USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1904-1906 > Part 77
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American Museum Journal .*
Architectural Record.
Arena.
Arlington High School Clarion. Atlantic Monthly.
Bird Lore.
Birds and Nature.
Book Buyer.
Bookman.
Boston Cooking-School Magazine. Century.
Chautauquan.
Christian Endeavor World.
Congressional Record .*
Cook's Excursionist .*
Cosmopolitan.
Craftsman,
Current Literature. Delineator.
Educational Review.
Etude.
Everyday Housekeeping. Federation Bulletin.
Forum. Good Housekeeping.
Good Roads Magazine.
Harper's Bazar.
Harper's Monthly.
Harper's Weekly.
Harvard University Gazette. *
Historic Leaves.
Home Needlework Magazine.
House Beautiful.
Illustrated London News.
Independent. Indian's. Friend. Journal of Education. Journal of Ethics. Keramic Studio.
Ladies' Home Journal. Library Index. Library Journal. Life.
Lippincott's Magazine. Little Folks. Living Age
McClure's Magazine.
Masters in Art.
Munsey's Magazine.
Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin. *
Musical Courier.
Nation.
New England Homestead.
New England Magazine.
Nineteenth Century.
North American Review.
Official Gazette, U S. Patent Office .*
Our Dumb Animals .*
Outing. Outlook.
Perry Magazine.
Photo Era.
Popular Science Monthly.
Public Libraries. .
Putnam's Monthly and The Critic. Reader's Guide to Periodical Litera- ture St. Nicholas.
Scientific American.
Scribner's Magazine.
Spectator.
Studio. Success.
Technology Review .*
Temple Bar. Tuftonian .*
Tufts Weekly .*
Worcester Magazine .*
World's Work.
Young Idea
Youth.
Youth's Companion.
NEWSPAPERS.
Arlington Advocate. Boston Daily Advertiser. Boston Evening Transcript. New England Farmer.
New York Times, with Saturday Re- view of books and art. Springfield Weekly Republican.
* Given to the Library.
178
LIBRARIAN'S STATEMENT.
We have received reports or bulletins, or both, from the public libraries of the following places :- Baltimore, Md. (Enoch Pratt Free Library) ; Belmont; Boston ; Brookline ; Cambridge; Canton ; Chel- sea (Fitz Public Library) ; Clinton (Bigelow Free Public Library) ; Concord ; Erie, Pa .; Everett (Shute Memorial Library ) ; Fall River ; Fitchburg ; Hartford, Conn. ; Helena, Mont .; Hyde Park; Lancas- ter ; Lexington (Cary Library) ; Malden ; Manchester, N. H .; Milton ; New York ; Newton ; Northampton (Forbes Library) ; Philadelphia, Pa. ; Providence, R. I .; St. Louis, Mo. (Mercantile Library Associa- tion) ; Salem ; Somerville ; Syracuse, N. Y .; Wakefield (Beebe Town Library) ; Watertown ; Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Osterhout Free Library) ; Winchester ; Woburn ; Worcester.
Respectfully submitted,
ELIZABETH J. NEWTON Librarian
Arlington, December 31, 1906.
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
December 31, 1906 .. To the Town of Arlington :
By a change in the State law, it devolved upon the School Com- mittee this year to select a Medical Inspector of Schools, and Doctor Atwood, who was serving satisfactorily in that capacity, was. unanimously elected. The Commonwealth now requires examina- tions of sight and hearing of all public school children, and our teachers are giving this important matter careful attention.
As more rooms are now in use in the High School Building, ad- ditional heat is required, making it most essential that the small boiler should be replaced by one of larger capacity, as recommended previously by your Committee. An electric motor should be in- stalled to supply the necessary power to run the engine used in the manual training department, and a small one could be used in con- nection with the ventilating system to great advantage, particularly in severe weather.
Our grammar and primary teachers have petitioned your Board for increased pay, and the School Committee wishes to urge upon the citizens of the Town the desirability of providing a liberal sum for the support of the schools, to enable them to increase the maximum salaries of all such teachers fifty dollars per annum.
