USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1876 > Part 20
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In meeting of School Board, July 5, 1876 :
RESOLVED, That we tender our thanks to the City Marshal and his officers for their efficient and gentlemanly services at the recent concert on the Common; and that to all the teachers who were present, at no little sacrifice to themselves, and to all the pupils who came cheerfully and conducted them- selves so finely in celebrating the Centennial Fourth of July, we express our pride and pleasure in them and in what they did.
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION.
An important feature of this enterprise was the representation of school systems and educational institutions in this country, and in other countries. This was a feature of the London Exhi- bition in 1851, the most fruitful of beneficial results to the Eng- lish nation. It was one of the most instructive and valuable fea- tures of the Vienna Exposition in 1873. But education is a very difficult subject for exhibition, since its product is cultured men, and not machines that can be put on exhibition. In a sense, however, the whole exhibit of a country is a reflection of its edu- cational system. The means and appliances, the school-houses, furniture, apparatus, books, etc., may be exhibited ; but these are not the schools. " These appliances, when all of the best kind, will not make good schools. In one place, with very little of all this, children may be better instructed than in another place pro- vided with the best. Still a display of these appliances from all countries is very useful. An exhibition of the work of pupils is valuable as showing what is accomplished with the means em -. ployed in a given place ; it shows comparative merit, provided the conditions under which the work is done be uniform. A his- tory of the growth and progress of a school system is valuable, describing the methods of administration from time to time adopted, and the steps, backward as well as forward, by which the present status has been reached.
The difficulty of making a creditable display of this kind in this country arises from the want of a central authority, such as exists in many European countries. The United States Commis- sioner of Education can only suggest ; the State Board of Educa- tion may recommend ; the School Committee of a city or town may propose ; but the work must be done, in many instances, if not in most, by individuals. In this state the sum of $50,000 was appropriated, by which at least numerous commissioners were secured. Of this sum, a portion was set apart for the educational exhibit ; but no part found its way to Worcester. Whatever has been done then, has been accomplished here, as probably in other places, mostly by private enterprise.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
Upon the receipt of circulars on the subject from Washington and from Boston, the representatives of the various educational and benevolent institutions of the city, on consultation, published pamphlet-histories of these several institutions, for exhibition and distribution, each bearing the cost of its own. Among them were
The Worcester Academy.
The Oread Collegiate Institute.
The College of the Holy Cross.
The Free Institute of Industrial Science.
The Highland Military Academy.
The Free Public Library.
The American Antiquarian Society.
The Natural History Society.
The Orphan's Home.
The State Normal School, and the others.
The representation of our schools at Philadelphia was proposed in the School Committee early in the year; the attention of the City Council was also called to the subject; but it was decided that the city had no authority to make any expenditure for such a purpose-a decision that is not unquestioned, since this exhibition tends to the possession of valuable information concerning schools.
Accordingly a committee was appointed to raise funds with which to make as good a display as possible of our schools and their work. The following circular was addressed to about one hundred and fifty of our citizens :-
"OFFICE OF
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
464 MAIN ST., opposite Old South Church.
WORCESTER, MASS., Feb. 7, 1876.
Dear Sir :
It is for the interest of our city to have its educational institutions, and especially its public schools, properly represented at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
The representation of the public schools will consist of-First, the work of pupils : Second, a pamphlet giving the history of the rise and development of the school system: and Third, photographs or drawings of the High School house, and perhaps one of the other school buildings. Of these, the first will be inexpensive; the second and third will cost, if properly done, $200. It has been decided that neither the School Committee nor the City Council has authority to spend money for this object. At the last meeting of the committee the subscriber was appointed to solicit subscriptions from citizens.
Please consider the subject, and return to me this circular as soon as con- venient, with your name and the amount you are willing to contribute for the above object.
All subscriptions, and a full account of the manner in which the sum received is expended, will be reported to the School Committee and pub- lished ; though if any one objects to having his name appear, the amount only will be given.
A. P. MARBLE,
Supt. of Schools.
I will pay for the object set forth in the above circular, the sum of
$ .... ; as soon as the work is completed.
WORCESTER,
1876."
