USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > Town annual report of the officers of Wakefield Massachusetts : including the vital statistics for the year 1900-1902 > Part 45
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coal than for several years past a large portion of which was of very poor quality.
The increased cost was owing to different causes ; first, dealers will not deliver coal in small lots at any time through the year at so low a price as they will deliver in bulk, when coal is the lowest ; second, had the school coal been purchased earlier than was done, and as would have been done ordinarily it could have been bought at a lower price than at the time it was purchased, and at quite a saving. Twenty-five to thirty cents a ton on 500 or more tons means quite a little sum to pay for somebody's quixotic notion.
RETROSPECT AND PROSPECTIVE.
It is both interesting and instructive to take an occasional look backward and compare past and present.
Twenty-five years ago our schools numbered seventeen, besides the High School, with an average attendance of seven hundred and forty. We now have forty-one schools and an average at- tendance of sixteen hundred and eighty-two. The High School then had two teachers and an average attendance of fifty-seven and five-tenths. Today there are ten teachers and an attendance of two hundred fifty and four-tenths. Then it cost per pupil for tuition about forty dollars. Now it costs thirty-three dollars and sixty cents per pupil. Then all books and supplies were bought by parents of the pupils, now everything is supplied free. In the past ten years four brick school houses has been erected and another is contemplated. Probably within the next twenty- five years we shall be known as a city or shall have become a part of Greater Boston. In either case our growth will be much more rapid than in the past. We trust in either event that the schools will be fostered with care and wise liberality and that from the public schools of our town and country shall emanate influences that will dominate the world for good.
In the busy whirl of life we little realize how close to our path the silent reaper is cutting his swath until, here and there, almost without warning some dear one suddenly drops by the way side
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and we see them no more. Last fall only a few short months after the death of one of our teachers, Miss Flora Elliot, Miss Grace Atherton, also a teacher in the same building, owing to failing health was granted a leave of absence. She gradually failed and died March 18.
Miss Atherton was a graduate of the High School in the class of '93 and later attended Boston University. She was appointed teacher in the Lincoln building in 1898 and was a faithful and efficient teacher.
This past fall that dread disease, diphtheria, made its appear- ance and one of our High School scholars, Roland E. Usher, was stricken and in only a few days succumbed and joined the great majority.
And still another record must be made, another name entered as having answered the summons and heard the " well done."
William Barron Rogers, a manly young man, full of life and strength, a graduate of the class of 1900, a member of the fresh- man class at Dartmouth, with life and bright prospects before him, he too, in his young manhood has gone on. With noble ideals, a good student, enthusiastic in his sports, Barron was a young man of whom his school and his town may well be proud and whose course in life would have been watched with interest by those who knew him. His death occurred Monday, Feb. 4th.
The second year of service of Mr. U. G. Wheeler as superin- tendent in no way changes our opinion as expressed last year, that we were foutunate in our choice. We ask careful considera- tion of his report which follows. The schools are in good condi- tion, though more efficient work could be done in some rooms if there were fewer pupils. There has been considerable interrup- tion to the schools by reason of sickness, and Miss Cobb, princi- pal of the F. P. Hurd School, was obliged to resign for that reason. She was an efficient teacher and her place has not yet been permanently filled.
This school building since its erection has been very fortunate in its friends by whom it has been generously supplied with works of art and more recently with a library of upwards of one hundred
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volumes, including a set of Stoddard's Lectures. The kind friend by whose efforts these books were procured is Mrs. E. C. Poland, for many years librarian of the Beebe Town Library, and who, though over seventy years of age is as much interested in supply- ing the school children with good reading as when, nearly forty years ago she assisted the writer and other benighted youth in procuring suitable books.
To her for her kind interest and to those who, by gifts of money or books assisted her, the committee, in behalf of the town, extend their thanks. Following will be found the appropriations and expenditures for the past year and also our estimates for the amounts which, after careful consideration, we consider necessary for the ensuing year.
