USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1900-1902 > Part 15
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The work of the Grammar schools during the past year has been in most cases well done. Some of these schools are in excellent condition; the spirit of earnest work and kindly cooperation manifest in them is worthy of particular commendation, and of emulation by those schools not so well favored. The earnest, patient and careful work which these schools, on the whole, are doing, speaks well for the successful training the children in them are receiving.
The closing exercises of those who had finished the Gram- mar school course were held at the High school, June 28, 1901.
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GRADUATES, CLASS OF 1901.
Burton School.
Samuel Bodell.
William Carl Hill.
Julian Scott Bradford.
Annie Helen Bass
Jeanette Benson Holmes. Sadie A. Hirst.
Harold Parker Bartlett.
Margaret Cheney Lord.
Herbert Collingwood Clark. Frances Shippen Lord.
Helen Winchester Clark.
Francis Simon Lavache.
Mary Magdalen Morey.
Martha W. Coupe.
Louise Agnes Cassady.
William George Curran.
William Allen Danforth.
William Noel Drew.
Florence Ethel Nickerson.
Edward Manley Dunbar.
Charles Augustus Forrest.
Beatrice Maud Ferguson.
Aurissa William Savery.
Frederick J. Hall.
Edward Rhodes Williams.
Jay Oliver Harlow.
Alice Wilson Haire.
Clayton King Woodward. Isabelle P. M. Voght.
Mount Pleasant School.
Mary Alice Bradford.
George William Cobb.
Mary Alma Burgess.
William Harvey Covington.
Hattie Marion Butters.
Percy Waldron Fowler.
Ida Louisa Butters.
Philip Edward Gerety.
Mary Louise Jenkins.
John Russell Harlow.
Lester Ellsworth Avery.
Harold Preston Sears.
Long Pond School.
Ethel May Pierce. Hattie Weston Swift.
HIGH SCHOOL.
Graduates of the Grammar schools are admitted to the High school without examination. There were 48 such graduates last June. 42 of whom entered the High school in
Caroline Christina Moning. Edith F. Milburn. Isabelle Ellen Norton.
Harold Bartlett Paulding.
Frank Allen Sampson.
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the fall. The present membership of the High school is 129 pupils and six teachers, six more pupils and one less teacher than last year. The number of pupils in attendance is less than eight years ago, and though the number is increasing, it is not probable that under the present circumstances, the school will for some time enroll as large a number as it did eight years ago. Some of the reasons for this decrease in the number of pupils in attendance are :
Ist. Eight years ago the number of pupils attending the High school, as compared with the number of pupils in the lower schools, was remarkable and abnormal. It was unavoidable that necessary changes made should lessen the number in attendance.
2nd. In speaking of the High school in an earlier report (1897), it was suggested that it contributed neither to the welfare of the pupils nor to the interests of the community to allow pupils to enter the High school before they were able, by reason of age and attainments, to do to advantage the work of the school. A reasonable amount of care has been used in admitting only those to whom the advantages of the school would be a benefit, and in retaining only those who were there for a serious purpose, and who were willing to do the work they were fairly capable of doing.
3rd. The character of the later additions to our popula- tion. While many of these parents are as eager as any others to give their children a high school education, their slender means demand the financial help of their children as soon as they may go to work; and there are a few who through no stress of need or untoward circumstances, but because they fail to appreciate the benefits the schools so freely offer ; put their children to work as soon as the law al- lows.
4th. The increased demand for the labor of boys and girls in nearly all the factories. Any boy or girl 14 years
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old and of average intelligence can today find a place to work.
5th. The increased age at which children enter the High school. Some years ago a large percentage of the members of the High school here was between II and 14 years of age. At that same time the average age of pupils of the State en- tering the High schools was over 15. The precocity of chil- dren here was not. I believe, sufficient to enable them at the age of from II to 14 to do equally good work with well trained pupils of 15 years in other communities.
"Children under 14 years of age, however talented appar- ently, with few exceptions are not competent to study profit- ably the work given in the first year of our High schools. Some of them may do the work passably, as class work is frequently done, but they can get very little good out of it, very little that will tell for manly independence."
