USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1886 > Part 8
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
151
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
decided preferences are indications of ability and adaptation, and are guarantees of success.
The three courses of study - English, Regular, and Preparatory to College - pursued in the school present a wide range of sub- jects, and furnish opportunity to prepare for any contemplated pur- suit.
From various causes, the number of persons who obtain a liberal education is comparatively small ; but we strongly urge its pursuit and attainment wherever there exist marked ability, de- cided fondness for study, and favoring circumstances. An emi- nent educator has said : "It is not for the sake of the individual alone that liberal education is needed. Nothing adds so much to the respectability, the security, and rational enjoyment of a people, as a large infusion of this element."
Formerly, the studies which constituted a liberal education were chiefly the classics, mathematics, and logic; but at the present time, the field of knowledge is so vast, and branches of study are so numerous, the student who aims to obtain a liberal education may well hesitate before he makes his selections. If, however, his calling in life is chosen, that will determine, in a measure, his choice.
In regard to the selection of studies, the venerable Ex-President of Williams College says : "Some option there should be, especially in the latter part of the course, and in outlying branches of study ; but I would admit of no such range of option as to make gradua- tion possible with the omission of the most essential parts of a liberal education. Nor would I, by the range of option, so vacate the college degree of any definite meaning as to preclude the pos- sibility of having, as we now have, a body of liberally educated men throughout the country, standing on essentially the same ground."
In regard to the study of the ancient classics, President Dwight, of Yale College, in his inaugural, says : " No man who has learned to read Homer and Demosthenes in any measure as he would read the best English or German authors, has ever regretted it. No man who has ever learned, through the knowledge of the Greek language, to appreciate in any measure the poetry or oratory or philosophy of Greece, has grieved over the hours spent in gaining that knowledge. I do not believe that any such man to the end of time will ever have such grief or regret, or will be otherwise than
152
ANNUAL REPORTS.
thankful that his mind was thus lifted above the one work of his daily life. The disputes about education, which have filled the air . for the last few years, are not yet ended. It will be a strange thing in the world's history if, in this regard, the permanent future does not find its fountain of life in the permanent past."
THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF THE SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1886, AT 9 A. M.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
SINGING *- ANTHEM : " Lift up your heads." Glück. (With orchestra and organ.) FOUR-PART SONG : "The Stars are shining in heaven." Rheinberger.
1. SALUTATORY IN LATIN. ARTHUR C. BALDWIN.
2. ESSAY. Possible Inventions. KATHARINE L. BINGHAM.
3. READING. The First Quarrel. Tennyson.
ELIZA E. PAIGE.
SINGING .- DUET : Quis est homo, "Stabat Mater." Rossini.
4. READING. The Last Banquet. Renaud.
FRED E. DAVIS.
5. DIE ANKUNFT. (Original.) E. FLORENCE CROSBY. RUTH D. LORING.
E. GERTRUDE WOODBURY. WILLARD C. ALDRICH.
6. READING. Aunt Anniky. Harper's.
FRED H. MERRIFIELD.
SINGING .- TRIO : " Lightly row us, gondolier." Campana. (Female voices.). (Instrumentation by S. Henry Hadley.) UNISON SOLO : The Postilion. (Male voices. ) Abt.
7. ESSAY. The Labor Question. EDWARD H. CHAMBERLAIN.
8. FROM "MACBETH." Original version in Greek. CALLIE E. CONANT. SAMUEL A. BURNS.
GEORGE C. COIT. MARTIN E. GILL.
CHARLES F. MCKENZIE. EDWARD B. MERRIMAN.
RALPH K. SWETT.
9. ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS. MABEL L. HOWES.
RECESS.
* Singing accompanied by Hadley's Orchestra.
153
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
MUSIC.
SINGING .- Gipsy Life. (With orchestra. )
Schumann. GLEE : " My love 's like a red, red rose." Garrett. (Unaccompanied. )
10. READING. Rest and Recreation.
G. PEARLE TAYLOR.
11. ESSAY. American Women. GRACE A. WINN.
12. LA RUSE DE LA TANTE. (Original.)
NELLIE M. AUSTIN. M. BELLE BROOKS.
L. MABEL DAVIS. ABBIE H. GILKEY.
MINNIE A. KNIGHT. LIZZIE S. PEIRCE.
LOUISE E. PRATT. EDWARD A. BAILEY.
WILLARD C. HILL.
ARTHUR N. RICHARDSON.
