USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1869 > Part 4
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But there are other and more important considerations. The loca- tion of our school edifices, the admission of a free and generous supply of pure air and sunlight, with sufficient means of ventilation, the con- venient arrangements, comfortable seats, those allowing free motion, a natural and healthful position, and ample play-grounds, are matters of vital importance as connected with the preservation of health-without which mental culture is comparatively valueless-and the proper and necessary development of the physical powers, a development in harmony with its relation to the mind. That some of the " curvatures of the spine," and other deformities are referable to improper seats is easily demonstrated, while a fearful array of lung diseases is intimately connected with the impure air of many school-rooms.
To show that we are not drawing upon the imagination, let us state a single fact. One of our school-rooms is 19} feet long by 14 wide and 15 feet high. That room contains 4,095 cubic feet of air. The num- ber of pupils in that school was 51. The windows and door were the only means of ventilation. Dr. Cutter in his Physiology says,-" No physiologist pretends that less than seven cubic feet of air are adequate for a person to breathe each minute." Supposing 51 children to be present, before twelve minutes have passed, that quantity of air has been inhaled by those children, the oxygen taken from it, and carbonic acid-a deadly poison-and nitrogen take its place. The next twelve minutes these pupils breathe it again with all of its constantly increas- ing impurity ; and with what effect, let the pale countenances answer.
We are happy to know that in these additions to our school ac- commodations, these considerations were not overlooked or ignored, but that we have large and well arranged rooms and spacious play- grounds, while the means of ventilation are comparatively satisfactory.
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PRACTICAL EDUCATION.
That system of instruction, only, is worthy the name that develops and matures mind, and prepares its possessor for the active duties of life. A diploma is not worth the blank paper on which it is inscribed, unless its possessor, by the course of training, has been measurably qualified for the particular sphere of effort in which his lot in life is, cast. Education is less a form than a substance. True education is aggressive, " leaves its mark," in a certain sense thrusts itself upon the attention of society and will be heard and felt, since it is and must be a governing force. These remarks, of course, apply to real education, the normal maturing of the mental powers, a development in harmony with the relations of the mind to its physical organism.
To be more particular, it is believed that our school system, as good and progressive as it may be, will still admit of improvement as a means of keeping pace with the progress of the age. To do this the educator must never lose sight of the fact that the tendencies of the present age are in the direction of the available, the practical and the remunerative, while the speculative and theoretical are more generally ignored than in the past.
Our remarks on this point have a special application to the course of study in our High Schools. Can this be improved ? Can the instruc- tion be made available to a larger number ; or more practical and con- sequently more valuable ? While it is frankly admitted that the classical course meets the demands of a certain class, those who con- template a more extended term of study, professional or collegiate, it is believed that another class, who cannot avail themselves of a com- plete course, desirable if practicable, are not receiving that kind of training best adapted to fit them for the practical duties of life. The question arises, why are they not ? Is not too large a portion of time given to the study of the languages ? While it is admitted that "the classics, as a means of culture, must retain their place at the head of educational appliances, so long as language is the vehicle of thought," yet there is danger of giving them too much prominence under some circumstances. Not wishing now to discuss the relative merits of the classics and the natural sciences, it is evident that the laborer, the mechanic and the artisan will have but little use for a classical educa- tion, however desirable it may be as a means of mental culture. If it is true that the physician and the lawyer must have medical and legal training and the acquisition of facts and principles, it is evident that the mechanic has a similar demand for special culture, since he is a necessary component of society, as essential and valuable to the Com- monwealth, at least, in its material relations, as the professional man and the man of letters.
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These considerations, necessitated by the various avocations in life, suggest a modification in the course of study, so far as it relates to our High Schools. While a part of those who enter may complete the course and have the advantages of a well organized system, it is but an act of justice that another class, entering the schools but for a limited term, should be allowed to pursue a course of study which may be made available in after life,-one that may have direct reference to their chosen avocation, and still be disciplinary, as much so, at least to them, relatively, as the prescribed course would be, since the available and practical would be increasingly interesting.
This implies a select course for those demanding it, an opportunity to investigate sciences and secure principles connected with mechani- cal employments, special training in chemistry, physiology, navigation, surveying, with the principles applied to mechanics, &c. This, to them, would be what the accommodation train is to the " way travel." The young man, for example, who contemplates the cultivation of the soil-the foundation of our material prosperity-may reasonably de- mand as an act of justice and equality, to know something of the prin- ciples of agricultural chemistry, enough to make that branch of industry reasonably remunerative, giving him a respectable position socially. Our sterile New England soil demands such artificial aids and en- couragements. Society has a personal interest in the mental condi- tion of her mechanics, that the laborer shall be an intelligent laborer, that his children shall be practically educated and prepared to enter upon their chosen avocations in life. The practical education of this class, therefore, is demanded upon principles of utility and material progress. Hence we say, let the course of study in our High Schools be so arranged as to meet this demand.
