USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Town annual report of Quincy 1888-1889 > Part 15
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'. The result has fully justified their anticipations. The whole number upon the register of the old Crane School was twelve, and of these the average number in attendance was never more than ten. Now seventeen are daily transported to the Coddington School from the same territory ; and so great has been their interest that the attendance among them has been almost absolutely perfect. Mean- while, both from the reports of teachers and from personal observa- tion, the committee are thoroughly satisfied that they are making a progress in their studies which they never had approached at Ger- mantown. For these reasons the committee think it decidedly for the interest of the town, and clearly beneficial for the pupils concerned, that the present experiment should be prolonged for at least a year more They are persuaded that this policy will approve its wisdom to those who are now most doubtful if it can be fully tried. The day of small ungraded, remote, and isolated schools in a town like Quincy has passed away. Only absolute necessity can now justify it. Even
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if the plan we recommend was as much more costly as it is really less costly than the old one, we should not hesitate to urge its acceptance as decidedly the cheaper and better."
Beside the interest which attaches to this account of the steps by which our schools attained their present organization, it has seemed to me worth rehearsing because it shows very clearly what may be accomplished in the most unpromising directions by officials who are persistent and courageous.
Among important matters demanding present consideration is that of teachers' salaries. Because there is no place of the size of Quincy and her proximity to Boston where salaries do not rule higher than with us, we are constantly subject to the loss of our best teachers. It is a matter of growing surprise with me that it has been found possible to maintain so high a standard of excellence in our schools for the past dozen years in the face of such unequal competition. All are familiar with the more recent laments of successive school committees be- cause of the constant inroads made upon the teaching corps, but some may not be aware of what long standing the difficulty is. In 1854 the committee
" cannot conceal from themselves the fact that the town is liable to have all its good teachers drawn away from it at a moment's warning by any attempt to keep the salaries much below the level of their neighbors ; and yet they are very reluctant to recommend a single superfluous addition to the growing pecuniary burdens of the town,"
and this language not inaptly describes the position of all suc- ceeding committees.
In 1856 the committee would not disguise the fact that the best teachers are not receiving as much as is paid in many of the neighboring towns, and they are therefore liable to be called away at any time, leaving their places to be filled by others of less experience.
In 1865, they remark that
"almost all the changes of the past year in our schools have been caused by teachers leaving us for higher salaries. . . . We have cer- tainly lost several valuable instructors, simply because their services have been deemed worthy of higher remuneration elsewhere."
As early as 1868 the committee say : -
" A town like ours cannot afford to sustain a Teachers' Institute for the training of instructors for more profitable situations abroad, and in the present state of financial embarrassment we cannot afford to keep poor teachers. They are a luxury beyond our means."
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The first half of this citation states only too truly what we have been doing for most of the succeeding years.
The report of 1871 says : -
"The teachers are faithful, earnest, and trustworthy. They are doing their whole duty, and ought to be better paid. Deducting from their present salaries the sums paid for board, they can realize but a trifling pittance ; and when we remember that these little ones we hold so dear are so largely confided to their trust and care, we ought to be more liberal in compensating them for their services."
I quote also from the report of 1872 : -
" Again, it is a very injudicious parsimony to scrimp the salaries of teachers to the very last cent at which they will not leave you. This matter ought to be intrusted to the good judgment of the school com- mittee, and some provision should be made for an emergency. If one set of committee-men cannot be trusted to exercise a wise dis- cretion on this as on other shbjects pertaining to their office, .let others who are more judicious be substituted. The intelligence of our rising generation should not be permitted to lag behind that of its neighbors for want of the best guidance. Yet it will do so if our schools are poorer than theirs, and the schools will certainly be poorer if the teachers are inferior. . .. Now, the best teachers can- not be had in these days for less than the best price. The superior members of this profession are speedily recognized and easily ob- tain the highest renumeration."
I need not take time to cite similar utterances which abound in late reports. Here is a matter which has occupied the attention of committees at least from 1854 to the present day ; all testify to the same state of affairs, and the pertinent inquiry now seems to be, What is to be done about it?
These thirty-eight reports speak of many other matters of interest which I must review more briefly. From them we may learn of the opening of the High School on May 12. 1852, and may trace its various fortunes since that day. We may read of the examination of candidates for admission and the laments of the examiners at the character of the results dis- closed. For example :-
· At the last annual examination of candidates for admission into the High School. the examination in arithmetic was generally very unsatisfactory. But few of the applicants wrought out more than half of the examples proposed, while some did nothing, or next to noth- ing. "
Accustomed for a year or two to this exercise [practice in writ- ing compositions]. graduates of our grammar schools will not be
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likely to commit so grave an error as to write the pronoun I as a small letter. We are sorry to say that we have found it so written in papers of applicants for admission to the High School."
