USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1903-1905 > Part 9
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.A few extracts from the replies received are as follows :
"We think that your plan of providing a general educa- tion is a sound one, and more likely to furnish a more useful foundation than any attempt at special or specific training with a view to turning out ready-made workmen without knowledge of the kind of work likely to be required. With such an education, and with habits of punctuality, order, and especially of application, we think that any youth of aver- age ability would soon master the special requirements of a business office. Advancement and success will then depend on individual effort, and success in improving upon what he has been called upon to do, and in seeking in anticipation opportunities for further usefulness. For it must be re- membered that an office is not a school, and that employees and superiors are not teachers nor philanthropists, but often rivals and competitors."
And another : "Answering from an employer's standpoint your question as to whether a secondary school ought to give boys a specific and technical or general training to prepare them for bread-winning, I would say that from my exper- ience, most emphatically, a general training. If you will send us boys trained to think logically, to reason from cause to result, such boys will make a success. What I mean is.
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that if a boy has been taught to reason rightly he will find out very soon after coming to us that advancement is not due to favoritism or luck, but to fitness, and if certain speci- fic and technical requirements are necessary for that ad- vancement, he will set himself to work to acquire them, and. knowing that an opportunity is dependent upon their mast- ery, will acquire them much more quickly than he will in school without any such inducement."
It is a fair inference, I think, that these expres- sions represent quite well the opinions of many others in the business world well able to judge what qualifi- cations the young man or woman about to enter the field of business should possess. It is also fair to infer that they believe, as the school believes, that these qualifications are developed, not alone, nor mainly, by courses in business practice, but by that course of training which is best adapted to develop the capabilities of the individual pupil, which puts him in possession and control of all his powers, and which teaches him to use them to the best advantage in what- ever field of labor he may at length decide to work. In this the business world and the school are in full accord.
The graduating exercises of the class of 1903, Plymouth High school, were held Monday evening, June 22.
GRADUATES.
BESSIE L. ALLEN
GRACE C. KING
CHRISTINA C. ANDERSON
JOSEPHINE F. LANGFORD
LAWRENCE W. CHURCHILL
CLARA B. LITCHFIELD
WARREN W. COLE
GRACE I. MANTER
ALICE I. COLLINGWOOD
HARRY E. MCARDLE
GRACE B. ELLIS
MARY W. MORTON
VIOLET T. FOSTER
EUNICE B. PAULDING
KNOWLTON B. HOLMES
CHARLES L. SPROUL
ROSE W. HOWLAND
WILLIAM R. WOOD
MARY A. KENNEDY
There are at present four ungraded schools, with a total
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membership of 56. The largest of these schools is at Cedarville, with a membership of 21, and the small- est, at Long Pond, with a membership of 10. The school at Ellisville remains closed. There are only two children there to attend school, and they are carried to Ship Pond at an expense of $200 a year. There is also a school of five pupils maintained in a dwelling house at the Gurnet, and taught by the mother of two of the pupils. The cost of supporting these schools is about $32.00 for each child in average membership. From a financial standpoint, the support of the rural school seems expensive as compared with the amount paid for the other schools. But the rural school is the main public interest of the people in the district where it is located, and they are generally much concerned that the work done in the school shall be good.
The children in attendance in these small schools are more readily reached and more permanently influenced by school interests than are the pupils in larger schools; for they are practically free from the attractions which in larger com- munities divide the interest of the children and interfere with their school work. It is doubtless true that the rural school under wise management and good teaching, is its community's greatest power for good, and that it reaches and influences all the people to a much greater degree than would be possible in more populous districts.
Because this is so, every reasonable effort should be made to have present in every rural school all the conditions which favor efficient work there.
TEXT-BOOKS.
It is now 20 years since, by law, cities and towns in Mas- sachusetts have been required to provide necessary books, supplies and apparatus to pupils at public expense.
Under this law every child in attendance is promptly pro-
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vided with the necessary material and the school can begin its work at once, without waiting for delinquents to supply themselves. If it were left to parents to furnish their chil- dren with school apliances, there would be much delay.
It has been the policy here to provide the schools gener- ously with such books and supplies as can be used to advan- tage. and to change books when better ones appear on the market, which give promise of better results. It is quite possible with the low rates at which primary class books can be bought. to substitute new books at a lower figure than that for which those needing rebinding can be put in usable shape.
