USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1895-1897 > Part 9
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Of course pronunciation is not the only result to be aimed at. But we know from our study of other languages that the power to understand and to convey the meaning of words comes easily and naturally by constant use of them. When once we begin to read, we increase our vocabulary unconsciously. And so under the new system it is found that the children learn to read intelligently as well as promptly and accurately.
We have appreciated the fact that this, like any other change of method, has made necessary for the first year an extra effort on the part of our teachers. But we are happy to say that they, for the most part, have responded loyally.
We will not discuss the Pollard theory more in detail, but will refer all persons interested to the Report of our Superintendent of Schools. We made the change believing that we were making a great advance along scientific lines, ensuring a saving of time and a development of power to
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the children. As we have pursued our investigations further, and have become better acquainted with the working of the system, we feel more strongly than before the wisdom of the change.
High School Building.
Our last report contained a description of the new High School Building. This building is now thoroughly equipped and affords opportunity for scientific and other work never before possible in this town. In equipment and organiza- tion it ranks with the best buildings in the Commonwealth.
Owing to the crowded condition of the Russell School House, and in order to extend the advantages of the new building to a large number of pupils, we have placed the classes of the ninth grammar grade in the High School Building. We thus bring the grammar grades into closer touch with the High School, and by gradually extending down into the ninth grade some of the High School studies we hope to relieve the pressure in the High School and reduce the tendency to over-work. This movement is going on in other places with marked success.
As stated in our last report, the new building offers accommodations for a manual training department, In this department the boys are taught to do simple mechanical drawing and tool work, and the girls are taught sewing. The principal object is to train the hand to work with the brain, thereby rendering both the physical and the mental faculties more efficient. The Committee and Teachers, how- ever, believing that this object can be accomplished along practical lines, have laid out the work in such a way as to give scholars skill as well as power, which will be a practi- cal benefit to them hereafter.
Crosby District.
In our last report we called attention to the imperative
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necessity of a new school building in the Crosby District. In accordance with our suggestion, the necessary funds have been appropriated, and a suitable building is being erected under the direction of a special committee appointed by the town. We are assured that the new building will be ready for occupancy before the beginning of the next school year.
Kindergarten.
The crowded condition of the school buildings this year has rendered it impossible for us to maintain a kinder- garten. After the new Crosby Building is completed, there will be sufficient room for this work both in the Russell and in the Crosby Districts, but there will be no opportunity for it in the Locke and Cutter Buildings. We believe that kindergarten work is of great value, and shall be glad to introduce it so far as possible, whenever we feel that the Town is ready to incur the expense.
Buildings and Repairs.
During the summer vacation the Cutter Buildings and fences were thoroughly painted.
A law, which went into effect September 1st, required all school committees to furnish flags and staff's for the several school buildings. We have complied with the law, and the flags are constantly displayed at the various build- ings.
At the March meeting the town appropriated $5000 for an outside building for the sanitary arrangements of the Russell School, and for the proper ventilation of said build- ing as suggested by Professor Woodbridge. During the summer vacation a new brick building was erected, and a new and approved system of sanitaries was placed therein. The old basement was thoroughly cleaned out, filled in with fresh gravel, and concreted. The air chamber in the cupola was cleaned, whitewashed and screened, and other changes
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were made as suggested by Prof. Woodbridge. The entire work was done and all the appliances were put in under his direction and with his approval. As he is undoubtedly the foremost sanitary engineer and expert in this Common- wealth, his approval is a sufficient guaranty of the character of the work. We are now awaiting his final report and recommendations as to what, if anything, is further required for proper ventilation of the buildings.
In closing we ask our citizens to give to our schools the personal attention which they deserve. By going into the schools frequently and observing the problems and the diffi- culties which confront us, parents will get a better under- standing of the work than can be had from mere rumor, and will be better able to help the Committee and Superin- tendent with suggestions and criticisms.
Our schools are doing good work. With the continued support of the Town we trust that they may be kept in the first rank among the schools in the Commonwealth.
Approved by the School Committee.
SAMUEL H. SMITH, Chairman.
JANUARY, 1896.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
To the School Committee of Arlington :
GENTLEMEN - I have the honor to submit my first annual report as Superintendent of the Arlington Public Schools, which is the fourth that you have received since establishing the office. Having been here only one term, I have hardly yet become familiar with all the conditions affecting the schools of the town, and shall omit to speak of a number of matters with which you are at present better acquainted than I.
Statistics.
The table at the end of this report shows the average number of pupils for the year to have been 996. In 1894 it was 971. The average attendance was 938. In 1894 it was 914.
At the end of the year, December, 1895, there were 1035 pupils, divided as follows :
HIGH SCHOOL, 95, Grade IX. 86, making 181 in the High School building. At the beginning of the year the number in the same grades was 132.