Appropriation for Schools, General, Teachers,
Superintendent, Janitors, Fuel, etc. . $36,000 00
Received for tuition, out of town pupils 1,704 12
$37,704 12
Expended for Supt., teachers, etc. $33,989 78
66 " school census
40 00
66
" fuel ·
3,001 20
66
" tuition, Melrose 560 00
$37,590 98
Balance
$113 14
SCHOOL CONTINGENT.
Appropriation
$2,500 00
Received from tuition
190 69
$2,690 69
Expended
. $2,690 69
TEXT BOOKS AND SUPPLIES.
Appropriation
. $2,500 00
Tuition
145 69
$2,645 69
Expended
$2,645 69
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COMMERCIAL COURSE.
Appropriation
.
$700 00
Drew from General .
75 00
Expended for teachers .
$500 00 ·
66
" books and supplies . 275 00
$775 00
EVENING SCHOOL.
Appropriation
$800 00
Expended
352 25
$447 75
RECAPITULATION.
Received for General .
$37,704 12
. 6
Commercial Course .
700 00
66
" Incidentals
2,690 69
" Text Books and Supplies .
2,645 69
$43,740 50
Appropriations recommended for the ensuing year :-
General
$37,750 00
Commercial Course
1,250 00
Incidentals .
2,700 00
Books and Supplies
2,600 00
$44,300 00
Last year the town appropriated the amount recommended by the committee $41,000.00.
This year the committee recommend the appropriation of $44,300.00 and the question naturally arises why so much more is needed. There are five more teachers than last year. Two additional schools have been opened. The new commercial course in the High School calls for $1250. The six additional rooms at the High School requires at least fifty tons more of coal than formerly. A new school will be necessary in the old school building at Greenwood this spring, or in the fall at the latest.
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These items will aggregate quite $3,000. In addition to these are expenses for various matters which come up during the year which cannot be definitely known or estimated.
Again we ask for careful consideration of all details relating to the schools. Have we good schools ? Are they more expensive than they should be ? Can the expense be curtailed without injury ? The committee believes that it cannot. The terms of Mrs. Ida F. Carlisle and A. H. Thayer, expire this month (Feb.)
The committee are grateful for the support of the townspeople which has almost invariably been given and we trust and believe that with such support the efficiency of the schools may be not only maintained, but steadily improved.
Signed, ASHTON H. THAYER, Chairman, MELVIN J. HILL, IDA F. CARLISLE, Secretary, GEO. H. S. DRIVER, Treasurer, EDEN K. BOWSER, EVERETT A. FISHER,
School Committee.
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Report of Superintendent of Schools.
TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE :
My second report as Superintendent of Schools is herewith submitted.
SCHOOL WORK.
It is not easy to measure with exactness the amount of work accomplished in our schools, or to be always sure of its quality, but I feel confident that the results are, in the main, satisfactory. The work for the past year has been characterized by an earnest desire on the part of all to make the Wakefield schools as good as possible. That the schools have not deteriorated we feel sure ; that they have advanced is our hope. Whatever changes have been made are along the lines of teaching the subjects already recognized as a part of the curriculum. None of the old sub- jects have been discontinued, nor have we added new ones. It may be that Wakefield, in common with nearly all other towns, is attempting to give instruction in too many subjects in the grammar school. I sometimes think that such is the case, but when I consider what subject may best be dropped, I find it exceedingly difficult to recommend. Each subject taught is im- portant as a means of discipline and mental development to all, and is of direct practical value to some, in fact is a necessity to those who are to seek a higher education. To plan an educational system which shall be of the greatest practical benefit to those who must leave school at an early age to take up the work-a-day duties of life, and at the same time make due provision for those who are able to take higher courses of study, is a very difficult problem.
