USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1856-1861 > Part 52
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If all the scholars that enter the schools should com- plete the course of study, each grade would have very nearly an equal number of scholars, since the course in each comprises two years, except in the high school, which, having a course of study twice as long as any of the others, should have, on this supposition, twice as many pupils as any of them. But the statistics show that the number of scholars in each grade, from the lowest to the highest, diminishes in very regular proportion:
From the sub-primaries to the primaries the number falls from 1,450 to 1,109, or 23 per cent.
From the primaries to the secondaries - from 1,109 to 917, or 17 per cent.
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From the secondaries to the grammar, lower grade - from 917 to 575, or 37 per cent.
From the grammar, lower grade, to the grammar, higher grade -from 575 to 338, or 41 per cent.
From the grammar, higher grade, to the high school, first and second year classes, which really constitute the next grade -from 338 to 139, or 59 per cent.
From the first and second year classes to the third and fourth year classes -from 139 to 65, or 53 per cent.
If we compare the statistics of 1861 with those of 1860, we find that the increase in the number registered is one hundred and sixty-five, and in the average daily attend- ance one hundred and seventy-three.
The relative standing of the several schools in regularity and punctuality of attendance will be seen in the tabu- lated statement which accompanies this report.
Seventy-two scholars have not been absent, tardy, or dismissed during the entire year. One hundred and eighty- five have a perfect record for the first six months, and two hundred and thirty-five for the second six months. We append their names, omitting in the record for the shorter periods the names of those who were perfect through the entire year, since the whole includes all the parts.
HIGH SCHOOL -H. R. GREENE, Teacher.
SCHOLARS' NAMES PERFECT IN ATTENDANCE.
During the entire year.
First two terms.
Second two terms.
Lois P. Grosvenor,
Maria Harrington, Emma Rice,
Eliza F. Forbes,
Julia Rockwood,
Mary King,
Mary G. B. Wheeler, Agnes E. Samson,
Mary Wilder, Ellen M. Boyden,
Frank Daniels,
Marthia H. Rice,
Ella W. Goodnow, Eldora M. Aldrich, Mary A. Harrington, Helen F. Clarke,
Dana Fitch, Eliza Farnum,
Hattie C. Hayes, Julia A. Rice,
Maria Clarke, Emily A. Wilson, Susie G. Gale,
Lottie Bates,
Martha Holt,
Malvina A. Foster, Sarah M. Brigham, Maria L. Stone,
Henry Wheeler, Helen Phelps, Lillie Goodspeed,
Agnes Carter,
Louise Wood,
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During the entire year.
First two terms. Mary A. Hakes.
Second two terms.
Jennie A. Green,
Freeman Brown,
Frederic O. Harrington,
Emma Barton,
Angie McFarland,
Sam. Lombard,
Charles Wells, E. D. Clarke,
George W. Fisher,
Charles N. Scott,
Dexter Tiffany,
Mary F. Wentworth,
Fred. S Pratt,
Emma Griggs,
William Clapp, Carrie Gilbert,
Annie L. Kendall.
THOMAS STREET -J. H. NEWTON, Teacher.
Lizzie N Eager,
Mary A. E. Adams, Emma F. Heath,
Fannie L. Gibbs, Mary E. Hacker,
Sarah G. Gould,
Abbie A. Samson,
Sarah E. Knapping,
Sarah E. Witherby, Ella M. Whittemore,
Lottie E. Manning,
Roger F. Upham.
Abbie T. Morse,
Freeman Brown, Charles E. Brown,
Clara F. Smith, Clara Walker, John C. Allen,
Willie T. Brown,
Willie D. Comins,
Edward M. Staples.
Daniel F. Cronin, Cornelius Cronin, Edward B. Drury, Eddie H. Greenleaf, George Snell.
SYCAMORE ST. GRAMMAR - A. A. HUNT, Teacher.
Mary H. Stone,
Emily Curtis, Jennie Green,
Lucy Sawyer,
Katie E. Spalter,
Annie Kendall,
Lottie E. Marsh,
Emma Marsh,
Emma Rice,
Preston D. Jones, James Hicks,
Edward Doherty, William Harrington, Hezekiah Larned.
Nancy Daniels, Ella Drury, Emily Spaulding,
Lillian Sanderson,
Louisa Bonney, Isabel Pond, Savalla Martin,
9
Henrietta S. Clarke, M. Louise Jenks, V. E. Hapgood, Patrick W. Colleary, John D. Warden, Charles S. Hall,
Mary Farley,
Mary Metcalf,
Amanda Nixon, Amelia Nixon.
