USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Ipswich > Town annual report of Ipswich 1916-1918 > Part 7
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Your Committee is unanimous in recommending a larger appropriation for salaries, and reductions in other items have been made in order that this may be granted. We cannot af- ford in view of our large investment in plant and other heavy expense charges to have this, the most vital organ in the whole school system, endangered or made to suffer by any such pirat- ical methods. An enlightened sentiment alone would seem to dictate the better policy. When we consider the education of our children, which is the true function of our schools-what it means to them and to the community, both now and in the fu- ture-what more need be said? Here is the condition! Shall we meet it, or shall we fail?
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
The subject of the education of our non-English speaking population is rapidly forging to the front. Both the federal and the state governments are urging better provisions for the in- struction of these people, with the ultimate view to citizenship. Attendance is compulsory up to the age of 21 years for both sexes, and the duties and responsibilities of the attendance offi- cer have been greatly increased thereby. The law also compels him to have an up-to-the-minute census of all school children and minors.
An effort also is being made to secure the passage of a law which will compel cities and towns to maintain a continuation, or part-time school during the summer months for those be- tween the ages of fourteen and sixteen years, who are obliged to work in our mills and factories. Should this bill become a law, our school operations must be considerably extended in order to meet its requirements. As yet, however, this is but a contingency, and no provision has been made thus far to meet the emergency should it actually arise ..
Other proposed legislation may require your careful atten- tion, and sanction or objection, as the merits of such bills may demand.
Just before the opening of the fall term of school, Mr. Fred- eric B. Knight, our school superintendent, received a call from the School Committee of the neighboring town of Danvers, at a considerable advance in salary. The good work which he ac- complished here will always remain a conclusive proof of his energy and ability along the lines of his profession. He left be- hind him many warm friends who wish him continued success and usefulness in his new field of work, and who confidently expect to hear of still greater advancement.
After considering a large number of applicants to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Knight, the School Committee sought out Mr. Joseph I. Horton, of the Somerville
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High School, and formerly a teacher in this town. We were unanimous in the choice, and we felt that the School Commit- tee, as well as the citizens of the Town of Ipswich, were most fortunate in securing him. He has our unanimous support, and we are sure that the town, as well as the committee, has a strong feeling of confidence in his judgment and ability.
The full statement of receipts and expenditures of this de- partment for the year just closed forms a part of this report, and your careful inspection of the same is earnestly solicited, The budget for the current year has been made up and gone over with a great deal of care. To this, also, your careful attention is desired.
The appropriation asked for is $43,000. The School De- partment has an income from Rowley pupils and other minor sources of approximately $3,500. Therefore, it will be neces- sary to raise by taxation about $39,500.
The School Committee acknowledge with feelings of grat- itude the fine spirit of co-operation and real helpfulness and in- terest which our citizens have shown to them in the discharge of the duties of this department. The custom has been estab- tablished, commencing this past fall, of having all the School Committee meetings open to the public, and tt is hoped that any citizens who are interested in school matters will come to these meetings, where they will have an opportunity to see how the work is conducted and to express their views on any mat- ters they may desire.
Respectfully submitted,
HERBERT W. MASON, Chairman HOWARD N. DOUGHTY, Secretary GEORGE E. MacARTHUR
WILLIAM J. RILEY JOSEPH W. ROSS
School Committee of Ipswich.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Distribution of Pupils In the Ipswich Schools By Grades and Ages.
Ages
Grades
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Total .
I
31
61 31
21
4
1
1
150
II
13 51
31
11
7
3
1
117
III
1 21
44
33
13
7
2
1
1
123
IV
6
44
15
15
2
1
1
3
87
V
2
12
31
16
10
5
4
1
81
VI
8 16
23
10
6
1
1
65
VII
16
29
21
8
2
1
77
VIII
1
6
12
23
12
11
1
66
IX
4
17
31
20
7
1
80
X
2
15
19
16
4
2
58
XI
11
20
5
1
37
XII
2
1
26
3
2
34
975
Pupils making rapid progress
181
Pupils making normal progress
621
Pupils making slow progress
173
975
The numbers underscored show normal progress; those be- fore them, rapid progress; those following, slow progress. The number in this last class is altogether too large. £ This may be due to causes noted in another part of this report.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT.
To the School Committee of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Gentlemen :-
I herewith submit for your consideration the following report of the conditions of our schools. This is the 15th annual report issued by our superintendents, and covers less than four months' time of my own incumbency.
Little attempt has been made thus far to alter or revise courses of study. But one change of text-book has taken place. A few new methods of instruction have been suggested and, so far as conditions would allow, definite limits to be covered in the different subjects have been fixed. Conditions of promo- tion and graduation have been restated and other more radical changes are ready for installation when the same may be made with the least disturbance to the school work.
