USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1887 > Part 21
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Now if there is any duty of a school committee or a superintend- ent of schools which far outweighs all others, it is to secure an able and faithful corps of teachers. In doing this, professional train- ing, either in a normal school or in the wide school of experience and earnest observation, should be taken into the account; earnest- ness, sincerity, and tact, or natural aptitude for the work of teach-
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ing, should also be sought; and above all, a high moral charac- ter and purpose, and a real interest in the welfare of children, a love for them which will treat with leniency their failures, and greet with gladness all their little successes, ought to be secured. And in getting this kind of teachers mere professional knowledge on the part of those whose duty it is to make the selection is not enough. A man may have a profound knowledge of all educa- tional philosophy, a wide familiarity with the best methods and the art of teaching, and yet if his heart is cold, he may apply all his tests to the candidates and make poorer selections than could be made by the mother of a family, destitute of most of this pro- fessional knowledge. It is possible for one who is not a Greek scholar to select a good teacher of Greek; many a man who could not himself teach may be able to recognize good teaching when he sees it. The greatest safeguard, however, in the selec- tion of teachers is that this important duty is not left to any one man; the selection is here made by a committee of six, whose various qualifications supplement and reinforce each other.
When a good teacher has been put in charge of a school, the work is his; the chief responsibility is his; and his methods should be interfered with as little as is consistent with that unity which a large system of schools must have. There must be a certain uniformity where pupils must constantly be transferred from grade to grade, and frequently from school to school of the same grade. Certain portions of a subject, arithmetic for ex- ample, must be assigned to a certain class, and definite general results of the teaching must be insisted on. But all this is only a small part of the real work of the school. That work is the mas- tery of the part of a subject taught ; the making it a part of the pupil's self ; the mental grasp and expansion which so much of the study ought to give the pupil; above all, the influence which that stage of the pupil's progress ought to have upon his charac- ter ; the teaching of self-reliance, of bravery in the face of dis- couragement, of modesty in success, of truthfulness where there is a temptation to make an apparent gain by deception and fraud- the morality, in short, which there is in the study of arithmetic or grammar, where the main purpose is to be true, and to plant
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one's feet upon real knowledge, and not to be satisfied with its semblance. This suggests the real work of the teacher, a work which can not be measured or computed by per cents; a work whose presence can not always be noted, and whose absence can not always be detected ; a work which proceeds from the heart of the teacher, whose reward is not in this world ; a work which would be spoiled by the very thought of reward; a work whose result is so far-reaching in human character and destiny that not only it cannot be measured in per cents or by any petty Norfolk county examinations, but that result can not even be traced ex- cept in a general way in the schools ; much less can the result be detected and pointed out among the thousand influences that affect the future life of a pupil. The result is nevertheless there.
Now, many of our teachers exert such an influence through their teaching either consciously or unconsciously-most likely the latter-and to a surprising extent. There can be no doubt about it. And it is fondly hoped that all of them exert such a good influence to some extent, and that the degree is on the increase with each succeeding year.
When a little boy, poor and clothed in rags, who sells papers on the street in cold and rain to make one cent apiece to help support his widowed mother and his smaller brothers and sisters, there is a spirit worthy to be encouraged ; when, now, such a boy picks up a well-filled pocketbook on the street where no eye sees him, and follows to return it to the owner; and when that boy's moral training is directly traceable to a school, even though no religion is taught, and no specific moral lessons form a part of the programme, who will say that there is no character-train- ing in the schools ? And this is one of many instances of like character which have happened in Worcester. Another instance. In the schools of this city, years ago, a little girl caught her dress on fire at the stove. The flames burst out, and the teacher, at the imminent risk of her own life, sprang forward and saved the little girl. In recognition of this act of heroism, appropriate action was taken formally by the School Committee. Other acts equally heroic, but unheralded and unknown, are happening every day in our schools. To quietly rescue an innocent child
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from contamination at the risk of a smirch upon her own repu- tation, so dear to a delicate lady, is not less heroic. To sacrifice care and comfort in promoting the welfare of the children, and to work unceasingly and conscientiously, with no eye to see and no voice to applaud, except the voice of conscience and the eye of God, this is moral heroism; and the heroism becomes the brighter when others less worthy, perhaps, are recognized and rewarded. In Dakota this winter a teacher carried to shelter from the blizzard her little charge. She lost both her feet ; they were frozen ; and like Grace Darling, she has received public recognition. But she is only the representative of her class, the unknown heroes and heroines who are forming the future America in the public schools. Besides the regular work in the school curriculum, there is done in these schools a work as im- perceptible and as pervasive as the sunlight, and as little trace- able. And when a man says he wants to " renew his solemn plea in behalf of children, it is time for us to do justice to them, justice which is the sweetest of mercies. It is time for us to say with unfaltering purpose, little children shall no longer work that men and women may live in idleness," as if the public schools were somehow guilty; in view of the real facts, such an utterance makes one's hair to rise with indignation, as the ghostly phantom of a dream will make the hair to stand in fright.