William C. Forbush,
John Partridge, Anna Aldrich.
Lottie E. Boyden,
Mary E Gibbs,
J. H. Cummings,
Walter R. Foster, Julius Knights,
Emma J. Wood,
Nellie L. V. Daniels,
Maria A. Spalter, Emma G. Barry, Georgianna Barton, Sarah J. Harris, Joseph N. Bushee, W. Lincoln, Charles F. Everett, Michael S. J. Burke, Roderick E. Chesley,
Louisa Palmer, Charles Luther,
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During the entire year. Lucius P. Merriam, Katie Stebbins, Sarah E. Goddard, Fannie S. Holt.
First two term3.
Second two terms. Jennie Prentice,
Ella Denny,
George C. Walker.
Enrico E. Livermore,
Charles White,
George Stone,
George Kendall,
William J. Woodworth.
SYCAMORE ST. GRAMMAR -E. MANLY, Teacher.
Luella Townsend. Georgianna Barton, Sarah E. Goddard,
Ella B. Bradford,
Hattie R. Moulton,
Fannie Holt,
Martha A. Smith,
Minnie Palmer,
Isabella A. Estabrook.
Maria Spalter, Joseph Bushee,
Frank L. Wheaton.
SALEM ST. GRAMMAR -M. A. WILLARD, Teacher.
Clara E. Wood, Louisa A. Dawson,
Ella F. Goddard,
Eleanor L. Brigham,
Mary M. Washburn,
Ella J. Patch, Albert L. Fisher, George L. Estey,
William P. Aldrich,
George G. Harrington,
Elisha A. Merrill,
George Griggs,
Amelia A. Brigham.
THOMAS GRAMMAR - E. M. HAWES, Teacher.
Herbert W. Lathe, Lizzie Carter.
Albert Fisher,
Mary S. Loomis,
George Griggs, Bella Hoyt.
Harry E. Hill, Lucy H. Williams.
THOMAS GRAMMAR -E. L. GIRD, Teacher.
Mary T. Gale, George W. Burke,
Mary A. Pendleton, S. Adelle Estabrook, M. Albert Whiting.
Martha Z. Swallow, Lottie J. Robinson, Elmer P. Howe.
Lottie E. Thompson, Alden A. Howe, William F. Carrico.
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SYCAMORE GRAMMAR -C. A. GEORGE, Teacher.
During the entire year.
First two terms. Second two terms.
Emma C. Stevens.
Francilla O. Brown,
Charlena C. Harrington,
Lizzie M. Grout,
Julia F. Knapping,
Ella J. Walker,
Josie F. Allen.
Ella A. Burnham,
Charles B. Meachem.
ASH GRAMMAR - S. M. ROGERS, Teacher.
Lizzie M. Long, Edward L. Brigham.
Emma E. Putnam, Ella A. Aldrich.
Mary E. Speirs,
Martha E. Smith,
Maggie McLane, John W. Watkins.
PLEASANT GRAMMAR -H. M. WALKER, Teacher.
Charles W. Bartlett, Edward L. Spurr, Nettie S. Farley.
NEW WORCESTER GRAMMAR - M. A. DAVIS, Teacher.
Carrie Gates. Benjamin Gill. Ella Cooper.
THOMAS SECONDARY -E. H. COE, Teacher.
Oscar Adams, Joanna Buckley,
Willie Souther, Morris Devereux, Willie Lytle,
John Sheehan,
Charlotte Metcalf,
Pablo Osanna,
Samuel A. Souther.
PLEASANT SECONDARY - C. HEWETT, Teacher.
Edgar E. Clark.
PLEASANT SECONDARY -H. A. GREENE, Teacher.
George A. Barton, Charles A. Russell, Margaret E. Barton. M. Gertrude Green, Lilla H. Whittemore, Alice Woodward.
SUMMER SECONDARY -S. A. WHEELOCK, Teacher.
Samuel A. Souther. Mary Pendleton.
Cornelius Bonner, Everett Bardwell, Flora King.
64
SUMMER SECONDARY -T. S. NICHOLS, Teacher.
During the entire year. First two terms.
Second two terms. Helena C. Rawson,
Emma Hovey,
Flora Osgood,
Helen Cushing,
Mary J. Kelley, Alice Prince.
Ella L. Knight,
Mary Quinn,
Helen M. Smith.
