USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1908-1909 > Part 9
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The expense of running the schools the coming year will ad- vance a little more than normally because a male principal and four new teachers must be added to the Locke School force in the Fall and one more male teacher to the High School corps. In addition to this expense must be added the extra outlay for new supplies for the rooms, viz., books of reference, maps,. etc., a larger amount of coal than before, and an increase of pay for the janitor. At this time we estimate that the amount to be called for will be about $66,000.
The Board feels and knows that many people of the town are seriously interested in its work because its leading citizens when called on for advice and help, always seem willing to give such aid most unselfishly. We are searching at all times for intelligent criticisms of our doings whether such criticism be favorable or adverse. No Board does its best when its work meets neither approbation nor censure.
We desire especially to thank the gentlemen of the two com- mittees who are at the present time giving their assistance to the town on the subject of the future housing of its pupils.
We also wish to thank most sincerely the Arlington Woman's Club, which has been doubly generous this year in the amount it
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has voted for school decoration. People who do not visit our schools should do so at least to see how beautiful the school- rooms have been made by this excellent organization.
We have tried to be economical but not niggardly in our hand- ling of the appropriation which you have so generously placed in our hands, and hope that for the larger part you may have viewed our work favorably.
Respectfully submitted, WALTER. MOOERS,
Chairman.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
To the School Committee of Arlington :-
The rules of the School Committee require that the Superin- tendent shall prepare and present in January to the Board for publication an annual report of the condition of the schools for the year preceding, together with such suggestions and statistics as he may deem worthy of consideration. In compliance with these rules, I present to the Board the following report for the school year 1907-1908.
Our schools have made commendable progress during the year. The discipline is good in every school, and in general children are well taught. The new course of study of which your chair- man has spoken meets with the warm approval of principals and teachers, and is giving a uniformity of effort that is sure to pro- duce good results. New teachers find it a definite guide and old teachers find in its suggestions an inspiration to renewed effort.
This course of study as printed is the result of an outline fur- nished by the Superintendent as a guide for school work during the year. With this as a basis, grade meetings and conferences to the number of thirty-three were held during the year. In these meetings various phases of the work were considered and fully discussed. Enlarged outlines embodying the points decided upon, including a time schedule, were finished in June. To lay out the work in all subjects in one year proved a serious and difficult task, and I desire to express here my appreciation of the hearty co-operation given by the teachers of the town in this work. That the course is a practical one for our schools was made certain by the trial given it during the year.
To make a good course of study requires a knowledge of the education needed by a child to take its place as an individual and as a useful and happy member of the social world; of the child's environment; of the laws governing child growth and develop- ment; of the various branches of knowledge which should be taught ; of the principles which should govern the selection of ma- terial for the different periods in the child's life; of the relative amount of time which should be devoted to each subject ; and of the amount of ground that should be covered in the school year.
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
A course of study is never complete. It needs constant revision to keep it in harmony with sound educational thought and prac- tice, and with educational progress.
A change which must come in our course of study for the grades is along the line of industrial training. Many boys and girls come to a point in our elementary schools where they fail to find genuine opportunity. They fall short in intellectual processes, and because the school offers no substitute, drop out at fourteen and enter, once for all, low-grade industrial pursuits and lives of social, moral and financial uncertainty. It is industrial education that has brought real opportunity to the negro and the Indian, to our own mentally, morally and physically defective, and es- pecially to our juvenile delinquents and youthful criminals.
