USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1867-1870 > Part 65
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ballot box and see his vote cancelled by some ragged, un- kempt sot, whose leering eye cannot see nor his benighted mind comprehend, the printed ballot he casts. Where this is possible, democracy is a sham. To establish firmly re- publican institutions, such a thing must be made impossible. In self-defence, therefore, and not from benevolence merely, the state has established free schools. But this defence is not complete, while those who know not the advantages of those schools, may desert them. To secure the education of children, the law of this state imposes a fine upon all par- ents who do not send their children to school at least twelve weeks each year from the age of eight to fourteen years ; and another law fixes a penalty upon all persons in whose employ children are found, under twelve years of age, who have not attended school eighteen weeks within the twelve months next preceding such employment, or between twelve and fifteeen years of age, who have not attended school eleven weeks, dur- ing the preceding year.
During the past year a large number of children have been sent to school from the manufacturing establishments of this city ; and to the credit of the proprietors be it said, not one of them has failed to comply with the law in its true spirit as soon as they learned its existence. To them it had been unknown. And under the first of these two laws children are in school to- day, who otherwise would be in the street. Not the infliction of the penalty, but the fear of it, keeps them there. To the credit of the city be it said, these unnatural parents number less than a dozen.
One hundred and five weeks at least, or a little more than two and a half school years, the child fifteen years of age, born in this state, must have attended school. This little is impor- tant ; it may create a thirst for knowledge which will lead to further search ; but it is very little, and wholly inadequate, if intelligence is the qualification for citizenship. At this point the state's defence is weak.
The tax payers also have "rights." In the necessity of the state, is found the only justification of taxing citizens to sup-
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port of schools. For the sake of universal education taxes are imposed, which fall most heavily upon the rich, many of whom have few if any children in public schools. "Why must I," one of these may ask, "pay these thousands for schools to which I have no children to send?" "Because," we answer, "your property and life are protected by a government whose corner stone is popular education ; your land is worth more in an intelligent community ; you hold that property sub- ject to your duty to society, and a part of this duty is to help educate the children." He may continue, "But my poor neigh- bor's large family do not attend school ; some of them work in the shops, some range about my fields, and some rob my gar- den and fruit trees. I am compelled to support schools for all, but not all attend." We enforce the law ; eleven weeks the children go to school; again they are at large. Our friend goes on, "I am taxed to support schools for all, nine months in the year ; these children attend only three ; two thirds of my tax is extortion." And to this we can make no reply.
Justice to the tax payer, the safety of the state, and our duty to the children, demand a law compelling the attendance of all children of school age, during the whole time when schools are supported at the public expense ; allowing, however, pri- vate schools to be patronized by those who prefer them, and those of feeble health to be excused. In this logical position the public school system must be placed, before education will be "universally diffused."
This law would not be the substitution of force for persua- sion. It would command only what ninety-nine one hun- dredths of all good men are now doing. It would be but the formal expression of what is now the opinion of society, and like the faint approximation to it which we now have, and like all good laws, would operate less by its penalty than by fear of its penalty. And under such a law, many a poor man would find the means of educating his children, who now thinks himself unable to dispense with the small earnings of childish hands, and many a tippler would be compelled to leave his cups.
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: SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Connected with the support of schools, are certain facts whose general interest gives them a place here, concerning the
MASSACIIUSETTS SCHOOL FUND.
This fund, derived chiefly from the sale of public lands, now amounts to about $2,211,410.77. One half the annual income of this fund, is apportioned and distributed for the support of pub- lic schools, among the towns and cities of the commonwealth, complying with certain specified school laws, each town and city first receiving one hundred dollars ; and the residue is appor- tioned among the several cities and towns, in proportion to the number of children in each, between the ages of five and fifteen. All money appropriated for other educational purposes, unless otherwise provided for by the act appropriating the same, is paid from the other half of said income; and any surplus of this income is added to the principal of the fund.
