USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Oakham > Town annual report of the officials of Oakham, Massachusetts 1900 > Part 13
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Secretary Martin says: "Where the absences average ten per cent. year after year, there is indication of looseness of administration." For five years at least there has been this average absence in two of our towns. In that time Oakham has never gone below 92, and this year its per cent. is 94.4. With equal interest on the part of parents and children, other towns should approach that figure.
As usual, a large part of the absence is chargeable to a comparatively few families. I shall furnish the committees a list of those pupils who have been absent unexcused for more than ten half days in a period of six months. For the parents of such children the law provides a penalty. I pre- sume that Mr. Martin has in mind, in his remark quoted above about "looseness of administration," the failure to deal properly with such parents. Some special activity on the part of the truant officers is doubtless needed among us.
It is gratifying to note that the "summary" shows an in- crease in the per cent. of attendance over last year in every town. With the exception of one town, Holden, for one year, the per cent. is larger than in any previous year of my super- vision. The average for the union, 91, is the same as the State average last reported. With continuance of effort on the part of interested parents, and with proper attention given to the negligent ones, we hope another year may show a still greater gain. A large reduction of the number of cases lof tardiness, recorded in the last column of the tables, . is also very desirable, and united effort to that end will be songht during the coming year.
TOWN NOTES.
I here insert some notes regarding partienlar towns. Fol- lowing these will be found other matter which is of interest to the citizens of the entire superintendency union ..
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HOLDEN.
Attendance .- An increase of thirty-one in the average mem- bership of the schools, and of two per cent. in the per cent. of attendance, is pleasant to note. At North Woods the school was closed for two weeks on account of scarlet fever in one family. The teacher, Miss Gray, has generously made up the lost time at her own expense.
Failure to warm rooms often affects attendance. Aside from some complaint at the Centre, no trouble from that source has been experienced. Mr. Thaddeus Clark, janitor at Jefferson, deserves special mention for his care and faith- fulness for this and many winters.
Holden parents are requested to run their eyes down the last column in the table, and to resolve that there shall be less tardiness next year. I see no good reason for more anywhere than the Chaffin schools show.
Teachers .- At Jefferson, the suggestion mentioned in this report last year was carried out, and in September the five rooms were condensed to four, with two grades in each room. This makes one less teacher employed in the town, the num- ber now being seventeen. Of these, seven have been engaged during the year. Nearly all who have left us accepted more attractive positions elsewhere. The last to leave was Miss Mabel C. Reid, who had served in the primary room at Chaffin for seven years. On account of her long service and marked efficiency, her loss was particularly regretted. All the new teachers have proved successful.
The High School .- The following received the diploma of the school in June last: Annie C. Buck, Mary A. David, Ervin L. Maynard, Della S. Scott, Luella Morrow, Martha T. Lindgren, Jennie L. M. Hendricks, Daniel M. Shewbrooks, Sarah B. Marsh.
No class will be graduated next June, no class having en- tered in 1901. It is expected that about twenty pupils will enter the ninth grade next September, thus making five classes in the school, with about eighty pupils in all. It is evident that the employment of a third teacher will be im-
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perative, if the present efficiency of the school is to be main- tained. Of course all citizens of Holden will rejoice at the growth of the high school, and will cheerfully provide the funds for the needed increase of the teaching force.
All but ten of the pupils in the high school classes are taking the Latin course. With the present teaching force it is found impracticable to give those not taking Latin the full equivalent of that subject in other lines. The English course should be strengthened by the addition of more work in science and history than is now offered. When a third teacher is employed this improvement may be made.
RUTLAND.
Attendance .- The summary shows a decrease of ten in the average membership, but the same average attendance as last year. The regularity of attendance is therefore greater.
The difficulty experienced last winter in warming the rooms at the Centre has been entirely removed, and this has favor- ably affected attendance. A glance at the tables will show great need of further improvement. The town still loses more than ten per cent. of its school investment through non- attendance.
