USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1906-1908 > Part 18
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There is another class of children that needs our careful con- sideration,-that class of children in the schools who are abnor- mal or mentally deficient and who need a training very different, both in kind and in method from that given in the ordinary public school. Some of these children who have been regular in attendance at school for several years have been able to learn only the simplest parts of the primary work. Others have learned to write their names, to copy more or less accurately and legibly a few words from the board, do some work in draw- ing, but can read only the simplest sentences ; and none of them can do with certainty any work requiring thought and reasoning. All these children have been in school long enough to show their inability to do the ordinary school work.
Such children are a serious and discouraging tax upon the teacher's time and strength, and a great hindrance to the pro- gress of the class. If the teacher's efforts in their behalf re- sulted in any real gain to them, there might be some reason for continuing it, but these children get little or nothing them- selves to compensate for the labor or loss they occasion others, even when they are quiet and tractable. The burden to the school is increased when they develop degenerate and disorderly traits, as some of them do.
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There are methods of training adapted to meet the particular needs of such children. Many of them have considerable man- ual dexterity, and should be given oportunity to develop skill in that direction. Most of them can be fitted to engage in some form of work which would render them self supporting if train- ing along that line were given them in childhood. If they are to be taught anything, it must be in the use of their hands. Their mental development can come only through manual and physical exercise. It can never come through books.
There are State institutions maintained to meet the needs of mentally deficient children, but they are crowded and have a long waiting list ; little help can be hoped for in that direction. It is evident that this problem must be met, if at all, by each community making suitable provision for such children in a special school of its own. A school room, equipped with means for various kinds of simple manual training, and placed in charge of a teacher fitted and trained for this special work is the agency required.
There are usually from twelve to twenty pupils in the schools here whose mental condition requires this special training. For the welfare of the community as well as for the children's own sake they should be taken from the schools where they are get- ting very little help and where they are a hindrance to others, and placed where they can get the best and only kind of training that they are capable of receiving.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
The grammar schools include grades 5 to 9. The number enrolled in these schools at present is 786, about 39 per cent. of the total school enrollment. They occupy 16 school rooms, making an average number of 44 pupils to each teacher.
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These 786 pupils are enrolled in the five grammar grades as follows :
Grade V,
231
Grade VI,
197
Grade VII,
148
Grade VIII, 93
Grade IX,
117
786
Promotions are made in each school by the regular teacher at the end of the school year in June. In doubtful cases the Superintendent is consulted. These promotions are based on the estimate of the pupil's daily work made by the teacher, and recorded at the end of each month, in the grammar schools, on report cards sent to the parents. When conditions seem to justify it, a pupil may be promoted on trial for a month. In such a case, the parent is notified by written form of the intend- ed conditional promotion, and the promotion in this form is made only in case the parent gives written consent thereto. If,
at the end of the probationary period, the pupil's work war- rants it, the promotion is made for the rest of the year ; but no pupil is expected to be retained in any class when his interests are best served by his going to a higher or lower one.
Last year there were 720 pupils in attendance in the gram- mar grades; this year there are 786. This represents some- thing more than the normal increase; and this, with the fact that the enrollment in the grammar grades is nearly thirty-nine per cent. of the total enrollment as compared with an enroll- ment of 33 per cent. up to 1905, shows that we are succeeding in holding in school until they reach the upper grades a larger per- centage of pupils than we have been able to hold, up to 1905. The largest gain has been in the ninth grade, where the num- ber in attendance is more than twice what it was four years ago. The larger number in that grade at this time is in a great measure due to the number of pupils there who have succeed-
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ed in doing the nine years work in eight years, and thus have reached the ninth grade a year earlier than they would regular- ly reach it.
The work of the grammar schools has been kept along the regular lines without much change. The larger part of time and effort on the part of teachers and pupils has been spent on the so-called school essentials. In addition to this, each class has had two or more periods a week assigned to music and draw- ing, and each class in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades has given from one to two hours every week to that form of manual training called sloyd.
But the present school work, in both kind and amount is fail- ing to meet the requirements of the times. There is coming from intelligent men and women a loud and insistent demand that the schools have due regard to the industrial situation, and that those administering the schools consider how best its needs may be met. It is urged, and with much reason, that the progress and efficiency of the schools hitherto have been in large measure the result of the country's prosperity, and that that prosperity has been brought about more by its possession of great natural resources and their development than by the work of the schools ; and that the country's continued prosperity and development will now depend upon the attitude and character and work of the schools. We are urged to recognize the fact that our school training, as all other training, must be not only or mainly that pupils may know, but that they may do; and that any training which falls short of giving them the ability to do and experience in the doing, as well as the knowledge of how to do, is fatally defective. For successful development and competition with other nations, American industries must have trained workers, workers who have specific knowledge and definite experience along industral lines as well as that more general mental train- ing which the schools now aim to give. And this knowledge and experience the schools must supply.
