USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1886 > Part 20
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The course of study in this school has been modified from time to time to adapt it to the changed requirements of the colleges. The recent changes in the requirements for Harvard, the substi- tution of German and French for Greek, for example, may necessitate still further modifications in the near future.
The fifth year recently added to the course has resulted in a very complete preparation of those students who finish it. This additional year was necessary owing to the advanced requirements at Harvard ; and while it may be true that those pupils who per- severe to the end of this preparatory course might complete it a year sooner, if they could be selected as early as the eighth grade, it has been found by repeated experiments that this selection cannot practically be made so early.
Something like the following has been suggested : At the end of the second year of the school, let all pupils preparing for
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 41.
college, who have attained a certain high standard of scholarship, be organized into a class to complete the preparation in two more years ; and let all such zealously pursue this one aim under a corps of teachers in rooms in the old house on Walnut street. Those pupils who cannot attain this high standard in two years, or who having entered the advanced class cannot keep up, may take an additional year. In this way those who are able to fit for college in four years may do so ; while those who can not, may spend five years in preparation. The teachers of this ad- vanced class may simultaneously give instruction a part of the time in the classes of the present High School across the street.
The plan thus briefly outlined would shorten the time for college preparation so far as possible; it would provide for the best attainable classification of pupils; and it would economize the teaching force, and the cost of apparatus, &c. This plan is commended for future careful consideration.
The conditions of admission to Harvard in the regular classi- cal course, have been greatly advanced recently ; and provision has also been made for a side-course of preparation, omitting Greek; and still other preparatory courses have been marked out or may be expected. The courses of study within the insti- tution have become largely optional ; and they will probably be- come more so. The college is taking on the character of a university. Its diploma no longer indicates any one definite thing, as it formerly did.
It is one of the legitimate provinces of the High School to fit for college ; but it may be doubtful whether these schools will be able to so modify their instruction as to furnish a preparation for the advancing requirements of a kind of post-graduate course of study ; for the multifarious requirements of several special courses ; and at the same time provide for the great majority of the pupils whose education in school ends here. But so far as is possible, it should be the aim of the High School to accomplish all these ends.
Those pupils who have a fair capacity for the classical studies, and who complete the regular course, have in recent years been able to enter Harvard without conditions; and those who might
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possibly enter a year sooner if they could bend all their energies to the requirements for admission exclusively, have yet received a preliminary education in co-ordinate studies, in the use of the library, and in society at home, whose value should not be over- looked. And as to the proposition to skip the Grammar school studies in order that the time occupied in these may be devoted to the study of the classics, it is on these very studies that the failure is likely to occur-especially in arithmetic.
There is another class of pupils who prefer to enter this institution at the end of four years with five or six conditions, rather than to have the thorough education attainable in the five years' course. If merely to enter Harvard on whatever conditions is an end in itself, this may be wise; but if study for the disci- pline and knowledge gained is the end, the wisdom of such a premature admission and imperfect preparation may be doubted.
There is still another class of pupils predestinated to enter Harvard, nothing short of that, before they are born, because their fathers or grandfathers, or other eminent men have graduated there ; and it is sometimes expected that these pupils shall be perpared to enter at the same early age as their grandfathers, though the requirements in the classics, the mathematics, and the sciences, may be as great for admission now as they were for graduation at that early day. It may be that some one, or more, of these predestinated students is without much ability in classi- cal studies and wholly destitute of ambition in their pursuit. Under a private tutor, such a pupil may be carried along in his preparatory studies, and tutored through the university ; and at the end he may have a diploma-and little else. If to be dubbed a Harvard graduate is the only end, and the ambitious parents of the unambitious boy are satisfied with the outlay and the result, it is not for anybody else to complain. As education, this process cannot be deemed a success.
In the endeavor to keep up a fair standard of scholarship in the High School, certain pupils whose standing has been D, have been dropped into a lower class. One or two of these have entered a college, it is reported. If the course of study in that institution is so elementary that these pupils are fitted to go on,
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then the aforesaid college is really a fitting school also; and admission to it is not necessarily a promotion from the High School; and the boy who is dropped into a lower class may choose the other school ; he does not thereby promote himself.
From the above it will be seen what are some of the problems which confront the High School as a fitting school. With its four-fold aim, this school may not be able to compete with special schools with a single aim. This four-fold aim is: To fit for college and the university ; to prepare for the Technical School ; to prepare for the State Normal School; and to furnish an edu- cation for the majority, as well-rounded and complete as possible. It is provided for the public and supported by the public ; hence it must be adapted to the average need. No one doubts that a select school with few pupils and many teachers of superior ability, may surpass it in any single line, if only the select pupils are also bright pupils ; but these pnpils will not always be bril- liant. In such a famous school as Phillips Academy, those who can not or will not improve, can be promptly dismissed. It is not so easy to do this in a public High School. So long as a pupil does his best, he must have a chance in some class, some- where, to try, unless he verges too close upon idiocy.
