USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lincoln > Town Report on Lincoln 1915-1919 > Part 21
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It is worthy the attention of the American people that, in spite of enormous expenditures for war purposes, France is giving unprecedented at- tention to her public schools, and England, for the current year, increased her expenditures for public education 30 per cent. over that for any preceding year.
In the school year 1915-16, Massachusetts ex- pended approximately $27,000,000 for public edu- cation. This amount was increased to $28,500,000 for the school year 1916-17. This increase of approximately 6 per cent. shows the serious intention of our people to maintain a vigorous educational policy. In view of the present situa- tion, Massachusetts cannot afford to relax in any degree her efforts to carry on her schools at highest efficiency.
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Education is a long-time investment. Its pur- pose is to protect democracy through the right training of the youth. Even temporary interfer- ence with this purpose, through inadequate financial support, may seriously impair the quality of our future citizenship. In the present crisis, it is imperative that towns and cities give careful consideration to the needs of the schools.
Sincerely yours,
PAYSON SMITH, Commissioner of Education.
Numerous bulletins issued by the United States Bureau of Education have emphasized the same point,-namely, that the present situation demands expansion of the educa- tional system. No war-time economy of dollars and cents at the expense of the greatest possible educational efficiency is either wise or patriotic. Reduced man power throughout the world after the war must be answered by the increased efficiency of the meager forces available. It is through the schools largely that this increased efficiency may be achieved.
What This Report Has to Say
It is the purpose of this report to answer the following questions :
1. What have been the physical accomplishments and what are the physical needs of the elementary school pupils of Lincoln ?
2. What have been the mental accomplishments and what are the mental needs of the elementary school pupils of Lincoln ?
3. What have been the accomplishments and what are the needs of the high school pupils of Lincoln?
4. How have the Lincoln school interests been made Lin- coln home interests ?
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5. How many teachers have we? What changes have taken place among their number? Who are they ?
6. In what way has the Lincoln Center school building presented problems and how have they been met ?
7. How does Lincoln compare with surrounding cities and towns in resources, appropriations for school purposes, and apportionment of school funds?
Elementary School Pupils
In answering the first question the physical accomplish- ments and physical needs of the elementary school pupils of Lincoln are the subject of investigation. Dr. H. A. Wood of Waltham has kept the health and cleanliness of these children under surveillance in his weekly visits. CHART I, below, shows the findings of his examinations at the beginning of the present school year compared with his findings in the previous year.
Chart I Results of Physical Examination of Elementary School Pupils by School Physician
1917
1916
Number
Per Cent.
Number
Per Cent.
Increase of
1917 over 1916
in terms of
Per Cent.
Total Number Examined
163
173
Cases of Pediculosis
15
9.2
12
6.9
2.3
Cases of Bad Teeth
101
62.0
67
38.7
23.3
Cases of Bad Tonsils or Adenoids. 40
24.5
40
23.1
1.4
Cases of Glands Needing Attention. 59
36.2
21
12.1
24.1
Cases of Bad Posture
64
39.3
79
45.7
6.4*
* Decrease.
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Although there is undoubtedly variation from year to vear in the standards set, these figures are near enough the facts to be worth heeding. They show the need of a "fol- low up" of the examination. To carry this out properly the services of a school nurse who could devote at least one full day each week to visiting the homes of those chil- dren who required attention would be necessary.
From CHART I it may be seen that one pupil in every eleven attending the Lincoln Center school was suffering from pediculosis. To cure these cases and prevent their recurrence requires also the cure of the other members of the family and their instruction in the cleanliness necessary to avoid further difficulties. It would be a duty of the school nurse to see to this.
It may also be seeen from CHART I that three children in every five have teeth needing a dentist's attention, one in every four has tonsils or adenoids which hinder his mental and physical efficiency, and one in every three has glands needing attention.
It can do little good to pay $200 annually for the serv- ices of a physician to detect these faults and recommend for their cure unless we make sure that his recommendations are carried out. An expenditure of $200 annually for the services of a school nurse who would do this "follow up" work would to a great extent remedy the present ineff: ciency.