Another report says of those entering the High School : -
" Some have forgotten the methods, because they had never grasped the principles, of their arithmetic; others, in losing the text of their books, have lost all they ever gathered of history ; but few have a formed and settled penmanship ; hardly one can spell cor- rectly."
It is sometimes useful to recall such testimony as the above, because many persons now in adult life are much disposed to look back to a golden educational age, the pupils of which they are quite certain were far in advance of those of the present day. The report issued in 1854 discusses the aboli- tion of the district system, and we may have here another illustration of the length of time which has often been requi site for the accomplishment of beneficial reforms. After an interval of ten years, the report for 1864 says :-
" We would express our disapproval of the district system. Most of the districts have, of late. wisely declined to choose prudential committees. All the schools in town ought to have the same advan- tages ; ought to be restricted to the same privileges. This cannot be readily brought about unless one committee have the exclusive charge of all."
The town finally saw the end of the district system in 1869. For many years the care of school property was lodged in the hands of the selectmen, the school committee not assuming that duty until 1871. Evidence is at hand that the school authorities appreciated the importance of surroundings upon pupils. The grounds about the High Schoolhouse seem to have been left unimproved for some time, and several reports earnestly call for attention to them. Such extracts as the following indicate that some committees, at least, appreciated the importance of attractive interiors : -
" The good influence of a comfortable, pleasant, and well-furnished room upon the hearts and minds of the pupils is unquestionable. We should be glad to see every school edifice enriched, not only with maps and charts, but also with pictures hung upon its walls. We assure our fellow-citizens that every dollar spent in fitting and adorning their schoolhouses, so as to make them of themselves attractive places to teachers and pupils, will be abundantly repaid to them in a higher culture and an improved tone and bearing on the part of their chil- dren."
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In 1858 the town voted
" That the teachers in the several schools be required to have the- fires built in the several schoolhouses without extra expense to the town" ;
but the report of 1864 says : -
" We dislike this custom. Other salaried persons have not such additional burden laid upon them. And we ask that, in future, the town will pay for the entire care of the school-1ooms."
The report of 1856 gives us a short account of the naming of the Adams, Coddington, and Willard schools, as follows : -
·· This building is known by the name of the Willard School, a well- deserved tribute to the energy and public spirit of one of the inhabit- ants of the district, who continues to watch with pride over the structure in the erection of which he exercised so useful a supervision. The house built during the same season in the South district is of the same size, and almost on the same plan as that in the West. . . . This edifice, erected for the accommodation of a district, within the geographical limits of which the elder and the younger President Adams were born, received, by the desire of the citizens, the name of Adams. . . . The third new building, designed to accommodate the scholars of the Centre district, was dedicated on the 17th of December. . .. This house, erected within the district a large portion of which once belonged to William Coddington. situated on a street bearing his name, and not far distant from the tract given by him to the town for the purposes of education, the income of which has ever since been applied for the benefit of its youth, seemed to be somewhat entitled to become the medium of perpetuating the remem- brance in the town of its earliest benefactor. But for the unfortu- nate differences which sprung from matters of religious belief in the earliest days of the colony, Coddington, instead of being driven from here to found a new settlement and become the first governor of Rhode Island, would have continued where he first intended to settle himself, and would have given this State and this town another honor- able name to present as an example for imitation by all later genera- tions of its citizens. He passed on to other lands where he was better valued than in Massachusetts, but not without leaving a record of his good-will to those who had no share in offending him. If he, in the day of small things, when parting with the whole of the prop- erty he had acquired here, bethought himself to set apart a consid- erable portion for the advancement of the education of children in this town forever, it would seem, then, to be no more than a fitting mark of honor to his memory, at this distance of two centuries, to associate his name with one of the permanent institutions which he contributed to found. For these reasons this is called the Coddington School."
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In recent years we have given much emphasis to the idea of unity as characteristic of each of our schools. At Wollaston, we have one school, at Quincy Point one school. This notion of unity has been of recent origin, for the report of 1870 in its attendance tables speaks of the Adams Schools, the Quincy Schools, etc. The report of 1874 betokens progress, for its pages say :-
" The committee have deemed it desirable, during the past year, to definitely fix the responsibility for the general care of the buildings and yards, and oversight of the conduct and discipline of the scholars in cach subdivision of the town, upon the head master. In effect, each of the gatherings of pupils attending school in the same or neighboring buildings, and designed to follow the course of study through the different grades, constitute one school, and should be under one general supervision, which should regulate, for the general convenience, the subordinate details of management."