MAIN SECONDARY-K. A. MEADE, Teacher.
Georgie M. Clarke. Annie Broadbent, Sarah J. Broadbent.
George Gates. Clara S. Bemis.
Albert Crosby, Lyman Russell.
SYCAMORE SECONDARY - E. J. CLAPP, Teacher.
Eddie Brigham. Hattie Davis. Abbie Davis.
SYCAMORE SECONDARY - H. E. LAMB, Teacher.
Elsie Martin.
SALEM SECONDARY-R. BARNARD, Teacher.
Bridget Phalan.
ASH SECONDARY - C. N. FOLLETT, Teacher.
John G. Coes. Maggie Melanefy, Mary E. Spaulding.
Mary A. Coes, Lizzie Long,
Sarah L. Coes.
Eliza J. Seaver,
Fannie A. Simmonds,
William D. Aldrich.
PROVIDENCE SECONDARY - M. S. MAYNARD, Teacher.
Ellen Flagg, Etha Stowell. Charles G. Stowell.
Ellen Nevins. Emeline Holman.
NEW WORCESTER SECONDARY - M. M. LAWTON, Teacher.
Samuel Gill.
THOMAS PRIMARY - A. R. MERRILL, Teacher.
Effie Washburn, Emma Wright, John Clancey.
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SUMMER PRIMARY-E. G. CHENERY, Teacher.
During the entire year. First two terms.
George M. Bemis,
Henry Robinson,
Eddie A. Allen, Frank Deforce,
Mary Montgomery.
Second two terms
Charles Duckworth,
Herbert Bowers,
George Gill, David Prince, Jamie Carr,
John Murphy,
Freddie Goulding,
Susie Blackmer, Celia Doherty, Ella E. Walker.
Sarah J. Fahy, Almira Green, Lizzie Rabb.
MAIN PRIMARY -S. J. NEWTON, Teacher. Charlie Gates.
PLEASANT PRIMARY -L. M. WILMARTH, Teacher. Herbert B. Case.
ASH PRIMARY -- M. J. MACK, Teacher. Charlie Coes, Willie Sampson.
SYCAMORE PRIMARY -- S. W. CLEMENTS, Teacher.
Charlie Whitney, Eddie Bliss, Theresa Carroll.
FRONT PRIMARY -M. HOBBS, Teacher.
Charles A. Holden, Willie A. Warden.
FRONT PRIMARY -K. HOBBS, Teacher.
Samuel Gould.
E. WORCESTER PRIMARY -- H. HATHAWAY, Teacher.
Frank Leary.
SUMMER SUB-PRIMARY -- M. A. SLATER, Teacher.
Willie M. Russell, Frederic R. Bardwell, Willie Prince, Bartholomew Sullivan, Nellie M. Muzzy.
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MAIN SUB-PRIMARY -- S. S. BANISTER, Teacher.
During the entire year. First two terms. Charlie Bruce, Joseph Santon.
Second two terms.
PLEASANT SUB-PRIMARY -H. N. PERRY, Teacher.
F. Walter Hamilton.
SYCAMORE SUB-PRIMARY - C. R. CLEMENTS, Teacher.
Madella C. Hoyle,
John Dugan.
SYCAMORE SUB-PRIMARY - M. A. SMITH, Teacher.
Mary Carroll, Teresa M. Carroll,
Lena Earler.
Charles Earler, Henry Wells, Michael Welch, Emma Longley.
ASH SUB-PRIMARY - H. M. SHATTUCK, Teacher.
Bridget Flynn.
FRONT SUB-PRIMARY - A. PRATT, Teacher.
Eugene Darling, Nellie Britton,
Cornelius Daley. Flora Gill.
FRONT SUB-PRIMARY - C. M. DRAPER, Teacher.
Albert S. Nickerson.
E. WORCESTER SUB-PRIMARY -
John Raidon, Rosa Trainer.
NEW WORCESTER PRIMARY - A. P. JAMES, Teacher.
Rosina Bruso. Appleton D. Kean.
TATNUCK - C. W. MORRILL, Teacher. Dennis McConnor. VALLEY FALLS - M. E. BOTHWELL, Teacher.
Sarah Shaw.
LEESVILLE - A. H. BARNES, Teacher.
Lillie LaFoye. Frank J. Boice.
SOUTH WORCESTER - C. F. AYRES, Teacher.
Sarah M. Adams, Lydia Dunn, Ella Chesley.
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BLITHEWOOD - A. C. SMITH, Teacher.
During the entire year.