The one hundred dollars first given each town in the distri- bution of the first half of this income, is in the interest of the smaller towns. For the general purposes of education in the state-the collection of statistics, a proper inspection of schools, the training of teachers, etc.,-the other half of this income is insufficient, so that the Normal Schools suffer and the opera- tions of the Board of Education are crippled.
But scanty as this income is, a part of it has been diverted from its specific use to the general purposes of the state treas- ury. During the late war, certain bonds belonging to the school fund were lent to the state treasurer to pay soldiers' bounties. The interest on the bonds was due the fund in gold, and so paid the first year ; but since that time, it has been paid in currency ; which reduces the rate of interest by reason of the premium on gold during these years. By this reduction, $135,000 is now due the school fund from the state treasury- a sum sufficient to establish a Normal School in this city, and to provide those already established, with needed funds.
To pay this sum to the school fund for distribution among the people, from the treasury which is replenished by taxing the people, may seem like taking money from one pocket, to
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put into the other. But such is not the case; for taxes are paid according to valuation, while the income of the school fund is distributed in proportion to the number of school chil- dren ; and these ratios are by no means identical. In 1869, Suffolk county possessed forty per cent. of the entire valuation of the state, and fifteen per cent. of the children in the public schools. In Essex county was eight per cent. of the valuation, and thirteen per cent of the school children.
Now it is the settled policy of this state that its property shall educate its children. In his fourth annual report the Hon. Horace Mann says,-"On inspecting the laws of the com- monwealth, which provide for public instruction, two grand features stand conspicuously forth, viz : that the benefits of a Common School education shall be brought within the reach of every child in the state, however poor ; and that the prop- erty of the state shall support a system of schools adequate to confer this universal education. These provisions are fundamental and organic. They have been in existence from the very infancy of the colony-a period of about two centuries-during all which time, the statute book furnishes no instance of their repeal or modification. The mode of administration has been changed, but not the original ba- sis of the system. The principles have reigned supreme, throughout, that the property of the citizens, whether it represented children or not, should support the schools ; and that all children, whether they represented property or not, should possess the means of education." And this policy is as just as it is ancient ; to the metropolis all parts of the country are tributary ; into it they pour their resources ; in its wealth they have a certain property ; to it the young men remove ; for its defence they rally in time of war. The large city draws its life from the country, to whose prosperity and intelligence it cannot be indifferent.
The most equitable support of the public schools would be a direct state tax, to raise at least a part of the necessary funds. There is no reason why the inhabitant of Hampden county should pay four mills on a dollar, while he of Suffolk or Dukes
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pays only two, for schools in which every citizen of the com- mon-wealth is alike interested. One mill on a dollar of the valuation, would pay one third of the entire cost of schools in the state. The other two thirds could be raised by local taxa- tion.
Had the proceeds of the public lands continued to be added to the School fund, leaving the state debts to be paid by other means, the income of that fund would, in time, have been am- ple to furnish the aid the schools need from the state. Such an appropriation of this income would have been for the inter- est of the public schools.
At least, the amount of interest now due the school fund, should be paid by the state. Simple justice requires this. These last three positions, it is understood, are' now held by those most familiar with the public schools. That they are correct, will appear more and more, as the subject is seen in all its bearings. And by noticing it in this way, it is hoped that an active interest may be awakened here.
IN MEMORIAM.
It is appropriate to refer in this place to the sudden demise, within the year, of the Mayor of the city. Five years he had presided over the deliberations of this board with graceful dig- nity ; and by his urbanity, as well as by his promptness, he fa- cilitated the progress of its business. At the annual examina- tions of the schools in May, it was his pleasure to visit every one ; and for teacher and pupils, he had an encouraging smile to cheer them in their endeavor ; the city was noticing them through its highest officer. And at his death, the expressions of public grief, showed that he had won the affection of the public, by his active life, and by the affability of his manner -a quality highly useful in smoothing the asperities of hu- man intercourse and adding to social enjoyment. In all the schools, while this generation of children remains, will linger the memory of this genial, energetic man.