These wise views were fully carried into effect by Mr. Parker. Complaints of poor attendance abound in these re- ports, and various are the causes assigned and the remedies suggested. Not until a comparatively recent day was it demonstrated that the attendance problem can only be satisfac- torily solved by the maintenance of schools so good as to be magnets of attraction to the pupils. If I were asked to char- acterize the discipline of our schools to-day by a single word, I should use the term " humane." That a vast gain has been effected in this particular is suggested by many of the reports. Of a certain school we find it remarked : "The complaints made by parents of the severity of the punishments inflicted are more numerous than elsewhere"; and every person past middle life knows well that many forms of punishment common in his early days would not be tolerated for an instant in the schools of to- day. Almost equal in number to the reports are appeals to parents and citizens to visit the schools and to co-operate with teachers and committee in efforts to improve them. Some special reports are important enough to deserve mention, as for instance in 1854 the " Report of the Special Committee on Sites for new Schoolhouses in Quincy "; in 1867 the " Report of the Committee on School Districts of the Town of Quincy "; and in 1871 the "Report of the Supervisors of the Adams Temple and School Fund to the Inhabitants of Quincy."
Various pens have written of the importance of the primary schools, of the use and abuse of text-books, of the various studies pursued in the schools, reading, spelling, writing, geog-
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raphy, grammar, and history. The latter branch receives quite late mention. The report of 1864. after remarking that history was added by the Legislature of 1857 to the list of studies to be taught in the schools, says further : -
" By some oversight no special notice has been taken of it in regard to our schools. The history of the United States will be taught henceforth in all our grammar schools."
For a long time the results of such teaching were very un- satisfactory, the report of 1873 remarking :-
" If the teacher himself learns to see the essential meaning of the words he repeats, and forces himself to inform them with something of his own thought and vigor, the study of history will be a pleasure. not a task. Then the dismal heaps of dry hones which are tossed about dolefully enough by our boys and girls might once again be clothed upon with flesh. and take upon them a semblance of their old activity and life. Until then. we shall stumble along. as we do now. in a painful wilderness of barren fact and unsuggestive information."
Subsequent years have seen realized in many of our school- rooms the results hoped for by the writer of the above para- graph. As to the outcome of instruction in the other branches of study, and as to the general efficiency of the schools. the reports show quite a variety of opinion ; but a careful reader of them all will perceive that the ablest reports of the series are far from expressing complete satisfaction with the schools of which they speak. Nothing in recent years has contributed more to the welfare of the schools of Quincy than the policy uniformly pursued in the selection of teachers. The report of 1861 remarks : -
" No sooner had a teacher succeeded in impressing himself or herself favorably upon the children, than a new administration came into power, and then, to suit private feelings, family connections, or some other availing motive, such teacher was removed to make way for some pressing applicant "
The report of 1864 says : -
·· In determining the fitness of candidates for the office of teacher, four considerations have recently had much weight with the com- mittee. 1. Whether the applicants are inhabitants of Quincy. 2. Whether they need the money. 3. Whether they are graduates of a Normal School. 4. Whether they are graduates of our High School."
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This platform evidently did not satisfy the more deliberate. thought of the committee, and in their next report we read : -
" It should be clearly understood that superior to any or all of the above is the consideration, Which of the applicants is best fitted to take charge of the school?"
In the change which is taking place in our form of local gov- ernment, and in view of the unfortunate influences which affect the selection of teachers in so many cities, friends of the schools can scarcely render them a greater service than by holding fast to the principle of selection laid down in the last citation, " Which of the applicants is best fitted to take charge of the. school ?"
While there are other topics suggested by these reports which might well be discussed, I proceed now to speak of that event which, in the opinion of competent judges, is by far the most important in the educational history of the town for the past thirty-eight years. It will appear that this event was not a sudden and unaccountable occurrence. We shall need to go back many years and trace, step by step, the causes which finally produced that action of the town and committee which is now under discussion. From the report of 1856 : -
" The growth of the town, taken in connection with the impulse given to the system of public instruction all over the Commonwealth, is found to be not without its effects on the duties of your school com- mittee. Instead of occasional labors, from time to time, by the sacri- fice of a few hours at intervals of three months, properly to fulfil the requisitions of the statutes demands months. There are now eighteen schools in this town, each of which must be visited quarterly by the whole committee and monthly by some one of the members. The quarterly visits, if made as they should be, would absorb at least sixty days, the monthly visits at least twelve more of each committee- man. In addition to which is the duty of consultation, of preliminary examination both of teachers and scholars, of general supervision, and of conference with the heads of the respective schools, and occasion- ally with parents. Such is an exact statement of what the school system in Quincy now requires to keep it up with the movement of the times. The committee have endeavored to do their duty so far as they could, but they do not claim to have performed it in full. No committee has yet done so. Nor will it do so, until it is selected by the town from persons not so absorbed by their private business as to have little time at command, or else in greater numbers among whom to subdivide the work. Besides this, the town needs in the committee one or two members who should continue from year to year
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as the executive agents of the board. This is most important in case of the secretary. It would be useful in that of the chairman. By such an arrangement much time and labor would be saved, and a uni- formity and evenness of system would be gained. If by common con- sent the choice of these persons could be taken out of the sphere of politics, and only such individuals selected as would faithfully apply their time to the labors required, much good would be found to result from it."