First two terms. Second two terms. E. Wilbour Adams.
QUINSIGAMOND - S. B. LAMB, Teacher.
Eveline Harrington, Charlotte M. Harrington, Martha E. Gates.
BURNCOAT PLAIN - AMELIA PARKER, Teacher.
Charles F. Coe, Helen E. Moore, Anna M. Moore. Mary A. Moore, Jabez E. N. Reed.
NORTHVILLE - M. U. BLANCHARD, Teacher.
Josie E. Thayer, John Flagg,
Mary E. Gleason, Joseph Flagg.
George A. Brigham,
John A. Sears,
Herbert H. Fairbanks,
Samuel B. Warren.
RESOURCES AND EXPENDITURES,
The aggregate value of the school property of the city, personal and real, in 1860, was estimated to be about .. $150,000 00 Added in 1861, 10,000 00 .. .. ..
Present value, .. ..
$160,000 00
The perishable nature of most of this property requires an annual outlay of at least two per cent. ($3,200) to keep it from serious depreciation.
The school department has been credited for the year 1861 with the following sums :
Appropriation by city council from taxes, ..
$34,000 00
66 66 66 state school fund,
940 68
Tuition of scholars from other towns, . ..
9 00
Books, &c., .. ..
5 76
Balance unexpended in 1860,
.. . .
363 30
$35,318 74
The expenditures for all purposes have been, ..
33,771 35
Leaving a balance to the credit of the department of
$1,547 39
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- a result unlike all that have preceded it, except that in the year 1860 the expenditures fell below the appro- priations $363.30.
The schedule annexed will show for what the expendi- tures have been made :
Salaries of teachers, ..
..
$25,629 00
Salary of superintendent,
. .
1,400 00
Fuel,
..
..
2,340 61
Sawing wood, . .
..
..
263 25
Books, maps, charts, ink, and stationery,
350 91
Printing,
..
..
..
124 04
Fires and sweeping,
..
. .
844 38
Cleaning, ..
..
..
181 35
Repairs, ..
..
. .
1,342 01
Furnishings,
..
..
614 58
Rent of Temple street school house,
..
300 00
Insurance, ..
..
158 26
Miscellaneous and incidental,
. .
222 96-$33,771 35
A comparison of the financial statistics of the school department for the last six years will show that the cost per scholar in 1860 and in 1861 has been reduced so far below the average annual cost per scholar for the four years preceding as to make a large annual saving to the city.
Year.
Average daily attendance.
Expenditure.
Cost per scholar.
1856,
2,520
$29,992
$11.90
1857,
2,815
32,280
11.82
1858,
2,919
30,504
10.45
1859,
3,140
35,390
11.27
1860,
3,295
33,497
10.10 .
1861,
3,468
33,771
9.73}
The average annual cost per scholar for the four years preceding 1860, was $11.36.
If each scholar in 1860 had cost that sum, the expenditures would have
been .. ..
. .
..
$37,431 20
The expenditures were ..
..
. .
33,497 22
An annual saving to the city of
..
..
$3,933 98
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If the cost per scholar in 1861 were equal to the average annual cost for those four years the expenditures would have been .. $39,396 48
33,771 35 The expenditures were .. ..
An annual saving to the city of .. .. $5,625 13
For convenience of reference and comparison, the fol- lowing statistics will be interesting and valuable.
Schools.
Amount of teachers' salaries for 1961.
Cost of tuition No. of teach- Average No. per scholar for 1861.
ers employ- scholars to ed Dec. '61. one teacher.
High school,
$3,949 97
$20.79
6
34
Grammar, higher grade,
2,916 34
11.67
5
53
lower
2,539 53
7.34
8
48
Secondary,
3,960 28
6.24
13
55
Primary and sub-primary,
8,705 18
5.51
31
61
Suburban,
3,354 20
8.58
14
35
Adult, one-third of year,
203 50
2.19
2
56
BOOKS AND APPARATUS.
The committee on books have wisely refrained from recommending changes, except where the interests of the schools clearly demanded a change.
Worcester's spellers have been substituted for Tower's gradual speller, Hitchcock's physiology for Hooker's, and Wells' chemistry for Draper's.
The apparatus, chemical and philosophical, though in good condition, is not adequate to the wants of the school where it is used. If the natural sciences continue to be pursued as extensively as of late, considerable additions should soon be made to the apparatus.