In response, subscriptions were made by eighteen persons in sums varying from $2.00 to $20.00. As a majority of them preferred not to have their names published they are withheld here. They may be seen at the office, No. 464 Main street. The account stands thus :
Received on the subscription . $108 00 Paid Herbert G. Russell for drawings of High School-House 45 00
" Eddy & Davis for frames and glass for drawings 38 40
" S. C. Earle, elevation of High School-House 25 00
$108 40
Besides this amount there was paid for binding volumes
of scholars' work, and for portfolios to hold speci- mens of the work in drawing :
To J. S. Wesby . $35 00
" Grout & Putnam 23 00
$58 00
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
The volumes of pupils' work, the portfolios of drawings, and the elevations and plans of the High School-House, are deposited at the office.
The work of the pupils was taken from each grade, and was in all respects such as would be found at any time after a half- term examination. The penmanship was shown in a stanza of poetry copied for the first time by the pupil from a book; of course it did not look so well as would the same line written a dozen times with the copy plate before the pupil; but it was a better exhibition of the skill of those pupils in writing-the kind of writing they would practice out of school.
The questions in geography, arithmetic, etc., were submitted and answered by the pupils; the first uncorrected draft is the one shown. Little essays were written by little boys and girls on their own subjects and in their own way. They were sent as the children left them-with all their mistakes and their genu- ineness. The papers from the High School were written within two or three hours, in answer to questions for the first time sub- mitted ; and they received no correction from either pupils or teachers. Among them were noticeable several papers on Politi- cal Economy, of ten or twelve pages in length, with logical statements, in elegant language and penmanship. These would do credit to any school or to older people ; and they were not alone in excellence among the contributions of this school. All the papers prepared in our schools were submitted to a committee from the School Board, and the educational institutions of the city outside of the public schools, and from the whole, a representa- tive portion was taken ; not that which looked the best, but that which bore marks of complete originality, or which showed the individuality of the pupil. It was the intention throughout, to let the world see, if the world chose to go to Philadelphia and look, something of the every-day character of these schools and the children in them. The appearance sought to be displayed was the every-day dress, not the holiday costume.
.
The work of scholars displayed at Philadelphia was not generally of this character; specimens of penmanship, the fortieth copy of the same line, are the rule ; in one school pupils spent a fortnight on the drawing that was sent. A pupil in one
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
High School was requested to take home his examination paper and rewrite and correct it. Of course such work did not comply with the rules laid down for its preparation ; its false character was apparent to any discriminating observer. And yet one of the judges discovered four misspelled words in the remarkably original essay of a little boy nine years old ; and he was heard to say that no such work was entitled to any recognition. If this indicates to any considerable extent the character of the awards, it is wholly immaterial what those awards are.
The historical pamphlet was partly prepared, but for lack of funds and for want of time is was not published. As a part of the school literature of this city, and as a nucleus for future and more valuable contributions in the same direction, this sketch appears further on in this report. Something in the same line appears in the report for the year 1872; and reference is made to such an appendix in the report for 1875.
The High School-house, which is unique, commodious and creditable to the city is the only one of our houses that was represented. A large number of drawings selected from the ordinary work of the pupils were framed for the exhibi- tion ; but they were not displayed for want of room. Those put up in portfolios were on exhibition, but in the multi- tude of sights they probably did not attract much attention. Our appearance on that occasion is here described thus at length, in order that all interested may note that, whenever specimens from our schools or the schools themselves are exhibited, nothing but the every-day work is shown. Nothing for mere display is allowed in them, anywhere or at any time. This is a notable peculiarity.
THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AT WORCESTER.
This institution, though not a part of the city school system, is not less an object of interest to the citizens and to the school committee, than the schools directly under their care. As the High School is an incentive to all the pupils in the lower grades, so this school, like the Technical school and the College of the Holy Cross, constantly lures pupils to higher attainments, 38
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
Beside, many of our teachers have been recruited from it; and in constantly increasing numbers they will doubtless come thence. In former reports this school, which is so intimately allied to ours, has been noticed from the embryonic stages to a full develop- ment. It has now borne fruit. Two classes have graduated; and now the system of education in Worcester is complete, in- cluding the higher as well as the secondary and the lower. The Normal School has realized the hopes of its friends, so far as was possible in its brief history. The following report is inter- esting in this connection.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON TEACHERS.