RUSSELL SCHOOL, 433. At the beginning of the year it was 466. The Kindergarten would about make up the difference.
CUTTER SCHOOL, 162. A year ago, 158.
LOCKE SCHOOL, 147. A year ago, 136. The increase is mostly in the seventh grade.
CROSBY SCHOOL, 112. A year ago, 100. The number has been steadily increasing from year to year, and justifies the erection of the new building.
The attendance has been remarkably regular ; 94 per cent. is a splendid average for the pupils of a whole town for a year.
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Text Books
will always need attention in schools that aim to be pro- gressive. What seemed best a few years ago may be far behind the best of today. Moreover, accepted theories change. A generation ago few teachers thought of having more or less than one book on a subject for the use of their classes, A little later there was a popular notion that no book should be used by the younger pupils, but everything was to be taught orally by the teacher. Then a reaction set in ; rival publishers brought out scores of attractive " supple- mentary " books, and to keep up with modern progress it was thought necessary for a child to be provided with three . or four authorities. In your schools there were to be found a full dozen different kinds of books on Arithmetic, half as many on Geography, and unnumbered varieties of Histories, Language Books, Readers, etc. Now, a teacher certainly should be so familiar with the subjects that she teaches as not to be bound slavishly to her book; but it is fair to as- sume that the specialist who made the book was able to pre- sent the subject quite as well as the average teacher. Also, it is highly important that children should learn to use books, gathering information from them, and even in some cases comparing authorities ; but for young pupils to be re- quired to work up topics regularly from great masses of ma- terial, implies at least a misdirection of energy. It seems to me desirable, because it will vastly simplify the work for both teachers and pupils, to have one authorized text book in each subject for each grade throughout the town, supple- mented by as many reference books as can profitably be used. In this way only can unity in aims, quantity and method be easily obtained. You were wise, I think, in be- ginning to act in this direction as you did last spring. Already prescribed books have been selected in Arithmetic, Reading (primary), Spelling and History.
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Courses of Study,
like' text books, can never be regarded as so perfect that they can be left long without modification. The outlines prepared by my predecessor three years ago have served a good purpose, and are still followed in general. For grades VIII. and IX., essentially different work was laid out last year. The Principal of the High School has for some time been re-arranging the old course so that it shall be more in harmony with the convenient new building. With the assistance of the teachers I am carefully reviewing the courses in the other grades and making the few changes that seem necessary. Our disposition and policy are con- servative. We know that radical changes disturb progress, and prefer to leave things as we find them until we feel sure that they can be materially improved. In a few cases I have advised somewhat different methods. In many cases more definite limits seemed needed in order that each teacher might know how much she is expected to do to fit for but not anticipate the next year's work. Thus far I have issued outlines in Arithmetic, Spelling, Language, Physiology and Hygiene.
Arithmetic seems to show less and less satisfactory re- sults year by year. Everywhere there is complaint that children show a lamentable inability to grasp the meaning of a problem and to work it out by themselves rapidly and correctly. One reason for this is that they are led and directed so constantly that they come to depend too much on assistance. Another reason may be that they have been taught cumbersome methods of solving examples, which are supposed to be logical, but which are too unpractical for use outside the school-room. When anyone thus sacrifices all tangible results to the idea of mental development, there is danger that he fails to get either. On the other hand, as long as a boy is learning to do, independently, rapidly and
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accurately, we may safely risk the mental development. I have urged the teachers of Arithmetic to give many short examples to their pupils, who are to concentrate their atten- tion on solving them, without assistance, in the briefest possible way.
English Language, which deserves the position now gen- erally accorded to it as the most important of the regular school studies, has been well taught in the Arlington schools. In reviewing the "Course" in this subject I have merely suggested the most valuable kinds of exercises, and assigned certain ones to be emphasized in each grade. The essential truth is that the aim must be to train children to be practi- cal users of language. For the present no text books for this purpose are in the hands of the pupils.
Physiology and Hygiene are required by state law " to be taught to all pupils in all public schools." Our new out- line was prepared with this in mind. Special emphasis is laid on practical hygiene, and teachers are urged to draw the principles, so far as possible, from the experience and reason of the children.
Reading.
The Pollard Synthetic Method of teaching reading and spelling was unanimously adopted by the Committee. This is the most important change in method made during the year. It may be said to mark a new epoch in educational history.