There are certain fitting schools which seem to have facilities with which no public High School and no ordinary fitting school can compete, as the following well authenticated instance will show :-
A certain parent had two sons, one of whom pursued his pre- paratory studies in a High School ; as one of his studies he read 3,000 lines of Ovid, the requirement in that author at Harvard, I believe; and he entered without conditions. His brother pur- sued his preparatory course at an academy, a fitting school, endowed by a distinguished man, in a famous town, in the classic environs of Boston, presided over by an eminent son of an illus- trious sire. This boy read 50 lines of Ovid ; and he also entered Harvard without conditions in that study. The parent com- miserated the " poor fellow " who was obliged to read the 3,000 lines in the High School with no better result, as it appeared, than the other boy's reading of 50 lines. The discipline, the thorough
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study went for nothing ; the end sought was admission to Harvard. Now it happened that the candidates were examined in the 50 lines read at the fitting school ! It is not here suggested that there was any collusion between the examiners and the teacher. The accident of the examination's hitting that particular 50 lines is not the less remarkable; and a teacher who can happen to hit so accurately has facilities, as intimated above, which no High School is likely, or ought to be expected to possess. This is the class of teachers who are admirably adapted for fitting schools; and if possible they ought in all cases to be secured for those schools.
There has been a good deal of loose talk within the past few years, to the effect that the public schools and especially the High Schools, through the purely literary culture which they seek to give, are unfitting boys and girls for the duties of life, by beget- ting an averson to honest labor. The following statistics pre- pared by Mr. Roe after a careful canvass of the pupils of the High School, and presented at the graduating exercises in June last, furnish a triumphant refutation of all such promiscuous and unfounded nonsense. These few simple facts outweigh whole volumes of the inferential speculations of the enthusiastic advo- cates of special education and manual training, derived from a too careful and constant contemplation of the inefficiency of indi- vidual dunces who occasionally get through a High School. These facts, there is no doubt, apply equally, and in proportion to their age, to the pupils of our Grammar Schools. And it is probable that the state of the case is not different in other cities.
HOW THE PUPILS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL HAVE EARNED MONEY.
Of 270 boys in the school, 93 are earning from 15 cents to $6 per week. All the money earned is used legitimately. Most of these boys buy their own clothing.
BOYS.
Employments.
No.
Hours Per Day.
Pay Per Week.
Paper routes and office work .
. 34
77.66
$77 77
Lighting and extinguishing lamps
. 17
25.75
36 83
Work in shops
7
20.00
17 50
Janitors . .
6
15.00
17 25
Writing .
5
10.25
10 75
Store and market
5
8.00
5 75
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Printing
4 6.00
4 60
Taking care of horse and driving . 4 5.00
5 45
Taking care of lawns
2
1.25
1 25
At other seasons an equal amount is earned in other ways.
Milk route
3
12.00
7 50
Painting . .
1
5.00
5 00
Canvassing
1 1.00
2 50
Collecting
1
1.00
5 00
Hot-house work .
1
1.00
3 00
Page .
1
.50
1 00
Blowing organ
1
1.00
15
Total
. 93
190.91
$203 30
Hours per week .
1146.46
Pay for 40 weeks of school year
$8,132
Pay for 52 weeks, at the annual rate of .
$10,576
GIRLS.
Employments.
No
Hours Per Day.
Pay per Week.
Book-keeping
2
4.50
$5 00
Music lessons .
1
2.00
50
Total .
3
29.00
$5 50
Pay for 40 weeks of school year
$ 220 00
52 weeks
$ 286 00
Total for both boys and girls, 40 weeks
$8,352 00
52 weeks
10,862 00
To this must be added a large but unknown amount of home work of great value, though not paid for in dollars and cents.
To satisfy the so-called great want of manual training, Mr. Roe said that he had arranged with manufacturers in town so that another fall an oppor- tunity will be afforded to 50 boys to enter shops where they can labor prac- tically, and not theoretically in great edifices built like schools. This of course will be out of school hours, and it is not intended to interfere with the regular school work. It will give a practical illustration of what the public is said to demand, manual training.
THE WORCESTER HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION.
This organization is made up of graduates of the High School since the year 1865, and of members of the earlier classes in the school from its founding in 1846 up to that date. It will annually welcome to its membership the graduating class. Such an asso- ciation of the alumni and alumna, interested as they cannot fail to be in the welfare of the school, and largely residents of the
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city, cannot fail to exercise a beneficent and powerful influence in the community, in its support.
At its first public meeting the president presided over an assembly of some four hundred members; and on their behalf he " extended the right hand of fellowship " to the largest grad- uating class in the history of the school-the class of 1886.
THE EVENING SCHOOLS.