13. READING. The Night Ride. Cable.
FLORENCE V. HOPKINS.
SINGING .- Evening Song. Abt.
(Young ladies of the graduating class.) VOCAL MARCH : The Holiday. (With orchestra. ) Veazie.
14. POEM.
DAISY C. HOYT.
15. PROPHECIES.
FREDERIC E. WOOD.
16. VALEDICTORY. JENNIE C. EATON.
17. PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS. BY MAYOR MARK F. BURNS.
18. PARTING HYMN.
MEMBERS OF THE GRADUATING CLASS.
Nellie Louise Angier.
Ellen May Austin.
Katharine Louise Bingham.
May Belle Brooks.
Emma Frances Cox.
Emma Florence Crosby.
Mabel Frances Dobinson.
Jennie Cram Eaton.
Hattie Elizabeth Gould.
Flora Belle Grover.
Florence Vaughan Hopkins.
Ellen Sears Willis.
Mabel Lavonia Howes. Daisy Carroll Hoyt. Minnie Amelia Knight. Ruth Dingly Loring.
Eliza Elmira Paige. Elizabeth Strickland Pierce. Louise Everett Pratt.
Nettie Belle Prince. Catherine Dodge Richards.
May Alice Russell. Nellie Isabel Saben. Anna Frances Smith. Florence Naomi Smythe.
Emma Frances Stevens.
Georgianna Pearle Taylor. Mae Sanders Tower. Alice Susan Willey.
Grace Augusta Winn.
Emma Gertrude Woodberry.
Willard Cleaves Aldrich. Edward Albon Bailey. Thomas John Cadwallader. Edward Wallace Chamberlain.
154
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Fred Everett Davis.
Charles Everett Fitz.
Willard Converse Hill.
Edward Andrew McGrath.
Fred Hammond Merrifield.
Herbert Ernest Miller. Mark Newell North.
Arthur Newell Richardson.
Elton Samuel Sibley.
COURSE PREPARATORY TO COLLEGE.
Arthur Colton Baldwin.
Edward Butler Merriman.
Samuel Albert Burns.
Ralph Keyes Swett.
George Chandler Coit.
Frederic Edward Wood.
George Henry Dickerman, Jr.
Clara Elizabeth Conant.
Martin Edward Gill.
Lizzie Mabel Davis.
Charles Fisk Mckenzie.
Abbie Helen Gilkey.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
The evening schools which were in operation at the close of last year were continued until the end of February of this year.
DRAWING SCHOOL.
Number of sessions to March 1
16
Average whole number of pupils
92
Average attendance
76
Number of teachers
3
Cost of instruction
$176 00
Janitor's services .
16 00
Gas
24 00
Cost of materials .
43 51
Total cost to March 1
$259 00
EVENING GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
Number of schools
3
Number of sessions
31
Average whole number of pupils
133
Average attendance
99
Number of teachers in January
15
66 " February
9
Cost of instruction
$567 00
Janitor's services .
93 00
Gas
65 00
Total cost to March 1
. $725 00
.
155
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Evening schools for instruction in grammar-school studies were opened in the Prescott and L. V. Bell schoolhouses on Monday, Nov. 8, and a school for instruction in drawing in the high school building, on Tuesday, Nov. 9.
PRESCOTT EVENING SCHOOL.
Number of sessions
26
Whole number registered
111
Largest number present at one time
70
Smallest
66 66
20
Average attendance
31
Cost of instruction
$146 50
" " books
16 00
" " gas .
20 00
Janitor's services .
26 00
Total cost
$208 50
Principal. - John S. Hayes.
Assistants. - Lorenzo B. Grigson, Lilla J. Pike.
L. V. BELL EVENING SCHOOL.
Number of sessions
26
Whole number registered
199
Largest number present at one time
100
Smallest 66
18
Average attendance
42
Cost of instruction
$179 00
" " gas .
20 00
Janitor's services .
26 00
Total cost
$225 00
Principal. - Herbert L. Morse.
Assistants. - Frederick A. P. Fiske, Mary C. Worden, Ernest A. Johnson, Mary S. Rinn.
DRAWING SCHOOL.
Number of sessions
13
Whole number of pupils
69
Largest number present at one time
68
Smallest 66
32
Average attendance
57.6
156
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Cost of instruction
$98 00
" materials
28 25
" gas
10 00
Janitor's services
13 00
Total cost
$149 25
Principal. - Frank H. Collins.
