USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Ipswich > Town annual report of Ipswich 1902 > Part 6
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TEXT BOOKS.
As few changes as possible have been made in text books, yet the number purchased has been unusually large owing in part to the larger number of pupils and the new course in the High school where the changes have been made at the instance of the superintendent.
CONCLUSION.
The foregoing general review of the schools coupled with the report of the superintendent, warrants the belief that our children are receiving training and development along the lines of usefulness, intelligence and trustworthi- ness, that may lead them to
"Travel on life's common way In cheerful godliness."
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SCHOOL REPORT.
Teachers, superintendent and committee are striving for one end-the building of character. Their advice to each is that line of Virgil, "Still go onward, and in going, listen!"
GEORGE W. TOZER JOHN H. COGSWELL CHARLES G. HULL CHARLES S. CUMMINGS CHARLES W. BAMFORD HARRIET E. NOYES
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE :-
It becomes my pleasure as well as my duty to report to you, and through you to the people of the town, the con- dition and progress of the schools.
The following statistical table will show the school population in September, 1902, and the attendance during the school year ending in June, 1902.
NUMERICAL STATEMENT.
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Census of September, 1902.
Number of children in town between the ages of 5 and 15, according to the census taken in September, 1902 ..... 785
As follows:
Number of boys between the ages of 5 and 15. . . .. 417
Number of girls between the ages of 5 and 15. .... 368 785
Number of boys between the ages of 7 and 14. . .265 Number of girls between the ages of 7 and 14. .. .241 506
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Number of boys under 7 years of age . 115
Number of girls under 7 years of age. 88 203
Number of boys between the ages of 14 and 15 .... 41
Number of girls between the ages of 14 and 15 .... 35 76
Attendance for Year Ending June, 1902.
Number enrolled in all schools. 809
Average membership 725
Average attendance . 657
Average per cent of attendance 90
Number over 15. 73
Number between 7 and 14 549
Number between 5 and 15 748
Number under 5.
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Miscellaneous.
Number of truants reported 37
Number of visits by members of School Committee -275
Number of High Schools 1
Number of Schools 20
Teachers in Graded Schools, women
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Teachers in High School, men 1, women 2
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Special Teachers . 2
Number of School Buildings 10
In assuming charge of so large a district as Ipswich, Hamilton, Wenham and Essex, it took some time to famil-
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
iarize myself with the schools and the work being done therein. The first thing to which my attention was called was the demand for a new course of study in the High School and for the establishing of a business department. It was an opportune time for this to be done, since, owing to the large increase in the number of pupils in the school, the necessity for another teacher was imminent. The depart- ment was accordingly established. The present course of study will be found in the Appendix.
The business course requires three years. During this time the pupils are given a practical knowledge of book- keeping, commercial arithmetic, shorthand, and type-writing. These branches will enable many of our boys and girls who wish to enter business pursuits an opportunity to prepare themselves at our High School. This will give these studies to those who now are unable to go out of town for them, and will encourage others who now drop out at the end of the Grammar School course, to pursue their school work. Pupils who have not the desire or talent for the Classics, should be given an opportunity to fit themselves for a useful vocation in the public schools. I would not underestimate the study of the Classics, as very few subjects give a corresponding discipline of mind and intellectual cultivation. Yet, since many pupils who graduate from the Grammar schools are compelled to prepare themselves as soon as possible to earn a livelihood, it is, in my opinion, the duty of the town to provide this preparation. The danger in offering a three years' course is that some pupils of not very studious habits choose this course because it is shorter, or thinking that it may be easier, than other courses. We shall endeavor to ob- viate this danger by making the course as difficult as the others. This is just, since the pupils who elect the three years' course are preparing to enter the business world, and the rigor of the course should be a similar experience to what will be met in after life.
In the general course pupils are required to take Eng- lish each year; Algebra, the first year; and Geometry, the
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
second; otherwise they may choose from the subjects offered. This arrangement gives pupils some chance to exercise their tastes in the branches studied. The teachers advise and direct the pupils in their selection of studies. Parents are urged to give careful attention to the choice of studies which their children make.