EXAMINATIONS.
In what manner may the standard of attainments in our schools be elevated, and what may be done to stimulate the pupils to greater exertion ? How may we produce a more general feeling of personal responsibility ?
It is believed that systematic, frequent and thorough examinations, as personal, individual as possible, will meet some of the present de- mands of our schools. Those at the close of the term or the year may be pleasant, agreeable occasions, and in some degree profitable, so much so that they should not be discontinued. It must be admitted, however, that the short time necessarily devoted to them utterly pre- cludes the idea of thoroughness and extensiveness. If a day is needed in which to hear the usual recitations, it is evident that all of the classes cannot be examined in all of the studies which have been pursued
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during the term or year; doing justice to all of the branches examined. To meet a manifest want, therefore, it seems necessary to institute frequent and regular examinations, under circumstances the least em- barrassing, that the teachers and those directly interested may know precisely the progress being made, the exact status of the schools as a whole and of each individual pupil. Fitness for promotion from one grade to another, of from one class to another in the same grade, should be ascertained by a careful examination, not simply of classes, but of each member of a class. Such a course would present to both teacher and pupil, one of the most potent incentives to effort. By the adoption of such a system, the promotions would be based only on real merit. It is as important that these examinations should be made in the lower grades and in the different classes, as in the transfer from the Grammar to the High Schools. This is the method pursued in the advancement of pupils from the former to the latter, but not in the other grades, nor is it continued after the pupils have gained admission to the High Schools. Our system is faulty in these particulars, and should be improved to meet existing wants.
The examination for promotion is a matter too important to be safely left to the teacher having the class or school in charge, for the favor- itism of the individual may warp the judgment. It is also true that ambition may induce the teacher to transfer a large number of pupils, on the supposition that the standard of excellence may be based on the number thus transferred, while such favoritism and ambition might result in undue attention to some, and a neglect of others. These evils are the most serious when the proper order is reversed ; when the most gifted receive special attention, while the less brilliant are allowed to plod along unaided, and lience remain a long time in the same grade. It would be equally unwise to leave the matter to the judgment of the teacher into whose care they are to pass. As the one who transfers pupils is liable to overrate their attainments, so the one receiving them is quite as liable to underrate them, knowing that she is to be responsible for their future progress.
To render these examinations perfectly fair and advantageous to all, nothing less than a uniform standard, equally applicable to all schools of like grade, will answer. The manner of conducting them should be the same. Such a systematic course of examinations will definitely indicate the proficiency of the pupil and the faithfulness and ability of the teacher. They should occur without previous notice, and have reference only to studies and topics pursued within a given period. That all may understand the design and range of these examinations, it is desirable that the per cent. of correct answers required to secure promotion should be announced at the commencement of the school
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year, and that failure to obtain this shall be regarded as positive evi- dence that the pupil has no just claim to promotion, and also a suffi- cient cause for the dismissal of a teacher as incompetent, when the average percentage of results shall fall below that required, for two successive examinations, unless satisfactory reasons for such failure are known to exist.
It is believed that such examinations are just what our schools re- quire, in order to secure the most satisfactory results. It is true that they would consume considerable time, but it is believed that such time would be profitably spent, and that there would be not only greater progress, but an increased personal responsibility felt by both teachers and pupils. This subject, felt to be so important to the future progress of our schools, is commended to the careful considera- tion of the Board.
ORAL INSTRUCTION.
That teacher is the most successful who is able to awaken the most interest, evoke the most independent thought, inspire the most con- fidence in the pupil's own ability to overcome difficulties by personal effort, excite the most love of knowledge, and impress upon the mind of the learner the idea that true education is more mental discipline than the acquisition of mere facts and principles. To divest school exercises of the too general idea of " tasks," it is often necessary for the teacher to present science in its more pleasing aspects, with the view to making it more practical and real. The tendency of the pupil is to examine his lesson in the abstract, having but a slight idea of the practical bearing; it is, therefore, necessary to counteract this by some variation from the usual routine, to awaken thought, to make instruction more suggestive, conducting and drawing the mind out into various channels of investigation, instead of crowding it with abstract principles.
These objects are secured by occasional deviation from the usual course of study, by casting the text-book aside, temporarily, and intro- ducing " oral instruction." In this connection it is proper to say that the chimerical ideas of some in the past, in reference to text-books, are not adapted to our latitude or our schools. If these are ignored en- tirely, the pupil becomes more a machine than a thinking, reasoning being, losing the energizing influences of effort, individual application. Exercises of this character, if the teacher is thoroughly versed in the science, the facts being as familiar as "household words," tend to " draw out," afford recreation, create thought, add a pleasing variety, and give an unwonted vivacity to school labors, a love for such labors.