We shall the sooner be able to make the readjustment neces-
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sary for this purpose, if we can rid ourselves of the popular wor- ship of the book, and of the belief that it is, and must continue to be, the main agency in educational training : for the race has ad- vanced intellectually far more by doing things and thinking them out first hand, than by reading from the printed page of the deeds and thoughts of others. The school work of today is too far removed from the real life of the child, and is failing to fit him to meet the demands of his environment. The world of activity into which he is going demands from him in addition to the knowledge and power that come from books, that skill and practical experience that come from working with his hands.
Whatever adjustments and changes the schools need to bring them more closely and vitally in touch with, contemporary life, we are called upon to make, for the present purpose that Amer- ican industries may have trained workers; "for trained workers are the most valuable national asset, and the nation that pos- sesses this asset will be the successful competitor."
HIGH SCHOOL.
Graduates of the grammar schools are admitted to the High School by certificate. No formal examination is required, ex- cept in the case of those from other places who apply for ad- mission. There were 55 who received certificates last June, and 43 of those receiving them entered the High School in the fall.
At present there are 262 pupils enrolled at the High School building; of these 117 are members of the ninth grade, who in all respects, save subjects of study, are a part of the High School.
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The present current expenses of the High School are:
Teachers' salaries, $5,700 00 Janitor, 500 00
Fuel and light,
675 00
Books and supplies,
390 00
$7,265 00
The present membership of the High School is 145 pupils, with six regular teachers, and one giving half time. The work of the school is carried on in four courses, as follows :
Boys.
Girls.
Total.
· Classical Course,
18
25
Science Course,
33
11
44
Literary Course,
0
31
31
Commercial Course,
21
24
45
61
84
145
Each of the four courses named above ordinarily requires four years for its completion. The student can prepare for college or technical school in four years. With a few restric- tions such as seem necessary to prevent waste of time by inju- dicious or careless selection of subjects, any student for whom a full course 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 reasons 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 arrange- ment the advantages of the school are offered to some who would otherwise be barred from them, while the number of classes and the teaching work of the school are not materially increased thereby.
It is the growing custom in many good High Schools, in imi-
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tation of the college, to discourage the class idea, to offer, so far as they can, entirely elective courses of study, and to allow stu- dents to select these courses, each basing his selection upon what he thinks at the time, will best meet his future needs. Since very few parents avail themselves of the duty of directing a choice, or suggesting what their children shall select, the choice is usually left to the student. While teachers may suggest and advise, the pupil still has the power of exercising his own fancy in making his choice, and it often happens that his selec- tion is based upon mere caprice or temporary inclination, and he later finds he has made a mistake which a maturer judg- ment or experience might have prevented.
There is always more or less pressure in every school to do what others of a newer pattern are trying to do ; yet we believe it is still wise to make the larger part of the High School course consist of required work, and to offer in connection therewith as many elective subjects as the school can advantageously teach, and that the pupil can select to good purpose. Therefore, instead of offering a majority of elective courses, and thereby causing the school to be broken up into groups de- termined by subjects elected, the school is still making the most of its work required subjects and encouraging the class organi- zation ; believing that pupils on entering the High School have not always the experience of mature judgment necessary to select wisely in this matter, and that the class organization fosters a healthful social bond which is a present and future pleasure and profit both to the pupil and to the school.
The growing demand for the practical side of education is no less pressing in high schools than it is in the lower grades of the public schools. The State law makes manual training obligatory in every city and town having twenty thousand or more inhabitants ; and by recent enactment, a large part of the expense of establishing, equipping, and maintaining an indepen- dent school for industrial training, is paid by the State. Atten- dance at such a school is practically limited to those children
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who are over fourteen years of age; that is, those of high school age and attainments. There is no question of the practical need and of the great advantage such training would give in every industrial community such as this is becoming. The absence of systematic training in industrial work in any in- dustrial community is a great disadvantage.
"In spite of the efficiency of our machinery, in spite of the admirable quality of our modern methods of manufacture, in spite of the enormously greater productiveness per unit of labor, and in spite of the great accumulation of capital which enables us to do things in the largest and most economical way, we find ourselves today, and shall certainly find ourselves to a greater extent in the future, without the right men to run the modern machines, without an army of the right quality to do the work necessary to make our industries prosper."
