USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1913 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
.048
Stenography
428
16
27
74
2,002
2,650
.033
Typewriting
490
20
24
60
1,250
1,400
.028
Bookkeeping
123
6
21
30
615
938
.038
Penmanship
121
3
40
6
242
377
.038
Business Practice
3.94
13
30
65
1,970
2,577
.032
Commercial Law
47
2
24
5
117
412
.088
Commercial
Geography
79
4
20
10
197
696
.088
Cooking
99
6
17
18
297
900
.075
Sewing
95
8
12
16
190
400
.052
or
English
13
64
1,850
History
10
40
1,152
Mathematics
12
41
1,174
Latin
10
23
550
Greek, German.
9
20
331
French, Spanish.
10
36
913
Manual Training and Mechanical Drawing
5
28
494
Drawing
2
18
240
Science
5
23
626
Stenography and Typewriting.
5
36
776
Bookkeeping, Business Practice, etc.
6
32
866
Domestic Science and Arts.
2
14
194
121
5
24
30
726
1,590
.054
Physics
177
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Afternoon Conferences. A new plan has been recently put into operation whereby each teacher is in attendance one after- noon each week to help and advise pupils. Backward pupils, pupils who have lost recitations through absence, and pupils who need help to overcome some doubtful point will thus have opportunity to work with the teacher personally. I am confident that this plan will result in great profit to pupils and teachers . alike.
The Large School : Its Strong Points. After more than two years' experience in a school of appproximately 2,000 pupils, I am prepared to speak enthusiastically of the following strong features of the large school :-
(a) Supervision by trained experts. Heads of courses and of departments, chosen because of their peculiar fitness in their own lines, are prepared to give trained supervision and expert advice to the teachers under their charge.
(b) Specialized teachers. Teachers are engaged to teach subjects in which they have made especial preparation and are especially trained. This plan secures the focusing of effort and more careful and skilled instruction.
(c) Larger equipment. The cost of equipping well one large school is not only much less than that for several smaller schools, but also allows the purchase of special equipment with- out material increase of expense.
With sincere appreciation for the many good things that have come to the school during the past year and with hope- ful anticipation for a successful year under new conditions, I am
Very respectfully yours, JOHN A. AVERY, Head Master.
REPORT OF THE VOCATIONAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.
Mr. Charles S. Clark,
Superintendent of Schools.
Dear Sir: The courses offered at the Vocational School for Girls remain the same as last year; except that some lines of work have broadened considerably, namely in the Household Arts course, where home making includes dressmaking and millinery with trade standards, and where cooking and the allied subjects of household management are taught intensively with a view to earning value.
This Household Arts course also offers to those with abil- ity, distinctive lines of training for catering, food shop, lunch room or institutional management. In the Tea Room, which is operated in connection with the school, experience is gained in serving lunch daily and in planning menus the cost of which will not exceed a certain sum. Both at the school and Tea Room the subjects are treated in a practical way, that will be of help to the individual student.
The demand for trained accommodators has been greater than the school can supply. Several of the girls are training in this accommodator work especially and will give additional study to it next year.
It is interesting to see what food has been prepared for sale since September. The following is a partial list: Twenty dozen small cakes, eleven large cakes, twelve dozen maca- roons, cookies, etc., twenty-eight dozen rolls, four wedding cakes, preserves, chowchow, jelly, etc.
Every week ten loaves of bread and three to six dozen macaroons are sent to a tea room in Boston ; besides these are the pies and plain and fancy cakes that have been used in the Tea Room.
This year the first class will graduate. This class includes all the students who have worked at least three months at their trade previous to graduation. Tests have been given during the year to trade workers by part time work in the shops, and to the household arts students by housekeeping and the prepa- ration of meals in their own homes, and order cooking and accommodator service at school.
Five girls in the millinery class were placed last spring and worked for the season. At the beginning of the dull time other positions were found for them, which proved so satisfac- tory that only one girl returned to the trade. Earning a liv- ing by millinery is felt to be so precarious that students enter- ing the school are advised to take the fuller Household Arts course as this offers greater opportunity for steady employ- ment.
