USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Oakham > Town annual reports of the officials of the town of Oakham, Massachusetts 1908 > Part 2
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86.7
Chaffin Primary.
Annie C. Buck
Fall
12
23.5
21.5
91.4
3
Annie C. Buck
Winter
11
23.0
20.4
88.8
89.0
4
L. Ula Skelton
Spring
12
23.7
21.2
90.0
0
Chaffin Grammar_
Dagny Lindgren
Fall
12
26.9
25.5
93.4
2
Dagny Lindgren
Winter
11
26.9
25.5
94.6
92.3
0
Quinapoxet Primary.
Martha E. Clark
Fall
12
17.5
16.8.
83.1
7
Martha E. Clark
Winter
12
16.0
16.5
87.2
87.5
31
Quinapoxet Grammar
Winnifred P. Gregg
Fall
12
16.6
16.4
93.3
1
Winnifred P. Gregg
Winter
12
13.7
13.2
90.7
91.1
3
Margaret Tracy.
Spring
12
13.6
10.6
77.0
24
North Woods.
Margaret Tracy
Fall
12
15.2
14.3
94.0
19
Laura B. Desmarais
Winter
12
14.3
13.2
91.7
87.6
17
M. Alice Morong
Spring.
12
10.2
9.2
91.9
10
Springdale
M. Alice Morong.
Fall
12
14.1
14.0
99.2
2
M. Alice Morong.
Winter
12
14.0
13.7
98.0
96.4
14
Dawson
Mary Early Mary Early
Fall
12
26.2
23.4
89.3
4
Ethel G. Ward
Winter
12
19.9
17.8
89.4
91.2
5
Sadie I. Packard
Spring
12
19.7
18.9
95.0
46
South
Sadie I. Packard
Fall
12
22.0
20.9
95.0
42
Sadie I. Packard
Winter
11
19.0
16.7
88.1
92.7
9
Unionville
Agnes L. Kirby Margaret Balcom
Spring.
12
24.3
21.2
86.7
38
Fall
12
26.6
22.7
85.7
48
Mary F. Donovan
Winter
12
26.3
21.0
79.8
84.1
40
12
29.7
27.0
90.7
17
Ella O. Petersen
Spring
12
31.8
29.0
92.0
10
Second Primary
Esther C. Hendricks.
Spring_
12
32.9
30.3
92.8
13
Intermediate
Clara K. Bascom.
Spring
12
25.5
23.3
91.3
20
A. Florence Kirby
Spring.
12
20.0
18.4
92.1
0
Ethel H. Crowe.
Spring
12
18.5
16.5
89.4
7
Spring_
12
21.0
19.9
94.9
10
21
42
Winter
15
51.5
Margery A. Rice.
Laura L. Chenery.
Spring
5
PAXTON.
SCHOOLS.
TEACHERS.
TERMS, 1907-08
No. Weeks
in Term.
Average
Membership.
Average
Attendance.
Per Cent. of
Attendance.
Per Cent.
for Year.
No. Cases of
Tardiness.
Primary
Ethel G. Tolman
Spring _. Fall
19 12
33.9 40.9 33.2
28.5 33.9
83.7 82.9 67.0
77.9
0
M. Alice Converse.
Spring_
19
25.7
21.9
85.4
102
Intermediate
M. Alice Converse.
Fall
13
30.0
26.2
87.3
41
M. Alice Converse
Winter
6
28.0
23.5
83.5
85.4
20
Jennie R. Burnham
Spring
19
15.0
13.8
91.8
53
Grammar
Jennie R. Burnham Agnes W. Welche
Fall
13
15.8
13.9
87.8
38
Winter
6
16.4
14.9
90.9
90.2
26
RUTLAND.
William S. Dunn,
Spring.
13
28.6
27.0
94.4
22
Principal
George H. Boyden,
Principal Fall
12
28.4
27.2
95.9
39
High School
John V. Jewett,
Principal
Winter
15
28.9
27.0
9.35
94.6
56
Assistant
Beulah Higgins
Spring
12
45.3
41.6 31.0
91.8 87.2
41
Marion Kelleher.
Winter
10
30.8
25.2
81.4
86.8
61
Martha E. Bemis.
Spring.
12
40.3
38.1 40.1
92.2
38
Martha E. Bemis
Winter
10
39.9
33.5
84.0
90.2
25
Alice F. Dodge
Spring.
12
38.3
35.5 40.8 37.1
92.4 91.9
159
Beulah Higgins
Winter
10
41.9
88.5
90.9
163
Georgiana K. Fiske.
