USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Town annual report of Plymouth, MA 1909-1911 > Part 32
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Some of the class rooms at the High School need new furni- ture. Most of the desks and seats of these rooms were brought from the old High School building, are small in size, non- adjustable, and have long since outlived their usefulness. They should be replaced by modern adjustable furniture as soon as possible.
The High School is offering to all pupils qualified to do it, work in either of the four fairly distinct courses mentioned above. The smallest number of pupils is enrolled in the so- called classical or college preparatory course. The school is required by law to maintain such a course. Pupils who come to it well prepared, whose purpose is well defined and who have the strength, both mental and physical, as well as the disposition to work hard, can accomplish this preparatory work in four years. This school, like many others, has the privilege of sending its graduates on certificate to those colleges and technical schools which admit students in that way. But the school does not certify students except in those subjects in which they have maintained an average rank indicated by the letter B; nor does it recommend to any college for examination any of its students in any subjects other than those they have studied and passed with an average rank of B. To earn that standing, it is necessary for some pupils to spend five years in the preparatory course; and for the majority of pupils this added year's work is very desirable, if not necessary.
The removal of the ninth grade pupils from the High School building to South Street has given the High School much needed room. Since the commercial course was started, it has increased in numbers until at present nearly half the members
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of the school are enrolled in it. The quarters provided for this course are somewhat cramped. It could use more room to good advantage; but even with the added room available to the school by the removal of the ninth grade, the classes, as at present organized, are using the building to its full capacity. The commercial course is doing good work, so far as it goes; but it would be greatly strengthened if larger quarters and a more varied business equipment could be given it, more time assigned to the work, and all its activities be brought into direct contact with actual business. There is a large demand for responsible boys and girls well prepared in this line of work.
The graduating exercises of the class of nineteen hundred and eleven were held at the High School building on Tuesday evening, June 20, 1911, with the following programme :
PROGRAMME.
Music. The Mill, School Chorus.
A. Jensen
Essay. With Johnson at the Club,
Miss Haskins.
. Essay. A Posthumous Letter of John Alden, Miss Errington.
Music. Gipsy Life, Robert Schumann
School Chorus.
Essay. The Welfare Work at the Plymouth Cordage, Miss De Vine.
Essay. At Sunset, Miss Covell.
Music. Bright Star of Eve, Arise ! Wrighton
O, Hail Us Ye Free ! Verdi
School Chorus.
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Essay. The Silent City, Miss Whiting. Essay. The Meaning of America, Miss Robbins.
Music. Chorus of Peers, School Chorus.
Presentation of Diplomas. Class Song, America.
Arthur Sullivan
CLASS SONG.
Words by Miss Covell. Music by Miss Brown. In the days gone by, if we ever thought Of the farewell that soon must be sounded, We have never dreamed it clutched at each heart With a measure of grief so unbounded ; Nor that thou, dear school, whose comforting walls Have thus welcomed our faces each morn, Could so fill each soul with such keen regret As the moment of parting draws on.
Yet beyond thy threshold lies all the world With its seekers, ambitious of treasure; Shall we reach the top of the hill of renown We must start now, unmindful of pleasure. So away we must turn from thee. dear old school, And, regardful alway for thy glory, Strive to enter thy name in the annals of fame, By endeav'ring in all things to extol thee. Musical Director, Miss Alice C. Persons. Pianist, Kenneth Hallett, '12.
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GRADUATES.
Harriet S. Allen Philip Stanley Barnes Wilfred Jacobs Brown Eskel Olof Carlson
Marguerite Mary Devine *Margaret Townsend Errington * Margaret Frances Holmes *Rose Elizabeth Lynch Margaret Lydia McCarthy
Blanche Roselle Read
Mary Alice Rogers
Mabel Frances Savoy
*Eunice Alden Whiting
Edith May Andrews Theodora Locke Brown *Frances Davis Burns *Marie Tirzah Covell Clara Abbott Dixon Beulah Gertrude Haskins
Margaret Susan Kelton Theo Martin * Rosie Perlberg Maria Thompson Robbins *Elizabeth Holmes Saunders Alton Lee Stevens Evelyn Wright
Certificates to :
Frederick Lawrence Bartlett
Harold Everson Douglas
*Honor pupils.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
The school census this year reports forty-one young women and thirty-one young men as illiterate. The law has again changed its definition of an illiterate minor so far as his at- tendance at Evening School is concerned, to mean one between the age of sixteen and twenty-one, instead of between the age of sixteen and eighteen. All such minors as are working in the mills are in fairly regular attendance at the Evening Schools-most of them at the Knapp.
