Town of Arlington annual report 1907-1908, Part 17

Author: Arlington (Mass.)
Publication date: 1907-1908
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 888

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1907-1908 > Part 17

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The list as revised to January 1, 1908, is as follows :

Whole number registered 1,892

Whole number males registered

. 1,774

Whole number females registered

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1,892

JOHN W. BAILEY, WINTHROP PATTEE, EBEN F. DEWING, THOMAS J. ROBINSON, Registrars of Voters.

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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

ARLINGTON, MASS., Dec. 31, 1907.

To the Town of Arlington : -

While several additions have been made to our corps of teachers during the past year, it is significant that but few other changes have been made.

At the High school the entering class was so large that three div- isions had to be made of it instead of two as formerly. Miss Ella Somerby has been secured to teach this third division, Another new teacher in this school is Miss Florence S. Ames.

At the Russell school Miss Jennie S. Westcott's sad death made an unusually difficult situation to be met. Miss Westcott had really made a new school out of the old and had proved herself a teacher second to none in the Town. It seemed best under the circumstances to elect a male principal for the balance of the year and Mr. George T. Collingham was elected and served satisfactorily for that period. At the July meeting Miss Harriet P. Ryder of North Adams was elected to act as principal for the year and the Town is fortunate in securing her services, in that she has maintained the high standard established by Miss Westcott.

At the Locke school the great increase of pupils in that locality made necessary not only the finishing and furnishing a new room but also the engaging of two additional assistant teachers.

At the Parmenter school another room has been opened this fall and now all four of the rooms of this building are occupied. Miss Alice S. Rand has charge of the added grade.

The growth of our schools has been at the rate of nearly one hundred pupils anuually for the past few years. This growth is most marked in the Locke district and at the November Town meet- ing a committee was named to look into the question of additional school accommodations for that section and to report its findings at the annual spring meeting.

The High school sub-committee on studying the needs of addi- tional heating in that building found on consulting with Prof. Peter Schwamb that the installing of a new boiler was not the best solution of the problem. The smaller boiler was raised to the level of the larger one and the two were made to work together at low pressure. The engines running the blower and the manual training machinery were removed and electric motors installed in their places. The blower system had to be changed and more direct

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radiation had to be installed in all the class rooms and in the physi- cal and chemical laboratories ; where there had been no direct radia- tion heretofore, new radiators were placed. On all the western windows of the building, outside windows were placed. We now hope that we have secured a fairly good solution of the heating of the whole building. The thanks of the committee and in fact of the whole Town are certainly due to Professor Schwamb for the expert advice and direction he gave freely to an effective and intelli- gent handling of so difficult a matter.

The Town is greatly indebted to the Arlington Woman's Club for the many additional art gifts that have been presented to the vari- ous schools during the year.

A course of study drawn up by Superintendent Scully for the elementary grades was adopted tentatively at the July meeting. The practical working of this course is being studied and corrected by the Superintendent and grade teachers jointly during the year, and the coming September this essential to the well-being of our school system will be established definitely.

In the early part of the year the committee suffered a severe loss in the death of Captain John H. Perry who had served on the board long and faithfully. His associates have most sincerely mourned his decease. Mr. William H. Mclellan was later chosen by the joint boards to fill this vacancy.

In the latter part of the year, prolonged absence from Arlington compelled Miss Ida F. Robbins to resign from the board. Miss Robbins was a member of the committee whom we could ill afford to lose, because of her intense intelligent interest in the work, and further because of the strong bond she had formed between the teachers and the board which in these days of superintendents is usually missing. Thus far it has not been found possible to secure another member to fill her place but it is earnestly to be hoped that some public spirited woman may soon be selected.

In closing we will state that your committee is fully aware of the yearly increasing expense of the schools and is trying in all ways to keep out extravagances. The increase the coming year is caused not only by the fifty dollars increase in the grade teacher's maxi- mum salaries voted by the Town at the Spring meeting but by the new teachers added in the grades and also in the High School which it is pleasing to state has grown rapidly in numbers and efficiency the past year. The one thing your committee is striving for is that the Town may feel that it is getting its money's worth.

Respectfully submitted,

WALTER MOOERS, Chairman.

REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.

To the School Committee of Arlington : -

I have the honor to present herewith my third annual report.

It has come to be a custom for Superintendents in their annual re- ports to give an account of the condition and progress of the schools and to discuss current educational topics to such an extent as will give a clear view of the field of popular education.

COURSE OF STUDY. At the opening of schools in September, a new course of study in outline was put into the hands of the teachers. The course as presented is in line with the demands of the day and corresponds in a large measure to what is being at- tempted in the best school systems in the country. It is, however, understood by all teachers to be tentative, and we are constantly making changes as experience shows us that the demands of our schools are not entirely satisfied by the work as outlined.

