USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1892 > Part 9
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Six years ago there were 112 classrooms in twenty-one buildings ; now we have 149 rooms in twenty-three buildings ; two unoccupied rooms in the Brastow School, leaving 147 rooms in twenty-two buildings. We erected three new buildings and enlarged two old ones. By so doing we hoped to be able to surrender seven old build- ings, which had been pronounced unsuitable for school purposes ; but the increase in population has made it necessary to occupy all the old buildings, except the Union and Brastow. The effort, there- fore, to replace old, unhealthy buildings with new and improved structures has not been accomplished. While some of the crowded districts have been relieved, others are still cramped for room. The schools of the Spring Hill District are more crowded than they were five years ago, though the Morse School has been enlarged and very much improved. The district not only occupies anew all the old buildings, but has recently taken in the Cedar-street School. The new rooms of the Highland School are already full, and the Lincoln was never so crowded as now.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
In Ward .Three there has also been a great increase in the schools, the new Glines School using seven rooms, while the Bingham School has already outgrown the building. In East Somerville the Davis School is much too large for the building, and there is little hope that the enlargement of the Edgerly will afford the necessary relief. There seems to be no indication that the schools in the Pros- pect Hill District will be able to accommodate the pupils of that. portion of the city, in view of the phenomenal demand for new tenements to accommodate the influx of operatives and their families for the new works of the New England Dressed Meat & Wool Company.
As compared with the erection of school buildings, the city has. developed much faster in the construction of dwellings and in popu- lation. In 1886 the population was 30,000 ; the school population was 5,296; the school enrolment, 6,350 ; the number of dwellings, 5,245.
This year the population is estimated at 44,580 ; the school popu- lation, 7,190; the school enrolment, 9,120. In 1886 in the primary and grammar schools there were 44.7 pupils to a teacher on the aver- age, and now there are 47.
To meet the growing demands of the city, there should be an in- crease of schoolrooms each year. The fact that no new rooms have. been added this year will make the need still more urgent in 1893. The plan proposed by our committee on additional school accommo- dations for the Spring Hill District should be acted upon in some way by the new City Government, either by its adoption or its modi- fication upon some liberal scale. The request of the Winter Hill committee for an enlargement of the Bingham School must not remain unheeded.
But the greatest need of the city educationally is a new English High School. This has been so persistently urged, and so elaborately set forth by the School Board in recent years, that it would seem un- necessary to repeat here the claims for such an institution and the pressing need for immediate action. It was gratifying to those in- terested in the matter, that the City Government, at least, discussed the subject, and that the committee on public property invited the School Board to present the case at a hearing in February last. The High School committee and the committee on additional school ac- commodations responded to the invitation, and presented the subject
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forcibly and graphically. The argument for an English High School as summarized by the superintendent was in substance as follows : -
"Our High School building was designed to accommodate from 250 to 300 students and from six to eight teachers. . It has grown to a school of over 530 pupils, and, with the hall cut into two classrooms, is arranged to allow ten teachers to work at one time, though we have now, in consequence of the absence of the principal, twelve teachers, -two being substitutes, - whom we employ by using the upper entry and the basement when the weather is mild. Before the principal was taken ill we had an average of fifty-three pupils to a teacher. Now we have forty-six per teacher. As compared with the high schools in the other cities of the State, this is a very large number-the average being twenty-seven pupils.
" We may expect that of the 380 pupils now in the ninth classes 250 will ask for admission to the High School in September. The following year, which is the earliest date at which it is possible for a new school to be ready, there will be 290 seeking admission under the present unfavorable conditions. Under favorable conditions I estimate that 320 pupils would seek admission to the High School in 'September, 1893. Of the total number then in the High School, - about 690, - I estimate that 250 would be in the classical school and 440 in the English High. Something must be done immedi- ately to inaugurate a systematic work for relief. This building ·cannot be done before September, 1893, and must be built during two administrations. By the beginning of 1893 at the furthest there will be demands for more school accommodations in other parts of the city for the primary and grammar grades. Any delay, therefore, will either indefinitely postpone the erection of a high school or bury future administrations under an avalanche of imperative public im- provements.
"From the last available city reports (1890 ) I find but two high schools outside of Boston larger than ours, viz., Worcester and Lowell. In Worcester they are now building a fine English high school, and in Lowell the school board has been trying for years to secure a new building. Cambridge and Lynn were in similar condition until their schools were divided into classical and English.
" A division of the High School is a necessity, on account of the lack of room in the present building, and for educational reasons;
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viz., organization and instruction. Experience also shows that it should be divided by courses, and not numerically or geographically. As to the organization or administration, the massing of large num- bers under one roof or under one principal is a difficult matter, and. its results are now seen in the breaking down of the principal of our High School. As to instruction, it is absolutely impossible to carry on a complete course of study in the branches now recognized as be- longing to an English high school in a school organized, equipped, and officered as a classical school.
