USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1904 > Part 14
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2. Insist on personal cleanliness in your pupils, and, as far as possible, on clean clothing.
3. Watch vigilantly for signs of contagious disease,-diph- theria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping-cough, chicken-pox, pediculosis, scabies, etc., and see that quarantine rules are rigor- ously enforced. Send suspected cases home, or confer with parents, who will generally commend your solicitude. Err, if at all, on the side of safety.
4. See that schoolhouse doors are open early in cold or in- clement weather. If wet feet and clothing endanger health, send the owner home.
5. The temperature of the schoolroom should be uniform throughout the day,-sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, at the level of the pupils' desks, from eight-thirty until the time of dismissal. Overheated air is much too common. Do not hesitate to send for the janitor whenever it is necessary to regulate the tempera-
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ture. He is good-natured, interested in his work, and will be glad to aid you. If the temperature is sixty or below at nine o'clock, with no prospect of its reaching sixty-five by nine-thirty, dismiss the children, but in all cases consult the janitor, that he may share the responsibility and, if possible, remedy the trouble.
6. In most school buildings opening the windows or doors renders the ventilating system inoperative. Your room must be cooled off or aired by means of the ventilating apparatus.
7. In all schools, grades one to four, inclusive, must have a "basement recess" midway of each session. This recess should be as nearly simultaneous as possible in all classes, and should occupy the briefest possible time. The movements of children may be rapid, as well as orderly. "Tip-toeing" is unhuman and pernicious at all times.
8. In every schoolroom there should be one or more brief periods of Ling gymnastic exercise. Besides this, at the end of every hour, and oftener in the lower grades, there may be a re- cess of two or three minutes, during which children are to leave their seats, hold intercourse with one another, and be given com- plete mental and physical relaxation. At this time there is no objection to opening the windows, provided no one is exposed to draughts.
9. Whenever necessary, pupils are to be allowed to leave the room,-the trusty ones without asking. If any record is kept of such leaving, it should be of the most private character, and with due regard to the feelings of sensitive pupils. No de- tention after school or other penalty should be imposed, except- ing in case of conspicuous abuse of the privilege granted. In doubtful cases a written parental request may be required.
10. Be careful of the eyes of your pupils. Blackboard work should be distinct and, as far as possible, in direct range of the pupils' vision. Pull up the curtains, and take advantage of all the light obtainable. Remember that light from the top of the window reaches the farther side of the room.
11. Home study is prohibited in the six lower grades, and limited to one half-hour in the seventh, three-fourths of an hour in the eighth, and one hour in the ninth grade. Let home tasks be sensible, and adapted to those whose facilities for home study are not of the best. What you can do in a half-hour or so is no measure of what your pupils can accomplish. "Don't measure children by adult standards." It is these overtasks that make home study unpopular, and justly so.
12. Do not carry any recitation or other exercise beyond the fatigue point. For a tired, listless, inattentive class, the teacher is wholly responsible.
13. Pupils are required to be in their seats at nine and at one-thirty. Dismissal is to be as prompt. Classes are expected to work up to eleven-forty-five and three-thirty, excepting in pri- mary grades in large buildings.
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14. Detention after school at the close of the morning ses- sion, whether voluntary or involuntary, is prohibited. Involun- tary detention at the close of the afternoon session is limited to one half-hour, and this time must not be exceeded. The best teachers detain the least. "Wilful neglect of duty" is often mis- interpreted, and should be given its primary signification.
15. Outside of instruction upon the evils of using tobacco and alcohol, teachers are allowed six and one-quarter minutes a week for instruction in hygiene. This instruction should be adapted to the season and to the needs of the class. It should be practical, and should affect the personal habits of the child.
16. There are many poor children in the city who will be glad to receive clothing from those more fortunate. Mr. Snow will cheerfully act as the almoner of any bounty along this line.
17. Finally, in this whole matter of school hygiene, try to put yourself in the place of the child, sympathetically study his peculiar needs, and minister in all things as far as possible to his physical as well as to his mental and moral requirements.
The school board is on record as strongly favoring frequent medical inspection of the public schools. The adoption and suc- cessful working in other cities of plans for the examination of schoolrooms and school children by physicians employed at public expense is proof of its value. The community should be safeguarded against danger from contagious disease, and chil- dren in the public schools who often suffer from unrecognized, easily-remedied ills should have their physical interests promoted in every possible way.
An important step in the right direction has been taken by the board of health in requiring the immediate fumigation of schoolrooms and corridors and the destruction of books used whenever a pupil is reported ill with contagious disease.