Assistant. - Miss Bragdon.
Entire cost of evening schools for the year . . $1,567 25
TEXT-BOOKS.
At the beginning of the school year, Shaw's History of English and American Literature was introduced into the high school. A copy of Lectures on School Hygiene, published by Ginn & Co., was placed upon the desk of each teacher in the grammar schools. Miss Stickney's Classics for children were introduced into the primary schools. Greenleaf's Brief Course in Arithmetic was sub- stituted for Greenleaf's Complete Arithmetic in the fourth class.
All text-books now in use in the schools belong to the city.
Cost of books purchased in 1884
$7,320 00
6 6
" 1885
3,879 00
66
" 1886
2,322 00
Total cost
$13,021 00
For the high school
$2,916 00
66 grammar and primary schools
9,943 00
66 evening schools .
162 00
The estimated annual cost of text-books, based upon the expec- tation that a set of books will last three years, is $4,340.
Annual cost per scholar in the high school . $2 80
66 schools
grammar and primary
72
The cost annually for writing books and drawing books is about $850, or 30 cents for each pupil.
GENERAL REGULATIONS AND COURSE OF STUDY.
The rules of the school committee, the regulations of the public schools, and the course of studies for the several grades of the
157
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
schools, have been revised during the year, and five hundred copies have been printed for the use of the schools and for general distri- bution.
In this revision, the requirements of the grammar schools have been curtailed, in order that greater thoroughness in essentials may be secured, and that, ordinarily, the work demanded may be per- formed by industrious pupils in school hours.
In arithmetic, the requirements have been reduced in all the classes whose work seemed excessive. This reduction has been accomplished in the fourth class by the substitution of the Brief Course for the Complete Arithmetic ; in the third class by the omis- sion of Denominate Fractions ; in the second class by omitting Problems in Interest ; in the first class by omitting or making op- tional True Discount, Foreign Exchange, Compound Proportion, Cube Root, Similar Surfaces, and Similar Solids.
In geography the work has been diminished by the omission of numerous unimportant details and of whatever is of little practical value. All work required in this branch of study is definitely specified. In history, time is economized by passing lightly over those subjects and events which are of little interest or importance, and by limiting and specifying the dates to be memorized.
The following table shows the time assigned to each study in the grammar and primary schools, per week : --
CLASS.
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
Reading,
220
200
210
240)
300
300
480
525
745
Spelling,
60
60
60
60
80
120
125
140
Language,
240
250
260
260
215
215
150
140
120
Arithmetic,
360
350
325
3.5
300
300
280
240
180
Geography (or History),
225
225
200
200
180
150
Writing,
120
120
120
120
120
120
120
110
100
Drawing,
70
70
70
70
70
70
70
70
70
Music,
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
Opening exercises,
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
Recesses,
75
75
75
75
75
75
100
100
100
Physical exercises, 1
25
25
25
25
25
25
50
50
50
Physiology and Hyg ene,
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Morals and Manners,
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
30
Total in minutes,
1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500
158
ANNUAL REPORTS.
.
LIBRARY BOOKS.
At the regular meeting of the Board, in January last, Messrs. White, Butler, Shepard, Hill, Carr, Brown, and Mayor Burns were appointed a committee to select and present to the Board, for consideration and approval, a list of books, which, in their judg- ment, are suitable for perusal by pupils of the public schools.
In accordance with instructions, the committee, with great care and much labor, have made selections and prepared a catalogue which they will soon present to the Board. This catalogue, when completed, will be printed for the use of the schools.
SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.
The general duties of school committees are definitely specified in the Public Statutes, and great discretionary power is authorized in all matters concerning which no specific directions are given.
It is the province of the committee to select and appoint teachers, to limit school time, to grade the schools, to arrange courses of study, to define the qualifications requisite for promotions, and to prescribe methods of examinations.
SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS. - The character of the schools depends so largely upon their teachers, the duty of selecting them stands first in importance. It has been truthfully said : "The vital connection between the teacher and his work . renders the one, in a certain respect, the measure of the other. Given the qualifications of the master, his conscientiousness, zeal, knowledge, and experience, we can, with tolerable accuracy, predict what his school will be; and, on the other hand, given the school, we can resolve its character into that of the master." Plato says : " The teacher should be a model man, for he will mould his disciples into beings like to himself." The distinguished Whitelaw Reid says : "There is no place in the public service where inefficient work is more to be deplored than in the educa- tion of children. If laws are badly made, you can repeal them ; if courts do not rule justly, you can remove the judges ; but if the schools are ill-managed, if the children are led astray, or even not led aright, you are poisoning the life-blood of the community."
