Report of the city of Somerville 1904, Part 12

Author: Somerville (Mass.)
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Somerville, Mass.
Number of Pages: 496


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1904 > Part 12


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As showing the changes in membership that are constantly occurring, the following facts are interesting :-


161


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


Number entering from schools outside the city 1,310 Number entering first grade. 1,366


Number that were graduated. 691


Number of transfers from one school to another in the city, 1,952


The average attendance of the schools is determined by tak- ing into account all absences from whatever cause during the period of membership. It shows the number of pupils who are in school, on the average, every day of the school year. The average attendance for 1904 is 10,422, an increase over last year of 366. The average attendance is 93.9 per cent. of the average membership, showing a loss of 6.1 per cent. occasioned by illness or other causes, in most cases providential or unavoidable.


During the year there have been 3,887 cases of tardiness, which shows one instance of being behind time out of 1,009 chances of being prompt. As compared with other cities, and, indeed, with our own past records, this number is not large. Nevertheless, the responsibility for tardiness rests upon parents generally, and much of it is avoidable. Teachers use all legiti- mate means to secure regularity of attendance, and sometimes, in their zeal, bring influences to bear that are not wholly justifiable.


In 1904 there have been 2,173 instances of parents request- ing the dismissal of their children from school before the close of the session, one case in 1,805 opportunities.


There have been 293 cases of corporal punishment in the elementary schools, a number surprisingly small, when all cir- cumstances are taken into account. One hundred twelve of the 232 teachers in these schools have not resorted to it in a single instance. One building reports no cases, and two others but one each. We have to go back but a few years to note the differ- ence in methods of school management which these facts in- dicate.


On the fifteenth of December, the number of pupils in the schools was as follows :-


1904.


1903.


Increase.


In the Latin school.


422


406


16


In the English school.


811


751


60


In the elementary schools


10,357


10,000


357


In the kindergartens


197


200


-3


A total of


11,787


11,357


430


Adding to this number the 1,719 pupils in private schools, we have 13,506 school children in the city.


Truancy. It is a pleasure to record a decrease in this evil during the year. It is probably due to the fact that the tele- phones enable principals to give immediate notice to the truant officer, who loses no time in investigating the case.


The following is the year's record :--


162


ANNUAL REPORTS.


1903.


1904.


Decrease.


Number of visits to schools.


525


429


96


Number of cases investigated.


521


387


134


Number found to be truants.


152


146


6


Number sent to truant school


9


-


5


4


Paid for board of truants


$029.29


$245.84


$383.45


Teachers. There are employed at the present time 312 teachers, twenty-seven of whom are men. This is exclusive of fifty-six now employed in the evening schools.


During the year 1904 seventeen teachers have tendered their resignations. Of these, ten have been drawn away by matrimo- nial allurements, three are teaching elsewhere for larger salaries, and the remaining four have relinquished teaching for other pur- suits. Five of these teachers have served the city faithfully for ten years or more ; the average length of service of the remain- ing eleven was two years, two months.


During the year twenty-nine new teachers have been elected, nineteen to fill positions made vacant by resignations, and ten to serve in new positions in high or grammar schools. All of these teachers have been professionally trained, and nearly all have had their ability to teach successfully developed and tested by years of experience along the very lines of work in which they are now engaged. One-third of these teachers are residents of Somer- ville and graduates of our schools. There is some advantage in a teacher's school life being spent in good schools with high standards of discipline and method. The inexperienced teacher can do nothing but reproduce the school of her own childhood. Birth, residence, and even education in Somerville, however, do not necessarily make good teachers. Academic education must be supplemented by professional training and experience. · In the selection of new teachers, other things being equal, prefer- ence is given to our own residents, but the great majority of the people of Somerville demand the best teachers to be found for our relatively large salaries, irrespective of other considerations. In every community there is a small class who are interested in individual teachers and in securing them employment. A far larger class, patrons of the schools, feel that the educational in- terests of their children and the success of the schools transcend in importance the interests of a few individuals. In all cities the former class are the greatest menace to the public schools, for schools are ruined and money wasted when teachers are incom- petent. The schools of some cities have already been safe- guarded by being placed beyond the reach of unfavorable local influences by state enactments.