Generally speaking, however, the progress of the schools has not been interrupted. I have devoted myself chiefly tow- ards strengthening the work of the teaching and building upon the lines already laid down by my predecessor. ' This, I am constrained to believe, is the only rational course to pursue, as confusion and loss would inevitably follow any material dis- turbance of the settled work of the schools.
To announce at this time, after so short an acquaintance,
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any broad outline or policy for the further development of our school system would be presumptuous on my part. So far as the clerical work of the office will permit, I feel that all the aid I can render should be given to making our schools more effi- cient. To bring up the grades to a higher level, to strengthen the discipline, to promote the scholarship, and to inculcate loft- ier ideals of life and service --- these above everything else have first claim upon my attention and demand the full measure of my time and strength. With these things well started towards their proper goals; with a fuller knowledge of our school and community needs; I shall feel more confident in submitting plans and policies for future effort. But this can be postponed for awhile; the other must be undertaken at once.
I shall deal particularly with the work of the six lower grades, as these are the foundation not only of the school sys- tem but of life itself. The great majority of pupils never go be- yond this limit, and too many of them leave before it is reached. To not a few of them it is the last opportunity to come within the reach and influence of anything that will make for useful living, of anything that will uplift and inspire to loftier ideals of life and service.
The foundation here should be laid broad and deep. No imperfect building should be permitted nor tolerated. Teachers entrusted to this work, far and above all others, should be ma- ture. They should possess a broad type of practical knowl- edge, scholarship and character. They should have wide ex- perience; be thoroughly up-to-date as to methods and practices of imparting knowledge; be able to govern, teach and guide these little ones in right ways of thought and action. They should have a strong motherly affection for all children; a clear and unshaken faith in the possibilities of every child. And then they should be paid according to their work and worth.
The last six grades included in the Junior and Senior High
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
Schools will be treated in a more general manner. Further de- tailed information concerning these schools may be obtained from the reports of their respective principals.
For this reason my report may seem partial and fragment- ary. Some portions of it the teachers will recognize as a repe- tition of topics discussed at teachers' meetings. It will not con- tain many comparative tables as we are lacking in available ma- terial for such comparisons. It is written for home consumption -a heart-to-heart talk with parents and others interested in the welfare of our schools. I wish to make my attitude toward our schools clearly understood, that I may have the cordial support and co-operation of all concerned.
Needs.
A few repairs will be necessary, but no additional school accommodations will be needed for some years to come.
Salaries of teachers need considerable adjustment. Those of teachers in the grades should be increased to the level of a living wage, at least; and were it not for the fact that many of them are held by home-ties, the law of supply and demand would operate most decidedly in their favor were they to re- move to other places.
We shall also need an emergency kit for the Winthrop School: Pupils are injured in various ways and prompt atten- tion must be given these cases. They are often overcome by temporary illness and a bed in the sick-room of this building would be a great improvement over the ordinary settee in a crowded room. This would serve a triple purpose, giving the material where bed-making could be taught as a branch of Do- mestic Science work, and also used by the School Nurse in demonstrating how to prepare and change the bed-clothing
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without subjecting a sick person to unnecessary suffering or danger. To be able to do this, especially at a critical stage of a sickness, when life and death are in the balance, I consider as first-class efficiency and nearly on a par with one year of French.
The Domestic Science Department also needs a good-sized copper boiler. The fixtures are all in place, and the boiler can be connected up and put into use in a very short time.
The Manual Training Department is in need of a band-saw and a turning lathe. With these additions a much larger va- riety and a much better class of work could be done. The pur- chase of these may be delayed until prices are more reasona- ble.
Some changes of text-books will be necessary by the open- ing of the schools in September, if not before. But not much will be attempted while books and supplies remain at present price-levels.
Some improvements and beautifying of the playground about the Burley, Cogswell, Payne and Dennison schools are sadly needed if we wish to overcome the barren aspect which these places present. The children's ideas of the beautiful and the harmonious can never be developed in such environment.
Improvements in the sanitary arrangements at the Payne and Cogswell Schoo's should have immediate attention. These are the only large school buildings in town that lack in this par- ticular, and measures should be taken to do away with the present unsightly, inconvenient and dangerous outbuildings as soon as possible.
Several cases of diphtheria have developed among the pu- pils of one of these schools, and the teacher herself has become a victim of this much-dreaded disease. The loss of her services at this time is a serious drawback to the progress of the school, and one that we can ill-afford. But this is as nothing in
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IPSWICH SCHOOL RERORT.
comparison to the suffering and distress which these victims and their families have been made to bear. Fortunately, there has been no loss of life. In justice it should be said that all the cases of diphtheria were not confined to this school. As far as the health authorities were concerned, they have been unable to locate the source of infection in any of these cases. Build- ings without proper sanitary conveniences are more liable to be a saintary menace than those where proper sanitary arrange- ments exist. This only emphasizes the necessity of removing every possible cause of a recurrence of any such loss and dan- ger, and I hope that the matter may receive the prompt and careful attention which its importance requires.
