USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1902 > Part 15
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When you have another dollar's worth or more of stamps to add to your account in the bank, take your bank book and card to tlie bank ; or your teacher will do this for you.
If you need your money, your teacher will -- take your card or cards containing your stamps, and a week later give you all the money, they represent, but she cannot give you a part of it.
If you have a bank book, follow- carefully the directions it contains.
Stamp Saving System. Somerville, Mass.
STAMP DEPOSIT CARD BELONGING TO
NAME:
SCHOOL
TEACHER
DATE
I exchange this card (date)
for
Depositor.
If you lose your card you lose the money it represents.
This card is not transferable. Price of card, one' cent.
7
=
S.S.S
S.S.S 3
SSS
SSS
S.S.S. 25
SO
OME
MI
OM
OM
2 Many a
little makes a
(mickle.
3. Wilful waste brings woful want.
4. Save when you are young to spend when you are old.
5. Take care of the cents and the dol- lars will take care of themselves.
6. Wisdom
saves,
folly,
spends.
7. Pride breakfasted with plenty, but supped with poverty.
8. Youth is the sowing vest field.
end of the har-
9. Now start book.
a new card or get a bank
0.44
5
10
189
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
On the cover of a booklet of wax paper containing the stamps supplied each teacher for one week's sale are the follow- ing instructions from the Superintendent of Schools :-
It is assumed that the teachers are interested in whatever promotes
the welfare of their pupils, and hence will do all in their power to make this Stamp Saving System successful. They are requested to teach the value of money : (1) In securing the necessaries of life; (2) in promoting comfort and convenience ; (3) in providing the means of education through books, school, special teachers and travel; (4) in enabling its possessor to help the needy and to make others happy. The child should be shown the difference between thrift and penuriousness; how money may be wasted; how it accumulates at interest; and how it may be made to minister to future needs.
The success of the system has exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine. In all parts of the city, children have been intensely interested in buying stamps, as the following figures will show :--
Total number cards sold, 12 weeks.
Stamps sold :-
First week ..
Third week.
Fourth week.
Fifth week. Sixth week.
Seventh week. Eighth week.
Ninth week.
Tenth week ..
Eleventh week.
Twelfth week.
8,474
$616.19
617.90
688.94 789.33
737.75
694.82
598.06
657.57
558.37
785.27 365.58 291.48
$7,378.39
1,000
$2,289.94
955.39 4,133.06
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If marked success can justify an
The statutes of the Commonwealth in explicit language make it incumbent upon all teachers of youth, from the President of Harvard University down, to teach the principles and value of the virtues of sobriety, industry, and frugality, and the tendency of the opposite vices. Assuredly no more impressive or practical method of teaching frugality could be devised than this Stamp Savings System. The virtues of thrift and economy, a knowl- edge of the value of money when wisely saved and used, the folly of wastefulness and extravagance, the weakness of petty gratifi-
Total amount of stamps sold, 12 weeks. Number of bank books issued.
Amount deposited. Amount redeemed in cash. Remaining in children's hands
This certainly is a remarkable showing for three months. There will doubtless be a falling off in purchases of stamps after a while, but if even one-half as many are sold, the result will satisfy those most interested.
enterprise, this one is fully justified.
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Second week.
190
ANNUAL REPORTS.
cations of the appetite, a wise provision for future needs,-all these things, like habits and principles of any sort, must be estab- lished in youth, if ever. Moreover, they are so intimately con- nected with the welfare and happiness of the individual and the community that the schools are justified, not only by statute, but by public policy, in inculcating them.