179
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
Four girls were placed in dressmaking shops and still hold these positions at advanced wages. Gratifying reports have come from employers regarding these girls-reports of their adaptability, interest, good training, with assurances of steady employment. A list of the employment and earning wage of the pupils placed last March follows :-
One placed in a dressmaking shop at $6.00, now earning $7.00 ; one placed in a dressmaking shop at $6.00, now earning $7.50 ; one placed in a dressmaking shop at $5.00, now earning $6.50; one placed in a dressmaking shop at $6.00, now earning $6.50 (has worked one month) ; one placed in a millinery shop at $6.00 for season, afterwards in manufacturing company as stock girl, later assistant bookkeeper at $8.50; one placed in millinery shop at $6.00 for season, afterwards in manufacturing at dressmaking and neckwear at $8.50 ; one placed in a millinery shop at $6.00, now assistant trimmer at $9.00; one placed in a millinery shop at $5.00, now working at photography at $6.00; one placed in a millinery shop two seasons, now preparing food at home for an exchange; one placed at lunch counter at $5.00, now earning $7.50 to $8.50 in salesroom.
It has been interesting to learn what some of the girls are doing at home with the instruction given at school.
Nearly all are doing some cooking, and eight are prepar- ing meals regularly. One girl reports that her father prefers her cooking to her mother's and so it is nearly all done by the girl herself. She prepares at home what has been learned at school that day. Another girl had entire charge of the house, the buying of food and preparation of the meals for the three weeks her parents were away.
One girl helps pay her tuition by mending and altering clothes at home.
Another saved money to buy a dress form, and is not only making her own dresses, but several simple house dresses and skirts for a neighbor.
Notes of appreciation have come from some of the parents. When word was sent to one mother that her daughter would graduate this year, she replied that she preferred that her daughter should stay in school another year as she realized all the good the school had done for the girl.
Another girl was placed this winter and proved satisfac- tory, but came back to school at the request of her mother. This has all been very gratifying to those who have labored so faithfully, for it shows that while the girls can make good in trade the extra time given to school is desired by the parents.
Evening Classes.
The evening classes have been well attended, the enroll- ment being eighty at the Vocational School, with a waiting list,
180
ANNUAL REPORTS.
and forty-five at the Clark Bennett. The short unit course has proved popular, for it enables a woman who cannot give up many evenings during the winter, to come for a short term until she has learned to accomplish one definite thing, as the mak- ing of a dress, the making of a hat. The courses vary in length from ten to twenty lessons according to the subject taught, and the success of this arrangement has been demonstrated by the fact that those on the waiting list could not be accommodated until January, when some of the courses were finished.
It has been interesting to learn that some of these students are doing dressmaking outside for friends ; that one woman has been advanced in the shop where she is working, and another has been helping a dressmaker two days a week, with her most important work.
High School.
In October cooking for first year students was started at the High School, 105 electing this study. Lunch is served four days a week to twenty-four teachers and about forty girls. It is expected that when the new lunch room and kitchen are opened the advanced classes will have cooking on a larger scale that will furnish a hot lunch to 500 students.
Classes in dressmaking were started in November elected by seventy-four students. It is planned to carry this course through the four years so that at the end of that time a student will have such a thorough knowledge of dressmaking in all its branches that she can do her own home sewing or go into business for herself.
Grade Sewing Classes.
The sewing in the graded schools has been somewhat changed to give the pupils more definite problems that will lead to the High School or the Vocational School without repeti- tion of work in either of those schools.
Most of the model work has been discarded and work is applied directly to the undergarments and children's dresses that are made.
With machines introduced into the seventh and eighth grades it will be possible for the teacher to see that the child has her instruction under competent supervision and no sewing will be taken out of the class until completed.
It is hoped that in the near future dressmaking can be taught in the ninth grades for the benefit of children who are obliged to leave school at the completion of their grammar school education.
Very respectfully,
MARY HENLEIGH BROWN, Director.
181
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
REPORT OF THE SOMERVILLE VOCATIONAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS.
Mr. Charles S. Clark,
Superintendent of Schools.
