The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 32

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760

USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV > Part 32

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In 1821 the English High School for boys was established; and George B. Emerson, LL.D., a graduate of Harvard University, and one of our most accomplished and successful teachers, was elected head-master. This

sand one hundred and eighteen male, and seven thousand three hundred and ninety female teach- ers in the public schools, - the former receiving the average salary of $75.64 and the latter $33.04 per month. There are in Massachusetts, be- tween the ages of five and fifteen, two hundred and ninety-seven thousand two hundred and twenty- two school-children, and an average attendance of two hundred and twenty-two thousand seven hundred and four. [See further on the position of women as educators and intellectual workers, Mrs. E. D. Cheney's chapter in this volume. - ED.]

1 Froebel's purpose, as indicated by himself, is " to take the oversight of children before they are ready for school-life ; to exert an influence over their whole being in correspondence with its nature ; to strengthen their bodily powers ; to exercise their senses ; to employ the awaken- ing mind; to make them thoughtfully acquainted with the world of nature and of man; to guide

them heart and soul in a right direction, and lead them to the origin of all life, and to union with Him."

2 It would cheer the hearts of our philan- thropists, it would soften the hearts of the cynical, to visit one of these institutions and watch the bright, happy faces of the little ones, whether at their lessons or their sports. Says Longfellow :-

" Come to me, O ye children ! For I hear you at your play, And the questions that perplexed me Have vanished quite away.

" For what are all our contrivings, And the wisdom of our books,

When compared with your caresses, And the gladness of your looks ?

" Ye are better than all the ballads That ever were sung or said ;

For ye are living poems, And all the rest are dead."

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

is one of the last as well as one of the best monuments of the action of the old town of Boston. Some of the latest town-meetings previous to the adoption of the city charter were held in reference to the founding of this school. Its object has been to provide for the graduates of the grammar schools a thorough English education and the means of fitting them for any department of commercial life.1

The English High School has now four hundred and fifty-one members and nineteen teachers, Francis A. Waterhouse, a graduate of Bowdoin Col- lege, being the head-master. It has always been popular, always progres- sive in its methods of study and discipline, and is still administered in a liberal and common-sense manner.2 The Rev. James Fraser, an English Commissioner, said in his excellent report on the Common-School system of the United States, presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty: "Taking it for all in all, and as accomplishing the end at which it professes to aim, the English High School of Boston struck me as the model school of the United States. I wish we had a hundred such in England." 3

This is the testimony of a competent judge, one who must have been unprejudiced and impartial. In another part of his report he says : " I have already mentioned this school as the one above all others that I visited in America which I should like the Commissioners to have seen at work as I myself saw it, - the very type of a school for the middle classes of this country, managed in the most admirable spirit, and attended by just the sort of boys one would desire to see in such a school." The im- pressions of an intelligent . foreigner should always be welcome. They are likely to differ from ours, and will therefore afford an opportunity for profit- able comparison.

1 How much this was to include may be in- ferred from the following prescribed course of studies : mathematics, rhetoric, English litera- ture, music, physiology, botany, drawing, history, chemistry, ethics, physics, astronomy, book-keep- ing, metaphysics, and political economy. To these were afterward added the French and German languages. "Experience has proved," says Francis Adams, "that elementary education flourishes most where the provision for higher education is most ample. If the elementary schools of Germany are the best in the world, it is owing in a great measure to the fact that the higher schools are accessible to all classes. In the United States the common schools have always produced the best results where the means of higher education have been the most plentiful." - Massachusetts State Report, 1877.

2 [See Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the English High School, May 2, 1871, Oration by 7. W. Edmands, with Historical Appendix. Bos- ton, 1871 .- ED.]

3 When the discussions for the support of

the Educational Bureau were in progress, Mr. G. F. Hoar declared upon the floor of Congress, that the only respectable account of education in this country ever published had been prepared by foreign governments. "Among such reports, the most satisfactory is that of the Rev. James Fraser, now the Bishop of Manchester, Eng- land, who came to this country in 1865, and em- ployed six months in the prosecution of his inquiry, and four months in drawing up his re- port. ... It is a candid review of facts, collected with great diligence and fairness, - all the bet- ter because of the discriminating criticism with which it distinguishes the wise from the unwise, and because it appreciates right purposes and tendencies in this country, even when results are not yet satisfactory." -- N. A. Review, cxxii. 195.

