USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Rutland > Town annual report of Rutland 1900-13 > Part 25
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In previous reports, I have indicated our aims and plans in the several subjects of the course, and need not here repeat. Special comment will be made only on the subjects of Group V.
(a) Drawing. The School Arts Book is a monthly magazine edited by Mr. Henry T. Bailey, formerly agent of the Board of Education, in charge of drawing. In this magazine there is appearing a series of monthly Outlines for Rural Schools, by
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Mr Walter Sargent, the present State supervisor of drawing. These outlines form our course of study in drawing for the present year. The School Arts Book, containing, besides the outlines, much other material of the highest value to teachers of drawing, is furnished to every teacher in the elementary schools. Its monthly visits are proving the next best thing to a living supervisor. Teachers who devote proper attention to prepara- tion for teaching the lessons, and who can handle a class with some skill, are securing creditable results. All are doing much better on account of having the book.
(b) Manual Training. "The educative value of hand training through constructive work is recognized. Though no system- atic, uniform course is practicable, teachers are expected to comprehend the underlying principle of manual training, and to apply it as far as conditions will permit. Paper folding and cutting, card-board construction, basket-making with reed and raffia, and the making of various other articles for use in school and home, are some of the numerous ways in which the educative use of the hand may be secured."
The kinds of work indicated in this quotation from the Out- line are being done in a majority of the schools, and though it does not fully answer the need, it is considered decidedly worth while.
One writer has said that the fundamental reason for manual training is that children are born with hands. The "appetite for manipulation" is strong in every normal child, and the neglect of this appetite is one of the most serious defects of the school. Our teachers are trying to adjust available forms of hand work to the needs of the child and to the special conditions of the schools.
Mr. Henry T. Bailey thus puts the matter :
The fundamental reason for maintaining manual training in the schools may be stated briefly to be the insistent demand of child nature for some- thing to do by hand; a demand made, as we now know, unanimously by body, mind and heart. The general direction which the instruction should
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pursue is determined by three factors: the interests of the child at the time, the social and economic conditions under which he lives, and the ideals toward which he should grow; in other words, whatever he does should be interesting, practical and beautiful.
(c) Singing. In all but four small schools, "regular, sys- tematic work in singing" is being done, according to teachers' reports. In the four schools, the teacher's inability to sing is the hindering condition. Rote songs and blackboard exercises in the lower grades, and the same continued in connection with a music reader and the Weaver slips in the higher grades, con- stitute our course in this subject. Results vary with the skill of the teacher, but in most of the schools creditable effort is made and much is accomplished.
The subjects of Group V are usually favored with supervision by specialists. Our teachers deserve commendation for their excellent effort to conduct the work without such aid.
"CLASS-INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION."
The arrangement of the studies of the school into a continuous series of yearly portions called a course of study, and the classi- fication of pupils for instruction with reference to these yearly portions, together form one of the most useful devices of the modern school. The teaching of pupils of similar attainments in groups of considerable size has many advantages. "Class exercises," in which the pupils of a group work together at a common task in a spirit of mutual help under the direction of a competent teacher, are highly educative. But in such groups there are always some pupils whose mental condition unfits them to profit by the treatment which may be best for the majority. The attempt to produce a "lock step" in the mental movement of a whole class has never succeeded. Several devices have been invented for the purpose of properly providing for the pupil who fails to "keep step" with the class. One plan arranges a 'double track" through the course of study. On one track hose pupils who can do it may travel rapidly, while the slower
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minds take the other track. Another plan allows pupils to ad- vance in small groups, with frequent opportunity for re-group- ing as differences in capacity are shown. One plan abandons entirely the attempt to move pupils forward in ordered lines, and allow each individual to get on as his particular ability may permit. Other plans still have been devised, all designed to reach the pupil who for any reason needs individual attention. Each of these plans is apparently satisfactory to the man who devised it and to some others. But no one of them has proved so adaptable to the varying conditions of the schools as to come into general use.
At Batavia, N. Y., Supt. John Kennedy has developed a plan so simple in theory and so capable of adaptation to all conditions that its use is rapidly spreading. It promises to become incor- porated into the practice of schools everywhere. By this plan the benefits of class teaching are retained and even increased, while the pupils who require individual attention to ensure their progress are sought out and given such attention at periods set apart for the purpose on the regular daily program.
Regarding the class exercise under the new plan, Supt. Ken- nedy says :
It is in appearance much the same as the old. But there is this difference, that the recitation is real, the ground is covered, and the goal is reached, whereas in the old much time is worse than wasted in a feverish battle with laggards. With us the laggard is allowed the privilege of the class, but his personal battles are at the individual table, where he can waste no one's time, and where there is no feverishness.'