The record for the past year is as follows :
Number of boys enrolled, 67
Number of girls enrolled, 52
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Average number belonging, 87
Average evening attendance, 72
Percentage of attendance, 83
The current expense of the Evening Schools for the past year, exclusive of heat and light, was $735.50, an expenditure of $8.50 for each pupil in the average number belonging to the school for fifty-six school sessions.
The work in these Evening Schools is satisfactory, so far as it goes, but these schools are falling far short of what they might accomplish. The average Evening School does not fill a very large place in any community. With us, it is doing little more than meeting the legal requirement of the illiterates who must attend it. This winter we have provided for a class of about twenty, mostly young men of grammar school attainment, who are anxious to add to their meager stock of school knowledge. To that extent we are going beyond the requirements we are obliged to fill. But the course of work in this school is not broad enough. It does not meet and closely touch the needs of many whom this school should help in a definite, practical way. In addition to the graded elementary. school work which the class mentioned is pursuing, courses in mechanical draw- ing and draughting, applied physical science and industrial chemistry would attract and, if efficiently conducted, prove valuable to a large number of men here who are anxious to have a broader knowledge of the line of work they are doing, and to become fitted for larger opportunities. We might begin with a wood working class in the Cornish School. There is a room there equipped with benches and tools. The addition of a band saw and a circular saw, and a lathe or two, with power, would suitably provide for a class of from fifteen to twenty. The work would be largely individual, each man choosing the particular work which he needed. Our Evening Schools have three weekly sessions of two hours each. Four hours could be given to shop work, one hour to shop arith- metic, and one hour to mechanical drawing. The main pur-
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pose would be, not to teach a trade, but to give the young man learning a trade, the chance to go faster; and to help the man at his trade to broaden his knowledge of his work. This be- ginning need cost little beyond the cost of instruction and a small additional equipment; and it would offer a line of work attractive as well as valuable, to many earnest men who have little interest in the academic work of the ordinary Evening School.
UNGRADED SCHOOLS.
The three schools-one each at Long Pond, Ship Pond and Cedarville-have together an average membership of twenty- six pupils. Besides these, there are three pupils at South Pond who are carried to the Russell Mills School at Chiltonville. The current expense incurred for these children, including transportation, is $1,830, or $63 for each pupil in the average membership.
It is often difficult to provide satisfactorily for these schools. The larger centralized and closely graded schools attract all teachers. They consider it a deprivation to be placed in these outside schools, and will remain there only until schools in a more populous district are open to them. The school author- ities have tried to make conditions such that good teachers may be secured and induced to remain in the ungraded schools ; but the incentive to such teachers to remain is not wholly, nor mainly, in the power of the School Committee. Harmony and co-operation on the part of parents, and their kindly and loyal support of the teachers, will often do much more than any- thing the School Committee can do to make the work in these outlying schools successful. Such helpfulness on the part of
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parents will not only prolong the good teacher's stay, but the knowledge of it will do much, when a change must be made, to induce a desirable teacher to accept the position.
EYE AND EAR TEST.
The table given below shows the result of the annual test, made by the teachers, of the eye sight and hearing of the pupils in school. The State Board of Education furnishes the neces- sary appliances with directions for their use for these tests; and the teachers have received valuable help and suggestion from the School Physician in difficult or uncertain cases.
Number of pupils tested,
2,198
Number found defective in sight, 206
Percentage found defective in sight,
9.4
Number found defective in hearing,
32
Percentage found defective in hearing,
1.5
Number of parents or guardians notified,
164
TEACHERS.
There are at present in service in the day schools sixty-two- teachers, which number includes one teacher of music and one of manual training, including drawing.
During the year sixteen, or one-fourth of the whole number, have left the service here.
Four or five of this number left for causes beyond our con- trol; more money would have retained the others.
