USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1867-1870 > Part 5
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would do little towards relieving the pressure which has for years so sadly crippled and detracted from the ef- forts of our teachers. The Committee on Education of the city government was accordingly invited to visit and inspect some of the schools in the more crowded locali- ties, for I felt that the city fathers had only to be shown the condition of affairs to be vividly impressed with the magnitude of the evils of which we complained. Al- though suddenly called upon without previous appoint- ment, all of those gentlemen, who could be found, left their business for the greater part of a day, and spent the time as desired in the schools. The effect of this inspection upon their minds, and through them upon the Boards to which they respectively belonged, may be di- vined from the fact, that within one month from that visit another house of the same size and plan as the one above described was in process of erection. The liberal- ity and dispatch with which this needed work was re- solved upon and begun cannot be too highly commend- ed, and charged as I am with the interests of these schools, and feeling the greatness of the impulse for good conferred upon them by this one act of these gentlemen, I cannot forbear to render to them this heartfelt tribute of thanks on the behalf of the hundreds of little children, to each one of whom it was a personal favor of no small magnitude.
Thus, on the first of May next, there will be added to the school accommodations of the city a net increase of thirteen school rooms and two large halls. These, with the contemplated house north of the cemetery, and the proposed enlargement of the Quinsigamond house, will enable us to dispense with all but two of our double schools, and at the same time to reduce the schools to nearly their proper size.
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Another step in advance with which the year 1867 must be credited, is the more perfect grading of the Thomas street schools, and the discontinuance of the dou- ble ones there. The good effects of the closer grading were manifest within a few weeks after it was accomplished, and even those teachers, who were most hostile to it at the time, would now be unwilling to return to the old system.
But there is another influence whose potency for good cannot be estimated in figures or stated in quantitative terms. That is the increased general interest in their work displayed by the teachers, and the consequent im- provement in spirit and method which many of them evince. And I desire to bear cordial testimony to the cheerful willingness with which both teachers and pupils have uniformly responded when requested to undergo the trying ordeal of exemplifying principles or methods be- fore the rest of the teachers and the public, at those meetings for this purpose which have been held from time to time ; for it is a trying ordeal to be required to do this without previous special preparation.
In the two branches of Geography and Grammar, as taught in our schools, there has been a marked advance during the year. Especially has this been the case in Geography ; and the improvement is owing to the more rational method, and the increased interest consequent upon that method, which resulted from the adoption of Prof. Guyot's text-books. As the teachers become fa- miliar with these books, the character of their work will grow still better, but the wisdom of the change is already demonstrated. In the mere matter of map-drawing, re- sults have been reached in some of the schools which far transcend our expectations, and it is not too much to say that there are classes in the city, who have been using
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the Common School Geography less than three terms, who have more valuable practical knowledge of the sub- ject than was before taught in the whole course ; for surely that cannot be esteemed valuable which is invaria- bly forgotten as soon as learned. That what we have heretofore attempted to teach as geographical knowledge has been almost wholly forgotten, as soon as the subject has been dropped, is incontestable, both from our own ex- periences, and from daily proof in the schools. Irration- al methods breed treacherousness of memory and weak- ness of understanding.
But notwithstanding these several causes of congratu- lation, those who survey the ground most carefully must feel that we have only begun to tread in the right path, and that what remains to be done so far outweighs what has been accomplished that, like the philosopher, we have been only playing with the pebbles on the shore, while the vast ocean lies unexplored beyond. And in saying this I do not wish to be understood as making invidious distinctions against the schools of this city, for I know them to be fully up to, if not in advance of, the average of the schools in the country. But when one's neigh- bors are not what they ought to be, there is little com- fort in being as good as one's neighbors.
During this year, for the first time, has been carried into effect the vote of the Board directing semi-annual promotions. All the teachers, with one or two excep- tions, made cheerful effort to carry out the plan, and respectable classes were promoted all over the city ; and that the standard of qualification was not one whit lower than formerly, we have the unanimous testimony of those teachers to whom the pupils have been promoted. Some of them state that the classes received are the best they have had for years. But a general deduction that
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because the system has worked so well in this case, it will continue to do so without any modification to suit the new circumstances, is, I think, unwarranted, and will prove fallacious. That there was a necessity for the very thing that was done there is no doubt, and perhaps the object was accomplished in the best way, but this is be- cause our system had, in the rigidity of its mechanism, become choked by the slow movement of enormous classes, and there was needed some accelerating stimula- ting process to enable the bright members of those classes to disentangle themselves from the inertia of the mass. This object has been accomplished, but it is not to be ex- pected that the same effect would follow a like effort next year, for the children are now generally as far for- ward in the course as the stage of their mental develop- ment will justify. It may be asked-Will the old evil repeat itself then every few years ? It will undoubtedly, until our course of study is re-arranged, and until less mechanical methods of teaching are intelligently pur- sued. There is an immense' amount of mere rubbish in what we now teach, and all that should be eliminated. This evil is of such a character that one teacher cannot emancipate herself or her scholars from it by her own unaided effort. She must be helped to do it by the or- ganized power of this Board.