The supplies with us are bought on bids, at the lowest figure that will secure a fair quality of material: and all the schools are provided with goods of a uniform quality. Dur- ing the ; ast six years the average expense each year for books and supplies has been $2.581.82. for an average num- ber of 1491 pupils. This gives an average cost per pupil of SI.73 a year. In this sum about 73 cents represent the cost of supplies, and the rest is the cost of books and apparatus. In this way from seven to ten books are furnished to the use of each pupil every year. for less than one dollar. It does not need argument to show that under the free text- book law, books and supplies are being provided at a very much lower rate than parents, individually, could supply . them.
There is more or less complaint that some books given out for pupils to use are in an unsatisfactory condition, es- pecially that they are sometimes soiled or worn or torn. In some cases the complaint is doubtless just. Keeping in mind the necessity for economical management as well as the welfare of the children, it is always a matter for the use of good judgment as to when a book or a set of books should be discarded. It is never intended that the exercise of econ- omy shall stand in the way of furnishing suitable books and supplies to all schools, or that it shall prevent the withdrawal
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from further service all those which, for any reason, are no longer fit for use. The free text-book law has made pro- vision for those parents, who, for any reason, think it would be better to buy books for their children. It provides that pupils may purchase from any city or town, at not more than the cost price to such city or town, any text books which are, or are to be, used by them in the public schools. This is a provision, however, which has not been resorted to here a half a dozen times in as many years.
The free text-book law does not in all respects work satisfactorily. The tendency to use public prop- erty without due care is often very apparent. Material generously supplied is apt to breed a spirit of negligence and waste in its use. But there has been a considerable gain in this matter, so far as the schools are concerned. In every well-ordered school there are only a very few children who fail to exercise due care in the use of such school property as is assigned to them. Paying the cost of repairing or replacing a lost or abused book, a marred desk or a defaced building, is usually an effective reminder to the forgetful pupil that the rights of public property are as sacred as his own.
The free text-book law, making it unnecessary that par- ents should buy any school books, has deprived many homes of the only books they would be likely to accumulate. A family of children buying their books would build up quite a little library in a few years; and it often has happened that such a collection has been the nucleus for other and more valuable books. In any case, in homes where books are rare visitors, such text-books as are owned by the children of the family, whatever be their intrinsic worth, have a peculiar value. To most of us our old well-thumbed school books, with the memories that hang about them, supply a pleasure far beyond their real value: Mindful of this, the legislature has attempted to make good the loss which the free text- book system in this particular causes, and has passed the fol-
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lowing: If the school committee so votes, pupils who com- plete two years in any public school in grades more ad- vanced than the fourth grade, may, upon graduating from the grammar school and upon application to the school com- mittee, be permitted to acquire the permanent ownership of such three text books used during the last year of their at- tendance at school as they may select.
It is hoped that the commitee may think best to adopt this provision of the text-book law.
MEDICAL INSPECTION.
I wish to renew the recommendation made last year, that the committee consider the question of some form of medical inspection for the schools. The Board of Health is prompt in reporting to the schools cases of contagious disease, and the schools are alert to discover and exclude those who are likely to spread the disease; but frequently this does not meet the necessities of the case. There are children in the early stages of contagious disease, who continue in school. They are not excluded because no one knows definitely that there is any danger until the injury is done. We need a medical expert upon whom we can call for advice in regard to children who we have reason to think ought to be ex- cluded from school.
In a recent report of the State Board of Education, Dr. Prince, an agent of the board, has this to say :
"The most apparent need of advice is in the detection of the first stages of contagious diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever and measles. The laws of Massachusetts pro- vide for the careful exclusion of all pupils from school who are sick with or have been exposed to infectious diseases; but careful observance of this law cannot prevent the spread of disease which appears in such incipient form as to escape the detection of parents and teachers. What is needed, for the sake of the community as well as of the persons afflicted,
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is some form of inspection which will keep from the school all pupils from whom there is any danger of contagion."
The school is under at least as great an obligation to care for the child's health as it is to care for him in any other particular. There are few improvements in the school ser- vice which contribute to that end, and which can be obtained at so small a cost as that of regular medical inspection.
TEACHERS.
The changes in teachers still continue too numerous for the best interest of the schools. During the year covered by this report there have been 14 resignations, a number more than one-fourth of all the teachers employed. This is equivalent to changing the whole corps once in three to four years. These wholesale changes sadly interfere with school work. There are resignations from some causes which we cannot hope to control; but those which come by reason of low salaries, we ought, in a measure, at least, to prevent.
It is one of the most discouraging duties in school service to attempt to retain good teachers, or to fill satisfactorily the places of those we cannot keep because of the small salaries we are obliged to offer. The language of a resolution passed by the committee on resolutions of the National Educational association at Boston last summer is worth quoting and reading :
"Teaching in the public schools will not be a suitably at- tractive and permanent career, nor will it command as much of the ability of the country as it should, until the teachers are properly compensated, and are assured of an undisturbed term of office during efficiency and good behavior. A large part of a teacher's reward must always be the pleasure in the character and quality of the work done; but the money compensation of the teacher should be sufficient to maintain an appropriate standard of living. Legislative
Plymouth
II
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measures to give support to these principles deserve the ap- proval of the press and the people.
