USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Fairhaven > Town annual report of the offices of Fairhaven, Massachusetts 1924 > Part 5
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Fairhaven High is approved by the New England College Entrance Board and in accordance with the rules of that Board certifies for admission pupils who maintain an average of 80 per cent in the subjects required.
Commercial Department
To be a recommended graduate from the Commercial De- partment of the Fairhaven High School a pupil must be able to transcribe accurately on the typewriter dictation taken at the rate of at least one hundred words a minute, at a speed of forty to fifty words a minute. He must be able to copy directly at the rate of at least sixty words a minute. He must be able to open, carry on, balance and close a set of double- entry books, and have a knowledge of special-column cost- .
keeping.
The results of a questionnaire sent business men employing Fairhaven Commercial Graduates are as follows :
98 per cent were satisfied 2 per cent were not
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The 2 per cent represents pupils who secured positions without the recommendation of the Commercial Department.
It is the aim of the Department to place every worthy grad- uate. All those worthy of the above recommendation have secured positions.
Physical Training Department
An outline of the program in this department was given in the 1923 report. The current year has been a most success- ful one. At the third annual "All Student Track Meet of Massachusetts High Schools," completed in May, the girls of the two upper classes in Fairhaven High won second place. This meeting was conducted under the direction of Carl L. Schrader, State Director of Physical Education. Eighteen schools entered and 1420 girls participated. Among the larger high schools represented, were Brockton, Holyoke, Watertown, North Adams, and Waltham. The work of each school was done on its own ground in accordance with regula- tions and standards made by the State Department. Each girl was given a chance to make the best record of which she was capable under conditions that eliminated strain and injury to health. Such a contest in which every girl of a given group takes part and contributes to the record, and in which the individual is not under strain or excitement, may not be spec- tacular to watch, but is, nevertheless, ideal in its capacity for permanent benefit to the pupils.
Athletics
In baseball, track. and basketball, the High School boys have won their share of victories; in football they have passed through another season without a defeat. In common with every pupil and teacher in the High School, and a large number of citizens, I have enjoyed the thrill of the games, shared the elation of victory, and joined in honoring the victors. There is something about the game of football that interests
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and thrills everyone. There is, however, another phase of the matter that deserves some consideration and which I con- sider it my duty to place in this annual report.
Athletics are a legitimate part of the educational program. Community interest and co-operation are as necessary for success in this as in every other phase of educational work. Athletic enthusiasts need to understand better, however, the relation of athletics to the school and to the whole program of physical education. This subject has too many angles to permit full discussion in this report, but the following deserve attention :
The chief objective of the football season should not be the winning of any particular game, but development in the players of the physical, mental, and moral qualities that accrue from the game itself. A too high appraisal of victory by the community makes it difficult to conduct the game so as to meet this objective.
Excessive valuation of victory makes it almost impossible to relate football properly to the rest of the physical training program. In connection with this, Mr. Schrader, the State Supervisor of Physical Education says, "I believe that if an annual gathering in the form of a banquet is held it should bring together all the boys, and I should even say all the girls, that were represented on any team in the program of physical education, and that all awards be made officially on this occa- sion, and that these awards consist only of various types of insignia granted by the athletic association. The presentation of all other awards should be strictly avoided in order to give the insignia its full value. The very fact that only football players are feted makes it difficult for many physical directors to get boys to come out for other sports, which we already consider more or less inferior to football, whereas it is the general feeling of men and women professionally interested in physical education that all phases of sport have their distinct value and should be placed on an absolutely equal footing as far as rating is concerned."
"If I were asked to select activities according to their real
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value I would be inclined to select those activities which could be continued to almost any age of life."