While believing fully in the value of all subjects added to the grammar school curriculum during the past few years, I still
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believe that we must not loose sight of the essentials, and must strive more and more earnestly to do definite and thorough work in all subjects attempted. I doubt if many things poorly done, or even fairly done, will prove as valuable to the pupil as a few things thoroughly mastered. It is certainly a very difficult matter to arrange programs so that all the subjects may have a place and each receive the amount of time its importance demands. In the upper grammar grades where twelve or more subjects are studied during the year, the time is so largely taken up with recitation work that home study, to a limited extent, becomes necessary. I feel that some readjustment is wise, whereby some of the subjects may not be required throughout the entire year, thus lessening the burden at any one time.
It ought to be of interest to all to consider just what is being attempted in our school, and for that reason I give a brief outline of the work.
READING : In no subject has there been greater improvement made than in reading. In the primary grades this subject occupies a very large share of the pupils' time. In these grades the foundation is laid that, in most cases, makes intelligent and independent readers of the pupils.
At first the word and sentence method is used, while at the same time the children are taught a few of the elementary sounds in exercises independent of the reading lesson. After about eighty-five words have been taught so thoroughly that the children recognize them instantly, a combination of the word and phonetic method is used, and further separate drill is given on the sounds of letters, singly and in combination. In this way the child's vocabulary is very rapidly increased, for he has acquired the power to make out new words by himself. Instead of being able to read one or two books each year, he can easily read half a dozen.
Besides teaching the child to read well we aim to create a desire on his part to read good books. As a means to this end much of the reading matter used in the intermediate and upper grades is selected from books that have an accepted literary merit. Besides this we attempt to suggest a few interesting books of high standing for home reading. It were almost better
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that a child never should learn to read than, having acquired that power, only desire to read debasing trash. It means much to the children, individually and collectively, and vastly more to a community at large how thoroughly a taste for good reading is formed. This is a matter in which parents must take a large share of the responsibility and I would not only suggest, but urge a careful oversight on the part of the parents.
WRITING. The aim is, first of all, to acquire a legible hand- writing. In the first two grades, where the children have rather an indefinite control of the muscles, the letters are made large and we must necessarily be satisfied with an approximate correct- ness as to form. In the third and fourth grades correctness of form is emphasized, and in most cases the habit is so well estab- lished that the hand-writing becomes almost as legible as print. The speed, however, is not very great, but from this time on speed as well as legibility is emphasized. At the end of the grammer school course the pupils write a very legible hand with a fair degree of speed. In the high school special instruction is not given in writing and with the pressure of note taking and written work the hand-writing often deteriorates. In the college it frequently becomes worse and the average graduate usually displays more individuality than legibility in his hand-writing.
Many business men complain that it is very difficult when looking for clerks and bookkeepers to find one who can write well and rapidly. Such is doubtless true, but probably a higher standard is required than nine-tenths of the business men them- selves possess. Yet these same men have had all the advantages offered by the schools of the past. There are those in all schools, both past and present, who easily and naturally become expert penman, but a large majority never will. In this age, when the typewriter has so largely usurped the quill, the demand for rapid penmanship is not so great as formerly. Legibility always will be demanded and in our school work we should lay great stress on this fact, striving of course for the greatest speed possible without sacrificing legibility. While I feel sure that the average hand-writing of grammar school graduates is today better than at any previous time, there is still chance for improvement.
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The introduction of the business course into the high school makes it possible and necessary to give special instruction in penmanship, and the pupils in this department will, it is expected, graduate with ability to meet all requirements in regard to penmanship.