Grade meetings have been held and are still being held, in which various points are carefully considered and discussed and our efforts directed toward making the course as practical as possible. These meetings are in the nature of "round table conference," at which everyone expresses his opinion freely.

For many years, our common school curriculum has been growing more extensive and complex as new studies have been added from time to time. The old system group-reading, writing and arith- metic-was first enlarged by adding grammar, geography and his tory. Later on, music, drawing and gymnastics were introduced. Spelling, composition and language lessons very naturally followed. Physiology, hygiene, temperance and the effect of alcoholic drinks were added and afterwards made obligatory by State law. Later, Latin, algebra, geometry, English history and current events were added. Beeides these, manual training has been given its place, and is now crying for more time. There are thus more than twenty studies, which hold a more or less independent place in our course of study. Besides these, many of the older studies, as reading (literature), geography and history have been greatly enlarged in their scope and quantity of material. American history, for ex- ample, was principally taught only in the last year of the grammar school; now it extends through four years (from the fifth to eighth grade) and includes a greatly increased quantity of historical matter. The literary materials used in the primary grades and in the reading of classics in the higher grades have had a broad exten-

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sion. Music, fine art and physical education are likely to receive more attention as time goes on. Many educators believe, and with good reason, that Latin should begin in the sixth or seventh grade rather than in the High school or ninth grades. Supplementary readers in geography, history and natural science go much beyond the text books in presenting a large assortment of additional know- ledge for reference work. .

When it is remembered that many children have outside of school music lessons, gymnastic work, and dancing school, it seems evident that they have enough to keep them busy both physically and men- tally. It is only fair to add that children in homes where there is a family library, are expected to extend the boundaries of school instruction into the rich fields of history, literature, science, biog- raphy and fiction.

As a result of this brief survey, it may be said that our present elementary course, if carried out, seems overcrowded by the quantity and variety of materials. There seem to be more studies than chil- dren can learn well and more than teachers can teach well.

Regret is often expressed that we have wandered so far from the " three R's " and the wish is expressed that we should return to them. Very few teachers can be found who would think this in any way desirable. It has been conclusively proven in Arlington and in many other places, as I stated in my last report, that the "three R's " have not suffered because of the broadening and enrichment of the course of study. We must admit that simplicity and thorough- ness are essentials to right education. The enrichment of child life through such modern studies as literature, history, science, and phy- sical and manual training are equally essential. There can be no return of the "three R's" alone -to the primitive course of our grandfathers. Boys and girls trained in the narrow curriculum of the old-fashioned studies would not be qualified for the new and com- plex conditions of modern life. Each age must have an education suited to its own needs.

Our present course of study is not a thing of caprice which we can change and modify at will. It is no mere invention of the school master. It is rather a world product, the result from some centuries of steady development along educational lines. It has taken more than three centuries of European and American history to bring together the materials and to give them a merely temporary arrangement. Every addition to the list of studies has been strongly contested at every step by the forces of conservatism and reaction. Only those ideas have survived which have a strength and vitality born of true worth.

Having these accumulated materials, our present task is to organ- ize them into a consistent course of study. The present apparent overloading of the curriculum is in an inevitable stage in the evolu- tion of studies. In France and in Germany, they are still strug- gling with the same problem. It is only fair to say then, that our

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present course of study is due to large influences over which the school master has no control. The great problem of the present. day is how may we simplify and organize these studies so as to secure thoroughness of knowledge and discipline and leave out no essential things, and how to meet the needs of growing children and the demands of the public. That is the problem with which we are struggling in working out our course of study. It means a selec- tion and adaptation of knowledge materials according to the needs of children ; it means a lopping off of all inessentials and a careful correlation of all the studies.

The growth in the curriculum has been along the line of the child's. interests and needs. An examination of the new historical material that has found admission to the fourth, fifth and sixth grades will show a preference for biographical and descriptive episodes, which children easily and naturally enjoy. The manual arts as they are. working their way into the schools are a direct response to the chil- dren's own demands for congenial activities. Good music is one of the greatest delights from earliest years. Well selected poems and stories from the best authors are now read and memorized with hearty appreciation in all grades. The games and physical exercises which have become an important part in the daily program serve to give a cheerful and healthy tone to the whole school life.

It would be worth much if we could establish a safe standard of proficiency ; that is, determine definitely the degree of excellence which should properly characterize knowledge acquired in school. We cannot say at present that there is any commonly recognized stan- dard among the schools of the country. We are disposed to set up as a standard of thoroughness and proficiency in knowledge the abil- ity to make application of it as the need arises. In writing, for ex- ample, a child should write so plainly and legibly that his work can be easily read ; he should speak and use English so correctly that he may be understood on all occasions where he has need to speak and write; he should spell correctly all words that he has occasion to use ; he should know the simple fundamental operations in arith- metic because he has frequent chances to employ these.