In consequence of recent educational discus- sions in England, much has been said there about American schools. Among the important works may be named a volume on National Education, by the Rev. J. H. Rigg, and one on the American School System, by F. Adams.

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EDUCATION, PAST AND PRESENT.

There are also schools of the same grade in Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Brighton, which towns, by annexation, now belong to Boston.

The building recently erected on Warren Avenue and Montgomery Street, for our Latin and English High schools, deserves notice here, be- cause it surpasses all others in this country in its magnitude, adaptation to its purposes, and the beauty of its construction.1

The building was dedicated, with appropriate ceremonies, on March I, 1881. Over the entrance to the Latin School is the following appropriate inscription : " HAEC STUDIA ADULESCENTIAM ALUNT, SENECTUTEM OBLEC- TANT, SECUNDAS RES ORNANT, ADVERSIS PERFUGIUM AC SOLACIUM PRAEBENT."

In 1852 the friends of a higher education for the graduates of our girls' grammar schools gave earnest attention to that subject. As the proposition to establish a high school for their benefit had met with un- expected opposition in times past, it was thought inexpedient to revive the controversy. As a substitute, it was proposed to institute a Normal School for female teachers, the advantages of which no one would be likely to question. Such a school was established, and Loring Lothrop, a gentle- man eminently qualified, was elected head-master.

It was soon found, however, that girls fresh from the grammar schools were not fit candidates for normal training. To remedy this difficulty a few additional branches of study were introduced, a slight alteration made in the arrangement of the course, and the name changed to the " Girls' High and Normal School." Under this name it continued till 1872, when it was found that the normal element had been gradually absorbed by the high school, and had almost lost its independent, distinctive, and professional character. The two courses were then separated, and the normal department was re- stored to its original condition for the instruction of young women who intended to become teachers in our public schools of Boston. Larkin Dunton, LL.D., was then elected head-master, and still holds that position. The marked success of the school under his administration is good evidence of the wisdom shown in his election. Institutions of this class originated in Germany, and became so popular that they soon found their way into Holland, France, Switzerland, and more recently into England, being modi- fied only so far as to adapt them to the circumstances of society and edu- cation in those countries. They were intended to make the business of school-teaching as much of a profession as that of law, medicine, or the-

1 It is a double building, fronting on parallel streets. There are forty-seven class-rooms, with accommodations for sixteen hundred and forty- five pupils ; an immense hall for military drill, a gymnasium, chemical laboratory, chambers for drawing, and two large halls; also libraries, re- ception rooms, and suites for janitors. A court- yard in the centre furnishes ample space for the scholars in their seasons of recreation. The VOL. IV. - 32.

whole cost, including furniture, was $780,000. For the architectural design and mechanical construction of this building credit is due to George A. Clough, the City Architect. Valua- ble suggestions in regard to some of its charac- teristic features were made by Superintendent J. D. Philbrick, as the result of his observa- tions at the Universal Exposition at Vienna, in 1873.

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THE MEMORIAL' HISTORY OF BOSTON.

ology; - a peculiar course of instruction being as necessary as for either of those.1

Our custom in electing teachers had been to examine them in the branches required to be taught, and to trust to Providence for their ability to teach what they knew. This course was objectionable, especially so in the case of elementary instruction, where the amount of knowledge required is small, and where the art of teaching finds its most difficult exercise. The idea that every one can teach what he knows is not reliable. This is evident from the fact that men and women of the highest intellectual at- tainments so often fail entirely in the capacity for interesting the young.2

Instead of depending on State institutions for normal instruction, Boston decided to have one exclusively her own. The pupils would then be daughters of our own citizens, with their homes and affections here; they would be graduates of our public schools, familiar with their organization and methods of instruction; more than all, they would be fitted for the work in which they were to engage. The course of study includes the departments of physiology, psychology, logic, ethics, principles of educa- tion, methods of instruction, school management, observation and practical training exercises, -the instruction in all these departments having special reference to teaching. Pupils are supposed to know something of physiol- ogy and hygiene before entering the school; but there is a view of them not absolutely required for ordinary life, but indispensable for the teacher, -such as the limits of the powers of children, the conditions of growth and health, the necessity for rest and sleep, the means of securing these, and many other details of this nature. The three divisions of psychology, treat- ing of the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will, are studied in the order here named, which is the order of their dependence.

