USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1871 > Part 6
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For many years the law has required that High Schools should be maintained in all the the larger towns of the state ; and from
67
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
the earliest periods in our history, it has been the aim to raise the rank of the most advanced public schools, to the highest point attainable. This course has commended itself to the popu- lar judgment. It is adopted universally in the states where a system of public schools has been in operation. But the condi- tions of society are changing ; long established customs are from time to time abandoned ; new theories of society and of govern- ment, the relation of labor and capital, and the rights of women for example, are advocated. The causes which gave rise to institutions long established, often disappear so effectually, that we do not trace to the beneficent influence of those institutions, the absence of the very evils they have eradicated, or see in them the origin of the good we enjoy. It would not be strange if among other things, the necessity for this higher public educa- tion should be questioned. It is therefore necessary occasionally to state the grounds for maintaining such a school, that it may receive an intelligent and not a merely traditional support.
For elevating influence upon the other schools the High School is indispensable. In the lower grades reading, spelling, writing, drawing, and the rudiments of arithmetic, grammar, geography, history and music are taught. These are invaluable in the practical affairs of common life ; but the study of these branches of knowledge has a still higher value in this, that it leads forward, at every point, to what lies beyond. If the high- est point in the public school system were the Grammar School, fewer than now would reach that point, and still fewer would go beyond. The limit of a boy's ambition is seldom reached ; it is never surpassed. A knowledge of geography, of history, of arithmetic, creates a thirst for more. That thirst is not to be tantalized by a few drops only. The High School, attractive and attainable, invites to broader fields of study, arouses the ambition and stim- ulates the dormant energies of boys and girls at every stage below itself; and if they never reach its doors, they at least press further towards them. If any boy is not ambitious to reach this school, he cannot avoid the stimulating influence of another who is striving to reach it. Remove this school, and the usefulness of every other would be greatly diminished. In the second place, one half the three or four hundred pupils in this school could not, probably, obtain the same amount of education by any other
68
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
means. There are then about two hundred young people who by this means start in life with a great and positive advantage. They enter upon active duty with broader ideas, and powers better controlled. We each, gentlemen, might have made more of ourselves could we have enjoyed the privileges afforded the youth of this generation. It costs the city a trifle to educate these two hundred children, but the city is paid tenfold by their intelligent influence as citizens ; and when we consider the value of a cultivated life, and a mind appreciative of the true, the beautiful and the good, in the past, all around us, and yet to be hoped for, the reward appears infinite. And to such culture, the High School tends. Again, half our teachers are from this school. They might as well be educated at Academies, it may be said. So might all education be done in private schools. But would it be done there ? The public doubts, and so provides that it shall be done. A high standard of education among teachers' is immensely important. If a man of the highest literary attain- ments, familiar with the best method of teaching, and with the best schools in this country and in Europe, could be placed in every school room in the land, a degree of progress and improve- ment would be seen, as marvelous as steam transportation and telegraphs are in comparison with the old fashioned mail coach. The intellectual activity thus awakened would show itself in every shop, factory, and counting room, and at every bench and desk, in greater skill, new products and increased values ; and the nation would bound forward on a career of unexampled prosperity. But these higher attainments among the numerous instructors of our youth are possible only by raising the standard of universal intelligence. "No great scholars arise from a nation of dunces ; no great generals, from a nation of cowards." Shakespeare was the product of a cultured age; and Grant is an outgrowth of American courage. The general excellence among teachers is due to the High School. Without it the standard would sink to mediocrity.
And again, besides the advantages to schools, to teachers and to individuals, the High School is a great and positive benefit to society ; and this, not only indirectly, by elevating the standard of education, but by directly providing what is indispensable, a well educated class. Civilization necessitates that work should
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 69
be done in great variety. Some kinds of work demand education that can be acquired' in schools. Within the historic period this work of education has lodged in three distinct communities. In the earliest times, each family transmitted to its members the learning and the arts residing within itself. In later times socie- ties and churches, men of like ideas or like faith, handed down the knowledge of their own inventions and traditions to those whom they wished to be their successors. Finally the public, a broader family, the most comprehensive society, takes up the work of education. In these days, the ancient family notion is an absurdity ; societies with all harmony within, and no sympathy for outsiders, are an impossibility among busy men. We jump the bounds of party and creed, and we meet as men. Society, undertakes this work of education not from benevolence to the individual alone, but for self preservation. The results of High School culture, the trained boys and girls, are a necessity ; there- fore the High School must always have a place.