By decree of the Supreme Court, the Nathan Pratt High School Fund was established as amounting to $25,000.00, and the use of the income from such fund was extended, in addition to the pur- poses set forth under the will, to the purchase of scientific and mechanical apparatus and appliances, including their installation and the supplies necessarily used in connection therewith, and in securing special instruction for the pupils in the High School in science, literature and art. It is quite evident that the fund will now be of much greater benefit to the school and, in all probability, the entire income will be devoted to the increased needs of the school.
It is greatly to be regretted that the Town has not provided a suitable play-ground for its school children. The athletic associa- tion of the High School is under considerable expense in leasing a ball field each year, and it is hoped that past members of the school and other citizens will lend their financial support to the encourage- ment of outdoor athletics.
We should all recognize the work done by the Arlington Woman's Club for art decorations of our school buildings. Further gifts have been added during the past year.
180
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Mr. Timothy O'Leary retired from the Board after twenty-five years of continuous service. Few citizens can feel the satisfaction which must be his from such long devotion to the public good in the cause of education.
You are referred to the report of our Superintendent, Mr. John F. Scully, who now completes his first full year's management of the Arlington schools.
Respectfully submitted,
H. G. PORTER,
Chairman. .
APPROPRIATION FOR BILLS OF 1905.
Amount.
$562 50
Bills paid.
561 84
Balance unexpended
$0 66
FOR REPAIRS ON SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
Appropriation
$1,000 00
Bills paid.
939 13
Balance unexpended .
$60 87
FOR BLAKE PRIZES.
Income available.
$100 00
Expended for Gift Books
99 55
Balance unexpended.
$0 45
FOR GENERAL SCHOOL PURPOSES.
Appropriation
$58,850 00
Expended
57,995 54
Balance unexpended.
$854 46
FROM PRATT FUND.
Allowed by Trustees
$235 77
Expended .
235 77
CERTAIN EXPENDITURES BY SCHOOLS.
High.
Fuel
$809 07
Lights
64 06
Laundry
7 08
Janitor's Supplies. .
58 02
Repairs on Building ..
93 52
Furnishings and Ordinary Repairs.
1,219 85
. . . .
$2,251 60
181
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
Russell.
Fuel
$577 21
Lights. .
19 42
Laundry
20 00
Janitor's Supplies. .
68 08
Repairs on Building.
203 89
Furnishings and Ordinary Repairs.
120 30
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$1,008 90.
Locke.
Fnel
$492 40
Lights.
9 84
Laundry.
17 75
Janitor's Supplies. .
99 00
Repairs on Building.
174 18
Furnishings and Ordinary Repairs.
201 92
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$995 09
Cutter.
Fuel
$610 10:
Lights.
9 54
Laundry
20 00
Janitor's Supplies. .
75 23.
Repairs on Building.
146 96,
Furnishings and Ordinary Repairs.
163 08
.
. . .. . . . .
$1,024 91:
Crosby.
Telephones
Fuel.
$618 11
Lights
20 42:
Laundry
15 76
Janitor's Supplies
82 88-
Repairs on Building.
316 31
Furnishings and Ordinary Repairs.
127 68
$1,181 16-
William E. Parmenter.
Fuel.
$284 48
Lights.
9 81
Laundry
7 10.
Janitor's Supplies
12 57
Repairs on Building.
4 27
Furnishings and Ordinary Repairs
... .
.
. ...
$353 53
SALARIES.
Superintendent and Teachers
$42,178 24
Janitors.
4,100 00
Truant Officer.
200 00
Secretary of School Committee
150 00
.
. .... . .
.
. .
39 30°
. . . . . . .
$46,628 24
182
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
SUNDRIES.
Including Telephones, Expenses of Graduating Classes from
Grammar and High Schools.
Printing, Board of Truants, etc.
$1,001 58
Books and other Supplies.
4,233 78
Manual Training Supplies.
207 12
Sewing Supplies.
30 29
Drawing Supplies.
14 47
Janitors' Supplies.
395 78
Fuel
3,391 37
Lights.
133 09
Laundry.
87 69
Furnishings and Ordinary Repairs.
1,872 13
$11,367 30
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
To the School Committee of the Town of Arlington :
I have the honor to submit herewith my second annual report.
A school report to be satisfactory to the community should re- cord a certain degree of progress. These are times of great educa- tional advancement and we are endeavoring to keep abreast of the best educational thought and movements of the day.
