USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1906 > Part 15
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One child in ten, that is, fifty out of 500, remains a second year in the grade and repeats the work, ordinarily with little relish. This may not be through any fault of the child, but may be due to long-continued absence or other misfortune. In many cases his mental equipment demands direction and aid which come only through personal contact.
3. "Promote the entire class."
"Promote no pupils who fall below in arithmetic and language, regardless of their general average."
The whole question of promotion is surrounded with diffi- culties. What is best for the individual should control. Natural ability, age, future occupation should all be considered. The higher grades and the high school should be open to every faith- ful, ambitious student to accomplish what he may within rea-
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sonable time limits. Give the meritorious a chance, even if they are slow or "born short" in some directions.
4. "Raise the age of admission to the first grade."
"Admit only those who are six on or before January 1 of the school year, and extend kindergarten training."
"Admit to the first grade only those that are six years of age on October 1."
"Adopt an eight-years' course with sixteen grades, admitting to the first grade twice a year, and holding half-classes in the highest grade for the first part of the year."
"Four hours a day is enough for the first grade."
These cognate subjects are discussed with some fullness later in this report.
5. "There should be more flexibility in the course of study and larger option on the part of teachers to adapt it to the varying needs of pupils."
"Shorten the curriculum, that the work may be more thorough."
"Cut down the requirements in grammar and arithmetic, and devote more time to oral and written language."
"Provide a course in civics."
"Introduce the study of algebra in the ninth grade."
"Provide more time for study in school."
"There should be more home-study on the part of children."
These suggestions have to do more or less directly with the course of study, the revision of which is now under considera- tion.
6. "Secure a more active co-operation of parents in the work of the schools."
"Awaken in parents a sense of the responsibility for the conduct of children in the street."
A communication from one of the masters bearing on this general subject has been already given. Parental interest, sym- pathy, co-operation are essential to the success of the teacher. In general, these things are cheerfully accorded. There are many homes from which no help comes and from which none can be expected. The teacher must do the parents' work and her own besides. The functions of the schools, of evening schools, particularly, must be enlarged, their work diversified, and their influence strengthened. Mothers' meetings or parents' meetings, of which a number have been held during the year, bring mothers and teachers into touch with one another and are salutary in their influence. The union between parent and teacher should be so close that they will always work together in every laudable effort to secure the good of the child.
7. "Raise the salaries of the teachers (1) to enable us to enter into successful competition with neighboring municipalities in securing the best teachers, (2) in view of the increased cost of living."
"Establish salaries on the ground of merit before being forced to do it by the recognition of this merit by other cities."
Ultimately all teachers will receive larger salaries. The basis of increase will be merit rather than length of service,-by the extension of civil service rules and methods. The difficulty lies in establishing a system of selecting the meritorious teacher.
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Academic tests will not suffice. Any adequate measure of effi- ciency must include the investigation of (a) the teacher's personal qualifications,-character, health, manners, habits, love for the young, adaptability, tact, and loyalty to her principal, her school, her fellow teachers, and the teaching profession; (b) her theo- retical knowledge of the art and method of teaching; (c) her actual experience and success as a teacher in control, instruction, and influence upon character. This is a difficult task, but one that can be accomplished if competent judges can be found who are free from personal and political influence.
8. "Employ a director of physical training and a supervisor of ele- mentary science."
9. "Before entering the high school, graduates of the grammar schools and their parents should receive more information and expert advice with regard to the character of the work and choice of courses."
Too often these matters are left to the immature judgment or the whim of the pupil. He is not only undecided as to his future, but ignorant of what is educationally the best for him. He does not know what biology is, or physics, or chemistry. He often chooses unwisely. He flounders purposelessly in the school for a few weeks or months, and then drops out. Expert advice at the outset as to his choice and a right start would often lead to the completion of the course.
10. "Place feeding schools under charge of the masters."
"Give teachers some voice in the selection of the tools with which they work."
"Abolish the district system."
One reply presents and emphasizes certain important mat- ters so well that it is quoted nearly in full. It is as follows :-
(a) Our schools are emphasizing commercial and professional prep- aration only. We are giving a one-sided development. We ignore some of the faculties of the children, and, while we as teachers do not intend it, the effect of our system and methods is to deprecate all indus- trial or mechanical pursuits. We are not only failing to give the right kind of training to secure a well-rounded development, but, owing to the lack of opportunity for the children to discover their own natural tastes and capabilities, and further because of the prejudice very natur- ally arising in their minds against all manual labor, we are shutting them out from the most profitable fields of endeavor our country offers. The statement has recently been made by excellent authority that Ger- many has in thirty-five years risen from an agricultural country to an industrial power of the first rank, and this through her system of public education. Nothing short of blindness or false economy can keep us from recognizing the immense value of manual and of industrial train- ing both for the sake of the children individually and for our own sake as a people in our struggle for our share of the world's wealth. We have seen England outstripped in the race, but the lesson seems to be lost upon most of us. We can infinitely better spare our kindergartens than to dispense longer with mannal training in the grammar schools. I therefore recommend that the money now expended for kindergartens be devoted to manual training in our highest three grades.
