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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