Owing to the illness of my predecessor, the schools very naturally went along each in its own way, with its own standard of the amount to be accomplished in each year, and with each principal setting his own standard of what was satisfactory scholarship. Under such con- ditions it is a matter of congratulation that the schools had such con- scientious principals. I have endeavored by tests, frequent visits, and conferences to establish a high standard of scholarship and to unify the work to as great an extent as is possible until a new course of study is adopted. I am now at work on a course of study which I hope to present for your consideration at an early date. The old course, while excellent for the time at which it was made, now needs revising. There are but a few copies in every building and those have dropped into disuse as to details. I consider it bet- ter to make an entirely new course in line with the best develop- ments in educational thought and experience.
WRITING. We decided to abandon the vertical system of writ- ing in the schools because it had failed to answer the demands of business men. The vertical writing, while very legible and pretty when slowly done, had proved to be on the average slow, awkward and devoid of character. When speed was necessary, in most cases, the writing was cramped, unnatural and illegible. The teachers were not interested in the system and the writing was left to drift. The medial slant, a compromise between the old Spen- cerian and the vertical, has been adopted. The change is a hard task for both teachers and children. They have grappled it, how- ever, with determination and excellent progress is being made. Some of our best teachers are already getting writing, in many respects, better than they secured with the old system. I believe that we shall turn out good writers when the system is thoroughly established. The public has a right to insist that we do teach children to write. When a boy or girl enters an office seeking employment, he is not asked to sing a song or draw a picture but to show his or her ability in penmanship. In saying this I have no intention to depreciate the importance of music and drawing, both of which Ifirmly believe in.
184
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
I may say here that there are no subjects which your superin- tendent intends to supervise more closely than reading, writing and arithmetic. I am satisfied from my knowledge of life, the demands of business, and the conditions in schools in general, that these sub- jects must be well taught.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. Efforts have been made in every school to secure a more regular attendance. It is difficult for parents to understand that to keep a child out of school for a day or two makes any particular difference to the child or to the school. A day lost means for a child much more than at first appears. It means that he loses the connection between what has gone before and that which is to follow, but more than that he loses touch with everything. His attitude toward his work is changed and his interest lags. Irregular attendance is the hardest single thing a teacher has to deal with. Through the excellent work of principals and teachers, aided by the efforts of the truant officer in looking up absentees, our attendance has steadily improved. The per cent. of attendance has increased from 90.8 per cent. in the year 1904-1905 to 94.1 per cent. in the year 1905-1906. It seems to me that this is a most satis- factory showing. In the matter of tardiness also the schools have made great improvement. The number of tardy marks has been reduced almost fifty per cent. Many of those included in the schedule of statistics are caused by church attendance and seem unavoidable.
The number of truants has been reduced by the efforts of teachers and the truant officer. There are now no habitual truants. No boy has been sent away or even brought into court for truancy, and there are now no boys from Arlington in the Chelmsford Truant School. In the matter of truancy, our schools are in a satisfactory condition.
We are troubled by a few parents who keep children out of school more or less regularly to do work. This is contrary to law, and I believe we should have parents, or others, whodo this after repeated warnings, haled into court to answer for it.
PUBLIC DAYS. In May and June three of the schools, the Rus- sell, Crosby and Cutter, had each a public day. Regular recitations were held in various subjects, besides special exercises of school work arranged for the day. In every room and in the corridors the work which the children had done during the year was on exhi- bition. The supervisors of music and gymnastics were present to illustrate the work of their departments. The interest shown by the parents and friends of the schools was very encouraging and gratifying. They showed their interest by the careful attention they gave to the class exercises and by a critical examination of the children's work. It was interesting to see the care with which they compared the work of their own children with that of others
185
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
of the same class. It was very easy to explain at that time why a child's marks were poor. While it would be much better for the children if parents would visit school during the regular session without invitation, since that cannot be brought about to our satis. faction, the public day is the next best thing. We plan to have a ' public day in every school during May of this year. These days are in no sense exhibitions, but are arranged to get parents to come to the school, meet the teachers, talk over the work of their chil- dren, and gain an intelligent idea of what the schools are doing.