The chief objection to the co-operation of teachers in the work under discussion has been that it makes an increased de- mand upon those who are already overburdened. This objection has less and less force as the methods of conducting the work are systematized and simplified. At any rate, the end justifies the means. The altruistic nature of the plan has commended it to teachers, who are ready to do whatever they can for the good of those whose highest interests they are commissioned to promote. Children's Reading and the Public Library. The chief work of the schools may be expressed in the phrase, they teach us to read. Indeed, some one wisely says, "All that a university or the final highest school does for us is still what the first school began doing, to teach us to read." We learn much by observation, by social intercourse, by experience in the rough and tumble of life, but most of our knowledge of men and things, of the world and its interests, of the history of man and his accomplishments through the ages in science, literature, and art,-all this comes to us through the printed page. We learn to read that we may know, and feel, and think, and strive, and aspire, and achieve, as the best men in all the generations have thought and known and felt and striven and achieved.
Children of all sorts of heredity from all sorts of homes come together in school to have this door of knowledge opened to them-to be taught to read. With the fortunate few, the task is a comparatively simple one. With the many, the process is complex and difficult. Hence we give to it the larger part of our elementary school time. In this work, from the outset, the aim of the teacher is two-fold.
First of all, it is to give the child the power to acquire thought and feeling from the printed page. Vocal expression is the chief evidence that he does this, and this test is constantly applied. The acquisition of thought, however, is a silent process, mental. not vocal, and intelligent sight reading is the ultimate aim. The primary object is not to teach children to read aloud with pleasing effect, for nearly all of their future reading and study is to be done in silence. Correct mental impression is the cause, good oral reading the effect. Reading cannot be in ad- vance of the child's development and knowledge. What is pre- sented to him must be within his mental grasp, or at best, but lit- tle above it. His ability to read with understanding must set the pace for his progress in other studies, or, rather, all parts of his school work are so inter-related that they must advance to- gether. We do not expect elementary school pupils to under-
191
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
stand or to read Shakespeare and Emerson, and if high school graduates are equal to Carlyle and Browning, we are pleased.
The language and subject matter of the pupils' text-books must be within his comprehension as he reads them. Too often the teacher is obliged to serve as an interpreter between the pupil and his book. The old question that Philip put to the eunuch on the Ethiopian highway, "Understandest thou what thou readest," is constantly on her lips, and to secure this essen- tial desideratum is the great burden of her work in teaching reading.
The second object aimed at by the teacher of reading is to create and develop a desire and a taste for good reading, for good books, for good literature of all sorts, that the child may have through life an unfailing source of information and enjoyment, by which he may be led upward. This involves in the teaching of reading the effort to make him appreciate the beauty and grace of what he reads, to know something of the author, to under- stand the allusions and the imagery, to feel its influence and its moral uplift. All this is of great importance, and it requires much time and peculiar skill on the part of the teacher. It demands an acquaintance with and an appreciation of the best in literature, a knowledge of the child and his attainments and environment, and the ability to win and direct. This portion of her great task may be in part accomplished by reading to the class in an ideal way selections from what is best and most at- tractive in literature, and by requiring extracts that may well be remembered forever, to be learned and recited singly and in concert.
In the reading of her pupils, as in all oral school exercises, the good teacher aims constantly to secure clear and pure tones, distinct utterance, proper expression, all the graces of speech. It is a superficial teacher, however, who aims in her teaching of reading solely at the effect it may produce upon the hearer.
Children read better than formerly, not so much because they are better taught, as because they read more, and more of that which is best. This is an age of good books. The dime magazine has replaced the dime novel. Literature, presented in its most attractive forms, adapted to all ages and attainments, everywhere abounds, and is readily accessible to all. Our own public library, under a broad and wise and progressive manage- ment, has opened its doors and its shelves and all its privileges to the children of our city. They are welcomed into apartments of their own. Attendants are present to help them in their selections. Special libraries are sent to the school buildings. An able assistant devotes all her time to the school side of the library work, and nothing that teachers or pupils can ask for is lacking. With all these opportunities and inducements, it is little wonder that our children are becoming interested in books, in authors, in literature.
192
ANNUAL REPORTS.
During the year, 6,717 books have been sent from the public library to the schools, and 147 class libraries, containing on the average twenty-five books each, have been placed in the various schoolrooms.