(b) There is room for vast improvement in our supervision. It is a physical impossibility, considering time only, for one man to super- vise all of our schools. Results are uneven in different schools and in different grades. There are children who on entering the sixth grade
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can scarcely read, who have very little language power, who do no out- side reading, and who know practically nothing of our public library and its treasures, and who have neither the inclination, taste, nor ability to read books suited to their age. These children are placed in the same classes with those comparatively well equipped, greatly to the detriment of the latter.
I recommend that feeding schools be placed under the supervision of supervising principals, who shall be required to inspect and examine the work of those schools as they are at present expected to do in the larger buildings; that the superintendent require reports from time to time of such inspection and examination, and that such supervising prin- cipals bear the same relation to the smaller schools with respect to se- lection of teachers, conterences, work, examination, promotion, etc., as to the teachers and classes in their own buildings.
The quality of the work of the schools would be greatly improved if supervising principals were to have conferences as a body with the superintendent. This would afford the latter ample opportunity to in- dicate his policy, plans, and methods.
(c) Our method oi selecting text-books is open to question. The publishers of a successful book are most triumphant after the selection of their book by a committee chosen from the teaching force, and such a victory they advertise far and wide; and most doubt is cast upon that selection which is made by school boards alone, contrary to the views of the professionals. I recommend that either the teaching force be given representation on the text-book committee, or that committees from that force be appointed who, after ample opportunity for examina- tion of competing books, shall report their preferences to the text-book committee, who should honor such selections, and whose recommenda- tions to the full board should in turn be honored.
(d) I believe we do not place sufficient emphasis upon the teaching of civics. It should have a place in our programmes, and a text-book on the subject should be furnished to every child. We spend but little on military display, beautiful monuments, and other means of cultivat- ing civic pride and loyalty as compared with some European countries. In view of our heterogeneous population, we cannot afford to lose the opportunity the schools offer for coping with the evils of unsightly streets, squalid and unsanitary conditions in and about our poorer homes, hoodlumism, lawlessness, and anarchy. It has often been said that little can be done for adults.
(e) Our schools would be materially benefited by a higher grade of salaries in the grammar schools. The cost of living has increased so much that teachers do not actually have as much to live upon as for- merly. General prosperity has been so great that corporations, private individuals, and even the United States government have in many cases voluntarily raised salaries and wages. Everybody has had a share of our added wealth but the school teacher, the masters of our grammar schools having received no increase of salary in a decade. Our schools are offering insufficient inducement to young people of ability, educa- tion, and culture to fit themselves to teach. Somerville clearly is not doing its duty by the teachers.
Length of Elementary School Courses. There is a demand, more or less urgent, for the shortening of the time a child must spend in school. The reasons given are twofold, (1) that the college-bound pupil may enter college at an earlier age, and (2) that others may enter upon their life pursuit as early as possible. Throughout the country in general the elementary course covers eight years, exclusive of the kindergarten. In Massachusetts its length is nine years, with few exceptions. The high school course in general is four years long, although there are excep-
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
tions in favor of five years. Two points are to be noted ;- whether the course covers the longer or the shorter period,-(1) the average age of graduates is about the same, and (2) a portion of the elementary school graduates do their work in eight years or less, while many require nine, and a few need ten years or more. In every school are found two classes of pupils, the bright and capable, and the slow and less capable. Everywhere there is a difference either in the time allotted for the completion of the work or else in the amount of work required of these two kinds of pupils.
How to classify pupils so that each one may cover the course in what is for him the shortest possible time is an impor- tant, but difficult, matter. In this city there are comparatively infrequent promotions of pupils who either skip a grade or at- tempt to do two years' work in one. There is, ordinarily, a de- cided loss when this is done.
For several years the neighboring city of Cambridge has followed a plan of classification by which the brighter section of classes may be advanced as rapidly as they accomplish the as- signed work. The average of the last five years shows that in the three primary grades five pupils out of every hundred do the work in less than the prescribed time,-three years. Thirty-five out of every hundred require four years or more, the average time for a pupil being three and one-third years.
