USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > Town annual report of Saugus 1913 > Part 14
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The medical examination of pupils, as well as the examina- tions to test the eyes and ears, show that our pupils are in excellent health, and that there are but few that are defective.
Crowded Conditions.
It is with regret that the Principal of the High School is com- pelled to report that our crowded conditions work decidedly against securing the best work in the High School. The large classes in the ninth grade and in the first year of the High School, of necessity changing from room to room, makes much confusion in the narrow corridors and on the stairs, and wastes much of the time of teachers in clearing up this confusion. Pupils in study periods have to be transferred, not only from room to room but from floor to floor, that they may have seats for study. This means noise, confusion, and wasted time. The building, a three floor one, was not designed for ninth grade classes of fifty or for High School classes of forty. Moreover, next February, when an extra class, under the present "double promotion " method, comes in, as another ninth grade room, to the building, the confusion will be far worse, and the waste, due to marching and counter-marching, will be more pronounced. More than every seat in the four rooms used by High School pupils is occupied now; in February all four rooms on the ground floor will be filled and overtaxed by the one hundred and eighty pupils of the ninth grade. All this overcrowding is in face of our possessing no extra recitation rooms for numerous small but important classes in the High School course. The two laboratories and the assembly hall are now used, to a marked degree for class recitations; in February they will be
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
taxed to the utmost for such work. None of these places are fit rooms for High School recitation rooms. One laboratory has been taken eight periods a week for the cooking classes, and has been lost for experimental work in Physics for our first year High School boys. This is on account of the installing of special equipment for the cooking classes.
Without question the whole matter comes down to this : what emphasis shall be laid on ninth grade work in a High School building, or what emphasis shall be laid on the teaching of the higher branches of a High School curriculum in a High School building? In a building constructed as ours is, for High School instruction, where two types of classes, one type being that of the Elementary grades and made up of very large classes, the other type that of the Secondary or High School students, and made up necessarily of smaller classes,- are crowded so badly as at present, such congestion can spell only disorganization and mixed effort on the part of teachers and pupils. .
Under these crowded conditions efficient work cannot be done in the High School. Rooms needed for the instruction of High School classes must of necessity be taken for the seating of ninth grade pupils. Under the present scheme all the Drawing classes suffer ; the elementary science laboratory work of the Freshman class suffers ; the dividing of the higher paid teacher's time into part time for instruction of Elementary grade pupils and into part time for their High School classes works badly ; the teach- ing of Civics and Industrial History, or Social Science, the instruction in English, and the work in Elementary Science, all in enormous classes in the Freshman year, suffers.
The problem could be fairly well handled up to last February before the method of " double promotion " in the grades came into vogue, but now it cannot, from force of circumstances, be so handled.
Not a doubt remains in my mind but that a weakened form of High School teaching will obtain if we are forced to carry such large numbers of Elementary grade pupils in the building. Moreover, next year it will be a physical impossibility to go on as we are now going on, for more rooms will be needed to seat the incoming pupils, and we shall not have those rooms. Either an addition in the form of a new wing for the building must come, or the divorce of the ninth grade classes from those of the High School must come, this last entailing the erection of a new building for the ninth grade. The only other solution of this mixed question would be a system of double sessions, High
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REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
School pupils for the morning session and ninth grade pupils for the afternoon session. Such a method, when used in other places, has proved very unsatisfactory, and could here in Saugus be but a temporary measure. I believe that the association of a small ninth grade and a small High School is good, and can be efficiently administered; not so, however, when not only the Elementary pupils come in in such large numbers, but when the High School classes are as large as at present. The methods of instruction are greatly different. The problems of discipline, mental and moral, are vastly more complicated. The reaction of pupils on studies and on teachers is utterly different. in a word, the present association is good for the Elementary pupils but bad for those in the higher grades. What the ninth grade gains the High School must lose, and is losing now. Such loss is not economy, either intellectually or financially, for the High School pupils, greater in numbers and more mature in age, demand here, as everywhere else in this country, higher paid instruction and a far more expensive equipment. After this year I can see no other solution of this question than a separa- tion of the ninth grade and the High School, such separation becoming necessary through the tremendous increase of pupils in both departments and from the small size of the building. Such a separation, we can easily see, will not be due to causes that are so much moral or intellectual but physical. The solution of this problem cannot be delayed, but must be met now.
New Courses.
The subject of Social Science for pupils who do not take Latin in the Freshman year has been given this year. It aims to give the pupils a good general knowledge of the important manu- factures, the story of local industries and of the civic life of the American people locally and nationally.