"It has been asked, 'Why not enlarge the present building ?" Because it would simply magnify the difficulties now existing in the two particulars just mentioned - organization and instruction. We do not want a larger school of the same sort; we want an entirely different one, except what would remain in the classical course. It would be impossible to organize a separate school in the new part or the old part, with two principals of co-ordinate powers ; unless it could be done as the Boston Latin and English high are, on two opposite sides of a block. I am authorized to quote Mr. Baxter as. saying that such a scheme should on no account be attempted. We cannot organize an English high school in the present building, or in any addition to be made to the present building.
"What is an English high school? This subject, treated as it deserves, would require a lengthy article. I will briefly state what constitutes the courses in the schools now in existence, and add what is now being demanded and will in the near future become perma- nent: 1. Complete and thorough course in language and literature, including grammar, rhetoric, composition, biography, and consider- able reading of classic English and some other modern language. 2. Mathematics, including geometry, algebra, trigonometry, book- keeping, business arithmetic, etc. 3. History - United States, general, civil government. 4. Science, including elements of botany, zoology, physiology, physical geography, geology, astron- omy, and physics, including mechanics and electricity. 5. Drawing, mechanical and freehand. 6. Tool instruction, woodwork, joinery, pattern making, wood-turning, metal work. 7. Physical culture. Cooking is a part of thecourse in some schools.
"Such a course differs from our present work in the substitution of certain studies for Latin and Greek, the introduction of drawing and manual training, the greater thoroughness of scientific studies,.
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and especially in the method of work. This entire change of method is the most distinguishing mark of the English high school, which itself is a recent conception in education. The English high school of to-day and the future was not dreamed of when our High School building was erected. It is the extension downward of the institutes. of technology and schools of science. Its method is known as the laboratory method, which characterizes all the work of the school. It calls for an entirely different equipment, rooms, furniture, appara- tus, etc., and in a large measure a corps of teachers having different aims, ideas, training, and experience. The school provides for elec- tives to meet varying talent, and recognizes the principle of individu- alism in education. It aims to cultivate all the powers of the pupil -to lay a good foundation and awaken an interest in lines of study adapted to the individual needs of each student. It does not claim to prepare for trades or business especially, but recognizes the claims of those who intend to enter these activities as equal to those who wish to take up the learned professions. In a word, the school aims. to educate the child as broadly as his powers admit of at the present, · instead of bending all its resources to preparing for future courses of study. It recognizes the principle that every boy and girl has a right. to an education commensurate with his powers, even if he is not look- ing forward to the classic walls of the college; and that there are lines of study and elements of knowledge capable of developing the highest intellectual powers in a person who may have no taste or apti- tude for Latin, Greek, and mathematics.
"A look into a modern English high school building would give a better idea of the equipment and arrangement necessary than vol- umes of descriptions. I will simply state that there should be smaller study rooms than in our present building. There should be a large physical laboratory for individual work, adjoining an appara- tus room and a lecture room possibly ; a good chemical laboratory equipped for individual work, with the necessary storage and appara- tus room; a room for a botanical or mineralogical laboratory ; a room for freehand and one for mechanical drawing. These and the wood-working laboratory or metal room would have to be fitted up. expressly for their peculiar work, and would probably be in use about. all the time. There would have to be libraries for history, biography, and literature, with conveniences for study and research, in the rooms. devoted to those branches, and one or two rooms for mathematics.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
" If this be true, -and a careful investigation should be made before any plans are made, -it is evident that the present building could not be used as an English high school, and the necessary re- modelling would entail heavy expenses; in fact, the rooms are not arranged to make it in any degree possible to accommodate such a school. The idea, therefore, of building a new classical school and converting the present building into an English school would be irrational. We never could have what we want. Besides, the pres- ent building is only large enough for a school of 300 students, which is about what we might expect of a classical school; whereas our English high school will number 400 or 500 students inside of five years, judging from the result of Lynn and Cambridge."
The points made were amplified and reinforced by the members of the committees.
As the High School increased considerably in September and there was no place for the pupils but the High School building, the committee formulated the plan, already described in the record of proceedings, which has been in operation since September. It is too early to judge of the success of the plan, as it would be manifestly improper to pass judgment upon a measure dictated by necessity and demanding time and confidence for its success. It is admitted to be a temporary expedient, and we are trying to accomplish the best results that can be under the circumstances. It is believed to be the best scheme that could be devised.