Twenty-three pupils graduated in May ; six young gentlemen, and seventeen young ladies. Five had pursued the college course, ten the classical, and eight the English course. The order of exercises at the graduation was as follows :
PART I.
Music.
Latin Oration-Salutatory,
Henry Sargent Knight.
English Essay-Unfinished Work, Mary Elizabeth Deane. Annie Dickinson Currier.
English Essay -- Looking Ahead,
French Version from Patrick Henry-La guerre inevitable,
George Woodward Brooks.
Music.
English Essay-Work,
English Metrical Essay-Life Work,
English Oration-Nathan Hale,
Lucy Lewisson Ella Eudora Goddard. Samuel Adams Souther.
French Play, -Jour de Mai.
Elizabeth Bacon, Martha Nelson Hooper, Mary Zurviller Coleman,
Nellie Julia Spurr, Kate Amelia Curtis, Ella Eliza Walker,
Alice Elizabeth Griggs.
PART II.
Music.
English Essay-Character,
Mary Olive Hoyt.
German Version from Lamennais-Der arme Verbannte, Maria Louisa Rice. English Essay-Sunshine, Eliza Jane Seaver. English Gration-Lessons of History, Charles Rensselaer Johnson. Music.
10
70
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
English Metrical Version from Krummacher
Death and Sleep,
Emma Caroline Moulton.
English Oration-Memories,
English Essay-Water Lilies,
English Oration-Old England and Young America, Music.
Frank Edgar Aldrich. Jennie Lea Southwick. Albert Smith Thayer.
Valedictory Essay-Self Culture. Henrietta Gertrude Aldrich.
NOTE .- The parts are assigned without reference to rank, and varied merely to add interest to the programme.
Award of Diplomas-In the absence of His Honor, the Mayor, by the Super- intendent of Schools.
CLASS SONG.
WRITTEN BY ELIZA JANE SEAVER.
I. -
Our boats, they are resting this side of the bar, Where we've coasted for many a day ;
And the zephyrs are waiting to bear us afar, Afar from our calm inland bay. Now a song to the friends who have taught us to guide Our barks over life's troubled main,
Who have nerved us to stem the tempestuous tide, To work with the heart and the brain.
II.
Our school-life is closed, but our life-work's not done ; Far out on the billowy sea
There are rocks, -there are reefs,-there are breakers, beyond ;- But the Saviour our Captain shall be !
Then quickly and gaily we'll pass o'er the bar, Setting out with " well-fortified breast ";
And may each of us carry a freight of great price To the gleaming abodes of the blest.
MANUFACTURERS AND EMPLOYERS.
The proportion of pupils who do not attend school is not large in comparison with that of other cities. The faithful services of the truant officer, and the efforts of teachers, have prevented a great deal of absence. It is believed also that the truant school secures the attendance of many boys at school. Still, much remains to be done to secure for children the full benefit of our schools.
At the opening of the Evening schools in October many children were discovered who were detained from school and employed contrary to law. The co-operation of manufacturers, and others, was sought in enforcing the law, by means of the following cir- cular, addressed to all who were known to employ children. In
71
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
almost every instance they responded cheerfully and without delay. About one hundred were forthwith sent to school in con- sequence of this circular, and the number now reaches at least one hundred and fifty. Many of these desired of the superintend- ent permission to work till spring and then attend school; but there seemed to be no anthority for thus setting aside a state law. The parents were in many cases extremely poor. Such as were in actual want were assisted by the overseers of the poor. There seemed, however, to be no provision for those who have no legal residence here. Application for aid was therefore made to the benevolent section of the People's Club. They responded at once, and their discriminating committee has done excellent service in searching out the cases of real need. Instead of furnishing assistance, they have taken the wiser plan of interesting some benevolent person in each individual, or better still, they have encouraged the needy to help them- selves.