Spring.
12
28.8
25.1
87.1 91.8
32
Nellie K. Bishop.
Winter
10
34.0
25.2
73.9
84.3
22
West Rutland.
Joanna M. Kilmain Alice E. Buck
Fall
12
32.9
29.6 29.7
90.0
30
Winter
10
25.8
21.5
83.6
88.6
38
OAKHAM.
Center Primary
Ethel Braman
Fall
11
21.0 23.0 19.0
20.0 22.0 16.0
94.0 92.0 82.0
89.3
3
Florence E. Bothwell.
Spring _.
10
21.5
20.8
96.0
3
Center Grammar_
Florence E. Bothwell
Fall
11
22.0
20.8
95.0
3
Florence E. Bothwell __
Winter
11
22.8
21.9
96.0
95.7
6
Ruth E. Butterfield
Spring.
10
13.3
13.0
97.7
0
Coldbrook
Ruth E. Butterfield.
Fall
11
13.5
13.4
99.2
2
Ruth E. Butterfield
Winter
11
16.4
15.8
96.1
97.7
2
Mrs. Effie T. Swindell.
Spring
10
13.8
13.6
98.6
0
South
Mrs. Effie T. Swindell_
Fall
11
18.7
17.5
93.9
5
Mrs. Effie T. Swindell_
Winter
11
18.0
16.2
90.3
91.3
15
Julia M. Connelly
Spring_
11
14.0
13.3
95.0
0
West
Julia M. Connelly.
Fall
12
17.0
15.9
93.0
0
Julia M. Connelly
Winter
10
12.6
11.2
SS.0
92.0
5
Center Primary
Marion Kelleher.
Fall
12
35.3
Intermediate
Martha E. Bemis.
Fall
12
43.4
Grammar.
Beulah Higgins
Fall
12
44.4
North Rutland
Nellie K. Bishop.
Fall
12
36.0
33.0
Marion Kelleher.
Spring.
12
32.1
92.2
52
Ethel Braman
Spring.
10
4
1
Ethel Braman.
Winter
11
37
Anna F. Finnerty
Winter
5
22.4
Louise Marcley,
53
94.5
26
63
9
Sarah T. Britton
47
6
in the various schools, together with the names of the teachers employed during the year.
Columns of figures are not particularly attractive, but let me ask some attention to these. The next to the last column shows the ratio of the actual attendance at the schools of those who belong to them. Probably five per cent. is sufficient allowance on the average, in usual conditions, for absence on account of sickness or other strictly unavoidable causes. Where the per cent. of attendance falls below ninety-five, there is likely to be a good deal of absence which has not been neces- sary, but only convenient.
The figures in the last column show the number of cases of tardiness occurring in the various schools in the several terms. If a pupil can get to the school at all, he can usually get there on time, if his parents care sufficiently about his doing so. Where the cases of tardiness are more than a half dozen or so each term, it probably indicates that many parents are too in- different about forming habits of punctuality in their children.
In order that full value may be received for the expenditure of the town on its schools, there must be regular and prompt attendance of the pupils. All parents are asked to co-operate with the school authorities in their efforts to make our losses less.
"MEDICAL INSPECTION."
Under the law of 1906, the second annual tests of sight and hearing have just been completed by the teachers, and the required reports made.
In June last, the teachers were asked for a special report regarding the results of the first tests made earlier in the year. A few quotations from these reports will indicate some of the beneficial effects secured :
"A. C. was found defective in eyesight, and was suffering from a severe throat trouble. After the report was sent home, she was taken to the Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston and treated." "E. and A. have glasses now. They are not so slow about their work and show a stronger interest in it." "R. C.'s parents have had his eyes treated by a physician." "Five pupils in my school have been provided with glasses."
7
Other quotations illustrate a serious difficulty in securing the full benefit of the tests:
"D. H. was found defective in eyesight, but his parents re- fused to do anything." "The parents were notified of the defects, and requested to consult a physician. So far as I know, nothing has been done." "The boys' parents were form- ally notified, and spoken to several times, with no result. The excuse was 'So many ways for the money to go.'" "One ear was found very poor, and the parents were notified, with no result. When I found the trouble was growing worse, I sent word to the parents, and obtained the promise that something should be done this summer."
The law requires that children suspected of contagious or infectious disease shall be referred to the school physician "for examination and diagnosis," and also provides that the school physician shall make "such further examination of teachers, janitors and school buildings as in his opinion the protection of the health of the pupils may require." For the actual work done by the school physicians, the reader is referred to the "Town Notes."