The necessity for a new building still remains and calls still more loudly for consideration as the numbers increase. But the great urgency is not occasioned by the number of pupils. It is rather the need of another and far different school to satisfy the demands for an education more varied, more comprehensive, and more practical than that which the present outfit is capable of furnishing, and which it will always be impossible to accomplish except in a separate school, with all the necessary equipments of a separate school.
SANITATION AND BUILDINGS.
Three and four years ago the School Board gave a great deal of attention to the subject of ventilation. The condition of the school buildings was carefully investigated also by the committee on public property, in which we were aided and advised by the State inspectors.
EDGERLY SCHOOL.
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
As a result a very important, progressive, and systematic movement. was made to improve the old buildings and to furnish all new schools. with the most approved systems. The arrangements in the Prescott, Forster, and Lincoln schools were completely changed. New systems. were put into the Morse and Highland schools when they were enlarged, and into the Knapp, Pope, and Glines schools, the only new build- ings erected in that time. This was a most gratifying advance. This year the Smith improved system is being put into the Edgerly. The: High School and the Bell, of the large schools, as well as all the old. wooden buildings, have for years been very unsatisfactory, and have caused much complaint. During this year the Webster has been sup- plied with two furnaces, but with no means of ventilation ; while the Franklin, Bennett, Jackson, Harvard, Beech, Spring Hill, and Cedar- street buildings are still heated by stoves. The Prospect Hill, Cummings, and Davis have furnaces, and the Burns and Bingham are heated by direct or indirect steam heat ; but none of these buildings- have any means of ventilation other than the windows and doors. In the appendix will be found a table showing at a glance the means of heating and the condition of ventilation in all the buildings in the city.
It is very important that the good work so successfully begun should be continued. It is necessary to bring this matter to the attention of the City Government each successive year. The condi- tions are so bad in the old schools, that I am sure the buildings would be condemned by experts. I have refrained from calling the State inspectors to make examinations and reports, hoping that progress would continue as it had begun. I have also found that in some of the schools, where a great outlay has been made for ventilation, the apparatus is liable to fail of its object, because the janitors, either for lack of instruction or from indifference, neglect to supply an adequate- amount of fresh air. I have frequently found the slides in the cold air boxes entirely closed, allowing the furnaces to take the air from the cellar, or from some room on the first floor, impure air thus pass- ing down the register from a cold room to be warmed in the furnace and be supplied to a heated room upstairs. Too much care cannot. be given to this matter, and the janitors need constant supervision in this regard.
The condition of the sanitaries at the Cedar-street and Beech- street schools was brought to the attention of the board of health,
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
and radical improvements have been inaugurated. In this matter it is hoped the board of health will continue their good offices.
The work that ought to be done on our school buildings is Her- culean, it is beyond the means of the city to perform in one, two, or even three years, but something should be done each and every year, whether new buildings are put up or not. Besides the means of ventilation, which should be the first improvement, there is great need of cleaning and painting the interior walls and woodwork. For the sake of cleanliness and decency, for health and appearance, for the satisfaction of the teachers, and especially for educational influences, the cultivation of good taste, and the æsthetic and moral nature of the children, our schools should be models of cleanliness, neatness, comfort and good style. Dingy, cracked, patched, and stained walls should disappear under the brush of the artist painter. It would cost very little to paint the walls of the schoolrooms. If the City Government could realize the appreciation and enjoyment of the teachers and children whose rooms have been thus improved, they would immediately take steps to put every room in the city in repair. The influence upon the teaching will compensate the city for the expenditure. The culture of the children will in years to come doubly repay the community for the outlay. One of our best teachers, in debating whether to accept a position elsewhere of a more flattering and tempting nature, decided to stay if her room would be repaired and painted.
In this connection I am pleased to report that the teachers and friends of the Lincoln School formed an association to raise funds for the purpose of ornamenting the schoolrooms with works of art. Quite a sum was raised and a good beginning made, which I hope other districts will follow. The committee on public property were persuaded to paint the walls of the rooms, which was necessary before any works of art could be put in place. Hon. Edward Glines donated a large sum for the purchase of pictures for the Glines School, which now adorn the walls of all the rooms. It is to be regretted, however, that the walls of the building had not been painted ; to fully appre- ciate and fitly set forth the value of the pictures, the tinting of the walls is absolutely necessary.