In 1861 the committee remark : -
"The statute provision, which requires that a portion only of the committee should be subject to change each year, is highly beneficial in its operations. It has been in some cases, and was likely to be in all, a source of serious difficulty that a committee, from the extreme instability of tenure by which its members held office, and the fre- quency of extensive, and sometimes total, alterations, was seldom able to organize any consistent system of policy by which the educational affairs of the town might be conducted from year to year. Or if such a plan was elaborated, there was no reasonable assurance that it would not be over-ruled in the very next year. The present law seems to afford sufficient stability to the board to enable them to adopt a general policy of government and action in regard to the schools, and to insure a fair and extended trial of its merits, while, on the other hand, the power of the people of making an annual change of one third of its members seems to give a sufficient guarantee that no plan clearly at variance with the welfare of the town can long be persisted in. The merits of the new plan are manifold. It secures two thirds of experienced members ; it promotes a steady and uniform policy, and it operates very materially to induce new members to take a warm and continuous interest in the condition, the character, the usefulness, and the improvement of the schools."
From the report of 1862 I quote as follows :
" There are twenty-one schools in this town. The committee con- sists of six members. It seldom happens that all the members are able to attend to their duties. This multiplies the labors of the other members, or else, as is apt to be the case, deprives some of the schools of proper care and attention. Moreover, a thorough and effi- cient supervision of the school requires men of peculiar qualifications, peculiar in being adapted to the work to be done. Foremen on the ledges are not taken from farms or machine shops. Ships are not sent to sea under the charge of landsmen. The fact that a man is a clergyman, physician, or lawyer is not conclusive evidence of his fit- ness for the duties of a school committee-man. Very few professional men are disposed to revise and review their earlier studies and acquaint themselves with modern text-books and modes of teaching and developing the minds of children. It is one thing to have the
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capacity to understand the answers to questions and to follow the pupils as they work out examples and problems on the blackboard, and quite another to be able to put the questions, to test the ac- curacy and certainty of the operations of the pupils, to sound the depths of their knowledge, to teach the teacher, to point out defects and faults and suggest improvements, and to raise the tone and character of the school by setting before it, in vivid and impressive forms of illustra- tion and speech, a high ideal of what a school should be.
" We shall never have, under our present system, a satisfactory and effective supervision of the schools. It is asking too much of busi- ness and professional men to give to the schools sixty or seventy days in a year, a time which a strict compliance with the law demands of each member of the committee in this town. It is unreasonable to expect it.
" The law provides for the appointment of a superintendent of the schools, but under limitations which tend to make it of no effect. In those cities and towns wherein superintendents of schools have been appointed, the beneficial effects are declared to be manifest and un- mistakable."
We need to step now to the report for 18:3. Here in a paragraph having the caption of "General Survey " the com- mittee speak as follows : -
" It is not easy, in a survey so diversified and extensive, to be quite sure of the accuracy of a sweeping judgment upon the general condi- tion of the public schools of the town. But with some allowance for the generality of the decision, and after averaging the results of many and various observations, it is not thought that any marked or con- siderable alteration has taken place in the average condition of our schools during the past year. Indeed, the quality which has inpressed itself especially upon the committee has rather been the stability and permanence of their tone and attainments from year to year. They vary slightly from time to time, and greatly under exceptional circum- stances ; but the standard of education has not been notably advanced during some years, so far as the committee can judge. But, while this is substantially true, it is also true that the standard has neither been lowered nor drawn back ; and it is possible that an eagerness for exceptional excellence may have blinded us to a steady and substan- tial though slow advance. To those who can recall the situation twenty years since this may appear to be considerable; but a retro- spect of ten years will discover no very remarkable net results. Ten years ago, as far as we remember, the children read and wrote and spelled about as well as they do to-day ; and the fundamental rules of arithmetic were as thoroughly taught then as now. And at present, as in the past, most of the pupils who have finished the grammar course neither speak nor spell their own language very perfectly, nor read and write it with that ease and elegance which is desirable. This
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