The rule may require several fumigations of the same room within a week, and the dismissal of a class may be frequently necessary, but this loss is amply repaid by the security afforded. The plan has one disadvantage. The fumigation cannot be con- ducted without the knowledge of the public, and hence serves to advertise the fact that there have been cases of contagious dis- ease. This tends rather to increase than to allay the apprehen- sions of parents, and may seriously affect the attendance of chil- dren. It should be understood by the public that these preven- tive measures reduce danger of contagion to the minimum as far as the schools go.
The following is a copy of the instructions now posted in every schoolroom :-
IN BOARD OF HEALTH. Somerville, November 3, 1904.
Ordered, that the following regulation be and hereby is adopted :---
Immediately upon the receipt of notice that a teacher or pupil in any school in the city is sick with smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, membranous croup, typhus fever, or cholera, the schoolroom in which
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such teacher or pupil was accustomed to sit, and the dressing-room in which the aforesaid teacher or pupil placed his or her outer garments shall be fumigated by the Board of Health or its agent, or to their or his satisfaction.
All books, papers, and other articles, which in the opinion of the Board or its agent have been directly exposed to the contagion, and which cannot be satisfactorily fumigated, shall be burned.
(Signed)
WILLIAM P. MITCHELL, Clerk.
There is everywhere a growing interest in physical training in the schools, a belief that the duty of caring for the body is as important as that of training the mind. In this connection atten- tion is called to the following utterance of a distinguished edu- cator :-
"First among these present-day problems is the problem of physical education.
"For purposes of training the body directly and the mind in- directly, four agencies are more or less employed in some schools, and should be extensively employed in all schools: play, gym- nastics, athletics, and manual training. In addition to the physi- cal qualities developed by gymnastics, athletics develops the in- tellectual qualities of alertness, self-knowledge, executive ability, and 'presence of mind,' or the ability to think effectively in a crisis; and the moral qualities of self-control, self-reliance, courage, endurance, humility in victory, fortitude in defeat, and loyalty to one's fellows through working together for a common end. Manual training specifically trains the hand as the execu- tive of the mind ; it gives opportunity for self-expression in mate- rial forms; it gives facility in the manipulation of the simplest and most generally used tools that have aided man in his ascent from savagery ; it cultivates the mental and moral habits of accu- racy and truthfulness, and it induces a realization of the dignity of labor.
"Without these four forms of physical culture, no school is doing its perfect work."
Home Study. The question has recently been raised as to whether the requirements of our schools may not be prejudicial to the health of pupils. This question recurs periodically, and is important, for whatever affects the health of school children naturally retards their progress and demands a remedy. The critics often argue from insufficient data, and sometimes from the limited experience of a family circle. Besides, there is a ten- dency to make the schools a scapegoat for misfortunes or failures in the community. For the health of school children, the home and parents are chiefly responsible. It is an easy matter. to charge ill health to the schools, when it is really attributable to natural weakness or excesses in other directions. As has al- ready been said, the subject of physical training in schools is now at the front, and they are more and more supplying the physical demands of the young, which all homes neglect to some degree,
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and many ignore entirely. It is not only because the question is now prominent, but because it is fundamental, that the subject is considered here, and the result of inquiries made more especially with regard to high school pupils presented.
It may first be said that the normal child whose diet is suit- . able, who sleeps eight hours daily, and who has sufficient exer- cise in the open air is generally perfectly healthy. Such children constitute the great body of school pupils. They need useful oc- cupation for body and mind as much as they need food and sleep. Our schools are somewhat neglectful in not giving manual train- ing work,-exercise for the bodily faculties. It is probable that we do not furnish enough work of any sort for many children. For a few not naturally strong, the requirements may possibly be too severe, but for the great body of children, a careful consid- eration of the facts will show that no more is asked than can be given without injury.
Attention has already been called to the fact that the schools are in session on less than half the days of the year (178 days in the case of the high schools this year), that the year is broken into fourths by three vacations of a week each, that the schools are not in session on two days 'each week, and that there are fre- quent interruptions from legal holidays or stormy weather. In the case of the high schools, at least, this short year compels in- tensive work. If the work which necessity now compels pupils to do in 178 days could be extended over a longer period, say 200 days of the uninterrupted, normal, high school year, it would un- doubtedly be better. Greater deliberation, more time for digest- ing knowledge and assimilating it would be a distinct advantage. The spirit of this electric age, demanding that everything be done in the shortest possible time, is having too great an influence in matters of education.
We often hear the remark by opponents of home study, "The children get five hours of brain work in school, and that is enough." Every one at all familiar with the work of the schools knows that the length of the session is no measure of the amount of the "brain work" of the child. Deducting time spent in open- ing and closing exercises, in gymnastics and recesses, in music and drawing, in no school do more than four hours remain for work that demands any special mental strain, and often much of the remaining work is of such a character as not to require in- tense application.