Dear Sir: The Vocational School for Boys offers, at present, four trade courses, namely, cabinet making, pattern making and carpentry in the department of woodworking, and general machine shop practice in the department of metal working.
Since September, 1913, the division of time has been: Two days in the shop, and one day in the classroom devoted to re- lated and non-related subjects including drawing, English, mathematics, history, civics and hygiene. Thus the entire school is composed of three divisions. Each division has its metal workers and its woodworkers, also its proper quota of first year boys and second year boys. This time allotment has proven entirely satisfactory and meets the needs of the students and of the shop and study work much better than the former half and half arrangement.
As the waiting list does not hold on for more than three months after the opening of school the membership at present is forty-seven, or one less than the capacity of the school. Of these two are from the local high school, six from the Morse school, five from the Knapp, five from St. Joseph's parochial school, three from the Pope, two each from Edgerly, Forster, Glines, Highland, Bingham and Carr schools, and one each from the Bell, Bennett and Prescott schools. Three are non-residents, of whom two are from Stoneham, one from Peabody, and three others are new resi- dents. Classified by grades, five are from high schools, seven are grammar school graduates, three are from the ninth grade, seven from the eighth, twelve from the seventh, eleven from the sixth, and two from the fifth grade. During this school year (from September, 1913) fifty-seven boys have been en- rolled. The present membership of forty-seven is thus 82.5 per cent. of the enrollment as compared with a membership of 6-1.7 per cent. at this time last year. Each year some excellent boys have entered the school and have remained to finish their course. Each year has witnessed the enrollment of a larger number of such boys and this year, as a comparison of the registrations will in some respects show, the highest average of all has been reached. In this particular, as in some others, the school is hetter able to demonstrate its worth to the boy, to the city, and to the state. But even better things are to be expected. This type of school is not "intended for naturally backward or defective children" nor for "any boy who needs or wants to learn how to work." He must be fit to follow a
182
ANNUAL REPORTS.
skilled trade and make a success of it. He must be fit there- fore to receive instruction and training required for such a trade. The satisfactory completion of the grammar school course is, in general, a sufficient qualification for entrance. Exceptions to such a rule should be made only by the principal after due investigation.
Fifteen boys completed their courses in 1913, six from the wood department and nine from the metal department. Of these six woodworkers and seven machinists found places at their trades, some in shops and others in house building and con- tract work. One of the others was needed in his father's store and one decided to take a position with a banking house. Fif- teen will be graduated in 1914, nine woodworkers and six machinists, and their prospects, in view of the probable in- provement in industrial activities, are at least as bright as those of their predecessors.
A somewhat detailed investigation of the record of boys who have spent six months or more in the school leads to the conclusion that as compared with those who drop out of the grammar schools, ostensibly to find work, their circumstances have been improved by their attendance. They hold their jobs longer, find places more quickly, and their progress is more rapid.
The call for a department of automobile repairing is grow- ing more insistent. The school auto was finished during the year and has been in commission as delivery truck for the school for several months. It is operated by a student who is duly licensed, and it is giving entire satisfaction both in effi- ciency and economy. But it needs a place to stay. During December seven students took a job at the water works shops rebuilding a Packard touring car for truck service. This car was found by the Vocational School for the Water Department but the school had no place to keep it while putting it in shape to use. Auto repairing and building has come to be one of the principal branches of mechanical industry and offers an at- tractive field for trained men. This line of training is interest- ing in itself, it presents a wide variety of good practice and is in demand by the boys.
The school has reached its limit of growth until more room is provided. Much valuable space is wasted in the basement and should be cleared and reclaimed for shop use, for which it is highly suitable.
If room could be found in any convenient part of the city it would be desirable to establish a department of electricity and also one of printing. Both these departments could be entirely self supporting if work were supplied from city re- quirements. These trades are thriving and stand high in wages and opportunities,
183
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT,
Financial Statement. (Calendar Year 1913.) EXPENSES.
Construction
$232 29
Equipment
394 99
One-half maintenance
.
3,171 50
Supervision
83 88
Total expenditure .
$3,882 66
RECEIPTS.