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Education imperatively demands much effort, but the more pleasant and inspiring, the more disciplinary it becomes.
One of the important advantages resulting from oral instruction is that connected with the latitude given, the opportunity of introducing collateral facts and of substituting illustrations and principles differing from those of the text more in phase than in fact. Another advan- tage arises from this' kind of instruction when it is made prefatory as a means of inspiring interest by imparting in advance, in a familiar manner, some of the principles involved in a lesson to be learned from the text-book, simplifying, anticipating difficulties. This follows from the fact that the younger pupils are often unable fully to comprehend a lesson, from the ambiguity of the expression, when the advance oral instruction would render the labor of preparing a recitation less onerous. The teacher, if blessed with good conversational powers, may in this way do much to enliven a class and secure more interest and greater love for mental labor.
Intimately connected with this kind of instruction is object-teaching. A few blocks, cones, cubes, squares, &c., simply displayed before the pupils, will be of but slight importance, aside from the efforts of the living teacher, without which these are comparatively valueless. But the system of object-teaching worthy the name, is that which em- braces the wide domain of nature and art, including any and everything with which the pupil may be made familiar in these departments, selecting the most familiar objects as the first step in the ascending scale, employing these. as the means of securing a familiarity with the more obscure, rising step by step, each constituting so many introductions to the ever varying fields of explorations. Since the powers of obser- vation are developed in the child before those of reflection, it is mani- fest that the object must be presented to the eye before an adequate . idea of it can be easily conveyed to the mind. A system of object- teaching, therefore, that follows nature, giving first the thing, then the conception and finally the name, that develops mind in accordance with its laws, is the one for our adoption. Such instruction carries the pupil beyond verbal expressions, automatic action, waking the " dry bones " of a mere theoretical instruction-if instruction it is- into the vitality of an actual reality. Such teaching appeals to the " common sense" of the child, gives him some idea of the importance of education, makes the school-room a place where he comes into contact with realities. It expands the mind, enlarges the range of mental vision, and is the opposite of the system that burdens the mind with mere useless verbiage, too often a mere development of the memory, leaving the reasoning powers nearly or quite dormant. Such instruc- tion promotes "individuality," encourages the child to learn to think
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and reason independently, to discriminate and give expression to thought, "doing his own thinking" instead of taxing another. Such a system lays the whole realm of nature under contribution, and bids it yield its impressive lessons at the command of even the humblest of its explorers.
During four years of familiarity with our schools, it is proper to say that those teachers, other things being equal, have succeeded the best, have produced the most satisfactory results, who have employed the oral and object method, not independent of, but in connection with, text-books. Hence we say that it should be introduced in some way into all of our schools.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
Since the Commonwealth professes to proffer to all of its sons and daughters, at least the rudiments of a business education, to the rich and the poor alike, it is the part of wisdom for us to ascertain if there are those among us who are not accepting these proffered advantages. Such advantages are afforded in accordance with the idea that an edu- cated people-other things being equal-are more industrious, tem- perate, economical and moral than the ignorant, and, of course, to a greater extent promote the material prosperity of any community. It is also a fundamental principle in political economy that it is far less expensive to educate the masses, measurably preventing crime, than to control and punish the violators of the laws.
In every manufacturing community, there are those who seem de- prived of the advantage of a necessary education, unless some means be- yond those afforded by our common schools are supplied. The estab- lishment, therefore, of schools adapted to their peculiar condition and wants, seems an absolute necessity,-Evening Schools. Most, if not all of this class, are employed during the day as operatives and can- not attend the ordinary schools, even if so inclined. The establish- ment of Evening Schools, one or more, at convenient places, could not but prove an advantage to our community. They would afford instruc- tion at an hour when labor ceases and when the young are peculiarly exposed to temptation. An institution that makes provision for all who have not had the advantages of early instruction, should command our respect, enlist our sympathy and secure our cooperation and sup- port.
The whole subject is respectfully referred to the serious considera- tion of the Board, believing that its relative importance imperatively demands such consideration.
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PRIMARY SCHOOLS. .
Although the office of the lowest grade of our schools is not to give the " finishing touch " to the education of the young, to complete and polish, as in the higher departments, yet an importance attaches itself to the Primary Schools which is not easily over-estimated. They form the basis of our educational system. Here the child must learn what a school is. Here the seed is sown, and here the first germinations occur, the first impressions are made. It is as true in these schools as in the material world that the fruit, in quality, quantity and kind, is largely determined by the quality of the seed. As the bending of the sapling determines the form of the stately tree, so the first moulding of the mind of the child, the first impressions, the first principles in- stilled and the general influences and surroundings, are the indexes to the future developments-" the boy is the father of the man." It is to these schools that the children come at an early age, with their sus- ceptible minds and various dispositions, with their diverse capacities and tendencies, and many of them with defects and faults already appar- ent, to begin the work of school training. There is no epoch in the pupil's course in our schools, that requires more "aptness to teach," practical wisdom, kindness, firmness, and patient, persevering diligence, on the part of the teacher, than that in the Primary School. Those only are fitted to be teachers in these schools, who possess these quali- fications, combined with large powers of illustration, and who love children, as such. According to the value of the superstructure, should be the care, skill and thoroughness with which the foundation work is executed. The best educated teachers and those of the high- est culture are none too good for this important work. If there is a necessity of employing second-rate teachers in any of the schools, let such, by all means, have charge of the higher grades rather than of the Primary Schools.