Teachers .- Of the eight teachers on the list a year ago, just one, the principal of the high school, remains in our service. All who left us, except one, were called to more lucrative posi- tions elsewhere. Our short school year, the moderate weekly salary we pay, and the high cost of living in Rutland con- spire to make it easy for other towns to win away our good teachers. Melrose, Attleboro, Natick, Millbury, and Gardner have each taken one or more teachers from Rutland within two years.
It is evident that our progress is seriously hampered by frequent changes of teachers. We ought to have for our own children the increased teaching power which lengthened ser- vice alone can give. I see no way to retain superior teachers except through an increase of salaries. For the present I strongly recommend that the increase take the form of a lengthened school year. With three or four weeks added to
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the present thirty-two weeks, our positions would gain some- what in attractiveness to the kind of teachers we want. The towns which give their children only the amount of schooling which the law compels, are diminishing in number, and are mostly in Berkshire County. I suggest that it is time for the progressive town of Rutland to move out of that class.
It should be added that our present teachers are proving efficient, and that the work is proceeding as satisfactorily as in any previous year of my superintendency.
The High School .- The committee's application for the special State grant to assist the town in maintaining a legal high school, was acted upon favorably by the State Board, and the sum of $300 was received. This is on last year's account. The school has not yet been inspected for the present year, but Mr. J. W. MacDonald, the agent in charge of the matter, writes me as follows:
If the school has two teachers, keeps forty weeks, and I find the pupils studious and the teaching efficient, as it ought to be, there need be no fear of its not being approved, but I can give no pledge to that effect till I make my final report.
I consider the condition of the high school as decidedly better than it was last year, and therefore expect the State grant to be continued. No better plan than the present one of properly providing for the schooling of the young people who reach the high school is yet available.
The length of the high school year is now by law forty weeks. The short year in the schools below renders it ex- ceedingly difficult to give the classes entering the high school adequate preparation for the advanced work. It is hoped that this difficulty will be at least partially remedied soon.
The school now has twenty-eight pupils. Sixteen are tak- ing the Latin course, and twelve the English. A class of five are candidates for graduation next June. In both the amount and the quality of the work they will have completed, they compare favorably with graduating classes of other high schools.
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OAKHAM.
Attendance .- Three schools in Oakham are above any other in the union in regularity of attendance. They are, in order, Coldbrook, at 95.8 per cent., Centre primary, at 95, and Centre grammar, at 94.7. South school, Holden, is now fourth, at 94.5.
The conditions in Oakham are not exceptionally favorable, and the result seems mainly due to the faithfulness of Oak- ham parents and the sturdiness of the children.
Teachers .- In September, Miss Ruth Butterfield was trans- ferred from the West school to Coldbrook to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Miss Blanche Packard; Miss Alma Russell was placed in charge of the West school. Mrs. Minnie G. Woodis was given a leave of absence for the winter term on account of illness. and Miss Nellie Gueley was em- ployed as a substitute.
The problem of securing teachers for the Oakham schools has been simplified by the employment wholly of residents of the town. This practice, when followed for a series of years, is often a hindrance to progress. Such a result should be guarded against by requiring in local candidates as high qualifications as to scholarship, training, and efficiency as would be required of other candidates. Fortunately the schools of Oakham are well cared for in this respect.
The School Ycar .- Oakham still belongs to the small class of towns which limit the length of the year's schooling to the number of weeks required by law. According to the last re- port at hand, Rutland, Charlton, and Westminster are the only other towns in Worcester County in that class. Most of the remainder are in Berkshire County. Of Oakham's near neighbors, Barre, Petersham, and New Braintree each have thirty-six weeks, Paxton thirty-seven weeks, Hubbardston thirty-five weeks, and Phillipston thirty-eight weeks. The average length of the year for the whole State is thirty-seven weeks, or five more than the law requires.