During the last five years ninety teachers have been elected to fill vacancies caused by resignations and for new schools, - an
159
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
average of eighteen each year, or sixteen per cent of all teachers employed by the city.
Since the demand for teachers who possess all the qualifications requisite to insure success far exceeds the supply, the labor of procuring a sufficient number of such to meet our necessities is by no means insignificant.
SCHOOL TIME. - The time assigned to the schools, by the regu- lations, is five hours a day, five days a week, and forty weeks a year, including holidays and stormy days, on which the schools are not in session, amounting usually to two weeks. Since the aver- age attendance of pupils in the high school and the several grammar schools is about ninety-six per cent, a further reduction of four per cent of school time should be made on this account. The remaining 36.48 weeks -the actual school time - and the esti- mated average ability of pupils at different stages of advancement, form a basis for the arrangement of courses of study, and in' esti- mating the annual school requirements.
GRADES OF SCHOOLS. - Our schools comprise three grades and thirteen classes. The primary schools contain three classes, the grammar schools six, and the high school four. In arranging courses of study for the several grades, great care is required, in order that the work demanded of each class shall be adapted to the average ability of pupils composing the class, and that the various studies pursued may be so apportioned that the demands upon pupils who are regular in attendance and faithful in the per- formance of school duties shall not exceed their ability at any stage of advancement.
SCHOOL STUDIES. - In arranging their programme of studies, committees are required to select, from the vast resources of learn- ing, those subjects a knowledge of which will be most helpful in the performance of the ordinary duties of life, and most essential as a preparation for the pursuit of higher courses of study. They must also limit the extent to which the subjects of their choice shall be pursued. Since the development of intellectual power and the formation of good mental habits are more important than the gaining of knowledge, branches of study must be selected not only with a view to their utility in furnishing the mind with useful information, but also to their value in demanding for their acquisi- tion that vigorous exercise of the mental faculties by which intel- lectual power is secured.
160
ANNUAL REPORTS.
STANDARD OF SCHOLARSHIP FOR PROMOTIONS. - In establishing this standard, care must be exercised lest it be placed so low that pupils will be promoted prematurely, and to their injury, or so high that those who are capable of comprehending and performing the work demanded in a higher class, will fail of promotion.
Public schools must, of necessity, be graded schools. Commit- tees usually make the number of classes in each grade correspond to the number of years required to complete the work prescribed for the grade. Even with this classification, each of the thirteen classes will be composed of pupils who differ widely in natural ability, ambition, perseverance, physical endurance, habits of punctuality, industry, and application, and consequently in schol- arship. Not unfrequently the estimated difference in scholarship of pupils at the extremes of a class is twenty per cent at the beginning of the year, and increases as the year advances, and often amounts to thirty per cent at its close. With our system of examinations, the average scholarship in the several classes of the grammar schools does not vary materially from eighty per cent.
In all arrangements for the management of the schools, the dominant motive is the highest good of every scholar. In making promotions, it is our intention and earnest desire that each pupil shall occupy that position in school which will secure to him the highest possible advantage. Promotions are not denied, when, in the judgment of those who make them, they are warranted by scholarship and ability ; neither are they granted prematurely and to the permanent injury of pupils.
The observations of years indicate that, as a rule, pupils who are promoted by a standard of scholarship lower than that prescribed by the regulations of the School Board, are incapable of performing successfully and to their profit the work demanded of them. Since, however, the prescribed standard of seventy per cent in the grammar schools, and sixty-five per cent in the high school, is an arbitrary standard established on variable data, it is regarded unwise to adhere to it rigidly under all circumstances. Hence the regulations provide that -
"Pupils in the high school and the several grammar schools, whose rank in scholarship falls below the required standard, shall be considered separately, and each case decided upon its merits by the subcommittee, the principal, and the superintendent. The age, the general ch racter and capacity of such pupils, their daily work through the year, and habits
161
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
of industry and application, as shown by the teacher's records, shall be duly considered in deciding upon their promotion, graduation, or retention."
As a result of our practice, about ninety per cent of all pupils in the high school and the several grammar schools are promoted each year.
EXAMINATIONS. - Examinations or test exercises, oral and written, hold an important and prominent place in all well-con- ducted schools, and claim more than a passing notice.