In teachers' agencies, teachers are "quoted at their market value." Such remarks as the following are often heard: "Miss A is a four-hundred-dollar teacher"; "Miss B is a five-hundred- dollar teacher"; "Miss C is a six-hundred-dollar teacher"; "Miss D is a seven-hundred-dollar teacher,-you can't move her with your salary." Our own salary schedule establishes a similar


163


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


monetary standard of value, based on the belief that the longer the experience the more valuable the service. We consider an inexperienced teacher, though professionally trained, worth only $400 a year, and it is assumed that each year adds twenty-five per cent. to the worth of her instruction until she reaches a maxi- mum value of $650. While it is not always safe to rely implicitly on this assumption, it is generally correct.


This principle is recognized, and guides in other professions and pursuits. No one commits a case involving important inter- ests to an inexperienced lawyer. The best legal talent available for the money is invariably employed. When the children are ill and their bodily interests at stake, parents do not send around the corner for the young physician who has just received his diploma because "he needs practice," and "must support him- self," and "charges less." . On the contrary, the call is for the man whose years of experience have given him skill to do the right thing in every emergency. Experience not only develops power, but often discloses native weaknesses that cannot be out- grown or overcome, and that unfit one for the best work. High standards have been set up by the demands of modern schools. Rightly to control, to guide, to develop the intellectual life and the character of the young has grown to be a profession demand- ing high moral character, perfect self-control, strong personality, proficiency in methods of instruction, scholastic attainment, mature judgment, refinement of manner, sympathy with children, and the knack of doing the right thing at the right time that is acquired only by experience. Teachers possessing these quali- ties were never in greater demand, and never commanded the salaries that are now gladly paid for the best service.


Latin School. The Latin school now contains 422 pupils, as compared with 406 registered a year ago. These are divided among the classes as follows :---


1903.


1904.


Change.


Senior


84


81


-3


Junior


95


93


-2


Sophomore


106


112


+6


Freshman


121


136


+15


There have been two changes in the teaching force of this school. Florence H. Paul and A. Florence Moulton have been replaced by Miriam Thayer, of Braintree, a graduate of Welles- ley, and Frederick C. Hosmer, Harvard. Five of the thirteen teachers in the school are men. The school graduated seventy- three, forty-four of whom have entered college.


The work of this school is largely that of fitting students to enter college. During its separate existence, fifty-seven and one- half per cent. of its graduates have entered college. The work of the school is circumscribed and determined by college require .- ments. Close and strenuous application is needed to accomplish what is demanded in the period of four years. Indeed, this time has for many years been actually extended by an addition of sev-


164


ANNUAL REPORTS.


eral hours each week in afternoon instruction in physics. The school has an established reputation as one of the best fitting schools in New England. Its graduates enter higher institutions without conditions, maintain high rank, and reflect great credit on the efficient principal and instructors of the school.


The needs of the school in the way of improved facilities have been set forth elsewhere.


The following shows the numbers pursuing each branch of study :-


English


422


French


100


History


232


German


159


Mathematics


422


Greek


111


Physics


46


Drawing


16


Latin


418


Chemistry


3


Students taking the last two subjects receive their instruc- tion in the English building. The work of the two schools might be co-ordinated in other ways if all conditions were favorable.


The pupils enter this school with a distinct and definite pur- pose. There is behind them the spur of necessity to stimulate attendance and continuance in the school. The following table shows that the loss in classes from year to year is relatively small :-


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.


Class of 1907.


Class of 1908.


December 15, 1st year


79


89


77


64


103 93


111 97


125 106


121


136


66


2nd


67


67


80


73


47


66


3rd


63


57


64


64


88


95 81


93


. .


Graduates


.. .


Loss per cent. 1st year


66


2nd


6.0


15.2 15.0


10.1 20.0


5.2 12.3 3.1 9.7 27.3


26.5 4.3* 22.4* 23.3* 28.1


4 5 13.1 29.1


..


..


. ..


.. .


Total


...


...


...


. .


* Gain.


English High School. This school numbers at the present time 811, as against 751 a year ago, an increase of 60. This number is divided among the classes as follows :-


1904.


1903.


Change.