ยท Here is the problem which confronts the twentieth century au- thorities. The school has taken over responsibility for education which it formally shared with the home and the farm. The school has taken over most of the responsibility of preparing the rank and file for the society in which they are to live, but as yet we have not discovered how to supply the important elements of education that, in other days, were provided through activities outside of the school. There is a chasm between our educational systems and our modern industrial life. On the one hand, dis- couraged boys and girls, abnormals, delinquents, dullards and truants find themselves unable-mentally, socially and physically unable-to continue with credit in our cultural programs. On the other hand science, invention and specialization continue to draw them from the old-time chores, the light jobs, from the fire- side, farm and work-shop, and transplant them behind the closed doors of our factories. The schools so isolate themselves from the industrial world, and receive so little inspiration from the in- dustrial age in which we live, that thousands of boys and girls leave the elementary schools year after year with only the rudi- ments of book learning, to soon find themselves helpless in the whirl of industrial socity, and so drift about from one low-grade pursuit to another, or else become corner loafers.
The time is not far distant when we shall be obliged to intro- duce into the daily program of the primary and grammar schools a comprehensive system of industrial training, whose graduated activities may be pressed to the highest point of inter- est and usefulness, but never to routine and drudgery. I believe this will not be accomplished in a school day of five hours, but that added time will be given to the school day, that this may be accomplished without depriving the child of the proper amount of time devoted to the essentials.
There are people who still believe that the course of study con- tains unnecessary branches which they are pleased to call fads
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and frills, but, as I stated in my report one year ago, every addi- tion to the list of studies has been strongly contested at every step by the forces of conservatism and reaction. Only those things have survived which have the strength and vitality born of true worth. Many people seem to think that what has been should continue to be, and that the ways of their fathers are necessarily the best ways. When this course of reasoning is applied to present-day business, it always leads to failure. Some appear not to know that the education of children is receiving, and for some years has received, more careful study and scien- tific investigation than almost any other field of. human activity. Natural development of the child and the best means of training his unfolding powers are better understood today than ever be- fore. Education is much more of a science, and teaching much more of an art, than at any time in the world's history. Many people in Arlington appreciate these facts ; most do not.
The special studies, Drawing, Music, Sewing and Physical Training, have never been so efficiently taught in our schools as at present. This is the natural result of the increased training and experience of our teachers. There are many who look upon these special studies as interlopers in our course of study which have gained no right to be there. A century ago the same objec- tions were made to reading, geography and history. The idea seems to possess many critics of our schools that these studies are in the course by the dictum of the school-master rather than as a response to a public demand. But this does not appear to be borne out by the evidence. This matter was under discussion in New York City not long ago, and an attempt was made to get an expression of opinion from parents. One of the newspapers sent out postal cards to parents in one of the sections of New York in which people of the better class live, asking them to state whether, in their opinion, it was desirable to retain the special studies or to drop them from the course. The vote was as follows :
For
Against
Physical Training
6656
841
Music
634I
1080
Drawing
6267
IO68
Sewing
5336
I720
The vote of parents interested was taken under similar condi- tions in Providence. Postal cards were sent to all parents having children in the grammar grades. Nearly all responded. The re- sults were as follows :
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For
Against
Music
4726
173
Drawing
4663
222
Physical Training
4652
23I
Physiology
4117
757
Nature Study
3844
1004
Manual Training
3360
1047
Parents who wish to have Music retained are 96.5 per cent. of the whole number; Drawing, 95.5 per cent .; Gymnastics, 95.3 per cent. If our schools are to be the people's schools, these studies are evidently in the schools to stay. A very common delusion that holds sway in the minds of many people is that the attention given to these studies detracts from the efficiency and thoroughness of the work done in the old-time studies. As I showed in my report of two years ago, this is certainly not true of the schools of Arlington. The enriching of the course of study has been accom- plished not only by introducing these new subjects but also by a more scientific teaching of the old subjects.
HIGH SCHOOL. At the present time, High Schools all over the country are under fire. The practical success of our present- day schools is being seriously questioned. The trend of opinion seems to be that outside of the college preparatory work, our schools fail to prepare boys and girls to do work of any kind, es- pecially of the practical kind. Our High School is doing excel- lent work in the preparation of pupils for college. Last June, II took examinations, either preliminary or final, for Harvard or Radcliffe. In all, subjects aggregating 129 points were taken. Every pupil passed every examination taken. Other students entered Dartmouth, Tufts, Institute of Technology, and Welles- ley, also well prepared.
