USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1919 > Part 7
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
A better statement of the ideals and aims of the junior high school would be hard to find. It is these ideals and aims that our schools are successfully emphasizing.
One of the best known authorities on education in America asserts that the junior high school is the greatest contribution to American education in several generations. Somerville, therefore, has reason to be proud of the reputation for leader- ship its junior high schools have gained, extending far beyond local bounds.
Centralization.
One of the essential features of this type of school is the centralizing of pupils of the upper grades of several grammar schools into one school. The seventh and eighth grade chil- dren who under the former plan would have attended one of the fourteen grammar schools now go to one of the four junior high schools. Obviously this involves for some children the necessity of travelling an increased distance to school dur- ing those years. The increased distance during these two years is, however, offset, by the fact that inasmuch as the junior high school includes also the work of the first year of the high school, the number of years required to go the much greater distance to the senior high school is reduced by that one year. It should be remembered in this connection that the compact- ness of our city makes school distances small as compared with other communities.
The advantages of centralization are so important that the gain to the pupil in the way of educational opportunity far outweighs any individual inconvenience. Parents and teachers recognize the fact that the child on coming to the age of twelve or thirteen years requires a form of discipline and control quite different from that needed in the earlier years. He is capable of carrying a larger responsibility than before and the control under which he develops most is one of direction rather than of dictation. So difficult is it to have these two forms of contros in the same school building that in the grammar school the latter form has usually prevailed. With the pupils of this age in a building by themselves and thus apart from the younger children, the former method of control can be employed. As good citizenship rests upon the knowledge of the difference be- tween right and wrong and a deliberate choice to do the right, it is that that has determined the choice of the method of direc- tion rather than of dictation as the method of our junior high schools. Visitors to these schools comment approvingly upon the evidences that the children are active, not passive; re- sponsible, not dependent. In other words, school is not alone preparation for life, it becomes life itself.
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
The teachers of the first two years of these schools have been chosen from those who had had successful experience in the corresponding years of the grammar schools. The assem- bling in one building of the larger number of pupils of the same grade makes it possible to reduce very materially the number of subjects any instructor is called upon to teach. This affords an opportunity for the teacher to choose the sub- jects in which she is most proficient and in which she may become a specialist, assuring to the children the best possible · instruction in all subjects.
Another economy effected by centralization is found in the avoidance of the necessity of duplication of the material aids to teaching, making possible a better use of the limited money available for the purchase of such material. This is particu- larly true in the field of manual training.
There has been for many years an increasing recognition of the fact that the school cannot limit itself to book work alone and that more provision must be made for the training of the hand as well. Years ago this demand was recognized in Somerville by the establishment of three manual training centers to which the boys were sent from the surrounding schools. To reach these centers many boys had to go long distances, spending considerable time in passing to and from these shops. In many cases this loss of school time resulted in serious interference with the other work of the school. At these centers woodworking alone was taught. In each of the four junior high schools instruction is now provided in wood- working of a more practical sort than formerly. In addition, two schools offer instruction in metal working, a third in bookbinding, and the fourth in printing. While the object of this shop work is not to fit directly for the trade, yet it is of large value in giving an opportunity to test abilities and aptitudes along lines of work that are common to a large variety of hand occupations. Already these shops have opened fields of efficient work to many boys for whose individual needs and abilities book work alone made no adequate provision. It cannot be gainsaid that he who goes out of these schools into something that he can do well goes out to be a more respected and self-respecting citizen. To provide these opportunities for self-testing in every grammar school would involve prohibitive expense.
For the girls sewing instruction was formerly provided in each school. Instruction in cooking, a most important aid in home-making, was admittedly impossible on account of the ex- pense. Every girl in the junior high school now has lessons in cooking. By a skilful harmonizing of the educational and the economic aspects of the work, the cooking centers are now
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
entirely self-supporting, the sale of the product paying all maintenance costs except the salary of the teacher.
Again, the bringing together in one school of the larger number of pupils of the same grade makes possible a better grouping in classes according to ability. The former grammar school with only one or two classes of the same grade worked oftentimes a hardship upon the quicker and the slower pupil alike. The former was held down to a pace that often in- vited a waste of time, while the latter, finding himself unable to maintain the required pace, often resorted to truancy and soon dropped out of school altogether. This is amply proved by the fact that in the sixth and seventh grades occurred the crest of the wave of truancy and habitual absenteeism. Al- ready the effect of the junior high school is being seen in its successful meeting of the needs of such pupils. Its privileges must be increasingly offered, to the over-aged, discouraged pupils for whom the work of the lower grades has lost its attractiveness and, therefore, largely its value, and must pro- vide a different type of instruction in a school made up of children of their own age-group. Just as life today demands workmen of a wide variety of occupations, so the school must constantly be broadening its field of instruction. This broad- ening does not mean at all the abandonment of adequate train ing in the fundamentals of knowledge; it means that such es- sential training will be provided under even better and more attractive conditions, thus benefiting many for whom such in- struction alone has no adequate appeal.
