Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1867-1870, Part 24

Author: Worcester (Mass.)
Publication date: 1867
Publisher: The City
Number of Pages: 1452

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all the members of the practicing class assemble for a lesson from the Training Teachers, one of whom con- ducts it the first hour and the other the second. At the same time criticisms on the work of the day, are freely made, both by the teachers and the young ladies them- selves. Each of these young ladies, then, at the end of the year, will have had an experience of one half year's solid teaching. She has been under the vigilant eye of an associate. Her instructor has been constantly at hand. She therefore aims to do nothing for which there is not a reason in her own mind ; she loses her shyness, and is able calmly to face criticism and secure the great advantage which it brings; in studying to avoid the faults which are exposed in herself and others, she ac- quires a habit of thoughtful attention to her work, which presages a constant progress in the future. There can be no doubt that such a training for those who teach, is a far better preparation, than a much longer course of purely theoretical instruction or of chance experiment. The Training School is not necessarily connected with any particular method of teaching. The method of Ob- ject Teaching here employed, is not an entirely new thing. Every successful teacher has to some extent worked out and applied its more obvious principles. Those natural principles are here taught systematically. This method aims to awaken thought in the mind of the child ; to teach him to use his senses and all his facul- ties ; and, instead of confining him to the pages of a book, to open his eyes to every object and his ears to every sound, so that during his wakeful hours a book is always before him-the page imprinted upon his senses by surrounding objects. Of the general correctness of this method, there can be no doubt. Concerning the extent of its application, there may be a difference of

opinion. Practically, as it is applied here, children are interested and instructed in a great deal of useful know- ledge, while they improve no less rapidly in what is us- ually taught.

TEACHERS.

Of the character and efficiency of our teachers we can speak only in terms of high commendation. By a long term of faithful labor, some have earned the lasting gratitude of this community. Others have in a brief time done such excellent service as to merit our highest confidence. But among so many, it would be an unus- ual thing to find in every one, all that we might desire ; frequently those resign whom we cannot well spare ; and new schools must be supplied. To fill these vacant positions with the best teachers is the most important service that we can perform ; for upon the teachers more than upon all else, depends the success of the schools. Splendid houses and costly apparatus, without a live teacher, are useless things; and the best system, the most philosophical theory and the most approved method of instruction, without the living, animating spirit of the teacher, are lifeless-a body without the soul.

The position of a teacher is one of great influence. He impresses himself upon the plastic character of his pupils ; and in their faces, as in little mirrors, you may see reflected what he is. This is not alone true of the active and accomplished teacher. It is equally true of the incompetent, the indolent, the mercenary, and the inefficient. Upon such we have no money to waste; and we desire that their influence, instead of being propagated, may perish with them. We want no teach- ers whose education does not carry them beyond the limits of the text book-none whose only call to teach is the necessity of supplying their daily wants or the

desire for means to gratify their vanity-none who are willing to let the hours of school drag along in weari- some hum drum routine-none who have not the power to direct and control the impetuosity of boyhood, to cut the Gordian knots of difficulty, and, instead of weakly yielding to circumstances, to make circumstances. The teacher must not servilely follow in the beaten track of any model, however perfect ; he must not attempt to copy literally any other man; for the problem to be solved-the best education of the particular children be- fore him-is not precisely the same which has been pre- sented to any other. He must adapt himself and all proper means, to the end in view. He must master the subject to be taught, and make it his own ; for there is no real teaching which does not flow from the full foun- tain of the teacher's knowledge.

To secure the highest success, he needs a liberal cul- ture ; a thorough preparation for the profession ; and a natural aptitude for the work, with an enthusiasm born of the love which that fitness brings. It is presumption for one who has only crept over a few paces of the way, and seen but the simplest truths, to attempt to conduct a youth along the path of knowledge. As well might a lame blind man attempt to guide you along the steep acclivities of the mountain, and point out to you the wide-spreading glories of Alpine scenery.