The one encouraging feature of CHART I is the im- provement in posture of 1917 over 1916. During his examination of the children, Dr. Wood commented on the fact that in 1916 they had not known how to breathe deeply when told to do so, but had learned how since that time. This he attributed to the fifteen-minute physical exercise period which has preceded the second recess during the
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past year. It is probable that this physical exercise period is also responsible for the improvement in posture.
Girls Need Out-of-door Exercise
One of our greatest needs is some form of out-of-door, play exercise that will interest all the girls. It has been quite easy to find this for the boys. In the fall, baseball gave almost every one of them the vigorous play-activity which recesses should provide. An adaptation of soccer football later supplied this need. The younger made use of the swings and teeter-boards.
Miss Georgianna Keith, in charge of the fourth grade, has organized a class for folk dancing from the girls of the first four grades. This has given these pupils. both the needed exercise and the necessary concomitant of enjoy- ment. But for the older girls there has been little or nothing.
If a section of the playground could be levelled and put in proper condition the girls of the upper four grades could play field hockey,-a game so well adapted to girls that many girls' schools have made it their principal out-door pastime. It has the advantage of being easily adapted to a large number of players, of not being so strenuous, as to endanger the health of the girls, and of teaching the "team play" which women need especially to learn.
The Three R's
Turning to the second question which this report under- takes to answer, the "Three R's" are traditionally the first mental accomplishment which comes to our minds. Read- ing is a subject of which it is difficult to say much worth saying. The question is: Is reading being correctly and efficiently taught to the Lincoln elementary school pupils?
141
We think it is. Probably 99 per cent. of all our reading as adults is silent reading,-reading for our own instruction or entertainment. Good silent readers may read aloud poorly. We cannot, then, judge how efficient a pupil's reading ability will be in his adult life simply by having him read aloud. It was the intention of your superintendent to use, later, some of the methods which have been devised for testing the efficiency of a pupil's silent reading. Mean- while the teachers have enthusiastically "aided and abetted" the circulation of library books among the pupils. This means, in fact, home work in silent reading which the pupil is not only willing but eager to do. It means, also, the obvious values which acquaintance with books and the acquisition of the reading habit contribute.
Of 'Riting we can speak more concretely. Standards have been devised for measuring with greater accuracy than was obtainable before, the quality of samples of penman- ship. On September 18, last, tests were given in penman- ship under standard conditions which made it possible to compare them with similar tests in other towns or cities. CHART II, below, shows the result of these tests to have been most complimentary to Lincoln. Speed is in terms of letters per minute. Quality is in terms of the Ayres Scale for measuring the quality of handwriting. The median is the middle score. That is: the eighth grade median would be the score of the eighth grade pupil than whom there were just as many poorer as better. It is the score of the pupil who was in the middle of the class in that particular test.
In considering CHART II, it should be remembered that the same tests were given, in the same length of time, and under the same conditions in all these schools. Speed rep- resents the average of the number of letters per minute written in a one-minute and a four-minute speed test.
142
Average quality represents the average of the quality of a sample written from dictation, the one-minute speed sample, and the lines written during the last minute of the four- minute speed sample. It is natural that during the last minute of the four-minute speed test, the quality of the pu- pil's handwriting would be poorest. I have included the rank of this poorest quality for the Lincoln pupils in CHART II simply to show that even their poorest writing, in the two upper grades at least, was superior to the average quality of all those other schools for which I have figures.
Chart II Quality and Speed of Penmanship of Lincoln Grammar School Pupils Compared With Those of Other Cities
Grade V Medians
Grade VI Medians
Grade VII Medians
Grade VIII Medians
Speed
Average
Quality
Poorest
Quality
Speed
Average
Quality
Poorest
Quality
Speed
Average
Quality
Poorest
Quality
Quality
Poorest
Quality
Lincoln
69
46
43
85
51
45
88
63
57
95
66
63
Brookline
76
44
87
46
90
47
98
49
. .
Newton
73
48
85
51
94
50
102
53
Missouri Training Schools
80
41
92
42
92
45
102
47
. .
. .
It is to be noted, however, that though the Lincoln pupils excel in quality of handwriting in all but the fifth grade, in no grade is their speed up to the standard reached else- where. By emphasizing greater speed and at the same time striving to guard against any back-sliding in quality we hope to approximate the standards attained in these other cities. The value of these tests in diagnosing the needs in the subjects to which they apply is, I think, self-evident.
