USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1892-1894 > Part 36
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As there has been a considerable amount of sickness in the town this winter some citizens have feared that the condition of the school-house might have been an important factor in causing or spreading it. A careful examination of the cases reported does not give countenance to this theory, as it does not appear that there has been a larger proportionate number of cases in the Russell School than in other schools. But although the defects in this building have undoubtedly been exaggerated, this is no reason why the town should not do all that it reasonably can to improve the ventilating and sanitary arrangements in this as in other buildings, and the School Committee will continue the work they had already entered upon and carefully carry out the instructions of the town given at a recent meeting in regard to this matter.
Other repairs may be spoken of more briefly. The boiler used in the old High School has been added to the heating apparatus in the Russell School. The walls of the school- rooms in the Russell building were whitened and some painting was done. A gong was placed on the Locke School. Minor needed repairs were made on all the buildings.
During the coming year it will be desirable to repair the concrete in the yard of the Russell School. At the same time it would be well to obtain needed space on the north side by moving back the fence on the Whittemore lot, now the property of the town. The Cutter building should be painted. Other ordinary repairs will have to be made to keep the several buildings in good condition.
181
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
Crosby District.
In several recent reports attention has been called to the approaching need of better school accommodations in the Crosby district. This distriet includes the whole eastern part of the town as far as Tufts street. In the other dis- tricts-the Russell, Cutter and Locke-scholars attend school for the first eight years in their own districts, those of the ninth and higher grades attending the High School. In the Crosby district, however, there are no accommodations except those offered by a two-room school-house more than forty years old. This, with crowding, contains at present 100 scholars, of the three lowest grades, those of the next five grades, 114 in number, being obliged to attend the Russell School. The distance to be travelled, especially by those living near the eastern boundary of the town, is considerable. In other words, this district has the oldest and smallest school-house in town, insufficient to accommo- date less than one-half of its children. If these scholars could be formed into four schools like those in the Cutter and Locke districts, the numbers at the present time would be as follows :
Grades 1 and 2
CROSBY. 80
CUTTER.
LOCKE.
50
38
66
3 and 4
54
47
45
5 and 6
48
40
35
66
7 and 8
32
21
18
214
158
136
The transfer of more than one hundred scholars from the Russell to the Crosby building would probably leave vacant two rooms in the Russell School, the teachers in which might be transferred to the Crosby School. The Russell building would be left partially unoccupied, but should the number of scholars in our schools continue to increase at the present rate, it would be again filled in a very few years.
182
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
The people of the Crosby district generally feel that com- pared with other parts of the town they are at a serious dis- advantage as regards facilities for the education of their children and that as the number of scholars is now much larger than it is in the Locke and Cutter districts, the schools in the Crosby district should be organized in like manner. A district that has received nothing in the nature of a school building since 1850 is certainly entitled to liberal and considerate treatment by the town.
The foregoing are some of the more important matters to which the School Committee desire to call the attention of the town. These are however but the means to an end. The vital part of our school system, the education that it aims to give, is discussed in the report of the Superintendent of Schools. Mr. Hall has rendered especially valuable service during the past year in planning and supervising the above mentioned changes. These alterations have in many cases imposed additional work upon teachers and their willingness and zeal in carrying out the plans of the Committee should be commended.
The standard of our schools is high and it should not be lowered. We may confidently look forward to their steady growth and improvement along the lines already marked out. The Committee commend them to the continued sup- port of the town.
Approved by the School Committee.
JAMES P. PARMENTER, Chairman.
JANUARY, 1895.
183
SCHOOL COMMITTEE'S REPORT.
SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS.
HIGH SCHOOL.
IRA W. HOLT, Principal. ANNA J. NEWTON, M. HELEN TEELE,
LAURA A. DAVIS, BESSIE GREENMAN,
GRACE H. PERKINS, 9th Grammar Grade. EUDORA T. ELTINGE, ELLA J. HOLMES, Sth Grammar Grade.