This institution has already accomplished an important work, and gives promise of a beneficent future. It is not unreasonable to expect that the United States, with their one hundred and forty normal schools, will before many years refuse to accept any but trained teachers. Germany has set us the example.3

1 There are now in Germany 168 of such schools; France, 86; Great Britain, 48; Italy, 115; Belgium, 32, etc. Massachusetts adopted them as State institutions because many of the best friends of public education believed that something of the kind was needed to infuse new life and vigor into our common schools, - thus recognizing the central principle of the Prussian system, "as is the teacher, so is the school;" and that as competent teachers cannot have bad schools, the incompetent cannot have good ones.

2 Coleridge says to the teacher, " Love, hope, and patience, -these must be thy graces, and in thine own heart let them first keep school."

3 Candidates for admission must be at least eighteen years of age, unless an exception is

made by a special vote of the committee in charge, and must be recommended for admission by the master or committee of the last school they at- tended. Those who have completed the fourthı year of the High School course are admitted without examination. Other candidates must show to the head-master, both by examination and recommendation, that they are qualified. All pupils are put on probation for six months ; if proved unsuitable in the opinion of the super- visors and head-master, they are discharged. Of the one hundred and two who entered last year, only fifty-eight graduated. When teachers are to be employed in the public schools, graduates of this school have the preference, other things being equal. It numbers among its graduates of the past six years more than two hundred of the

251

. EDUCATION, PAST AND PRESENT.

At the time of the establishment of our High School for boys, there seemed to be no thought of a similar one for girls. The customs of our ancestors had not taught us the justice or the wisdom of giving equal ad- vantages in education to both sexes. Even in the grammar schools our. girls were for many years (1784-1828) kept in the background and al- lowed but half the time given to boys. The first high school for girls was begun in 1825, not, however, without great opposition. Popular feeling was clearly against such an institution, and it was only at the earnest request of some of our most prominent and influential citizens that the " experi- ment," for so its opponents chose to call it, was made, Ebenezer Bailey, an experienced and successful teacher, was elected principal, with the un- derstanding that the school should be on the monitorial system, the studies to be such as are usually required in such institutions. The number of applicants for admission was very large, of whom one hundred and thirty- five were accepted. The experience of the first year was so satisfactory that the " experiment " was continued until 1827, when the committee be- came alarmed at the prospective expense of the annually increasing number of scholars, and abandoned what promised to be of great benefit to the educational interests of our citizens. None of its opponents claimed that it had not fully answered their expectations. Apparently, indeed, it was discontinued for the singular reason that it had been too successful, its popularity having been so great that all classes of our citizens were seek- ing the advantages it offered for their daughters. What in these days would be considered a good reason for sustaining such an institution was then considered sufficient for closing it.1

The origin of the present High School for girls has already been told in our account of the Normal School. It began its life under good auspices, and from first to last has had the confidence and approval of those most competent to judge of its merits. Apparently the prejudice against this class of schools no longer exists.2

Primarily as an aid to health, but incidentally as of value in the art of oral reading, vocal culture has been introduced in connection with the reg- ular calisthenic exercises in every class. To facilitate and encourage an acquaintance with the best literature, to promote skill in reading aloud, and to familiarize the older students with the rules and usages of parliamentary assemblies, a literary society has been formed from members of the ad- vanced class, its work being incorporated with that of the school. At its weekly meetings every member, except the officers, must be prepared to read selected passages from a prominent author, designated by the society's vote several weeks previously. From these and other works of the author

Boston teachers, - more than one sixth of all the teachers in the service of the city, - while the relative proportion of Normal graduates ap- pointed is constantly increasing.