IN CONCLUSION.
It is matter for congratulation that the schools have moved on harmoniously another year, among diverse opinions and
11
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
conflicting interests. It is pleasant, also, to notice that in these schools sit side by side the children of both the poor and the rich, with no distinction save that which good conduct and scholarship give. In no city of its size, it is believed, are there fewer pupils in private schools. With the remarkable growth of the city for the last five years, the schools have kept pace ; and to this fact, in part, is that prosperity due. The intelli- gent mechanics and men of business, drawn hither by the busy industries of the place, are attracted not less by the educational advantages. Along our central valley are spacious shops, with tall sooty chimneys and ponderous wheels, whose pro- ducts are carried to all parts of the globe. Here, as in few other places, cunning workers in wood and iron, are fashion- ing machines of such complicated structure as almost to rival in their movements the human hand. It is said that the inventor of some apparatus of unheard-of complexity, could find no bet- ter place than this, for its construction, on account of the vari- ety of our manufactures and the intelligence of the workmen. But not in this city's shops is the secret of her power ; in the schools her workmen have been educated ; while the mechanic arts have been cared for in her manufactories, the sciences have not been neglected, in the six higher institutions of learn- ing that crown our surrounding hills. In the shops the hands are skillful, because guided by minds trained in the schools. The mind that plans and the hand that executes should be- long to the same man. And in our day we may, to some extent at least, see labor and learning wedded again, though long divorced. For as the current of humanity pulsates hither, through iron arteries, from distant continents and from all di- rections, vitalized by the breath of a free education, in the schools, academies, and institutes, it will develop the active brain together with the sinewy arm.
Respectfully submitted, ALBERT P. MARBLE,
City Hall, Feb. 1871.
Supt. Public Schools.
1
REPORT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE TRUANT SCHOOL.
Gentlemen of the City Council:
The Committee on the Truant School respectfully submit the following Report :-
Under the state law, which requires cities and towns to make all needful regulations concerning habitual truants, this school was established at the City Farm, by an ordinance of the city in 1863. It was opened in December of that year, and was in charge of a board of Truant Commissioners. By a change in the law in the year 1867, the care of this school passed into the hands of a committee of the Board of Overseers of the Poor. The expenses of the school which, previously, had been included in the cost of maintaining the poor, have since that time been made a distinct item.
The yearly cost for each boy is about $170. This outlay accomplishes more than the education and reformation of a single boy ; though when we consider from what he is saved, this seems but a small expense. The fact of truancy implies the absence of proper parental care ; and the boy who, when left to himself, forsakes his school, will not fail to receive, on the street, an education in the school of vice. To save a boy
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
from the consequences of such conduct, is worth more than $170, and many an instance can be shown of a vicious, idle, wanderer, transformed at this school into a well-behaved and studious boy. But great as the benefit, in most cases derived at this school by the pupils themselves, is believed to be, this is but a small part of the good it accomplishes. By a whole- some regard for its restraints, many an idler in inclination and wish, is retained in school.
The Superintendent of the Alms House has the general care of those sent to this school. He attends to feeding and clothing them, and gives them such liberties about the prem- ises as their conduct entitles them to receive. A teacher as- sembles them for instruction and study, four hours a day in summer, and five hours, in winter ; and in the teaching, refer- ence is had to fitting them for re-entering the graded schools.
During the year the truant officer has attended to two thousand four hundred and forty-one cases of absence from school from unknown causes, reported by the teachers. Of these eleven hundred and eighty were returned to their schools. One hun- dred and forty-eight boys, inclined to truancy, have been as- signed to their schools by the Overseers of the Poor, which is the first step towards the Truant School. Of these, twenty-eight who persisted in their truancy, have been arrested and brought before the Municipal Court. Eighteen of the number have been sentenced to the Truant School, for terms varying from six months to two years ; while the cases of others have been placed on file.