To the School Board :
By request of the authorities of the State Normal School, the under- signed have examined the two classes that have thus far come forward for graduation. That school is in no way under the control of this board ; but the city has a special interest in its welfare, both because of a generous contribution to its fund, and because it will supply many of our teachers. Whatever suggestions can therefore be made that will tend towards its improvement, will be advantageous to the city as well as to the school.
IN GENERAL.
The first class, examined July, 1876, numbered ten, all of whom were approved by us as teachers. They have since been employed in our schools, and no one of them has failed. Several of them are un- usually successful. These ten were about a sixth of the class at enter- ing, the remainder had either left school or fallen into a lower class.
In December, 1876, the senior class numbering twenty-one were examined ; of these, seventeen were approved as teachers, and have since graduated. As in the case of the preceding class this number was only a fraction of those who entered it at the beginning.
IN PARTICULAR.
The pupils gave evidence of having had thorough and conscientious teaching. They appeared thoughtful and self-possessed. They seemed to have a fine appreciation of the great and difficult work in which they
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
wished to engage. They were modest as to their ability to do it well ; and they were impressed with the necessity of continued effort to win the highest success.
But some of them were too young to have finished the highest course of preparation for teachers ; some showed a lack of thorough preparation before entering the Normal School; some did not give evidence of having the peculiar ability and the tact that teachers should possess. These did not receive the approval of your committee nor that of the authorities of the school ; and they were not graduated. Those who were approved reached a better average than the ordinary candidates who appear before us; but the graduates of such a school as this, ought to attain, on the average, a superiority much more pronounced.
AS TO THE SCHOOL.
The above criticism is not made as a reflection upon the manage- ment of the Normal School. That school is compelled to receive such pupils as present themselves, if they pass a very easy examination. We specially commend the practice of reducing to lower classes those pupils who are not fully qualified to go on. We wish to exert what- ever influence we may, in assisting it to elevate the standard of admis- sion, and to insist upon the highest character, both for ability and for preparation in its graduates.
FOR THE FUTURE.
To this end we hope that the standard of the entrance examination may be raised.
That no candidate may be admitted whose attainments are not equivar lent to the completion of a course of study in the best High Schools.
That no pupil may graduate who has not reached a fixed character and maturity. That no one may attempt to enter from the Grammar School or from the lower classes in the High School. That pupils from the country may first complete the studies of the High School- which they might do in this city by the payment of a small tuition fee.
That no person of inferior natural ability may be retained in the Normal School, and that adaptability to the business of teaching may be a requisite for entering and continuing there.
AS A COROLLARY.
Normal School graduates will be unrivalled and never idle.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
OUR POSITION.
Being interested in securing for our schools trained and able teach- ers, it is safe to assume for ourselves and our successors, that those who fulfill the above conditions will invariably be preferred.
A. P. MARBLE, C. B. METCALF, E. WARNER, C. O. THOMPSON, T. J. CONATY, WM. T. HARLOW,
Committee on Teachers.
DECEMBER 29, 1876.
We concur in the recommendations of the above report.
F. P. GOULDING, RUFUS WOODWARD, Committee on Teachers, 1877.
WORCESTER, MARCH 6, 1877.
In School Board, March 6, 1877.
Accepted.
A. P. MARBLE, Sec.
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
This school attracts more attention than any other as being the only one of its kind and as standing at the head of the system. It is often made the object of hostile criticism on the ground of its cost. So large has this school become that the cost per scholar a year is but little more than in the Ninth grade. The whole number of pupils during the year is five hundred and forty-five ; this number includes the classes now there and the class that graduated last July. One additional teacher has been employed since the opening of the school in September. The corps of teachers is excellent ; and they have the confidence of both the pupils and their parents. The morale of the school is good.
Of the pupils who have dropped out during the year covered by this report, two have died ; gone from the city 14; out from ill health 16; at work 17; to enter the Technical School 10; the Normal School 3; Scientific School 1; St. Mary's College 1; Mt. Holyoke Seminary 1; College of Holy Cross 2.
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
The following is the programme of the last anniversary of the school, Friday, June 30 :-
MUSIC.