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
This school is the apex of the system. It is the " bright con- summate flower " of the common school education ; the epitome of all to which the system tends. Its utility is not measured by what it does for the pupils who reach it. It is valuable also and perhaps chiefly for its influence upon the lower schools in stimu- lating the pupils below, to higher advancement. It is the goal to which they look. It is an essential feature of a system which aims to be self-perpetuating, since it is indispensable in the pre -· paration of teachers, unless indeed that class of workers is to be recruited only from the ranks of the well-to-do citizens who can pay for such advantages. The argument that because the High School to some extent educates teachers professionally, therefore
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 42.
every trade and every employment should have its higher prepar- ation at the public expense, fails in this : that this school is neces- sary for the system itself while the others are not thus necessary. And the claim sometimes heard, that public education need not go so far, is refuted by the consideration that a few well-educated people are as essential to the welfare of a community as it is that all should be fairly educated. This school is now larger than ever before in its history. It has kept pace with the growth of the city and the increase of the other schools. This gives evi- dence that it substantially meets the requirements of the com- · munity. With more than seven hundred pupils and with a corps of twenty teachers, and with three parallel courses of study in- cluding both sexes, it has nevertheless gone on without friction or any unnecessary excitement. The pupils are young gentle- men and ladies. They alone are an answer to any carping criti- cisms about the bad tendency of modern education. They attend to business with an earnestness which would do credit to people much older; and they behave themselves in their school much better than we of a former generation did.
The graduating class including those who left the school at the close of the partial course numbered, this year, one hundred and five, the largest in the history of the school. These exercises consist of essays and orations selected from those prepared by the members of the class during the last year or two of their stay in school. This feature is both interesting and notable. It gives added interest to the audience to hear the pupils' own produc- tions ; and the work of the school is displayed on these occasions. Moreover the last few months at school are not oppressed by the weight of preparation for the great event of graduation, and by the nervous anxiety which is liable to attend the writing of an essay for the unusual occasion-an anxiety of itself sufficient to prevent one's doing his best. And besides all this, every essay prepared during that last two years is written with more care because it is liable to be chosen for this occasion.
The exercises of graduation are still further improved by vary- ing but little from ordinary exercises. They take place in the school hall; and this final triumph of the class is amidst the same
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surroundings where all the work, the pleasures, and the successes of the school life have been. To hire a hall and go elsewhere would seem like a wedding away from home and not under the roof-tree. Parents and friends assemble in more than usual numbers. The Mayor, the highest municipal officer, and chair- man of the school committee, graces the occasion with his pres- ence and delivers the diplomas; and then it is done. With so little of the spectacular, closes the public school life which is de- signed to be devoted as little as possible to mere show.
The following programme gives an outline of the exercises last given :
WORCESTER HIGH SCHOOL.
GRADUATING EXERCISES, CLASS OF '87, TUESDAY, JUNE, 28, 3 o'clock P. M.
PROGRAMME.
MUSIC.
Chorus :- Gloria. From Mozart's Twelfth Mass.
* 1. Salutatory :- with Oration. Macbeth.
+2. Essay :- American Landscapes.
3. Essay :- Inspirational Characters. Alice L. Eames.
+4. Oration :- Quakers, after reading "Twice Told Tales. Julius W. Bugbee.
5. Oration :- Freedom, after reading "Bryant's Ages." George C. Burrage. MUSIC. " a "Spring and Autumn." (A. Penozzi.) Alice T. Warren.
Songs. (b "A Disappointment." (Helen F. Hood.) }
+6. Essay :- Educational Effect of Association. Helen Lincoln.
7. Essay :- Taylor and Irving at Stratford-on-Avon. Geraldine B. Longley.
+ 8. Oration :- My Masters, and what they have taught me. Charles F. Davis.