RUSSELL SCHOOL.
HORACE A. FREEMAN, Principal.
STELLA M. GRIMES, 7th grade. ANNA PILLSBURY, new 6th grade. LILA M. TAYLOR, old 6th grade. S. EVELYN POTTER, new 5th grade. LOUISA R. WARREN, new 4th grade. EDITH M. ARNOLD, old 4th grade.
ELIZABETH L. GEER, 3d primary. JANE A. FORBUSH, 2d primary. LIZZIE A. DAY, 1st primary. FSARAH L. GIFFORD, 1st primary and Kindergarten. CROSBY SCHOOL. MARY F. SCANLAN, Principal. HATTIE A. SNELL, 1st and 2d grades.
CUTTER GRAMMAR SCHOOL. JENNIE A. CHAPLIN, Principal.
NELLIE A. GRIMES, 5th and 6th grades. ROSE A. BRADY, 3d and 4th grades. ELIZABETH DE BLOIS, 1st and 2d grades.
LOCKE GRAMMAR SCHOOL. BERTHA E. HOLBROOK, Principal. MARGARET M. OAKES, 5th and 6th grades.
LUCY E. EVANS, 3d and 4th grades. ELIZABETH VAN DERVEER, 1st and 2d grades. BLANCHE E. HEARD, Supervisor of Music, EMMA K. PARKER, Supervisor of Drawing. A. C. COBB, Teacher of Manual Training. EMMA C. HOLLIS, Teacher of Sewing.
REPORT
OF THE
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
To" the School Committee of Arlington :
GENTLEMEN-I submit herewith, according to custom, my third annual report. The general progress of the schools has been as substantial as conditions and circum- stances would allow. During the year there have been im- portant changes in organization and classification, several new subjects of study have been introduced, and the neces- sary adjustments have taken a great deal of time and atten- tion. Moreover, there has been a decided increase in the number of pupils attending school, as shown by the following
STATISTICS.
There were, January 1, 1895, in the public schools of Arlington, 1044 children accommodated and classified as follows :
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING 184; fourth class 12, third class 21, second class 37, first class 37, class nine 25, class eight (two rooms) 52.
RUSSELL SCHOOL BUILDING, 466; class eight 45, class seven 45, class six (two rooms) 82, class five 41, class four (two rooms) 72, class three 43, class two 54, class one 43, kindergarten 41.
LOCKE SCHOOL BUILDING 136; classes eight and seven 18, classes six and five 35, classes four and three 45, classes two and one 38.
185
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
CUTTER SCHOOL BUILDING 158 ; classes eight and seven 21, classes six and five 40, classes four and three 47, classes two and one 50.
CROSBY SCHOOL BUILDING 100; classes three and two 47, class one 53.
From these figures it appears that there are, at date, at the Crosby School, five more pupils than a year ago, at the Cutter School, thirteen more, at the Locke School, fifteen more, and at the High School, eighty-three more. The Russell School has twenty-nine less pupils than on January 1, 1894, more than one hundred pupils having been pro- moted or transferred to the High School Building. The total increase throughout the town has been eighty-five. The whole number recorded a year ago was 959, exactly what it was January 1, 1893. Now there are, on the lists, 1044.
The number of different pupils attending school in town during the year has been 1203, seventy-one more than last year.
Every pupil who has attended school in Arlington during the year beginning January 1, 1893, and ending January 1, 1894, is counted in this number. It includes some who have come and gone,-the floating population-some who have left school to work or on account of sickness, all who have graduated from the High School during the year, and those attending school at present.
The number over 15 years of age has been 172
The number under 5 years of age has been 7
The number between 8 and 14 years of age has been 1073 The average number attending this year has been 971
The average daily attendance has been 914
The ratio of daily attendance has been 93
The average number is forty-seven larger than last year, the average daily attendance sixty-nine larger, and the ratio of daily attendance a little higher.