. During the past year a quiet, but none the less ear- nest, interest in the High School has manifested itself in the community. There exist two strongly defined par- ties whose wishes and aims with regard to this school are widely different. Consequently there is more or less tendency in these varied ideas to array themselves in hostility to each other. At one time the party hold- ing one set appears to be in the ascendant, and the op- posite party complains that its interests are sacrificed.
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On looking back at the history of the school, it appears that this tendency to oscillate between a near approach to the favorite system of the lovers of classical learning, or to that of the admirers of scientific training, is not a new one. Every vibration of this kind is followed by a season of satisfaction on one side and a consequent wish to maintain the established order ; and of discontent and agitation on the other. The feeling existing now has taken a form something like the following :- Those who believe in the paramount importance of what is called a " liberal education," who have a high opinion of the " sweetness and light" shed upon society by classical culture, are satisfied with the work that the school is doing, or at least with the course which it provides for the pupils. On the other hand that large class of our citizens who wish to prepare their children for the work of artizans and traders, complain with justice that the school furnishes no adequate provision for the proper training of their children. The greater part of the mo- ney which is raised for the support of the school comes from the pockets,-and three fourths-perhaps five sixths-of the pupils, are the children of this very class. With some feeling they remind us that in this country the greatest good of the greatest number is to be aimed at, and they demand that the kind of training which they wish for their children shall be the kind which the school shall furnish. Now it is never safe to lose sight of the truth that no man's real interests oppose the real interests of any other man. It is every person's duty to demand that not only shall his own rights be respected, but that the rights of every other shall be, in like man- ner, and to the same extent. No majority can without guilt sacrifice the interests of a minority. We ought not to wish to educate all our children after the same
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pattern. No particular course can be absolutely best for all, because all are not to follow the same occupation. Then we are inevitably led to the conclusion that we ought to furnish in our High School the broadest and freest possible opportunities to the young people of this community to develope themselves for the work which they choose to do in life. This freedom should be lim- ited by only the necessary limitations of such a school. And the interests and wishes of all classes in the com- munity should be liberally provided for. The form which is now taken by the complaints against the school is that the English branches, and natural sciences, are too much neglected. Few will deny that this is true, but it is equally true that it is impossible to satisfy both parties under the present organization and with the present facilities of the school.
The demands of justice and necessity alike dictate that a generous provision shall be made, and the first de- sideratum is a suitable house. It is true that with the present house a beginning can be made in the right di- rection, but at best it can be only a beginning, and things half done are never satisfactorily done.
The citizens of Worcester will not complain of the ne- cessary cost of a house which is needed in order to make possible the fulfilment of their own desires in re- spect to the training of their own children, and when the various phases of the question are fully understood, no one class will wish to see its own ideas adopted and car- ried to such predominance as to sacrifice the interests and wishes of any other class of their fellow citizens. And such liberality of sentiment and action as is here in- dicated will insure abundant and happy fruit in the in- creased usefulness of the school. During the year an earnest of this catholic spirit was given by the friends of
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scientific culture in the facility with which they acquies- ced in the organization of a class of young pupils, the children of those who believe in the superiority of the regular college training. In deference to the wishes of their parents, these pupils were admitted in order that they might begin at an earlier age than usual the study of the classics. Now, all that is asked, is, that a like freedom of choice and opportunity shall be accorded to those who wish to fit their children by a shorter method for the business of life, and who are not able or who do not wish to give them a collegiate education.
Organized on such a plan, the school will exert a much more widely beneficent influence, for many who now receive no benefit from it will then avail themselves of the advantages it will afford.
Respectfully submitted,
B. P. CHENOWETH, Sup't Public Schools.
Report of Committee on Bullock Prizes.
The Committee, consisting of Wm. S. Davis, Charles A. Chase, Rev. Charles Kelley, Dr. George E. Francis, James S. Rogers, Mrs. Z. Baker, and Mrs. D. A. Goddard, to whom was assigned the duty of making the eighth annual award of the Bullock prizes, respectfully sub- mit the following report :
The Committee have experienced no little embarrassment in at- tempting to distribute the prizes in conformity with the rules of the School Board upon this subject. This has arisen, not from any inhe- rent defect in the rules themselves, but from the unfortunate condition in which the various changes and disturbances of the past year have left the school.
The rules seem to require that twenty prizes shall be awarded- that not more than a certain number, nor less than a certain number, shall be awarded in certain specified studies-that they shall be award- ed only to pupils in some regular course-that only the more advanc- ed half of any class shall furnish candidates for them-and, finally, that in determining upon the successful competitors, equal value shall be attached to the standing of the pupils, as shown by the school record, with their standing as fixed by the examination of the Committee.
