USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1902 > Part 13
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This plan when consummated would bring all departments, classical, English, commercial, science, and industrial training,
168
ANNUAL REPORTS.
under a single administrative head in the interests of unity and economy. It need not be executed in detail at one time, but of necessity must be outlined and agreed upon at the start, that architectural harmony and the greatest utility may be secured. Nor should the expense of the undertaking, which will be un- avoidably large, be levied upon present taxpayers alone, but so distributed that future citizens who share its benefits may also have the privilege of sharing its burdens.
Immediate action is imperative, and will surely be wel- comed by all who have at heart the educational interests and prosperity of our fair city, whose citizens, while not perhaps opu- lent, are always openhanded and generous when the welfare and education of its youth are at stake.
Ward One. The wisdom of making the Clark Bennett School one of twelve rooms instead of smaller was justified by the filling of ten of its rooms in September. Another room will be occupied at the opening of another school year.
One hundred children in the first grade of the Prescott are attending on half-time, as has been the case for three years, and as must continue to be the case so long as the Hanscom Kinder- garten is maintained, unless additional room is provided. Whether the kindergarten is more valuable as a factor in the education of the children than attendance for a full day during their first primary year, is a two-sided question. There are nearly three hundred first-grade children within the reach of this kindergarten, of whom only one in six can enjoy its advantages. If all of these could receive kindergarten training during their fourth year, a half-day session might suffice for their fifth year, but unfortunately, the children now on half-time are the ones that do not have this training. An addition of two rooms to the Hanscom, provided for in the original plan of the building, would relieve the situation.
Wards Two and Three. There has been no increase in the school population in these wards during the year, according to the census. The sixth room in the Baxter School was occupied in September. It is pleasant to be able to say that the accommo- dations in these wards are ample for present needs.
Wards Four and Five. All first-grade children in the Ed- gerly, Glines, and Forster schools are on half-time, and the num- ber in the Bingham is so large as to compel the employment of an assistant. Moreover, two basement rooms in the Forster Annex, never intended for regular school purposes and unsuit- able therefor, are in use. Relief for the congestion in these schools can be found in the enlargement of the Bingham school- house and the transfer of pupils. A six-room building, very near the Bingham, is, next to high-school demands, the most urgent need for the year 1903. It should be begun at once, and its con- struction pushed so that it may be ready for use at the beginning of the next school year.
169
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Wards Six and Seven. These rapidly growing wards, like Wards Three and Four, are considered together because the lo- cation of school buildings, without regard to existing ward lines, renders it difficult to do otherwise. At the present time seven- teen hundred children in various parts of the city reside in one ward and attend school in another. This must continue to be the case until district boundaries are changed, or present school buildings removed to other localities, both of which contingencies seem remote.
In these wards there are at present eight school buildings, all of which are crowded. In six of them more than five hundred children attend on half-time, in the seventh an extra teacher is employed, and in one an unsuitable basement room is in use. To relieve this congestion an eight-room building is in process of construction on Morrison avenue, in the easterly part of Ward Seven. Upon its completion in September, 1903, it will be at once filled by the transfer of three classes from the Hodgkins. one from the Highland, two from the Brown, and two from the Burns. This provides for no future growth, nor does it relieve in any way the Morse or the Carr schools. Even if we should settle down upon the plan of giving first-grade pupils nothing but half-time schools,-a subject discussed in later pages of this report,-a new building must be provided somewhere in the easterly section of Ward Six at an early day. The Standpipe lot on Lowell street, near Summer, furnishes an admirable location for a primary school. To it all the primary children in the Morse, and two classes in the Carr, could be transferred, leaving the former distinctively a grammar school. This is in accord- ance with the general plan,-so often advocated in these reports and so generally adopted outside of Somerville,-of using our large buildings for grammar schools, primary classes being ex- cluded and distributed among smaller buildings easily accessible to little children. Opportunities to carry out this plan have been neglected, so that in the immediate future two new grammar school centres are inevitable with an annual outlay of $2,000, which under the other plan would have been saved. The Brown school-furnishes one of these centres. The present building should at once be enlarged by the addition of four rooms, every one of which would be filled in September, 1904.
