, self- respect. On the contrary, repeated failures, which are an inevitable consequence of premature promotions, unnerve energy, induce dis- couragement, incompetency, and, what is most to be deprecated, loss of self-respect and commendable independence of thought and feeling.
DISCIPLINE.
Good order is one of the first requisites to harmony and effective school-work. Prompt and implicit obedience to rightful authority must be recognized as an imperative necessity. But in the exercise of the authority granted them for maintaining good government, which is the authority of a parent, teachers should exercise discretion and wise discrimination in regard to the nature of offences and the application of penalties. In all cases, the highest good of the offender and the school should be the governing motive.
Greater the perfection of the machinery, less the friction and ex- penditure of power to overcome it. In schools that are well organ- ized, wisely directed, and skilfully instructed, occasions for penal discipline rarely occur. In such schools, if pleasant relations exist between teachers and pupils, moral delinquencies are usually remedied by moral influences. Occasionally, however, instances of defiant violations of law and order will occur in the best regulated schools, and must receive summary and decided treatment.
It is gratifying to report the gradual and decided decrease in the number of corporal punishments in the management of our schools. In twenty schools, no case of punishment has occurred during the. year. In fifty schools, the average number of punishments to a school for the entire year is two and one-fifth. In all the schools, the number of cases reported this year is only forty per cent, pro rata,
171
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
of the number reported in 1874. Probably the schools would sustain no loss in order or efficiency were a still greater reduction attempted.
RECITATIONS.
Recitations, when properly conducted, are a most important agency in promoting mental culture. When pupils study lessons with the expectation that they will be required to recite them, then recitations become valuable incentives to industry. Hence, no class or division of a class should be so large as not to give an opportunity to each pupil to recite at every recitation. We therefore commend most cor- dially the practice, so generally adopted in our schools, of separating classes into divisions for study and recitation. When the divisions are small, recitations are not prolonged to the point of weariness, more time is given for the preparation of lessons, pupils are brought into more intimate relations to their teacher, and their personal responsibility is increased.
The words of teachers who are most effective in conducting reci- tations are well chosen, but few. The loquacious teacher may please and interest his pupils, but he wastes their time, and fails to impart much of enduring benefit. "Lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument ; for they hear thy words, but they do them not." The period allotted to recitation should be occupied mainly by the pupils in rehearsing the lesson they have studied. The effort required to communicate what has been learned deepens impressions, and ren- ders them more vivid. The language employed for the purpose aids the understanding. Bacon says, "Words exercise a reciprocal and re-actionary power over the intellect. As a Tartar's bow, they shoot back upon the understanding."
Pupils should be required to recite rules, definitions, and statements of general principles, in the precise words of the author ; but in all other recitations they should be encouraged to employ their own language. We would discourage recitation in concert, except for occasional recreation, since it is an element of disorder, and serves as a covert to the careless and indolent.
RECESS.
The question of recess or no recess is eliciting much discussion. Thoughtful men of long experience in school matters, and whose views are equally worthy of consideration, entertain very decided and
172
ANNUAL REPORTS.
opposite opinions in regard to it. Wherever the plan of no recess has been adopted, however, it meets with general favor.
Superintendent Cole of Albany, in his last report, says, "Three years' trial has confirmed our belief in the salutary influences of the abolition of general recesses." Superintendent Ellis of the Roch- ester schools, after a year's experience, says, "Probably no change of so great importance has ever been made in the management of our schools, against which so few objections have been made, or that has met with such general approval. There is only one point con- cerning which there can be any question raised, and that is the physiological one. All the tests that we have been able to make lead me to believe, that, when the balance is struck at this point between the recess and the no-recess plan, it will be found on the side of the latter." Superintendent Stone of Springfield, who, in accordance with the instructions of his committee, carefully investigated the recess question, says, "As the result of my investigations, I cannot resist the conviction that the abolition of the recess, with proper substitutes in its place, has been successful and beneficial where tried, and has been attended with safety to the health of pupils and teachers."