So diminished in numbers, however, are the third and fourth year classes, that they do not furnish the usual number of studies, for ex- cellence in which prizes may be awarded. The rules require that not more than four, nor less than two, prizes shall be awarded in Greek and Latin. It has been customary. heretofore, to give two prizes in each of these studies, upon a single examination in each of all the pu- pils in that study, in the whole school, without regard to classes- though the examination paper has usually been so severe that the prizes have naturally fallen to members of the two upper classes. But this year there is no graduating class in the classical department, and the Junior class furnishes but few classical scholars. There is but one small class in Greek in the school, while of the five classes in Latin three can hardly be said to have got much beyoud the rudiments of the study. We therefore have thought it advisable to give but one prize in Greek ; while we give three in Latin, based upon three distinct ex-
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aminations, adapted to the progress made by the different classes in that language.
The rules also require that not more than three nor less than two prizes be awarded in Physics. But there are no classes in Physics this year, unless we consider Astronomy-classed by previous commit- tees in the department of Mathematics-as a branch of Physics. We have felt compelled so to consider it, and to award two prizes to a very small class in it.
In Mathematics, it has been customary to award one prize in Trigo- nometry and Geometry, one in Algebra, one in Arithmetic, and one in Astronomy, as above suggested. As Arithmetic has not been taught till this year-save in the Normal course, which had a separate exam- ination-it has been usual to examine the whole school in that study. This year there has, however, been a distinct class in Arithmetic in the so-called Commercial course, which has been drilled chiefly in mental arithmetic, though the pupils have gone over all the branches of Commercial Arithmetic. We have therefore confined our exami- nation to this class, but we are sorry to say that the result does not justify the awarding any prize for "excellence" in that study. In order to make up the three mathematical prizes, we therefore give two in Algebra.
So small are many of the classes, that we have, in most instances, disregarded the rule providing that only the more advanced half shall be examined for prizes.
The more important provision that prizes shall be awarded upon the combined evidence of the school records and the examinations, we have also taken the responsibility of disregarding to a considerable extent. It appears that in several branches, the marks given by teach- ers whose connection with the school is now dissolved, have been, lost or destroyed. In at least one class there have been throughout the year, three distinct divisions under three different teachers, who can hardly have failed to mark upon three practically different standards. The impropriety of using such marks as a basis for the assignment of a prize; is too obvious to need comment. Under these circumstances, the Committee, after deliberation, and at the express desire of the teachers, determined to award the prizes this year in most instances upon the results of the examination alone-as has been done hereto- fore.
Following the precedent of previous years, individual members of the Committee have been the sole judges in all branches in which there has been an examination in writing, while the prizes in Decla-
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mation, Reading, and Composition have been awarded upon the com- bined judgment of all of the Committee who could attend to the sub- ject.
This year for the first time a prize has been given in penmanship. As it is taught in connection with Book-keeping, the examination was confined to that class, in supposed conformity with the rules of the Board. Some of the compositions, however, show better penmanship than any brought out by this examination.
This is the first year, too, in which a prize has been given in spelling. There being no special class in this branch, the examination was ex- tended to the whole school-and with a very gratifying result. Two of the pupils were absolutely perfect, and two others were perfect ex- cept that they mistook a single word-which, however, they spelt correctly.
In all these examinations, with the exception of Declamation and Reading-and also Penmanship, in which a portion of the pupils mis- takenly put their names instead of their numbers upon their exercises -the Committee have known the competitors by their numbers only. It is perhaps too much to hope that the prizes have in all cases been rightly awarded, but it is absolutely safe to say that there has been no bias or partiality in making the awards.
In connection with this matter of the fallibility of committees, it may be well to say, that the present committee, some members of which have been in the service before, have been led to consider the judi- ciousness of the so-called Prize System as applied to schools. We have reason to believe that our predecessors in this duty have also preceded us in the indulgence of the doubts that now trouble us, though they hesitated out of a sense of delicacy towards the beneficent found- er of this charity to speak even doubtfully about a system then in such universal practice and such apparently universal esteem. But the re- cent action of the Boston School Board in abolishing it from the schools of that city as an evil, would seem not only to justify but to call for a prompt and frank consideration of the subject ; so that if the conclusion is arrived at that a change would be healthful, steps may at once be taken towards a reform, before the possibility of effecting it shall have passed irrevocably away.
And it is believed that no one will more readily reconsider the sub- ject than he, whose munificence created the system for us, and who, ever in the van of enlightened progress, is as widely known for the liberality of his views as for his pecuniary generosity.