Realizing that the character and efficiency of the schools
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depend vitally on the teaching corps, great care has been exer- cised in selecting teachers and placing them in those schools for which they seem particularly suited. We have tried to limit each class to a reasonable number of pupils, so far as possible, to furnish each school with such equipment as a good teacher needs, and then to assure her of freedom to work out her own best self. And under the conditions the teachers are doing well. All teachers do not work in the same way, nor with equal success. In every school system characterized in the main by the best ideals, marked differences of efficiency will appear and persist. No two schools can use to equally good advantage, the material with which they have to work. To
the trained observer, this difference of efficiency soon becomes. evident; and he soon learns that, if he would be fair, he must not judge the success of the work done in that community by the standard of either of those two schools. He must visit many schools, note their atmosphere, the tasks assigned, the incentives employed, the standard set, the qualities displayed by the teacher, the attitude and habits of the pupils, and the way in which they approach a task and the spirit in which they carry it through. The opinion of an experienced ob- server who does less than this to form an estimate of the effi- ciency of a system of schools, is worth very little. The trained school expert, such as every community is presumed to employ, would find our own schools quite imperfect. No one is more painfully aware of that fact than those of us who are giving our life work to them. But he would also find that, in the main, the teachers here are doing their work with commend- able zeal and success; that the schools are devoting themselves. to the fundamental subjects of an elementary education, and that they are doing the work in a creditable manner. And this, too, notwithstanding the fact that some, perhaps many, are found about to leave the schools without the ability to spell correctly and to use figures accurately. For this ex- perienced observer knows that the ability to spell or to write-
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well is not the only, nor the best, criterion by which to judge whether the school is efficiently serving its purpose. The public school is the people's one assimilative agency. It is set to help prepare new members to bear their part among a free people. Its real efficiency is measured less by the distance the children leaving it have gone in the school course than by the direction in which they are faced. It is less a question of what they can do now than of what they will do in the future. The real success of the school lies in the efficiency with which it trans- forms incongruous and threatening elements into positive and helpful factors of society. Measured in this way, the school's success commands respect and admiration.
With my renewed appreciation of all who are in any way contributing to the further success of the schools, this report is Respectfully submitted, FRANCIS J. HEAVENS,
Superintendent.
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APPENDIX .
SUMMARY OF STATISTICS FOR SCHOOL YEAR EN
ING JUNE 23, 1911.
Whole number of pupils enrolled,
2,207
Number under 7 years of age,
387
Number between 7 and 14 years,
1,492
Number between 14 and 15 years,
133
Number over 15 years of age,
195
Average membership of all the schools,
2,081
Average daily attendance, 1,957
Per cent. of attendance,
94
Number days absence of pupils,
28,900
Number cases of tardiness,
3,810
Number dismissals before close of school,
865
Number cases truancy reported,
91
Number days teachers absent from school,
84
Number school buildings in use,
22
Number teachers regularly employed,
61
High school,
8
Grammar school,
22
Primary school,
28
Ungraded school,
3
Special teachers, one for music and one for drawing and sloyd,
2
63
Present number of pupils enrolled, Jan. 15, 1912, 2,214
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LIST OF TEACHERS
IN THE SCHOOLS OF PLYMOUTH, MASS.,
1911-1912.
High School.
William C. Whiting, Principal.
Gertrude Smart
Elizabeth Mackenzie
Elizabeth Hunter
Walton E. Briggs
Carolyn F. Cook
Mary G. Thomas
Helen L. Barnes
Spooner Street School.
Grade.
1. Bertha M. McNaught.
Hedge School.
Grade.
1. Elizabeth H. Sampson.
1. Grace N. Bramhall.
2. Lucy L. Hildreth.
3. Ella F. Robinson.
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South Street School.
9. Annie D. Dunham.
9. Emma A. Jordan.
8. Katharine A. O'Brien.
Allerton Street School.
Grade.
1. Lula C. Vaille.
Frederick N. Knapp School.
Grade.
7. William T. Whitney, principal
6. Lydia E. Holmes.
5. M. Alice Morong.
4. Maude H. Lermond.
4. Kate G. Zahn.
3. Amy B. Bishop.
4. Etta G. McDonald.
2. Annie W. Burgess.
1. Flora A. Keene.
Cold Spring School.
Grade.
2. Gertrude C. Bennett.
3. Mabel F. Douglas.
5. Susan C. Thomas.
Oak Street School.
Grade.
1. Agnes V. Eaton. 2-3. Clara W. Mayhew.
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Burton School.
Grade.
8. Grace M. McKowen.
7. Mabel C. Ray.
4. Teresa A. Rogan.
4. Nettie E. Knight.
Cornish School.
Grade.
Addie L. Bartlett, principal.
8. Frances I. Bagnell.
6. Myra H. Dean.
6. Laura M. Whitney.
5. Nancy M. Bucknam.
6. Harriet J. Johnson.
3. Margaret M. Longfellow.
2. Marion T. Wholley.
1. Grace.F. Franklin.
Mount Pleasant School.
Grade.
7. Augusta M. Morton, principal.
6. Alma L. Pommer.
5. Grace L. Knight.
4. Leella F. Barnes.
3. Annie M. Frost.
1-2. Lizzie E. Mitchell.
