USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1862-1866 > Part 53
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JAMES B. BLAKE, FRANCIS H. DEWEY, GEORGE A. BROWN, WM. E. STARR, STEPHEN SALISBURY, JR.,
Joint Special Committee 011 Sewerage.
H. S. W HITTEMORE, SALISBURY HYDE.
October 1st, 1866.
Report of the School Committee,
REPORT OF THE Superintendent of Public Schools OF THE CITY OF WORCESTER.
To his Honor, the Mayor,
and the School Committee of Worcester :
GENTLEMEN :- In compliance with your regulations I beg leave to submit my first annual report, comprising a statement of the condition of the Public Schools for the year 1866.
Population of the city 1865, 30,058
Number of school houses belonging to the city occupied at the close of the year 1865, 27
Number occupied at the close of the year 1866,
28
Number in which schools were discontinued during the year, 1
Number of new houses completed and occupied during the year, 2
High School, 1
Number of single Grammar Schools, (higher grade,)
6
Number of double Grammar Schools, (higher grade,) Increase for the year, (single,) 2
1
Number of single Grammar Schools, (lower grade,)
8
Number of double Grammar Schools, (lower grade,) Increase for the year, 0
1
Whole number of Grammar Schools, 16
Net increase for the year, 2
17
Number of single Secondary Schools, Increase for the year,
4
Number of double Secondary Schools,
1
Increase for the year, 0
18
Whole number of Secondary Schools, Net increase for the year,
4
Number of single Primary Schools, Decrease for the year, 2
9
Number of double Primary Schools,
2
Increase for the year, 6
0
46
Whole number of Primary Schools, Decrease for the year, 2 .
11
Number of single Sub-Primary Schools, Decrease for the year,
1
.
Number of double Sub-Primary Schools, Increase for the year, 2
5
Whole number of Sub-Primary Schools, Net increase for the year, 1
19
Boys' Ungraded School,(single,) 1
1
Girls' Evening School, (single-increase,)
1
Girls' Evening School, (double-increase,)
1
SUBURBAN SCHOOLS, (SINGLE.)
At Tatnuck,
2
Increase for the year,
1
At Valley Falls,
1
" Leesville,
1
" South Worcester,
2
" Quinsigamond,
1
Decrease for the year,
1
At Blithewood,
1
" Pond District,
1
" Adams Square,
1
" Burncoat Plain,
1
" North Pond,
1
" Chamberlain District,
1
Whole number of single Suburban Schools.
13
Net increase during the year,
0
SUBURBAN SCHOOLS, (DOUBLE.)
1
At Quinsigamond, Increase for the year, 1
1
At Northville,
2
Whole number of double Suburban Schools, Increase for the year, 1
Whole number of single schools in the city, Increase for the year, 4
69
Whole number of double schools in the city, exclusive of High School, 14
Increase for the year, High School, 4
1
Boys' Evening School, (double,)
14
47
Total number of schools,
Increase for the year, 8
Number of male teachers in High School,
1
Decrease for the year, 1
Number of female teachers in High School, 5
Increase for the year, 1
Number of Teachers in Grammar, Secondary, Primary, Sub-Primary Schools, &c.,
Males, Increase for the year, 0
4
Females, 92
Increase for the year, 9
Special Teacher of music, (male,)
1
Whole number of male teachers in the employ of the city, Decrease for the year, 1
6
Whole number of female teachers in the employ of the city, Increase for the year, 10
97
Total number of teachers now in the employ of the city, Net increase for the year, 9
103
Average whole number of pupils belonging to schools of all grades during the last year, 4880
Number belonging at close of Winter term of 1865-66, 4439
·
Number belonging at close of Spring term of 1866, 4577
Increase for the term, 138
4834
Number belonging at close of Fall term, Increase for the term,
246
Increase for the year, 641
4572
Number belonging at close of Fall term of 1865, Net increase for the year 1866,
508
This however does not show the full increase in the num- ber of pupils, because heretofore a child having entered school was reckoned a member until the close of the term, but the present practice is to strike his name from the register when he has been absent two weeks. This of course materially de- creases the aggregate at the close of the term.