A much needed improvement in the High School is the better fitting up and equipment of a laboratory for teaching the sciences. The proper instruction in the sciences cannot he overestimated. These subjects teach boys and girls to think and act for themselves. Nothing more important can be studied than the laws of the natural world and universe, bringing the child into relation with the higher powers of existence. Through these studies we train the spirit even more than the memory. It is in training the spirit rather than in developing the mind that lies the hope of raising human standards. Your attention is called to the suggest- ive report of the Principal of the High School, which may be found in the Appendix.
Owing to the large increase in the number of pupils in the High School, it became necessary to use the room in the Manning building which had been occupied formerly by the Eighth Grade. The Eighth Grade is now using the small room adjoining the Ninth Grade room. The little room can accommodate only one-half the Eighth Grade at a time. The consequent marching in and out of the Ninth Grade room is a bad arrangement for both classes.
Judging from the present number of pupils in the Grammar School, there will be an increase in the High School next year, and still more room will be required. This will necessitate using the room now given to the Ninth Grade.
Our High School is efficient and a high grade of work is being done. After deliberation, the School Committee have decided upon one session for the High School, opening school at 8:30 A. M. and closing the session at 1:15 P. M. Un- der a onc-session system, which is almost the universal
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
system for high schools throughout the Commonwealth, more home study is obligatory. The parents of high school pupils should see to it that their children have a regular time and a quiet place to study. More earnestness and de- votion to work on the part of the pupils is essential to suc- cessfully prepare for higher institutions. The serious stu- dent spirit seems to be less evident than is desirable.
A course of study for the Graded Schools has been prepared and placed in the hands of the teachers. The course of study embraces the work to be covered in a year by the various grades. I have endeavored to make our standard of grades similar to that which is being maintained in the other towns of the state. At present the children are retained in the three Primary schools,-the Cogswell, the Payne, and the Dennison, -four years. These schools are large and at present we are unable to do the amount of work usually accomplished in this length of time. The children going from these to the Winthrop as fourth graders thus take five years to do four years' work. Another school should be formed by concentrating the first divisions of the upper primaries. Under these improved conditions it would not be long before we should be able to accomplish four grades in four years.
The necessity for ampler school accommodations is pressing. It will not be possible to continue the Eighth Grade in its present quarters another year. That more school room will be needed for the Primaries will be appar- ent from the following list, which shows the number of scholars enrolled during the fall term:
Dennicon lower room 67
Dennison upper room 57
Cogswell lower room 58
Cogswell upper room 51
Payne lower room 77
Payne upper room 63
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
This condition should not be allowed to exist for any length of time. The people of the town should conscien- tiously see to it that sufficient school accommodations are provided.
I would call attention to the report of the Truant. Officer, Mr. A. S. Garland, which may be found in the Ap- pendix. We are glad to note the decrease in the number of truants. This is largely due to the efficient service of Mr.
Garland. We are fortunate to have an officer who has so thoroughly at heart the good of the children, and yet has the courage to enforce attendance. There are parents who keep their children out of school on slight provocation. Those who are absent get behind in their work, become dis- couraged and dislike school. The laws of Massachusetts are emphatic upon the subject of school attendance. Parents are liable to a fine when they keep their children out of school, unless this is necessitated by sickness. The follow- ing law should be more strictly enforced:
That all children between the ages of seven and four- teen, unless sick or feeble-minded, must attend school the entire time of each school year, and that the penalty to pa- rent or guardian for failure in attendance for five full-day sessions or ten half-day sessions within any period of six months is ($20.) twenty dollars.
At present we are greatly hindered by children getting excused before twelve to carry dinners to their parents who work in the mill. Since it seems necessary for a consider- able number to do this, I would deem it wise to have our noon intermission from 11:45 A. M. to 1:15 P. M., instead of from 12: M. to' 1:30 p. M. as at present.
I cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of consigning the first two years of a child's school life into the hands of competent teachers with conditions which will give correct habits of school work. In the past it was thought that anyone could teach the Primary. Today all agree that
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
we need the best trained and most efficient teachers to handle the work of the first years. The habits formed during the carly years are lasting. It is of vital importance that we have teachers in the Primary who have chosen to work in these grades and make a study of them. When a teacher has learned Primary work, her promotion should be an in- crease of pay, rather than a change to a higher grade. We - should encourage our capable Primary teachers to remain in the lower grades by increasing their pay in those grades.
It is difficult to get competent teachers who are wil- ling to remain in the outlying schools. Thus it happens that frequent changes in teachers occur in these schools. A change of teachers is always somewhat detrimental to a school. Time is lost to the pupils while a new teacher is learning what has been done and what is best to do in a school. For this reason alone, if for no other, where con- ditions permit it is better to close these schools and bring the children to the centre schools.
READING.
Reading is one of the most important subjects in our school curriculum, as it is through this medium that knowl- edge of all other subjects is largely obtained. The children are to be taught not only to express to others the thought
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
on the printed page, but also to interpret easily and readily for themselves that same thought. In learning new words, a knowledge of word construction is important. The system now used in our schools has for its basis the Rational Meth- od. Pupils are drilled upon phonograms and stock words. No book is used for the first ten weeks, during which time phonograms and stock words are studied and reviewed from the blackboard. When the sounds of letters are known, and common phonograms, or combinations of vowels and consonants generally found together, the child has the tools with which he can learn for himself new words. Since the faculty of mind exercised in learning to read is early devel- oped in children, much emphasis is placed upon this subject in the lower grades. Unless children early learn to read fluently, they are greatly hampered with their work in Arithmetic, Geography, and History. If we can inculcate
the habit of reading and the taste for good reading, we have given pupils the power of self-improvement which few other subjects bestow. No better assistance can be fur- nished in acquiring this accomplishment than a generous supply of the beautiful supplementary readers now pub- lished.
LANGUAGE.
With our present cosmopolitan population, due em- phasis must be placed upon a correct and good usel of the
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
English language. Under our present course of study, English is required of all pupils from the first year in the Primary to the last year in the High School. Yet so great is the force of carly habits and daily associations that we cannot meet with as much success as we wish. The cus- tom of learning rules has been supplanted by the method of practice in the correct use of written and spoken English. Rules of Grammar must be taught in the proper place, but not until the child has become mature enough to understand how to apply them. Constant practice in writing and speaking idiomatic English is the key to better writing and speaking.
ARITHMETIC.
In the first stages Arithmetic should be taught with objects, by measuring and estimating, that the child my properly conceive number and that his judgment may be trained. At present many prominent educators think that the effort to teach abstract numbers in the first two grades is a waste of time. However this may be, it is certainly true that the work in these grades should be very concrete, bringing into play the perceptive faculties. All through the subject great care should be exercised that the examples are properly illustrated, since it has been shown by recent experiments in child study that the reasoning faculties come much later in the child's life than was formerly supposed.
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
When a child can perform the fundamental operations with rapidity and accuracy, the other processes of Arithmetic come much more rapidly. Advanced work in Arithmetic is much less difficult when the attention of the child is not distracted by struggle with the mechanical operations, but rather is concentrated upon the steps in the reasoning pro- cess.
WRITING. -
We have discontinued the use of vertical writing in all grades above the Third. The Medial system of writing is now in use in the higher grades. The letters have just enough forward slant to give speed and character of the older systems and yet preserve the legibility of the vertical.
REPORT CARDS.
Report cards showing the pupil's deportment and
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
standing in his work are sent to the parents every eight weeks. The marks on these cards are obtained by com- bining the marks secured in the daily recitations and the marks gained in the written tests given upon the work cov- ered. Report cards are used as a guide to promotion. Each parent can see whether his child is doing work suf- ficient for promotion or not by reference to the card. Pa- rents are requested to give close attention to the work which their children are doing.