Superintendent Kimball, in his report on the Newton schools in 1883, says, "The experiment of the last half-year, pursued with ex- treme caution in the light of what has been said and written upon the subject, has led to the following conclusions : First, The abolition of the general recess greatly simplifies the work of administration, allow- ing more concentration of time and effort, avoiding accident and exposure, and diminishing friction and collisions, with their resulting complications. Second, The aggregate of work accomplished is not materially affected, with or without recess. Third, The reduction of school time to a minimum has a tendency to accommodate its work to the multiplied demands which in modern life are made upon the time of the child, and naturally results in a desire to lose nothing by absence, tardiness, or dismissal, while it encourages diligence, and promotes intensity of application. Fourth, It is entirely practicable to induce in pupils a cheerful conformity to the changed order of things, and that, too, without any apparent violence to the muscular, nervous, or secretory functions. But, Fifth, Present immunity from inconvenience does not prove a course to be wise or safe. If two and a half hours in the school-room is not too long a period for con- tinuous subjection to its necessary restraints for an average healthy child, the plan may be an improvement, and become a permanent
173
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
feature in our schools : if such a period of abstinence is inconsistent with the demands of the physical economy, no amount of eloquent advocacy, and no act of authority, can save it from merited condemna- tion. It is a question for the medical profession."
As an experiment, the school board passed the following order : " During the present winter months, the morning sessions of the schools shall continue two hours and forty minutes without recess : the after- noon sessions shall begin fifteen minutes before two o'clock, and close fifteen minutes before four o'clock."
ENCOURAGEMENTS.
From the earliest days in the history of Somerville to the present time, a healthy sentiment in regard to the importance of education, and a spirit of liberality in supplying requisite means for its promo- tion, have always characterized its citizens. The large and ever in- creasing demands for means to construct school-buildings, and to meet the ordinary expenses of the public schools, have been promptly and cheerfully met. School committees and teachers in the performance of their duties, and in the exercise of judicious means for maintaining good government in the schools, have always received the moral sup- port of the entire community. Mutual confidence and cordial co- operation of parents and teachers very generally prevail. Schisms, so disastrous to harmony and efficiency, are rarely witnessed. Good government, systematic arrangement of school-work, pleasant rela- tions of teachers and pupils, cheerful and earnest performance of duties, orderly and courteous demeanor, are noticeable features of a large proportion of our schools. The gradual and decided decrease of corporal punishment as an element of government, and the very general substitution of moral influences in maintaining order, are cheering indications of an important advance in school management.
The construction of a spacious and ornate building for the public library, this year, is an interesting event in our history, and a pleasing indication of an increasing interest in the diffusion of knowledge, and the advance of general education.
That a high moral tone pervades the community is indicated by the general prevalence of good order in all sections of the city, and by the firmness exercised in the suppression of all elements of discord. The multiplication of churches and other institutions for the promo- tion of morality and piety gives evidence of the existence, in large
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
measure, of the spirit of the early fathers of New England, who reared side by side the church and the school-house, and cherished with ardent devotion institutions of learning and religion.
With a grateful acknowledgment of numerous courtesies received from members of the board, and with kindest remembrance of past members, this report is respectfully submitted.
J. H. DAVIS, Superintendent of Public Schools.
SOMERVILLE, Dec. 29, 1884.
REPORT
OF THE
SOMERVILLE MYSTIC WATER BOARD.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, Jan. 28, 1SS5.
Referred to the committee on printing, to be printed in the annual reports. Sent down for concurrence.
CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, Jan. 28, 1SS5.
Concurred in.
DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.
REPORT
OF THE
SOMERVILLE MYSTIC WATER BOARD.
OFFICE OF WATER BOARD, Dec. 31, 1884.
To his Honor the Mayor and the City Council.
GENTLEMEN, - The Somerville Mystic Water Board respectfully submit their annual report for the year ending Dec. 31, 1884; and also the accompanying report of the superintendent, which gives a clear and explicit account of the work done in all branches of the department, the present condition of the property, and the financial exhibit.
While we regret that our limited appropriation did not enable us to relay mains in some streets where repeated bursts and leaks remind us, as the superintendent so well says, of the precarious condition of some of the mains, it is a matter of congratulation that so much has been accomplished with the money expended. The demand for extending the distribution-mains to meet the requirements of our rapidly growing city makes a heavy drain upon our appropriation.
We have spent the past year on extensions $5,062.70. If we would enjoy the advantages that come from the occupancy of vacant lands with new buildings, we must furnish the necessary water-privilege ; and the board has granted all petitions for new mains the past year where the income would be likely to warrant the expenditure. But the expense of keeping forty-eight miles of pipe in repair, much of which was laid nearly twenty years ago, and warranted for only five years, necessitates greater outlay than has hitherto been provided for. Bursts and leaks are not only expensive, but are a great annoyance to the large number of families suddenly deprived of water, endanger
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