Undue pressure for victory leads to deterioration in the scholastic work of the players. This is not particularly true in Fairhaven High, but is the fact in most schools. The State High School Athletic Association has an eligibility rule which requires a passing mark on a stated amount of work. but the grade required is low, and there are various ways, under the rules, of substituting unprepared work so as to make it easy to "get by." Outside pressure often renders it hard to live up fully even to a low standard. As Uncle Dudley said in an editorial: "When town spirit runs high, it requires considerable courage for a teacher to report a pupil as dis- qualified for his low work in algebra." Apart from this qualification of eligibility, every parent of a boy who plays football knows how difficult it is for him to go through the strenuous practice session every afternoon for three months and keep reasonably fit for home-study,-indispensable, if he is to do good work in school. Sanely conducted, football may be an incentive to scholarship; it is becoming detrimental. Community sentiment should support the school in demanding a high standard of eligibility.
Excessive pressure for victory against heavier opponents tends to the permanent physical injury of some players. When a boy is not perfectly fit he should not be allowed to play. If a boy is injured and there is not time during the game to have a physical examination to determine whether he is risk- ing permanent injury by staying in, he should be taken out promptly. It is the fashion to applaud and glorify the game- ness of the boy who stays in regardless of his injuries. Applause may be justified, but the boy may pay too heavy a price for it. Football is not war. The risk of injury should be com- mensurate with the object to be gained.
In closing this very inadequate discussion of athletics in the High School. I wish to quote from the "Letters of Theo- dore Roosevelt to his Children." Roosevelt was certainly a manly man, with no molly-coddle about him, hence the advice
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he gave to his boys when they were away at school should be approved by the average American parent and citizen. In a letter to Kermit he said: "I am delighted to have you play football. I believe in rough, manly sports. But I do not believe in them if they degenerate into the sole end of any one's existence. I don't want you to sacrifice standing well in your studies to any over-athleticism, and I need not tell you that character counts for a great deal more than either intellect or body in winning success in life. Athletic proficiency is a mighty good servant, and like so many good servants, a mighty bad master. . I am glad that you should play football; I am glad that you should box ; I am glad that you should ride and shoot and walk and row as well as you do. I should be very sorry if you did not do these things, but don't ever get into the frame of mind which regards these things as constituting the end to which all your energies must be de- voted, or even the major portion of your energies."
High School Lunch Room
· The lunch room is operated for the welfare of the pupils. No financial profit accrues from the business carried on. The material used is purchased at wholesale prices, insofar as possible, and is served at a price which does not cover entirely the cost of preparation. The rest of the cost, now amounting annually to about $250, is met from the general high school appropriation. The menus are prepared by the head of the Domestic Science Department who is a trained dietitian, a graduate of Columbia University, and who has had practical experience in the organizing of a lunch room for a large corporation. These menus meet approved dietetic standards as any survey by an expert would. prove.
The preparation of the daily lunches requires the full time service of two women and the more than half-time services of each of three others. Those who have noted in the Town Report payments from the lunch room under receipts used in maintaining the High School must not consider that these.
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payments are from the profits. The lunch room employees are paid regularly by the Town Treasurer from the school appro- priation, and at the end of the year the lunch room reimburses to the extent that its receipts will allow.
About 80 per cent of the pupils patronize the lunch room. A few bring lunches from home. others supplement the home- luncheon by purchasing something warm, while a large pro- portion purchase their entire luncheon.
The number of daily luncheons served averages about 250. It is impossible to ascertain exactly the average amount spent by pupils, but it is between fifteen and twenty cents. In planning the menus, the amount the average pupil can spend has to be taken into consideration. Dishes that are too expen- sive cannot be served, otherwise a goodly number of pupils would be deprived of the benefit of a warm luncheon. It is not the purpose of the Lunch Department to furnish a full meal. In the first place there are not the facilities for it, and again, if this could be done, it would require an entire re-adjustment of the school program. A luncheon period of mone than one-half hour would be necessary after a full meal, if pupils were to return to their school work in a condition to do it efficiently.