The route to this haven, is now pretty well understood by the truants of the city. If absent from school, without known and valid excuse, they are reported by the teacher and visited by the truant officer ; if this is repeated, they are assigned to the school which they ought to attend, by the Overseers of the Poor ; if they continue on the voyage they find themselves safe in this school, and away from a like temptation. As seen above, only a small proportion go beyond the first steps.
In the discipline of these boys, corporal punishment is re- sorted to in cases where it seems necessary. But this means
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
is not relied on wholly. Every one understands that by obe- dience, punctuality, and faithfulness, he may secure many privileges, and larger liberty. And the Committee have thought that even more may be done in this direction. What these boys need is, a prudent foresight, and self-control-abil- ity to see a great good before them, in the future, and the power to refuse present gratification, for the sake of attaining it. Without this, they ran away from school. With it they would have anticipated the rewards of faithful study. It must, then, be developed in them, as far as possible, while here.
For this end, it is proposed to institute a system of rewards by which the boy may, by good conduct, reduce the term of his sentence. Let him feel that a certain period of good be- havior and faithful study, will release him a week earlier- that a longer continuance in well-doing will receive a reward still greater in proportion-at the same time, let his feeble virtue be stimulated by some present advantage, and his im- pulse to evil be restrained by a wholesome fear of chastise- ment or privation-and, in this way, you fit him to regulate his conduct in school and in life ; for incentives and restraints similar to these, operate upon men in society.
Every year the punitive character of prisons and houses of correction, is being blended more and more with the idea, and the hope, of reformation. In the late address of the Governor, we see that state prisoners are receiving instruction in evening schools, and thus slaying that ignorance which is, to so large an extent the source of their crimes. Such a school as ours is in the van of that movement ; for it attempts to dry up the source, and thus prevent crime. One hundred dollars here may save the police force a thousand.
This school has accommodations for twenty-four pupils. Only about half that number are there, on an average. More might be accomplished without much additional outlay. There is a class of juvenile offenders, brought before the Municipal Court for offences not the most serious, for whom the punish- ment must be either fine or imprisonment. The fine falls upon parents who, in some cases, lament and suffer for what they
.
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
would gladly prevent. Imprisonment would punish, but might not improve the offender. Moreover there is no pro- priety in sending one boy to the city farm because he will not attend school, and another, no worse than he, and equally in need of instruction, to jail where he cannot attend school.
Some provision should be made by which boys guilty of petty offences, no worse in their character than truancy, may be sent to this school. We doubt not that you, gentlemen, will take such action in this direction as may be needful. And in view of this it would seem that the appropriation for this school, though larger than necessary last year, should not be reduced for the present.
The following statistics exhibit the attendance, cost per scholar, etc., for the past year :-
Whole number sentenced to this School since its origin,
December, 1863, 119
Number sentenced in 1870,
19
Different pupils during the year,
29
Average number,
13
Cases of tardiness,
0
do absence,
81
do punishment, 48
Per cent. of attendance,
.98
Average deportment,
.84
Cases of sickness,
0
Cost of board-teacher and pupils at $225 per week,
$1476 89
Clothing, bedding, books, &c., furnished,
386 15
Tuition and supervision,
420 00
$2283 04
Value of boys' labor,
73 00
Net expense,
$2210 04
Appropriation,
3000 00
Unexpended balance,
$ 789 96
Value of property of the school,
393 00
Same in 1869
371 00
Cost per week for each pupil,
3 27
Same in 1869,
3 10
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
The rules and regulations appended to this report will fur- ther explain the management and aim of the School.
Respectfully submitted, ALBERT P. MARBLE, Supt. Schools, JAMES M. DRENNAN, City Marshal, D. F. PARKER, Chairman Com. on the Farm, TRUANT SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
City Hall, Jan. 9, 1871.
REGULATIONS OF TRUANT SCHOOL.
SECTION I. Article I. The School shall be under the gen- eral direction of the Committee on the Truant School, which shall be appointed by the Mayor from the Board of Overseers of the Poor.