Class exercises are not delayed by backward or unprepared pupils, but at another time such pupils are called one by one to the teacher's desk, the particular difficulty of each is ascertained and the needed assistance given, under the best conditions for mental work. The teacher persistently seeks to enable every pupil of normal capacity, by his own efforts, to master the worl of the course of study to such a degree as to make possible the mastery of succeeding work.
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The "Batavia plan" was introduced into our practice in a conservative way during the past year. Results may be judged from the following extracts from teachers' reports, selected from many of similar tone :
I like this system very much. Until I set apart a special time for it on my program, I found it hard to give individual assistance. After working with a child right by me at my desk, 1 get to understand him better. Before, we have both gotten out of patience. Now, there is a much better feeling. We can do more work during the class period, for I make a note of help needed, and do not take the class time as before.
It gives the child a thorough understanding of what he thought difficult, gives him more confidence in himself and increases his power to work for himself.
Some cases I have found to be hopeless. With the normal children these "lifts" have done much good.
I have tried individual instruction with two children in particular. They were backward and behind the grade, but have made great improvement. They take more interest in their work. Before, they were simply a drag on the other pupils.
I have found it is not only the dull pupil but the lazy one who needs attention. By individual work I have aroused two pupils from their nap, and they are finding they can do their work as well as the rest, if they try.
I find that the children who receive individual instruction feel encouraged, try harder, work better, and enjoy their work more.
As we think over our work at the close of the day, we no longer have qualms of conscience over the three or four stupid ones that we have failed to reach. We know we have done our duty by every child.
This individual instruction is a stimulus to all. Pupils realize that the lesson must be mastered, they put forth greater effort, and the time and patience of the teacher are spared.
We are brought face to face with the backward pupil, and we learn to sympathize more fully with him. Soon these backward ones can keep their places in class without individual help.
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Nearly all our teachers are practicing the plan of "class-indi- vidual" teaching, with more or less emphasis on the individual teaching. Longer experience is necessary to demonstrate fully the benefits of the plan, but indications are ample that we shall secure the same favorable results that accompany its use else- where.
MORAL CULTURE IN THE SCHOOL.
In 1789, at the first session of the Massachusetts Legislature held under the National Constitution, a statute was enacted con- taining the following provision :
The president, professors and tutors of the university at Cambridge and of the several colleges, all preceptors and teachers of academies and all other instructors of youth shall exert their best endeavors to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction the principles of piety and justice and a sacred regard for truth, love of their country, humanity and universal benevolence, sobriety, industry and fru- gality, chastity, moderation and temperance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society and the basis upon which a republican constitution is founded; and they shall endeavor to lead their pupils, as their ages and capacities will admit, into a clear understanding of the ten- dency of the above-mentioned virtues to preserve and perfect a republican constitution and secure the blessings of liberty as well as to promote their future happiness, and also to point out to them the evil tendency of the opposite vices.
That the educators of to-day are in harmony with the thought of the old Massachusetts law-makers is shown by the following extract from the Declaration of Principles adopted by the Na- tional Educational Association at its session in 1905 :
The association regrets the revival in some quarters of the idea that the common school is a place for teaching nothing but reading, spelling, writ- ing and ciphering; and takes this occasion to declare that the ultimate object of popular education is to teach the children how to live righteously, healthily and happily, and that to accomplish this object it is essential that every school inculcate the love of truth, justice, purity, and beauty through the study of biography, history, ethics, natural history, music, drawing and manual arts.
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The building of character is the real aim of the schools and the ultimate reason for the expenditure of millions for their maintenance.
During the past year your superintendent has tried to lead the teachers to a deeper appreciation of the moral aspects of their work and to point out some definite means by which moral char- acter may be affected. There is evidence of a general response to the call of duty in this matter.
THE VITAL FACTOR.
It is not the course of study. "The right sort of teacher will turn a narrow programme into a feast of 'fat things full of mar- row,' and a poor teacher will reduce the richest curriculum to a dull gradgrind." It is not the "Batavia plan" or any other plan. It is not a sound theory of moral culture. It is the teacher herself, her vigor of body and mind, her native ability, scholarship and technical skill, her moral maturity, her devotion to the work of teaching, her sympathy with children and quick perception of their needs, and those other qualities which make up a strong personality. The teacher is the vital, determining factor in the school.
Hence, the supreme duty of school authorities is to secure good teachers, to use all means to make them better, and to retain them in service. Superintendents in small towns and large, in city and country, are finding it increasingly difficult to secure in suf- ficient numbers the sort of teachers demanded by the present requirements of the school. Men of the requisite ability can no longer be secured at all, except for the few positions which pay the higher salaries, and in these permanence is rare. The field of employment for capable, energetic young women is much broader than formerly. Work for them in many other lines is more remunerative, requires less preparatory training, and in- volves smaller drafts on health and nerves.