We have had eleven of these schools, the teachers of which were faithful in their labors, though all were not equally successful. All had not the same experience and adaptation to their work. This grade has not been seriously affected by the frequent change of teachers, since all of them continued through the year, with the exception of two. Nine of the eleven were taught by the teachers of the previous year.
The Districts have been abolished, and no definite names having yet been applied to the schools, it was necessary to designate them in this Report by their locations.
The School at Old Spain was under the charge of Miss MARIA F.
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BURRELL. It was well governed and faithfully taught. Good improve- ment was made in reading, spelling, geography and arithmetic. At the closing examination the school appeared well.
The School on High Street was given to Miss MARY E. JOY. This was her first experience. The school was large, numbering sixty-nine pupils, while there are but sixty-four sittings, so that five of the scholars were without regular seats. During the first part of the summer term, the discipline was not satisfactory, though the teacher was not wanting in interest or effort to make it so. Idleness, restlessness, and want of neatness in the school-room were too prevalent. By the per- sistent efforts of the teacher, these evils were gradually corrected and a commendable degree of order and attention to study secured. Dur- ing the winter term, the order was very satisfactory, the lessons were well learned and promptly recited. Irregularity of attendance was a serious evil. The condition of the school at the final examination was excellent.
The School on Grant Street was taught by Miss LAVINIA TOTMAN. The whole number of pupils for the summer term was sixty-six, and the average attendance, fifty-one. The order was usually good, dis- turbed occasionally, by whispering and restlessness, on the part of some of the younger pupils. The teacher was zealous and interested in her work and secured a good degree of interest in her pupils. The attention given and progress made in all of the studies were quite sat- isfactory.
The School on Pleasant Street was committed to the care of Miss EMMA J. FAY, Miss Parrott, the former teacher, having been promoted to the Intermediate. Though the position of following an experienced and popular teacher was peculiarly difficult, she met the difficulties well. She soon made herself familiar with the duties and require- ments of her school and won the confidence of her pupils. While the order was commendable through the year, that of the latter portion was especially good. Her method of requiring the first and second classes in spelling to print their lessons upon the blackboards, also the free use of them in the study of mental arithmetic, secured very satis- factory results. The improvement in reading was not as good.
The Pratt School was continued under the care of Miss ANN LOIS WHITE, who manifested the same interest and fidelity as during the previous year. She evinced a determination to make the school what it should be, and her efforts were not unavailing. The school num- bered sixty-nine pupils. There was a decided improvement in the
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regularity of attendance,-a gain of seven and six-tenths per cent. dur- ing the summer term and nearly the same for the winter. The gov- ernment was good and the instruction thorough. The closing examina- tion showed that the mental attainments of the pupils were decidedly in advance of former years.
Center School at South Weymouth .- Miss LIZZIE L. WHITMAN, teacher .- Twenty-four of the pupils in this school were promoted to the Second Intermediate at the commencement of the year. The average age of the pupils remaining was less than that of the preceding year, be- ing only six years and four months ; yet the teacher, by her persevering efforts, so interested, governed and instructed those little ones that the results attained were above those of the previous year. The order, neatness of the school-room, position of the pupils, together with their promptness and attention at the time of recitation, whenever the school was visited, as well as at the closing examination, were deserv- ing of special commendation.
School on Middle Street .- This school had the misfortune to have three different teachers during the year, and suffered much in conse- quence. Miss M. L. GRAVES taught during the summer term. The school, while under her care, was highly satisfactory. She was suc- ceeded by Miss MARY I. PARKER, who did all in her power to improve those intrusted to her care. Few teachers have labored more assidu- ously. Her method of instruction was excellent, but the ability to im- part knowledge was not as good, and in government she failed. At the close of the term she resigned, and Miss DORA L. BENSON taught dur- ing the winter term. Miss Benson has a happy way of securing the confidence and good-will of her pupils. On visiting the school, it was at once apparent that the relation between teacher and pupils was none other than pleasant. The order was gradually improved and an in- terest in study was secured. The school was discontinued for two weeks in consequence of sickness in the family of the teacher. The closing examination gave evidence of the faithfulness of the teacher and the interest of the pupils.
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