THE THREE R's .- The critics of modern educational methods, who would abandon the present rich courses of studies, by cutting out the " frills," as they are pleased to call them, and returning to the barren instruction of sixty years ago, which was then limited to the " Three R's," have for a long time been deploring the alleged fact that children do not read and spell and cipher as well as pupils did half a century ago. By many people, this assertion, purely theoretical, has been accepted unqualifiedly and great has been the lamentation over the change of educational methods of stage coach days. For a long time definite facts to prove or disapprove this pessimistic theory were lacking. Today it is the good fortune of those who believe that education has become more valuable just as methods of transportation and communication have improved, to be able at last to offer facts -facts which by their cold logic estab- lish the truth that children in the ninth year of the elementary schools are better in spelling and arithmetic than much older pupils in the high schools of sixty years ago. These facts have come into our possession in this way: Dr. Thomas M. Balliet, while Superin- tendent of Schools of Springfield, Mass., discovered in the archives a volume of examination papers in spelling and arithmetic written by eighty-five pupils in the Springfield High School in 1846. With these papers were the original questions. These questions were this year given to the ninth grades in our schools with the following comparative results :
ARITHMETIC.
Springfield, 1846.
Arlington, 1906 93
Number taking the examination
85
Per cent. correct.
29.46
74.38
SAME CLASSES. SPELLING.
Per cent. correct
66
66
receiving 70 per cent. or more
17.64
37 6
66 who missed every word.
2 35
0)
66
66 who missed 17 or more.
27.05
2.3
40.6
50.9
A fact that makes the comparison more striking is that the age of the pupils in Springfield averaged two or three years more than that of our ninth grade. Considering the length of the school year and the limited curriculum, it is probable that the Springfield pupils had
186
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
spent at least twice as much time on the subjects of spelling and arithmetic as had our children. Yet, notwithstanding these condi- tions, our pupils did immeasurably better than was accomplished sixty years ago.
The conclusion to be drawn from these results are very positive that spelling and arithmetic instead of suffering in a course of study which trains a child to use all his powers of expression, are actually far better then they were under a curriculum with endless brain- tiring, uninteresting drill and nothing else on the "Three R's." Our schools are still far from having reached the ideal for which all teachers are striving, but we may at least feel that the essentials are not neglected and that the extension of the course of study to embrace execution and expression is steadily improving those attain- ments that depend chiefly on judgment and memory.
I quote as being truly applicable to our condition the concluding words of Principal Riley's article, published in the Springfield Republican, on the comparative results of 1846 and 1906 obtained in Springfield.
Mr. Riley writes :
" Children are not only receiving much solider and more sensible and skilful instruction in the " Three R's " but many of their homes are being elevated, their lives broadened and their usefulness and capacity for enjoyment increased as never before. The old school, in its meagerness, starved the imagination and emotions, and its harsh discipline suppressed and warped activities. Even a super- ficial reading of the old records and reports proves that the intelli- gent people of those days were cognizant of its defects and struggled to remedy them. The leading educators of to-day are probably fully as cognizant of the defects of the modern school and are struggling with equal sincerity and earnestness for better things."
BACKWARD CHILDREN. Knowing that many classes were being hampered by slow, dull or deficient children, the school physician and I have together examined fifty backward or subnormal children in the schools of the Town. When exceptional children are present in large classes of the grades the result is as follows : (1) the child degenerates ; (2) the class is hindered ; (3) the moral tone of the class is effected ; (4) the teacher's work is made harder and less effective.