The advantage of this recognized standard is the economy it brings in cutting off those unnecessary and showy excellencies in which school teachers sometimes take pride. The remarkable penmanship of younger children gained at such an expense of nerve and strain, the remarkable work in arithmetic, the perfectly executed maps and drawings which exhibit such a waste of time, the swift reciting of topics which show that the children have memorized what was never intended for memorizing, the spelling of all sorts of rare and freakish words without knowing the meanings, the smooth recital of rules. and definitions in all sorts of lessons - all these hobbies of the old school by which teachers deceived themselves and others into the belief that they were giving first class training must be all cut out .. We shall still have left the subtsantial part of school work which

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serves the real purposes of life. In working on this course of study , we are keeping in mind at all times the importance of the "three R's " and they are forming the basis for the training which we hope to give the children of the town.

PROMOTION. The success of a school system may be measured in no small degree by the progress made by the pupils, as shown by their advancement from grade to grade. In my annual report of a year ago, I spoke of the large number of pupils who were being kept back in Arlington, and stated that efforts were being made to remedy this.

Several causes must contribute to successful advancement from grade to grade. There must be earnest, wide-awake teachers trained in the best methods of instruction, who are heartily in sympathy with children and with child life and who have a keen insight into the individual needs and difficulties of each child under their charge. Teachers, however, cannot do it all; parents must be alive to the educational interests of their children, see that their attendance is punctual and regular; visit the schools and confer with the teachers and principal as to the progress of the children, and frankly inform them of any weakness or defect which the children may have, that the teacher may perform her work intelligently with every individ- ual child. There must be a sufficient equipment of books, apparatus and supplies. There must be cheerful, healthful schoolrooms in which not too many pupils are brought together for daily work. It can be fairly said that Arlington does her part in furnishing these conditions for success.

We demand longer and more effective training of teachers than was required a few years ago. A closer relationship between the home and school is being fostered, with the result, on the part of the parent, of a better knowledge and understanding of the schools and of what they are trying to accomplish. Most of our teachers are doing much to encourage the co-operation of the parents by seeking interviews and discussing with them the needs of the in- dividual children. The School Committee furnishes the schools a liberal supply of carefully selected books, apparatus and supplies. Our school-rooms are well lighted and ventilated, and while there are a few rooms in Town overcrowded, in the majority of schools the number of pupils is not unreasonably large.

I pointed out a year ago the fact that individual instruction is necessary to the successful advancement of the lower third of the class. The advisability of giving part of the school time to individ- ual work with backward children was urged upon the teachers. From careful observation of the work in the schools during the year and conversations with the teachers, I was convinced that a larger percentage of the pupils than usual would be promoted in June. During the month of June I discussed the matter of promotions

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with many of the teachers, taking up individual cases and consider- ing them carefully. I found the attitude of the teachers was to consider what was the best thing to do in the light of the child's future advancement. In some of the schools I took up with each teacher the cases of all pupils whose chances of promotion were in doubt. As a result I obtained a knowledge of the reasons for the non-promotion of the children. As is usual, absence from school for periods varying from fifteen to one hundred twenty days was the most common reason. An examination of the promotion sheets shows the following per cents : Grade I. promotes 84.9 per cent of the total membership; Grade II. promotes 92.7; Grade III., 92.5 per cent ; Grade IV., 90 per cent; Grade V., 89.5 per cent ; Grade VI., 86 per cent; Grade VII, 87.6 per cent; Grade VIII., 85.7 per cent.

One thousand four hundred and ninety-six children were enrolled in the primary and grammar schools below the ninth grade at the close of the year. Of this, 1,325 or 88.6% were promoted to succeeding grades. I have considered the ninth grade as a part of the High School because the change to High School methods comes in that grade. From a report recently made cov- ering various sections of the country, it was shown that the average percentage of pupils who annually fail of promotion in New England cities and towns where nine-grade systems prevail is 10.6%. In places where the eight-grade systems prevail, the average of non-promoted pupils is about three and one-half per cent higher. In the states outside of New England where eight- grade systems are almost universal, the percentage of children, who annually fail of promotion, is yet a little higher. While our average per cent is still a little higher than the average in New England, teachers are working faithfully to reduce the number of children held back to a minimum. It is fair to say in this con- nection that our standard of achievement necessary to success in the succeeding grade is higher than in many places. This is proven by children who come from other cities and towns where they have been able to maintain a creditable standard in the grade to which they were assigned, in our schools frequently fail utterly to maintain a passable standard in the corresponding grade. The college sets the standard for our High School which in turn sets a high standard for the grades. The influence of this is felt throughout the school system and is on the whole a stimulus to pupils and teachers.