A course of industrial training might well be established, open for two years or more to all children fourteen years of age who are otherwise fitted for such a course, the work of which should have equal rank and dignity with the present high school course.
There is now a bill before the legislature which, if passed, will authorize the equipment and maintenance of such a course in connection with the high school, and the Commonwealth will pay here one-half of the expense entailed thereby to an amount not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars ($2,500) in any one year. Such a course would not only present an alternative for some who now enter upon the present high school work and do it with only indifferent success, but it would take the place of the two years from fourteen to sixteen that so many boys and girls who leave school spend in unskilled service, which fur- nishes them no adequate return in either experience or money, and which are often wasted years, giving them little or no ad- ditional promise of material success.
Whether or no such a training as is here suggested would con- tribute to those who might pursue it, anything more than prom-
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ise of material success, the following, spoken by the president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is of interest :
"Our industries depend to a very large extent for their sta- bility and their prosperity, upon the character of our citizens, upon their views of life and of obligation, upon their ideas of the function of government, and of the relations which should exist in society. I firmly believe, that there is no course open to us, which will go so far towards developing sound and hon- est views on all these, and every other important social question, as definite training in the line of industrial education. Such training will teach honesty of purpose, and directness of effort, because materials and machines are governed by definite laws which must be recognized and respected or the work fails. It will teach accuracy of observation, for this is required in every effort that the student or the skilled mechanic makes with the view to understanding or doing the work. It will teach that labor is dignified. It will develop intelligence. These are not material things, but the man who has learned these lessons will be a better citizen and more helpful in dealing with the political and social, as well as the industrial problems of so- ciety."
The present number of pupils in attendance at the high school is five more than last year, making 145 now on the roll. This number, increased by the 117 pupils of the ninth grade there. has crowded the building and made it difficult to find accommodations for all the necessary classes. This condition, however, is only temporary. The ninth grade next year will have a much smaller number in attendance, and it cannot be expected that all in the present ninth grade class will enter the high school. Nevertheless, the lessened number that will at- tend will be all that the school can accommodate; any increase in the number will make accommodations elsewhere necessary.
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UNGRADED SCHOOLS.
There are at present three ungraded schools, with an enrolled membership of thirty-five pupils. The largest of the three is at Cedarville with fourteen pupils. The school at South Pond, having decreased in membership to two, but now increased to four, was closed at the end of the spring term and the pupils were transported to the Russell Mills school, at an annual ex- pense of $240.00. These pupils add very little to the expense of maintaining the Russell Mills school or to its work, and the children obtain very much better school advantages there than could be given them at South Pond. The two pupils at Ellis- ville are still carried to Ship Pond at an annual expense of $200. The yearly current expense of the thirty-nine pupils be- longing to the ungraded schools has been about double the per capita cost of the graded schools. Under present conditions, these schools give the poorest returns for their necessary cost of any schools in the town. It is practically impossible for the special teachers to visit them, and their supervision must of necessity be costly and infrequent. The regularity of attend- ance of the pupils there is sadly interfered with by reason of the scattered population and roads difficult to travel. It should be noted, however, that the attendance record at the Cedarville school, during the past year, is an excellent one, being exceeded by only one school in town.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
During the year 1907 the evening schools have been in session at the Knapp and Cornish schools for twenty weeks, three even- ings a week. £ The record for the present year is as follows :
Number of boys enrolled,
106
59
Number of girls enrolled,
165
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Average number belonging,
154
Average attendance, 130
Percentage of attendance,
84.4
The current expense of the schools has been :
For teachers and janitors,
$670 50
For light and heat (estimated), 100 00
$770 50
This shows an average expense of five dollars per pupil in the average membership for the sixty sessions of the school.
The law requiring illiterate minors under sixteen to attend the day schools has cut down the number that would attend the evening schools. A larger number of pupils is enrolled, but in comparison therewith, a much smaller number is in regular attendance. The personel of the school is continually changing, the attendants leaving town to find work elsewhere while others come to take their places here. Nearly all who attend are re- quired by law to do so. It is difficult to secure attendance at the evening school which shall be regular and persistent to the end of the year. Fatigue, weakness of purpose and greater at- tractions elsewhere account for the irregularity; but the ear- nestness, enthusiasm and persistency with which the minority do the work of the school is sufficient reason, if there were no other, for generously maintaining the evening schools.
NO-SCHOOL SIGNAL.