SEC. II. Art. I. The Superintendent of the Almshouse shall keep a separate book of accounts for the Truant School, in which he shall credit all appropriations for its support, and all the labor of the boys at a price fixed by the Board of Over- seers of the Poor, and he shall charge against the school all the expenses incurred for its support, including the cost of the clothing and the board of the boys, and the salary and board of the teacher.
Art. 2. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to aid the teacher to secure prompt attendance in the school, ready obedience, good deportment and faithfulness to study.
SEC. III. Art. I. It shall be the duty of the teacher of the Truant School to keep a register of attendance, i 1 which shall be noted the date, cause and length of, and authority for, every case of tardiness or absence from the school. The teacher shall also keep a faithful record of the deportment of each scholar, with the reason for, and nature and extent of, every punishment inflicted, either personally or by the Super- intendent.
Art. 2. The teacher shall make a quarterly report of the above and other matters pertaining to the interests of the school, to the Board of Overseers of the Poor, at their meeting next succeeding the close of the quarter.
Art. 3. The teacher shall labor to inspire the pupils with
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SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
self-respect, and to this end, shall insist on cleanliness, and shall strive to inculcate principles of morality and justice.
Art. 4. The teacher shall assemble them every Sunday forenoon, and spend an hour with them in the reading and study of the New Testament, but shall strictly abstain from all sectarian comment.
GENERAL REGULATIONS.
Art. I. From the Ist of April to the Ist of October, there shall be only one session of the Truant School, each day, which shall invariably begin at 8, A. M., and close at 12, M. No boy shall be kept out of the school for any purpose what- ever, except in case of emergency in the busy farming season, and every such case shall be recorded as provided in Sec. 3, Article I, and reported by the Superintendent at the next meeting of the Board of Overseers of the Poor. It shall also enter into the next quarterly report of the teacher. From the Ist of October to the Ist of April, there shall be two daily ses- sions of school, from 9, A. M. to 12 M., and from 2 to 4 P. M., and on no account shall a boy be taken from the school during this season, except by permission previously obtained from the Mayor or some member of the Committee on the Truant School.
Art. 2. The use of tobacco, in any form, by the boys, is prohibited, and both the Superintendent and teacher are held responsible for the enforcement of this prohibition.
Art. 3 The teacher shall be employed and the salary fixed by the Committee on the school, subject to the approval of the Board, but no teacher shall be engaged without previous- ly passing a satisfactory examination according to the laws of the Commonwealth and the rules of the School Committee of the City of Worcester.
Art. 4. The rate of board per week to be charged by the Superintendent against the teacher and pupils of the Truant School, shall be fixed annually by the Overseers of the Poor, at their regular meeting in January, but they may change it at any time they deem it necessary by a vote of the majority of the members of the Board. The price per hour of the services of the boys shall also be fixed at the same time and in the
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¿ SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
same manner, subject likewise to the same conditions of change.
Adopted by a unanimous vote.
JAMES B. BLAKE, Mayor. Worcester, Dec. 7, 1866. GEORGE W. GALE, Clerk.
12
SECRETARY'S REPORT.
The resources and expenditures of the School Department for 1870 were as follows :-
RESOURCES.
Amount appropriated by City Council, $105,000 00
Received from State School Fund,
1,051 18
non-resident Scholars, 10 00
articles sold, 519 56
School Books col. in Tax Bills, 99 04
Total,
$106,679 78
ORDINARY EXPENDITURES.
Salaries of Teachers,
$85,383 25
" Supt. and Sec.
3,800 00
Fuel,
6,089 21
Books and apparatus,
1,739 83
Janitors and cleaning,
4,108 II
Repairs of Houses and Furniture,
2,774 83
Furnishings,
617 17
Furniture,
872 94
Printing and Advertising,
891 92
Rents,
322 50
Miscellaneous, 756 62
Total ordinary expenditures, $107,356 38
EXTRAORDINARY EXPENDITURES.
Furnishing new Houses and Rooms,
$7,548 26
Furnishings for ne .. Schools,
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