USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1895 > Part 14
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Two days and one evening were set aside in October for the public to inspect the building and the school. Nearly a thousand people availed themselves of this opportunity. The regular school programme was carried out without change or additional features, with the exception of tasty decorations of flags, potted plants, and cut flowers, provided through the enterprise of the pupils. It was felt by the authorities that the most practical dedicatory exercises that could be furnished the citizens of Somerville, would be an actual exhibit of their children reciting, studying, experimenting in classroom and laboratory, making use of the facilities which the munificence of the
33
E -SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
city had provided. Pupils and teachers were gratified and benefited by these visiting days. To those who did not have an opportunity of inspecting the building then, a welcome will be extended at any time to see the school at work.
Frequent teachers' meetings have been held during the term to secure unity of purpose and perfection of details, regarding the many subjects which arise in a new school. Questions of disci- pline have occupied very little of the teachers' time thus far in the school. Behavior becoming a young man or a young woman of good breeding, as practised in his own home, is accepted and expected of every pupil of the school. The Principal is ear- nestly aiming to have a school where the faces of happy, con- tented, and enthusiastic students may be seen in every classroom ; a school in which the teacher is known and believed to be a true and valued friend of the pupil, a school where the importance of discipline and police supervision will be over-shadowed and forgotten through determined self-control, self-respect, and business-like zeal of the pupil ; and yet it is his firm conviction that a school, to accom- plish the purpose for which it was designed, should have a definite government, just and reasonable in its requirements, worthy of respect from all under its control, to which every pupil, without distinction, must render a prompt, a willing, and an implicit obedi- ence. The policy of the school in its administration, discipline, and spirit has been carefully explained by the Principal in the morning talks in ethics, where he is privileged to meet every pupil each week.
METHODS OF TEACHING.
One of the chief requisites demanded in the teachers selected was the use of modern and correct methods of teaching. Text-books are secondary to this. They are an efficient aid, but the true teacher does not rely upon them. The aim of the school is to lead pupils to think, to observe, to investigate, to record, to make conclusions for themselves. The laboratories are all planned for this kind of work exactly. The pupil is required to do the actual work or the experi- ment, and to gather his own results. The teacher is by his side often to direct, to suggest, to question, and to correct, but the pupil must discover for himself. The resultant must be something actually done. This method of study is applicable to the biological, the chemical, and the physical laboratories, to the studio, and to the
34
ANNUAL REPORTS.
manual training, the commercial, and the stenography and type- writing departments.
A modification of the laboratory plan of personal investigation and experiment, is also applied to history in original research and comparison of authorities. In English, Latin, French, and German, classics are carefully studied, and whether the language is being . critically examined or the thought is being sought, the pupil is led to think and judge for himself, the aim being self-development. Original work in mathematics seeks the same methods; elocution and physical culture surely employ these means of growth; and wherever it can be applied or adapted to the different subjects permitted in the curriculum, the student is led to do by doing, to know by seeing and investigating. The instructor is present not to remove diffi- culties, but to teach the pupil to surmount them. In these days, when push, originality, and deeds furnish the key to success in the great field of competition, the school should provide the proper training to meet the emergency.
The English High School aims to do such teaching. Its splendid building has been constructed with this training in view. It will be necessary to provide the library and laboratories with the proper equipments if the best work is to be done. It will cost more money than merely memorizing the text-book, but all attempts to improve the public school have been costly in the past. The results, how- ever, cannot be reckoned in money value.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.
It is impossible in this report to speak in detail regarding every plan already formulated or under consideration for the upbuilding of the school. A matter which of necessity requires immediate attention is the proper equipment of every department of the school. A partial supply only was provided at the beginning of the fall term. The school reference library, the physical laboratory, and the manual training department, in particular, require liberal appropriations for their equipment.
The school library is to be something more than a room with a collection of miscellaneous books. It is designed as a workshop of the most practical nature. Pupils will have the privilege of consult- ing its reference books in the researches already mentioned under the methods of teaching. An instructor or some competent person will
35
E - SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
always be present to give information regarding the use of books and to further their interests. A close articulation will be effected with the splendid advantages of the Public Library almost adjoining the building. Already, the efficient and accommodating librarian, Mr. Hayes, has offered his valuable services and the large opportunities of the Library for the furtherance of this valuable school work.