Speaking of the wages of teachers in certain portions of rural Massachusetts, Secretary Martin says: "It is not surprising that
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there should be a scarcity of qualified teachers in these towns and counties. The wonder is that teachers enough to fill the places can be tempted away from the poorest shop work and from domestic service, where the annual earnings are much more."
The fundamental difficulty, of course, is the failure on the part of the tax-paying public to appreciate the high value of the work of a good teacher. This value cannot be expressed in numerals and the dollar sign, but only in the notation of a higher realm. The situation is well expressed by a recent writer in the Journal of Education :
Teaching is harder to judge than any other kind of expert service. In most service requiring special knowledge or skill, if we cannot judge of the work while in progress, we can judge of its results. If the blacksmith is unskillful the horse goes lame; if the builder is a botcher, his roof leaks, his doors sag, his paint scales, or his plaster falls; the poor lawyer loses his case, the physician his patient; but for poor teaching there is no prompt or ready test. In fact most otherwise well-informed people have very hazy notions of what the school ought to bring to pass. Our people believe in education without knowing exactly what the word means. Suffice it to say that from a good school the youth should come forth with a body sound, healthy, and graceful, with a mind furnished with a goodly stock of knowledge of the sciences that underlie our civilization, and of the best literature in which its ideals and spirit are expressed; it will have trained his powers of perception and reasoning; it will have established that scien- tific spirit which does not believe and take for granted, but weighs and considers; it will have secured reasonable proficiency in reading, writing, drawing, computing, singing, speaking, and the art of good behavior.
The daily administration of the good school will. have established habits of punctuality, order, industry, courtesy, and self-control, of fidelity to obligations, and a due sense of responsibility. It will have implanted high ideals of life, the love of excellence, a passion for justice, a chival- rous sense of honor; in brief, the school should turn out,-to adapt the words of Milton,-honest, honorable, high-minded men and women able to discharge justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the duties of public and private life.
The man or woman who seriously undertakes the teacher's .office with such an ideal of the results to be sought as are ex- pressed above, must hear a more urgent call than the call of the
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dollar. He or she must partake deeply of the noble spirit of unselfish service. Such teachers are laying the foundations of our future national stability. They are shaping the citizens of the future republic. Money compensation can never be com- mensurate with the services rendered, but it should be enough to enable the teacher to live in such a manner as to best conserve health and happiness, to keep alive and growing his or her own soul through contact with nature, literature, and life, and thus to make concrete before the children the ideals towards which they are being led.
The relation of parents to such teachers should not be that of opposition nor of cool indifference, but of warm friendship. I appeal to parents to become acquainted with the teachers of their own and of their neighbors' children, to give them the apprecia- tion they deserve, and to co-operate earnestly with them in their labors for the most precious possession of our homes and of our communities.
Great care has been exercised in the choice of teachers for our schools to secure the best possible for the compensation allowed. In searching for teachers to nominate to the committees, the superintendent has often wished that he were authorized to offer a dollar or two more per week. In some cases it would have been the means of making a school very good, instead of passable.
A similar addition to the salary of a teacher who had received an attractive offer elsewhere, in several cases would have enabled us to retain an efficient teacher, and thus to avoid the loss in- curred by a change.
Our present teachers, without a known exception, have the right attitude toward their work. As would be expected, they differ in native ability and acquired qualifications, but all seem to realize the high demands of their position, and are willing to work and study to worthily meet those demands. This respect for one's work, which leads to earnest effort to perform it with increasing skill, we call "professional spirit." Teaching in this country can hardly sustain a claim to being a profession, yet teachers may share the attitude toward their work which is sup-
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posed to characterize workers in the recognized professions. This "professional spirit" is manifested by our teachers in a very commendable degree.
THE TOWNS IN PARTICULAR.
Holden .- The average membership of the schools is thirty-two less than last year, and the average attendance thirty less.
The number of pupils at Springdale will be so reduced by the removal of the Glen Mills that the transportation of the remain- ing children to Quinapoxet may seem advisable. The consolida- tion of the school at North Woods with the Jefferson schools should also be considered in the near future.
Only four new teachers appear on the list this year. Two posi- tions have been filled twice. Miss Clara K. Bascom was pro- moted to the principalship at Jefferson, and the vacancy in the intermediate room was filled by the transfer of Miss Agnes Do- lan from Dawson.
The High School had no senior class last year. In place of the usual graduation exercises in June, an address was given by Rev. Everett D. Burr, D.D., of Newton.
The second assistant, employed this year for the first time, has charge of all the work of the ninth grade, also of physics and ancient history in the senior class. By present arrange- ments, pupils who do not take Latin are provided with its full equivalent in other work.
Eight pupils are candidates for the diploma of the school in June next.