SPELLING. A local paper recently printed a quotation criticis- ing the spelling of school children in a neighboring city. Many who read this article may have thought the criticism would apply equally well to our schools. Perhaps so, for I have no doubt that a test would reveal many poor spellers. I am very ready to believe that many years ago when spelling, as a distinct subject, occupied a more prominent place in the schools, more good spellers were produced. Some years ago it was thought by many that the spelling book was superfluous, and that as good or better results could be secured without the book. The plan was to teach spelling incidentally in connection with the written work of other subjects. Oral spelling, per se, was largely discontinued. No doubt this plan worked well in many places and is perhaps in successful operation now, but I am convinced that satisfactory re- sults in spelling can only be obtained by giving it careful attention and by making it a distinct subject of study to be pursued system- atically and vigorously. It is true that we usually have no occasion to spell a word except when writing it, but there are many pupils who can learn through the ear better than through the eye, and a combination of the two methods seems to me desirable in all cases, the one supplementing and aiding the other. We are attempting to give this subject due prominence in our school work. Books are in the hands of all pupils from the fourth to the ninth grades and definite tasks are assigned for daily study in nearly every grade.
ARITHMETIC. In grade one only incidental attention is given to number work as such. Children are drilled in the recognition of number groups, learn to write and read small numbers and with use of objects acquire considerable facility in oral expres- sion of number relations. Grade two marks the real beginning of arithmetic, and from this time until the middle of the ninth year, this subject receives more time and attention than any other subject in the whole curriculum. Yet the results are not always
:
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satisfactory. Pupils have a fair knowledge of the subject, but are often weak in ability to apply that knowledge to new facts or to reason out an explanation, and frequently fail in accuracy even when sure of the process. This is not as it should be and during the past year teachers have been making special efforts to overcome these defects. I feel sure that we are working along right lines and that we shall see satisfactory results as the work is continued. A very careful graded course of study is being followed in which emphasis is placed upon a thorough under- standing of each step taken, and in which accuracy is made very prominent. Nearly all of the unimportant topics have been eliminated or greatly abridged and the whole time given (as we hope) to a thorough mastery of the essential facts.
GEOGRAPHY. This subject receives more or less attention for eight years, but is not taken in the ninth grade. In the first three grades, the children are given oral instruction, by which they acquire many geographical facts and become familiar with their immediate surroundings. These facts become types by means of which more remote facts and phenomena are interpreted. From the middle of the fourth to the end of the eighth grades a text book is in the hands of the pupils. Many supplementary books, descriptive of the different countries and their inhabitants, aré used. A topical course of study, arranged in harmony with the book in use, has been issued to suggest the order of taking up the work, and to indicate approximately the amount of ground to be taken each year. It is doubtful if the teaching of any other subject has undergone a greater change than that of geography. Any text book in geography of very recent issue differs widely and materially from the books in use years ago. The changes, no doubt, mark a definite advance. A pupil today has vastly more general knowledge of the different countries, of the habits and peculiarities of the people and of their commerce and indus- tries, than was formerly acquired by school children. What the present school children do not possess as fully as did their fathers and mothers is the ability to bound every state in the United States, every country in the world, to name and locate every capi- tal and all the chief cities, and to trace the course of all the un- important rivers. I believe, however, that it would be wise to
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put a little more emphasis upon place geography. Pupils cannot do satisfactory work in history or even intelligently read the daily paper without a fair knowledge of locations and distances. We hope to strengthen this part of our work in geography .
LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR. "The most important of all studies, up to and through the highest classes, is the study of language; for language is not only the medium of thought, but the chief agent in cultivating the memory and the taste. Just in proportion to the extent of a person's knowledge of language is, in general terms, the range of his mind; since, practically, we cannot think without words. Therefore, the exercises on which the study of language depends, such as reading, composition, abstracts, definitions, etc., should receive most careful attention throughout the entire course."