1 [See Mrs. Cheney's chapter in this volume. - ED.]

2 Candidates for admission must be at least fourteen years of age. The course of study is arranged for two years, those who have com- pleted it being allowed to continue their studies two years in an advanced class. The sessions are from 9 A.M. to 2 P.M.

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THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.

pieces are selected by the executive committee, to be read with appropriate essays in presence of the whole school once in two weeks, by good readers appointed from every class by the president in concurrence with the class teachers.

Great stress is laid upon the training to secure physical strength and grace, and the rule is rigidly enforced requiring the whole of the mental work to be completed as a condition of promotion or graduation. To make the office of instruction more pleasant and effective, effort has been made to assign to every teacher her favorite branch, and so far as possible to reduce to one or two the number of studies taught by each. The instruction is therefore nearly departmental.1 The building which the school occupies is remarkably well adapted to its purposes. The capacity is for one thou- sand two hundred and twenty-five pupils. In the hall are arranged a valuable collection of casts, as a simple but efficient means of introducing an æsthetic element into our educational system.2

The Girl's High School is one of our most successful institutions, pop- ular among our citizens, and always making a favorable impression upon the many foreigners who visit our city.

1 The school is in charge of a head-master, a 7. AMAZON (Capitoline Museum). Found in junior master, and as many assistants (ladies) as circumstances may require, allowing one teacher to every thirty-five scholars. Regular meetings of the teachers are held, at which methods of instruction and kindred topics are discussed. The head-master of the school is Homer B. Sprague, Ph.D., a graduate of Yale College. He is assisted at present by a corps of twenty-two teachers.

2 These casts were obtained by subscriptions of members of the American Social Science As- sociation and others, through the influence of Charles C. Perkins, Esq., whose interest and efficient aid in the improvement of our schools have been so often shown. The following is a list of the casts: I. FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON (British Museum). From models by Phidias and his pupils. The date is about 435 B.C. It rep- resents the great procession on the last day of the national festival called Panathenæa. 2. CARYATID (British Museum). One of six fig- ures supporting the southern portico of the Erechtheum on the Acropolis at Athens, and brought thence to England by Lord Elgin in 1814. 3. DIANA (Louvre). Known as Diana of Gabii, because discovered in the ruins of that city near Rome, in the year 1792. Also called Atalanta. 4. VENUS (Louvre). Called of Milo (the ancient Melos), where it was found in 1820. 5. POLYMNIA (Louvre). Found in Italy, and re- stored at Rome by a sculptor of that city, near the beginning of the present century. 6. PUDI- CITIA (Vatican). Found in the Villa Mattei at Rome. Also called the Tragic Muse, and sup- posed to be a portrait of the Empress Livia.

the Villa Mattei. 8. GENIUS OF TIIE VATICAN. Found near Rome about a century ago. Thought by some to be a Cupid, and a copy of a cele- brated work by Praxiteles; by others the Genius of Death, as frequently figured on Roman sarco- phagi. 9. PSYCHIE (Naples Museum). Found in the amphitheatre at Capua. 10. DEMOS- THENES (Vatican). 11. BONE-PLAYER (Berlin Museum). The following are busts : 12. APOLLO (Archaic; British Museum). 13. APOLLO (Pour- tales ; British Museum). 14. ZEUS TROPHONIUS (Louvre). 15. JUPITER (Vatican). Found at Otricoli, about forty miles from Rome. Of all known heads of the god this is considered the most Phidian in type. 16. JUNO (Villa Ludovisi, Rome). This head probably formed part of a colossal statue, the work of a Greek sculptor, in the fourth century B.C. 17. PALLAS (Louvre). Styled of Velletri, because the statue to which this belongs was found there in 1797. 18. BAC- CHUS (Young; Capitoline). 19. AESCULAPIUS (British Museum). Found in the Island of Milo in 1828, and supposed to have been executed about 300 B.C. 20. HOMER (Capitoline). 21. PERICLES (Vatican). 22. AUGUSTUS (Young ; Vatican). The frieze of the Parthenon was the gift of James M. Barnard, who was the first to propose this appropriate decoration, and by his sympathy and enthusiasm encouraged it at every step. The original, executed in marble by Phidias and his pupils 435 B.C., was a band en- circling the body of the Parthenon, and was elevated about thirty feet from the ground. At the school its position is reversed, and it en- circles the inside of the hall.