Supervision. The business of a supervisor is to give sys- tem, unity, harmony, correctness, life and enthusiasm to some special line of work in which he is an expert, and the teacher comparatively an amateur. Whether supervised or not, the teacher does the work, and is entitled to the greater share of the credit if success is achieved.
In Massachusetts five subjects are taught in the elementary schools exclusively by specialists,-manual training, in forty- nine of the three hundred and fifty-three cities and towns, sew- ing in forty-one, cooking in twenty, and kindergartening in forty-one. Specialists are employed either because expert in- struction is demanded, or because the work is of such a nature that it cannot be done in the regular schoolroom.
Special supervisors are employed in the state in six subjects. Of the 353 towns, 203 employ supervisors of music, 170 have drawing specially supervised, twenty-eight have directors of physical training, twenty employ supervisors of penmanship, in twelve, nature work is under special supervision, and in one city,-Fall River,-a supervisor divides her time among the three departments of reading, language, and physical culture. In all the other cities and towns in the state,-a great majority,- these subjects are taught by the regular teachers with no other supervision than that given by the superintendent or school principals. It will be noticed that of the nine subjects for which either special teachers or supervisors are employed, all are op- tional except drawing and writing, which are prescribed by statute for all schools, and manual training which is obligatory upon cities of 20,000.
Somerville employs, outside of the high schools, four special teachers, three in sewing and one in music, who give weekly les- sons. We also employ three supervisors in music, drawing, and penmanship, two of whom make monthly visits to each class, the third calling every thirteenth school-day.
But the chief element in our supervisory force is thirteen supervising principals of large schools having in charge eighty per cent. of our elementary school population. These are all professional teachers, especially educated for their business and trained by long experience. That they may have time for supervision they are provided with assistants of superior quali- fications, who generally teach all but two subjects in the highest grade. Upon these principals the general oversight and disci- pline of the school as a whole devolve. They attend to the many details connected with a large school. All merely clerical matters they may turn over to their assistants, who have ten
193
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
hours weekly to aid the principal in his administration of affairs. The rules require twelve hours of teaching of supervising prin- cipals. When this is done and the general duties incident to the management of the school discharged, several hours weekly re- main in which their distinctly supervisory work can be done. This work lies outside of music, drawing, and penmanship,-the responsibility in these branches being shifted to the supervisors, -and is confined to the major and more important studies, read- ing, spelling, numbers, language, geography, and history. Daily visits to the classrooms, now and then a model teaching exercise, kindly criticism of the teacher, helpful suggestions as to methods, frequent oral and written tests of pupils, the harmonizing of the work in the different grades, the stimulating and energizing of pupils and teachers, and the quickening of zeal and enthusi- asm,-in all these ways the principal has the opportunity of mak- ing his influence felt in the most important directions throughout the entire building.
As has been remarked, this supervision by principals is the most valuable the schools have. It is given by pedagogical ex- perts who are in constant touch with what is going on in the educational world, and who know intimately the pupils and teachers and their needs. It is continuous and not spasmodic ; and it is exercised in connection with the most important sub- jects in the curriculum. It is fortunate for the schools that this efficient form of supervision is available, for, burdened with re- sponsibilities as he is, no superintendent could do a tithe of it. And this naturally leads to the enquiry whether the highest effi- ciency does not demand a larger administrative force in its school department for a city of 65,000 than for one of 40,000. There has been no change in Somerville during such a period of growth.
How Well Do the Schools Do Their Work? Whether we consider the vital connection between the schools and the welfare of the community, or the large financial outlay that they require, this question is always pertinent. With equal pertinence we may ask a similar question concerning other factors in the great task of raising the people to the ideal levels of right thinking and right living. Is the church doing its work as wisely and as well as it ought? Is the public press so directing its influence that men are led constantly upward in their endeavor? Does the light shed by the public library always illuminate, refine, uplift? Does the home, the mightiest factor in bringing on the millen- nium, discharge the great duties committed to it in the best pos- sible way? Judging from surface indications, we should answer all these questions affirmatively, but there is much below the sur- face. The influences that really uplift, and purify, and ennoble, that are gradually raising men to higher levels of thought and action, work within them, and are unseen. So with the work of
194
ANNUAL REPORTS.
the schools. Much that they do is patent and measurable, but their more important and enduring influences can be seen and felt only in the gradual advance of the community in intelligence and virtue.