Near the close of the present football season, a friendly critic made the point that those pupils who remained in the afternoon for football practice or other athletic exercises, needed a heartier lunch than was able to be procured at the High School lunch room. This criticism was accepted as just, and since Monday, November 3, one hearty dish has been served daily and made available for all who wish it. This dish usually includes roast meat of some kind with vegetables. Its cost varies from twenty to twenty-five cents. On the first day that this dish was served, twenty-nine purchased it; on the second day thirty-three. After this the number fluctuated, of course, but grew less until at the present time it averages about fifteen.
Following are a few menus selected at random from those. that have been served :
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September 25, 1924. Milk .04, Vegetable Beef Soup .04. Plain Sandwich .03, Cream Cheese and Olive Sandwich .05. Fresh Beef Hash .08. Ice Cream .06, Cookies.
October 2, 1924. Milk .04, Tomato Soup ( home made ) .04, Plain Sandwich .03, Peanut Butter Sandwich .05. Cold Boiled Ham, Scalloped Potatoes .10, Spice Cake with Whipped Cream .06
November 5. 1924. Milk .04. Corn Soup (home made) .04. Plain Sandwich .03, Spiced Apple Jam Sandwich .05, Roast Pork with Potato and Squash .25, Lamb and Gravy on Toast .08, Diced Fruit .06, Cookies.
December 2, 1924. Milk .04, Cream Potato Soup .04, Plain Sandwich .03, Cheese and Pimento Sandwich .05, Roast Beef with Potato and Mashed Turnip .25, Minced Beef on Toast .08, Diced Fruit .06, Cookies. Left overs-Scalloped Corn .08, Buttered String Beans .08.
Elementary School Work
Most of the subjects taught in the elementary schools have been required for many years. In connection with some of these a brief statement in regard to the purpose or methods of teaching them may be of interest.
Reading: If oral reading includes all that is necessary as a preparation for later life, the schools are doing fairly satis- factory work. Silent reading, ability to get thought from the printed page, is, however, the basis of success in further study and the means of continuing one's education outside of school. It has been found that excessive practice in oral reading will even injure a pupil's ability in silent reading. In the inter- mediate and upper grades of our schools much attention is · now being given to silent reading and results are slowly im- proving. Standard tests given last year indicate our standing as slightly above the average.
Writing: Legibility and speed are essentials of good pen- manship. In an effort to secure speed the so-called muscular movement exercises came into use, It has been found that
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pupils may become expert in these exercises and yet not apply them at all in everyday penmanship. The tendency is to lessen them and to teach movement more through actual penmanship, viz., the making of the letters themselves. . To do this is a much greater problem than it appears to a person who has never faced it in the schoolroom. Some progress is being made.
Arithmetic: In educational theory, arithmetic is no longer classed as one of the most important subjects in the curriculum. Its recognized purpose is to give the ability to use it in the non-technical operations of daily life. Many topics found in the old texts are wholly omitted in the new ; others receive little more than passing notice. The present tendency would narrow the study of this subject to such processes as will enable meeting the requirements of daily life,-measuring, mak- ing change, simple problems in percentages, interest, etc. With the corner grocer using an adding machine, with bankers and business men using machines and charts for all sorts of calcu- lations, the amount of arithmetic necessary for business seems destined to grow less.
Theory and practice do not, however, go hand in hand. The problem of fitting for high school arises and requires a more thorough study of the principles of arithmetic than its utili- tarian value may seem to justify. The mathematics of the high school are necessary in order to fit for college. It is highly interesting to have educational authorities from various colleges expatiate on the desirability of lessening the amount of arithmetic in the elementary schools, while at the same time, the colleges in which they are acting as instructors remain rigid in their adherence to the old standard of admis- sion requirements as regards the high school mathematics. The same thing may be said in connection with their theories in other subjects. They advocate the teaching of less factual history, but the high school graduate who presents himself at college for an examination in history meets a test on facts. It would seem as if the departments of pedagogy in the colleges
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were some distance in advance of the educational practices of these colleges.