A large amount of apparatus is necessary in the physical labora- tory for the study of heat, light, and electricity. Very little was furnished this department, only the simplest and most inexpensive apparatus, to permit the work to go on until the time of annual appropriations. It is not desired to buy at one time all that may be needed nor to furnish the most expensive instruments nor an undue number of them. But the workshop must have tools for the workmen, and it is necessary that every department should have an appropriation for a wise and economical purchase of such apparatus as is needed. Photographs and casts are required in the studio, microscopes in the biological laboratory, and as mentioned above, instruments of all kinds in the physical laboratory.
Collections are needed for actual and systematic study in geology, zoölogy, and botany. Astronomy can be studied without an observa- tory, but it needs, at least, a telescope of moderate cost and power to pursue investigations and make observations by the methods by which other sciences are studied. It must be borne in mind that the school has opened its doors without one article of equipment, except- ing a few text-books from the Latin School.
The manual training department requires the special attention of those intrusted with the direction of the schools. Acting in accordance with the state law, an appropriation was made for a beginning in this department. Although not originally designed for that purpose, the eastern portion of the basement of the build- ing was fitted up for work in carpentry and mechanical drawing. The rooms thus provided have furnished a very satisfactory sub- stitute for the carefully designed buildings of other cities, and the furnishings have been of the best. The instructor in this department has had more than he could attend to on account of the large number electing shop work and mechanical drawing, and as more than two thirds of these pupils expect to continue this subject next year, additional instruction and extra departments must be provided.
The course of manual training extends over the regular four
36
ANNUAL REPORTS.
years of high school work. That which has already been provided aims to occupy only twenty weeks of the first year, claiming at least six periods a week. Other branches, as clay-modeling and wood- carving for the second half of the first year's work, must be provided for the incoming class next September. The pupils, studying at the present time, will occupy the entire year in carpentry, for two reasons : first, because they did not begin work until late in the fall, the equip- ment not being ready until a month or more after school opened ; and secondly, because it is designed, after the regular course in carpentry is finished, in April or May, to have the pupils construct a portion of the equipment for the next year, as much of it is of a kind not to require costly and finished workmanship, and may be easily made by the boys in their regular work.
Likewise the means and equipment for the second-year course, consisting of wood-turning, pattern-making, and moulding, must be made ready by the first of next September for those who are taking the course this year. The other branches, forging, regular bench work in iron, regular machine-shop practice, and a study of the practical workings of steam and electrical engineering, will not be needed until the fall of 1897, and then some other accommodation than that which the school can provide must be furnished.
The boys in this department have been doing creditable work, and no punishment seems so effective as the deprivation of their regular hour in the shop. Manual training is taken as an elective, in the same way as Latin, French, and zoology are chosen, and the work is as carefully estimated and as critically examined as that of pupils in other courses. Their other work, English, history, algebra, etc., is the same as that demanded of every pupil in the school, with the single slight exception of the substitution of three hours of mechan- ical for two hours of free-hand drawing. The extra periods used in school in the shop are made up to the pupil by having no study hours at home. The total equipment of this adjunct to the high school to meet the legislative enactment will necessarily be heavy, but its value is unquestioned in the self-development of the boy.
AIM OF THE SCHOOL.
The province of an English High School is to qualify for citizen- ship. The idea of its laboratories, libraries, and classrooms is not to teach trades or to make merchants. It aims to teach its pupils "to
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E -SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
work patiently, systematically, and constantly with the hand, eye, and brain." Unfettered by the arbitrary demands of higher institutions, excepting the preparation of a limited number for scientific and normal schools, its course, its teachers, and its whole spirit will endeavor to fit the pupil physically, intellectually, and morally for the varied duties and pleasures of life. The coming of the English High School is one of the direct results of the agitation and activity in public school affairs during the reconstruction period of the past twenty years. The "college of the people," it fills a distinct and important place in our educational system. Its service and its influence touch the community very closely. As the large majority of its pupils plan, beyond its doors to enter life's school, it should be loyally supported in earnestly seeking the highest standards of scholarship and culture, and the noblest ideals of patriotic citizenship.
The building has been reared by the public-spirited generosity of the people, pupils have entered its portals in goodly numbers in search of its treasures, and the opportunity to teach in this favored institution has come like an inspiration to the chosen instructors. Its future, surely, can no longer be a problem. The conditions must bring a measure of success.