Co-operation of Home and School.
A school can be most efficient only if it is supported by a live interest on the part of the three factors in its success, namely, parents, teachers, and pupils. From the outset, our junior high schools have been so supported. During the past year the Parent-Teachers' Associations connected with the Western and the Southern schools have been especially ac- tive and have held meetings frequently, attended in gratify- ingly large numbers by the teachers and parents of the chil- dren. Strong educational speakers have discussed subjects pertinent to the best development of junior high schools. These meetings have done much to bring about a good understand- ing between the school and the home. The most recently formed association, the one at the Northern, has made an ex- cellent beginning and is full of promise for good in that school.
The interest on the part of the teachers has been apparent in many ways, particularly in larger professional interest in their work. Many have followed courses of study that they might be more efficient in their teaching. Educational meet-
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
ings have been largely attended whether in the late afternoon or on Saturday. I wish to take this opportunity to express my most cordial appreciation of the fine professional spirit and interest displayed by the teachers of the junior high schools.
Evidences of Pupil-Interest.
That the pupils are interested is evidenced constantly. There is a marked tendency to more regular attendance. It is a matter of frequent occurrence for boys to ask to be allowed to work in the shops in the afternoon. Perhaps the most con- vincing evidence of interest on the part of the pupils will be found in the following facts. Investigation covering the pe- riod from 1912 through 1917 shows that of those pupils pro- moted to the high school from the several grammar schools from eighteen to twenty-five per cent failed to enter the high school. At the end of the second year of the junior high school organization the pupil passes from grammar school to high school work, this being therefore the point in his school life corresponding to graduation from the grammar school. At this time a pupil for whom the work of high school character had no appeal would be most likely to drop out. A careful investigation has been made to locate every one who was last June promoted to the third year of the junior high school to begin high school work in September. One per cent could not be found ; four per cent went to work ; three per cent moved away but were known to be in high schools; two per cent obtained transfer cards that would admit them to high schools elsewhere and presumably most of them are in high schools; the remaining ninety per cent entered the third year of our own junior high schools. It can therefore be asserted that one important expectation of the junior high school is already being realized in the longer retention of children in school, for this investigation shows that the loss to our schools at this point has been reduced one half. When the Forster Intermediate School was established in 1914 I predicted that this would be the result of a proper development of the new organization. At this time I wish to predict with the same confidence that the work done in the junior high schools will lead to a larger proportion of pupils entering and completing the course in the senior high school, an accomplishment most earnestly to be de- sired.
Interest is constantly being increased by the consistent effort on the part of the teachers in these schools to make the children consequential factors in the school. Responsibilities are given them increasingly, giving occasion for the initiative, co-operation, and activity referred to in the quotation from
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
SCHOOL LIFE previously given. One of the best examples of this is the system of physical training in vogue in the junior high schools. Chosen leaders, two boys and two girls from each two rooms in each school, meet bi-weekly with the instruc- tors in physical training at the State Armory for instruction. The exercises in which they are there trained they afterward give to groups of pupils in daily periods in their own class- rooms. After a time the best trained groups from the four schools, selected by competition within the schools, compete at the Armory. The keenest competition results from the en- deavor to win but the good sportsmanlike manner in which the result is accepted by winners and losers alike, is excellent training for that attitude of mind that will in later life bring the most good out of success or disappointment.
Courses of Study.
It may fairly be said that organization problems of the junior high school have now been brought to the point where they do not demand as much attention as before. This leaves the way clear for greater focussing of interest upon the content of the courses of study in the several subjects. All energy may well be bent now to bring to all subjects of instruction the best content that co-operative thinking can give.
Study In School and At Home.
A problem that claims careful consideration is the matter of study, whether done in school or at home. It is beyond ques- tion that the school in the long class period now in vogue will go far in the way of training the pupils in right habits of study. The work of the school may be largely nullified, however, if the home on its part compels the child to study under conditions that are distracting. Parents may well be expected to see that the best possible conditions are created at home so that the pupil may get the most value out of the time he spends with his work there. Perhaps no question is a more vexing one than that of the amount and the nature of the work to be done at home. The best thought of both teachers and parents is invited with a view to reaching the right solution of the prob- lem.