A course in Domestic Science has also been given to the girls of the first and second years in the High School. This work has been required of all girls of those classes, but hereafter I should recommend it only as a course to be elective, not com- pulsory, and to be taken at least four periods per week rather than two periods only. As an experiment, I feel that the course has been a most excellent one.
.
29
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
Three Needs.
An urgent need of the High School here, as in every growing town, is a strengthening of our Commercial work. The motive in giving such a course should be two-fold; first, to prepare pupils who have it in them, for simple clerkships, through the instrumentality of much English, Stenography and Typewriting, with special stress laid on the expression of that English which makes for the best business and for the industries; the second aim in a well-organized Commercial Course should be to pre- pare thoroughly the few who have the ability to accept heavier responsibilities in business firms, by a thorough training in Business Law, the study of materials, of accounts, of efficient methods in buying, selling, and the avoidance of waste. The requirements for leadership in business were never higher than now. Those fit for leadership should have as great an oppor- tunity as our college prepared pupils. All this costs; but, to prepare a finished product of work, the cost must be met. The Commissioners of Education throughout the country tell us that the tax payers in all the states object not to the great cost of High School instruction, but to the failure to produce a more finished product of work in the High School.
The same thing is true in regard to Manual Training in the High School. There is a great demand for this activity by boys and parents. Under the present system we cannot get it. Giving more time to the teaching of Manual Training will, like- wise, cost, but I believe such teaching to be a thing that those High School boys who have the capacity for it should have, not in a smattering way but intensively.
Another need is more extended classes in Drawing, both for girls and for boys. Those that show ability in Mechanical Drawing should be permitted to go on just as far as they have the ability to do so. We need at least three times as many periods for Drawing classes as the Supervisor of Drawing now is able to give us. Here again we get a smattering of things but no finished product.
Record of Pupils.
We have not space to present fully the activities of the school. However, we may say that those pupils who have gone to col- lege, scientific schools and normal schools have made an envia- ble record. One of our students last year received in Oberlin College the highest rank in the Freshman class, a class of 309.
30
REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT.
A boy in one third year class has just been awarded the second prize in the state wide contest in raising potatoes, by the Massa- chusetts Agricultural College. This was for the planting and care of one-eighth of an acre of potatoes.
For two years in succession the Saugus High School has been awarded the F. R. Pierson Cup given to High Schools for the best exhibit of sweet peas in the July display of the American Sweet Pea Association.
Other Needs.
We lack play areas for the development of the physical life of our pupils. We need positively such playing grounds for super- vised play for girls and boys. Much further delay in the pur- chase of such fields means, on account of the increasing values in land, a vastly increased cost later.
Moreover, we suffer in our instruction from the fact that we are poorly supplied with encyclopedias, dictionaries, and books of reference in many subjects. We need these books far more than last year or the year before, when the request was made for such material.
In conclusion, then we need more recitation rooms, smaller divisions in a number of our first year classes, some immediate separation of High School and ninth grade pupils on account of our terribly crowded conditions ; we also need more time for instruction in Commercial Subjects, Manual Training and Drawing. In fact, we need three times as many periods of the Special Teacher's periods as we get at present. We need decidedly reference books and material for study other than simply school books.
Respectfully submitted, JAMES F. BUTTERWORTH, Principal Saugus High School.
Graduation Exercises
OF THE Class of 1913, Saugus High School Town Hall, Tuesday Evening, June 25, 1913 Motto : Ascende, etsi Saxa sint Aspera
PROGRAM
Music S a. Second Connecticut March Reeves 16. Waltz, Garden of Allah Klickmann
Manola Orchestra
Invocation
Rev. Lynn V. Farnsworth
Music.
Almighty Lord.
Intermezzo from
"Cavalleria Rusticana"
Mascagni
High School Chorus
Salutatory. Outdoor Education
Ernest Edwin Harrison ( Second Honor)
Class History
Mabel Mildred Macleod
Class Oration.
Two Needed Reforms
.
Vernon Wynne Evans
Music. Sing, Smile, Slumber
Gounod
Marguerite Cecilia Burns
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GRADUATION EXERCISES.
*Essay. The Panama Canal . Irving Elmer Campbell
Class Prophecy Marian Adelta Evans
*Essay. District Nursing Frances Mae Pratt
Music. "Sesame" Intermezzo King Manola Orchestra
Presentation of Gifts Ida Bray Walkey
*Essay. Bee Culture Mildred Frances Everson
Class Will Helena Penny
Essay. " Ascende etsi Saxa sint Aspera " Selma Koehler ( First Honor)
Music. Carmena H. Lane Wilson Senior Class
Presentation of Class Gift
Annie Margaret Flynn
Acceptance for School
Henrietta Knowlton Allston, '14
Presentation of Diplomas
Chairman Charles L. Davis
Singing of Class Ode. Words and music by Marguerite Cecilia Burns *Graduates.