Nine of these schools were opened about the first of Novem- ber and they will continue till the first of March. The principals were selected from the most experienced and successful of those employed in former years. Candidates for assistant teachers were subjected to a careful competitive examination, and the appointments were made according to rank. This has secured a corps unexcelled in recent years.
Since it has been found to be impossible for the committee to give these schools that systematic and thorough inspection which is necessary for their economical administration and their high- est success, one of the most competent and experienced of these principals, Mr. John J. Riordan, was appointed inspector of these schools, and besides acting as principal of the Washington- street school, he visits each of them at least once a week and reports their condition to the committee. He looks after the attendance, the instruction, the organization and classification, and the number of teachers. By this means the character of the schools as to scholarship and attendance has been greatly improved, and the expense has been reduced.
The conditions of admission, as in former years, have secured an earnest, and, so far as their circumstances will admit, punctual constituency ; and from beginning to end no misconduct and no indifference has marred the usefulness of these schools. A bet- ter classification has also been possible in all the schools, and to the Washington-street school were sent those pupils only who had advanced so far as Grade VII. of the public day schools, and those still farther advanced. Besides a quite complete classifica- tion in this school, therefore, it has been possible to organize a class in elementary book-keeping and one in United States his- tory, both of which studies have been pursued with pleasure and
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profit to the pupils. For more advanced studies there has been no demand ; but so long as the present steady progress and healthy development continues, provision will undoubtedly be made in the future as in the past for whatever studies the needs of the community may require.
THE EVENING DRAWING SCHOOLS.
The advanced free-hand drawing class meets at 7 o'clock Mon- day and Thursday evenings at the rooms on Walnut street. This class is believed to be the most advanced of the kind in the State. Last year they went through a course in advanced perspective, including angular, oblique, casting shadows by lamplight, cast- ing shadows by sunlight, reflection in water and in the mirror. This year the class has worked from the antique; and they are now beginning to work from the life models. The beginners' class, which meets Tuesdays and Fridays, is going through a thorough educational course, including outline drawing, light and shade, historical ornament, in which each of the great styles of ornament, from the Egyptian to the Gothic, is treated separately, and a course of elementary perspective. Each of these classes is free to all who are competent to enter.
There are four classes in instrumental drawing, a beginners' and an advanced class for both ironworkers and woodworkers. In the advanced class of the former, drawings are made and colored from parts of machinery, &c., and of the latter, architectural designs, the principles of construction, &c. In a mechanical community like ours the value of this instruction cannot be over- estimated. The classes have not been large in any of these schools, but the pupils have been industrious ; their progress has been marked, and no money has been spent without an ample equivalent.
THE SCHOOL-MASTERS' CLUB.
This organization has been formed within the year. It in- cludes the principals of the Grammar schools with the principal of the High School and one or two other prominent teachers of the city as honorary members. It meets monthly in the evening
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
during the school year, to discuss practical questions relating to teaching and school work.
A course of illustrated lectures has been given on geography and history in the High School Hall once in three or four weeks during the winter, by the members of the club, to pupils of Grades VIII. and IX. At these lectures in a darkened hall some eight hundred pupils were assembled; their interest did not flag; and their decorous behavior both during the lecture and on the way to and from the hall merits the highest praise. No audience of grown people accustomed to meet in this city- or in any other place-excels them, and few equal them, in this respect. The conduct of these pupils on such occasions is a striking evidence of the real culture attained in the public schools ; it goes to show that the children are growing up to appreciate their privileges ; it indicates that they are accustomed to make good use of their time while in school.
It is pleasing to note here that other voluntary organizations of teachers in the several grades, for mutual improvement and consultation respecting their work, are springing up. May their number increase ! They indicate a lively and active interest in the teaching profession.
No RECESS.
In confirmation of the positions heretofore taken in our re- ports on this innovation, I desire here to quote from a private letter received last April from an eminent superintendent of schools, in a city where the school-system and its conditions, are similar to our own.
" When I first commenced teaching, the law obliged me to teach five and a half days a week, and from 9 to 12 A. M., and from 1 to 4 P. M. daily. The law was subsequently changed to allow five days for a school week, and in this city five and a half hours a day. And now our regulations require our schools to begin at 9 and close at 12 in the morning, with an intermission of fifteen minutes, in all schools, near the middle of the session. The afternoon session begins at 2 and closes at 4 with a recess of ten minutes in the primary departments only ; and yet I say to the teachers in the intermediate and advanced grades, When
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your pupils seem restless in the afternoon send them out a few minutes.
"Last year the no-recess fallacy struck me ; and in order to satisfy myself I allowed the Academy and the Central Grammar Schools to omit recess entirely during a term and to close the morning session at 11.45. I am now satisfied-perfectly satisfied -that I made a mistake. Of course the time for teachers to work in school was reduced from five hours to four and three- fourths hours per day. And thence, in my opinion, arises the clamor for the no-recess plan.