With a view to draw out an expression of the pupils themselves,
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"The Prize System as applied to Schools," was offered as one of the subjects for Prize Compositions. Of the six essays upon this subject handed to the Committee, two were inclined to favor it, two were on the whole in favor of abolishing it, and the other two condemned it in vigorous terms.
Without consuming time in rehearsing the arguments on the one side and the other of this question, the Committee, with a single ex- ception, are unanimous in the conviction that if the income of the fund now applied to the purchase of prize medals, could be, with the sanc- tion of its donor and of the city, devoted to the increase of the High School Library and the purchase of philosophical apparatus for the use of the school, its usefulness would be very materially enhanced.
The Committee take pleasure in commending the general appear- ance of the school, which in view of the vicissitudes of the year, is very creditable indeed.
The examiner in Latin pronounces the results highly satisfactory. The knowledge of Latin Prosody displayed by the single class is much superior to that of any class of the two preceding years.
In Geometry marked ability was shown by some of the pupils- though the advance was not quite as great as was expected.
In Algebra very little ground has been gone over-but there is ample evidence of conscientious drill on the part of the teachers. More will be said of this class in another connection.
In the English department generally, the scholars appeared very fairly-better than was expected by the Committee, taking into con- sideration the broken state of the school during a portion of the year. We would suggest that more progress would probably be made in His- tory, if the recitations were more frequent than now, even though only the same number of hours a year were devoted to it.
The compositions are unusually good. In general they are sensible essays, expressed in natural and vigorous language, devoid, in a happy degree, of sentimentality and dowdy attempts at fine writing.
We cannot forbear to congratulate the pupils and that portion of the public fortunate enough to be present, upon the fact that the Public Rhetorical Exercises were this year held in a room well adapted to the voices of the speakers, and for a display of their real merits. The whole audience gave unflagging attention to exercises of really supe- rior merit. No one was disturbed by the incomings or outgoings of that frivolous, restless portion of the community, which always attends public performances from a want of any thing better to do.
The Committee have been impressed with the fidelity and thorough-
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ness of the instruction, as a whole. We are satisfied that with such instruction the school might easily take a higher stand than it does, if the standard of admission to it could only be raised. That it is too low, now, in some respects, at least, is our unanimous conviction.
As has already been stated, the examination in Arithmetic was a failure. It was but little better last year, when the whole school was examined. Pupils are graduating here every year who do not know so much Arithmetic as the average scholars of our country district schools. For this the High School teachers are not responsible. Arithmetic is not taught here save in the Commercial course-and that is an experiment. It is presumed that when scholars enter this High School, they are sufficiently acquainted with this branch-a grammar school study-to enable them to forego further attention to it, and to grapple successfully with higher studies. But such has not proved to be the case. In Algebra, as has been before remarked, very little progress has been made. The examination displayed quite as much ignorance of the purely arithmetical portion of this study, as of the algebraic. The pupils have in fact been spending their time in fa- miliarizing themselves with arithmetical processes, which they ought to have known perfectly when they entered the school.
Whether it is true that pupils are received into the school with as unsatisfactory a knowledge of Geography and English Grammar as of Arithmetic, we cannot say with positiveness. It is perhaps fair to infer that, if the standard is too low in so important a study as Arith- metic, it is also too low in other respects.
If such be the case-if scholars are admitted to the school with an inadequate preparation in Arithmetic, Geography, and Grammar, it is quite obvious that their progress in higher studies must be impeded by it ; and that soon the standard of graduation will be as much lowered as is that of admission. The result will be that the school will imper- fectly perform the functions of a Grammar School and a High School, and those scholars desirous of receiving a really good education in the High School branches, will, if they can afford it, resort to private in- struction.
This ought not to be. It should be our pride and boast that no cit- izen, however affluent, can obtain for his children any better education in the best private school of the same grade in the country, than is gratuitously offered in this school to the children of the poorest day - laborer, who lives within the city limits.
But even keeping up the standard of admission will not effect this, unless all those interested in the welfare of the school work together.
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No school can be really successful, concerning the fitness of whose teachers or the judiciousness of the system of education pursued in which serious doubts are entertained by any considerable portion of the community, if they are permitted to affect the speech or action of the people. If it be unwise for a stockholder in a Bank to openly express doubts of its solvency, if it be unwise for even an officer of a ship to interfere with its pilot, it certainly is not the part of wisdom to openly criticise or in any way interfere with the system of instruction pursued in any public school. Of course there may be exigencies when interference is not only justifiable, but called for. So there may be times when the right of revolution ought to be exercised by a peo- ple. But the right of revolution does not justify, in the world's opin- ion, the incessant broils and warfare in the republic of Mexico. Let us see to it that we do not Mexicanize the right of interference in our public schools. Faith in the ability and honesty of those to whose hands the guidance of our schools has been entrusted, will do much towards repairing any disasters their want of wisdom may have effect- ed. Faith is a builder, doubt a destroyer.
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