Speed
Average
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Of 'Rithmetic, the last of the three R's, it is also possible to speak in fairly concrete terms. On October 18, last, tests in the four fundamental operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) were given in all our grades above the third. These were so-called "standard" tests which have been given to many thousands of pupils throughout this country under conditions as nearly as pos- sible the same. . Their values, like those of the penmanship tests mentioned above, lie in the facts that they afford com- parison with the accomplishments of other communities and that they serve to diagnose the pupils' difficulties to a cer- tain extent.
After giving the standard tests on October 18, daily prac- tice in these fundamental processes was given the pupils, using a new and very efficient system recently devised which permits each child to progress at his own rate in competi- tion with his own record as well as the records of his class- mates. This practice was followed on December 20 by another rating of the class by means of the standard tests. CHART III, below, gives the results of these two tests as well as the standards which the results in other cities and towns show we should strive to reach. It is explained as follows :-
144
Chart III Graphic Presentation of Standings of Upper Five Grades in Four Fundamentals in Arithmetic on October 18 and on December 20, With Standings We Should Strive to Reach
Arithmetic
-- ADDITION --
GRADE V
GRADE IV
->Speed
Speed
->Speed
->Speed
-Speed
Correct
- Correct
>% Correct
& Correct
- & Correct
-- SUBTRACTION --
-- MULTIPLICATION --
WHIHIIIIM,
-- DIVISION --
0
Black areas show results of Oct. 18th test. Shaded areas show results of Dec. 20th test. Dotted line indicates standard expected of grade.
Height shows number of problems done. Width shows number of problems correct. If all were done correctly, then, the figures would be squares,-that is, as wide as they are tall.
GRADK VII
GRADE VIII
GRADE VIA
L
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The first row shows the results in addition in the five grades in the October 18 and the December 20 tests, as well as the results we should strive to obtain. The figure in the first column of the top row should be interpreted as fol- lows: In addition, the fourth grade on October 18 had reached only about half the speed which it should strive for, as shown by comparing the height of the black area with the height of the area surrounded by the dotted line. Even this work was lamentably inaccurate as shown by comparing the width of the black area with its height. On December 20 the work of this grade in addition had improved in speed, as shown by the greater height of the shaded area, and in accuracy, as shown by the better proportion of width to height in the shaded area. It was still so far from the standards for which the grade is striving that it is prac- tically hopeless to try to reach them this year.
The important question is: Why is this true and how can it be remedied ? It is unlikely that it is the fault of any single inefficiency. It is certain that it is not the fault of the present teacher of the class, who is doing her work splen- didly in the face of the handicap which so great a defi- ciency presents. A contributing factor is doubtless the sacrifice of the pupil's welfare which must result when two grades are combined under the instruction of one teacher. The corrective for this is a teacher for each grade the mo- ment the number of pupils reaches the point to make this practical. Another factor is the isolation of the Lincoln school, which makes it difficult to compare the standard reached by a given grade with that reached in other schools. The use of such "standard" measures as have already been described will serve to remedy this difficulty.
When it is stated that at the beginning of the present year these fourth graders did not even know their "table of two's," it will not be surprising to observe in CHART III
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that they were still unable to do long division to the extent of taking the standard tests in that subject as late as De- cember. 20.
More encouraging conditions are found in some of the other grades,-excepting addition, in which all are seen to be rather weak. The work of the seventh grade may partic- ularly be noted as showing excellent progress in all opera- tions but multiplication where speed has been increased without corresponding increase in accuracy.
Chart IV
Standings of Upper Five Grades in Four Funda- mentals in Arithmetic on October 18 and on December 20, With Standings We Should Strive to Reach
GRADE IV
GRADE V
GRADE VI
GRADE VII
GRADE VIII
ADDITION
Speed Oct. 18.
3.9
6.5
7.6
7.2
8.0
Speed Dec. 20
4.7
7.4
9.2
9.7
8.8
Standard Speed
7.3
8.6
9.8
10.9
11.6
Accuracy Oct. 18
26%
43%
45%
52%
50%
Accuracy Dec. 20.