Work done in:
Material
Labor
Wood dept.
$266 52
$188 39
Metal dept.
100 00
205 70
Total
$366 52
$394 09
($760 61)
Work done for:
City
School
Wood dept.
$287 30
$167 61
Metal dept.
16 50
289 20
Total
$303 80
$156 81
760 61
Stock on hand:
$120 00
Metal dept.
150 00
total
270 00
Cash on hand .
40 51
310 51
1,071 12
Net cost of school for year .
$2,811 54
Per capita cost (membership of 52)
54 07
Wood dept.
Number of commercially valuable jobs done in year : Wood department 128 jobs Metal department 147 jobs
Total 275 jobs or 5 3-10 jobs per boy. 1 Respectfully submitted, E. MINOR MORSE, Principal.
184
ANNUAL REPORTS.
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MANUAL ARTS.
Mr. Charles S. Clark, 1
Superintendent of Schools,
Somerville, Mass.
Dear Sir: The work in Manual Arts for the school year 1912-1913 has followed the outline in last year's report. The work completed and the results accomplished have been in accordance with the aim of the course, without, I think, taking time and effort from the other subjects of the curriculum.
In the lower grades the Manual Arts has come to be recognized less as a separate subject, and more as an assist- ant to greater interest in other subjects.
In the upper grades the drawing is correlated with the different lines of handwork.
The so-called "busy work" of previous years has almost entirely disappeared and "centre work" is again emphasized. In this work the teacher as well as the pupil has become in- tensely interested, thereby keeping in touch with vocational and industrial activities which were not thought of heretofore. The work gives an outlet for the child's physical energy, pro- viding means of occupation with familiar material, and enabling him to acquire a technique and a degree of skill in the funda- mental operations of vocational activities. The centres selected have been school, home and personal activities, which have proven so absorbingly interesting that much research work has been brought forth.
This has been a great surprise and pleasure to the teachers and I believe a great profit to the pupils.
I wish to commend Miss Gale, supervisor of the elemen- tary schools, and the teachers for their keen interest and for the excellent results obtained.
No radical movement has been made to industrialize the Manual Arts in the grades, yet the work at present lays the foundation for any industrial work that the school system may undertake in the future.
In introducing any craft in the curriculum of our schools, it is of the utmost importance that we carefully scrutinize its educational possibilities, learn just wherein its values lie, and decide the approach which will yield most abundantly in re- turn for the time spent.
Sufficient numbers of teachers must soon be trained, and broadly trained, to teach the Manual Arts, not as mere work- men, but as individuals who realize that education for the
185
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
masses today involves a practical and a broad knowledge of many things and the specific knowledge of, and power to do some particular thing.
In the meantime it will be the endeavor of the present work to give a general knowledge of the arts which will be of service to the pupils after they leave school and at the same time assist in the development of judgment, culture and taste.
An increase in the amount of time given in the upper grades to the drawing and manual training has resulted in expected improvement. I recommend that every boy receive instruction in freehand drawing and design.
In the high school the work has become more and more in- dustrial in character.
The new course of study has been planned as follows :-
First-The Manual Arts work of the first two years to be both cultural and industrial in character and to represent as many fundamental mechanical activities as possible. It should be taken by all students.
Second-The Manual Arts of the last two years to be specifically industrial in character and designed to serve the needs of those who will enter vocational service upon leaving High School.
The Manual Arts Course and the manual training of all the courses have been extended to the third and fourth years and work in advanced wood work, sheet metal, machine and electrical work is now outlined.
The new equipment is now being installed by the pupils as a part of their regular work, with good results.