9. Oration :- Memorials. Thomas® A. McAvoy.
10. Essay :- Vision of Sir Launfal.
Mabel G. Merrill.
MUSIC.
Chorus :- Early Morning. (Kreuzter.)
11. Oration :- Science and Public Prosperity.
12. Essay :- History, from "Twice Told Tales."
13. Oration :- Milton and Dryden.
14. Essay :- French Revolution, with Valedictory. MUSIC.
Lewis T. Reed.
Hattie E. Smith. Harry N. Rice. Lucia F. Upham.
Piano Solos. S a La Fileuse. (Raff.)
b Agitato. (Schulhoff.) By the Class Pianist-Arthur J. Bassett.
Presentation of Diplomas by His Honor Mayor Samuel Winslow.
*The Essays and Orations were not prepared specially for this occasion,
but are selected from regular class-work during the past two years. + Excused from Reading.
Wallace M. Turner. Nettie J. Banister.
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CLASS SONG.
Words by FRANK ROE BATCHELDER. Music by ALICE T. WARREN.
ΑΡΧΗ ΉΜΙΣΥ ΠΑΝΤΟΣ.
"The beginning is Half of the Whole."
Where the path in twain is parted, And our future we survey ; We are standing, lion-hearted, Firm and ready for the fray. Proudly have we made beginning,- Let the end record no loss ; Shall we falter now, in winning? Αρχή ήμισυ παντός.
Smooth the path that we are quitting; Rough the way that lies before ; Yet, with ardor unremitting, Let us labor but the more. Blench not, though at first the stubble Wound, and heavy be the cross ; Learn to wait : Fame is no bubble : Αρχή ήμισυ παντός!
Be not charmed by idle pleasures, Wiles that weaken truth and worth; Steadfast be, and Heaven's treasures Shall succeed to those of Earth. Choose the pure, and honor cherish : Dally not with idle dross ; Fear not that thy work may perish : -Αρχή ήμισυ παντός.
CLASS OF '87. COLLEGE COURSE.
George Steadman Bennett. Charles Elroy Burbank. Robert Warren Dean. William Augustine Henderson.
Wallace Manhan Turner. Lillian Sherman Atwood. Lucy Adelaide Pratt.
Lucia Frances Upham.
Harry Norman Rice.
PARTIAL COLLEGE COURSE.
Patrick Andrew Dowd. John Terrence Sheedy. Thomas Patrick Smith.
William Augustine Hickey.
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
CLASSICAL COURSE.
George Closson Burrage. Charles Francis Davis. Edward Anson Gage. Joseph Nicholas Jerome. Thomas Aloysius McAvoy. Edward Eugene McKeon.
Flora Gertrude Fay. Mary Ruggles Green. Mary Catherine Henry. Grace Lillian Hill.
Mary Elizabeth Hyde.
Mary Woodman Kilborn.
Lewis Thurston Reed.
Maud Abby Knowlton.
Frank Albion Richardson.
Fred Elliott Wheeler.
Helen Lincoln. Geraldine Buffington Longley.
Alice Greene Arnold.
Jessie Mclver.
Nettie Julius Banister.
Agnes McMahon. Anna Grace Moore.
Amy Murray.
Mabel Greeley Merrill.
Maybelle Carleton Pierce.
Jennie Lucinda Ross.
Martha Ann Russell.
Marian Holman Shumway.
Emma Blanche Sibley. Hattie Elizabeth Smith. Annie Lillian Sullivan.
Helen Louise Tew. Nellie Jane Wattie. .
Caro Frances Wetherbee.
Alice Gertrude Whitcomb.
ENGLISH COURSE.
Fred Andrew Bigelow. Robert Edward Bigelow. Frank Edwin Bradford. Julius Walter Bugbee. Harry Lincoln Dadmun. Arthur Warren Eldred. George Henry Hilbert. Sumner Alvah Kinsley. James Henry McInerny. John Francis Marley. Walter Leslie Mellen.
Charles Austin Pierce. Albert Joseph Reinbold, jr. Bertice Felton Sawyer. Stephen Sawyer, jr. Arthur Carlton Smith. Louie Erville Ware. John Thomas Whittaker. Alice Harriet Armington. Alice Jane Hildreth. Minnie Howard. Annie Rogers.
Fannie Lillian Barber. Emma Susie Barrett.