The large share of the State school fund now enjoyed by Oakham and other small towns, makes the lengthening of the
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year financially feasible. I trust that the town is now ready to take this advanced step. I suggest that one week be added to the coming spring term, and that the year beginning in September be at least thirty-five weeks long. -
PAXTON.
Attendance .- The figures in the summary show that the town is still losing the benefit of about eleven per cent. of its school expenditure on account of non-attendance. Loss on this ac- count has been reduced during the year, but it would seem that with satisfactory transportation of the children at a distance the loss might be reduced much more. The school registers show what families are delinqnent.
Teachers .- The intermediate and grammar rooms retain the same teachers, but the primary room has had six different teachers in two years. Miss Minnie Hodgkins took this room in September, but in December was obliged to take a leave of absence on account of illness. Miss Emma L. Brennan is act- ing as substitute till Miss Hodgkins' return.
Miscellaneous .- The recommendation of previous reports for new blackboards in all the rooms, is renewed. A cheaper ma- terial than natural slate might be used if desired.
The schools have been in session thirty-seven weeks since the last report. This lengthening of the school year is one of the ends in view in the generous aid now given by the State to the small towns.
It is hoped that several pupils from the present ninth grade may enter a Worcester high school in September next.
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT.
Every town and city in Massachusetts is required by law to employ a superintendent of schools. Towns having a val- uation of less than two and one-half million dollars are re- quired to form unions for such employment. The one detail of the duties of the superintendent prescribed by law is the approval of "age and schooling certificates," a duty which has to do with children who are leaving the schools, rather than with those who are in them. The superintendent's other
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functions are summed up by the law in the phrase, "the care and supervision of the public schools," and these functions are to be exercised "under the direction and control of the committee."
It is not strange that the three hundred fifty-three school committees of the Commonwealth should develop divergent views regarding the powers and duties of the superintendent. In some cases he is mainly the clerk and errand-boy of the committee; in others the committee practically delegate to him all their prerogatives. Most superintendents find them- selves, regarding their powers, somewhere between these two extremes.
In the absence of legal definition, a common conception of the superintendent's proper function is growing up among us. This common conception should be found, if anywhere, at the office of the Board of Education at the State House. The Secretary of the Board, Mr. George H. Martin, in the last report, thus writes regarding the superintendent:
The State (in making supervision compulsory) has simply recognized the fact that under the changed conditions of civil life, education has become a more complex process than it used to be, and that a system of public schools, to be effective, must have the same kind of expert service that has been found necessary in all other public and private affairs of any magni- tude. * *
* * A school superintendent is a person whose profession is to create school ideals, to set up school standards, and to hold teachers up to them. * * The fact remains that any substantial progress * * may be hoped for only by a general uplift of the teachers already in service.
For this the superintendents are primarily responsible. This is what they are for.
The superintendent must instruct in principles and train in practice. Ilis influence must be to enlighten, to stimulate, to encourage, and to re- strain. The means will be private advice and suggestions, public meetings, directions as to books to be read, and quiet insistence upon study.
Your superintendent recognizes his chief function as hav- ing to do with the educational side of school work, as pointed out by Mr. Martin. His committees have imposed upon him no duties which interfere with this function, and have given him all the powers which he has cared to use.
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SUPERVISORY METHODS.
In dealing with teachers, the superintendent must adapt his methods to, general conditions and to individual cases. Occasionally he finds fossilization so far advanced that at- tempts to produce marked change are practically useless. But most teachers realize the possibility and necessity of perpet- ual growth in teaching power, and welcome whatever may contribute to that end. Three means only of influencing the growth of a teacher are here mentioned.
School Visitation .- Nearly all the time of the superintendent when schools are in session is spent in the school rooms. Here the work is observed, classes are tested, illustrative les- sons given, and suggestions in teaching and management given the teacher. Criticism is intended to be constructive and includes praise for excellencies, as well as the pointing out of errors. Often suggestions are written in a book kept for the purpose in every teacher's desk. A few extracts from these books will give an idea of the spirit and possible matter of the superintendent's suggestions:
Did you know that you are in danger of falling into the common habit of "echoing" pupils' answers? A pupil says "five" and you say "five." Use every means of cutting down your speech. "Any device is good which shuts the mouth of the teacher and opens the mouth of the pupil." Save your words for the well-planned oral lesson. Then they will count.