In addition to the regular class instruction in the courses, I submit a partial list of work completed by pupils for the permanent school equipment :--
One office desk; one office table; twenty-four galvanome- ters for Physics Department; twenty-four inclined planes for Physics Department ; fifteen tables for Physics Department ; three ineter stands for Physics Department ; twenty-five bulle- tin boards; twenty-four book racks ; four sand trays for grades ; one lumber rack ; three stock rooms ; three hat and coat stands ; four cabinets ; one glue table ; one cold air box ; two coat lock- ers ; one desk platform ; one shelf and coat hanger; one parti- tion; two wall closets: rebuilding foundry benches; building benches. rooms nine and ten ; one blue print frame ; resurfacing twenty-five benches ; rebuilding drawing board case ; frame for fitting room ; rebuilding case in cooking room; fifty blackboard rulers ; one notebook cabinet; repairing twenty-six chairs; re- pairing ten desk covers: refinishing ten desk covers; twenty- eight ink stands for drawing room ; one tool cabinet; one oak table top; one office cabinet; two work boxes; six keyboards ; two letter files; lockers for benches, room nine; shelving in
186
ANNUAL REPORTS.
ten closets; setting up engine lathe; repairing shafting, belt- ing, lathes, lathe parts, etc .; moving and re-adjusting entire Manual Training Department.
Respectfully yours, HARRY L. JONES.
December 24, 1913.
187
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT,
REPORT UPON QUESTIONNAIRE.
€
On November 25, 1912, the School Committee authorized the Superintendent of Schools to send two high school teachers to the training course in vocational guidance which was being conducted by the Vocation Bureau, 6 Beacon Street, Boston. In accordance with this action two teachers, a man and a woman, were asked by the Superintendent of Schools to take this course. The former was obliged by unexpected causes to withdraw from the course soon after beginning it but the latter continued through the year. In accordance with the policy of instruction followed in the course, this teacher was asked to take some phase of high school experience for investigation, study and report. After consultation with the Superintendent of Schools she determined to make the subject of her study, the transition from grammar school to high school, and the attitude of high school pupils towards the opportunities provided in the latter. Accordingly a questionnaire was prepared, printed at the expense of the School Committee and given to pupils as hereafter described. The Somerville High School then had a morning session for the three upper classes and an afternoon session for the lowest class.
Nearly eighteen hundred papers were returned in answer to this questionnaire, of which more than twelve hundred have been examined and the answers thereon tabulated by the teacher, with the assistance of high school girls. The results of this study are embodied in the following tentative report which Miss Bessie D. Davis, the teacher who made the investi- gation, has prepared. It is now proposed to carry on the work thus begun by examining the remaining five hundred answer papers, reviewing the data already used to verify its conclusions and adding such new studies of the matter as may seem profit- able. To this work two teachers who now represent the Somer- ville High School in the Vocational Course will devote their efforts, as Miss Davis has had to give it up by reason of removal to New York City.
CHARLES S. CLARK, Superintendent of Schools.
December 1, 1913,
188
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Questionnaire for High School Pupils
Name Age Yrs. Mos. Class Room
1. Do you expect to complete a course of four years in the High School?
2. If not, how many years do you expect to stay?
3. If you do not expect to remain four years, what is the reason :-
(a) Financial conditions?
(b) Lack of success in school work?
(c) Desire to go to work?
(d) Loss of interest?
4. Please underline the course which you are now taking :-
(a) Genera !; (b) College Preparatory ; (c) Manual Arts ;
(d) Commercial; (e) 2 year Commercial.
5. What led you to choose this course :-
(a) Advice of parents, teachers, friends?
(b) Success of others?
(c) Belief in your personal qualifications and ability for the work of this course?
6. Do you know what studies are included in this course :-
(a) In the first year?
(b) In the second year?
(c) In the third year?
(d) In the fourth year?
7. What qualifications do you think you have for the work of this course?
8. What line of work do you intend to follow after you leave High School?
9. What do you understand to be the requirements of this work?
10. How have vou ascertained these requirements?
11. Is this the work which you really desire to do?
12. What have your parents advised?
13. To what extent, if any, have possible financial benefits in- fluenced your choice?
14. If this is not the work which you really desire to do, why are you not preparing to follow your personal choice?
15. What service to the community are you planning to render through your vocation?
189
SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
EXTRA:
A. For College Preparatory Pupils :-
1. For what college are you preparing?
2. Why have you chosen this college?
3. What are its requirements?
B. For Scientific, Normal School, Normal Art School, etc., Preparatory Pupils :---
1. For what school are you preparing?
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.