USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1867-1870 > Part 43
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6.4
Any system of graded schools is liable to the objec- tion that some pupils are kept back by the class, while others are not able to advance so rapidly. To enable the master of each building to attend to these isolated cases in the various rooms, it is desirable that his author ity should extend to them all, not only in matters of discipline, but also of instruction.
In that case he needs an assistant to perform a part of the extra labor thus imposed. This assistant may at the same time be acquiring that experience which fits her for directing a school. This plan has been adopted in one building, with such success, it is believed, as to warrant its introduction elsewhere. This alone, it seems to me, will give symmetry and efficiency to our system. By this means may easily be removed, the only valid objection to graded schools.
THE TRAINING SCHOOL
With this school the year of experiment is past ; its success is assured. In May last the first class was grad- uated, and, with one or two exceptions, they are success- fully engaged in teaching. Its influence is not confined to the schools where its graduates teach. Many of our best teachers find there those natural methods of teach- ing, and principles of instruction, which they apply with excellent results in their own schools. Maxims like these-"Never tell a child what he can find out for himself," -- "First the thought, for the child, and then its expression"-when once apprehended by a teacher, will forever prevent the attempt to pour dry facts into un- willing ears, or to force from childish lips a string of meaningless definitions.
Early in the year this school sustained a severe loss, in the resignation of Miss D. A. Lathrop, who had been connected with it from its origin. Her rare ability
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to execute, the clearness of her ideas, and the vigor of her expression, tended to produce like qualities in the young ladies under her care-giving definiteness of out- line to their thoughts, their language, and their acts ; a quality of the greatest value in a teacher. Not only in this way, but by the splendid force of an excellent char- acter, she indelibly impressed herself for good, upon those whom she instructed.
It is matter for congratulation, that the present prin- cipal who has also been in the school since its beginning, is able to carry it on with undiminished usefulness.
But a single teacher could not possibly give the prop- er instruction to the Training Class and at the same time attend to the wants of the children in the three rooms. The school was therefore reorganized. The most advanc- ed class, called the Model School, was placed under the care of one of the graduates of the school; the other two are each cared for by a special teacher, also a gradu- ate ; and in them the members of the Training Class practise as teachers, always under the eye of one of their own number, the special teacher of the room, or the Training Teacher.
This practice, and the criticism by which it is followed in the daily lessons, is one of the most useful exercises for the young ladies. By practice, and by practice only, can any theory of teaching be confirmed and vitalized. And by daily criticism, sharp, but friendly, the vitalizing process is hastened. By it a young lady becomes one of the very best of critics-a critic of her own teaching.
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
As last year, the per cent. of our pupils who reached this school is small-too small; for when such ample means are afforded for a higher education, parents do injustice to their children, if they neglect any effort to
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secure it for them. In many cases, it is believed, to forego a few of the pleasures and needless expenses, to which the city furnishes such temptations, would enable men of limited means to maintain their children in the school, and thus open to their minds sources of pleasure and of power, which otherwise they never will discover. It is a shame that of the many thousands in our schools, so few reap the full benefit of them, and drink from this sweetest fountain of waters ever free. In the future this must not be ! In this city, there is provided for all, an education, equal to that to be acquired in the full course at Harvard in carly times, when the great men of our history were students there-and, parents of this genera- tion, your children will reproach you in the coming years if, by your indifference, they fail to seize this great opportunity.
But the improvement of the pupils who belong to this school is not the only nor even the chief benefit which such a school affords. This school is a part of our system. It is in no respect different from the others except in grade ; and so its influence is felt upon them all. Only three hundred pupils belong to the High School, but eight thousand feel its influence, by which they are drawn farther towards it if they do not all reach its doors.
Still another advantage, resulting from High Schools and the higher Seminaries, is often overlooked by those who specially admire the public schools of lower grades. It is the influence of the High Schools which keeps up the standard of education in the Grammar Schools. To the influence of the Colleges and the Technical Schools we owe the excellence of our High Schools. The higher education is the conservator of that which is more ele- mentary.
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The resignation of the accomplished principal of this school in July last, caused by ill health, was regarded as a calamity. His superior scholarship, and the lesson there was in his silent presence, won the confidence of the pupils, and the community. It speaks well, however, for the organization, and the present able management, that the interest in the school continues unabated.
TEACHERS.
The increase in the whole number of teachers is four- teen. This does not, however, indicate the number of new teachers employed. Nearly twenty-five per cent of all the teachers have been employed within a year; so that on an average female teachers remain in the schools only four or five years. In view of this fact, and of the great importance that the instructors in our schools should be not only well educated, but skilled in the art of teaching, the question of supplying our schools, is seen to be of the greatest importance.