Mattie Josephine Black. Annie Lincoln Bonnell.
Edith Minetta Brown. Flora Eunice Buck. Sarah Louise Burgess. Flora Browning Chamberlain. Grace Lucy Crawford. Anna Gertrude Cullen. Mary Davis. Elizabeth White Dennis. Florence Malbone Dodge. Carrie Maud Dudley. Alice Little Eames.
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 42.
PARTIAL COURSE.
Arthur Joseph Bassett.
Mary Eula Eldridge.
Frank Roe Batchelder.
Rosetta May Fawcett.
Herbert Francis Blood.
Adelle Tiffany Filmore.
Francis Joseph Dean.
Annie May Hawkes.
John Joseph Heron.
Rosa Helena Mahan.
John Henry Sullivan.
Addie Eliza Mayers.
Charles Henry Wood.
Mary Jane Sullivan.
Mabel Gertrude Buffington.
Mary Elizabeth Taft.
Alice Gertrude Draper.
Alice Theresa Warren.
Lillian Agnes Drennan.
The following statistics of pupils admitted to the school are of interest :
Schools.
Admitted.
Entered.
Absent.
Belmont Street
69
58
11
Dix Street.
44
40
4.
Winslow Street .
36
33
3
Chandler Street .
24
23
1
Woodland Street.
35
30
5
Washington Street.
75
55
20
Ledge Street. .
43
33
10
Millbury Street
21
18
3
347
290
57
Of those who did not enter.
Boys.
Girls.
Total.
At work . .
16
8
24
In other schools.
5
6
11
Out of the city.
2
1
3
At home.
2
17
19
25
32
57
Of those who did not return Sept., 1887.
Boys.
Girls.
Total.
Seniors
5
6
11
Juniors .
9
14
23
Sophomores.
10
9
19
24
29
53
The reasons for these absences.
Boys.
Girls.
Total.
At work.
12
5
17
At home.
6
6
At other schools.
9
14
23
Sick.
1
3
4
Ne'er-do-wells.
3
3
25
28
53
.
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SCHOOLS .- SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
The other schools are: Cornell, 1; Polytechnic Institute, 1; Worcester Academy, 1; Hinman's, 2; Holy Cross, 1; Normal School, 8; Mt. Holyoke, 2; Dental College, 2; Conservatory of Music, 1; School of Shorthand, 1; Pri- vate schools, 2; total, 23.
PROMOTIONS.
Within the past fifteen or twenty years promotion to the high school has been made in a variety of ways. At first pupils desir- ing admission to that school appeared on a day appointed, and were subjected to a written and oral examination by the teachers there, during one or two days. The results, estimated in per cents. of correct answers, determined the question of admission. This process admitted only the best pupils of a certain kind : those who could pass examinations. It kept up a certain kind of high standard of scholarship in the school; and it kept the school small.
It appeared, however, that there was a great nervous strain attending this great day of accounts ; many of the best pupils could not reach the required per cent. in the brief time allotted- their minds worked. slowly ; the teaching in the grades below was injuriously affected by preparation for this kind of a test ; the knowledge of a pupil's mental caliber and ability to work, which the teacher below had acquired in years of familiarity with the pupil, went for nothing-it was not taken into the account ; and whatever good work a pupil may have been doing, did not enter into the decision; at best, there was too much chance in the decision ; for by a lucky hit in the character of the questions, the poor might succeed and the good might fail. Moreover, in active life we are hardly ever measured by such a test.
This plan was abandoned, after a time ; and the grammar mas- ters were allowed to send to the high school all who, in their judgment, were fitted to enter. But this plan seemed to make as many different standards as there were masters. There was not quite enough uniformity of preparation ; and the responsi- bility of the decision, resting wholly upon the masters, was some- what burdensome ; for the pupils shade off almost imperceptibly. It is hard to decide whether to draw the line between A and B,
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CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 42.
or between C and D. There was nothing to appeal to, except the school record for the year; and parents would sometimes think that the teacher did not treat the rejected pupil fairly. There did not seem to be any disposition to advance pupils before they were prepared ; on the contrary, masters were inclined to hesitate about sending forward a pupil naturally slow or dull, because they would be open to that charge; and the tendency seemed to be to keep back that class of pupils, too much. There was the further objection that the High School teacher had no voice whatever in the admissions to his school, and no necessary knowledge of the requirements. His school might be just what the grammar-masters individually-not collectively-might make it; and after all some kind of an examination test had to be devised, for pupils from other schools not in the system.