Thanking you, Sir, for the valued suggestions and substantial aid accorded me at all times by yourself during the organization of the school, and feeling grateful to the School Committee for their unfail- ing confidence and hearty co-operation in every plan advanced in the interest of the school, I remain, with a deep sense of the responsi- bility with which I have been honored,
Very respectfully yours, C. T. C. WHITCOMB.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
COURSE OF STUDY, ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL.
The course of study for the English High School adopted by the School Committee in 1895, is based upon two important principles,- the necessity of a broad training for all pupils, and the recognition of individual claims for development in the direction of aptitudes and desired ends.
With these purposes in view, the course has been divided into two well-defined sections,-Required and Elective studies. Required studies are regarded as indispensable for a broad education, and must be taken each year by all pupils planning to graduate from the school. They may be subdivided into Prepared and Unprepared subjects, By the former are meant those branches which require study and preparation previous to the recitation; under the latter are included studies and exercises of a general nature which are obtained largely from lectures and drill work in the recitation itself. Fifteen hours, or recitation periods rather, of prepared work are required of a regular student each week. As about one half of the required studies represent prepared work, the remainder must be selected by the pupil, with the consent of the parent, from the liberal list of elective studies provided for each year. Wide latitude is given for the selection of courses in the languages, sciences, mathematics, commercial branches, manual training, and drawing.
These elective studies are to be chosen for a year at least, unless, as in a few instances, they represent half-year courses. A pupil is at liberty to make a new choice the following year, although he is strongly urged to continue his previous selection several years to obtain the greatest benefit. Smattering courses - many subjects, and little time devoted to each - are considered inferior to the set courses usually required in high schools, and will be discouraged as far as possible. Elective courses, when carefully chosen with regard to aptitudes and to plans for future work and study, will provide superior opportunities for the pupil's advancement.
A brief outline of the course, showing the months the subject is studied, the number of recitation periods each week, the text-books used, and the character of the work, is given below.
39
E - SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
FIRST YEAR. CLASS I.
REQUIRED STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
PREPARED.
Algebra
10
4
Simple equations and problems, addi- tion, subtraction, multiplication, division, and factoring. Exponents and coefficients. Ratio and pro- portion. Radicals. Practical prob- lems throughout the course.
Academic Algebra. - Wells. School Algebra. - Wentworth.
English
10
4
American authors. Composition work. Collateral reading.
History
10
2
Ancient history. Map drawing. Supplementary reading.
Eastern Nations and Greece. - Myers. History of Rome. - Myers.
Drawing
10
2
Structure : Geometry, working draw- ing, development. Ornament : Color, historic ornament, design.
Appearance : Model and object draw- ing, sketching from nature.
Elocution
10
1
Ability developed in pupil to express thought with animation, smooth- ness, volume, clearness, and con- centration. Posture. Proper breath- ing. Self-command. Lectures.
Evolution of Expression. Vols. I and II.
Ethics.
10
1
Outline study of U. S. government. School government and interests.
Music Physical Training
10 10
1
Instruction in singing.
The Euterpean.
Ten-minute exercise each day.
American Poetry. - Scudder. American Prose. - Scudder. Lessons in English. - Lockwood.
UNPREPARED.
Talks on ethics. Current events.
American Citizen. - Dole.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
FIRST YEAR. CLASS I.
ELECTIVE STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
Botany
5
5
Laboratory work in the study of Seeds, Germination, Roots, Stems, Leaf, Flower, Fruit, Algæ, Fungi, Mus- cineæ, Filicineæ, Equisetineæ, Gym- nosperms, Monocotyledons, Dicoty- ledons. Drawings by aid of micro- scopes.
French
10
5
Study of Language by means of gram- mar. Easy translations. Written
exercises. Conversation.
German
10
5
Grammar work. Composition exer- cises. Translations, both prepared and sight. Conversation. Memor- izing selected Poems. Supplementary Reading.
Latin
10
5
Pronunciation. Inflection, vocabu- lary, and syntax studied with gram- mar and exercises. Translations and sight-reading.
Wood-
Manual Training Mech'ical Drawing
10
6
Carpentry. Clay-modeling. carving.
10
3
Working designs for Manual Training. Geometrical problems. Projection and intersection of solids.