There are persons of marked ability as teachers, who, with very limited opportunity to prepare for the profes- sion, seem intuitively to adopt the best method to awak- en the interest of children, and to secure for them the greatest progress. Such teachers are very rare. Others, of moderate ability, good education and a spirit ambi- tious to excel, enter upon the work of teaching, and improve year by year. These do good work at last, but in their education as teachers, that of the pupils suffers. Apprenticeship must usually precede successful business. Others still are excellent scholars, but good teachers they never can become. To one or another of these classes, most teachers belong.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
The necessity of special training for teachers is thus apparent-training which shall not only instruct them in
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the best methods of teaching, but which shall give them practice under the eye of some one qualified to correct mistakes and to judge of their teaching capacity. It is by teaching, that one best learns to teach ; but there is no time for this experimental practice in the schools, where our hold of the children is so brief. In a Normal school under an experienced teacher, the practice is far more profitable. Teachers trained by practice are the need of the present time. To meet this need in the primary grades, is the work of the Training School. But what of the higher grades ?
In this county with its thirty-four thousand children in the schools, eight hundred and fifty teachers are at work. If the average time they are employed is the same as in this city, two hundred new teachers enter upon the work yearly. It is probable that the number is much larger ; for in the country towns, changes are more frequent than in the city. To meet this demand for trained teachers, there is no adequate source of sup- ply, which is within our reach. A large proportion of all pupils in the State Normal Schools, live in the imme- diate vicinity of the institution. In this respect the teachers of Worcester County are not well accommodat- ed. It is more economical to employ teachers near home ; we ought not to be compelled to seek Normal School teachers from abroad.
It would seem, from all this, that a State Normal School, to be united with our Training School perhaps, is not only what is needed, but what ought to be demanded. This city alone would yearly employ a siza- ble class; the wants of the county are still greater. These were once apparent, it seems, and Barre was the seat of such a school. But that location must have been unfortunate, since it is not a centre of travel; and
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what was designed to supply our needs, has been diverted to another place. . The want continues ; from this place it can be supplied. Worcester is in the centre of a pop- ulous and thriving circle of towns; with her iron arms to the north, the south, the east, and the west, she embraces them all. A new railroad is under contract. Coaches run in all directions. From every town and village in the county this city is most easy of access.
That this vicinity is the needy field, and this city the most fitting place for such a school, needs only to be mentioned to be acknowledged. That other counties are equally needy may be true, but that any other in the state is equally destitute in this respect, and at the same time equally populous and wealthy, is not true. Every county ought to be supplied with a Normal School ; and Worcester, first. All who are familiar with the educational wants of the times will admit this. The only objection that can be urged is on the ground of expense ; and that is no objection at all. Who does not know that the preëminence of Massachusetts always has depended upon the intelligence of her people-that edu- ucated brain is the only commodity, in whose production she can compete with the great states of the republic, rich in every natural advantage? And can this state tunnel her rock-ribbed mountains, at an immense cost, and at the same time refuse any small sum, in the sup- port of those interests, through which alone she has the ability to level hills ?
If the need which I have indicated is seen by this com- munity as it is seen by me, the present legislature will hear a voice on the subject, to be silenced, only by grant- ing what is asked.
But while careful to provide for the future, I would not, in the least, disparage the ability or the devotion of
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our present corps of teachers. Among them, are those, whose experience and constant self-culture, have more than supplied any lack of early professional education ; and with few exceptions, they engage heartily in all that may benefit their schools. Many a child finds in his teacher a friend, such as he does not find even in his home.
It is not strange if, occasionally, persons engage in teaching who are prepared neither to perform the duties nor to appreciate the high responsibilities of this noble calling. Some there doubtless are, who look out of the school room longingly, waiting for something better. To such that happier day will never come ; for they have not learned the lesson that happiness dwells in faithful labor and fidelity to present duty, not in future ease. The number of these is very small ; while as a whole, by entering into the spirit of their work, by taking a per- sonal interest in their pupils, and by being alert to take every possible step to a higher stage of efficiency, our teachers are performing a service whose value is known to those only who examine it closely. There are people who value the work of a teacher as they reckon the wages of a mule-driver-so many dollars for so many hours. As well attempt to measure the potent influence of the summer rain and the gently distilling dew, by the yard, or the lightning's force by the pound! It is said that the salary of the president of Harvard College is $3,000 a year, and that of the chief cook at the Parker House is $4,000. So long as cooks are better paid than teachers, there may result this advantage, that few will engage in the higher vocation, who are not actuated by the higher motives. But the community should not forget, that a debt of gratitude is due the faithful teach- er, which is not cancelled by the pecuniary reward.
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PUPILS.