" I carefully watched the result of the two and three-fourths hours continuous strain upon the pupils, in regard both to mental and to physical effect. I have found, what anyone's common sense must show without experimenting, that two and three- fourths hours continuous mental strain is too much for satisfac- tory mental culture. After from one and a half to two hours con- tinuous study, the tired mind of the student is unfitted for further mental work. The mere loss of time to the pupil for the re- maining three-fourths of an hour is of comparatively little con- sequence ; but the positive injury to the pupil is weakening the mind by forcing more work upon it in its weary condition-this injury is permanent and irreparable. This pressure tends to produce a lapse of memory and a nervous debility, both perma- nent and disastrous.
" Again, the confinement of some pupils in the school-room so long, produces physical troubles that can never be cured. The argument that pupils learn iniquity in the yard, I know does not apply to this city ; and why any more at the middle than before or after the school session ?
" Besides, I do not think the gain to the teachers for shortening the session fifteen minutes, pays them for the continuons class- work of two and three-fourths hours; and it seems to me that any teacher who is anxious to shorten his time of labor, is not anxious for the welfare of his pupils."
All this is as was to be expected. As time passes, the other experimenters will one by one join our ranks.
THE NATURAL HISTORY CAMP.
The educational work of The Natural History Society, in the report of its various classes, was detailed in the school report for 1885. That work has for its aim to popularize the study of na- ture among the pupils of our schools, and to give free access to
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
her open book, just as the improved methods in the administra- tion of the Free Public Library which have attracted universal attention, have opened to these pupils the rich treasures of knowl- edge there stored.
A new and unique feature has been added to the work of this Society, in its park and summer camp. A tract of land of some forty acres beautifully situated on the shores of the lovely lake Quinsigamond, about two and a half miles from the centre of the city, has been secured for a park. Within its enclosure is Wigwam Hill, where in ages past the savage orgies of the In- dians were held, and from whose top the whole length of the lake is in view, charming within its woody enclosure, and dotted with islands, and here and there in summer animated by little steamers and all sorts of boats with paddles, oars, or sails. Be- hind this eminence, the park extends to the shore with a broken and diversified and gently-sloping surface, covered with trees and cleared spaces, and having a natural amphitheatre large enough to seat beneath its shade trees, an audience of ten thousand. In this attractive spot has been fitted up a camp of tents, where a large company of boys spent the summer vacation or a part of it. Boats for rowing, a swimming school, and various athletic sports are provided ; and entertaining instruction in some branch of natural history was given each day. Here about two hundred young people spent more or less of the last summer vacation, in the care of watchful guardians and teachers. Many of the parents of these children are enthusiastic in praise of this stimu- lating and health-giving contact with nature. Like the Antæus of ancient fable, the children are strong as long as they touch the mother earth.
This camp will be made more complete the coming season through the generosity of one of our citizens, Mr. Thomas H. Dodge, who has contributed one thousand dollars for the pur- chase of tents, and the erection of a cottage for guests, to be known as the Dodge Pavilion.
A variety of simple tools and a shop are also to be provided ; and here handicraft will flourish amidst its natural surroundings ; and it is not unlikely that some of the processes of agriculture
25
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belonging to that season of the year, may be introduced. This vacation school will form an element in settling the problem of
MANUAL TRAINING.
In this direction the members of the Mechanics' Association are still at work. The summer school in the shops of the Free Insti- tute was continued the past summer ; and the members of the Association are now forming plans for organizing a school with steam-power and machinery as one department of their work. As stated in a former report, which quotes the pertinent remarks of the then president, Mr. Benjamin J. Dodge, it is in this direc- tion that we are looking for the development of a plan to provide for manual training in an appropriate and successful way, as the requirements of that kind of training, and the best methods of conducting it, become better known. It is not to be inferred from former characterizations of the hare-brained theories of manual- training enthusiasts, who advocate this kind of training by whole- sale disparagement of the school system, that we are opposed to the introduction of that kind of training. It undoubtedly has a place beside, but not in lieu of, nor to displace the studies of the common schools. There is room for the shop without tearing down the school-house. And to such institutions as those re- ferred to above, we may look for the establishment of those shops upon a healthy and permanent basis.
RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.
There seems to be a wide-spread sentiment, among teachers, that religion is a forbidden subject in the schools. This senti- ment found expression at a convention of teachers held in this State within a year, where one teacher assumed in specific lan- guage, that " we are prohibited from giving any religious instruc- tion." This error is traceable in part to that section of the Pub- lic Statutes, which declares that the school committee shall re- quire the daily reading, in the public schools, of some portion of the Bible " without written note or oral comment "; that they " shall not require a scholar, whose parent or guardian informs the teacher in writing, that he has conscientious scruples against
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