253

EDUCATION, PAST AND PRESENT.

There is no other large city where the children of all classes, in respect to social condition, are so generally educated in public schools.1

Early in the year 1877 a number of ladies, interested in the success of the young women pursuing their studies in Boston University, met at the house of Mrs. William Claflin, to organize a society, now known as the Massa- chusetts Society for the University Education of Women. After many in- teresting addresses had been made, the subject of the preliminary training of girls for college was presented by Mrs. Henry F. Durant, who urged that a reformation be begun at once, and in the city of Boston; that the Pub- lic Latin School should be open to girls; that to withhold these privileges from their parents, taxpayers in this city, was a legal and a moral wrong. Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody, whose interest in public education has been shown in many ways,2 advocated with earnestness the claims of our girls for classical education; remarking that they had been excluded from the High Schools until 1852, and were still excluded from the only public Latin School. Mrs. I. Tisdale Talbot, Mrs. James T. Fields, and Miss Florence M. Cushing were appointed a committee to bring the subject before the city authorities. In doing so they had the valuable aid of James Freeman Clarke, D.D., John D. Runkle, President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Robert D. Smith, Esq. The committee based their claim that the girls should share with the boys the privileges of the Latin School upon the . traditions and statutes of the Commonwealth, which have always, by general orders or special enactments, provided for public instruction in Latin and Greek, in such .terms as the following: "to instruct all children; " "to in- struct youth so far that they may be fitted for the University ; " " a school shall be sustained for the benefit of all the inhabitants, for which a teacher shall be hired to give instruction in Latin and Greek." The committee stated that the only limit, from the year 1647 to 1877, to the benefits of this free instruction in the classics was that of population. The general public being in ignorance of these laws, the committee took pains through the press to state the facts, and, by showing the ordinances and statutes as well as by discussion, created such an interest that the newspapers, with hardly an exception, made common cause with this little knot of energetic parents and friends of equal rights. A petition, asking that girls might be admitted to the public Latin School, was circulated, and received many thousand sig- natures. This petition was presented to the School Board, and by them re-

1 The late Superintendent of Schools, John D. Philbrick, in one of his reports says : " When Lady Amberly, a most intelligent and accom- plished woman, who belonged to a high rank in the English aristocracy, visited our Girls' High School, she was struck with the fine appearance of the pupils, not physically, but intellectually ; and in respect to their lady-like carriage and air of good breeding, she inquired if they were not all from the more wealthy classes .. The head- master told her that the poor and well-to-do were

alike represented; and pointing to two pupils promenading together, said : 'One of those girls is the daughter of a merchant, and the other of a working-man.' She replied, ' I really see no dif- ference in their appearance.' Before leaving she got the assent of her reticent husband, the son of Lord John Russell, to her idea that if they had a daughter, that school would be the best place for her education." This feature in our school system has been often favorably noticed.

2 [See Mrs. Cheney's chapter. - ED.]

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THE MEMORIAL .HISTORY OF BOSTON.

ferred to the Committee on High Schools. Before reaching any decision, that committee held public meetings, and the subject was discussed by many of our most influential citizens. It was shown that while Boston had offered the most ample facilities for the preparation of boys for college, nothing had been done for our girls who desired the classical training required by colleges open to women. This was admitted to be a discrimination against one sex as unwise as it was unjust. In the discussion, which represented the opinions of many eminent professional men, no opposition was made to the preparation of girls for college ; but there was great difference of opinion in regard to the expediency of their becoming members of the existing pre- paratory school. Superintendent J. D. Philbrick and others opposed it with great earnestness, and advocated the establishment of a distinct school.

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The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. IV, Part 32

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Boston : Osgood Number of Pages: 760

Author: Winsor, Justin, 1831-1897, ed; Jewett, C. F. (Clarence F.), publisher
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Boston : Osgood
Number of Pages: 760