There is a great movement in New England, and other sections also, in the direction of art education, by means of the decorative and artistic finish of school buildings. The architect and artist are
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
exercising their silent, but potent, influence upon the minds of the public school pupils. The Journal of Education thus describes the work of Mr. Ross Turner and the Public School Art League :-
"The first step was to place in the schoolroom - after explaining his desire and plans to the school officials, whose consent was gladly given- a number of his private paintings and works in plaster ; what- ever, in effect, would add beauty and an artistic atmosphere to the school home. When this had been done, it was an easy matter to interest others, especially those whose children were in the public schools. Money was collected, photographs, and other objects were loaned, and the Phillips School, in a district where there was ample room for artistic training, was selected for the experiment. The com- mittee on public buildings was influenced, and the walls of one room were tinted in a quiet grayish tone, agreeable to the eye. After the "committee in charge had arranged this room, a circular was issued, January, 1892, inviting citizens to its inspection. As a result of the interest thus created, the committee has been enabled to adorn sev- eral other rooms in this building and to make a beginning in other schools.
"On Mr. Turner's invitation, a number of Boston men and women, friends of art and of the schools, visited Salem, and on their return work was begun for the schools of this city. Two rooms have been decorated by the league-one in the English High School and one in the Rice Primary School ; while the North End Mission is about to experience an innovation through the generosity of private individuals. The Girls' High School has for some time been a witness to the practical benefits of artistic surroundings in the schoolroom.
" The Public School Art League of America was formed in the hope of unifying this movement, giving it strength, and aiding those who might otherwise have to undertake the work alone.
" The purpose of this movement is to place school children during their formative years among beautified surroundings, so that while at their studies they may unconsciously absorb the influence of what is good in art, and learn to distinguish the good from the bad. With the growth of a generation whose taste had been thus developed we would have a public holding higher standards for all their sur- roundings.
"The result need not be all unconscious. Children are inter-
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ested in what is about them is the test of our natural science, and it is no less true in artistic surroundings. The white wall and the blackboard are valuable, it is true, for illustrating some points regard- ing the diffusion of light; but these scientific facts are no less truly shown by walls which reflect the deep Pompeiian red or the soft buff, and by pictures which carry us back to the great artists of Florence and Venice, by white casts of the works of Phidias and others of the grandest of all handicraftsmen. We have for a thousand years been learning how to profit from the lessons of Greece and Rome, but we have neglected one of the most evident of all the lessons they have to teach.
" The artists have already gone much more than half way in giv- ing an impetus to this movement. It is for the teachers to meet them and do all that can be done to help it on. To no one can it possibly mean so much as it will to the teachers. Others are work- ing for succeeding generations, for humanity embodied in young America. This is the teacher's work always, but in this case the teacher alone has the privilege of reaping from it personal profit. Can any one hesitate when the reward is a transfer from a bare-walled schoolroom, adorned with globe and reading or music chart, to a school home, with warmly tinted walls, lovely pictures, idealizing statuary, the influence of heroic and ennobling men, a beauty that shall become personified goodness ?"
SCHOOL EXHIBIT.
In reviewing the work of the schools during the year I might take as an object lesson the exhibit of school work made at the High School building in connection with the semi-centennial celebration of the founding of Somerville. There very much of what is being done in the schools was displayed. The exhibit was an attempt to place before the public types of the daily work of the children. Much that was displayed was selected in this way, the rest was pre- pared for the occasion, and was in quality and scope typical. It was not simply an exhibit of the manual work of the schools, because the manual work necessitates preliminary intellectual work. In fact, it is impossible to separate manual from intellectual work. There must be observation and thought before expression, whether by language
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
or by manual products. A large section of the exhibit was language work. The work was displayed in the hall and three large rooms of the High School. The whole exhibit was all the more satisfactory and gratifying because it was composed of voluntary contributions of the teachers.
Of course, the drawing and color was pre-arranged, as no com- plete, systematic, graded exhibition could have been made without a preliminary plan, but the other work was contributed by those who had something to send, and exemplified the work done in every grade and every subject of instruction.
The success of the exhibition is due to the principals and teachers. Committees were appointed to look after the exhibition in each subject. They talked the matter over and arranged and sys- tematized all the contributions made in their several departments, and made suggestions how best to bring out and mount the features of every grade of work. Their painstaking labor resulted in presenting one of the most important and attractive features of the semi-centen- nial. A feature of the programme which contributed materially to the success of the exercises of the occasion, though in no sense an exhibit of school work, was the chorus of eight hundred pupils, under the direction of Mr. S. Henry Hadley, our enthusiastic and popular music teacher.
The arithmetic was represented by apparatus and material . to illustrate the method of teaching fractions, mensuration, etc., and by drawings, tables, figures, and demonstrations of all the processes and subjects taught, and of the various drill exercises, in all grades from the first to the ninth. In connection with fractions, per- centage, and mensuration were some very good instrumental draw- ings of geometrical figures and problems, accompanied by develop- ments and card models of geometric solids. Mr. Wadsworth was chairman of the committee.
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