Zoology
5
5
Lectures and recitations. Laboratory work in the study of Protozoa, Ra- diata, Mollusca, Articulata, Pisces, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves, Mam- malia. Drawings by aid of micro- scopes.
Introduction to Botany. - Spalding.
Short French Grammar. - Grandgent. Exercises for Schools. - Grandgent. French Composition. - Grandgent. French Classics.
Grammar. - Joynes-Meissner, Part I. German Reader. - Brandt. German Composition. - Harris.
First Latin Book. - Collar & Daniell. First Latin Reader. - Scudder. First Book in Latin. - Tuell & Fowler. Gradation. - Scudder.
Zoology. - Colton.
41
E - SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
SECOND YEAR. CLASS II.
REQUIRED STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
English
10
4
Rhetoric, with practical exercises em- phasized. American authors. English authors of 18th and 19th cen- turies.
Outline of American literature.
Geometrical terms.
Geometry
10
4
Five books of Geometry, including lines, angles, circles, similar figures, area, regular polygons. Original work.
Plane Geometry .- Wentworth.
History
10
3
Mediæval and modern history. Map drawing. Note-books. Supplementary reading.
Mediæval and Modern History .- Myers.
Elocution
10
1
Continued work in Expression. Careful analysis of author's thought. Voice culture. Gesture work. tures.
Lec-
Ethics
10
1
Talks on Ethics, Current Topics, and School Government and Interests.
Music Physical Training
10
1
Instruction in Singing. Ten-minute physical exercise each day. Health talks.
Evolution of Expression. Vol. III. and IV.
The Euterpean.
10
Foundations of Rhetoric. - Hill. American Classics. English Classics.
PREPARED
UNPREPARED.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
SECOND YEAR. CLASS II.
ELECTIVE STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
Drawing
10
2
Architectural details. Machine de- tails. History of architecture and ornament. Applied design. Me- chanical perspective.
French
10
4
Continued study of Grammar. Trans- lations -French into English and English into French. Conversa- tion. Prepared and sight transla- tions. Standard texts.
Grammar. Part I. reviewed ; Part II. studied in detail. Translation of standard texts. Composition exer- cises. Conversation.
German
10
4
Collateral work in essay writing. Supplement- ary reading and memorizing.
Latin
10
4
Gradatim. Nepos. Cæsar's Gallic War. Supplementary reading. Prose composition. Sight work.
Manual Training
10
6
Wood-turning. Pattern-making. Moulding.
Mech'ical Drawing
10
3
Working designs for manual training. Architectural designs. Machine designs.
Physics
10
5
Grammar with Exercises for College. - Grandgent. Composition. Parts II. and III. - Grandgent. French Classics. French Reader. - Super.
German Grammar. Parts I and II.
-Joynes-Meissner.
German Reader. - Brandt. German Composition. - Harris.
German Classics.
Latin Grammar. - Allen & Greenough. - Bennett. - Harkness.
Cæsar's Gallic War .- Kelsey. Gradatim. -- Scudder. Latin Prose Composition .- Collar.
Physics .--- Carhart & Chute. 66 - Hall & Bergen.
Measurements. Mechanics of Solids, Fluids, and Gases. Heat, Sound, Magnetism, Electricity, and Light studied. About one hundred and twenty-five (125) experiments.
--- Avery. Laboratory Manual .---- Chute.
43
E -SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
THIRD YEAR. CLASS III.
REQUIRED STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
English
10
4
16th and 17th Century English au- thors in prose and poetry. Con- tinued drill in rhetorical exercises. Collateral reading. Essays.
English Classics.
History
10
3
English History. Map drawing. Col- lateral reading. Note-books.
English History. - Montgomery.
Elocution
10
1
I. and II. year work advanced. Dramatic work. Individual Drill. Gesture work. Voice Culture. Lectures.
Standard orations. Plays of Shakespeare.
Ethics
10
1
Talks on Ethics, Current Topics, and School Government and Interests.
10
1
Instruction in Singing.
The Euterpean.
Music Physical Training Physiolo- gy
10
Ten-minute exercise each day. Health talks.
10
1
Scientific Lectures in Physiology. Hygienic Experiments. Charts.
Physiology. - Martin. 3
Diagrams. Note-books.
PREPARED.
UNPREPARED.
44
ANNUAL REPORTS.