Average per cent. of attendance of all the schools of the centre district,
.9-+
Average per cent. last year, .88
Increase for the year, .018+
Average per cent. of attendance of all the Suburban Schools, .82+
84
Number belonging at close of Summer term, Increase for the term, 257
5080
48
.80+
Average per cent. last year, Increase for the year, .014++ Whole number of scholars registered in the High School, 193
Whole number registered in 1865, Decrease for the year, Percentage of attendance for 1866,
65
.97586
1865,
.9712
Increase for the year,
.00466
Number of pupils perfect in attendance during the whole year, 72
Decrease for the year, 2
Average number of pupils (belonging) to a teacher in the High School, 32.1
23.6
Average attendance per teacher,
Average number of pupils to a teacher in the Grammar Schools, 44.5
Average attendance per teacher,
41.8
Average number of pupils to a teacher in the Secondary Schools,
54.8
Average attendance per teacher,
48.9
Average number of pupils to a teacher in the Primary Schools,
61.5
Average attendance per teacher,
55.1
Average number of pupils to a teacher in the Sub-Prima- ry Schools,
65.4
Average attendance per teacher,
55.4
Average number of pupils to a teacher in the Suburban Schools, 41.1
32.8
Whole number of seats in all the schools in the centre dis- trict, 4673
Number of seats in suburban districts,
799
Whole number of seats in the city, Increase for the year,
5472
Whole number of pupils registered in the schools during the year, 6884
Ratio of the amount appropriated for public schools to the whole amount raised by taxation for the year 1866, .176++
Valuation of the city 1866, $22,599,850
Percentage of the valuation of 1866 appropriated for pub- lic schools, .00283
Salaries of teachers, Superintendent and Secretary, $51,790 54
Increase for the year, 10,128 24
Average attendance per teacher,
45€
258
·
49
For ordinary repairs, fuel, books, furnishing, &c.,
Extraordinary expenditures, (furnishing Providence street house, repairs on Thomas street house, altering and furnishing High School building, furnishing Adri- atic Mills and Chamberlain district houses, etc., fur- nishing rooms in Ash street, Main street and Quin- sigamond houses, and for maps, charts, globes, books, etc., for new school rooms, and to replace those de- stroyed by fire in Pleasant street house,) $9,427 02 $71,101 04
Total for the year,
A full exhibit in detail of the expenditures for the year will be found in the report of the Secretary of the Board.
It will be noticed, by referring to the above figures, that the average number of pupils to a teacher in the Grammar Schools is not very large, yet in some locali- ties the schools have been greatly crowded ; but in the lower grades this excess of numbers has been at times unendurable. In one case I found a single teacher try- ing to instruct ninety-eight little children, the most of whom were unacquainted with their letters.
The interest which you, gentlemen of the School Board, feel in the prosperity of the cause entrusted to your care -- the right training of the seven thousand young immortals who look up to you as the dispensers of the noblest benefactions of the community -- is suffi- ciently attested by the manner in which you perform your duty. Coming here month after month, discussing troublesome questions, endeavoring to decide difficult points, you yet keep in view the main object of your offi- cial organization, -- the good of the schools of our city.
What is the problem which we as a people are called upon to solve ? What the duty laid upon us to perform ? Are we born by accident into a certain position, to be fed and strengthened by those responsible for our being, then in our turn to take the burdens of life upon us, to bury our progenitors, to rear our children, to walk the same ceaseless round trodden uselessly by millions who
9,883 48
50
have gone before us, and then, worn out with the vain turmoil, to lie down and be thrust into the ground to rot by those whose feet shall soon make a highway of our bones and then come to lie with us ? To what end is all this struggle, all this toil, and sweat, and blood. Are we to be satisfied with what we are to-day, and to teach our children-thus did your fathers, follow ye in their footsteps, and be ye like unto them ? Have we reached the zenith of human virtue, beneficence, and wisdom :- the Ultima Thule of human capacity ?
No! answers the Past with its rich story of hopeful martyrdoms, of patient, toilsome endeavor, of cumulative progress. No! say all the higher instincts of our hu- manity -- there is no pause : there is no inaction : prog- ress, progress is the end and the law of our being : it is treason to our God to say that our work is done, our mis- sion fulfilled ! What man can lay his hand on his heart to-day and declare that he is satisfied with himself, or that this people have filled the measure of their duty ?