The average salary paid here to women teachers in grades below the high school is $410.50 per year. The state aver- age for the same grades is nearly 20 per cent more than we are able to pay. Living expenses here are reasonably high. Few teachers are fortunate enough to secure suitable accom- modations for less than $5.50 a week for board. A teacher must pay for 52 weeks in the year, although she is in active service for only 40 weeks. If she does her duty, she needs the means for rest and recreation the rest of the year. After paying the necessary expense for board, on the basis of 52 weeks, she has left of her salary $124 for all other living ex- penses. If we hope to attract men and women of ability to the school service and retain them there, if we expect much from teachers in the way of preparation for their work be- fore they begin, and in professional improvement while at work, they must receive an adequate amount for their ser- vices, that they may feel free to spend something in keeping abreast of the educational progress of the times.
Because of the great increase in the cost of living, and of nearly everything that pertains to life, that has taken place within the last few years, and because the movement to in- crease teachers' salaries has already made considerable prog- ress in other places which, compared with Plymouth, can poorly afford it, there is urgent need that more generous pro- vision for salaries be made here, especially for the salaries of teachers in grades below the high school.
The re-appointment of teachers in Plymouth is a matter of formality. The conscientious teacher of average success can here have no reasonable doubt of her re-election. Never- theless, it is a yearly proceeding of the school committee, which causes more or less uneasiness to many good teachers. There seems no good reason why they should be disturbed each year by this needless act on the part of the committee. If a teacher has been doing satisfactory work for a year or
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two, we are at least as likely to retain her by electing her to serve "during the pleasure of the committee," as by dis- turbing her equanimity by an annual re-appointment. Whether it be so or not, to most people it seems an indignity to be subjected to a yearly election.
The Massachusetts legislature has recognized this by pass- ing a law authorizing school committees to give to teachers undisturbed tenure of office, such as is meant in the resolu- tion mentioned above. The law reads: "The School Com- mittee may elect a teacher who has served as such in the public schools of its city or town for not less than one year, to serve as such at the pleasure of the committee."
This provision of law has been adopted in more than one hundred communities of Massachusetts. Where it is adopted, every interest of the school is well guarded, since any unsatisfactory teacher may be retired at any time, even though the tenure of office be permanent.
There appears no good reason why it would not be well to adopt this provision of law here. It is a matter wholly within the jurisdiction and discretion of the School Committee, and is well worth their consideration.
The work of the schools during the past year has been carried on very quietly. No changes in the outline of work or in the policy of school management has been made. There has been little friction from within or without the schools to hinder their work. The large measure of harmony and good-will which exists in every part of the school service, has rendered that service pleasant and profitable to all con- cerned. The schools are far from perfect; there is abundant cause for just criticism. It could hardly be otherwise in this day when so much is demanded of the schools, when the work to be performed is attempted in such a variety of ways because there is no common consent as to which of these ways is the best, and when the financial resources for doing this work are of necessity limited.
Plymouth 12
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Those having the schools in their immediate charge are not insensible to their deficiencies; none know so well as the teachers and school officers their defects and shortcomings, and none are more anxious to remove them. Their success in doing so depends in large measure upon a loyal and appreciative public sentiment and a generous financial sup- port.
It is in no perfunctory spirit that I again wish to assure the committee of my appreciation of their confidence, and to commend the earnest co-operation of the teachers, upon whose faithful work the success of the schools chiefly de- pends.
Respectfully submitted, FRANCIS J. HEAVENS. Supt. of Schools.
Feb. 15, 1904.
LIST OF TEACHERS. IN THE SCHOOLS OF PLYMOUTH, MASS. 1903-1904.
HIGH SCHOOL.
George F. Kenney, Principal, English and Latin.
Winifred G. Hill, Mathematics and Greek.
Sarah E. Ridlon, History and English.
May L. Booth, German and French.
M. Edith Winslow, Commercial Studies. Mary W. Cross, Science.
Augusta M. Morton, Ninth Grade.
GRADE.
NORTH SCHOOLS.
I. Betty Alden.
I. Leella F. Barnes.
I. Elizabeth H. Sampson.
2. Maude H. Lermond.
2. Gertrude C. Bennett.
3. Adelaide G. Irwin. Annie W. Burgess.
FREDERICK N. KNAPP SCHOOL.
GRADE.