The annual reception of the Alumni Association last June was made the occasion of suitable recognition of the fact that the honored principal of the school, Mr. Alonzo K. Learned, had completed a quarter century of service to the town in his present position. All unite with the graduates and former students of the school in the feeling which found expression in gifts and ap- preciative words.
Oakham .- As usual, Oakham leads the towns in its per cent. of attendance. The Coldbrook school leads all in the union, while
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the Centre Primary shares the second place with South school in Holden.
Miss Julia Connelly replaced Miss Alma Russell at the West school, and Mrs. Minnie G. Woodis returned to her post at the South school. Otherwise no changes in teachers have occurred.
For the year ending last June the schools were actually in ses- sion an average of 153.4 days, or the equivalent of thirty-one full weeks. The regular attendance of pupils, the small number in each school, and the permanence of the teaching force are con- ditions favorable to good school work. Results are better than would usually be expected in a school year so short, but they would be further improved if more time were given. Only two other towns in the county still adhere to the lowest legal limit of thirty-two weeks. It is hoped that Oakham will not be the last to lengthen the school year.
Paxton .- Last year I was glad to report an increase in the per cent. of attendance, but this year there has been a falling off. The prevalence of measles during the winter term accounts for a part of the loss, but much of the irregular attendance is appar- ently due to the negligence of a few families.
Miss Mabel C. Reid, who had served acceptably in another town of the union, succeeded Miss Minnie Hodgkins in the pri- mary room in September. The other teachers remain the same.
The candidates for admission to Worcester high schools entered with a good record. There are no ninth grade pupils this year.
The covering of all the blackboards in the building with paper and green slating greatly improved them at small expense. The . finishing and tinting of the walls and ceilings is another inexpen- sive improvement much needed.
Rutland .- It is pleasant to report an increase in membership, attendance and per cent. of attendance. For the first time the town reduces its loss by non-attendance to ten per cent. The loss may further be reduced by proper attention to a few negligent families.
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On the resignation of the teacher of the first primary room at the Centre, in the winter term, it was found practicable, by a re- arrangement of grades, to combine the two primary rooms. The old high school room was thus left vacant, and the high school was moved back to it from the reception hall.
Mr. W. S. Dunn took charge of the High School the second week of the fall term in place of Mr. B. A. Albro, who left us to go to Princeton. Miss Mary Carpenter, Miss M. Louise Spen- cer, Miss Genevieve Doran and Miss Blanche Kelley have re- signed during the year, and Miss Katie Johnson resigned at the end of it. Miss Kelley resigned on account of the illness of her father, and all the others to accept more attractive positions.
All the teachers of Rutland are graduates of a normal school or college, and are serving the town efficiently.
The most pressing needs of our schools are a longer year for the elementary schools, and more permanency in the teaching force. It will be readily seen that in thirty-two weeks, with such frequent changes in teachers, our results cannot compare favor- ably with those of towns having thirty-six weeks and more per- manent teachers. I see no way of meeting our "pressing needs" without a larger investment of money in the schools Such in- vestment promises to yield large dividends.
The High School is approved as a "legal high school," and the special State grant of $300 is received to aid in its support. It is expected that the approval will be continued. The member- ship of the school is now twenty-eight. Three pupils are candi- dates for graduation in June next, and it is expected that sixteen will be eligible to admission in September.
Miss Dell Ward, Miss Bessie Ward, Miss Mayme Newman, Miss Susie O'Connor, and Mr. Percy Nourse received the diplo- ma of the school last June.
EQUALIZING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY.
The late President E. H. Capen, in writing the sixty-second report of the Board of Education, said: "To the undersigned it seems that if education is the duty of the State, that duty is
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not discharged until all the children have an equal privilege. In a great city like Boston the children of the poorer sections have as good facilities and as good teachers as the children of the rich and fashionable quarters. Why should not this principle extend to the entire Commonwealth ?"
A good deal has already been accomplished in the struggle for equal educational advantages to all the children. Text-books and school material are free to every child. High school instruc- tion is offered to every qualified pupil. Supervision of the work of the schools is universal and compulsory. The State school fund is greatly assisting the rural towns of low valuation. But the work is far from complete. The town of Brookline, for ex- ample, spends upon every pupil in its schools $50.84 annually, a tax-rate of $2.04 per thousand supplying the money, while the town of Holden must tax itself at a rate nearly three times as high in order to spend less than half as much money upon each pupil.
Probably the equality of privilege of which President Capen wrote will not soon, if ever, exist at an equal taxation cost. Our rural communities must bear greater burdens than are borne by the great centers of wealth. The characteristic principle of Massachusetts policy, that of local initiative and control, will still persist. The people of each community will do the best they can for their own children. Led by their wisest and most public- spirited citizens, our rural towns will bear cheerfully the bur- dens which may be necessary in caring properly for their 'supreme communal interest," the education of their children.
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