40
40
40
55
65
Standard Accuracy
63
70
73
75
77
SUBTRACTION
Speed Oct. 18
4.2
7.0
10.2
9.3
9.0
Speed Dec. 20
4.9
7.9
10.2
11.0
11.5
Standard Speed
7.3
9.0
10.3
11.7
12.9
Accuracy Oct. 18
32%
62%
65%
77%
70%
Accuracy Dec. 20
40
55
70
75
84
Standard Accuracy
80
84
86
87
88
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MULTIPLICATION
Speed Oct. 18
2.9
6.5
8.0
9.0
9.6
Speed Dec. 20.
3.4
7.2
8.7
10.0
11.2
Standard Speed
6.2
7.5
9.1
10.2
11.5
Accuracy Oct. 18.
30%
53%
56%
67%
73%
Accuracy Dec. 20.
40
57
65
60
75
Standard Accuracy
67
75
78
80
81
DIVISION
Speed Oct. 18.
. .
4.4
5.8
8.2
8.5
Speed Dec. 20.
6.7
7.6
11.5
10.5
Standard Speed
4.7
6.1
8.2
9.7
10.7
Accuracy Oct. 18.
68%
80%
77%
84%
Accuracy Dec. 20.
53
60
85
87
Standard Accuracy
57%
77
87
90
91
. .
. .
·
Speed=Number of problems completed in given time.
Standard Speed=Number of problems we should strive to complete in given time.
Accuracy=Per cent. of problems completed which were right.
Standard Accuracy=Per cent. of problems completed which we should have right.
CHART IV gives the same information as CHART III but in numerical form. Though not as striking of itself it will serve to supplement the impression obtained from the graphic presentation of the conditions. It should be re- membered, however, that the figures are only roughly ac- curate.
These charts treat only of the standing of the five upper grades of the grammar school in the so-called "four funda- mental operations." But if properly instructed in these fundamentals it is fairly simple to teach their application in the problem work of the arithmetic of these grades,- more especially in these days when so many non-essentials of the old-fashioned catch-problem, mental-gymnastics type are being dropped from our requirements.
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English-History-Geography
At the opening of the present term on January 7 we were still awaiting outlines of a course in English prepared at Concord last year. These outlines map out the instruction from the first grade through the high school. They are being used in Concord High School; and since it is, of course, desirable that the pupils who go from Lincoln to that school have preparation which will meet the require- ments there, we are practically obliged to use these outlines. We do so, however, under protest for the following reason :
They demand technical grammar, which, as most modern educators agree, has no place in the elementary school.
The elementary school should teach how to speak and write correctly, and speaking and writing correctly are hab- its acquired by constant practice. The correct speaker does not say, "It is I," as the result of having thought before- hand that : "I" is a pronoun in the nominative case, follow- ing the copulative, intransitive verb, "is." He says, "It is I'" because that has become his habit, acquired by constant use of the correct form. No memorizing of rules for pred- icate nominatives after copulative verbs would ever have given him that accuracy. The "grammatical axioms" neces- sary to make children see why some of their usages are wrong are few and should be simple.
Why, then, is technical grammar present in this outline in sufficient amount to call for protests? One answer is that the history of our school system, dating from the days when the grammar school was so-called because its major interest was Latin and Latin grammar, has caused us to accept tech- nical grammar as a tradition. Another reason is because high school teachers of foreign languages, ignoring the question of its suitability in the elementary grades, de- mand it because, they say, it will make their work easier.
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Let me quote Prof. Burges Johnson of Vassar College on the last point :
" 'But,' said a teacher only yesterday-a woman occupy- ing the position of assistant principal in a large elementary school-'how are my pupils to study Latin later on if they have not learned English by the grammatical method?' In other words, if my baby does not learn to walk by means of a balancing-rod along a crack in the floor, how can I teach him later in life to advance on the tight-rope?"
He says again in the same essay, Grammar, the Bane of Boyhood : "Here is a curious thing to contemplate : rules of technical grammar which are necessary for the mastery of Latin, because it is a dead language of fixed regularity, are not taught in Latin but in English."
The fact remains that our situation will make it neces- sary to conform to the Concord outline as soon as copies are available to us. At present the outline used in the Toledo, Ohio, schools is being followed in the lower grades.
In History we have been using the outline of the courses given in the model University of Chicago Elementary School. Slight changes have been made to adapt this to our requirements.