VISITORS.
A cordial invitation is extended to the people of the town to visit the schools as this is a most excellent way of encouraging children and teachers. It is a decided impetus to good work when townspeople frequent the schools. The citizens are urged to make themselves familiar with the everyday work being done rather than with entertainments of special days.
TEACHERS.
The work of our schools on the whole promises better
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
things. Our teachers are active and enthusiastic. They are bending their energies to promote the progress of their pupils both morally and intellectually. Most of the schools in which the numbers are sufficiently small are doing good work. The teachers have shown pronounced interest in the teachers' meetings, and have formed a reading circle for the study of pedagogical subjects. A large number of ed- ucational papers are in circulation.
CHANGE OF TEACHERS.
At the close of school in June, 1902, Miss Purington of Grade VI. resigned. Miss Willis of Grade V. went to Grade VI .: Miss Willcomb of Grade IV. to Grade V .; Miss Baker of the Cogswell, to Grade IV. of the Winthrop; Miss Hodgkins of the Wainwright, to the Cogswell; Miss Katie Brown of the Argilla, to the Wainwright, and Miss Burn- ham of the Village School was given the Argilla. Miss
Susan Kimball resigned the Pavne Primary. Miss Elsie Ross of the Dennison went to the Payne, Miss Ellen T. Sul- livan of the Appleton went to the Dennison. Miss Ada Hall, graduate of the Salem Normal, was employed at the Appleton. It is with sorrow we recount the death of Miss Abbie Carr at the end of a successful year at the Line- brook. Her place was filled by Miss Lucy G. Harris, a graduate of Mount Holyoke.
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
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PENNY SAVING SYSTEM.
The work of the school is not only the promotion of learning, but also the advancement of every form of thrift which shall produce self-reliant citizens. Children should early learn the habit of saving, rather than that of spending every penny they can secure for candy or some personal lux- ury. In many places a penny saving system is conducted by the schools. The child brings his pennies to the teacher, who gives him in return a stamp for each penny brought. These stamps are pasted into a book furnished the pupil. When he has two dollars deposited he gets a bank book. The money is generally placed in the local bank by the prin- cipal of the school. Money can be withdrawn by the child upon the request of his parents. A saving system of this kind could be managed in some, or perhaps all, of the schools of Ipswich.
There are two occurrences further to note. One is the accidental fire in the Cogswell, which occurred just be- fore the Christmas vacation. The building fortunately was insured and was promptly repaired so that only two weeks of school were lost. It gives me pleasure to speak of the second, which is the gift to the schools of a set of charts by Capt. John H. Shatswell, which show all the voy- ages made by this experienced navigator. It is pleasant to acknowledge such benefactions and to express our apprecia- tion of them. These charts may be examined by citizens of the town who may call at the High School to see them.
I extend my thanks to the teachers for devotion to
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
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their duty; to the Committee for their cordial and friendly attitude toward me.
Respectfully submitted,
ANDREW S. THOMSON,
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
Appendix
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APPENDIX.
PRINCIPAL'S REPORT.
ANDREW S. THOMSON,
Superintendent Public Schools, Ipswich, Mass.
DEAR SIR :-
I have the honor to submit to you my report of the Manning High School for the year ending December 31, 1902.
The number of pupils has increased from eighty, De- cember 31, 1901, to ninety-nine, December 31, 1902. When I became principal in 1895, there were fifty-two scholars, and last September the school opened with one hundred and five. Although the increase in membership is very encouraging, yet in the register too many "days absent" and "times tardy" appear. When pupils bring excuses from their pa- rents for absence and tardiness, frequently there may be 110 just cause for an excuse, the parents simply shield the pu- pils. Parents should realize most forcibly the great im- portance of forming habits of promptness and punctuality.