Post-graduate


18


17


Senior


148


112


.+36


Junior


158


180


-22


Sophomore


220


190


+30


Freshman


267


252


+15


. .


66


3rd


9.5


14.7


...


. ..


4th


3.5


7.0 10.4 39.2


. .. 13.8 37.0


56


49 €0 46


84 73


55


48


65 56


62


4th


57


53


...


...


9.7 5.4


12.6 2.1


15.2 14.0


7.4


...


...


112


..


...


There has been an unusual number of changes in the teach- ing corps in this school during the year. Caroline H. Marsh has been granted a leave of absence for one year on account of health,


165


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


and her place taken by Ruth Tousey, Tufts, '03. The positions heretofore filled by Bertha P. Chase, Grace E. Lord, and Jona- than Leonard have been filled by the employment of H. Adelaide Hamlin, Radcliffe, '00, Nellie H. Swift, Mt. Holyoke, '96, and Anna Pushee, special student at Radcliffe, Berlin University, and Sorbonne. Blanche Bradford, Normal Art, '03, took the place left vacant by the resignation of Miss Harrington in 1903. Two additional teachers have been employed to meet urgent de- mands,-Jessamine D. Wolcott, a former teacher in the school, re-enforces both the commercial and the history departments, while Frederick O. Smith, of Malden, finds constant employment in the manual training department. Without reflecting in the least upon ex-teachers, it may be remarked that, in the employ- ment of new teachers, the highest standards of excellence have been maintained.


The name "English School," if not an actual misnomer, is misleading. It creates the impression that English only is taught therein to the exclusion of other languages. On the con- trary, however, as has been heretofore remarked, all subjects taught in any high school may be pursued in this school, with the solitary exception of Greek. The essential studies, English, mathematics, history, and elocution, are insisted upon in the case of all pupils. There is, besides, a broad list of elective studies meeting the demands of those who are training for either scien- tific and normal schools or for commercial pursuits, as well as for those who finish their school life here.


How severely the school is handicapped by lack of room has been spoken of elsewhere. The limit of expansion in its present quarters seems to have been reached. All signs, however, indi- cate that harmonious action of committee and city government, emphasized by the hearty approval of the citizens at large, will result in securing at least a part of what is needed in the very near future.


The school graduated 106, twenty-one of whom are pursuing their studies in higher institutions. There is a constant demand for the service of graduates of the commercial department of the school in remunerative positions of trust. The number of stu- dents pursuing the various subjects of study is as follows :-


Number Pursuing Each Study, December, 1904.


English


812


Mechanical drawing 212


History


729


Freehand drawing 409


Mathematics


575


Commercial :-


Chemistry


76


Physics


57


Bookkeeping Stenography 149


Biology 40


Elocution 792


Physiology 274


Manual training 187


Latin


103


Penmanship 194


French


303


1 Commercial arithmetic. 73


German 127


Typewriting 160


85


Physical geography. 25


166


ANNUAL REPORTS.


This school suffers somewhat from the dropping out of pupils who begin lines of work, but fail to pursue them to the end through either infirmity of purpose or the demands of service elsewhere. There is always a serious loss of membership in the entering class before the middle of the year. If some method could be devised of either excluding all these temporary students or making them permanent, there would be a marked gain not only to the pupils themselves, but also to the school. The losses from each class since the organization of the school are shown in the following table :-


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.


Class of 1907.


Class of 1908.


December 15, 1st year


2nd “


192 149


228 163


211 153 125 108 96


217 162 135 120 108


299 221 178 151 135


147 112 106


148


..


. .


Graduates


.


Loss per cent.


1st year


22.4 18.7


24.1 27.0 18.5


27.5 18.0


25.3 16.6


26.0 19.5 15.2 10.6 54.8


27.2 17.4 23.8 5.4 56.9


...


...


. ..


Grammar and Primary Schools. A year ago there were in these schools exactly 10,000 pupils; to-day there are 10,357, an increase of 357. They are distributed among the nine grades as follows :-


1904.


1903.


Change.