33
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
GRADUATES
Classical Course.
Walter Dunbar Blossom
Annie Margaret Flynn
Marguerite Cecilia Burns
Irving Elmer Campbell
Vernon Wynne Evans
Helena Penny
Mildred Frances Everson
Ida Bray Walkey
Latin Scientific Course.
Dorothy Florence Cochrane
Ralph Martin Kellogg
Harold William Crowell
Edward Harington Davis
Marian Adelta Evans
Frances Mae Pratt
Raymon John Sweezey
English Course.
Benjamin Quint Belonga Ernest Edwin Harrison Arthur Bryant Sheldon
Grace Olivia Milbery
Robert Barrett Ottley
Isabel Forsythe Foss
Selma Koehler
Mabel Mildred Macleod
Graduation Exercises
OF THE
Ninth Grade, Class of 1913
June 23, Town Hall, Saugus
PROGRAM
I. The March
Ruth Littlefield
2. Largo School Orchestra and Chorus
3. Climbing to Ideals Selection Declamation
Laurence Davis
4. Spring Song School Chorus
5. Attainable Ideals
Essay
Eva Bacon
6. All Through the Night School Chorus
7. The Two Best Things Declamation
Charles Upham
8. Daybreak
School Chorus
Selection School Orchestra
9. Class Report Cora Fernald- Victor Eliason
IO. Men of Harlech
School Chorus
35
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
II. Other Attainable Ideals Essay
Lois Litchfield
I2. Class Song Honor Pupils
13. Address Mr. Walter I. Hamilton Agent of State Board of Education
14. Presentation of Diplomas Mr. Charles L. Davis Chairman of School Board
15. The Forget-me-not School Chorus
Class Ode, written by Clara Haushalter
GRADUATION LIST
Frances Aiken
Lloyd Amerige
*Eva Bacon
Alice Barnes
Carl Barrett
*Helen Martin Henry Martin
Marian Batchelder
George McCarrier
Irene Berry
Daniel McCarthy
Laura Berry
George McDermott
Dana Borland
*Mabel Britt
Sarah McGilvray Katherine McIver Lorenzo McIver
James Burnett
Hattie Butler Elmer McSwain Warren Butler Ernest Merrithew Alma Moore
*Viola Catlin
Claire Chisholm Maybelle Collins Ruth Cross
*Laurence Davis Violet Deary Helen Donnelly
*Evelyn Newbury Peter Oleander Mabel O'Neal Octavia Parker Russell Peterson
*Marjorie Platt
*Hattie MacKay Ethel MacLeod Abraham Margolskee Earl Marston
Lillah Barrett
SAUGUS PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1729 00051 4122
GRADUATION EXERCISES.
Ruth Downing
Edna Porter
Violet Drew
*Grace Porter
Herbert Eckhardt
* Marion Porter
*Victor Eliason
*Grace Power Ralph Quirk
*Ruth Elmer Newton Elwell
* Alice Ettinger John Fabiano Clarence Fairchild
*Martha Read William Reagh Irene Richardson
Eva Rose
*Marie Farnham
Helen Rowse
*Cora Fernald
*Paul Ruthman William Ruthman
*Margaret Ferris Abram Fiske Gladys Flagg
*Olive Rutter Nellie Saltzman
*Priscilla Flockton John Flynn
*Earle Shaw Helen Shaw
Pauline Foster
Dorothy Furbislı
*Wilbur Sheldon Florence Skelding
May Gonyea
Dorothy Smith Eugene Smith
*Clarice Hall Israel Hamolsky John Hastings
*Sidney Smith
*Lloyd Snow
*Clara Haushalter Edward Hayes Harry Hazel
*Dora Sprague Lucian Stacy Elsie Stead
Mollie Herron
Joseph Stevens
Adelaide Hicks
Willard Swan
Irving Hodgkins
Marjorie Symmes
*Kenneth Hughes Phillips Hull
Evelyn Tape
Hazel Illingworth
Harold Trefethen
Marian Ingalls
*Charles Upham Howard Wakefield Kate Walton
Waldo Kellogg
Edward Walzer Philip Webber
*Elizabeth Krouthen
*Clarence Wentworth
*Lois Litchfield
*Henry Westendarp Elizabeth Whyte Walter Wilson
*Ruth Littlefield May Livingstone Helen Low SAUGUARUBVIOUNDRARY
*Honor Pupils
Louise Symonds
Oscar Ireson
Mary Johnston
*Viola Kenerson
295 Central St. Saugus, MA 01906
36
For Reference
Not to be taken
from this library
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