The signal for no school on stormy days was given here for some time, but was discontinued in 1902, because of the un- satisfactory way in which the arrangement worked. The sig- nal could reach only the schools in the centre of the town. Confusion and dissatisfaction was caused in the other schools on account of the uncertainty whether or not the signal had been
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given. This was a part of the reason for suspending the giving of the signal. The coming of a storm upon a school day even now furnishes occasion for inquiry why the schools are opened at such a time, and why the no-school signal is not sounded to notify all concerned that the sessions of the schools will be sus- pended until the weather moderates.
Although the conditions existing when the giving of the sig- nal was suspended have changed, the most important reason for suspending it and against resuming it have not changed. The grounds of objection to the signal are as valid today as they were in 1902. These grounds are so well expressed in the Malden (Mass.) school report for 1907, and explain our po- sition in this matter so well, that they are quoted in full :
"For many years it has been the custom to sound the no- school signal on very stormy days, thus closing the schools for a single session or for an entire day as the necessities of the case seemed to require. The custom of closing the schools on stormy days arose, no doubt, from a desire to save teachers and pupils from undue exposure to the weather, to make the attend- ance throughout the city as nearly uniform as possible, and in- cidentally, perhaps, to keep the yearly average of attendance as high as possible.
It is a question, however, as to whether these reasons are of sufficient weight to warrant the city in closing the schools altogether on stormy days. The cost of running the schools a single day is now considerably over $1,000; and when the schools are closed, this expenditure is practically lost.
Furthermore, there are hundreds of children who could go to school with perfect safety on many days when the signal is sounded, but who now spend a stormy day on the streets. In many homes there is no provision for the care of children during school hours. Such children, when the doors of the school are closed against them, are practically thrown upon the street.
Again, mistakes in sounding the signal are inevitable. Some-
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times it is sounded and before the hour for school arrives the rain has stopped, much to the joy of small boys and much to the disgust of many parents. Sometimes the signal is not sounded when the weather is indeed very bad, much to the disgust of all concerned.
In view of all these circumstances, the following plan is being tried in some places with good results. The schools are never closed on stormy days. All who desire to go to school are given the opportunity. On very stormy days the signal is sounded, but this means simply that no record of attendance will be kept, that pupils are not required to attend, but that all who desire to attend will be welcome and will be provided for. This plan should be entirely satisfactory to all parents, since each parent is left entirely free to decide whether he wishes his child to attend school or not. If he judges on the whole it is best for his child to go, he may send him. If he judges other- wise, he is at perfect liberty to keep him at home, with no prejudice to the child's future standing in the school in any way.
The time in school on rainy days could be most profitably spent. The regular class work would, of course, be suspended, but the teacher could spend her time in helping those wlio needed special help, or in reading to her pupils, or in playing games with them, or in helping them with various forms of hand work, or in many other highly profitable ways that will
readily suggest themselves to the interested teacher. Freed from the restraint incident to the regular school work, the teacher would have a golden opportunity of coming into close personal touch with her pupils, giving her insight into their nature, which would be of the greatest possible benefit to her in her future relations with them. In short, school on a rainy day under such conditions should be highly profitable and en- joyable to teachers and pupils alike.
If it is objected that the schools should be closed on stormy days for the sake of the teachers themselves, it may be re-
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plied that many of the teachers go to school now on stormy days in order to prepare work in advance for their classes. Furthermore, it is believed that the teachers would be the last to ask for an exemption from duty on account of stormy weather, an exemption which is not claimed by any other class of workers."
MEDICAL INSPECTION.
Under the School Medical Inspection Law, there is a provis- ion requiring that there shall be an annual test of sight and hearing of the pupils, the test to be conducted by the teachers according to directions given by the State Board of Education. This test was made last fall with the following result:
Number of pupils tested, 1,649
Number found defective in sight, 244
Number found defective in hearing, 31
Number of parents or guardians notified, 170
Per cent. found defective in sight, 15
Per cent. found defective in hearing, 2
The method used in schools of testing the hearing is crude and unreliable. An accurate test would probably show a much greater percentage of those afflicted to some degree with deaf- ness than is indicated by the number given above.
Some parents who have been notified by the teacher of the results of her examination, have taken their children to spec- fialists and have been told by them that no defect exists. This may be true in many instances. By sending to parents notice of her examination, the teacher does not guarantee that de- fects actually exist, but only that by her examination she has reason to believe that they exist. In most cases the teacher's test is accurate and true so far as it goes. If, in some in- stances she is over careful, and believes that there are defects,
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