A recapitulation of our needs for increased schoolhouse ac- commodations, arranged in order of urgency, shows them to be :-
1. A new Latin building and an addition to the English building so constructed as ultimately to be connected by a third structure common to both.
2. A six-room building in proximity to the Bingham school in Ward Five.
3. A primary building on the Standpipe lot in Ward Six.
170
ANNUAL REPORTS.
4. A four- or six-room enlargement of the Brown school in Ward Six.
5. The addition of two rooms to the Hanscom schoolhouse in Ward One.
School Census. In accordance with statutory requirements, a census of children between five and fifteen years of age was taken in October. As far as Somerville is concerned, this census has no special value, all the essential information being easily ob- tainable in simpler and more economical ways. It, however, dis- closed the following facts :-
The whole number of children between the ages of five and fifteen on the first day of October, 1902, was 11,203, an increase of 488 over the preceding year. Of this increase, Ward One has furnished only twenty, and Ward Four, twenty-seven. The largest growth has been in Ward Five, 213, and in Wards Six and Seven, where the increase has been 136 and 101, respectively. There has been a decrease of two in Ward Two and seven in Ward Three.
On the same date 406 more children were in attendance at the public schools, and 117 at private schools, 523 in all, than in 1901. This difference of thirty-five is probably due to omis- sions by the census takers, as the school count is reliable. It is safe to say that there has been an increase of 500 school children, ten schoolroomfuls, in the city during the year.
There are 246 children under seven,-the minimum compul- sory age,-who are being kept at home by their parents ; fifty be- tween seven and fourteen, who do not attend on account of phy- sical infirmities ; and eighty-six, fourteen years of age, who are at work,-a total of 390 children in the city between the ages of five and fifteen who are out of school.
Pupils. The schools have kept 185 days, or exactly thirty- seven weeks this year. The loss of fifteen days from the theo- retical year has been distributed as follows :-
There were five legal holidays; three days were lost from stormy weather ; one day was given to the Middlesex Teachers' Association ; and six days were taken in June, at Thanksgiving, and at Christmas in extension of the vacations.
Thirteen thousand, one hundred and sixteen pupils have been enrolled in the public schools in 1902, of whom 2,694 have been connected with the schools for a portion of the year only, making the average membership for the year 10,402, an increase of 411 over the preceding year. Ninety-three and five-tenths per cent. of this number, or 9,728, have been in attendance all the time. This loss of 6 1-2 per cent. is due chiefly to the sickness and quarantine of pupils. Very little time is lost by preventable absence.
There have been 3,335 cases of tardiness, one out of 1,023 chances, and 1,978 dismissals, or one in every 1,822 opportunities.
171
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
There have been 272 cases of truancy resulting in a loss of 734 half-days of school time. Only sixty per cent. of these cases have been investigated by the truant officer. Corporal punish- ment has been administered 328 times.
On the 15th of December, the number of pupils in the schools was as follows :-
In the Latin School. 370
In the English School. 778
In the elementary schools. 9,624
In the kindergartens. 197
A total of. 10,969
Adding to this number the 1,679 pupils in private schools, we have 12,648 school children in the city.
Although schools did not open until the second Monday of September, 10 per cent. of the pupils did not enter promptly.
Teachers. There are at the present time in the service of the city as teachers, twenty-six men and 266 women, a total of 292.
Twenty-three teachers have resigned during the year. One of them, Lydia J. Page, of the Cummings school, had been in service thirty-three years. The average term of the service of the other twenty-two was three years, eight months. Thirteen of these left us for more lucrative positions in other cities, seven for marriage, and the remainder for study or other reasons. It is complimentary to the character of our teaching corps to have teachers' colleges, normal schools, and neighboring municipali- ties that seek the best, supply their needs at our expense. Dur- ing the last ten years, seventy-three teachers have thus been called away by higher salaries, and the fact that our losses in this direction are this year considerably above the average shows that the supply is kept up and a high standard maintained. It was argued two years ago when a general increase of salaries was made, that it would lead to the retention of our best teachers, but this does not prove to be the case. Our teachers are drawn away by offers of from $800 to $1,000, and with these figures we cannot compete. It is not necessarily a disadvantage to lose teachers in this way. The loss comes in failure to make their places good, in replacing the thousand-dollar woman by the three-hundred-dollar kind. We want teachers of superior abil- ity, with aspirations for broader fields and higher pay, rather than those who congratulate themselves upon employment of anv sort and settle down contented with dull mediocrity of at- tainment. Nor is the fact that such teachers serve only a short time an objection to their selection. "Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." They accomplish good work, they elevate the standard, they inspire others, and they often leave behind them fragrant memories and examples for imitation.