Recognition of Individual Differences.
One of the most important developments in education in the past few years is the provision in the program of studies for recognition of the fact of individual differences in the abilities, interests, and aptitudes of children. The three principal groups of studies provided to meet these variations are : com-
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
mercial, leading to employment in business ; industrial, prepar- ing for a manual occupation of some sort; and academic, look- ing toward professional life. The junior high school offers at the outset an opportunity for individual testing-out along all these general lines. The electives provided for this purpose are carefully explained to the pupils of the sixth grade, so that the choices seem to be, in the main, well made.
Four fifths of the time of the seventh and eighth grades is devoted to prescribed subjects. These are the standard studies of the grammar grades, as required by law or dictated by pub- lic demands. The remaining one fifth of the time is given to an elective, the pupil choosing one only of several studies repre- sentative of the three large groups named above. These are at present Latin, French, Spanish, principles of commercial work with typewriting, and special manual or household arts. Any pupil not wishing to take any of these electives may intensify the work in the prescribed studies. The number over the entire city choosing to do the latter is so small as to indicate con- clusively that the patrons of the junior high schools approve and are glad to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded for the trying out of individual abilities by means of these electives. In order that varying needs may be met in still larger measure, it is desirable that these alternative opportu- nities should be increased in number. It should be apparent that while the electives serve the purpose of assisting the child to discover his bent, in every case the one so chosen re-enforces the instruction in some one or more of the prescribed studies.
In the seventh grade provision is made for changing from one elective to another when by so doing it is evident that the pupil's interests may be further advanced. This elective work constitutes so small a part of the whole work that his progress through the grades is not retarded by reason of such a change. These opportunities for self-discovery before reaching the years of the high school when the choice must of necessity be of more nearly final nature, is a large gain in the direction of effec- tive education and in itself justifies the organization of the junior high school.
The Teacher Problem.
The large number of changes of teachers the past year or two has somewhat broken up the continuity of the instruc- tion. The generous increase of salary recently provided by the School Committee with the co-operation of the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen, will without doubt result in stabilizing our corps of teachers and at the same time, when changes do occur, will make it possible for our schools to attract the best from many other communities.
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
Leaving School.
If parents would confer with the teachers when a pupil be- gins to think of dropping out of school, the combined interest and efforts of parents and teachers would doubtless result in a decision to continue in school. Considering the importance of the issue and the anxiety of the school to serve best the interests of all the children, this does not seem too much to ask.
Rapid Spread of the Junior High School.
Your annual report of 1915 to the School Committee, re- ferring to the beginning of the junior high school work in Som- erville, contains this statement, amounting to a prophecy ; "It is pioneer work in a movement bound to continue."
It is therefore pertinent at this time to inquire as to the present situation in the light of this assertion.
In 1916 the system was adopted to cover the entire city. In that year the epidemic of infantile paralysis compelled the closing of the schools for over a month. The next school year the coal shortage caused a month's interruption of the work. The third year, beginning in September of 1918, was handi- capped by the enforced closing for a month by reason of the epidemic of influenza. In addition three of the schools are now very seriously handicapped by lack of room. Certainly circumstances have been far from favorable for the successful carrying out of so important a departure from the established regime. It is therefore all the more striking confirmation of the wisdom of the adoption of the new system that the schools have met with the cordial approval of our own citizens and in addition have attracted favorable comment from far and near.
Three years ago in connection with a convention in Bos- ton, a conference was held to consider junior high school prob- lems. The subject at that time attracted only eleven men. A few weeks ago a similar meeting was held in Boston, which was attended by eighty. As an outcome of the vote of that meeting the State Board of Education is arranging a three days' conference of junior high school administrators to be held at one of the State Normal Schools next spring. One of the largest universities gave leave of absence for six months to one of its professors to investigate for the United States Bureau of Education the junior high schools of the country. His report shows our Somerville schools up in a most favora. ble light.
The growing importance of the junior high school is shown by the recognition given it by the several colleges and other schools that train teachers. For example, Harvard, Bos- ton University, Tufts, Dartmouth, Columbia, and all the nor- mal schools of Massachusetts offer courses specifically prepar-
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
ing teachers for work in junior high schools.
Last spring the Superintendent and the School Commit- tee of one of the largest cities of our state visited our schools and shortly afterward adopted the system for their city. Vis- iting school officials have given us most gratifying endorse- ment that cannot fail to stimulate us to still greater effort. Letters of inquiry are constantly coming to us, a single day recently having brought such letters from three widely sep- arated States. The system has now been officially approved for the entire State of New York and for three or four other states, which shows that we are moving in the approved direc- tion of educational development.