In the grammar school, out of every hundred, six have fitted for the high school in four years, and twenty-seven in five years. Fifty-two have taken the allotted time of six years, while the re- maining fifteen have required seven years or more, the length of the grammar course for the average child being five and three- quarters years. It should be remarked that the high school col- lege course in Cambridge covers five years instead of four.
This plan shortens the course of one-third of the graduates of the grammar schools by one year or more without any appa- rent loss, and on this account is certainly worthy of imitation.
The city of Boston has recently adopted a scheme of classi- fication differing somewhat from the Cambridge plan, but de- signed to accomplish the same result. The course is divided for the average student into nine annual parts as at present. For those able to shorten their course the same work is divided into eight annual parts. Each classroom contains two sections, each of which, without much reference to the apportionment of the work by years, progresses as rapidly as its ability justifies. The eight-year section, it is expected, will anticipate each year about one-eighth of the work of the next year, and in this way will be graduated at the end of eight years. The other section will take nine years or longer, as the case may be. It is thought that in this way the elementary course for sixty per cent. of the graduates will be eight years only. This is probably an over- estimate.
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
The time element, however, is considered subordinate by those who have made the plan, gains in other directions being far more important. Among the advantages expected, the fol- lowing may be mentioned : (1) The development in the pupil of the spirit of self-reliance and his mastery of difficulties without the aid of the teacher; (2) the flexibility of the course, adapting it to the varying abilities of pupils, and the resultant increase of interest in the work; (3) the possibility of changing a pupil from any one of the seventeen sections to another without the loss of time; (4) the opportunity afforded the teacher to give individual instruction exactly adapted to needs ; (5) the larger opportunity for study in school instead of at home.
In last year's report it was suggested that we might ex- clude children from the first grade until they reach the age of six, and then it would be possible to do in eight years what now re- quires nine. It is the opinion of nearly all our first-grade teachers,-among whom are many of long experience and excel- lent judgment,-that it would be better for children to enter the first grade at the age of six. While this plan is doubtless pos- sible, I am convinced that the objections to it are so serious as to make it impracticable. The work required of our five-year- old children should be changed, both in amount and character. Some plan should be adopted whereby college-bound pupils may commence the study of Latin earlier, even if a fifth year should be taken in the high school. It is also very desirable that some scheme of classification, either like that in Cambridge, or in Boston, or something wholly different, should be adopted so that the time may be shortened and the work required wisely apportioned. The matter is commended to your consideration.
Physical Training. To what extent are the schools respon- sible for the health and physical vigor of children? The health of children depends upon (1) a regulated diet of proper food ; (2) regular and sufficient sleep ; (3) the proper care of the body and its functions ; (4) pure air at all times ; (5) free and unre- strained exercise in play in the open air or in useful employ- ment ; (6) freedom from exposure to contagious disease or un- sanitary conditions. The most of these essentials can be secured only by the home. The school controls the child one hour out of ten. For what the child is during the remaining nine hours the parents are chiefly responsible. The schools cannot regulate diet nor prescribe hours of sleep. They cannot secure sanitary conditions in the home, nor can they direct the open-air exercise of children. These four things are by far the most essential fac- tors in promoting health.
It is in the power and among the important duties of the schools to secure to the child pure air of the right temperature, comfortable and hygienic seating, freedom from danger of con- tagion and unsanitary conditions during the tenth of his time that he spends in school. These obligations that rest upon
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
school authorities are recognized and, I think, fairly well pro- vided for. Our school buildings are all probably much better ventilated than the ordinary home. The establishment of regu- lar medical inspection will ensure all reasonable security against contagion and other injurious conditions. In the large majority of cases, children are provided with the best seats that skill and experience can devise. It is, moreover, the province of the school to see that no tasks are imposed upon children beyond what they can accomplish without being over-burdened or in- jured. Constant effort is made by teachers to secure ideal con- ditions in this respect. It is, however, doubtless true that occa- sionally teachers in their zeal for results may overstep the limits.
The law requires that all children shall receive instruction in physiology and hygiene,-that is, concerning (1) the func- tions of the various parts and organs of the body, and (2) their proper use and care. While in our schools there is a technical compliance with the law, I do not think that its general spirit is carried out as it should be. Our time schedule allots twenty-five minutes a week for instruction along these lines, with the specific direction "that three-quarters of this time shall be devoted to real practical temperance and anti-cigarette instruction." This leaves a meagre allowance of six and one-quarter minutes a week to teach the child the structure, functions, and care of the various organs of the body; the necessity of pure air, personal cleanliness, proper exercise, healthful food, regular diet, hours for sleep, proper care of the eyes and teeth; what is to be done in emergencies or in the case of injury, or poisoning, or drown- ing, or sunstroke ; the care of the sick, and many other practical matters that affect living and life itself. The attention of the board is particularly called to this matter.