186
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
These statistics show that the Town of Arlington is grow- ing, though a part of the increase in the number of school children may be due to the fact, that, for various reasons a larger number of pupils than usual have remained in school, especially in grades nine and ten (First Class, High).
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
The most interesting event of the year was the completion of the new High School building. The pupils waited for it long, and suffering while they waited, were prepared to appreciate all the advantages of a convenient and commodi- ous building. The three High School classes which entered the building in September were well prepared, in spite of the hampering conditions of the past, to take advantage of every opportunity afforded for broadening, enriching and strengthening their course, because the high school work in Arlington for a series of years, has been, in many respects, excellent in quality and quantity.
Until this year, however, the instruction in science and other practical subjects has been poor and insufficient on account of the lack of room, of suitable apparatus and other conveniences. For, as Prof. Huxley expresses it :
"If the great benefits of scientific training are sought, it is essential that such training should be real; that is to say, that the mind of the scholar should be brought into direct relation with fact, that he should not merely be told a thing but made to see by the use of his own intellect and ability that the thing is so and no otherwise. The great peculiarity of scientific training, that in virtue of which it cannot be re- placed by any other discipline whatsoever is this bringing of the mind directly into contact with fact and practicing the intellect in the completest form of induction ; that is to say, in drawing conclusions from particular facts made known by immediate observation of nature. In such respects science differs from other educational discipline, and prepares the scholar for common life. If scientific training is to yield its most eminent results it must be made practical. That is to say, in explaining the general phenomena of nature, you
1.87
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
must, as far as possible, give reality to your teaching by object lessons ; in teaching a pupil botany he must handle the plants and dissect the flowers for himself; in teaching him physics and chemistry you must not be solicitous to fill him with information, but you must be careful that what he learns he knows of his own knowledge. Don't be satisfied with telling him that a magnet attracts iron. Let him see that it does ; let him feel the pull of the one upon the other for himself. Pursue this discipline carefully and conscien- tiously and you may make sure that however scanty the measure of information you have poured into the boy's mind you have created an intellectual habit of priceless value in practical life."
Such an education as Prof. Huxley thus describes is now accessible to every boy and girl in Arlington who cares to work for it; for, we have teachers who can carry on this experimental, objective work and the Pratt Laboratories make ample provision for real scientific training in Chemis- try, Physics and Biology. The rooms are large, well lighted and furnished with every convenience for individual experiments. In the Physics room there are six tables, four single and two double ones, each either 2 or 4 feet wide and varying in length from 7 to 20 feet. Near the tops of these there are fifty-two drawers each 18 inches by 20 inches with a depth of 63 inches, while underneath are closets or lockers, each 24 by 18 inches. Each pupil has one of these drawers and lockers in which to keep the appara- tus he is using for the day, or his unfinished work. In the Chemical Laboratory there are six tables on two sides and in the middle of the room, all provided with sinks and other fittings, sufficient in number for individual work with a class of thirty pupils. Near by is a large and well lighted Chemical Supply Room where each pupil may go to select for himself the materials, elements or combinations he needs for performing the required experiments or making the necessary tests.
In another room there are, on the window casements or
188
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
recesses on the sunniest side of the room, boxes filled with soil for planting seeds and growing Botanical specimens enough for each member of the class. In the centre of the room there are large tables about which pupils may gather to study by actual observation and experiment the real objects provided for biological study. These objects are to be not only observed closely but drawn and described.
It almost goes without saying that in this kind of scien- tific training a great deal of manual skill is necessary. The scientific progress of the world during the last century has been partly due at least to trained senses and trained hands. We have learned that the mind of man is not altogether in his brain but that it pervades his whole body; that, as President Eliot expresses it, " The mind is not in the head but all over the body, and when you train the eye or the ear or the hand you train the mind." Very naturally, then, in connection with the proper equipment of our new High School building, the question rose, Why may not other forms of manual training besides those involved in Chemi- cal, Physical and Biological experiments be introduced now into the Arlington High School ?
Manual Training.