The appearance of your school to-day and your own style and manner impress me again with the marked gain in efficiency you have made this year. Of course such a gain is the result of thoughtful, purposeful effort. You are making good progress "along the infinite line of unrealized possi- bilities. "'
The neatuess evident in your school is very pleasing to me. The well arranged pictures, the window decorations, the tidy desk, the nicely cov- ered writing books, all show that you appreciate the value of training chil- dren in neatness.
This matter of getting children to speak distinctly and with sufficient volume to be heard easily by anyone not accustomed to their voices, is a difficult problem, but you eau solve it. Drill on a short memorized selec- tion, with a view of building up au ideal of good speaking, will be useful Let me hear some such "memory gems" the next time I come. I think you are making progress in the matter. Stick to it.
Each paragraph above is taken from a different book.
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The Teacher's Reading .- Suppose you were to ask a young man who has just put out a sign reading, "John Smith, M.D.": "Sir, did you ever read a medical book?" You would excuse his anger at the absurd question. Yet I have repeatedly asked a young teacher, "Have you ever read a pedagogical book?" The answer would be "No," with no sense of ab- surdity in either question or answer. I have discovered teach- ers of many years' experience who could hardly distinguish a pedagogical book from any other. But the twentieth cen- tury teacher is a reader of the large and growing literature of lier business. Some of the superintendent's most fruitful work is in calling attention to some of this particularly ap- propriate literature. It is true that a few teachers do not read it unless they know that an examination on it is pending, but many cases have been met where the surer grasp of prin- ciples which such reading has given, has resulted in marked improvement in the daily school room work.
Teachers' Meetings .- Five general meetings a year are held in each town, with group meetings as occasion requires. To make the meetings more valuable, a previous study of topics is usually expected, with review and further study subse- quently. Teachers are expected to have ideas on such topics as the following, and to hold these ideas so clearly as to be able to state and apply them:
The Aims of the Language Course, Training the Power of Effective Speech, A Plan for Teaching Penmanship, The True Function of the Text- book, The Art of Book Study-How it is Learned, The Meaning of Apper- ception, Applied Apperception.
Though much remains to be desired, I may safely say that for "professional spirit" and consequent effort for improve- ment, the group of teachers in your service compares very favorably with any similar group elsewhere.
THE COURSE OF STUDY.
In last year's report a rather full outline of our general plan of study was printed. This plan includes all the sub- jects required by law and several others that are firmly es- tablished by intelligent public opinion. A few comments on some of these subjects are here inserted.
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Arithmetic .- During the year a complete course based upon the text-books in use has been prepared by the superintendent and placed in the hands of teachers. It is considered as good as we are at present prepared to put into practice.
Geography .- Special attention lias been given to the begin- nings of the course in this subject. These beginnings should consist largely in direct observation of the geographical fea- tures to be found in the pupil's immediate environment. Such observation is the best possible preparation for vital study of the material of the subject which is beyond direct observation.
Physiology and Hygiene .- This subject, required by law, is provided for by a series of at least thirty oral lessons during the winter. Outlines for the series are furnished by the su- perintendent. The oral lessons are supplemented by the use of such text-books as are now owned by the towns. These books are very old and deficient in number. Fresh, up-to-date books in the subject should be provided for the upper grades, at least, next year.
Nature-Study .- The growing prominence of this subject is indicated by the recent establishment of "The Nature-Study Review," a periodical conducted by some prominent school men and specialists, the latter including our own Dr. C. F. Hodge of Clark University.