CIRCULAR.
OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
WORCESTER MASS.
To Manufacturers, and all Employers of Children.
By the State Law, parents and guardians are required to send to school, twelve weeks a year, all children between the ages of eight and fourteen years, under a penalty of twenty dollars for each offence.
And no child under ten years of age shall be employed in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment. No child between the ages of ten and fifteen shall be so employed who has not attended some DAY school three months or sixty school days within the year next preceding such employment, under teachers approved by the School Committee, under a penalty of fifty dollars against the employer, and against the parent permitting the employment.
See General Statutes, Chaps. 41 and 41, and Chap. 285 of the Laws of 1867.
The public schools are in session from the first of September to the first of July, except one week in December, one in February, and one in May. Even- ing schools, also, are open from October to April.
In a single evening school a dozen children were found the present season detained from school, and employed in violation of law. There were nearly as many in each of the others. But these chileren wished to learn, else they would not have been in the evening school. Ten times as many are kept in ignorance who care nothing about it.
Prominent causes of this defrauding of the children are the indolence, avarice or dissipation of parents, poverty and orphanage. To withdraw from such parents the earnings of childish hands is a penalty only too light; and some way
72
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
must be devised for relieving orphans and the worthy poor; but neither of these causes ought to be allowed to keep a child in ignorance.
The school authorities are in duty bound to see that children are not thus cheated ; and they rely upon your co-operation and the support of all good citizens in enforcing the laws on the subject in their broadest spirit. They pre- sume that you, not less than they, recognize the right of every child to a fair amount of learning, and the necessity of his obtaining it for the safety of a state where the people rule. And you, perhaps better than they, know that in- telligent laborers are the most profitable.
To aid in securing attendance at school you are respectfully requested
I. To require of all children under fifteen years old, now or hereafter in your employ, a card* signed by their last teacher, containing the name and age of the child, the date of leaving school, and the number of weeks' attendance the year previous.
II. To examine these cards regularly twice a year, on the first of September and the first of March, to see that the law has been complied with-calling attention to the time by a note in your calendar.
III. To fix a placard; in some conspicuous place about your factory or count- ing-room, setting forth the requirements and penalties of the law, and signifying to parties who obtain employment and impose upon you in violation of its spirit that they will be reported to the legal authorities.
These placards will be furnished on application at this office from 8 to 10 A. M., and 12 to 1, or 3 to 5 P. M.
Any influence you may have, directly or indirectly, in informing parents and children of their duty respecting schools will be a public benefit. And parties neglecting the requirements of the laws referred to above will be prosecuted.
By order of the School Board, ALBERT P. MARBLE,
Sup't. of Public Schools.
Worcester, Nov. 1871.
* This Certifies That
Age
Last Birthday
187
Dismissed from school
187
Attended year previous
weeks,
between
187
, and
187
School.
Worcester,
187
Teacher.
+To Parents, Guardians and Children. NOTICE. The Proprietor of this establishment is liable to a fine of fifty dollars :-
I. For employing a child under ten years old.
II. For employing a child under fifteen, who has not attended school three months within a year,
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
III. Any Parent or Guardian is liable to the same fine for consenting to such employment.
IV. Any person having in his care a child between the ages of eight and fourteen years, who has not attended school twelve weeks within a year, is liable to a fine of Twenty Dollars.
V. Every case of a violation of these laws will be reported for prosecution.
THE SCHOOL YEAR.
The annual election of teachers and the promotion of scholars in all the grades has occurred near the first of May. The short vacation at that season, of only one week, gave no opportunity to secure teachers in place of any who might not continue ; and the general interruption of all the schools at promotion, was fol- lowed after a brief term by another interruption at the long vacation. The election was therefore changed to July, the annual examinations to the last of June, and the promotions to the beginning of the year, the last Monday in August. The last week in Dec. and Jan. 1st have also been made a vacation, instead of cattle-show-day, and the first two and a half days of Thanksgiving week.
TEACHER'S DRAWING CLASS.