Do you ask what is to be done ? Look around you ! Work crowds ; the moments fly. Here lies spread out before you a vast continent with all its virgin wealth, waiting to be tamed and appropriated ; millions of young souls springing up to people it with a mighty nation implore you for the bread of life-knowledge, and the power and virtue that knowledge gives :- pouring in upon you come the oppressed, ignorant, and forsaken of every clime, crying " Train us, train us, that we may be- come worthy citizens of the Republic," and out from the shadow that veils the stricken south in black, comes a wailing appeal ;- " O you who gave us freedom, see to it that the promised fruit turns not to ashes on the tongue ; save us from our pitiless oppressors ; save us from igno- rance and its attendant ills and crimes :-- O save us from
51
ourselves, for we are poor and weak and laden with the vices of slaves !"
Here at home we are to improve upon the pattern that our fathers left us ; if we are to-day no better and no wiser than they, then are we inexcusable, and our children will be worthy of reproach if they fail to out- strip us, starting from the vantage ground on which we place them.
I need not attempt to prove that the most vital inter- est of this community and of this nation lies in the ed- ucation of our youth-such a proposition requires no argument here. What has given New England, and es- pecially Massachusetts, with her small domain, her cheer- less climate and her rocky soil, so vast an influence on the policy and the character of the country ? More than all else, her schools. What has made her rich ? The superior knowledge, and consequent virtue of the mass of her people. What will enable her to hold her place in the van of the youthful empires springing up to the west of her ? While they are producing the best corn, cotton, and beef, she must strive to rear the best men and-women-noble rivalry ! alike honorable to the victor and the vanquished, when all shall bend. their en- deavors toward this last highest aim.
Every other element of strength or weakness being left out of the question, it would have been sufficient, in order to have determined beforehand the result of our late war, for an impartial observer to have known only the difference in the education and intelligence of the masses in the two sections. The Hon. Horace Mann af- ter his careful inspection of the schools of Europe, bore cordial testimony to the excellence, the transcendence of the schools of Prussia, and then made use of the fol- lowing remarkable words, in speaking of the almost
52
universal interest in education that seemed to be awakening throughout the continent. "One empire alone has signalized its name by an opposite course. That en- pire is Austria. Although the Austrian government maintains what it calls a system of schools, yet they are schools which set metes and bounds, on all sides, to the development of the human faculties; although it pre- pares a few teachers, yet it is the office of these teach- ers to lop and prune the common mind, and not to de- velope it; and when, during the very year previous to my visit in a part of that empire bordering upon the king- dom of Saxony, across whose frontier a little of the light and genial warmth of education had been reflected-a few of the more enlightened subjects of that arbitrary power applied to it for liberty to establish a Normal school within their own province, and offered to supply, gratuitously, the money requisite for the purpose ; both the application and the offer were rejected with indignity. Austria, impenetrable Austria, over which the black hori- zon of despotism shuts down like a cover excluding, as far as possible, all light, intelligence and knowledge,- Austria, true to the base and cowardly instincts of igno- rance and bigotry, disallows the establishment of a free Normal school for the improvement of its people, and spurns the proffered munificence of the noble benefactors who would endow it !"
This was written twenty-three years ago. In the light of the conflagration that lately glared over Europe and has not yet faded from our sight, how suggestive it ap- pears! The star of Prussia in the ascendant, her flag floating over conquered provinces, the thrones of a con- tinent quaking at her tread; Austria grovelling in the dust, beaten, disgraced, shorn of her possessions, robbed of her gold! Ah! it was not the needle-gun of Prussia
53
that triumphed -- it was the vigor, the elasticity, the in- vincibility born of her glorious public schools; and as her victorious advance caused the legions of poor, igno- rant, effete, semi-barbarous Austria to melt and disappear, so will it ever be when the hosts of freedom and enlight- enment march to the contest against the powers of dark- ness. Then the instinct of self-preservation prompts us to blazon this eternal truth upon our high places, that it may be seen and read of all men, “ In a Republic, ig- norance is a crime; and private immorality is not less an opprobrium to the State than it is guilt in the perpe- trator."