To modify this plan and correct its evils, a third was inaugu- rated : All pupils reaching a certain standard of excellence in the grammar schools, were advanced ; all others were subjected to a uniform examination, each in his own school, upon questions covering the work of the year, and submitted by the High School committee. Here the standard of excellence was variable ; for 75 per cent. in one school did not mean the same as 75 per cent. in another school. It was as difficult to draw the line in this case as in the last. The High School master had no voice in the decis- ion ; and appeals to re-open the question in individual cases of failure, were made to the grammar master, who had to take the brunt of the disappointed pupil's tears, whether because he was not included in the list of pupils promoted without examination, or because he failed in the examination.
Finally the present plan was adopted, and it works better than either of the others. The pupils in the highest class of the grammar schools, as in those below, understand that the work of the year is to be the real test of their promotion ; they are also made to feel, so far as possible, that the work accomplished and the ability developed is important, and that the promotion is a mere incident ; that it is better for them to be where they can get the most good, whether in a lower or a higher grade. Each recitation is part of one continuous examination ; but besides
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this, questions are submitted from time to time by the teacher, not so much as a test as an exercise. Three or four times a year also printed sets of questions, uniform for each grade, are sub- mitted, which tend to keep the schools generally on the same lines. If a pupil seems to be deficient during the year, especially in the last half-year, the parent is notified ; and if the pupil is not doing as well as he might, either from indifference or because he attends to too many other things, to the neglect of his school, he is individually spurred to greater activity ; and if the parent is anxious to have him advanced, either on account of his age or for other cause, he will urge the pupil to greater exertion. It thus happens that at the end of the year a pupil understands pretty well what his prospects are. They all know that the question is virtually decided before the end of the year ; though a few on the border do not know on which side they stand. Finally, at the close of the year, all the pupils of grade IX., and such as may apply for admission to the High School from schools outside, are subjected to a written examination upon questions submitted by the High School committee. These questions are prepared by the superintendent, mostly selected from those which cover the ground gone over in the grammar schools ; they are given out uniformly in the several schools, one each day or half- day. The pupils answer them as they do an ordinary recitation or written examination by the teacher.
The papers are examined by the teacher and the results are tabulated. The papers are open to inspection by the High School committee, the superintendent, the High School principal, and each of the grammar masters; and at a meeting of all these, a certain maximum per cent. is agreed upon which admits all who reach it, unless that rank is too high for the character of the pupil who gets it, in the opinion of the master; these, if any, and all who fall below, are then considered individually by the meeting. All the circumstances of each case are taken into the account ; the age, the time spent in the grammar school, the stand- ing in the school, the rank in the examination, and the general ability, character, and prospects of the pupil. In this way every pupil is advanced who ought to go, and every pupil is detained
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who ought to stay ; and the decision so made is almost uni- versally satisfactory to all. But if any pupil feels dissatisfied, there is both his standing in the school, and the result of the ex- amination, to fortify the decision ; and this decision, while greatly influenced by the master, is not his alone, but that of the whole body to whom all the circumstances of each case are explained.
In the primary and lower grammar grades the promotions are made with less formality, by the teacher of the room in consul-" tation with the principal, and in cases of doubt with the superin- tendent also. About once a term printed questions are submitted, uniform for all the grades, which are designed to be suggestive of future teaching, and to keep the schools of a grade on the same line, more than as a test. These promotions take place at the end of the year; but it is the duty of the principal to note the progress of the individual pupils in the several schools under his charge, and thus to give unity, as much as possible, to the education of a child who yearly passes from one teacher to another ; and if he finds that the interest of any pupil and of the school requires it, his duty is to promote or to demote that pupil at any time. In this way the natural tendency of teachers to retain the brighter pupils and to send back the poorest, is coun- terbalanced ; and if any pupil is to jump a grade, the time do it is before the end of the year; that is, he should review with the class he is to jump, and go on to the next at the beginning of the year in September.
Two GRADES.
On account of the numbers and the necessity of placing about so many pupils-not less than 30 and not more than 50-in a room, it sometimes happens that in one room there are two grades. This is found to be not seriously objectionable. Indeed there are teachers who prefer a school of this kind, and who say that the pupils of both grades do as well and learn as fast.
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