The school report from which the above is a quotation (Somerville, Mass.). states that there has been very little change during the last 20 years in the average age of Gram- mar school graduates there-the time at which they become eligible to enter the High school-and that in the last class ( 1900), numbering over four hundred, 38 per cent. were be- tween 15 and 16 years of age and 31 per cent. over 16. The average age at which pupils enter the High school in Somer- ville is about the same as in other communities having good schools, that is, over 15 years. The average age of the last class entering our High school was about 15 years. Recog- nizing the fact that maturity and strength of mind probably come to pupils no sooner here than elsewhere, and that these essentials in the pupil are necessary to do to advantage the work of the High school, if its standard of work is to be maintained, we believe that this has tended to lessen the num- ber of those who enter, and to cause some who enter and find the work beyond their capacity, to fall out.
Instead of admitting children to the High school be-
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fore they can meet its conditions and requirements, it is of greater service to the larger number of pupils to extend and strengthen as far as we may the work of the Grammar schools. The close of the Grammar school course is deemed by many a desirable and fitting time to end their school days. The large majority of pupils go no further, and they must secure such training for their work as the schools can give them before the Grammar school course of study is ended. It is a greater gain, therefore, to keep them in the Grammar schools as long as possible, and to do the most for them while there.
The work of the High school is carried on in four courses as follows :
Boys
Girls
Total
Classical Course,
I
O
I
Scientific Course,
34
21
55
Literary Course,
7
36
43
Commercial Course,
23
7
30
129
Each of the four courses named above ordinarily requires four years for its completion. The student in the Classical course sometimes needs to do an additional year's work to meet college requirements for admission. With a few re- strictions such as seem necessary to prevent waste of time by injudicious or careless selection of
full course subjects, any student for whom a
is unnecessary or impossible may ordinarily take a special or partial course suited to his purpose. In this way, too, pupils who wish to take a full course, but who, for rea- sons of health are not able to do so, may make the work of each year easier by doing it more leisurely, taking five or more years to complete the regular four years' course. By such an arrangement the advantages of the school are of- fered to some who would otherwise be barred from them,
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while the number of classes and the teaching work of the school is not materially increased thereby.
The High school continues to sustain its reputation for good scholarship and efficient management. Its earnest, quiet and successful work merits the confidence and gener- ous recognition and support of the School Committee and people.
The graduating exercises of the class of 1901, Plymouth High school, were held Thursday, June 20, 190I.
Graduates.
Marion W. Beytes.
Howard P. Barnes.
Alice S. Cole.
Harry A. Bradford.
May D. Hill.
George A. Brown.
Maude M. Lucas.
Arthur E. Finney.
Bertha M. Stevens.
Richard B. Hobart.
Flora B. Washburn.
Thomas Shaw.
Miriam O. Williams. +
TEACHERS.
During the past year seven teachers have resigned. These vacancies have been filled, and four new schools opened. At the present time there are 50 teachers employed, five men and 45 women, three of the latter serving as special instructors Some changes in the personnel of the teaching force are un- avoidable. When such changes occur, they are borne with equanimity ; but there are other changes which can and ought to be avoided, because unnecessary. When a teacher is satis- factory because of the excellence of her work, no reason- able financial consideration should stand in the way of re- taining her, and enough money should be available to secure a teacher whose ability has been proved by her successful experience, to fill every vacancy which comes. It is false economy and very poor business policy not to do this.
Much time and money is spent in providing suitable
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school buildings and in securing their proper equipment; much consideration is given to the proper selection of sub- jects of study, and to the choice of text-books to be adopted and used; these and many other considerations are interest- ing and important, and, in a way, necessary. But in dealing with these things we may not forget that they are the mere externals of education, that they are of secondary importance, aids to good work no doubt, but that many ex- cellent schools exist without them. We have need to remem- ber that the cardinal and vital principle underlying, sup- porting and rendering possible good schools is good teach- ing: that the secret of the school is ever with the teacher. This is the only essential, and its importance causes every other consideration for the school to become comparatively unimportant. It is Mr. James Brice, I think, who says, "We may over rate the importance of educational machinery. We may expect too much from modernized curricula. We can- not over rate the excellence of the teacher, nor spend too many pains in endeavoring to secure her. With good teachers nearly everything will have been gained; without them, hardly anything." It is the most important, the most serious duty of this or of any Committee to see that each of the schools under its care is supplied with the best teacher procurable, and never to rest until the means to do this are provided. Having accomplished this, it need have no fear for results, but may rest in the assurance that it has pro- vided, in the only satisfactory way, for the highest welfare of the children who are the future citizens.