One of the phases of nature-study which we have found most productive of interest and profit, is the study of living plants in the school room, and in the school and home garden. Garden work has been somewhat extended during the year, and it is hoped that it may become more general during the coming year. One teacher, in her "Report of Work" book, thus writes:
Our special interest and pride has been our garden. Each child was given a plot three feet square. This year we tried to have some system in planting the seeds. The extra time and pains taken were quite noticeable in the appearance of the garden.
Out of thirty-eight children in my room, I find thirty have either flower or vegetable gardens at home. All the children have thoroughly enjoyed the work, and it certainly has been a real pleasure to me.
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Another teacher writes:
For the extra thought and care involved in having a school garden, one is more than repaid when she sees the real delight expressed in many child- ish ways. * * * * Our garden was not only a never-failing source of pleasure, but a most excellent help from an ethical point of view. * Sixty-one per cent. of the pupils in the Jefferson school had home gardens on June 1st.
Other lines of nature-study have been carried on, the re- sults varying, as in all subjects, with the varying degree of in- telligence and enterprise in the several teachers.
Tocal Music .- I was able to record last year a definite advance in the systematic teaching of this subject. This year the work has been extended till about seven-eighths of the children of the union are enjoying the benefit of lessons in singing. We have no special supervisor of the subject, as is common even in rural towns, but at present most teachers are competent without one to do work decidedly worth while. A supervisor for a combination of towns should be a development of the future.
One definite aim in supervision of instruction is to keep the course well balanced, by strengthening the weaker spots and restraining tendency to excess in any line. One of the chief difficulties in administering a course of study is the need of a fuller mastery of subjects on the part of teachers. The problem of "enriching the course" still has underlying it the problem of enriching the teacher.
THE COMPENSATION OF TEACHERS.
Deplore it as we may, the "feminization" of the schools is practically complete. In seeking a teacher, we may assume that she must be a woman. One familiar with school room needs seeks a woman of robust physical health, of good per- sonal appearance, of refined manners, of good taste in dress, and with a general air of culture. She must have a vigorous intel- lect, trained to service. Her business is to train other minds. Broad scholarship is needed, for her business is to lead others in many fields of knowledge. But teaching and managing a school is a difficult and complex art, demanding severe pre-
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liminary training, and a graduate of a normal school is de- sired. . Perhaps the confidence acquired through successful ex- perience elsewhere is also demanded.
What can you pay for the services of this paragon, if you find her? Can you assure her a yearly income sufficient to enable her to live as her work and station in society requires, and to save something for old age and disability, like other skilled workers? Hardly. In the Central Worcester Union to-day she may receive from $288 to $432 per year. Few teachers receive more than $360.
This matter of teachers' salaries is too large for more than mere mention here. Again let us hear from the State House. Secretary Martin writes on this subject:
Higher wages would tend to secure all the elements of efficiency. Abler persons might be drawn from other employments; teachers could afford to spend longer time in preparation and so gain in scholarship and training; they could be held longer in service and so gain experience; and they could afford to avail themselves of forms of self-culture now beyond their means, and thus grow in efficiency. Fortunately the country at large is awakening, though slowly, to the fact that the teachers make the schools, and that in the last analysis the success of the public school system is a matter of wages.
In the prevalent discussion of the salary question, appeals to justice and philanthropy very properly appear. But to rural school authorities a plain business proposition ob- trudes itself. Certain very important work must be done, and a certain order of ability is required. Persons with the requisite ability are limited in number. The price of such ability is rising. We must pay the price, or be content with less valuable service than we desire.
All citizens wlio see further than the surface of things, agree with President Eliot when he says: "The function of the public schools remains by far the most important muni- cipal function in our country." Suchi citizens are therefore interested in matters affecting the schools, and I trust may
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read this report. The closest inspection of the schools them- selves in actual session is earnestly invited.
The loyal co-operation of my associates and the continued support of the several committees, are again gratefully ac- knowledged.
Respectfully submitted,
HERBERT J. JONES.
Holden, Mass., March 11, 1905.
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HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
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