172
ANNUAL REPORTS.
It will not be thought invidious to say that the English High School has been signally unfortunate in the loss of three teachers who had been in the school from its beginning, and who had done much to establish their departments on lasting foundations. Miss Anderson in biology, Miss Hitchcock in French, and Miss Dixon in commercial work, will long be gratefully remembered for their unusually efficient service.
To supply the vacant places, twenty-six teachers have been elected during the year, all but two at the maximum salary. Nearly all of them are experienced and successful teachers, and have been called from neighboring cities or towns where they were highly esteemed for excellence of service. They will doubt- less maintain our high standard, do for us good work, and in due season leave us for more inviting fields.
Indisputably President Eliot of Harvard stands at the head of American educators. His deliberate utterances should have great weight. Several quotations will be made in this report from an address very recently given, and published in full in "The World's Work" for December, 1902.
Concerning teachers he speaks as follows :-
The next object for additional expenditure is better teachers. Of course, teachers should know well the subjects which they are to teach; but that is by no means sufficient. Every teacher should also know the best methods of teaching his subjects. College professors heretofore have been apt to think that knowledge of the subject to be taught was the sufficient qualification of a teacher; but all colleges, as well as all schools, have suffered immeasurable losses as a result of this delusion. Of course, it is better for a teacher to know his subject without knowing the right method of teaching it, than to acquire a formal method without knowing the subject; because a conscientious teacher, by experimenting on his pupils, may in years acquire a good method at their expense; but teachers who are acquainted at the start with both subject and method are what schools and colleges urgently need. To secure this double pro- ficiency means a greater expenditure on the training of teachers. Under the head of better teachers may best be mentioned certain specific desiderata, such as a larger proportion of women teachers who have been educated at college, and a larger proportion of both men and women who have received a genuine normal school training. All these are expensive desiderata.
Latin School. The membership of this school is now 370, as against 317 a year ago. This increase of pupils was hardly expected, and may, perhaps, in part be attributed to the over- crowding of the neighboring school. An additional in- structor, Mr. Hosmer, was engaged at the beginning of the school year in September, on the basis of the old number of pupils. Without the Head Master, whose time should not be spent, as now, wholly in teaching, there are ten teachers to 370 pupils, a class average of thirty-seven to each teacher. This number, compared with the standard high school unit of twenty-five, is unreasonable. It is too large to justify the expec- tation of the best results. But it can be made no smaller, under existing conditions, for two or three additional teachers could
-
173
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
find no room in which to hear recitations. Until enlarged quar- ters are furnished, the school will labor under constantly increas- ing disadvantages.
Without repeating the arguments therefor, occasion is taken to renew the recommendation of former reports concerning the desirability, if not the necessity, of establishing a five years' course for this school. Even if enlarged facilities were furnished, there is not time for college-bound pupils to do more than they are now doing. It is only by dint of the most strenuous appli- cation, jeoparding health, that the demands are met. Sessions with fifty pupils are regularly held two afternoons each week with two teachers in physics as the only way of accomplishing requirements. A five years' course would change all this. It would give time for more moderate, and hence more permanent work. It would allow a broadening of the curriculum. Stu- dents bound for college could begin their preparation earlier or continue it later. This is an electric age, but undue haste in education is deplorable.
It goes without saying that a five years' course is impossible until a new building is provided, but it should be decided upon at once, that it may enter as a factor into the plans of construc- tion. It would increase the demands for room twenty-five per cent.
The school graduated fifty-six pupils in June, thirty-one of whom entered college, and three, normal schools.
TABLE SHOWING LOSSES OF CLASSES IN LATIN HIGH SCHOOL EACH YEAR SINCE 1896.