This same theme has been presented in one form or anoth- er for each of the past seven years. There is no diminution in earnestness or interest on the part of the writer in this question, because he firmly believes that it is the one subject above all others that should be considered, and the needs it discloses be provided for. A certain amount of responsibility for the condition of the schools, and an earnest desire that
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they shall be of the best, and a conviction that they can be made so, with the means within the ability of this communi- ty to provide, are the only reasons, and sufficient ones, he be- lieves, for again reverting to this subject.
UNGRADED SCHOOLS.
There are at present five ungraded schools having a total membership of 51. The largest number in any one of these schools is 19, and the smallest number five. The cost of supporting these schools is $34 for each child in the average membership. In one school the cost is $67 per pupil. There is very little room for question whether the work done with these pupils, compared with what might be accomplished for them if brought into the larger schools, is worth the amount it costs. In any case, people who are accustomed to say that very little money is spent for the benefit of resi- dents of rural districts can find no sufficient reason for such statements relative to the comparative amounts paid for furnishing school opportunities for children in those districts in Plymouth.
WORK OF SPECIAL TEACHERS.
The work in Sloyd for the boys in grades 7, 8 and 9 has been carried on through the year. Instruction in this sub- ject has been given to about one hundred and twenty boys, divided into five different groups, each of which has had two hours' work every week. A large degree of interest in this work is manifested by those pupils who take it, and it is the uniform experience here as well as elsewhere, that there is no apparent loss in other school work by reason of the time given to Sloyd. The expense incurred for this work, as at present carried on, is about $500 a year.
Music and drawing are taught in all schools, including the High school. The regular teachers carry on the instruction in these subjects under the direction of special instructors,
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who visit each school every two weeks, except the ungraded schools and three or four other schools so far away as to make such visits impracticable. Music has been successfully taught here for many years, with great pleasure and profit to all pupils in the schools during that time. We have been for- tunate in retaining our present supervisor in music for the past four years ; the service she renders is excellent, and the schools as a whole have never been doing more satisfactory work in this subject than at present ..
Drawing is one of the subjects required by law to be taught in the public schools. Six years ago, in the hope of making the work in drawing more systematic and efficient a special teacher was appointed to direct and supervise this work. The results gained have justified the expense in- curred by this action. During these six years we have had three different teachers in drawing, each having a dif- ferent idea and ideal of what the work in drawing should be and should aim to accomplish.
These changes of teachers have in each case made some re- adjustments necessary, and resulted in an inevitable loss to the work. This must continue to be true until we have found the right person as director of drawing, who will stay with us long enough to gain for the schools the best results that this line of work can give.
It is a duty imposed by law upon the School Committee to issue a printed report each year upon the condition of the public schools. Such a report can do little more than recount the more important acts of the Committee, chronicle statis- tics of attendance, record items of expense, compare ex- penditures incurred, state the condition of school buildings. and indicate the present and prospective material needs of the schools.
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Statements of material conditions and money values, how- ever, convey but a faint idea of the real value and character of the work the schools are doing. These statements do not show how faithfully the schools are employing their re- sources for the wisest and best purposes, nor what measure of success they are really achieving in helping to develop in the children who attend them strength of will, high ideals and power to do. What are the schools contributing to the essential end of education? What is their spirit, their aim and purpose ? What ideals do they furnish ? What incentives do they supply ? Do they contribute in accordance with their opportunities and responsibilities, those agencies and influences which result in high purpose and right char- acter ? Answers to these questions, could they be obtained, would reveal in a most convincing way, and in the most vital and essential particulars, the real condition of the schools. But the influences and results of schools and school training cannot well be measured. They are very real. but intangible, and so do not lend themselves to be out- lined in a report or to be computed by statistics. They are manifested and estimated only in the lives and characters of those whom the schools have helped to train, and then only in connection with influences which have reached them from many other sources.
But these questions may be investigated and approximately answered by studying at close range the work the schools are trying to do. In this way, those interested may observe the actual conditions of the schools, feel in a measure their responsibility, and then note how they are trying to better the one and to meet the other. The purpose and aim of the schools may thus be determined. their spirit and tone be felt, and the tendencies of their training be fairly estimated. Evi- dence secured in this way is valuable because reliable. Judg- ments and opinion based upon criticism and comment, found- ed, in their turn, upon "common report," of the way schools
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are administered, are of little worth because usually untrust- worthy and frequently misleading.