The law places what is called "physical training" among the subjects optional with school authorities rather than in the con- pulsory list. Some states make instruction in this subject ob- ligatory in every school. There are few schools in the state in which the necessity for some specific training of the body is not recognized and prescribed. In the elementary schools in Som- er ville we have long had the Ling system of gymnastics, instruc- tion and practice in which are given for from five to fifteen min- utes daily in all schools by the regular teacher. The objects of a system of physical training are the following :-
"1. A stimulation for growth of the body in general, and develop- ment of the vital organs in particular.
"2. The development of strength, quickness, and agility.
"3. The removal of bodily defects or conditions brought about by school life.
"4. The increasing of vitality, so as to give the body that resistance against sickness which is needed to live well.
"5. A general basic training of those psychic powers which are necessary for the growth of the will-power, and which are recognized as obedience, submission to rules and order, perseverance, courage, self- reliance, and self-control."
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I think all who possess knowledge in the matter will admit that these objects are very imperfectly attained in our schools. No attempt at all is made to give physical training to high school pupils. Twenty-five or thirty boys get a training, more or less valuable, out of school athletics. A few girls secure certain sup- posed advantages from basket ball. It would be deplorable if all the girls in our high schools sought physical development by indulgence in this questionable game. Neither should we be satisfied if all high school boys engaged in baseball and football as strenuously as the representative teams do. If the consensus of opinion of experts and students of the subject of the physical needs of growing boys and girls is of any value, there certainly should be a regular and scientific system of physical training in- troduced into our high schools. Facilities should be provided therefor. Separate gymnasiums for boys and girls fully equipped are important. Our schools are open to criticism in their failure to provide for the demands in this direction.
The calisthenic exercises in the elementary schools have lost their flavor with teachers and pupils. They have become monotonous and perfunctory. To secure the objects above enumerated, a revival is needed, and a new impetus and enthusi- asm should be developed. This can be done only by the em- ployment of a competent supervisor. A suitable instructor should be employed for the high schools, and the best available facilities should be provided for physical training for all pupils. I recommend that such supervisor and such instructor be en- gaged at the earliest possible day.
Ethical Instruction. It is a significant fact that there has been recently formed an international organization for the pro- motion of moral instruction in the public schools. The Ameri- can section is under the direction of some of the most distin- guished educators in the country. This is at once evidence of a widespread need and of the conviction that the schools are to be the chief instrument for the attainment of the desired end. Of the need of a higher standard of honor among business men, of a clearer sense of obligation on the part of custodians of trusts, of a stronger spirit of loyalty to official duty, of a wider recog- nition and observance of the fundamental principles of honesty and integrity, no one at all conversant with the financial and po- litical history of the last few years can fail to be convinced.
To raise the standard of moral conduct and to build the character of future citizens on the bedrock of the Ten Command- ments, without fealty to which there can be no permanent pros- perity, becomes the foremost duty of the home, the school, the church, the press, and of every other agency that may make for righteousness. Many homes are weak, the church fails to meet the need, and the press too frequently is silent where it ought to thunder. It rests, therefore, in double measure upon the schools
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to mould the plastic material in its hands; to inculcate from the outset by precept and by example, by indirect teaching and by direct instruction, sound moral principles; to make the child self-governing; to insist on obedience to just requirements in the home, the school, the community; to demand unswerving honesty in all things; to cultivate a spirit of honor; to impress the need of purity in thought, word, and deed; to place integrity above self-aggrandizement ; to implant an enthusiastic loyalty to city, to state, to the flag; to teach that truth and probity far out- weigh wealth and power; and to ground deep in every heart the conviction that unselfish service for others is the highest form of living.
To these great ends every teacher, every school official, every good citizen may contribute, and when all are attained we may together celebrate the dawn of the millennium.
A recapitulation of the recommendations made in this re- port is as follows :-
1. Provision for the present needs and future growth of the English High school.
2. The enlargement of the Hanscom schoolhouse.
3. The enlargement of the Brown schoolhouse.
4. The enlargement of the Hodgkins or the Lincoln schoolhouse.
5. Increase of salaries of grade teachers based on merit.
6. Provision for an occasional year of absence for teach- ers for study and travel on half pay.
7. Change of grading to make shorter courses possible.
S. Various improvements in school buildings.
9. Co-operation of school authorities and citizens with court officers in reformation of juvenile offenders.
10. The equipping and opening by the school board of manual training and cooking rooms for elementary schools.
11. The employment of an expert to supervise physical training in the elementary schools and an instructor for high schools.
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