Last spring a SPECIAL COMMITTEE was appointed to investigate the condition of Reading in your schools. They did not make a written report of what they found. If they had, judging from the conditions in Arlington and in other towns, I think it would have been about as follows :
Reading is taught by the so-called " Thought Method." This is a combination of the " Word " and the " Sentence"
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Methods, which succeeded the old " Alphabet Method " some fifteen years ago. The children in the primary classes usually show much animation. They recite the little stories smoothly, by phrases or sentences rather than by single words, and naturally, i. e., just as they talk. On the other hand, they make a great many mistakes, sometimes getting the whole sentence wrong, but oftener and usually changing or omitting many of the smaller words. It is an unusual thing to hear a paragraph read exactly as it is. The method gives the child absolutely no power to find out any word that he has not been taught.
After the Thought Method has been followed for some time it is supplemented by drill in Phonics. This work varies with the various teachers, both in amount and in method. In the schools where it is most thorough, the children are taught the more common sounds of the letters, with the corresponding diacritical marks. Then they are trained to combine the sounds of new groups of letters, and so pronounce words that they have not before seen. Some pupils have much power of this kind; but many others, especially in the higher grades, and particularly in certain schools, seem to have no such power. Even the brightest can not be sure of the pronunciation until the proper diacrit- ical marks have been supplied by the teacher or the book. If the drill in phonics were systematic, progressive and uniform, the situation would not be so bad. As it is, the intermediate and grammar grades find the children pitiably dependent on their teachers. The carelessness displayed is discouraging. The articulation is wretched; vowels are mispronounced, consonants are omitted, whole words are inaudible. There are many that are unable to read effective- ly, that is, to get the thought from a printed page ; one teacher says that her fourth-year class, as a class, can not read a primary book on Geography.
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The above is a fair statement of what your Special Com- mittee must have found. They decided that the results were not satisfactory. The POLLARD METHOD was brought to their attention. They visited a school where it had been used for three years, but where all the conditions for effec- tive work seemed less favorable than in your own schools. The contrast was startling. Children, almost wholly from homes where correct English was not spoken, read fluently, distinctly, correctly, accurately and understandingly. Not only did they do this from their own books, but they stood most searching tests from visitors. Eight-year-old children, having been only three years at school, read editorials from the Boston Herald, mispronouncing only a few such words as "economical," which they subsequently pronounced cor- rectly by their own efforts when given time to mark them ; and the class showed interest and a fair degree of apprecia- tion for what was read. Many other people, teachers, super- intendents and critics, visited that school. The testimony was uniform : the results were marvellous. Personal ac- quaintances reported the success of the system in other parts of the country. Letters were read from hundreds of teach- . ers and school officers, telling how they had secured far better results since using this method than ever before. Unlike other publications, where the Pollard books, were introduced and fairly tried, in hundreds of cities and towns in many states, they remained. The system had been used so long and with such great and uniform advantage, that it was far beyond the stage of experiment. Your Special Com- mittee recommended it to the Board, and the Pollard System was introduced into our four lowest grades on the 30th of September.
We have now been trying to use the new method for three months. More accurately, we have been learning to use it ; for our teachers, entirely unacquainted with the system, found a great deal to learn. The progress that we shall be
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able to make another year in the same length of time, has been prevented in these three months by a number of causes that have tended to make success not less certain but less rapid. In spite of all, the work is in better condition than I had expected it would be at this time. People are appre- ciating that it is a regular part of the school curriculum, and that success in this is as important as in other parts of the work. Already several of our teachers, as well as those citizens that have most carefully examined it, believe thor- oughly in the method. Although it is within a year that the first town in the state adopted it, the Synthetic work is going on in eight Massachusetts towns and cities beside Arlington, and from every one of them I hear enthusiastic reports. The primary teachers of Watertown have unani- mously requested that it be introduced in their schools. Their Superintendent, our own fellow-townsman, says that he "can't keep them from using it - couldn't if he would."
Unfortunately some enthusiasts claim too much. There is an impression that it is expected to teach reading, un- aided. Miss Sarah L. Arnold has been quoted as being opposed to the method. Yet she writes me that " it is a cunningly devised plan for teaching the pronunciation of words." For my part, that is all that I expect or want. We all know that to pronounce words is not the whole of reading, but it is the first essential. It is the mechanics of reading, just as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are the essential mechanics of arithmetic. When the four rules are mastered, a child can learn arithmetic ; so when a child can change printed words into spoken words readily and accurately, he is in a fair way to learn the mean- ing of both. For the teacher to help the child to master the thought contained, is an exercise in language. As a recent lecturer to the Arlington primary teachers well said, " there is no one method of developing thought." To call
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the Word-Sentence Method " The Thought Method " is an arrogant assumption. The Synthetic Method leaves the competent teacher free to develop the thought contained in the word, that is to teach language, by every method that she knows or can invent.