The schools are open to all who wish to visit them, and' there is always a warm welcome awaiting fair-minded and discriminating observers who will visit and investigate the character of the work the schools are doing. We value their judgment and welcome their criticism. Such observers would not find ideal schools, for such are only in process of evolution, and are awaiting ideal conditions, ideal children and ideal teachers. They would find, sometimes, fair cause for adverse criticism. Not every school has an adequate equipment ; some methods of work are not the best; some teaching not the most skilful; some judgments in cases of discipline not the wisest; some management of classes not the most efficient, and here and there, perhaps, there is a teacher who is not living up to the full measure of the privileges and responsibilities of the work. But such observers would find the schools as a whole generously supplied with the material needs of their work; classes well organized and efficiently managed, and their work carefully planned and directed; pupils, the large majority of whom are dominated by a spirit of earnest work, with a serious purpose to excel, a wholesome respect for school authority, and a hearty desire to cooperate for the good of the whole school. They would find, too, a corps of teachers who, according to their varying abilities and qualifications, are rendering a whole hearted service to the schools, sparing no effort necessary to make the work assigned them a success; teachers whose earnest, faith- ful, patient labor is, in most cases, accomplishing excellent results.
On the part of all those to whom the immediate interests of the schools are entrusted, there is a harmony of purpose and a unity of action to make the schools the best possible with the means at their command.
In conclusion, I wish again to express my appreciation of
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the consideration, support and confidence of the Committee, and of the ever ready and cordial assistance of the teachers, in all matters connected with the welfare of the schools.
Respectfully submitted. FRANCIS J. HEAVENS, Superintendent of Schools.
REPORT OF TRUANT OFFICER.
To the School Committee :-
.
Gentlemen :- I have the honor to submit my annual re- port for the year ending December 31, 1901.
One hundred and sixty-eight calls have been received from the teachers to look up absentees and all have been investi- gated. Very few actual truants were found, most of the children having been kept at home by their parents on ac- count of sickness or bad weather. Two families were found where the children did not have suitable clothing. These cases were reported to the Overseers of the Poor, who at once supplied what was needed.
Respectfully yours, J. W. HUNTING,
Truant Officer.
Plym 10
LIST OF TEACHERS.
IN THE SCHOOLS, PLYMOUTH, MASS.
HIGH SCHOOL.
Geo. F. Kenney, Principal, English and Greek.
Grace W. Irwin, Mathematics and Latin.
Nellie Carpenter, History and English. May L. Booth, German and French. Mary W. Cross, Science.
Isabel S. Skinner, Commercial Studies.
NORTH SCHOOLS.
GRADE.
I. Adeline M. Stevens.
I. Leella F. Barnes.
I. Elizabeth H. Sampson.
2. Mary W. Burgess.
2. Gertrude C. Bennett.
3. Adelaide G. Irwin.
FREDERICK N. KNAPP SCHOOL.
GRADE. 6-7. Katharine A. O'Brien. 5. Lydia E. Holmes. 4. Kate G. Zahn.
5. Pearl Pennington.
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BURTON SCHOOL.
GRADE.
8. Charles F. Cole.
¥5. Susan C. Thomas.
4. Teresa A. Rogan.
3. Alice H. Blackmer.
CORNISH SCHOOL.
GRADE.
9.
Arthur R. Gledhill.
7.
Addie L. Bartlett.
6.
Mabel K. Davis.
5.
Lola W. Randall.
RUSSELL STREET DISTRICT.
GRADE.
I-2. Bertha M. Briggs.
I-2.
Harriett S. Gooding.
I-2.
Helen A. Dunham.
3-4.
Mary A. Casey.
MOUNT PLEASANT SCHOOL.
GRADE.
8-9.
John W. Herrick.
6-7.
Augusta M. Morton.
4-5.
Nancy S. Allen.
3-4.
Annie M. Frost.
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MOUNT PLEASANT DISTRICT.
GRADE.
I. Deborah Howland.
2. Frances E. Weston.
I-2. Lizzie E. Mitchell.
I-4. Esther C. Manter.
GRADE.
CHILTONVILLE.
6-9. William Keyes.
I-5. Martha W. Whitmore.
1-5. Kate W. Sampson.
1-5. Mary A. Morton.
MANOMET.
GRADE.
6-9. Anna J. Billings.
1-5. Julia M. Allen.
VALLERVILLE.
Ungraded.
Leila R. Gurney.
ELLISVILLE.
Ungraded.
Grace Farrington.
CEDARVILLE.
Ungraded.
Lucy Moon.
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Ungraded.