Mount Pleasant Primary.
Grade.
1-2. Grace R. Moore. 1-5. Cora W. Gray.
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Chiltonville.
Grade.
6-9. Maud R. Robinson.
1-5. Stella F. Fearing.
1-5. Kate W. Sampson. 1-5. Mary A. Morton.
Manomet.
Grade.
6-9. Elizabeth A. Black. 1-5. Grace L. Farrington.
Vallerville.
Ungraded.
Grace Blackmer. -
Cedarville.
Ungraded.
Rhoda Moore.
Long Pond.
Ungraded.
Jennie C. Powers.
Music.
Gertrude M. Heartz.
Manual Training, including Drawing. Jennie F. Stratton.
Plymouth 13
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REPORT OF ATTENDANCE FOR SCHOOL YEAR
ENDING JUNE 23rd, 1911.
SCHOOLS
Total Enroll- ment for year
Average Number
Belonging
Average Daily
Attendance
Per Cent. of Attendance
High School
73
153
212.5 56.
204.4
96.2
Ninth Grade
40
22
52.5
93.8
Knapp
204
181
366.9
345.2
94.1
Hedge and Spooner
114
113
220.8
208.
94.2
Cornish District Primary
121
114
211.4
195.9
92.7
Cornish
164
174
332.5
313.5
94.2
Burton
101
89
182.
173.
95.1
Mt. Pleasant Primary
33
34
55.
51.
92.6
Mt. Pleasant
106
159
260.
241.3
92.8
Chiltonville
51
49
90.
84.8
93.3
Manomet
36
33
63.
58.6
93.
Vallerville
11
10
14.8
13.6
92.
Long Pond
10
1
7.6
6.5
85.5
Cedarville
5
6
9.4
8.6
91.5
Totals
1069
1138
2081.9
1956.9
94.
Boys
Girls
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REPORT OF SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1911.
The statistical report of the work done by the school physi- cian is given below for each month of the school year, and the totals compared with preceding years.
Visits
Personal
| Examina
tions
Permits
i-sued by
! School
Physician
issued by Permits
Physicians
Notices
sent to
Parents
Pupils
Excluded
No of dis-
eases and
diseased
mits given
under Em-
.ployment
Jan.
15
220
107
13
73
12
118
Feb.
17
198
103
13
62
11
120
March
14
146
69
1
33
00
65
April
17
206
73
3
50
15
108
May
16
253
148
00
55
19
103
June
17
206
84
2
82
9
134
Sept.
15
194
39
1
60
15
101
10
Oct.
22
311
116
4
73
33
139
5
Nov.
20
317
75
23
52
22
89
5
Dec.
13
224
116
7
64
12
86
4
Total, 1910
166
2275
930
75
604
156
1063
24
Total, 1909
137
1459
354
62
632
93
1023
Total, 1908
140
1285
469
79
313
125
616
No. of per-
conditions
Law
other
During the past year besides the regular work of inspecting such pupils as are referred to the school physician by the teachers for re-admission, after absence from illness and for
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suspected defects, a routine examination was made of every pupil in the puplic schools for the first time. This routine examination includes inspection of the mouth, throat, nose, eyes, scalp, facial expression, general nutrition and bearing, any variation from the normal being noted, and if deemed of suf- ficient consequence, a notice sent to the parents. Of the 3122 children examined, 1796 or 57.5 per cent. were found to have some physical defect, and decayed teeth, enlarged tonsils and adenoids contributed 51.5 per cent. of the defects found.
Of the 1195 notices sent to parents of defects requiring treat- ment, 40 per cent. were for decayed teeth. On account of its prevalence, this condition acquires a significance which it would not otherwise have, although it is known, as has been pointed out in a previous report, to have a most important bearing upon the physical development and health of the child. It is not necessary to go into the reasons for this here, but the fact has been established beyond question, and the time seems ripe for something to be done here to better the conditions, as has been successfully done elsewhere.
Arrangements have already been made for a free illustrated lecture on the "care of the teeth," by Prof. George A. Bates of Tufts Dental School, under the auspices of the School Com- mittee, with a view to awakening a public sentiment in regard to this matter, and if possible, arrangements will be made to furnish free dental treatment for such school children as are un- able to, or will not otherwise secure proper treatment them- selves.