The increase in the average number of pupils belong- ing to all our schools is two hundred and ten, which is less than that of last year. The per cent. of daily attendance to the average number belonging is nearly ninety-two-an increase of four tenths of one per cent. This ratio of daily attendance is still far too small. It indicates too much indifference on the part of parents ; and it must be overcome by vigorous efforts by teach- ers to awaken a deeper interest. About one twelfth of the advantages of the schools has been lost by the absence of children.
In this respect a better showing might easily have been made. by a less strict mode of keeping the record. Pupils are not counted as present constructively, when really absent. They are not allowed to be present at roll call and then dismissed for the session, without be- ing counted absent. The absence during severe storms is always counted if the schools are in session ; and the schools are never discontinued when it is possible for them to go on. It is better that the actual fact should appear, whatever its deformity ; for thus it may be the more easily remedied.
The purpose of the public schools is two-fold-benev- olent, to secure for individual pupils the means of educa- cation ; and protective, to defend the state from an ig- norant populace. To secure these benefits to society individuals must surrender some of their rights for the public welfare. No man is allowed to keep his children from school; and in the choice of studies, one must often yield his personal preference to the general good. Even the right of parents to control their own children is subordinate to their duty to society. Under more despotic governments, the attendance of children at
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school is a matter of police regulation. Happily in these states moral means are generally sufficient. But there is still two much work for the truant officer, who has this year attended to more than two thousand cases of delinquency among pupils, and returned them to school in twelve hundred instances. It would be well for every parent to consider, not only his privilege of enjoying the benefits of the schools, but also the duty of having his children present, and obedient to all their regulations and requirements.
DISCIPLINE.
On the whole the order in our schools is excellent. Very rarely can you find a room in which disorder and confusion prevail. Gentlemen from abroad, who have visited our schools with me, have noticed the quiet, yet earnest manner of the pupils, and their attention to the business in hand, instead of to the visitor. In this last respect there has recently been a marked improvement, which is in part traceable to the remarks of a member of this board on the subject. Such remarks calling attention to little defects, often produce good results ; and it would be well if they were more frequently made.
Cases of persistent disobedience, requiring severe measures occur very seldom ; and corporal punishment, though resorted to in some instances, is not often found necessary. But when necessary, and applied judiciously, it has been of great advantage. There is in the schools today many a boy quietly attending to his duty who, but for this means of education, would be either a con- stant disturbance to the school, or an idler upon the streets. The use of the rod is discouraged, till its use or a greater evil becomes unavoidable, but not longer ; and there are many schools, perhaps I may say a large
majority, where this necessity has not arisen. But who shall say how often it might have arisen, if the rod had been prohibited ? The difficulties which have been experienced in some of our sister cities, where this has been done, make solemn reply.
The advocates of this so-called reform are not usually persons of experience in the school room ; and they do great injustice to teachers, and injury to the good disci- pline of schools, by assuming that all such punishment is cruel, and that only the hard-hearted or barbarous teacher will inflict it. Cruelty, if, as should never hap- pen, a teacher is possessed of it, may be practiced in a far worse form. In one of our largest cities where cor- poral punishment is forbidden, a sensitive little girl was, for some slight offence, placed upon the teacher's desk to be hissed at by several hundred pupils. What mere temporary bodily pain, so cruel as this disgrace before her playmates-this wound upon a delicate spirit which does not pass away with the present smart ? Abolishing corporal punishment would not prevent cruelty, even if there were any to be prevented; and its use is not inconsistent with the purest benevolence and good will. Indeed, only when so used is it proper. Self-respect, a laudable ambition to excel, and the innate sense of right which may be developed in every child, will usual- ly furnish motives for obedience and good order. And upon these cultivated in the children, and exemplified in himself, the teacher ought chiefly to rely. Especially should no one attempt to control wayward children, who cannot "rule his own spirit." But when these means have failed, it is well for children to learn early, what they will otherwise experience later, that penalty fol- lows wrong doing-that suffering inevitably succeeds wickedness.
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But, much as the effective discipline of a school must depend upon the teacher, it depends even more upon the influence of the home. Censoriousness in parents often defeats the wisest efforts of teachers ; since occa- sion for complaint can always be found, where the dispo- sition to complain is not wanting, for all teachers are human. In securing good discipline then, the active cooperation and sympathy of parents ought first to be sought; and this will usually follow personal acquaint- ance in teachers and parents, with each others' wishes and necessities. Most difficulties originate in misunder- standings. And many cases of serious complaint have been settled, by simply bringing the parties together, for mutual explanations. There are cases of determined and obstinate malignity persisted in, from mere love of it; and in these, the persons can only be left to be the victims of their own malice. But a spirit of concilia- tion, a disposition gentle, and not too self-asserting, will do much towards smoothing the rough places, and win its way often where a sterner one would fail.