A generous determination not to be left behind in the march of civilization, wisdom and virtue, incites us to look around frequently and compare our relative stand- ing among the cities of the country, with what it has formerly been. Let us compare our schools with what they have been, and with those of other localities at pre- sent. Worcester once stood in the front rank of the cities of the Commonwealth, and of the whole country, as to the character of her schools. Does she still main- tain that position ?
If so, then we have good ground for rejoicing ; if not, with an earnest will let us set ourselves to counsel and labor for the removal of defects, and the attainment of all excellences.
SCHOOL HOUSES.
In studying the history of our schools for the last fifteen years it is obvious that one of the most serious embarrassments under which they have labored has been the want of proper buildings. I rejoice to say that gen- uine advance has been made lately in this respect. When called by your voice to my present position, I found that a new house capable of accommodating five hundred
7
54
pupils was nearly completed, and although in its general plan and some of its details it is deserving of severe crit- icism, yet the facilities and comforts afforded the children attending school there are of no mean character. At the beginning of the Fall term in September, it was occupied by eight schools, and this large increase of accommoda- tions enabled us to divide and remove the double pri- mary school which had so long occupied the building on Temple street, called the Catholic Institute.
The more advanced portion of the pupils who formerly attended here were organized into a secondary school, and transferred to the new building. This house is now occupied by one grammar school of the highest, and one of the middle grade, three secondary, one primary and two sub-primary schools. Two rooms in the Catholic Institute had also long been hired by the city for the boys' ungraded school, but at the close of the Summer term we were notified by the trustees that we could have them no longer. The wood room in the Main . street house was accordingly rudely fitted up for tempo- rary use, and the erection of the new brick house on Orange street, was immediately begun, which will be ready for occupancy in a short time, and which will fur- nish pleasant and permanent quarters for the Boys' Un- graded and Girls' Ungraded Schools, the latter of which will be organized as soon as the building is completed. Under the pressure of necessity, the Boys' Ungraded School, has now, for several months, been kept in an un- plastered, unventilated and ill-lighted room. The new house is so arranged that there will be no intercourse between the two schools, the pupils of each entering from opposite streets. Another new house has been built on Southgate street, and two schools are in oper- ation there. The establishment of these schools has in
55
some measure relieved the pressure at South Wor- cester, which had become intolerable. The house in the Chamberlain District has been enlarged and improved so as to double its capacity ; and accommodations for a new school have been added to the house at Northville by means of an extension to the rear. These are com- pleted and are now occupied. During the Fall term the number of pupils in the higher school at Quinsiga- mond became so great that it was found necessary to divide it. A suitable room could not be hired, and we were driven to the expedient of closing one of the doors on the lower floor of the school-house, and by moving several partition walls, of converting an entry and an ante-room into a recitation room.
The lower Sub-primary school on Ash street became so crowded that a similar shift had to be resorted to here, and a dressing room, belonging to one of the higher schools, was taken. Accommodations for a new Secon- dary school also were provided in this building by the fitting up of the ward-room for school purposes. The number of pupils at Tatnuck has increased so that it has been found necessary to establish another school there.
The imperfections and inconveniences of the plan of the High School have been a crying evil for years. In 1862 my predecessor made use of the following language in his annual report: " The High School building, a good one in its day, is already outgrown by the progress of the city. Its seats are filled and its small recitation rooms overcrowded and inconvenient. Experience also has shown that many disadvantages attend the seating of one hundred scholars in a single room. Noise and in- terruption are thus multiplied, and each disturbance affects one hundred scholars. The difficulty to any teacher of exercising close supervision over so many
56
renders the highest discipline impracticable. Our school also lacks a fit and convenient retiring or dressing-room for either sex. No suitable place is given the girls for private adjustment of their apparel. Even the decent accommodations for cleanliness furnished by a second- rate hotel are wanting. The influence of surroundings is scarcely to be measured. One of the first means towards securing refinement in habits and manners is to place one amid the elegancies that suggest and demand it. Especially strong is this influence upon the young. Well says an old school report, 'The festering corruption and contagion of vile thoughts which have caused many parents to tremble for their children have often had their cause in false economy in school-house arrangements.' It will be a glad day for the school when the city shall feel able to devote the present building to a grammar school, already greatly needed, and build a new house adequate to its wants, and arranged as recent improve- ments in school architecture have shown desirable. For the present, however, much advantage to the discipline and prosperity of the school would be secured by the addition and alterations now proposed by the building committee."