LONG POND. Sarah H. Paty.
SOUTH POND.
Ungrade 1. Betty Alden.
Music. Minnie M. Jameson.
Drawing. Cordelia J. Stanwood.
Sloyd.
Elizabeth Paine.
SCHOOL RECORD: REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 1900-1901.
SCHOOLS.
Total Enrollment
for Year.
Belonging
Attendance
Attendance.
Total Days Absence.
No. Cases of Tardiness.
No. Cases of Dismissal.
No. Cases of Truancy
Reported by Teachers.
Days Teacher was Absent.
Times Teachers were Tardy
No. Visits to Schools made
by Superintendent.
No. Visits by Members of School Committee.
Visits by Parents and Others.
High School
68
76
129.
123.4
95.6
1017
180
173
0
2
0
48
12
60
North Schools
183
184
342.6
319.4
93.2
4560
1242
278
19
E .
C.
120
20
192
Burton School
86
95
177.3
166.1
93.7
2301
180
289
5
11
87
164
10
118
Cornish School
95
92
180.4
171.2
95.
1746
653
162
0
25
33
203
15
68
Primary Schools, Cornish Dist.
91
82
166.5
150.6
91.
2730
534
139
2
35
or
63
12
126
Mt. Pleasant School
117
93
180.6
166.7
92.8
2629
723
368
8
12
10
121
13
58
Prim. Schools, Mt. Pleas. Dist.
69
64
129.3
118.2
91.5
1964
447
84
1
49
10
110
10
287
Chiltonville Schools
52
15
82.2
74.8
91.
1196
597
151
00
22
19
31
5
100
Manomet Schools
32
30
52.6
43.9
82.2
1810
458
41
0
2
0
18
6
82
Vallerville School
8
7
15.
12.5
80.
348
80
30
0
0
00
or
2
Ellisville School
4
1
5.
4.7
95.
124
32
18
0
0
7
3
12
Cedarville School
9
12
18.2
16.9
92.8
292
123
42
0
0
00
15
Long Pond School
OC
9
10.4
8.7
80.
368
27
00
0
2
3
6
1
78
Totals
822
790
1489.
1377.
92.5
21085
5576
1783
38
185
165
906
115
1198
Boys
Girls
Average Number
Average Daily
Per Cent. of
OUIIA
TOWN MEETING.
To either of the Constables in the Town of Plymouth, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
GREETING:
In the name of the Commonwealth you are hereby di- rected to notify and warn the inhabitants of Plymouth, qualified to vote in elections and town affairs, to meet in Davis Opera House, in said Plymouth, on Monday, the third day of March, 1902, at nine o'clock in the forenoon, and in the Casino, in said Plymouth, on Saturday, the eighth day of March, 1902, at six o'clock in the forenoon, to act on the following articles, to wit :
Article I. To choose a Moderator to preside at said meet- ing.
Article 2. To hear the reports of the several boards of officers and committees of the Town and act thereon.
Article 3. To revise and accept a list of Jurors prepared by the Selectmen.
Article 4. To see if the Town will authorize the Treasurer, under the direction of the Selectmen, to borrow money in anticipation of taxes, and for disbursement under the provisions of the law relating to State Aid and Military Aid, and to defray the expenses of the Town after January I, 1903.
Article 5. To make the necessary appropriations to de- fray the expenses of the Town. and for other purposes, and to raise such sums of money as the Town shall deem ex- pedient.
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Article 6. To see if the Town will appropriate the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars to pay the expenses of Decoration Day.
Article 7. To take such action as the Town may see fit in aid of the Public Library.
Article 8. To see if the Town will authorize the Select- men to renew any note or notes heretofore authorized, which are now due, or may become due the present year, for such time and on such terms as they may deem expedient for the interests of the Town.
Article 9. To see what appropriation the Town will make for the care and improvement of the various public parks and of Training Green.
Article 10. To see if the Town will accept the provisions of Section 335. Chapter II, of the Revised Laws, which provides for the election of Town Clerks for terms of three years, and to see if the Town will hereafter elect a Town Clerk for the term of three years.
Article II. To see if the Town will accept the layout of the right to lay sewers from Court street to the Harbor at Cold Spring Brook, as laid out by the Selectmen and re- ported to the Town.
Article 12. To see if the Town will accept the layout of . the right to lay sewers from Court street to the Harbor at Hedge's Brick Yard, as laid out by the Selectmen and re- ported to the Town.
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