A special committee appointed for the purpose made a careful investigation of the different systems of Manual training which have been introduced into public schools elsewhere, and, early in the year it was decided to fit up in the basement of the High School building a room for the accommodation of what is now known as The Cutter Manual Training Department. In this the boys of classes eight, nine and ten are given a course of instruction in carpentry by which they are taught to use common tools and make a variety of objects like a file handle, a paper knife, a comb tray, a book rack, a wall bracket, etc. The models from which the pupils work are articles of real worth and beauti- ful in shape, and all of them, taken together in their proper
189
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
order, give in concrete form a history of each pupil's advanc- ing skill, from the first and simplest model to that in which a high degree of efficiency is manifested. The exercises progress, without break, from easy to difficult work and in such order that by means of the preceding exercises, pupils may attain the necessary skill to make the models that fol- low without direct help. Each pupil is required first to make from observation, memory or invention a working drawing and from this to construct out of the rough crude material furnished him a useful and properly finished object. To fit up and furnish the manual training room was no sim- ple or easy task. It required a great deal of time, labor, attention, judgment, mechanical knowledge and practical skill.
All these were freely given by the Manual Training Com- mittee, and as a result of their earnest and voluntary efforts Arlington has to-day in the basement of the High School building a Manual Training room as well equipped as can be found in any public school in the State. In the centre of the room are placed eleven wood workers' benches with a vertical board dividing the top of each bench into two equal parts, thus making it possible for two pupils to work at the same bench ; one on each side, without danger of interference. Just under the top of each table there are three drawers fitted with locks. Each pupil has one of these drawers in which to keep the individual tools supplied to him, and his unfinished work. A large case of drawers placed on one side of the room makes it possible for eighty-eight pupils to work in sections of twenty-two each, without interfering with each other or using each other's tools.
Some implements used only occasionally are kept in a large case from which they may be taken when needed for use in common by the members of the different divisions.
A list of tools, and an outline of the work in carpentry may be found on page 198, Supplement A, accompanying this Report.
Running half way across the south side of the room are
190
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
six lathes, fitted with the most approved devices for doing all kinds of wood-turning work.
While the boys are employed at the benches or working at the lathes the girls in each class from which the boys are taken are taught sewing. An inspection of the work already done by the five classes which take this form of manual training will satisfy any fair-minded person that if the sew- ing lessons were in no sense educational they should still be continued for their practical value. But no one can look into the rooms when sewing is going on without being con- vinced that the powers and faculties of the children are most actively and harmoniously developed, that attention, neat- ness, concentration, mental application, carefulness and manual dexterity are being promoted in a very positive and concrete manner.
An outline of the work in sewing for the different classes will be found on page 200, Supplement B, accompanying this Report.
The New Classification.
When the introduction of new and practical branches of education was first considered by the Committee it seemed proper not to confine the privilege of taking them to High School pupils. Indeed it was the unanimous opinion of the School Board that the stimulating, liberalizing, enriching influence of experimental work in science and especially of concrete work in handicraft ought to be offered to and could be safely introduced into the upper classes of the grammar schools. Every one familiar with public school work knows that under the system which has prevailed many pupils as soon as they have passed through the primary and lower grammar grades become weary of the routine of school life and the formal study of text books and have no lively inter- est in the subjects they are drilled on so persistently. It seemed to us therefore that the course of study heretofore pre- scribed for the grammar schools might be lighted up at vari- ous points by the introduction of new subjects of study
191
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
more practical and broadening in their influence than the formal lessons usually assigned grammar school pupils. Furthermore, it had been evident for some time to the School Committee and to many parents that there was no close con- nection, such as ought to exist, between the grammar and high school work; that there was instead a sort of break or chasm or " cut off" between them, and there were also many complaints that high school pupils were overworked while grammar grade pupils had not enough to do.