CHORUS OF PILGRIMS, (I. Lombardi,) Verdi.
1. Salutatory, with Essay : True Culture, ALICE GODDARD.
2. Oration : Our duty to Society, GEORGE H. JOHNSON.
3. Essay : Influence of Teachers upon the Character
of Scholars, MARY E. HOUGIITON.
4. Essay : Geology in the Scriptures, MUSIC.
*MARY ROSALIE GODDARD.
PRAYER IN MOSES IN EGYPT, Rossini. WILLIAM JAMES FALLON.
5. Oration : War or Arbitration,
6. Essay : Growth and Beneficial Effects of Com- merce, *NETTIE AGNES MURRAY.
7. Essay : The Scholar's Kingdom, MARIA BURLINGAME.
8. Oration : Immigration, *FRANK M. WILKINSON.
MUSIC.
THE NIGHTINGALE,
9. Poem : Our Land,
10. Essay : Advantages of Method in Life, CARRIE GILL. MARY E. SANFORD.
11. Essay : The Mission of the Beautiful,
12. Essay : Lacustrine Villages, .
*EDITH H. MILES.
MUSIC.
INFLAMMATUS, (To Thy holy care,) Rossini.
13. Oration : The Master Spirit of an Age, WALDO E. GIBBS.
14. Essay : Every Beginning is Shrouded in Mist,
15. Essay : Wooden Horses, MUSIC. .
Mendelssohn. . FRANCIS P. MCKEON.
. NELLIE M. WHITE.
*HATTIE L. BUTLER.
TO THEE, O COUNTRY, · . · J. Eichberg.
16. Oration, with Valedictory : The Study of the Classics, CHAS. S. CHAPIN. Presentation of Diplomas by His Honor, the Mayor.
CLASS SONG.
BY FRANK M. TEBBETTS.
Now our parting song we sing, With sorrow say farewell.
Pleasant mem'ries round us cling,
Visions of the past they bring, The past we loved so well. In the passing years we've sought True knowledge to obtain.
May the lessons that were taught, May the wisdom to us brought, A golden harvest gain.
* Excused.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
On life's journey now we start, The world lies all beyond. Yet with grief we would not part,
Courage true shall fill each heart; With Hope we'll not despond.
Freely to the task of life We go to win renown.
Victory's star shines in the strife,
Honor shall be ours in life, And ours the glittering crown.
SINGING : "Old Hundred."
Be thou, O God, exalted high;
And as thy glory fills the sky,
So let it be on earth displayed, Till thou art here as there obeyed.
The Chorus consisted of the pupils of the High School.
G. WILLIAM SUMNER, Organist. EDWARD S. NASON, Conductor.
Miss KATE G. STEVENS (class of '76), Pianist.
GRADUATES.
Charles Lucius Allen.
Sarah Ann McGone.
Mary Ella Bailey.
Francis Patrick McKeon.
Addie Maria Blenus.
Thomas Francis McLoughlin.
William Walter Brown.
Edith Heywood Miles.
Emma Buckley.
John Francis Henry Mooney.
Maria Burlingame.
Nettie Agnes Murray.
Harriet Louise Butler.
Alfred Dwight Perry.
Owen Henry Conlin.
Hattie Stearns Putnam.
Daniel Courtney.
Arthur Valentine Phipps.
Charles Sumner Chapin.
Lucy Goddard Fiske.
Mary Lee French.
Mary Elizabeth Sanford.
William Joseph Fallon.
John Henry Gavin.'
Addie Estella Sprague.
Waldo E. Gibbs.
Kate Goodnow Stevens.
Carrie Gill. Alice Goddard.
Frank Merrill Tebbetts.
Mary Rosalie Goddard.
Fannie Thaxter Wheeler.
Mary Ann Harding.
Aaron Avery White.
Eugene Francis Hickey.
Nellie Maria White.
Mary Elizabeth Houghton.
Walter S. Whitney.
George Henry Johnson.
Frank Marshall Wilkinson.
Katie Elizabeth Kenney.
Esther May Williams.
THE METRIC SYSTEM.