We may perhaps find a partial answer to our question by learning how the graduates of the schools meet the demands upon them in the stress of business life. A series of questions, recently sent by the State Teachers' Association to leading busi- ness and professional men in the city of New York, brought out some interesting information as to certain features of the work of schools in that locality. The replies are equally applicable without doubt to our own vicinity. There was a strong pre- ponderance of evidence to show that boys spell better than formerly, well enough on the whole for practical purposes ; that the writing is legible; and that greater accuracy is attained in arithmetic, though there was some criticism as to speed. The nia- jority opinion was largely in favor of teaching boys how to keep accounts accurately ; of giving them knowledge of actual busi- ness transactions ; that studies should be utilitarian as well as cultural ; and that even those who enter professional life should be given some commercial training. As to foreign languages, German is given the first place, and Spanish the second; French comes third. There is a strong preference for high school gradu- ates. The more education the employee has the better.
As to the matter of manners and morals, the public school boys are in the main satisfactory as to truthfulness, cleanliness, and ambition, but not wholly so in punctuality, reliability, man- ners, and ability to understand and follow instructions. They are not frugal in the use of time, and are wasteful of material. Cigarette users are not wanted.
All this is interesting and informing as far as it goes. It discloses a little of what the commercial world demands of the schools, and a little of how the schools are meeting this demand. It covers, however, a comparatively small section of school work and product. It deals with boys only. It shows little of the cul .. tural side of education. It reveals nothing of tastes and mental habits, of desires and powers, of motives and principles that in their development and exercise will enrich and beautify life. It exhibits little of the altruistic, and of those qualities that make good citizens, just, upright, unselfish, loyal. Only the future character and prosperity of the community along the lines of higher and better living can fully show how the schools are now accomplishing the greater tasks laid upon them.
This is a materialistic, a utilitarian age. It is an age when money dominates, when wealth and power are concentrating, when the welfare and happiness of the many are jeoparded by the ambition and selfishness of the few. Without neglecting the practical side of education, let us constantly lay emphasis upon
195
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
the higher function of the schools to develop character that shall be beyond corruption ; to beget a sense of justice ; to cultivate the spirit that regards the rights of others; to give the strength that comes from struggle; to engender a helpful sympathy for the weak and unfortunate; to inspire a willingness to serve even to the point of sacrifice ; to awaken a spirit of unvarying loyalty to the right; to make a sense of duty to God and fatherland the motive of conduct, and the desire to be of use in the world, the mainspring of an unselfish life.
The Superintendent extends his grateful acknowledgments to the members of the Board for their courtesy and forbearance, and to supervisors, principals, and teachers for their hearty sym- pathy and co-operation during another year of service.
G. A. SOUTHWORTH.
December 26, 1902.
196
ANNUAL REPORTS.
In Memoriam.
At the meeting of the Board, held on the 31st of March, 1902, the chairman announced the death of Mr. Martin W. Carr, who had just closed a connection of seventeen years with the Board, and who had for many years been identified with the educational and civic interests of Somerville. The following memorial, after appropriate and eulogistic remarks by various members, was unanimously adopted and entered upon the records of the Board :-
The Somerville School Board, having heard with heartfelt sorrow of the sudden death on the twenty-eighth of March, 1902, of Mr. Martin W. Carr, so recently associated with them, and for seventeen consecutive years a member of the School Committee of this city, desire to express and record their high appreciation of his personal character and public service.