Grade 1


1,586


1,651


- 65


2


1,424


1,349


75


66


3


1,279


1,270


+ 9


66


4


1,267


1,182


- 85


5


1,203


1,155


+ 48


6


1,114


1,134


20


66


7


1,003


964


+ 39


66


8


851


751


+100


9


630


544


+ 86


Total


10,357


10,000


+357


66


3rd


19.0


13.6


11.1


66


66


4th


12.2


14.4


11.1


10.0


...


. .


. Total


55.2


63.6


54.5


50.2


216 178


261 214 180


250 190


252


267


66


3rd “


121


158


...


4th


98


119 97 83


86


...


...


12.7


2nd


18.0 15.9 17.8


24.0 16.8


220


..


. .


66


.


The grammar schools graduated 512, of whom 387, or nearly seventy-six per cent., entered the high schools, 124 going to the Latin, and 263 to the English. During its progress through the six grammar grades, the class dwindled from 1,036 to less than half that number, 376 dropping out between the sixth and the ninth grades, as soon as the compulsory age limit was passed. The following shows the changes :-


167


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


Loss.


December, 1898, fourth grade.


1,036


December, 1899, fifth grade


1,024


12


December, 1900, sixth grade ..


920


104


December, 1901, seventh grade


826


94


December, 1902, eighth grade.


687


139


December, 1903, ninth grade.


544


143


June, 1904, graduates


512


32


A proposition now before the legislature to raise the com- pulsory school age limit from fourteen to fifteen would probably compel three-fourths of those who now drop out to remain one year longer in the schools. Primarily, education at public ex- pense is for public protection. It is a serious question whether the greatest good to the greatest number does not demand that all children shall remain in school until they have completed their fourteenth year.


The 260 employment certificates issued during the year have been granted to children who have left the various grades as follows :-


Grade 4. 12 Grade 7. 48 Grade 9. . 50


66


5 17


66


6 40


8 32 Unclassified . 61


The unclassified certificates have been granted mainly to illiterate minors.


Kindergartens. The first kindergarten was opened in Somer- ville in 1892 in the Prospect Hill schoolhouse; the second in 1895 in the Bennett school; the third in 1896 in the Glines school; and the fourth in 1897 in the Hanscom school. There have been public kindergartens for periods of from one to three years in the Highland, Hodgkins, and Carr schools. They were given up, however, to make way for primary children. Four kindergartens remain, two in ward one, one in ward two, and one in ward four. In the case of the Bennett kindergarten, there never has been a question regarding the expediency of its continuance. It is of more value than all the others combined. It has never interfered with first-grade schools, and is located among children that most need its benign influences. It should not be discontinued.


Until within two years, the Hanscom kindergarten has not interfered with primary schools. For the last two years, how- ever, ninety first-grade primary children have been forced into half-time to make way for the kindergarten. In ward two this fall an overcrowded first-grade room compelled a decision of the question whether the kindergarten should be abandoned, the children put on half-time, or a portion of them transferred to the ward room of the Knapp school. The committee decided upon the latter course. In the Glines school, the continuance of the kindergarten has been at the expense of half-time for from eighty to a hundred children for two or three years. The experience of last year with regard to the failure of half-time schools to com-



168


ANNUAL REPORTS.


pete with full-time schools has been confirmed by that of this year. In the half-time schools, seven and one-half per cent. more children were non-promoted than in the full-time schools, and in second grades fed by half-time first grades, six and one- half per cent. more children were left behind.


How long a school day shall be given first-grade children and what shall be taught them are mooted questions. There is a growing feeling in other cities among those best able to judge that two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon should make the maximum day for five-year-olds. Something may be said in favor of half-time schools, but experience has con- vinced me that an average of two hours and a quarter a day, even for first-grade children, is not time enough. The majority opinion among parents is decidedly in favor of the double session. Half-time sessions should be resorted to only when absolutely necessary.


Kindergartens are valuable auxiliaries of any school system. They have been incorporated as integral parts of school systems of many cities and towns that can afford them. They are not essential, however, and have been called "educational luxuries." I am of the opinion that an injustice is done whenever children five or six years of age are forced into half-time sessions, in order that children four years old may have two and one-half hours of kindergarten instruction. Under these conditions, the kindergarten should give way until there is room for it. More- over, there should be uniformity of action throughout the city. There is no reason why certain sections should enjoy privileges which other sections have been forced to surrender under iden- tical conditions.