But to be a good scholar, is not necessarily to be a good teacher. Good teaching is an art to be acquired. Many of the best teachers, indeed, were trained only in the school of experience. But think of the good left undone while they were learning! Our schools cannot afford such experiments. This fact is becoming known. Boards of Education, Teachers' Conventions, and School Committees, are demanding professional training for

teachers ; and we may hail the day as not far distant when none but trained teachers will be employed. Nat- ural fitness for the work of teaching, is of great impor- tance ; and some who possess it have, without training, succeeded better than others with that training. But these cases are exceptional. If any one has this capac- ity, let him take courage and be thankful that he has found his proper sphere of usefulness ; if any one has it not, let him seek to overcome the obstacles that hinder him, and in the very effort to conquer he may find an element of strength-an assurance of victory.

If there are teachers who see, in the daily duties of the school room, only irksome toil with no meaning be- yond the present, they bear the burdens of teaching and do its drudgery, but deprive themselves of its pleasures. They should take a broader view. Many an exercise, by itself. may seem unimportant and destitute of any good result ; but when taken in its connection, and viewed as a part of the great process of education, it has a new sig- nificance. In this light, every service of the teacher beams with a new radiance; in the tasks assigned she sees the food upon which minds grow; in each child she sees not merely the rough manners and coarse habits, if, unfortunately, these are to be seen, but a young im- mortal, whose destiny she has the opportunity to shape; and when this is seen the toil is glorified.

PUPILS.

The number of pupils registered in the schools is greater than the number returned by the assessors. A reason for this is that many belong to the schools who are more than fifteen years of age, many have reached the age of five since May, when the census was taken, and others have moved into the city. But this will not account for all the discrepancy. It is probable that the

number returned by the assessors is too small. The per cent. of attendance has decreased since last year, ex- cept in the High School. This is not a pleasing fact. The number of absences is as great as it would be if six hundred and eleven of the pupils had been absent the whole year, or as if each pupil had been absent forty-one half days-a half day each week. There can be no ne- cessity for so much absence. It indicates an alarming negligence on the part of parents.

In Prussia a child on arriving at the suitable age is "due at school." Our laws on this subject are not very strict. But the moral obligation remains. The teacher has the first claim upon a scholar who has once entered school ; and it is not merely courtesy, but it is the duty of the parent to explain the cause of every absence and to prevent its recurrence.

A law of the state requires every child under a certain age to attend school a part of the year. But the law is not strictly enforced. There are children in this city under twelve years of age who do not attend school at all. We are quite stringent, however, in our "Dog Laws." These little animals, without collars, we regard as wild beasts; and we do not tolerate them in the street. But children without education are far more dangerous. Why should not the School Law be enforced as strictly as the other ?

Three per cent. of all our pupils belong to ;the High School. This rate is too small. In Providence five per cent. of the pupils are in the High School. About three and eight tenths per cent. of the pupils in the Centre District belong to the highest grade of Grammar Schools ; and twenty-six per cent. belong to the Grammar Schools of all grades. Over eighteen per cent. are in the Second- ary Schools. More than fifty per cent are in the Pri-

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mary Schools. It is remarkable that the average age of pupils in the Primary Schools-highest grade-is nine years and three months, while the average age of all pupils belonging to our schools, is only nine years and seven months.

Thus it appears that the Primary Schools are the strategical point. Here the foundation is laid for schol- arship in the higher grades ; and to more than half our pupils, what is here done is both foundation and super- structure. Good teaching in the lower schools gives the right direction and stimulus to scholars at the outset; and by awakening an interest in study it helps to retain them in the schools. It is a mistake to suppose that every person can teach a Primary School. These schools need the most skillful teachers. We employ the most careful gardener to cultivate the tender blade, not the vigorous stalk.

MUSIC.

Vocal music has been taught in our schools by special teachers seven years. It is a branch of study in the regular course ; and pupils desiring promotion, and can- didates for teachers, should expect an examination in music. One lesson half an hour in length is now given each week in the Secondary, Grammar, and High Schools. It is expected that every school will be drilled on the lesson ten minutes each day by its teacher; and where this is faithfully done, good progress is made.

Many of the teachers, indeed, are not musicians ; but with a little study and attention to the lessons of the music teacher, they can very successfully second his in- struction. One of the Boston teachers, most successful in this respect, cannot sing at all.