VOCAL MUSIC,
Music is as worthy of a place in the public schools as rhetoric or elocution. But the teachers of the public schools are not generally competent to teach music. The only school in the city in which the elements of music are
10
70
taught by the principal is the Thomas-street grammar school, first grade. Mr. James II. Newton has tried the experiment for a year with gratifying success.
The people of Worcester have recently had an oppor- tunity to see how much interest a few brief lessons in music will awaken in our schools, and how large a num- ber of our children would learn to sing if they were pro- perly taught. Mr. Amos Whiting lately volunteered his services for a few weeks in the public schools with the purpose of giving a juvenile concert to the public on new year's night. The concert was given, and repeated, much to the gratification of those who listened to the harmony of a thousand voices singing the songs that stir the patriot's and the christian's heart. When the iron hand of war is lifted from our country, and the wheels of material prosperity again begin to turn, can a better investment be made than an annual appropriation sufficient to enable our children in the public schools to be taught the ele- ments of music ? Would not the elevated taste and greater refinement of the next generation more than pay the cost ?
WRITING AND DRAWING.
The time cannot be far distant when a person who makes writing his speciality will teach that art in the schools of Worcester. This subject has been discussed in former reports, been considered by special committees, and been dignified with an honorable place in the inau- gural address of a former mayor, but the cost, a spectre which happily frightens officials in Worcester more than in Washington, has always bidden it away to be called up on some more convenient season. The wonder is not that the children in our schools write so poorly, but that, under all the circumstances, they write so well.
71
Some of the teachers have studied drawing, and by their skill in that have added to their power to interest and instruct their schools. It ought to be taught in con- nection with writing, and it will be when our ideal school becomes the actual.
READING.
In former reports we have referred to the want of skill in teaching reading. There has been a marked improve- ment in this department. A large number of the teachers have themselves recently taken lessons in reading of ac- complished elocutionists, and their schools now enjoy the benefit of it. What a skilful teacher of reading can accomplish with a good class, even in a few months, was made abundantly and satisfactorily manifest last April in the contest for the Bullock prize for excellence in reading.
ADULT SCHOOLS.
The adult schools are two, - a day school exclusively for males, and an evening school for both sexes. The schools were in session fourteen weeks, and were attended for longer or shorter periods by one hundred and fifty- eight pupils, of whom thirty-three were females.
These schools have never given the committee entire satisfaction. The unequal attainments and the different mental capacities of the members make the classification of them extremely difficult and sometimes impossible. The chief defects have been a want of proper discipline, of prompt and cheerful obedience, of respect for law and deference to authority. Before taking lessons in reading and arithmetic they need to be taught the rights of pro- perty, habits of neatness, and the proprieties of social life.
On opening these schools in December, 1861, the com- mittee had special reference to these defects, and aimed
72
to remedy them. The teacher, Mr. Thomas Wheelock, was authorized to commence his instructions where they were most needed. The experiment has been made thus far with very gratifying success. The schools give greater promise of usefulness than ever.
SUBURBAN SCHOOLS.
Number of schools, ..
12
teachers, ..
..
15
Whole number of pupils registered, - Males, 358
Females, 320-678
Average whole number of pupils, .. ..
454
Average daily attendance, .. .. 391
Per centage of average daily attendance,
.. .86
Nine of the twelve schools are not large or likely soon to become so. Three of them have employed assistants a part, or the whole, of the year ; the Quinsigamond school, all the year,-the South Worcester, six months, -the Northville, only a few weeks, the want of room making it impracticable to try the experiment longer. A small ad- dition to the population of Northville would make the enlargement of the school house imperative.
One of the peculiarities, as well as one of the banes of the old district system was the frequent change of teachers. The district system has been long abolished, but the hab- its formed under it are not yet broken up. Only three of the twelve schools are now under the charge of the per- sons that taught them a year ago.
These schools enjoy the services of some of the best teachers in the city, and nothing is wanting to raise the schools to the level with the best but the united, uniform, and unreserved support of the teachers by the people in all just and proper measures of discipline and instruction. The best teacher, without the moral support of the parents
73
of those she is appointed to instruct, will keep a very in- different school, and a teacher of very moderate abilities with such support may keep a very good school.
SUB-PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
Number of schools, ..
..
..
11 14
teachers, ..
scholars registered, - Males, 642
Females, 655-1,297
Average whole number,
920
Average daily attendance, ..
.. 744
Per centage of attendance,
..
..
.81
Number under five years of age, ..
..
273
Average age in years and months, ..
..
6. 3.