If examinations are used as an end, and teaching and study are made subordinate to them, if they are taken immediately after they have been specially prepared for by a process of cramming, or if they are so used as to induce nervousness and undue anxiety in the minds of pupils, they are diverted from their legitimate pur- pose, and become harmful instead of helpful. All such use should be discountenanced and discarded. When, however, they are wisely employed, they are among the most healthy and efficient agencies in promoting and securing thorough and valuable school work.
The simplest form of examination is the oral recitation that usually follows closely upon the preparation of a lesson. This form of examination is a test of pupils' fidelity in the preparation of the lesson assigned, and of their success in obtaining from the printed page the knowledge it is designed to communicate; it suggests, also, to the teacher such illustrations and subsidiary in- formation as may be needed to deepen and render more vivid and permanent the impressions which the pupils have received through their unaided efforts.
The expectation of the recitation, in which the knowledge ac- quired must be communicated to teacher and associates, is a healthy incentive to close application, and a careful preparation of the lesson assigned. The constant practice of reciting what has been learned promotes the power of expression, increases the command of language, and gives permanency to what has been acquired.
It is highly essential to a pupil's success in pursuing a course of study, that the work required of him, at all times, should be within the scope of his comprehension, and such as his knowledge and previous training have prepared him to perform. Written examinations are valuable and indispensable aids in determining scholarship, and in forming a just and accurate judgment concern-
11
162
ANNUAL REPORTS.
ing a pupil's attainments and his ability to pursue with profit studies of a higher grade. The following are the regulations per- taining to examinations : -
" In each of the several classes in the high school written test examina- tions shall be held bi-monthly, under the direction of the principal. Pupils whose rank in scholarship, as indicated by the average of the examinations, is sixty-five per cent, will be entitled to promotion at the . end of the school year.
"In each of the several classes of the grammar schools, written test examinations shall be held bi-monthly. Pupils whose rank in scholar- ship for the year, as indicated by the average of the several examinations, is seventy per cent, will be entitled to promotion.
" The principals shall examine bi-monthly the schools in their respective buildings, in reading, writing, and drawing.
" The question for one of the bi-monthly examinations of grammar schools shall be prepared by the principals; for the final examinations by the superintendent; and for the remaining examinations by the teachers, under the direction of the principals.
" The questions for the final examinations of the first class shall be sub- mitted to the high school committee and the principal of the high school for their approval.
" In addition to these examinations, each teacher shall keep a careful record of results of examinations and of those qualities, in each pupil, which make the diligent, faithful scholar, and which no examination can correctly disclose. These records will be used at the close of the year in deciding upon all doubtful cases of promotion."
Well-conducted written examinations, at suitable intervals,. furnish to teachers and pupils reliable information upon various matters which it highly concerns them to know, and which could . be obtained by no other means. They reveal to pupils their de- ficiencies and acquaint them with the accuracy and permanency of their knowledge and their ability to express, in writing, what they have labored to acquire. They furnish teachers with the desired information concerning the knowledge or ignorance of their pupils of the subjects pursued, and reveal to them also the efficiency and defects of their own instruction.
The questions proposed by teachers in their examinations exhibit the range of their teaching, and furnish opportunity to principals to make such criticism and suggestions as may be deemed necessary, in order to secure desirable uniformity of in- struction in the schools under their special supervision. The examinations by the principals and the superintendent are less
163
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
specific in character than those by the teachers, and are intended as a general review of the leading subjects considered during the year. They are a more severe test of the permanency of the pupils' acquisitions than those which follow more immediately upon the study of the subjects under review, and are especially valuable on account of their influence upon the memory.
It is wise to inquire how examinations which enter so largely into the exercises of the schools may best aid in improving the memory and in giving greater permanence to the knowledge acquired.
The memory holds high rank among the faculties of the mind, and its proper cultivation claims our constant care. "The reten- tive faculty," says Bain, " is the faculty that most of all concerns us in education." By judicious exercise it becomes a treasury ever increasing in richness as the years move on. Cultivate it aright, and whatever is committed to it will become a permanent posses- sion ever ready for use. Carelessly neglect it, and impressions made upon it will be as evanescent as inscriptions upon shifting sands ; and mental poverty will inevitably ensue.
It is cause of regret, and not a little surprise, that so large a proportion of the knowledge acquired by our pupils is so soon forgotten, and that impressions made upon them by instruction communicated are not more permanent.
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.