A pupil may pass through all our schools and become the pos- sessor of considerable knowledge of the various subjects studied, but unless he can express himself, either orally or in writing, easily and correctly, he appears at a great disadvantage and is seriously handicapped in his efforts to secure a higher education or to make his way in the higher walks of life. Lack of ability in this direction is painfully apparent in all grades, but the remedy is not so evident. Notwithstanding the constant drill and daily practice given to written work, few pupils acquire the habit of writing good English. When a large per cent. of grammar school graduates fail to end a sentence with a proper punctuation mark or to begin it with a capital letter, the results are surely unsatis- factory. College entrance examination papers show that even high school graduates are deplorably weak in this direction. In college many students find it more difficult to maintain a credit- able standing in English than in most any other subject. This is a very difficult subject to teach, requiring, on the part of the teacher, accurate scholarship and unusual skill. Failure is cer- tainly not due to lack of attention to this work, but it may be true that, while we require a large amount of written work, more em- phaais is placed upon the facts stated than upon the best way of stating them. Not until the importance of this subject is recog- nized by all teachers and until language is made the first consid- eration of every recitation can we hope for the best results.
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Greater emphasis must also be placed upon oral language lessons to increase the pupils vocabulary and to give him facility in the selection and use of words to convey his thought.
Our course calls for the study of language, as distinguished from technical grammar, up to the end of the sixth grade. Dur- ing this time special attention is given to technical forms of ex- pression, to punctuation, capitalization, letter writing, etc. In the seventh grade formal technical grammar is taken up, but in the eighth grade this has to give way to Latin for those who elect it. In my judgment, pupils at this stage should not drop the study of English grammar, although it is true that English gram- mar may be taught in connection with the study of Latin.
HISTORY. The study of history below the high school is largely devoted to the recorded history of our own country with so much of the history of other countries as has directly affected or deter- mined the settlement and development of this country. Time is altogether too limited to do full justice to any particular period of our own history, and when we consider the rapid rate at which history has been made in the past few years and is now being made, we can but wonder how the children of future generations will be able to master even the leading events of the world's history. Minute details must inevitably give way to a considera- tion of the general trend of successive events and their interpre- tation in the light of national development and industrial prog- ress. Our course at present begins in the lower grades with sim- ple stories of historical events and biographical sketches of men prominent in the discovery, settlement and development of our country. In the fifth and sixth grades brief elementary text books are used as readers, and important facts made the basis of written lessons. In the three upper grades, a systematic study of our country's history is made, covering the time from the discov- ery and settlement to the present. The results are as definite and satisfactory as could be expected with the time given. The observance of historical holidays is an interesting and valuable part of the work, and helps greatly to develop and foster a spirit of reverence and loyalty for the vital principals of our govern- ment. Memorial Day is made particularly interesting and im- · pressive by the presence of G. A. R. members specially detailed
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to visit the schools and to address the children. The history classes have this year enjoyed a course of lectures given under the auspices of the Woman's Relief Corps of the H. M. Warren Post. These have been stimulating and helpful, their chief aim being to develop a spirit of patriotism and love for the flag of this great republic.
PHYSIOLOGY. Concerning most subjects required by law to be taught the statutes are silent as regards what and how much of each subject shall be taught. In regard to physiology the statutes are more explicit, specifying that it must be taught in every public school in the state and demanding special emphasis on the effects of stimulants and narcotics. We try to carry on the work in accordance with the spirit of the law, but in so doing it must be confessed that we are getting but a superficial know- ledge of anatomy and physiology as a science. Perhaps it is best so and a more scientific study of the subject be postponed to a later period. Text books are used from the fourth grade to the ninth, and considerable written work is required in the upper grades. The results are as satisfactory as could be expected under the circumstance. We expect to prepare a more detailed course of study in physiology for use next year, so that the work of one grade will prepare the way for the next grade.
MUSIC. This department has been so long under the super- vision of Mr. Wilson that comment or criticism as to method is unnecessary. Mr. Wilson's long experience and recognized ability are a guarantee that the work will continue to be success- ful. The teachers are in full sympathy with the work and in nearly every instance capable of carrying out the exercises pre- scribed. Mr. Wilson reports progress all along the line, but par- ticularly commends the work in the primary grades. "Here, pure tone, the foundation of all good singing, is emphasized ; the ear, voice and musical taste of the little ones are cultivated and a love for singing developed."
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