The question of expense is not here considered, though in passing it may be remarked that a much larger dividend would be obtained by the expenditure of the $4,000 for manual training in the upper grammar grades than is now realized from the kin- dergarten outlay.


The total cost of kindergartens in 1904 has been $4,091, $150.04 being for supplies. The per capita cost based upon the average membership was $21.76.


The following table shows facts in detail :-


Hanscom.


Bennett.


Baxter.


Glines.


Total.


Enrollment


101


109


97


106


413


Average membership


49


45


46


48


188


Average attendance


44


39


38


41


162


Per cent. attendance


89.5


86.7


84.2


87.2


86.2


Age


4-9


4-7


4-7


4-7


4-7


169


SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.


Evening Schools. Throughout the country, in all large cities, evening schools are becoming more and more important as an element in systems of public instruction. Thousands of immigrants land annually upon our shores. Many of them are wholly illiterate, and all are ignorant of our language and of many things which every citizen of a free government should know. They must be educated and Americanized, or remain a menace to our institutions. The children of these foreigners may be trained in our day schools, but those above fourteen years of age are ordinarily engaged in occupations that shut them out from day schools. Added to this constantly-increasing class there are in our cities numbers of young men and women who seek by at- tendance upon evening schools to supplement the meagre educa- tion of earlier years, or to make up what was lost to them through their own neglect or the stress of circumstances.


Evening schools are required by law, as well as by the in- terests of the community. If they are to be maintained, they must be made efficient and productive of results commensurate with increasing expenditures. But there are difficulties inherent in the situation that must be overcome. The first that may be mentioned is the difficulty of securing and maintaining the in- terest and regular attendance of students who begin the work with some enthusiasm and with good intentions, but who yield to other attractions in their unwillingness to make the denial and effort required, and drop out early in the season. Our own ex- perience is that less than half of those who are enrolled attend to the end of even a short term. The benefit resulting to this class is very slight.


A second difficulty, which may be related to the first as cause to effect, is that of securing the right sort of teachers. As in the day schools, so in the evening schools, everything depends upon the character and training and power of the teacher. Failures in evening schools in the past may be attributed to the employ- ment of inexperienced teachers who had no interest in the work other than a financial one.


Attempts to maintain evening schools without the employ- ment of day school teachers have generally failed. While it is possible now and then to secure the services of ex-teachers of the right stamp engaged in other occupations, the supply falls much short of the demand, and some teachers come to their work ordi- narily no less fatigued than day-school teachers. There are stu- dents in neighboring colleges that are ready to undertake the work; they have been tried and found wanting. As a rule, those who take up teaching as a side occupation generally do poor work. The experience of other cities is like our own, and all are obliged, more or less, to draw their evening school teachers from the ranks of those who work in the day schools.


To illustrate by present conditions in our own city: We have now fifty-five teachers employed in evening schools. Of


170


ANNUAL REPORTS.


these, twenty-one, eleven men and ten women, teach in our own day schools. Ten others, four men and six women, are em- ployed in the day schools of neighboring cities. Twenty, three men and seventeen women, are experienced teachers now en- gaged in other lines of business. The most of this class do fairly good work, but are not as efficient as those of the preceding two classes. The remaining four teachers hold subordinate positions, and are comparatively without experience. To what extent regu- lar school teachers may be employed without detriment to the day schools is an important question which has recently been fully discussed in the board, and upon the settlement of which the success of evening schools and, in a measure, that of day schools, as well, hinges.


The work of our evening schools is limited in kind to that of the day schools. In Boston, for example, the evening school work has been very much broadened in what are called "educa- tional centres." In these centres instruction is given not only in day-school subjects, but also in dressmaking, millinery, em- broidery, basketry, raffia work, carpentery, cooking, gymnastics, and music. In addition, popular lectures or informal talks are given on such topics as literature and authors, civil government, geology, steam heating, and ventilation, physiology and hygiene as applied in nursing, electricity, steam engineering, brick-laying, and salesmanship. These facts are mentioned, not to advocate the introduction of this work in our city, but to show the general trend of evening school work.




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