In Fairhaven, arithmetic is taught with some care. The Gray Development method is used. This separates the topics into elementary steps and gives the pupil a proper method of approach to each. The method is largely objective. In the lower grades the child gains his knowledge of number through personal experiences in number construction work at his own desk. Later he is exposed to old-fashioned drill on the number facts. In the upper grades, the topics are approached objectively, when possible, but always in a logically arranged development plan. Each topic is developed by a so-called long method, but the short method of solution is taken up later and drilled upon.
Spelling : In recent years very extensive investigations have been made to ascertain what words a pupil needs to learn to spell. For illustr: tion, Professor Jones tabulated fifteen mil- lion running words from seventy-five thousand themes written by ten hundred and fifty pupils in grades two to eight, and found forty-three hundred and fifty-two different words ; Dr. W. A. Cook tabulated two hundred thousand words from family correspondence and arranged twenty-five hundred dif- ferent words in the order of the frequency of their occurrence. Other tabulations have been made of words used in news- papers, in business correspondence, etc. All this effort has been put forth in order to place in the schools, as a course of study in spelling. the words that children and adults actually use. A speller based on such investigations was placed in our schools in September.
In the process of instruction a fundamental principal is emphasized : "Each child should give special attention to those words which are repeatedly missed by him." Provision has been made in our new course of study whereby each child receives careful drill on his peculiar difficulties.
Lack of space forbids even mention of the general aims and methods of all the subjects taught in the schools. There is constant effort on the part of superintendent, in co-operation
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with principals and teachers, to define more simply and clearly the purposes sought in the schools, and to make more practic- able the methods of reaching them. At the present time, the teachers of each building are working on some portion of the course of study in order to make it more valuable to the pupils.
Thrift
In the list of subjects required by law to be taught in the public schools, thrift is included. The introduction of this subject was the result of belief among the people that if thrift is to become general, a child must be trained in its exercise. It is obvious that thrift, taught merely as a theory, may meet the requirements of the law, but is practically worthless. To be valuable, thrift must be made a habit. It has been demon- strated that the school bank is the best method of developing the practice of thrift among children. Such a bank will soon have a place in the Fairhaven schools. The Fairhaven Insti- tution for Savings has purchased, and will install in each build- ing, a banking machine. By means of these an opportunity will be given to the children of the school to save regularly. Pupils will be able to deposit in this machine coins ranging from one to twenty-five cents and receive in return stamps of the same denominations. When stamps have accumulated to the amount of one dollar, a bank book will be issued to the child and this amount will be credited. On the regular bank day of each week, or at other times, a pupil can purchase stamps and increase his savings. It is hoped that parents will take an interest in this plan and encourage children to save some portion of the rather large allowances for spending money that many children seem to have.
Evening School
In accordance with law an evening school for illiterate minors has been opened. The present membership is 53. Work in
·
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the first six grades is being carried on. Four teachers are required in order to make this worth while. The classes are in session from 7:15 to 9:15 Monday and Wednesday evenings of each week. The school is held in the Job C. Tripp building.
HEALTH SUPERVISION
The report of the School Nurse follows :
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL NURSE
Hours on school duty 840
Number of school visits 322
Number of follow-up visits 410
Office calls 214
Number of cases referred to school physician
104
Number of cases referred to St. Luke's Hospital
31
Number of cases referred to S. P. C. C.
8
Number of cases referred to Family Welfare Society 3
Number of cases referred to Children's Aid Society
1
Children with Pediculosis 223
Children with Cuts and Abrasions 51
Children with Impetigo
47
Children with Boils
25
Children with Lice
2
Children with Ringworm
Children with Poison Ivy
30
Miscellaneous diseases
142
Number of pupils weighed 1630
Number of pupils 10% underweight
154
Dental Clinic
The Dental Clinic has been open during 1924 each Tuesday and Thursday morning. Every school child has had an oral examination.