It undoubtedly often happens in our public schools that children are adjudged mentally incompetent, passing a varying number of years in school without benefit, and emerging to be a burden upon the community, whose minds are perfectly normal. These unfortunates are handicapped by one or more physical defects which make them appear mentally deficient. If these defects are not discovered and special instruction given them, they become really deficient through lack of training.
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There is nothing in the work more gratifying to the school physician than to discover one of these minds trying to grope its uncertain way through clouded senses and to watch its development as it is brought into intelligent relation with the outside world by means of special methods of instruction, which take into consideration the child's limitations.
Such a case was that of George L., who, when he was found in the first grade, three years ago, had been practically abandoned as unable to learn by his long suffering teacher who had a large school to care for. She believed that he was mentally incompetent, and there was reason for such a belief. As there were no tasks which he could do, the child spent the long school hours practically unemployed, twisting and turning about in his seat and making strange grimaces.
An examination showed that the right eye could see not more than one-twentieth of what it should, and the left not more than one-fifth. The twisting and turning and the queer faces were now explained. Sitting through the school ses- sion without any intelligent idea of what was going on about him, the child was simply amusing himself getting glimpses of the light which streamed into the room from the various win- dows.
The character of the trouble was such that it could not be remedied, but the school physician became convinced that the child's mind was unusually keen and active. The teacher was informed of the result of the examination, and at once became interested, agreeing to do all in her power to make up for the poor eyesight of her pupil by special attention to his needs, a promise which she generously fulfilled. The parents were in- formed of the serious defect of vision and encouraged to aid the teacher by every means in their power. Inspired with a new hope, they took up the work with enthusiasm, and though of limited means, even secured a tutor for a time. The results have amply justified the special care and attention devoted to the child. He now has excellent standing in his grade, the
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third, sings unusually well, has a wonderful memory and shows a remarkable aptitude for mathematics. The following are ex- amples of his language, spelling and number work. "George L- Dec 20 1911
Oak St School grade III
The Fox and the Crow.
A crow had a piece of cheese. One day a Fox saw The Crow fly in a tree and th fox said to the crow sing" but The crow wouldn't sing. And The fox said to to the crow sing." So th crow sang. As The crow sang she drope the cheese and The Fox ran away with it."
"George L-
Dec 22 1911
Oak St School grade 111
Christmas
Santa Claus
santa claus
merry
Merry
candles
candles
skates
skates
secret
secret
birthday
birthday
candles
Christmas
Christmas
Santa Claus
Santa claus"
George L-
Dec 21 1911
Oak St. School
grade III
804 434
467 790
942
245
578
804
23
356
689
942
1769 1035 1734 2536
802
943
824
842
-497 -589
-298
-298
305
354
526
544
802
943
824
842
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923 834 945
853
× 4 ×5 x6
× 4
3692 4170 5670 3412
233
034
493
023
4) 932 3)102 2)986 5)115
233
34
493
23
x 4
x3
x 2
x5
932
102
986
115
So much for his work at school, but one must see him at play in the sunny school yard, his face beaming with happiness and his body swaying in perfect rhythm while he sings in a sweet, clear voice with the other children at their games, in which he is unable to take part, to understand what it has meant to him to have a chance.
Another boy, Joseph B., supposed to be mentally deficient and now in the second grade, is still under observation. He has been found to be very near sighted, having only one-seventh normal vision in the right eye and less than one-sixteenth in the left. He has recently been furnished with correcting lenses, is now doing legible work where nothing could be deciphered before. Moreover he is taking an interest in his work, and the teacher is encouraged.
The necessity for early attention to the optical defects of school children is well illustrated in the work of Olive L., a first grade pupil, who was reported to the school physician as a backward child, doing few of the simple tasks given her, and none of them well. An examination showed that she was far- sighted and suitable lenses were provided, when a remarkable change took place in the character of her work, shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
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Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
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These are both exact reproductions of the original tracings made by the pupil over letters drawn by the teacher, Fig. 1, before the correcting lenses were applied and Fig. 2 afterwards. Note the groping irregularity of the lines on Fig. 1, and esti- mate if you can the nervous energy wasted by the child in trying to drive the unwilling pencil over its blurred and uncertain course. Then look at the easy swing of the lines in Fig. 2 and you can understand something of the relief which the child must have experienced in the removal of such a. handicap.
The following rules governing medical inspection in the pub- lic schools of Plymouth have been compiled by the school physician, printed upon stiff cardboard and hung in a con- spicuous place in each school room where they can be readily referred to by the teacher. This gives a definite working basis, especially in regard to contagious diseases, where everything was vague and uncertain before, and is proving a very valuable aid to the work.
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