6. Marion S. Dickinson.
5. Lydia E. Holmes. -
4. Kate G. Zahn.
3. Mary W. Burgess. I-2. Georgiana E. Taylor.
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BURTON SCHOOL.
GRADE.
8. Charles F. Cole.
5. Mabel K. Davis.
4. Teresa A. Rogan.
3. Ethel Egerton.
GRADE.
CORNISH SCHOOL.
7. Addie L. Bartlett.
6.
Edna M. Dunning.
6. Lillian G. Small.
7. Katherine A. O'Brien.
5.
Bessie R. Leonard.
RUSSELL STREET DISTRICT.
GRADE.
1-2. Bertha M. Briggs.
I-2.
Mary T. Ford.
I-2.
Georgiana Smith.
3-4.
Mary A. Casey.
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MOUNT PLEASANT SCHOOL.
GRADE.
7-8. Arthur R. Gledhill. 5-6. Nancy S. Allen. 4. Esther C. Manter. 3. Annie M. Frost.
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MOUNT PLEASANT DISTRICT.
GRADE.
I. Ethel Reed. 2. Frances E. Weston.
I-2. Lizzie E. Mitchell.
I-4.
Mabel Douglass.
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CHILTONVILLE.
GRADE.
6-9. William Keyes.
1-5. Martha W. Whitmore.
I-5. Kate W. Sampson.
1-5. Mary A. Morton.
MANOMET.
GRADE.
6-9 Anna J. Billings.
1-5.
Julia M. Allen.
UNGRADED.
VALLERVILLE. Grace Farrington.
UNGRADED.
CEDARVILLE .- Alice L. Gifford.
UNGRADED.
LONG POND.
Eunice Paulding.
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UNGRADED.
SOUTH POND. Grace Ellis.
MUSIC.
Minnie M. Jameson.
DRAWING. Marion F. Holmes.
SLOYD.
Annie B. Whidden.
SCHOOL RECORD: REPORT FOR SCHOOL YEAR 1902-1903.
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 Teacher was Tardy.
No. Visits to Schools made
by Superintendent.
No. Visits by Members of
School Committee.
Visits by Parents and
Others.
High School
62
76
125.
119.2
95.4
561
149
193
0
1
0
98
14
15
Ninth Grade
25
28
45.
43.2
95.1
210
44
32
0
0
0
12
6
2
Knapp School
95
90
177.
161.4
91.2
2812
640
155
15
20
0
36
7
58
North Primary School
83
74
136.
119.7
88.1
5819
423
47
8
2
2
29
4
68
Cold Spring Primary School
76
9'
119.
107.5
90.
2349
435
65
12
2
11
36
4
113
Burton School
105
85
176.
164.6
93.4
2251
835
140
6
3
9
222
3
191
Cornish School
98
93
169.
158.
93.1
2202
674
239
12
11
3
218
12
64
Cornish Dist. Primary Schools
92
90
167.
151.6
90.6
3341
711
92
8
27
34
38
17
156
Mt. Pleasant School
85
89
163.
146.8
90.
2863
467
152
10
31
11
102
0
117
Mt. Pleas. Dist. Prim. Schools,
62
59
113.
102.8
90.7
1971
324
69
3
24
7
81
8
193
Chiltonville Schools
56
48
93.
80.9
86.9
1834
434
111
0
6
12
17
3
64
Manomet Schools
32
30
54.
45.4
84.1
1111
179
28
2
5
2
12
2
24
Vallerville School
8
10
16.
14.6
90.
370
41
14
0
15
3
5
0
2
Cedarville School
9
13
17.
16.
89.4
337
138
17
0
0
0
5
1
10
South Pond School
2
8
7.
6.7
93.1
108
42
1
0
7
7
2
6
Long Pond School
8
4
7
5.9
84.3
145
32
1
0
0
1
6
1
43
Gurnet School
1
2
3.
2.7
90.
Totals
899
875
1587.
1447.
91.3
28288
5568
1356
76
154
102
948
84
1126
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Boys
Girls
Average Number
Average Daily
Per Cent. of
LIST OF JURORS.
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Prepared by the Selectmen in accordance with Chapter 176 of the Revised Laws :
Avery, Elmer E., milk dealer.
Bachelder. John L., rivet maker.
Bagen, William J., overseer.
Bailey, Frederick P., plumber.
Barnes, Alfred L., clerk.
Barnes, Harrison O., painter.
Barrows, William H., rivet maker.
Bartlett, Ephraim D., carpenter.
Bartlett, James E., retired.
Bennett, Orrin W., stone cutter.
Bennett, Sylvanus S., carpenter.