THIRD YEAR. CLASS III.
ELECTIVE STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
Advanced Algebra
5
5
Review to Quadratics, advance work in Quadratic Equations, Equations in Quadratic form, Progressions, Permutations and Combinations, In- equalities, Variation, Binomial Theo- rem, Coefficients, Theory of Equa- tions.
College Algebra. - Wells. Higher Algebra. --- Wells.
Advanced Geometry
5
10
Review of II. year Geometry, with extended drill in original demon- stration. Inventional work.
Book- keeping
10
5
Elementary Business Practice in Double Entry, Single Entry, Forms, and Business Practice.
Chemistry
10
5
Non-Metals and Metals studied. Simple quantitative experiments. Individual Laboratory work.
Commer- cial Arithme- tic
10
2
Business Principles and Methods taught. Drill work in accurate and rapid Figuring. Short Methods. Percentage, Interest, Insurance, Ex- change, Stocks, Partnership, etc., carefully taught.
Drawing
10
2
Plans and elevations. Assembly draw- ing and details. Great masters and their works. Architectural details. Still life. Use of charcoal, color and pencil. Mechanical perspective.
French
10 4
Advanced Composition work. Trans- lations. Sight work. Conversation. Study of French authors.
German
10
4
Selected texts. Composition work. Sight work. Study of German au- thors. Conversation.
Latin
10
4
Cicero's Orations. Ovid's Metamor- phoses. Latin composition. Sight
work.
Manual Training
10
6
Course not determined.
Mech'ical Drawing
10
3
Course not determined.
Stenogra- phy
10
5
Knowledge of alphabet. Exercises in reading and writing words and sen- tences. Dictation, Rapid Reading, and Writing. Letter writing. In- struction in Business Forms.
Type- writing
10
3
Knowledge of machine. Drill work in words and sentences. Business let- tions. Office work. Speed exer- ters. Dictation work. Transcrip- cises.
Plane Geometry. - Wells. - Wentworth.
Book-keeping. - Williams & Rogers.
Introduction to the study of Chemistry. --- Remsen. Chemical Experiments. -Remsen & Randall.
The New Packard Commercial Arith- metic.
French Composition, Parts IV. and V. French Classics. -- Grandgent.
German Classics. German Composition. - Harris. Cicero's Orations. -- Kelsey. Ovid. - Kelsey. Latin Composition. - Collar.
Practical Shorthand. - Chandler. Key to Practical Shorthand .- Chandler.
Compendium of Typewriter Practice
.
45
E-SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
FOURTH YEAR. CLASS IV.
REQUIRED STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
English
10
4
Literature. Essays and original orations. Collateral reading.
History
10
3
United States History, intensively studied. Civil Government. Note- books. Map drawing. Visits to meetings of Legislative and Judi- cial Bodies.
History of United States. - Thomas. Civil Government in the United States. - Fiske.
Elocution
10
1
Lectures. Work in Expression ac- cording to higher perfective laws. Individual drill, Voice Culture, De- bates, Gesture Work, Extemporane- ous Speaking.
Plays of Shakespeare.
Ethics
10
1
Music
10
1
Talks on Ethics, Current Events, School Government and Interests. Instruction in Singing.
The Euterpean.
Physical Training
10
Ten-minute physical exercise each day. Health talks.
Physiol'gy
10
1
Scientific Lectures in Physiology and Hygiene. Experiments. Charts. Note-books. Essays.
Physiology. - Martin.
PREPARED.
Early English Authors. Shakespeare and Milton. History of English
English Classics.
UNPREPARED.
46
ANNUAL REPORTS.
FOURTH YEAR. CLASS IV.
ELECTIVE STUDIES.
SUBJECTS.
MONTHS.
No. REC.
CHARACTER OF WORK.
TEXT-BOOKS.
Advanced Botany
5
3
Microscopical Technique. Histology. Embryology. Physiology of Plants. Sketches and diagrams. Lectures.
Advanced Chemistry
10
5
Qualitative analysis of Metals and Acids. Simple organic experiments. Essays and assigned topics for read- ing.
Advanced Physics
10
5
Review of II. year work with extra and more accurate work. Strength of materials. Quantitative study of Heat, Sound, and Light. Advanced study in Magnetic and, Electrical Phenomena. Construction of appa- ratus.
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