The heating plant at the Burley School, consisting of three hot-air furnaces, has failed to heat the rooms properly during cold, blustering weather. A further trial of their capacity is being made, and we are in hopes that some way may be found to overcome present difficulties and avoid the expense of a change.
It is possible that transportation for the children of the Linebrook School will be required at the beginning of the next school year. Nearly one half of the school consists of seventh grade pupils, and these should enter the Junior High School next September. Just what the membership of this school will be when the upper grade is withdrawn is problematical, but it is certain that the seventh grade should make the change. If these should come, the school will be too small to carry on as an independent unit, and therefore all should be transported.
Better provisions for filing space should be made. The cabinet now in use is inadequate, and nearly three-fourths of the entire room is occupied by the records of labor certificates, census cards, and the school physician's records. Much of the superintendent's time is wasted in searching for records and other data that should be systematically filed where it would be
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available whenever need.
This office is convenient to both the High and Winthrop Schools and should contain all the school records of the town. If better facilities for this work were provided, more of his time could be given to supervising the work of the schools.
The duties and powers of the Attendance Officer have been greatly enlarged, and his responsibilities measurably in- creased by the new law recently made effective. He is obliged to keep a continuous census of all children and minors; to re- turn them to the day and to the night schools whenever ab- sences are reported; to visit factories shops, stores and other places where pupils are employed, and to note that the kind of work is in accordance with the law. In a word, to see that all pupils are in school and that no minor person is employed to do any work or under conditions that are contrary to the school and labor laws of the state. For any failure on his part to see that all the provisions are carried out according to the spirit and the letter of the several laws, he is liable to a fine.
Beginnings.
Beginnings have been made along several lines, and many others are under consideration. Some improvement has been made in reducing the time schedules for opening our schools. (There should be but one for all the sehools.)
Tardiness and absences have become less frequent under the pressure which the Attendance Officer has brought to bear in these matters. He informs me this morning that but three pupils are absent from the Winthrop School-about one per cent. This is a splendid showing,
More attention and care have been given to ranking, and a better preparation for promotion as well as for a more careful
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
grading have become matters of larger concern.
Short trips were undertaken by the lower grades during the fall and much valuable knowledge has been gained in the rudi- ments of geography and nature studies.
Complete lists of selections to be memorized by each of the six grades have been made and are in practical use at the present time. To many of these little folks the opportunities along this line will be extremely limited; but a good start has been made, and by the time the work of the grades is completed they will have quite a stock of good literature stored away for future needs.
A High School Column has been started in our local paper and our pupils are making an effort to acquire some skill along this line of work.
At the beginning of the winter the fourth grade was trans- ferred from the Warren Street School to the Winthrop Building without the loss of a single recitation. Even with this addition the seating capacity has not been taxed in the least. The rooms are better lighted, better heated and more desirable in every way. The expense of running an extra building has also been saved.
The issuing of book-tickets has been put upon a more bus- iness-like basis, and fewer losses by the children have been ex- perienced.
Some of our farmers have availed themselves of our offer to test milk for butter-fat, and more have expressed a desire to have their cows tested in the same way.
The Domestic Science Department has been busy along its own lines. Relishes, jellies, jams, grape juice, lard, sausage and many other articles that enter into the economy of the home, have been made by the pupils from material furnished by dif- ferent individuals. Practice and experience were thus gained by the pupils, and all without expense to the school.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
And so the community spirit has been developed to a de- gree that would be impossible without these departments. And so may it continue to develope until all the activities that make for educational, social and moral uplift in this community, cen- ter in, and radiate from, our schools.
Some General Observations.
Educational views were never more at variance than at the present time. Subjects that were considered essential to a thor- ough grounding in the fundamentals a few years ago, are now held in doubt and uncertainty both as to their place and value.
În methods, too, the same degree of difference exists as is found in the subject matter; and what to teach and how to teach it have become serious questions with many besides lay- men. Schoolmen as well as businessmen find little to commend in the work of our elementary schools. They claim that our work is too superficial and lacks that degree of thoroughness and accuracy which is so essential in all business transactions. Colleges and higher institutions of learning are offering very substantial money prizes as an inducement to better scholar- ship.
The causes which underlie these irritating conditions are many and varied in character. No small share of them lies away beyond the authority of the school, and teachers and school officers should not be expected to carry the full respon- sibility that does not properly rest upon their shoulders alone.