"The protection of the health of the pupils" is a matter of supreme interest. 'A thorough and complete inspection of the entire physical condition of every pupil at least once each year would be worth many times its cost, as has proved to be the case elsewhere. One of the most noted students of the subject, Dr. Frank Allport, writes as follows:
The public schools are a public trust, through whose portals all parents should confidently lead their offspring, feeling that when the care of these young lives is transferred to the supervision of the school authorities they are safe from harm, and will at least be handed back to them in as good condition as they were at first. Until the annual and proper physical exam- ination of all school children shall have been accomplished, those having the interest of the coming generation at heart should press on.
HOME AND SCHOOL.
A multitude of forces determine the development of the growing human being. Of these forces, the earliest and most powerful are those connected with parentage and home environ- ment. The process of consciously applying and directing the
8
forces which form character is education. A parent is the first and may be the strongest of educators. The school is a device which applies the principle of the division of labor for the sake of higher efficiency, in a portion of the work of education. But in the very nature of the educative process, there can be no lack of unity of aim and harmony of effort between home and school without disaster both to the efficiency of the process and to the value of the product.
These statements are trite and commonplace, but are all too little understood and acted upon. The teacher is called to be the helper of the parent in the noblest and most difficult task in the world, the education of the children. Yet many cases have come to my notice in which the parent seemed to regard the teacher not as a friend and helper, but as an enemy to be resisted and thwarted. I could relate instances of positively cruel treatment of teachers by apparently intelligent parents. On the other hand, many teachers very unwisely fail to use adequately their opportunities to establish and maintain right relations with parents.
The editor of a current popular magazine has this to say on the subject :
To the mother, Johnny is an individual, and sometimes the only indi- vidual in the world. To the teacher, he is Johnny Smith, set in the circle of the class, and to be considered no more than the other boys. Each really needs the point of view of the other to correct her own. The teacher needs to talk over Johnny occasionally with his mother, to know what ways and developments his single little personality has. The mother needs the larger view of Johnny as a unit in a group. Meanwhile, Johnny, from his own point of view, is quick to perceive any disunion between the powers that be, and to take advantage of it. Half the troubles that arise between mother and teacher might be replacd by peaceful understand- ing, if Johnny were only talked over by both of them amicably before he did anything, instead of afterward. It is the unusual parent who goes to see the new teacher as soon as Johnny enters the class. The ordinary mother, alas! waits till Johnny is punished or sent home, and the possible cordial understanding is shattered forever. Probably it will always be thus. But it is very unnecessary and very stupid.
We have a standing invitation to parents to visit the school at any time to observe its work; we have our special "patrons' days" and "visiting weeks"; twice a term we send the "School
9
Record" to parents; we have our school exhibits and holiday exercises. All these are useful. But what we need is per- sonal and intimate acquaintance of parent and teacher, as partners and co-workers in training the children for efficient living and good citizenship. This relation may be established most quickly and fully through the parent's initiative.
I am glad to know several schools which illustrate very fully the desired state of things. In these schools parents and the teacher are friends. The children find at school a second mother, and respond to her strong and loving guidance with earnest effort. Friction being eliminated, the school work moves on with ease, and superior progress is made.
I appeal to all parents who may read these pages to become acquainted with your children's teacher; to commend what you may find good in her work; to make her feel that you are her friend and supporter in her difficult labors. This will make her a better teacher, and you will be rewarded by her increased value to yourself and your neighbors.
A STANDARD TEACHER.
We have standard milk, in which certain constituents must be present in a specified ratio. In many manufactures there are standard products, and "seconds," or defective goods. In general, a standard article is one which is fitted to its purpose and capable of performing its function satisfactorily.
The work of training and teaching the public's children in the public schools requires certain qualities in the teacher. One who possesses these qualifications is a "standard teacher." A complete description of such a teacher is a difficult under- taking, but we think that the following will meet with general approval among thoughtful citizens :
1. The standard teacher has a high degree of physical health and nervous vigor. Health is contagious as well as disease, and we wish to expose our children only to the former. An invalid or a semi-invalid, or a person with exhausted nerves, is unequal to school-room tasks.
2. High moral ideals and irreproachable moral conduct are indispensable in the teacher. The development of conscience
10
into a controlling force is the highest aim of education, and only one in whom conscience is both intelligent and regnant can fitly contribute to such development.
Refinement of manner and speech will naturally accompany proper moral ideals.