To try to remedy these defects and others which might be mentioned the Committee decided to modify, amend and improve the old course of study and to reorganize or reclas- sify the schools in a positive yet moderately conservative manner. Beside the reasons already assigned for acting in this matter immediately and making changes at once instead of slowly and by degrees there was another reason which seemed to us exceedingly weighty. The grammar classes of lower grade than the old first and second classes had most of them made more rapid progress than the classes of similiar rank in previous years in certain studies, and so were prepared to take up new subjects with the higher classes and cover by a little extra effort any additional work which might be assigned them. This fact, taken in connec- tion with the possibility which appeared of lopping off in future certain impractical and useless topics from the old course at various points, led your Committee to make in June last the following arrangements, by which classes are expect- ed hereafter to cover all the work of primary, grammar and high school grade including the practical work referred to on page 202, Supplement C, in thirteen years.
1. Classes will hereafter be designated from the lowest grade to the highest upward by Roman Numerals : thus : First year in school, Class I.
Second year in school, Class II.
Third year in school, Class III. Fourth year in school, Class IV.
192
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
And so on to Class X. which will be known as the First Class, High, Class XI. as the Second Class, High. Class XII. as the Third Class, High, and Class XIII. as the Fourth Class, High.
2. The former studies of Class IX. Arithmetic, Reading, Writing, Spelling, Geography, Grammar and United States History will not be entirely abolished for this grade but taught hereafter in close connection with the High School studies, heretofore taken by Class X. That is to say, all pupils in grade IX. will come to the High School building and begin High School work according to the plan more definitely outlined on page 202 Supplement. C, accompanying this report. Suffice it to say here that four entirely new stud- ies have been taken by Class IX. this year ; Algebra, Latin (or English Grammar, elective), Manual Training and Physi- cal Geography. It will be seen that the course of study outlined on p. 198 will be likely to advance the class from six to nine months farther along in their course at the end of the tenth year than heretofore and give them a broader and sounder foundation of knowledge for the more advanced High School work.
3. The studies of class eight are to be entirely equiva- lent in some subjects and almost equal in others to those heretofore taken by ninth year pupils. In other words, the eighth year grade is moved forward and upward almost into the place of the old ninth or first grammar grade.
4. Into both of these classes, eight and nine, as well as into the English division of the first high, the new subject of Manual Training is introduced. It seemed to the Commit- tee that this subject would require but little home study, and would more than compensate for the time it took in school by bringing the pupils who took it into a more vital knowledge of practical work, teaching them that the object of education is not so much to give knowledge as the power to use it.
We have learned already, by experience, that Manual
193
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Training helps more than it hinders all other kinds of school work ; that manual dexterity as a rule increases mental dex- terity, breaks up the dull routine of school life and vitalizes thought.
When the plan, roughly outlined by us in the last four paragraphs, was about to be put in operation, certain facts had to be faced and carefully considered. Some were for- tunate and encouraging, others unfortunate and discourag- ing, as always happens when changes are to be made. Every pupil had to be assigned on his record, to the class he was best fitted to enter. Some of the members of class eight were ready to take the work of class nine, others were not. Not all the pupils in either class were at first satisfied. Some promotions had to be made with great care and after trial, but the Committee and Superintendent tried, as far as possible, to do justice to all, and adapt the work as closely as possible to each pupil's attainments. At every point the work has now been adjusted, and is moving steadily for- ward. We believe very little it any dissatisfaction exists. On every hand there is plenty of evidence that the majority of the pupils in classes eight and nine are manifesting. un- usual interest in their work, and improving rapidly in spirit, purpose, character and mental power. We believe the town has good reason to be proud of its High School Build- ing and the school it contains. This word of commenda- tion is in no sense a reflection on other teachers or pupils in town ; for every one must know that boys and girls are ed- ucated, as we all are, in part at least, by environment and this certainly gives the High School a decided advantage.
In the
Primary and Grammar Schools
with few exceptions, all of which are occasioned by circum- stances beyond our control, progress this year has been steady and encouraging. In order to keep Arlington in the front rank educationally, it is obviously necessary to main_
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