MEMBERSHIP.
Class of 1899.
Class of 1900.
Class of 1901.
Class of 1902.
Class of 1903.
Class of 1904.
Class of 1905.
Class of 1906.
December 15, 1st year
79
89
77
64
103
111
125
2nd
67
67
80
73
47
93
97
...
63
57
64
64
49
88
. .
. .
4th
6
57
53
65
62 56
60
..
Graduates .
.
Loss per cent. 1st year
66
2nd “
6.0
15.2 15.0 7.0 10.4 39.2
10.1 20.0
5.2 12.3 3.1 9.7 27.3
26.5 4.3* 22.4*
9.7 5.4
12.6
16
3rd
...
...
16
4th
..
...
...
Total
.
.
..
...
...
...
...
55
48
56
.. .
...
9.5
3.5
13.8 37.0
* Gain.
English School. The conditions in this school are nearly identical with those of a year ago. The entering class numbered 268, and the numbers to-day are sixteen more than in December, 1901, 778 as against 762. Whatever has been repeatedly said about the crowded condition of this school could be reiterated here were it necessary. Suffice it to say that the school is sorely handicapped in its work by its congested state. If the school had been a cotton mill, and its dividends dependent upon en-
3rd
14
ANNUAL REPORTS.
largement, it would have been doubled in capacity long ago. But dollars and cents, although more influential in controlling action, cannot measure the value of the work of a good school, a value that increases in proportion to the facilities afforded. As surely as improved machinery in a manufactory lessens cost and increases production, so surely do ample accommodations and adequate equipment increase the efficiency and power of a school. A log with Mark Hopkins at one end and a single Garfield at the other is well enough, but with fifty clamoring for a seat on the students' end of the log, even the genius of a Hopkins would be embarrassed, if not overwhelmed.
Allusions have elsewhere been made to losses in the teaching force of this school. The standard is, however, well maintained, and the invention, tact, and determination of princi- pal and teachers have done more than could be expected in overcoming and counteracting the effect of untoward conditions.
The industrial and commercial departments of the school are the most crowded at the present time, and need not only more room, but more instructors. Five additional typewriting ma- chines were supplied in September and have afforded some relief. More and more, students are turning towards that form of edu- cation that gives promise of enabling them most quickly to secure self-support. This so-called practical education, as it grows in importance and popular favor, must be given increased attention and enlarged opportunities. Free commercial high schools have come to stay, and doubtless are to be followed by other free technical high schools that shall equip the graduate along different lines for his life work.
The school graduated 108 students in June, of whom eleven entered normal schools, and sixteen technical schools, or the professional department of some college. Of the 164 graduates of both schools, fifty-eight, or thirty-five per cent., are continu- ing their education at higher institutions.
The number of students in the different departments since September has been as follows :-
1902.
1901.
1902.
1901.
English
822
800
Mechanical drawing .. 247
230
History
709
707
Freehand drawing. .. 377
424
Mathematics
.592
564
Manual training ..
200
175
Science
460
501
Commercial
.242
260
Latin
118
116
Stenography 320
282
French
269
237
Elocution
818
777
German
118
99
175
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
TABLE SHOWING LOSSES OF CLASSES IN ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL EACH YEAR SINCE ITS ORGANIZATION.
MEMBERSHIP.
Class of 1899.
Class of 1900.
Class of 1901.
Class of 1902.
Class of 1903.
Class of 1904.
Class of 1905.
Class of 1906.
December 15, 1st year
192
228 163 119
211 153 125 108 96
217 162 135 120 108
178
147
...
. .
..
...
...
Graduates
Loss per cent.
1st year .
22.4
24.1 27.0
27.5 18.0 13.6 11.1
25.3 16.6 11.1
26.0 19.5
27.2 17.4
18.0
..
66
66
2nd
66
66
3rd
19.0
18.5
15.2
. ..
. ..
.. .
66
4th
12.2
14.4 63.6
54.5
10.0 50.2
..
...
...
...
Total
55.2
...
...
...
.. .
66
3rd
4th “
98
97 83
151
86
. ..
...