The Centennial has shown the advantages that would result from a uniform system of weights, measures and coins through- out the world. The metric system is in use in nearly all civilized countries, except Russia, Great Britain and the United States. Steps have been taken towards its general use in this country ;
John Bernard Ratigan. Addie Anna Richardson.
William James Fallon.
Alice Elizabeth Sawyer. Effie Caroline Smith.
Lizzie Christine Stevens.
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the system has been legalized ; a knowledge of it is required for admission to the principal colleges; it has been taught in our schools four or five years. If all were aware of its great simplicity, and the immense saving that its universal adoption would secure, this system would be exclusively adopted in one year.
·
The teaching of a subject so simple, so practical, and so likely to become indispensable requires a brief notice. To judge from the text books, one would suppose this system difficult. It is nothing of the kind. The substance of it all is contained in four new words, as appears below. It should be taken up immediately after Decimals and United States Money, and taught by the use of the actual measures and weights, and with no reference to the systems now in use, except in the most general way. The sim- plicity of the thing will then strike every pupil. His father could learn it from him. Its adoption and use would follow this gen- eral knowledge as a matter of course.
The following is taken from a pamphlet on this subject, by J. Pickering Putnam :
SYSTEM OF INSTRUCTION ADOPTED IN GERMANY.
"Nothing can give so lasting and correct a conception of a thing as the direct view of it in its actual proportions. With this principle in view, the present advanced system of instruction in German schools aims at combining as far as possible with verbal explanation the actual exhibition, either by drawings or by models, of the object to be taught. In this way much time and trouble is saved.
Just before the Metric System was enforced in Germany, a committee of · teachers was called together for the purpose of determining the best method of familiarizing the public with the Metric values. The following was one of the most excellent methods largely adopted in the schools.
By this method no comparison between the old and new systems is necessa- ry to explain the Metric values, and no geometrical knowledge is presupposed. The work is done by bringing models of the new weights and measures direct- ly before the eyes of the student and explaining their relations to each other.
In order to accomplish this, a certain amount of apparatus is necessary. There is required, first, what the Germans call a 'Schulmeter;' second, a large chart giving a full-size drawing of the square meter, with its various subdivi- sions ; third, a chart; fourth, a decimeter cube, which can be taken apart and resolved into its component centimeter cubes ; and, fifth, a hollow cubical box made of tin, and large enough to contain exactly the above-mentioned decime- ·ter cube, to illustrate the measures of capacity, both dry and liquid, and the relation of the same to the measures of length and volume. Being made to
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 31.
contain exactly a cubic decimeter, this box represents the liter, and, when filled with water at 0° Centigrade, its weight represents the Kilogram. Thus the mutual relations of the weights and measures is seen at a glance, and the impression produced is positive and permanent.
The Metric values and the whole principle of the system may be well taught in an hour with this apparatus.
Without it, to attempt to convey a clear idea of the new values, by nu- merical comparison with the old, is a tedious and unsatisfactory task, expen- sive of time, and productive of no permanent results. It gives us numbers, but no ideas.
We should have also at hand a hollow tin deciliter, which, filled with water, will give us the hectogram; a hollow centiliter, to illustrate the decagram; and a hollow millimeter or hollow centimeter cube to illustrate, filled with water, the gram or unit of weight.
The 'School Meter' is a square piece of wood, one meter long, three centimeters wide, and three centimeters thick. One side is left clear, with- out division marks, and represents the meter length. The second side is sub- divided into ten equal parts or centimeters, painted in colors alternating light and dark.
The third side shows, in addition to the decimeters, the further decimal subdivisions of centimeters, the first light-colored decimeter being divided up into centimeters alternating black and white; and finally the first white centimeter is again subdivided into alternating black and white millimeters.
The fourth and last side is divided like the regular meter used in actual measurements.
By means of this device a large class may be instructed at once, as the colors and peculiar arrangement of the subdivisions allow even the smallest of them to be distinctly seen from a great distance.
The various sides of the meter may be explained in succession, beginning with that without divisions, and stating that it represents the unit of length a distance equal to about one ten-millionth part of the quadrant of a meridian, explaining the principles of its subdivision, its relation to the measures of weight, volume and capacity, and comparing it with various linear magni- tudes in the room, as, for instance, the height of the table, the breadth of the door and windows, etc.
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