Early in July applications were made by several teachers from this city and neighboring cities and towns for instruction in drawing. Prof. Gladwin of the technical school consented to teach a class, and notice to that effect was accordingly given through the papers. Fifteen or twenty of our teachers and several from other places joined the class, which was maintained at their expense. A similar class will be formed next July, provided the same teacher can be secured. In the early Autumn thirty-four teachers formed a class under the instruction of Mr. E. I. Comins. Including those in the evening classes, which still continue, about half the whole corps of teachers are now perfecting themselves to teach this study intelligently. We shall soon be ready to abandon any mere copying in the schools. Each master has already been furnished with a set of models for object drawing, which will now become general.
WHAT TO READ.
In a recent monthly report to this board the following sugges- tions were made : " Attention has recently been directed to the books which are read by the older pupils in our schools and to the opportunity for usefulness which teachers have, in giving
74
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
their pupils a taste for good reading. Some children read books that are positively bad ; many read those that are useless to say the least ; while others confine their reading to works of fiction exclusively with an interest which they might just as well find in books far more profitable, if only their reading were well directed and their taste properly cultivated. It would be interesting for any of you to stand at the door of the Public Library on Saturday afternoon and see what books the children read, in some cases such as are wholly unsuited to them ; often, not the best. Even the graduates of the High School would not all be found familiar with the best English writers of prose and poetry, though they read a great deal, no doubt. Why should they not know Pres- cott, Motley and Irving, Longfellow, Whittier and Tennyson instead of the last writer in the Ledger, Mrs. Southworth or Charles Reade ? The School Committee, parents and teachers should exert a positive influence in this direction ; for here is an impor- tant means of education, not to be neglected. The subject was referred to a committee who procured for each teacher lists of valuable books to be read, and a catalogue of the Public Library. The librarian Mr. S. S. Green has kindly furnished every facility in his power to teachers and pupils, to make the library available for their needs . And at a meeting of teachers, many of whom had already accomplished much in the same direction, the means of interesting the children in the best kind of reading were dis- cussed. In the month of May a report of what has been accom- plished in each school may be expected.
Children under fifteen years of age are not allowed to take books from the library ; the books are mostly designed for older people. It would be very profitable to organize a department in the library, for the use of children from ten to fifteen years old, to be open Wednesday and Saturday afternoon, and to be used by children on the recommendation of their teachers. The room in the west basement would be convenient for the purpose ; and such a department would tend to a larger use of all the others.
Copies of the Manual of Commerce, containing the descrip- tion of many products of the earth and many articles in common use, the Childs book of Nature, the Nursery, and Our Youug Folks, magazines, have been placed in the schools. The first two may be used for general information ; the last two, for read- ing books.
75
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
In each of the larger schools there is now a small reference library. A similar library in the High School is of great value and is in daily use.
DONATIONS.
It is pleasant to record this year, as on preceding years, several gifts from liberal citizens, to our schools. A fine toned bell weighing 2000 pounds has been placed in the High School tower. It is rung daily as a signal for all the schools. This is the gift of Wm. Dickinson, Esq., and it is not the first instance of his genarosity towards our schools. An excellent tower clock, and electrine clocks in each room of the house, are the gift of Hon. Edward Earle, added to his untiring labor in the completion of the building. A magnificent grand piano was presented to the same school by Hon. Stephen Salisbury. A large part of the philosophical and chemical apparatus, now located in the conven- ient rooms provided for it, and put in excellent repair, was mostly a gift from the same gentleman, some years since. The library also receives a yearly addition from the income of the Bullock Fund which has been devoted to that purpose. Such donations have a significance beyond their pecuniary value. They evince a confidence in the schools, and a generous spirit in the community.
OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
Our educational facilities are augmented by the Free Public Library, already mentioned ; by the Antiquarian Library contain- ing rare treasures for those capable of using it ; and by the valu- able cabinet of the Natural History society. A few private schools supplement our work and provide for such pupils as desire to pursue special studies not taught in the public schools, and for those whose attendance is interrupted by ill health.
The Kindergarten is applying the admirable theories of Fræbel, with an infant class too young for the public schools.