COURSE OF STUDY.
More than a year since it became apparent that the "uniformity of instruction in schools of the same grade," which it is the duty of this officer to secure as far as possible, could not well be brought about, without some stated outline as the basis of that uniformity. Accord- ingly every school was visited and notes taken of their progress ; and every teacher was requested to make out a written statement of the advancement of his school, and what part of it was accomplished in one year. From these observations and statements, and with such im- provements as suggested themselves, a curriculum for all the grades, has been arranged under the direction of the sub-committee to whom the subject was referred.
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This is now presented to be adopted with such modifi- cations as may hereafter be found necessary.
DRAWING.
Like music this study has not till recently been intro- duced into the public schools; and both, when once they are introduced and the benefits resulting from them are known, will always be continued. Both are in some sense fine arts ; and drawing especially is also a very practical art like writing. In our schools, drawing, which has been taught since last May, alternates with writing. The idea of form, as well as the command of muscle, required in drawing is directly useful in writing. And thus far the results fulfil the expectation at the beginning, that no less progress would be inade in writ- ing because of the time spent in the other study. In our schools pupils are not taught to copy pictures as some suppose ; by practice on simple copies, gradually increasing in difficulty, the eye is educated to judge of forms and distances with accuracy, and the muscle is taught to obey the will. To those who have not consid- ered the subject, it is surprising to find in what a variety of occupations this simple art is useful. In the words of an eminent educator "Skill in drawing has an intrinsic and practical value. It is of great importance in all pursuits conversant with the external form of things ; and to many trades and professions, including all scien- tific mechanics, it is quite indispensable. It is useful to the architect, the master builder and almost every mechanic, in drafting his plans, making contracts, and calculating the cost of construction. The pattern rooms in our machine shops and foundries, in the print and car- pet factories, in the jewelry and plate works, the engrav- ing and paper staining establishments, in the arsenal and armory works, and many other manufactories, will
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indicate in part the numerous and important uses to which the competent draftsman applies his skill. I pass over its obvious uses in all inventions, in surveying, in map drawing, in civil and inilitary engineering and other pursuits ; for there is scarely any calling in which this art would not find a useful application. But these practical uses of drawing, valuable as they seem, are of minor importance compared with its influence in educat- ing the mind." To educate is to develope the powers. What power is the source of greater profit or delight than that by which we distinguish the beautiful in form and feature ! It is through the eye, that some of our most refined ideas of the grand and the beautiful are derived. The eye opens to us those fields of infinite space, out through which we peer from this little orb far towards the throne of the Eternal. And what instru- ment of such facile motion and delicate adjustment as the hand ! The hand is the prime minister of the mind, executing its behests, and by its new creations leading the mind to higher development. All civiliza- tion rests upon the structure of the human hand. Had this been formed like the hoof of an ox, there would have been the end of all human ambition and greatness.
Such are the powers of the hand and the eye. Shall the education of these be neglected ?
MUSIC.
The good influence of music upon the order and the disposition of pupils, is more apparent every year. Those schools which sing well are more easily taught. Where all, with one consent give attention to the same exercise, whether it be music or gymnastics, the attention of the whole is more easily concentrated upon any other sub- ject. The few minutes spent daily in this way, instead of being so much time taken from the hours of study,
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are in reality so much added to them, because of the better tone of mind which they bring. The halls with which the new school houses are provided furnish a place for bringing together the pupils from several rooms for these lessons ; and neither the interest in the lessons, nor the progress of the class seems to have been retarded by so doing. In one respect at least there is a positive advantage from assembling a larger number for the les- son ; it shows the necessity for accurate time. It exhibits also the excellent training which the schools are receiv- ing in this particular. No department of music is more important than this, either in developing talent or in its effect upon character. The boy who has thoroughly learned to sing in time, has taken a long step towards promptness in every thing. Nor does the disadvantage which might be expected, follow this union of several schools for the lesson. The individual is not lost in the multitude ; for they not only sing in chorus, but a half dozen are heard by themselves from time to time, and each one is occasionally called out alone. It is encour- . aging to see, as I have in many schools, what life is thrown into that musical notation which is often so dry and meaningless to children. These notes should not be to them mere dots upon the paper. Each is the rep- resentative of an idea ; and when this idea is vital in the mind, these notes become living things-they dance before the eye, warble from the tongue, and fall upon the ear in cheerful melody.
Two of these halls have been furnished with pianos this year, and in several school rooms pianos have been obtained through the enterprise of the teachers. To provide every school room in the city with a piano would seem too large an expense. But no school build-
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