From its beginning in 1829, his life exhibited three prominent traits, -industry, integrity, and a desire to help his fellow-men. The first two of these qualities were constantly manifested in his business career, and carried him through trials and obstacles to success and influence. The last two qualities were conspicuous during his twenty-five years of public service in the city that honors his memory to-day. He served his fellow- citizens faithfully for five years as a member of the City Government, but he will be longest remembered for the uninterrupted and unselfish devo- tion of seventeen years to the educational interests of the city. His own early struggles gave him a keen appreciation of the value of education, especially of its practical and industrial side. To his earnestness and in- fluence much is due for the present industrial features of our school sys- tem. His wisdom in counsel. his sound judgment, his broad views of financial questions, his discretion in selecting and his firmness in sustain- ing teachers, his sympathy with children, and his tact in management secured for him the confidence of the public, were a power in moulding and directing our public schools, and entitle him to the affectionate re- gard and gratitude of his fellow-citizens.
His name is to be forever associated with one of the largest of our grammar schools, and his life and character will always furnish an in- spiring example for the study and imitation of the thousands of children who may hereafter enjoy its advantages.
To our esteemed associate member, and to the entire family of our departed friend, we extend our tenderest regard and sympathy, with the earnest hope that divine consolation and the golden memories of the past may speedily bring them resignation and peace.
197
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.
While the celebration of this anniversary was almost exclus- ively under the direction of the Alumni of the school rather than the School Committee, it constitutes so important a part of the history of school affairs in the city as to justify a brief account in this official record.
The Somerville High School was opened May 3, 1852. The anniversary exercises, somewhat anticipating that date, occurred April 27, 28, and 29.
At the March meeting of the Board it was voted: That the School Board of Somerville is in hearty sympathy with the plan of the Alumni to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the found- ing of the High School, and will cheerfully co-operate with them; and that a committee of five, of which the president of the Board shall be chairman, be appointed to confer and act with the committee of the High School Alumni Association. The chair- man, S. Newton Cutler, appointed Messrs. Flynn, Bennett, Fiske, and Jones to act with himself on this committee. The executive committee of the Alumni were :-
Frank M. Hawes, '68, Chairman. Miss Clara A. Johnson, '85. S. Henry O. Hadley, '62. Mrs. Harriet Wisdom Russell, E., '96.
Miss Frances W. Kaan, '69, Sect'y. William H. Burgess, E., '97.
Mrs. Emma. Prichard Hadley, '75. Malcolm E. Sturtevant, L., '98.
Post-card invitations were sent to all graduates of the school, large numbers of whom responded either in person or by letter. The anniversary celebration began by a religious service at the First Congregational church (Unitarian), Highland Avenue, Sunday evening, April 27. The following is the programme :-
Ringing of the Chimes, from 7.15 to 7.30.
George Stephens, Jr., '87.
Organ Prelude.
Fred A. Reid, '88.
Invocation.
Rev. Charles L. Noyes, of the Winter-hill Congregational Church. Solo.
Frank E. Doyle, '92.
Reading of the Scriptures.
Rev. Nathan K. Bishop, of Emmanuel Church.
Solo.
Mrs. Jessie Underhill Fletcher, '89.
198
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Prayer.
Rev. George S. Butters, of the First Methodist Episcopal Church Organ Response.
Address.
Rev. William H. Pierson, Pastor of the Church.
Solo.
Joseph L. Rubel, '88.
Address.
Rev. Elmer H. Capen, D. D., President of Tufts College.
Solo.
Mrs. Beulah Hill Hanscom, '69.
Hymn, written for the occasion. Tune: "Jerusalem the Golden" :-
O God, the wise Creator, Thy boundless love we sing, And in our adoration To Thee glad hearts we bring, Thy smile has ever cheered us; Thy hand leads year by year; Why, then, should we thy creatures Have any cause to fear?
O God, the bounteous Giver, As thus our song we raise In notes of exaltation, In words of gladsome praise, For home and friends and country, For wisdom's golden store, To Thee, who giveth all things, Be praise forevermore.
O God, the loving Father, Accept our offering, This eve of glad reunion, Which thus to Thee we bring: The trusting faith of children- Whate'er the future be- In love divine enduring To all eternity.
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