Habit is of most vital importance. The pupil who leaves the public school with habits of promptness, honesty, altruism, reading the best in literature, persevering under the most forbidding conditions and loving zealously his fatherland is well equipped for winning success. Pupils
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APPENDIX.
who are frequently absent or tardy, fail to learn thoroughly the daily lessons, or are deceitful and unmanly, go out into life poorly fitted for winning success in their chosen occupa- tions.
To the course of study a Commercial Course was ad- ded last September. Without doubt this is an advance in the right direction. If the course extended through four years, so that the pupil could receive that mental training and general information which society of today demands, I think the course would be far more desirable.
More room will be required next year. The school needs a room for science instruction, and a certain sum should be expended yearly for the purchase of apparatus.
If instruction in the sciences is to be along modern lines, the school must have apparatus. The chemical lab- oratory cannot be used at the present time.
The work of the school has moved along smoothly. The association of teachers and scholars has been very de- lightful.
The standard of scholarship must be maintained. Scholars who devote little time out of school to study and do not perform satisfactorily their daily work, ought not to expect a diploma at the end of four years.
Parents will assist much in promoting satisfactory work if they will carefully examine the rank cards sent out once a month. Whenever a pupil's rank is below the standard, a conference of parent and teacher will be of great advantage.
I wish to state that the prosperous condition of the school is due in a very great part to the assistant teachers who are loyal and faithful to the welfare of the school. And, here, Mr. Superintendent, let me thank you for the many wise and practical suggestions for the management of the school.
Most respectfully,
JOHN P. MARSTON, PRINCIPAL.
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APPENDIX.
DRAWING REPORT.
ANDREW S. THOMSON,
Superintendent Public Schools, Ipswich, Mass.
DEAR SIR :-
The course in Art Instruction has been fully described in previous reports. The outline is as follows:
In September and October we take up natural draw- ing, color work and landscape compositions; in November, December and January, constructive drawing, including geo- metric figures, working drawings, animal and figure draw- ing and constructive design; in February and March, object drawing, comprising principles of sphere, half sphere, cyl- inder, cube, square prism, square plinth, triangular and hex- agonal prisms, with composition of color values in common objects; in April, May and June, designs embracing order, rhythm, consistency in measure, balance and harmony and applied design.
Our aim throughout all branches is to create in those under our supervision an intelligent discernment and appre- ciation of the beautiful; "to make more general the knowl- edge of wherein beauty lies, and in awakening a love for it, by an acquaintance with its principles and their applica- tions, to lead to a desire for the acquisition of power to create and use the artistic for human enjoyment and bene- fit."
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APPENDIX.
The size of the classes and interest shown in the High School has been most encouraging, and as the periods were reduced with the one session, it was found advisable to sep- arate the classes, the mechanical students meeting on Wed- nesday and the freehand class on Thursday.
The work is greatly hampered by the need of a draw- ing room, where we can work after time and leave our many and varied materials. At present we waste much time in getting ready for our lessons.
Many thanks are due the teachers for their hearty co- operation and never-failing interest in the subject.
Respectfully submitted,
ETHEL WINGATE RATSEY,
SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING.
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APPENDIX.
MUSIC REPORT.
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TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS :-
I beg leave to submit my report of the study of music in the public schools of the Town of Ipswich.
Since my last report, the work has been carried on in a most satisfactory manner, particularly in the grammar grades, where the Normal system of text books has been in- troduced. At the close of the school year in 1902, the schools in the Winthrop building, Grades IV., V., VI., and VII., held "Musical Hours" to which the parents and friends were invited. This took the place of the former exhibi- tions, and in addition to showing the work of the scholars, was greatly enjoyed by all who attended. The work of Grades VIII. and IX. was fittingly exhibited at graduation, and reflected credit upon the teachers and pupils of those grades. The work in the Primary grades has been hin- dered somewhat by the lack of necessary equipment, but having now secured the Normal charts, I feel we can safely promise better results. During the cold season it was im- possible to heat the hall of the Manning school, so we were obliged to omit the music period of the High School. The pupils there, however, have shown great interest, and the general work has been highly satisfactory.
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