A letter from one of the high schools in the city of New York, under date of Nov. 10, 1919, says: "It seems to me that the city of Somerville has worked out a solution of the Jun- ior High School problem which is eminently satisfactory and which might well serve as a model for other cities. I only hope that the city of New York may find a means of meeting its own needs in as satisfactory a manner."
The Future.
Gratifying as these endorsements are, it is farthest from our thought to rest contented with present accomplishments. In order that even better results may be accomplished in these schools, we most cordially welcome constructive suggestion and invite the continued earnest co-operation of all who are in- terested to assist us in realizing the purpose for which these schools were established, namely, the providing of a better preparation for useful living.
Very truly yours, JOSEPH A. EWART, Assistant Superintendent of Schools.
January, 1920.
0
REPORT OF VOCATIONAL SCHOOL FOR BOYS.
Mr. Charles S. Clark, Supt. of Schools, Somerville, Mass.
Dear Sir :
I submit the following report for the Boys' Vocational School and for the Department of Manual Arts for the year 1919.
The drawing of the sixth grades of the elementary schools continues as in the past with the teaching done by the room
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ANNUAL REPORTS.
teachers under direct supervision. Although considerable work has been completed for the Red Cross and occasional demands in the future will be met by this department of drawing, in the main, the schools are now adjusting themselves to follow the outline of the work of the regular schedule.
The whittling of the sixth grade boys has been intensified by combining with drawing the former sixth and seventh grade projects, thereby increasing to a moderate extent the boys' ability to handle the more difficult work. At the same time this combination of drawing and whittling projects approaches more nearly the work of the junior high grade. The sixth grade teachers have recently finished a ten weeks' course in black- board sketching which was planned to equip them for better presentation of the grade whittling and free hand drawing. Much of the original work in knife work has made its appear- ance in some schools.
The four junior high schools are now running smoothly with fairly well equipped shops. With the installation of ma- chines the equipment will be complete. However, the shops will be inadequate to accommodate the increasing number of pupils. Already over time work is being done in the after- noons. Therefore, I recommend an additional room in each centre in the near future.
The free hand drawing is now in charge of a special teach- er in each school, but in order to enable the work to be carried on efficiently as in the senior high school, a special room with adequate equipment is urgently needed.
The drawing and manual training in the senior high school remains unchanged. Although in a large way the first year woodwork is now done in the junior high schools, there re- mains a considerable group of boys taking first year shop work. These boys come from the parochial schools, from out of the city, and from the upper classes, pupils electing woodwork and drawing for the first time. These mixed groups are diffi- cult to handle, but considering the wide range of the pupils' ability, these classes are conducted in as capable a way as pos- sible. The rooms and equipment seem to be adequate for some time to come.
The enrollment of the Boys' Vocational School is the larg- est in its history. The addition of the automobile department meets completely the predicted needs of this branch of in- dustry. Considerable equipment has been furnished in this department during the year but further equipment is needed to carry on the necessary work of construction. Additional equipment is greatly needed in the machine department and requests for machines have been made to the War Depart- ment and the Federal Board of Vocational Education. At this
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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.
date the prospect of receiving assistance from these agencies looks promising. To meet the new conditions arising from the establishment of the junior high schools which has in- creased the number of sixth grade applicants, I strongly rec- ommend that the boys be required to remain in school four years before graduating. It is very evident that these boys, in many cases, of a demoted group, are unable in three years to satisfactorily complete the necessary work to enable them to acceptably fill positions in the industry for which they trained. Our three year course now in operation allows little enough time to meet present industrial requirements, even with a nor- mal boy of regular promotion grade. To make our school still more efficient, I recommend that a department of printing be added this year as conditions in the trade warrant the introduction of this course. This will also give an opportunity for boys now taking printing in the junior high schools to continue the work as a means of livelihood.
The following are statistics relative to the school :
Year
No. of Grad- uates
Placed in Indus- try
Average Entering Wage
Total Produc- tivity of Shops
1916
16
15
$11 00
$1,105 14
1917
.
18
17
12 00
3,215 33
1918
.
15
15
14 50
5,345 98
·
1919
9
8
15 00
4,928 88
Respectfully yours,
HARRY L. JONES.
December 31, 1919.
REPORT OF GARDEN SUPERVISOR FOR 1919.
Mr. Charles S. Clark,
Superintendent of Schools.
Dear Sir :
I herewith submit my report as agricultural teacher and garden supervisor for the season of 1919.
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