Many children who are obliged to repeat a year might be saved the loss of that year if parents would watch more carefully the pro- gress of their children in school. In all grades above the third, reports are sent home at the end of every eight-week's period. These reports show the standing of the pupil in the various subjects. These reports indicate as accurately as is possible with any system of marking the progress made during the two months. If his work

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has been below the standard because of absence or lack of proper application to his school duties during the greater part of the year, it can not be reasonably expected that renewed efforts during the last few weeks of the year will secure his promotion.

I especially urge the members of the School Committee to use their influence to have parents visit the schools as often as they can to observe the work and discuss with the teachers the standing and needs of their children.

TEACHING FORCE. During the year, as stated in your chairman's report, there have been seven changes of teachers, two teachers have been added to the force and an additional assistant employed.

Because of the necessity of using the fourth room in the Par- menter school, Miss Alice S. Rand has been added as a third grade teacher in that school.

There are now four assistants working in the schools of the Town. Three of these assistants have no responsibility for the care of a room but assist the teachers in overcrowded rooms. Miss Ellen E. Sweeney the assistant in the Crosby school, besides the assistance that she gives the first grade teacher, has charge of a special class of Italian children who have entered school without any knowledge of the English language and are too old to enter the first grade. In the Locke school, Miss Bessie M. Hartshorne assists the teacher in the first grade only, there being fifty-eight children enrolled in that grade, and Miss Annie M. Craig assists the teachers in the second, third and fourth grades. In the Cutter school, Miss Florence M. Jepson assists the teachers in grades two, three and five.

SALARIES OF TEACHERS. In September an increase of $50 a year in the maximum salary of grade teachers went into effect. During the recent years, the ratio of increase in the necessary ex- penses of living has been greater than the ratio of increase in wages or salaries. While there is a general consciousness of this fact on the part of all earners of wages or salaries, perhaps no class has. felt the inconvenience and hardship to a greater degree than have teachers. During the last two years, several investigations have been undertaken because of that feeling of the teachers. In 1905, the .Indiana State Teachers Association made a report of one hundred and twenty-six pages on taxation and teachers' salaries. In 1905, a committee of the National Educational Association sub- mitted a report of four hundred and fifty-eight pages on salaries, pensions and tenure of office. About a year ago, a committee ap- pointed by the Middlesex County Teachers Association, presented a brief but comprehensive report on the conditions in our county.

From this report I quote as follows :

TEACHERS' SALARIES IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

The investigation sought to determine :

First. - Whether or not during the last ten years the prevailing

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tendency in the salaries of the grade teachers in the county has been upward.

Second. - Whether or not during the same period the necessary living expenses of teachers in the county have advanced.

Third. - Whether or not, if the living expenses of teachers have advanced, salaries have advanced correspondingly.

Data bearing upon these points have been secured from 22 com- munities in all, including the 11 cities of the county and a corre- sponding number of typical towns.

The following facts were determined by the inquiry :

Average increase in salary maxima for the 11 cities during the last ten years. 9.6%

Average increase in cost of living for teachers for the 11 cities during the last ten years 19.6% Average increase in salary maxima for the 11 towns during the last ten years . 12.3% Average increase in cost of living for teachers for the 11 towns during the last ten years 18 9%

Average increase in salary maxima for the 22 communities during the last ten years 10.8% Average increase in cost of living for teachers for the 22 communities during the last ten years 19.3%

On these facts the committee comments as follows :

It appears to be established from the foregoing data : (1) that the prevailing tendency in respect to the salaries of grade teachers during the past ten years in the county has been upward ; (2) that the same is true with respect to the living expenses of teachers ; and (3) that the rate of advance in salaries has not kept pace with the increase in cost of living.

In studying the figures given in the foregoing table, it should be borne in mind that, as a rule, the maximum salaries are not reached until a teacher has served in the city for a period covering from three to six years; and that consequently many teachers, perhaps the majority, are not now receiving the salaries here in- dicated. In one city at least the maximum can be received only after the teacher has pursued a course of professional study ap- proved by the superintendent of schools, and has thoroughly demon- strated her superior skill as a teacher. It would be misleading, therefore, to assume that all teachers in the communities mentioned, are actually receiving salaries as high as the indicated maxima.

In view of the fact that the average cost of living for teachers in the communities studied has increased 19.3 per cent. during the last ten years, while the increase in salaries has been only 10.8 per cent., the inadequacy of the present compensation of teachers be- comes painfully apparent.

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Town of Arlington annual report 1907-1908, Part 17

Author: Arlington (Mass.) Publication date: 1907-1908 Publisher: Number of Pages: 888

Author: Arlington (Mass.)
Publication date: 1907-1908
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 888