3. Capacity for mental work of a high order is requisite in the teacher. She must be able to study, and to inspire others to study. The subjects of instruction must be mastered as instru- ments of education. The teacher's scholarship must be con- stantly enlarged. Professional study must be continuous. In- disposition to do difficult mental work, or incapacity for such work, marks the teacher as sub-standard.
4. Preliminary training is demanded in the teacher of to-day. Sensible men require a trained smith to shoe their horses, and trained carpenters to build their houses. Blunders in these comparatively simple operations are too costly to be risked. Teaching and managing a school is a complex and difficult art, and its practice requires study and apprenticeship under careful guidance. A good normal school course, or its equivalent, is the minimum of preparation for the standard teacher.
5. A genuine interest in the work of teaching is felt by the standard teacher. This interest will extend to the subjects she teaches, leading to persistent study of them; to methods of teaching, leading to study of the work of others and to personal experiment; to school management, leading to effort to secure from it the highest results in training; and, more important than all, to the pupils as individuals, leading to personal sym- pathy and knowledge of individual needs.
After a normal school course and a short school room experi- ence, if a teacher develops no such interest, it would seem that a mistake was made in the choice of a calling. If a teacher of long experience loses enthusiasm and sinks into lifeless routine, she has become sub-standard. Recovery of interest or retirement should follow.
6. The power and disposition to grow characterizes the stand- ard teacher. Her work is ministering to growth, and the experi- ence of growth is necessary for such ministry. In some occu- pations the limit of possible progress may be reached, but the teacher "moves along an infinite line of unrealized possibilities."
11
The means of professional growth are well known, and the standard teacher will never cease using them.
If this standard teacher is installed in a school-room with standard equipment, and standard children are sent to her from standard homes, we shall have a standard school.
THE SUPPLY OF TEACHERS.
Since my last report it has been necessary to engage twenty new teachers, half of them in Holden and half in the other towns. It becomes more difficult each year to secure teachers who approximate the requirements of the work. There are now so many attractive openings in other careers for capable young women, that teaching gets a smaller share of these than formerly. The normal schools cannot secure enough students of the requi- site quality to supply the demand for their graduates. This shortage of competent teachers and of material that may be developed into competency exists alike in city and country, and in other states as well as in Massachusetts. As enough teachers entirely "up to standard" do not seem to exist, school author- ities engage the best they can find. As the salaries paid in our field are near the minimum paid anywhere, it is not surprising that some of the teachers engaged are "sub-standard." In several cases new teachers have proved more efficient than we had reason to expect, and there have been few glaring failures.
We have fortunately been able to engage or retain a number of good teachers who, but for the fact that they live at their own homes, would accept better salaries elsewhere.
THE COURSE OF STUDY.
Our elementary course was put in print in 1905, after having been worked out during several previous years, and being in the hands of teachers in mimeographed sheets or other form. The course includes only the subjects prescribed by law, with an attempt to provide for singing and simple hand training. We have no "fads," unless it be arithmetic, which receives a large part of the best time, the morning hours, of every day. A "fad," by the way, is "a good thing over-emphasized."
12
The subjects of the course are treated in five groups, in accordance with a plan published by the Board of Education. A copy of the pamphlet may be obtained on request.
The following quotation from Prof. John Dewey expresses a truth which is kept constantly before the teachers:
The real course of study must come to the child from the teacher. What gets to the child is dependent upon what is in the mind and conscious- ness of the teacher, and upon the way it is in his mind. It is through the teacher that the value even of what is contained in the text-book is brought home to the child; just in the degree in which the teacher's under- standing of the material of the lessons is vital, adequate, and compre- hensive, will that material come to the child in the same form; in the degree in which the teacher's understanding is mechanical, superficial and restricted, the child's appreciation will be correspondingly limited and perverted.
And the following, which I wrote in 1904, will remain true while schools exist :
The course of study, while highly important, is not the vital matter. The quality of the teaching as it goes on day by day is the chief con- cern. How to get the teaching done in such a manner that well-organized knowledge shall become the permanent possession of the pupil; that in the process of acquiring knowledge the pupil shall be developing the love and power of acquirement; that by repeated applications of his knowledge, he shall become skillful in these applications,-this is the complex and ever-present problem of school supervision.
HOME INDUSTRY AND THE SCHOOL.
From time immemorial, wise parents have taught their chil- dren the common arts of the farm and the household, and this teaching is a valuable part of the child's education. The old- fashioned country school, with its short terms and crude methods, is often credited with results in character-making which were rather the product of the training in practical industry af- forded by the old-fashioned country home. An attempt is now being made to correlate the activities of the home with those of the school, with a view to increasing the value of both.