This grade of schools has been recently formed. Its formation was recommended in the annual report for 1859, and the principle was applied to the schools on the com- mon the next year with so manifest success that, one year later, it was extended to all the primary schools in the city except three, where the location of the schools on the ex- treme limits of the centre district and the want of suitable accommodations made the change inexpedient.
This classification contemplates bringing the children that are incapable of studying books and that must be taught orally, if taught at all, into schools by themselves, and adapting their instruction and discipline to their capacities and tastes.
The first requisite of a good school of this grade is a suitable teacher. This is important in any school, but here it is indispensable. It is a common, but a mistaken notion, that almost any person is qualified to teach the alphabet and the primer,- and the prevalent idea that a teacher, in going from a school of a higher grade into one of these, is thereby degraded, is too absurd to claim a mo- ment's attention. While a teacher in this department must have abundant mental resources, must know much
74
and be able to simplify her knowledge and adapt it to the capacities of her pupils, her most important qualification must be of the heart. Patience, gentleness, love, are as potent and as useful as knowledge, industry, and skill. Several of the teachers now in charge of these schools are models worthy of study and imitation. In no place can a teacher of the highest qualifications be more useful than in one of these schools. If a doubt on this subject still lingers in any one's mind, let him spend an hour in the school of one of the best of the teachers of this grade,- let him witness the cheerful school room, the happy child- ren, the interest awakened in these young minds in the exercises of the school, and the rapidity with which they acquire a knowledge of the alphabet and of its uses, and his doubts will all be dissipated.
PRIMARY SCHOOLS NOT YET DIVIDED INTO TWO GRADES.
Of these there are three, one in New Worcester, one in Providence street, and one in Salem street. Their statis- tics show the following results :
Number of schools, ..
..
..
3
teachers, .. ..
3
66 scholars registered, - Males,
125
Females,
131-256
Average whole number, ..
160
Average daily attendance,
..
..
138
Per centage of attendance, ..
..
.86
Number under five years of age, ..
..
22
Average age in years and months, ..
..
7. 11.
..
The school in New Worcester, which is justly regarded as one of the best in the city, will not soon be so large as to justify its division, nor will that in Providence street ; but it will be expedient, at the commencement of the next school year, to divide the one in Salem street, making a new sub-primary for the relief of the schools in Sycamore and Ash streets.
75
PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
Number of schools, .. ..
..
9
66 teachers, ..
.. 14
scholars registered, - Males, 472
Females, 535-1,007 817
Average whole number,
..
Average daily attendance,
..
698
Per centage of daily attendance, ..
..
.84
Average age in years and months, ..
.. 8. 10.
These schools comprise only the most advanced classes of the old primary schools, - those that had already been taught the alphabet and how to combine letters into sylla- bles and syllables into words. The teachers of this grade are assigned the task of teaching them how to combine words into sentences, how to read understandingly, and the much more difficult one, how to study, to receive knowledge through the eye, though accustomed to receive it only through the ear. The education whose superstruc- ture is finished and polished in the high school or college is indebted to the primary school teacher for its solid and permanent foundations. The intelligence, skill, and in- dustry of the teachers in this grade are not surpassed in any other. The progress of the schools has not disap- pointed the expectations of the committee. More than the most sanguine anticipated has been accomplished. These schools on the first of January had passed the limit in their studies which they have been accustomed to reach at the close of the school year, - four months later.
SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
Number of schools, ..
.. 12
teachers, .. 13 . .
Whole numbered registered, - Males, Females,
446
471-917
Average whole number, . .
. .
708
Average daily attendance,
. .
.. 618
Per centage of attendance, ..
..
.87
Average age in years and months, ..
.. 11. 2.
76
Additional accommodations for this class of schools are much needed. The school rooms are all seated for as many pupils as ought to occupy them ; still every school has a number of scholars for whom temporary seats are provided, a plan which is liable to the most serious objec- tions. The only remedy is the organization of a new school, which can only be done after the erection of another house, since all the rooms in the houses now own- ed by the city are already in use.
If such a school were organized where it is most needed the location would be in East Worcester, where there is no school higher than a primary, and where the children are very numerous. As soon as they leave the primaries they are sent out of the neighborhood, and, for the want of room in the nearest school house, are scattered over the city wherever a place can be found for them. The dis- tance they have to go makes them often irregular in their attendance, and this irregularity makes them the less wel- come in those schools which are already well filled by the children living in the immediate vicinity. With equal advantages the children in East Worcester are not inferior to any in the city.
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