Inquiries of teachers and pupils in the Latin school have elicited the following information: There are twenty-six recita- tion periods in a week. The freshman class has ten periods in a week for study, the sophomores, eight, the juniors, from six to nine, and the seniors, five periods. In addition to this study in school, about twenty-five per cent. of the two upper classes study at home more than three hours a day for five days in a week. Forty per cent. of them study from two and a half to
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three hours, and the remaining thirty-five per cent. study two hours or less. In the two lower classes, about twenty-five per cent. study three hours or more a day for five days a week; another twenty-five per cent. study about two and a half hours a day ; and the remaining fifty per cent. study two hours or less. We find that thirty per cent. of the pupils in the high school carry an additional burden in the shape of music lessons, taking from one to two hours daily. In response to the question, "Do you or your parents think that this study affects your health ?" about fifty answered, "Yes." These fifty pupils are among those who spend the largest number of hours in home study. Twenty of them take music lessons in addition, and in many cases their exercise in the open air is limited to the walk to and from school. In regard to the amount of open-air exercise taken by the pupils of the Latin school, in general it may be said that, aside from those who are engaged in athletics, the great majority do not take an adequate amount. There is sore need of suitable well- directed physical training in the high schools, and there is more need of free open-air exercise on the part of all high school students.
Assuming that there are fifty students out of the 425 in the Latin school whose health may be more or less jeoparded by study, the number is not abnormally large. It is probable that out of a hundred students taken anywhere at random, twelve would be found below the standard in vigor and ability to stand the more severe strain of school work. The remedy for this state of things lies in either lessening the amount of required work or in increasing the time allowed for it. The work of the Latin school is definitely prescribed by the requirements for college ad- mission. Nothing can be omitted without a change in college requirements, and this remedy lies beyond the reach of the school authorities. In response to the question, "Do your parents think it would be better for you to take five years rather than four for your high school course?" only five per cent. answered "Yes," and only seven of the fifty who claimed that health was affected by their high school work desired any extension of the time. For years it has been possible, and is now, and it is distinctly so stated in the curriculum of the school, for any pupil to take five years instead of four to complete the work of the school. Very few, however, do it. With this opportunity of lessening the strain by taking a five-years' course, the responsibility for any injury done to health is transferred from the school authorities to the parents.
In this connection, the question of making the regular course five years in length and shorter courses of three and four years exceptional and optional is pertinent. The advisability of taking into the Latin school college-bound pupils from the eighth grade of the grammar schools, and giving them five years for college preparation, instead of four, should be very thor-
.
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oughly discussed before plans are made for additional high school accommodations. It would make a difference of 150 pupils in the Latin school, and demand additional room, teachers, and out- lay, but in the opinion of many best able to judge, this change would be decidedly to the advantage of both the students and the school.
The conditions in the English school are somewhat differ- ent, but inquiries there, to which 715 students have responded, lead to the same general conclusions. In this school there are thirty recitation periods per week. Of these, the freshmen have ten periods for study, the sophomores, twelve, and the juniors and seniors, eleven periods each. Every student is required to take fifteen periods of work that requires more or less study. Besides, all students have two or three periods of unprepared work which requires no previous preparation. English, history, and mathematics are required from each pupil, save in a few ex- ceptional instances. The remaining studies are elective. Of course the range of electives is limited in the case of students preparing for the Institute of Technology or for normal schools. In general, however, each student may follow his tastes and in- clinations, and select such subjects as offer the least resistance, if he chooses. The average amount of home study reported by students in this school is a little less than two hours a day for six days a week. Some who are doing special work, or more than the required amount, largely exceed this average, and very many, notably in the two lower classes, fall much below it. Thirty per cent. of the pupils spend an average of a little less than ten hours each week on music outside of school. Only four pupils in every hundred expressed a preference for an extension of the course to five years. Seventy-one pupils, or one in ten, think that their health is more or less affected by study. Among these, there are many who have weakness of the eyes. The great majority of students claim to take two hours of open-air exercise daily. As far as the observation of the teachers goes, the pupils- whose health may be somewhat affected by study include many who are taking more than required work, some not naturally possessed of much physical strength, and some who spend a disproportion- ately large amount of time on outside pursuits. The remedy for any troubles on the score of health in this school, unlike that in the Latin school, is two-fold. The required courses are suffi- ciently flexible to meet the needs of all. There are already stu- dents in the school who are now taking partial courses. Any over-taxed student may drop one or more of his electives. The other remedy lies in the extension of the course through five, or even six years. Any one who wishes may adapt the length of time spent in the school to health conditions. Of course, there is a natural aversion to dropping out of one's class, and it often happens that personal interests are sacrificed instead. The re- sponsibility, however, does not rest upon the school.