An effort was made in our schools last year to encourage home gardening by children. The Farmers' Club and several generous individuals of Holden provided a moderate sum to be
13
given in prizes for creditable products in that town. A garden exhibit was held in September, to which eighty children con- tributed. The long drought of the season had been unfavorable to success, but the young gardeners brought a large amount of produce, some of it fine, which was inspected by many inter- ested visitors. In Rutland, a smaller number of children exhib- ited the fruit of their labors on a special table in connection with a fair managed by their elders. In the other towns, no public exhibit was held, though considerable gardening was done by children.
An excellent beginning in this line of work was made. The co-operation of parents is gratefully acknowledged. It is pro- posed to continue the effort the coming season, and, with similar co-operation, larger results are expected.
In May or June of each year, it has been our custom in each ยท school to arrange for easy inspection samples of the written papers, drawings, and other handiwork, that patrons might see the quality of work produced. It is proposed the present year to combine these various exhibits into a general one for each town, and to hold it in a central location. To encourage home industry of kinds other than gardening, we have invited chil- dren to exhibit with their school work articles made at home, such as specimens of needle-work and cooking by the girls, and of woodwork or other articles by boys. Any object suitable for exhibit, if it is made entirely by the child, will be welcomed. The success of the plan is already assured by the interest taken in it by the children. Parental co-operation in this plan is assumed.
In connection with this matter, I call attention to the fact that the industrial phase of education is now the center of dis- cussion the country over. In Massachusetts the subject is being considered by a State commission. Any citizen inter- ested in the future development of the school system of the Commonwealth should read the reports of the Commission on Industrial Education, which may be obtained by addressing the secretary, 15 Ashburton Place, Boston.
14
HOW PROGRESS IS MADE.
On a certain electric railroad the cars were frequently late, and patrons were continually grumbling. The road was bought by a connecting company. Additional power was supplied to the wires of the new purchase, and the car crews were in- formed that they must make their trips on schedule time. There was an immediate change. A passenger not at the starting point at the appointed minute is now liable to be left.
If a similar method of reforming the faults of school sys- tems could be successfully applied, it would be a great blessing. But no close approximation to this effective plan is yet in operation. Human souls, not physical forces, are the elements of the school problem. Vitalizing a soul is a greater task than electrifying a wire. The personality of the man at the con- troller is a small factor in running a car. But in the school, qualities of mind and heart constitute the vital factors. The pupil must think and feel with the teacher, or her plans are of little effect. The teacher must think and feel with the super- intendent in his plans and purposes, not under orders, but from inner impulse. The response of the teacher to super- visory effort is the determining element in securing results from such effort.
I wish to illustrate the sort of response which makes for progress and which secures precious returns from the invest- ment in the school enterprise.
Economy in School Work .- The superintendent has tried to get teachers to apply the idea everywhere in practice in suc- cessful business and manufacture, namely, the idea of scrutiniz- ing processes and methods with a view to eliminating waste, increasing product, and decreasing cost. In reply to questions on the matter, teachers write as follows:
Miss A. I have tried to use every moment of school time to the very best advantage: (1) by carefully planning each day's work, and carrying out that plan fully; (2) by making the study hour a time for study, and study only; (3) by trying to develop alertness of mind; (4) by trying to have pupils understand that it is for their good, and thus to arouse their interest so that they do not wish to be lazy or inattentive. A gain has been made in the amount of neat and accurate work performed in a
15
given time, in habits of study, thought, and expression, and in the right use of materials.
Miss B. I have endeavored this year to have pupils realize the im- portance of doing their own work well. I have tried to make them enjoy the satisfaction always found in thorough work. I have led them to see, in part at least, that I expect their best, as I give them my best.
Miss C. More emphasis has been laid on the preparation of definitely assigned lessons by each member of the class, thus saving time. Time has been used more economically by having the pupils do more talking and the teacher less.
Miss D. In the preparation of the lessons, I have tried to get pupils to know before the recitation what they are going to say, and then to say it in a clear and decided way.
Individual Teaching .- Our aim is to teach every child, by causing him to do certain work. The class exercise alone will not reach every child. For some there will always be need of individual teaching, as "the supplement and corrective of class teaching." Regarding this, teachers write:
Miss E. The individual period is of great benefit both to myself and the children. It brings me much closer to them, and it teaches me the mental capacity of each one much better than class work could. One girl in my room is extremely bashful or self-conscious. I have been helping her at the individual period, and she is much improved and does not appear so ill at ease when reciting.
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