The very important consideration, however, is the child himself. He has a right, even if mentally subnormal, to whatever in the way of education or training he is capable of receiving just as much as the normal child. Without proper education or training, the child degenerates and his future must then be an unhappy one. Looking at the matter from a purely selfish standpoint, we have a right to protect ourselves and our children. It seems that it would pay us to spend a certain amount of money in the education and training of those who may be made self-supporting, instead of later having to
187
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
spend a larger amount in the support of a larger pauper or criminal class. An exceptional or mentally subnormal child, without proper education or training, does recruit the pauper or criminal class. The solution of the problem lies in the treating of these children individually in a special class. By this means many children who, because of their age, are struggling along in classes in which the work is much beyond their comprehension, may be made at least happy by being furnished with work of a grade and character within their com- prehension. It will help them to regain their self-respect which many of them lose by a feeling that they are stupid and hopelessly behind others of their age. Mentally weak children are almost always morally weak also. There are in our schools children who are from two to six years older than the average of the class. These slow children would be able to get a great deal of benefit if put into a special class in which mental effort is supplemented by manual work. We feel that the careful examination of the exceptional child, with the consequent better understanding of his condition, may be of itself of considerable benefit to the child even if it is impossible to carry out the proper treatment most fully in a special class. We have found that there are children who cannot do normal work because of some condition which may be remedied while the child still remains in the grade, and may be enabled in time to do the regular work. It is hoped that by appealing to the parents in the matter of diet, in so far as it applies to nourishing food and the use of tea and coffee, we may remedy conditions to some degree. We find principally two classes of defectives :
(a) There are some children who are mentally defective to such a degree as to be able to profit but little if at all by ordinary methods of teaching (where the intellect is appealed to directly, requiring of the child abstract thinking) but who could "learn by doing" or through the senses. This method, in reference to mental. defectives, is called "training." .
(b) There are other children who, though they cannot keep up with their grades, can profit by ordinary teaching, provided each one can receive more individual attention than could be possible in the large classes of the grades. The method of teaching for these children should be the usual method, but their instruction should be largely individual and more slowly carried out. The term " coaching" is the one naturally applied to this method of teaching.
It is interesting to note that these children are often known as "troublesome children." Is it not natural that they are trouble- some ? They sit for five hours a day in a class in which work is being done of which they can do but little, sometimes nothing at all. It is impossible, if they have any spirit whatever, for them to sit like "bumps on a log" for so long a time, so they trouble those who are working and worry the teacher.
After hereditary or congenital causes, we find that malnutrition
188
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
and nervousness are the most frequent conditions in backward chil- dren. In considering nutrition we find one of the most noticeable evils to be the large proportion of school children who drink tea and coffee. Both tea and coffee are, as we know, pure stimulants and contain an acid that is harmful. Many children come to school in the morning after a breakfast of tea or coffee (stimulants) and white bread (starch), and in many cases of the backward children, we find that children have tea or coffee with each of the three meals and in some cases between meals besides. We found children who drink as many as fifteen cups of strong tea or coffee every day. No child who drinks tea or coffee can be at his best. In this matter parents need education.
We hope, by parents' meetings in the schools, to be able to instruct the parents in the matter of diet. The defect of this method, how- ever, is that many of the people whom we most need to reach either find it impossible to come to these meetings or are not enough interested to come.
From the fact that there are a number of children who are getting no benefit from the classes in which they are now placed and are simply marking time until they become fourteen years of age and may go to work, and that there are some children who are mor- ally unfit to be in a class with normal children, I commend to your consideration the question of the formation of a special class for defective and subnormal children.
A new law, Chapter 502 of the Acts of 1906, relating to medical examination in the public schools, has gone into effect. By this law the appointment of a Medical Inspector comes within the powers of the School Committee, though he may not be paid out of . the appropriation for school purposes, but must be paid by a special appropriation made by the Town for that purpose. Charles F. 'Atwood, M. D., was appointed by the Committee, and his work has been very satisfactory. He has given a great deal of time to exam- ination of individuals and whole classes, that the possible spread of contagious disease may be avoided, and has given, without stint, his time in aiding me in the examination of backward and atypical children.
The law further provides that the sight and hearing of every child in the public schools shall be tested annually by the teacher or principal in every school. The examinations are not yet en- tirely finished, but have been even thus of great benefit by disclosing to teachers a reason, which was not suspected, for the backwardness of some children. Some do not hear well, and have been thought to be heedless and inattentive. Some are found to have a third or less of normal sight. The work of the teachers is to be supple- mented by Dr. Fred W. Derby, who is to examine the children whose eyesight, from the teachers' examination, seems to be defec- tive, to determine whether or not they need to be prescribed for by an oculist.
189
SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
It may be seen from the preceding statements that it is becoming a recognized fact that the province of the school is not merely to furnish mental training, but to look after the physical well-being of the child, to the end that his mind may be reinforced by a good healthy body. We aim to educate the whole child.
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