Mr. Lyman's well-planned outlines in geography continue to guide our work in that field.
Spelling-Drawing-Music
There is need of standardization of Spelling throughout the school, in order that the instruction may progress sys- tematically. Your superintendent has had opportunity to make a bare beginning at this. Much still remains to be done. The Boston Spelling Lists which Miss Keith, on her own initiative, has been using in grade four, might serve as a beginning for this standardization.
·
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The teachers have been instructed to permit children who were doing work for the Red Cross to devote the usual drawing periods to this service, if they wished. This was in no way intended as a substitute for more organized Red Cross activities. Plans for a Junior Red Cross chapter are now going forward in such a way that they will not be dis- turbed by my resignation. The conviction that Red Cross work well done was as valuable to the pupil as his drawing caused the permission.
In Music we have made big changes, this year. Using the phonograph to bring to us whatever we needed, your superintendent has personally taken charge of instructing the seventh and eighth grades in the appreciation of music. The purpose of this change was to substitute for at least a part of the "do-ra-mi-fa-sol" system for teaching "music," instruction in what good music was, what some of its forms were like, what it can say, how it says it,-or, in a phrase, how to like it. Such a change means more teaching of music and less teaching of hieroglyphics, it will be conceded.
Cooking-Sewing-Manual Training
Mrs. Joslin, formerly Miss Wilson, has adapted her instruction in Cooking to war conditions. In the fall em- phasis was laid on the various methods of canning. Since then war recipes calling for molasses instead of sugar ; and corn meal, rye flour or graham flour instead of the more precious white flour, have been taught.
The cooking has been greatly handicapped by the lack of proper stoves. The old-fashioned oil stoves with which the school is now equipped are hazardous and uncertain at best. Up-to-date stoves should be substituted for these.
In the teaching of Sewing, Mrs. Smith has been able to include much work for the Red Cross without lowering the instructive value of the courses. The policy of supplying
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to the pupils the materials they needed for their work in- stead of requiring them to buy it themselves was introduced this year and has proved more satisfactory to all concerned.
Later pages dealing with changes in the building will speak of the removal of the Manual Training from the room formerly occupied to quarters in the basement. Mr. Brack- ett had on hand sufficient materials at the begining of the year to make large purchases unnecessary. As a result, the outlay for this department is less, this year, than normally. When a chapter of the Junior Red Cross has been organized at the school it is likely that much of the manual training work will be for the Red Cross, insofar as that may be done without lowering the instructive value of the work.
Some Needs in the Near Future
It had been one of our plans that we should have a mov- ing picture machine of the type which use non-inflammable films, need no special operator, and meet with the approval of the fire underwriters for use under those conditions, for increasing the efficiency of the instruction in geography, history, nature study, and to a more limited degree litera- ture. The favorable attitude of your committee and the great interest of parents and teachers convince me that this plan would have materialized were it not that my enlistment is soon to take me from Lincoln. The initial expense would be about $225, with an annual expense, thereafter, of $150 for the rental of five films weekly. The films which have been prepared especially for school use number in the hun- dreds and are being used for bettering the instruction in many of the Boston schools as well as other schools through- out the state and country. The number available is increas- ing daily. It is your superintendent's hope that this form of visual instruction may soon be made available to the Lincoln pupils.
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A great need of the Lincoln Center school which cannot be met by purchase in any market is school spirit. There is a lack of pride, a lack of feeling of personal responsibility and a general disinterest in the welfare of the school as a whole which not only lowers classroom efficiency but "playground and street efficiency." It means, in short, poor civic morale. We are a disunited school unit, and the chief reason is that we have no place of assembly as a school. We need badly an assembly hall.
It was your superintendent's plan to use the room in which the manual training was formerly located for as- sembling the four upper grades on Monday mornings and the four lower grades on some other morning of the week. It would be necessary to secure benches of the type in use at the town hall to do this, however, and these are not now available unless we purchase. To gather the school in one room, opening the week with the reading of a short passage from the Bible, singing The Star Spangled Banner, repeating the Lord's Prayer, and then listening, perhaps, to a five or ten minute talk from some adult with something worth-while to say would do wonders in developing the esprit de corps we now lack.
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