Times change and habits of life and methods change with them. Ideals and aspirations are subject to the same rules. Changes in the home life and in the schools take place with the same degree of frequency and of variation.
The school is peculiarly sensitive to 'outside influences.
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IPSWICH SCHOOL REPORT.
These become strong educational factors, either for good or for evil, and we are compelled to reckon with them. Any de- terioration in the home influence, any lowering of ideals, any encouragement to disobedience or upholding of wrongdoing, is bound to be reflected in school conduct, and, most usually, in an intensified form. The boy who shirks his duties and respon- sibilities at home, will try the same plan and methods at school. The boy's conduct in school is a very fair guage of his training at home.
The case is desperate. indeed; but it is by no means hope- less. My purpose in stating these facts is to show the very close and vital connection between the home and the school- the two greatest institutions in the whole world-and to point out the absolute necessity for each to supplement and assist the other in the task of developing a strong, sturdy type of man- hood and womanhood that shall be at once our pride and our strength.
And so it would seem that our first duty is to restore confi- dence, to revive that feeling of conscious strength born of suc- cessful accomplishment, and to implant an unquestioning faith in the old admonition to "Prove all things," and to "hold fast that which is good." Common sense is a rare commodity, and never yet has it sold at a discount.
As to method, the most successful method in teaching is the method by which you can teach most successfully. There is no one method adapted to all classes or teachers.
As to co-operation between parents and teachers, nothing is impossible. With a clear understanding of purpose, a firm determination to achieve that end, and with a full, sympathetic spirit between parent and teacher working together for a com- mon result, I think success will be assured.
More than this: The reaction in school affairs, so long overdue, is beginning to manifest itself in a way that means
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substantial improvement. Schoolmen are awakening to the fact of our present needs and are testing our efficiency by very practical and scientific methods. These tests have been ap- plied to tens of thousands of pupils, and educational standards have been raised wherever the tests have been made.
Business organizations, boards of trade, and chambers of commerce, in the different cities throughout the country, are taking a very acrive interest in this matter; and much that is su- perficial or wasteful has been eliminated. Local pride will no longer permit the drifting policy of the past.
It has been discovered that school progress and efficiency are measurable quantities, and that standards of measurement have been found and adopted. School affairs are being brought up to a business basis. A longer day for high schools, more in- tensive study, better work on fewer subjects, better discipline, better preparation for life --- these are some of the subjects tow- ards which some of the best minds are turning their attention, and great good will assuredly result therefrom.
Our Schools.
From what has already been said of schools in general, it will be gathered that conditions in our own schools are not pe- culiar to them alone. They prevail too generally, and may be found in many places where local pride and reputation in edu- cational matters would seem to demand something infinitely better. Expenditure alone is no guaranty of efficiency.
The one general criticism that I make of our schools is that the teacher is doing too much of the pupil's work. There is no royal road to education. The boy must be trained to work and discover things for himself, else there is no possibility of mental development. Things are made too easy for him, and
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he becomes helpless by the excessive aid which is given alto- gether too freely. Help should not be given until the point of discouragement is reached; and it would be better, even here, to stimulate his efforts rather than to respond to his first call. The mastery of one problem by his own unaided effort does more to establish his confidence in himself and to make him self-reliant and useful than any number of problems where the teacher's brain and hand did everything.
It is much easier, I admit, for the teacher to show a pupil and even to do the work for him, but this is not teaching. It is simply following the line of least resistance. There is no effort and no commendable result. Let the boy draw upon his own stock of knowledge, help him to proceed from the known to the unknown, and he will soon discover not only the tools he pos- sesses, but he will learn how to use them. In this way alone, through mastery, can development, initiative, and interest be se- cured. I dislike to see a teacher giving and reciting a lesson at one and the same time. But such occasions are not so rare as I 1 could wish.
In some rooms there is considerable waste of effort by reason of lax methods of discipline. Any failure to secure and hold the attention of the class results in poor work. Nothing can be accomplished where pupils are busy with something outside the work of the class. A noticeable improvement in this respect has been made, but there is room for more, and this must be insisted upon.
In arithmetic too much attention has been given to the ab- stract features of the subject, and the mental side has been too much neglected. It is necessary that pupils have the tables and various combination of numbers ready on immediate call; but aside from the fact that speed and facility in other work are better secured thereby, this work possesses very little of real ed- ucational value. It is a means to an end, rather than an end in
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itself. It is one of the tools, and a very necessary one, with which the pupil is to do his work and obtain both knowledge and skill in the using.
But the real value of arithmetic as a thought-developing, mind-building power lies in its problems. This fact, it would seem, has not been recognized sufficiently by some of our teachers, and more work has been started along this line.
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