The dental operations completed. at the clinic may be listed as follows :
Oral examinations 1630
Cases of treatment 20
Cases of filling 145
Teeth extracted 31
Number of pupils treated 142
Cases of cleaning 6-4
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From January to the 1st of June the Community Nurse Association furnished milk for all underweight children from the Seal Stamp money.
The increase in the follow-up visits this year was due par- tially to the Scarlet Fever epidemic. during which the Tripp School was closed for a week.
Personal data is being attained for retarded children. This clinic will be held some time in January.
LENA P. HOWLAND, R. N.
Payment of School Nurse by School Department
Up to the present time the budget of the School Department has made no provision for payment of a school nurse, not- withstanding the fact that the law requires it to employ one. The schools have had the service of a nurse whose salary is paid by the Community Nursing Association. The Town has contributed to her salary by its annual appropriation for the use of the Association. The work of the Association has developed to a point where the employment of two full time nurses is necessary. One of these gives about 80 per cent of her time to the schools ; the other does the community work. Inasmuch as the School Department is required by law to employ a nurse, and the number of children in our schools requires nearly full time service, there is no good reason why the School Department should not include in its budget the sum necessary to pay her. I recommend that this be done and that the amount for 1925 be made $1200. This sum can be paid directly to the nurse by the School Department, thus lessening the obligation of the Community Nursing Associa- tion and making unnecessary the usual appropriation by the town to aid the Association. I believe that both the schools and the community will be best served by continuing one of the community nurses as the school nurse. This co-operation
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enables the nurse to learn through her school work many things of value to her as a community nurse and through her community nursing much that helps in her school work.
Miscellaneous
Education Week was observed during the week of Novem- ber 16-22. Six hundred and thirty parents visited the schools to see the regular work. Under the auspices of the Union Teachers' Association, a well-attended mass meeting was held during the week and an address given by Dr. James Chalmers, Principal of Framingham Normal School.
There are nearly fifty children in the grades who are more than three years retarded in their work. According to law, an "adjustment class" should now be in operation. One has not been organized because there is at present no room in which to house it. When the East Fairhaven school is com- pleted it is hoped that a room in one of the Center schools may be made available.
It would be difficult to plan a better balanced schedule of gymnastics, supervised play and athletics than exists at present in the elementary schools. In the fall and spring the athletic badge tests of the Playground and Recreation Association were given to the upper grades. Some corrective work has been introduced into the physical training program of the grades.
Five general and ten group teachers' meetings have been held during the year. The Superintendent has made over three hundred classroom visits since September. A very co- operative spirit exists in the teaching corps and real progress is being made in the direction of increased efficiency.
Standard achievement tests in silent reading, arithmetic computation, arithmetic reasoning, history; geography, English ( including grammar ), punctuation, sentence structure and spell- ing, have been given in the schools during the year. These tests are practically automatic in their marking, and through them it is possible to compare achievements in different schools or cities, and to judge whether pupils are as well grounded
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as they should be in the subjects tested. They have proven valuable in diagnosing the work of our schools.
On December first, four students of Bridgewater Normal School were assigned to receive their outside training in Fair- haven schools. Since the fire at that institution another has been received. There is now one in each elementary building.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES F. PRIOR.
PRESENT CORPS OF TEACHERS
1924-1925
HIGH SCHOOL
George C. Dickey
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Harvard
Oreal Institute
Teachers' College, Columbia University
Smith College
New Bedford Normal
University of Grenoble
Boston Sloyd Normal Art School
James Parkinson
Wentworth Institute
Edwin F. Didgeon
Bates College
Plymouth Business School
Mildred E. Gurney
Chandler Normal
Sargent Normal School
Summer Session, Columbia University
Charles H. Johnson. Jr.
Summer Session, Hyannis Normal
Guy B. Staples
Tults College Harvard Summer School
Margaret Siebert
Jackson College Clark University
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