Every child who can speak, can be taught to sing ; and in this way there is opened to him an unfailing

source of profit and enjoyment. The influence of music in allaying angry passions and awakening pleasant thoughts, is well known. It has often changed the tem- per of a pupil, as the harp of David drove out the evil spirit from Saul.

To blend harmonious voices in uttering the same de- votional and patriotic words, creates community of feel- ing among scholars ; and noble sentiments and poetic feelings are often begotten in little hearts, by the very power of music by which they are expressed.

PHYSICAL EXERCISE.

In some of our schools it is the practice daily to spend a few minutes in some form of calisthenics. In one room fifty children will, in one minute, go through more than a hundred different movements to the sound of the piano, and with military precision. This should be prac- ticed in every school ; for the development of the mind depends largely upon the health and comfort of the body. In the able report of the School Committee for 1865, it is said, on this subject, that " in due place and proper subordination, nothing can be more important to the health of scholars, and to the highest discipline of a. school, than a moderate time given to brisk and spir- ited movements which stir the sluggish blood, and give at once pleasurable relaxatian and healthful stimulus and glow to the system. Often the pale and weakly children who object to it, are the ones who need it most. This need, which is permanent, should not be met with an occasional spasmodic excitement which shall rush to an extreme and become injurious, but should be attended to wisely as part of the regular school programme."

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE.

The first requisite to the success of a school is good order ; and in securing it, there is need of a certain tact.

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partly natural, and partly the result of experience. But the chief obstacles to discipline in school, are the lack of it at home, and the mistaken idea, on the part of a few parents, that the opinion of the pupil on the subject should have as much weight as that of the teacher. Nine cases of difficulty out of ten, arise from this cause. This is all wrong. To secure good scholars we must place the authority in the hands of teachers; and then they may be held accountable for its proper use. Implicit obedience is the duty of scholars. This should be im- pressed upon them at home. When it is done, there is no trouble from the use of arbitrary power; the teacher may then depend upon more pleasant means. It is not to be understood that schools should be governed by despotic will; but having authority, the teacher can suc- cessfully appeal to reason.

MORAL EDUCATION.

The business of education in the schools is not limited to the subjects of the text books. Whatever affects the health of pupils should be carefully watched. Good manners, politeness, and habits of kindness, should be inculcated. The moral character of actions, the duty which each child owes to himself, to society and to his Creator, can often be enforced by a word " fitly spoken"; and there are, in the city, many children wholly unin- structed in all these things, except as they are taught in the schools. A little incident, seized upon at the right moment, will often point a moral more effectually than the most eloquent appeal at any other time, and thus, it may be, turn a child from a vicious life.

The field of moral and religious truth is so broad, the things about which Christian men agree, are so many more than those about which they differ, that these oppor- tunities for benefiting the child, may be improved by the

judicious teacher, without fear of offence to those of op- posite beliefs. But it is not by direct means chiefly, that moral culture is to be secured in our schools. It is by the silent, pervasive influence of a well formed character, and a conscientious devotion to duty on the part of the teachers.

THE HIGH SCHOOL MEDAL FUND.

This fund of one thousand dollars was donated in the year 1859 by Gov. Bullock, then Mayor of the City, the yearly proceeds to be used " to encourage merit in both sexes in the High School." For seven years the interest was applied in purchasing medals, known as the Bullock prizes, to be distributed among meritorious scholars. But the good results expected, were not realized from this method of applying the proceeds of the fund. Accord- ingly, with the consent of the donor, in February, 1868, its name was changed to "The Bullock Fund for the High School Library and Apparatus "; " the annual in- come to be hereafter applied to the uses of the Library and Apparatus of said school. At the same time, for the purpose of opening the way to the further increase of this fund, the sum of one hundred dollars was contribut- ed by a gentleman of the School Board whose devotion to the interest of our schools is unsurpassed. The same gentleman has also proposed to place in the school-room of three Grammar masters a set of Chambers's Encyclo- pædia. This is to be the nucleus of a " Library of Ref- erence Books" for each of the Grammar Schools, than which nothing is more needed or more useful. The only such books now supplied are Webster's Dictionary and Lippincott's Gazetteer. Mention is here made of these additional donations, both because it is due the disinter- ested liberality of the donor-our esteemed fellow-citizen, George Jaques, Esq .- and because it is believed that

other gentlemen of like liberality will desire to aid in carrying out the design.