These additions and alterations were not effected at that time, but they were fully carried out during the past year, thus greatly increasing the commodiousness of the building; and at least " the decent accommodations for cleanliness furnished by a second-rate hotel " are not now wanting. But the High School house has been outgrown by the wants of the city and the spirit of the day, and I trust that before another year shall have passed, mea- sures will have been taken for the erection of a house that shall be justly looked upon as a credit to the city.
A large and pleasant lot has been purchased on Dix
57
street, on which it is proposed to erect a Grammar School building to accommodate eight schools. This will enable us to dispense with the very inconvenient and objectionable building on Main street.
EVENING SCHOOLS.
When the season for evening schools arrived, the de- mand for them was so great that there were opened, one for boys and young men, employing two teachers, on Main street ; one for girls, also employing two teachers, in East Worcester; and another single one for girls, on Elm street.
SCHOOL BOOKS.
For several years a sharp controversy had existed on the question of a change of readers. Mr. Sargent's old series had been so long in use, that a change was deemed desirable. The Book Committee recommended the adoption of Hillard's new series; the dispute waxed warm on account of the activity and pertinacity of the rival publishing houses, both of which offered to give their new books in exchange for the old ones in use in the schools. The contest was finally, after the lapse of three years, decided in favor of Mr. Sargent's books.
In the High School, Harkness' Latin Lessons and Han- son's Latin Prose Book have been substituted for Smith's Principia and Andrews' Cæsar. In this change a great advantage has been gained, because the books introduced are filled with references to the excellent Latin Gram- mar of Prof. Harkness, which has been adopted in most of the first colleges of the country, and is growing in favor. For Loomis' Algebra, Greenleaf's has been sub- stituted.
In addition to these changes a considerable number of sets of outline maps and of globes has been furnished in the new schools, and in many others where they were
58
needed. The cost of these has been reckoned with the extraordinary expenses, because the schools just supplied will require no others for years. In consequence of the fire in the Pleasant street house in the summer of 1864, a full set of the above articles had to be supplied to each of the schools in that building.
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PROPERTY.
During the year a system of Returns of School Pro- perty, similar to that employed in the United States army, has been adopted. By it each teacher is required to render quarterly a report of every article of school property for which she is responsible. Everything fur- nished, and everything lost, destroyed or expended, is noted and accounted for, so that by an examination of the books in the office of the Secretary of the Board, an exact statement of all the school property belonging to the city, even to the minutest articles, may at any time be obtained. When anything is lost or broken, a state- ment of the facts of the case, so far as they can be ascer- tained by the teacher, is made, and in some instances, where there was evident culpability, restitution has been exacted. Books, which are the property of the city, loaned to indigent pupils, are accounted for in the same manner, and a record is kept of the names of each child so furnished and of his parents. The value of such a system, both as a check upon the waste of public pro- perty, and for statistical purposes, will at once be seen by every business man.
In conformity with that one of your rules which pro- vides that the Superintendent shall call the teachers to- . gether as often as he shall deem it expedient for consul- tation and exchange of views on points of instruction and government, and for the consideration of any mat- ters relating to the interests or the welfare of the pub-
59
lic schools, I called a meeting of all the teachers on Satur- day, Dec. 29. Members of the School Board, clergymen of the city, and other prominent persons were invited to be present and take part in the discussions, and it was under- stood that all friends of the schools would be heartily welcomed. The meeting was not largely attended, but a few cordial words of cheer and well-wishing were spoken by some of those who did come, and the desire was expressed that this meeting might be followed up by others of like character. In what I said to the teach- ers I endeavored to awaken a spirit of inquiry into the
· best methods of teaching, and to incite them to a course of self-examination and criticism. The habit of self-dis- cipline and watchfulness once induced, there is certainty of improvement. The interest of the teachers was evi- dently aroused, and they took measures to organize a city association, in order that they might meet each other, for the interchange of opinion and for discussion, oftener than it would be possible for the Superintendent to as- semble them. I trust that this will prove no spasmodic effort on their part, but that an active, vigorous associa- tion may be formed that will declare its usefulness in the increased efficiency of our corps of instructors.
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