The Normal School house, a substantial stone building to be located east of Mulberry street, is now under contract, and will probably be ready for occupancy by September 1873 .- another free school for the state.
The Technical Institute is practically for this city an additional free school of the highest order. This institution, and the others, attract hither a large number of students to receive superior instruction and the benefit of our libraries and lectures.
76
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 26.
The following circular was addressed to the private schools and other institutions of learning in the city. The reports, are here tabulated.
OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. WORCESTER, MASS, DEC 18, 1871.
Dear
The United States Commissioner of Education, in his last annual report, has suggested the importance of his receiving from the several States, statistics of private and incorporated schools, colleges, and other institutions of learning, as well as of the public schools. This would add greatly to the value of the Report. To furnish these, each town and city must contribute.
You are respectfully requested to fill out the following blanks, so far as they apply to your Institution or School, and return to this office at the earliest oppor- tunity, with any additional statements you choose to make.
Yours Truly,
A. P. MARBLE, Sup't of Schools.
NAMES.
Incorporated.
Value of Real Estate.
Other Funds.
Rec'd for Tuition only
Regular.
Special.
Whole No. Pupils.
Average Attendance.
-
Worcester Co. Free In- stitute of Industrial Sci- euce. C. O. Thompson, Principal.
1865
$200,000
$300.000
$800
8
2
89
87
Highland Military Acad- emy, Boarding School, Young Men. C. B. Met- calf, Principal.
30,000
10,000
7,500
5
2
70
60
Oread Institute, Board- ing School, Young La- dies. H. R. Green, Prin- cipal.
50,000
9,500 11
2
80
60
-
College of the Holy, Cross. Boarding School.
1865
80,000
9
1
130
Young Men. A. F. Ciampi, President.
1834
100,000
2,400
4 2|
99
50
Mrs. Southers School Mrs. F. T. Souther, Principal.
1,500
2
1
50
24
Kindergarten Mrs. Anna B.Knox, Principal.
375
2
32
25
Mrs. Bright's School. Mrs. J. H. Bright, Prin- cipal.
Oread Grammar School.
Private, Opened 1864 Private, Opened Sep. 1871 Private, Opened Sep. 1871 Private,
90
1
15
2000
3
1
55
40
Total.
$360,000
$310,000
$24,165
45
11 620 346
Worcester Academy Boarding School both sexes. J. D. Smith Principal.
Teach- ers.
77
SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Besides these, there are several private schools numbering from twelve to twenty or thirty pupils each, from which no returns were received. About one half the whole and average number of pupils in these schools are residents of this city.
IN CONCLUSION.
It remains for me to congratulate you, gentlemen, on the degree of success which has crowned our labors the past year ; and to thank you for the uniform courtesy and kind considera- tion, which you have shown me. I bespeak the same for the future.
Respectfully submitted, ALBERT P. MARBLE.
City Hall, January, 1872. 11
Sup't of Public Schools.
SECRETARY'S REPORT.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
RESOURCES.
Appropriated by city council . $125,000 00
Received from state and school fund.
2,013 76
for articles sold.
580 68
from non-resident scholars. .
10 10
for school books collected in taxes.
87 80
Total
$127,692 34
ORDINARY EXPENDITURES.
Salaries of teachers.
$83,973 23
superintendent and secretary 3,850 00
Fuel .
7,529 68
Books and apparatus.
1,264 46
Janitors and cleaning
3,824 46
Repairs
4,353 80
Furnishings
728 86
Furniture
461 12
743 28
Printing and advertising. Rents.
519 50
Miscellaneous
859 29
Total
$108,137 35
EXTRAORDINARY EXPENDITURES.
Furnishing Belmont street school house, nine rooms, and nine rooms in other buildings, including furniture, heating apparatus and pianos $7,494 74
Books and apparatus for new schools 625 00
Furnishing for new schools. 265 00
Furnishing two new school rooms in Lamar-
Amount carried forward $8,384 74
SCHOOLS .- SECRETARY'S REPORT. 79
$8,384 74
Amount brought forward. .
tinest reet house .
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