Having occupied this office but a few months, it is not possible for me to compare the schools of to-day with those of a year ago, or to point out the successive steps in the year's progress. It has been attempted, rather, to describe them as they are, and to make such sugges- tions as seem beneficial. In their history, in their gen- eral good order, in the degree of advancement and pro- gress of the pupils, and in the enthusiasm of the teach- ers, these schools are a pride and an ornament to our city. Judged by an untried theory, they might seem the embodiment of an utterly false and injurious system. Judged by what they are doing, though by no means perfect, they command our admiration ; for in them have been educated a community of good citizens, and men whose names are an honor to the city.

But as the present is an improvement upon the past, so the future must be an advance upon the present. Nothing could be more fatal to our schools than the idea, in the minds of those who conduct them, that they are perfect. What they are, they have become by succes- sive stages of improvement. By close attention to their workings, and by examining other schools of acknow- ledged excellence, we may improve them still.

In seeking to advance our schools, however, we should remember that change is not always progress, nor is an- tiquity perfection. Between a mania for the new, and a blind reverence for the old, there is a mean where lies the path of true progress. Schools grow better, just as the abuses in society are corrected, more by reformation than by revolution.

In closing, I deem it not inappropriate to allude to the distinguished services of my predecessor. A fitting

tribute to his worth, is contained in an extract from the Mayor's Address accompanying this report. What he did is better known to you who were associated with him, than to me who only knew him as a man of gene- rous spirit and warm zeal in the work of education. He left in the midst of great schemes for the upbuilding of our educational system, upon what he thought the only true foundation. And when the magnitude of this loss, seen from the standpoint of the future, is fully realized, our action will be justified only in proportion to the fidelity with which, according to our ability, we guard the great interests committed to our hands. Though we have Cyrus no longer, let us strive to conduct the forces that remain, if not to the anticipated conquest, at least along the highway of safety.

Respectfully submitted,

ALBERT P. MARBLE, Sup't Public Schools.

Worcester, Feb. 1869.

Secretary's Report.

RESOURCES AND EXPENDITURES.

RESOURCES.

Appropriated by City Council, $93,175.00

Received from State School Fund,

1,658 10

From Wor. Co. Fire Ins. Co. for damage to furniture in Summer st. School House,

101 75

Of Secretary for articles sold,

35 00

Parley Goddard in part for fence,

12 00

N. G. Tucker for water closets Providence st. House,

135 00

From non-resident pupils,

28 00

School books charged in taxes,

95 36

$95,240 21

ORDINARY EXPENDITURES.

Salaries of Teachers, Superintendent, and Secretary, Fuel,

$ 72,459 19

Books and apparatus,

528 42

Care of houses, fres, sweeping, &c.,

3,111 40

Ordinary repairs of houses,

1,794 04

Furniture for school rooms,

688 67

Furnishings for schools,

983 62

Printing and advertising,

497 03

Rent of repair shop,

148 00

Miscellaneous expenses.

620 20

Total ordinary expenses,

$86,424 52

EXTRAORDINARY EXPENDITURES.

Furnishing new houses and rooms,

$6,673 18

Gas fixtures in Orange st. for Evening Schools,

67 07

Rent and furnishing "Barton house " for temporary use for school rooms, 178 09

New out-houses and water works, Providence st.,

118 05

Rent and expenses of clearing out Main st. house,

416 22

Painting and other expenses attending the burning of the Summer st. house, 275 57

5,593 95

New heating apparatus, High School, Thomas st., and Ad- ams Square, 185 34

Rent of rooms and fitting up Temple st. house, 200 60

High School Apparatus, 239 31

Dix st. fence and grading,

107 56

Lamartine st. «

145 14

New floor, sheathing, and blackboards, Leesville,

66 Valley Falls,

120 91

Fitting up new room at New Worcester,

20 90

New brick sidewalks, Pleasant st. 66 Orange st.