Besse, Herbert F., clerk. Blackmer, Maltiah B., stable keeper.
Blanchard. George H., milk dealer.
Bradford, Edward W., Jr., bookkeeper.
Bradford, George H., conductor. Bradford, Louis K., machinist.
Brown, Walter H., foreman.
Burgess, Ezra T., carpenter. Burns, Alfred S., clerk. Carleton, Frank L., motorman.
Chandler, Albert L., bookkeeper.
Chandler, Arthur J., farmer. Chase, Walter H., grocer. Churchill, George, carpenter. Clark. James H., foreman.
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Clark, Nathaniel T., carpenter. Clough, Edward, grocer. Cobb, Walter B., shoemaker. Cole, Henry H., clothier. Collingwood, William C., farmer. Collingwood, James A., furniture. Damon, John H. machinist. Dickson, Russell L., clerk. Doten, Charles M., reporter.
Douglass, Nathan W., photographer.
Drew, Harrison W., sail maker.
Eldridge, Willie T., clerk. Ellis, Ziba R., farmer.
Finney, Alfred C., milkman.
Finney, Charles W., machinist.
Finney, Clark, teamster.
Finney, Frank S., bookkeeper. Finney, John R., conductor.
Frost, Charles T., superintendent.
Hadaway, Augustus S., Jr., fisherman. Hall, John F., laborer. Harlow, Albert T., carpenter.
Harris, Charles F. H., tackmaker.
Harris, John A., hardware dealer. Hatch, Charles P., retired.
Hayden, Charles E., car inspector.
Heath, Willis K., bookkeeper.
Hedge, William R., insurance. Hobart, George B., bookkeeper. Holmes, Charles H., civil engineer. Holmes, Stephen, farmer. Howland, Edgar W., machinist.
Howland, George B., conductor. Howland, Carroll D., carpenter. Jewell, Roscoe A., farmer.
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Johnson, Charles L., cobbler. Jordan, Frank, pharmacist. Kierstead, James S., carpenter. King, John F., grocer. Lahey, Jeremiah J., grocer. Lanman, Charles W., ice dealer.
Lanman, Nathaniel G., shoemaker. Loring, Otto, carpenter.
Mabbett, George, manufacturer.
Manter, Joseph L., teamster.
Marshall, John H .. foreman.
Mawbey. Joseph, janitor.
Maxwell, Herbert S., clerk.
Maybury, Joseph A., Jr., barber.
Moore, John F., dry goods
Morissey, Herbert, insurance. Morton, John L., carpenter.
Paty, Fred W., oil dealer.
Perkins, Isaac H., mason.
Pierce, Branch H .. laborer.
Quartz, Frank, Jr., grocer.
Ransom, Levi, hackman. Raymond, Caleb R., painter.
Raymond, Benjamin F., superintendent.
Read, George F., foreman.
Riedel, Henry, tacker. Rich. Albert S .. plumber.
Ripley, Edward T., manufacturer.
Rogers, Charles, moulder.
Royal, Henry W .. bookkeeper.
Russell, John, clerk. Rogan, John, contractor. Sampson, Elisha, mason. Sampson, Ernest L. mason. Sampson, George J., clerk.
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Sampson, Ossian M., tacker. Sampson, Pelham. teamster. Sears, Daniel W., milk dealer. Smith, Adoniram J., superintendent. Smith, Charles A., news dealer. Smith. Charles H. carpenter. Snow. William N., furniture. Sproul. James L., tacker.
Stranger, Elwin N., clothier.
Strong. Charles A., dry goods.
Swan. George, Jr., Cordage.
Talbot, Richmond, salesman. Taylor, William B., janitor.
Thomas, Loring B., carpenter.
Thomas, Henry C., provisions. Tripp, Lyman F., blacksmith.
Ward, Lyman, barber. Watson, Thomas R .. nurseryman.
Wasson, Alexander, harness maker. Welch, Michael D., plumber.
Weston, Edmund, cranberry culturer. Wells, Freeman E., retired.
Whiting, Herbert F., carpenter. Whiting, Pelham, pilot. Whittemore, Luther S., conductor. Whitten, Edward W., laborer. Wilde, William E., Wilde's Spa. Woodward, George C., clerk. Wood, George. W., provisions. Zahn, Charles, shoe dealer.
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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 directed to notify and warn the inhabitants of Plymouth, qualified to vote in elections and town affairs, to meet in the Casino, in said Plymouth, on Saturday, the fifth day of March, 1904, at 6 o'clock in the forenoon, and in said Casino, in said Plymouth, on Saturday, the second day of April, 1904, at 9 o'clock in the forenoon, to act on the following articles, to wit :
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