250
2nd “
299 221
246 178
261
214
149
121
18.7
...
Grammar and Primary Schools. In June, 1902, 497 gradu- ates of grammar schools were given diplomas. Of this number, 350, or seventy per cent., entered the high schools, 235 the Eng- lish, and 115, the Latin. In December, 1896, this class numbered 958 in the fourth grade. During the six years of passage through the grammar schools, 461, a little short of one-half its members, dropped out, the principal loss of 300 pupils occurring between the sixth and ninth grades. This is but another illus- tration of the well-known fact that there is a serious loss of pupils about midway of the grammar school course, and it em- phasizes the necessity of so shaping the curriculum as to do the best for the large number whose school life necessarily ends at about the age of fourteen. The primary schools supplied 1,189 pupils for the fourth grade of the grammar schools in September last. At the same time, 1,184 children began their school life in the first grade, making, with the 401 that were left behind when the June promotions were made, 1,585 as the membership of the lowest grade. The average age of the children who have never attended school before is five years, eight months.
A careful record for five years shows that twenty-three per cent. of every first grade class is left behind to repeat the work for a second year. This is a smaller percentage than formerly, and when we consider the immaturity of many children, the enforced absence for weeks at a time on account of diseases in- cident to their early years,-measles, mumps, whooping cough, and scarlet fever,-and the accompanying quarantine, nothing better can be expected. In the grammar grades, the number of the non-promoted is quite uniformly one in every ten, or a little less. There is a careful consideration of every case, and whenever possible, a trial promotion is given. Comparatively few who are sent on in this way fail to maintain themselves fairly well. Pupils that are capable of doing work in advance of their classes are given the opportunity, though considerations of
16
ANNUAL REPORTS.
health and of the best educational interests of the child govern in this, as they should in all such matters.
Kindergartens. Four kindergartens have been maintained during the year in the Hanscom, Bennett, Baxter, and Glines Schools. The cost of instruction has been $4,010.37, and of supplies, $165.52. The per capita cost, based on the average membership, has been $21.86.
The following table shows facts in detail :-
Hanscom.
Bennett.
Baxter.
Glines.
Total.
Enrollment
103
107
101
102
413
Average Membership
48
52
45
46
191
Average Attendance .
42
38
37
39
156
Per cent. Attendance .
88.5
72.6
81.5
84.3
81.7
Age
4-8
4-7
4-8
4-8
4-8
Evening Schools. Every year the problem of evening schools with their difficulties confronts us. In arranging for the season of 1901-1902, an effort was made to increase their efficiency. and with the hope also of increasing their power to hold pupils from the beginning to the end of the term. With this object in mind, the pay of evening school teachers was raised that we might be able to command the service of the best available. Probably as efficient a corps was secured as it is possible for us to get under existing conditions. It included several of our grammar school principals, and was made up almost entirely of teachers of long and successful experience.
Moreover, the promise of certificates of attainment for those that should attend regularly during the season, and of diplomas for the completion of two or three years of work was added at the outset as an attraction.
The result of the experiment was, on the whole, disappoint- ing. There was a larger attendance, which might have been ex- pected as a natural increase, but the average per cent. of attend- ance, as compared with the enrollment, was but two and one- half per cent. more than the preceding season. This shows that something more than superior teachers is needed to hold pupils from start to finish. The aggregate expense of the schools was increased forty-three per cent., while the average attendance increased butt twenty-three per cent. There was an increase of fourteen per cent. in the per capita cost per evening.
Notwithstanding what has been said, the evening schools never have accomplished more for their pupils, nor were ever more satisfactory than during the last season. The interest of those who attended and the progress made were very gratifying.
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
One hundred and sixty-seven certificates were given and one diploma. The closing exercises, at the Bell and Prescott schools especially, were interesting as showing the interest and work of the pupils. Of those receiving certificates, ninety-nine, or sixty per cent., returned to the school in October of this year.
The expense of the evening drawing school was practically the same as for the preceding season, but the attendance was one-fourth larger, so that the per capita cost was diminished $2.25. Through the courtesy of the City Librarian, a pleasing exhibition of the work of the evening school pupils was made at the Public Library in September.
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