No one acquainted with the facts now questions concern- ing the immediate results of the Pollard Method. With its aid children learn to read English better and in less time than they ever did without it. But some say that is not enough. In an attack on the system which has been printed by a rival publishing house and circulated in Arlington, Dr. Emerson E. White is quoted as having said several years ago, "The greater the apparent results the greater is the ultimate injury to the child." Dr. White is commonly re- garded as the greatest Public School writer in America. In a letter dated Dec. 28, 1895, he says : " ' The proof of the pudding is in the eating,' and if the system gives results which are satisfactory to you, never mind what any one says of its psychology." Comforting as this advice is, I can not accept it entirely. I want to know as well as is possible the ultimate effect on the mental habits. The unparallelled results shown in connection with the Pollard System did not alone overcome my prejudice against so great a departure from the methods used for several years under my own direction. Although no " theorist" in education, I have carefully studied the THEORY, and beg leave to present briefly my reasons for believing the Synthetic Method to be correctly founded on psychologic principles, and pedagogi- cally sound.
The aim of the Synthetic Method is, to enable the child to translate printed language accurately into oral language. This is a true pedagogical aim ; for when this is done, the thought immediately comes into the mind if the words are familiar ; if they are unfamiliar, their pronunciation is the first step in their study. It harmonizes with psychological
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facts. A child associates thought with sound more naturally than with form alone. To the average adult, printed words suggest spoken words and these suggest ideas ; a careful trial will convince most thoughtful people of this fact. Sight alone does not leave a distinct image of a word in the mind, as is found when we pass over a difficult foreign word in our reading without pronouncing it. All good teachers of foreign language insist on distinct pronunciation ; one who tries to read French without pronouncing it, gets but a vague knowledge.
While the Pollard system is not perfect and we confi- dently look for improvements, it is the best way of attaining the above aim. It is a system of Phonics, which afford " the only civilized way " of learning to read. The Word Method is, as Professor Bain of Aberdeen called it, a " Chinese Method," since it necessitates the memorizing of the shape of every word learned. The Synthetic differs from other phonic methods, first, in that the children are trained to mark and sound the letters for themselves instead of depending on their teacher or book ; second, in commencing to mark and sound at the end. By this plan, when all the letters have been examined all the sounds are in mind and the word is pronounced without danger of mutilation ; third, in the careful arrangement of the exceptions, which are the only words requiring special study.
This method seems to me well adapted to develop in remarkable degree desirable mental powers and habits in those that study it. By the Word- Sentence method the memory alone is exercised, and that is tremendously over- taxed to master the ordinary vocabulary of 10,000 words, each as an isolated fact. By our new method the memory is exercised moderately, close observation is cultivated, while the greater part of the pupils' work is in applying sim- ple rules which tell what marks and sounds to give the let-
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ters in certain positions. This is an exercise of reason, almost identical in kind with the reasoning so highly valued in the elementary study of Latin. Experience proves that children can do it, and even the duller ones do it with keen delight. Close attention, accuracy and self-reliance can not fail to be cultivated, instead of the carelessness, inaccuracy and dependence for whose " artificial cultivation" the Sen- tence Method seemed especially contrived. The one idea for which the Pollard Method stands, is POWER. Power for all the children, in reading, and increased power in all other work.
There is not space here to describe the Method in detail. At the Superintendent's office there are a great number of papers and letters from all parts of the country explaining it clearly and telling of its success in many places ; anyone is welcome to examine them. What is better, all persons interested have the right to visit the schools and study the practical application.
Manual Training.
This department is well equipped and organized. The simultaneous exercise of the hand, the eye and the brain is just now regarded as the educational ideal. Certainly this work is popular. The reasons for limiting it to the eighth and ninth grades are not evident. If it is good for the pupils there it ought to be doubly good for those in the higher grades who have sufficient interest to ask permission to take it as extra work. It is quite possible, also, that the greatest educational profit from manual training may be obtained in the lower grammar grades. Careful study should be given to the double question, whether the simpler work shall not be begun in the seventh year, and whether advanced wood- work or iron work for the boys and cooking for the girls shall not be put into the High School, at least as electives.
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Kindergartens.
The desirability of Kindergartens is no longer denied. It has been demonstrated that children from a good Kinder- garten take up the mental work of the primary school more readily and make faster progress. More than this, splendid opportunities are afforded for cultivating the social qualities, such as courtesy, generosity and the subordination of per- sonal desires. Better still, little children are made wonder- fully happy, basking in floods of elevating Beauty, of which Emerson said that a single ray outvalues all the utility in the world. These things are worth so much that parents go to the trouble of sending their own children from homes where the atmosphere of refinement and beauty prevails. Are the tax-payers of Arlington willing to make provision for the children from less beautiful homes, whose needs are much greater ? If the committee is unwilling to take the responsi- bility of incurring the expense of free kindergartens, such as are maintained by many of our neighboring cities, I recom- mend that the question be brought before the town in the form of an article to be voted on in town meeting.
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