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In review, it may be said concerning the whole matter that schools must be organized and their courses shaped to accom- modate the great body of students who are in good health. There should be no rigidity, however, about the schools or their curriculum, and there is none that prevents the adaptation of work or of time to the exceptional needs of the few who for one cause or another are unable to do all that the full course requires. If parents will more frequently consult teachers and make known the conditions that affect their children, they will find a willing- ness and even an anxiety to modify requirements to meet special demands.
Administration. In the last report, the need of an addition to the executive or supervisory force of the schools was set forth at considerable length. Each year increases the necessity for such addition. The introduction of telephones into the fourteen large buildings (at an annual expense, by the way, of $308) has been of very great assistance in more ways than one. The ability to communicate instantly with the schools is of decided advantage, and saves much traveling and considerable time. Schools cannot be supervised, however, by telephone. The supervisory force should come constantly into personal contact with teachers and pupils. The special committee appointed by the board to consider the subject thought best to let the matter lie over until another year. The recommendation made to that committee I renew here to the board. It is that we follow the example of other cities of our size and employ a supervisor of primary schools. A woman trained and experienced along this line of work could be secured, and would be a re-enforcement that would result in great advantage to the schools.
Athletics. The interest in school athletics is constantly growing, not only among students, but with the public. Un- regulated, they are a menace to the schools ; properly controlled, they are productive of good. They must be subordinated to scholastic interests. Honors won in the classroom or at college examinations must be held superior to those gained on the ball field. The school teams must fitly represent their schools in conduct and character. They may elevate or discredit the repu- tation of their schools and their city. Not only should their con- duct be sportsmanlike on the field, but clean and manly every- where. Games should be absolutely free from trickery or ruffianism or baseness of any sort.
For several years the Somerville high schools have stood for what is best in athletics. The long line of victories has been honorably won by their teams. The players have reflected credit on their schools and city, not only by their prowess, but by their gentlemanly demeanor. This condition has not come about by chance, but has been developed by experiment and failure, as well as by success.
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The Somerville high schools belong to the Interscholastic League, along with four other high schools.
The interests of the schools and the character of the games are safeguarded by stringent rules. For example :-
1. The governing board consists of one under-graduate, two graduates, and one teacher from each school approved by the head master.
2. The head masters form a board of final appeal.
3. The teachers on the governing board are a committee on games. Two members of this committee must attend each game, with power to settle certain questions that may arise.
4. No student can play on a team unless a bona fide mem- ber of the school, taking a full year's work.
5. Nor can he play unless he is taking a course of twelve prepared recitation periods per week in a way to secure pro- motion.
6. He must also have attained a promotion standard during the previous year.
7. He can take part in no contest unless he is in good and regular standing and maintaining honorable conduct.
8. A student once ruled out of a game for improper play is disqualified for future play until formally reinstated.
These rules ensure intelligent management and a fair standard of scholarship in players.
The Somerville High School Athletic Association manages the athletic interests of the schools through an executive com- mittee made up of three teachers, two graduates, three under- graduates, and the manager and the captain of each team in its playing season. One of the teachers acts as treasurer, and one is present at every league and practice game, accompanies the team.on every trip, and is generally present at afternoon practice.
There has been nothing for several years to criticise un- favorably in the management. There has been no disagreement and no wrangling. The financial affairs have been admirably managed. In June, 1900, at the end of the year, there was a de- ficit of $4.48. For the four following years the gross expendi- ture was $5,790.71, with a cash balance on hand at the end of June, 1904, of $1,327.88. This shows, also, the popular interest in the games.
Rules have been rigorously enforced and players frequently debarred for low scholastic standing. The head masters and the teachers generally have actively participated in the affairs of the association. More than all else, as contributors towards har- mony and success have been the attitude and spirit and co-opera- tion of the students themselves.
The most important person connected with the athletic in- terests of the schools is the coach. Upon him rests not only much of the responsibility for championship successes, but in a large degree is he also responsible for the morale of the teams.
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In his personality and character, in manliness and power, he should be the equal of any teacher. His control should be abso- lute, and he should allow nothing that in the least detracts from the highest type of sportsmanlike play or gentlemanly conduct.
The leading criticism upon school athletics is that they have been left too largely to student control, and have been loosely managed. While this criticism, as has been shown, does not apply to our association at present, we have shared in the gen- eral feeling that there should be a closer affiliation between school authorities and all student activities, such as publications and athletics. Whatever legal difficulties may be in the way of a general movement in this direction in this state will soon be prob-
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