33 75

Salem st.

102 59

Putting in city water at Sycamore st. and New Worcester, 64 89

Rent of school room, Holbrook's block, 176 66

Books and Apparatus for 22 new school rooms, 919 45

306 48

Furnishings for 22 new schools,

$10,527 15

Total ordinary and extraordinary expenditures, $96,951 71

The City Council also appropriated for school houses and lots, $25,000 00

Expended for new houses and lots, 47,466 11

Total expenditures for school purposes for the year, $144,417 82

This is an unprecedented expenditure for this city for school purposes in one year. But the city is at a period of unprecedented growth, as will appear by a glance backward. In 1860 we had a population of twenty-four thousand nine hundred and seventy-three, (24,973,) with a valuation of $16,409,900. The number of polls was 6327, number of schools fifty-six, number of teachers seventy-two; average number of pupils belonging for the year, 4001 ; cost of the schools $33,497.22; value of school property $150,000 ; cost per scholar $10.10.

In 1868 we have a valuation of $26,220,200; number of polls 9137 ; number of schools one hundred and nine ; number of teachers one hundred and twenty-four ; ave- rage number of pupils belonging for the year 6112; value of school property $450,000; ordinary expendi- ture for schools $86,424.52 ; cost per scholar $14.14.

68 80

106 59

In comparing the cost of the schools at the different periods, it must be borne in mind that the cost of every thing we hire or buy has increased nearly one hundred per cent. In this view it will appear that the compara- tive cost per scholar has been really reduced instead of increased. The increase of the cost per scholar is only twenty-nine per cent. You might as well charge your- self with extravagance because you are now obliged to pay a common laborer two dollars for ten hours' work, when you could hire the same man eight years ago for one dollar for twelve hours' work.

There has been much speculation upon our probable population at the present time. There is really no basis of calculation but what would, under the circumstances, bring out a result much below the real increase. If you take the increase in the number of polls, you must bear in mind that since 1860 we have had a war, and drafts, thereby making it almost impossible for assessors of taxes to obtain the names of men liable to taxation, so strong is the suspicion that the names are to be used for other purposes ; besides, there is a strong desire, especially among those who are not entitled to vote, to escape tax- ation. Our ward officers and our City Treasurer can testify how very large a number of men went untaxed the last year without any attempt at concealment on their part, for they presented themselves to pay their tax, and to vote, and could not do the one or the other. It is but a few years since our people knew all their neighbors, and a large portion of the people in the town ; but now, we hardly know, in a large portion of the city, the name even of our next door neighbor. It becomes more difficult, therefore, from year to year, to obtain the names of persons liable to taxation, especially when the city is filling up so fast with strangers.

The increase of the number of children in our public schools is not much, if any better, as a basis. As our city fills up with factories, machine shops, and a great diversity of other means of employment, avenues open for the labor of children, who should be in our schools. Hundreds of children are now employed in daily labor, who are within school age. The average age at which children leave our schools, it will be seen by comparison, has very sensibly lowered within eight years. Is it not, for the cause of education in this city, an alarming fact, that the average age of the children in our public schools, Jan. 1, was only nine years and seven months ? In 1860 the teacher kept upon her register and counted as belonging to the school every scholar until she knew he had left school not to return, at least for the term. The rule now is, if a scholar is absent two weeks from whatever cause, his name is stricken from the register, and he is not counted as having belonged to the school since the day he left. The change in this rule, of itself, makes a great difference, if you use the numbers belong- ing to the schools as reported at the two periods, as a basis in estimating the increase in the population.

Taking all these matters into account, there is no doubt that the estimate of 40,000 population based upon the increase in the polls, and the increase in the number of children in our public schools, is far too low.

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Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1867-1870, Part 24

Author: Worcester (Mass.) Publication date: 1867 Publisher: The City Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Worcester (Mass.)
Publication date: 1867
Publisher: The City
Number of Pages: 1452