This year we shall graduate our first class taking the full Com- mercial Course, and, unless our experience is different from that of neighboring High Schools which have graduated classes, the graduates will be in immediate demand. At present there are 90 different pupils taking the Commercial Course, arranged as fol- lows: Seniors 10, Juniors 14, Sophomores 21, Freshmen 45. The course has proved to be popular and is keeping many pupils in school who would otherwise have gone to work.
The High School course of study needs revising, and by the end of the school year a new course of study will be presented for your consideration. English, to my mind the most important study in the curriculum, is not placed on the same footing as other subjects. Experience is making it more and more evident that thoroughly adequate work in English, both composition and lit- erature, as well as technical language, means a time allowance
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equal to the highest time allowance given to any subject. Latin, in our program, offers twenty periods to pupils taking the college and classical courses, while English in all the courses offers but eleven periods. Students of Latin and Greek get a very valuable incidental training in English, and can therefore get along with less formal English than pupils in other courses. The small num- ber of periods, however, make very long assignments necessary. I believe that five periods a week in English should be prescribed for each year in the Commercial and English Courses, and that the time allowance in the College and Classical Courses should be increased. All of this need not be prepared work; one or two periods may well be done in school under the immediate direction and supervision of the teachers. The State Superintendent of New Hampshire has lately refused to give his approval to a course of instruction in High Schools in which English is not given an amount of time equal to, or greater than, the time given to any other subject.
Two years does not seem to be sufficient time to do thoroughly the amount of German that is now required for college entrance examinations. A course of commercial correspondence in both French and German should prove valuable as an elective in the Commercial Course. Algebra should continue through the first year of the course and geometry be given in the second year. Less required work and more electives should be arranged for the first two years. Various other changes and additions are under consideration.
The modern way of expressing requirements for graduation is by points. One recitation per week for one year counts as one point. A system of credits based on points will be presented for your consideration.
In providing increased accommodations for the High School any plan will be incomplete which does not take into considera- tion the demand for industrial education. In my last report I spoke at some length on the growth of a popular demand for some forms of industrial training to be grafted on to our present school courses. The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, in his inaugural address of a few days ago, spoke of the crying need in this direction. The Boston Herald characterizes the part of his address on industrial education as "the most im- portant feature of a practical inaugural address." The Gov- ernor speaks from experience as a manufacturer and an em- ployer, and bases his opinions on actual contact with the prob- lems of unskilled labor. On the part of the individual the demand for an extension of educational facilities along industrial lines is based on the plea that the State's duty to the child is to furnish him with a reasonable educational equipment for life, whether his
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vocation is to be along academic or industrial lines. The public school system of the present is devised to meet the academic re- quirements, however far short of that purpose the results may be. The youth in pursuit of industrial equipment finds comparatively little advantage in the academic courses of the higher grades. Excepting where special industrial courses have been established, he is inclined to drop out of the public school before the course is finished, because of the lack of attraction and incentive to con- tinue. The result is a constantly increasing product of unin- structed labor from which industry suffers.
The Governor is of the opinion that the method of education in the Grammar and High Schools can be shaped in such a way as to possess an attractive value for pupils whose life work is destined to be in the trades.
On the other hand, he recognizes the fact that the success of industry demands specialized training, which cannot be provided by incidental courses of manual instruction in connection with existing academic schools. He is firmly convinced of the neces- sity of special industrial schools, maintained, in part at least, by the State, and providing for the higher industrial education which will furnish the technical workmen needed in industry.
PROMOTIONS. For the last two years, special efforts have been made by most of our teachers to help the slow and immature chil- dren along by giving as much time as possible to individual in- struction. The number held back has been gradually reduced each year. In 1905-1906, 14.4 per cent. were repeaters. Last year in the elementary grades 13.4 per cent. of the pupils were obliged to repeat the year. In June, of this year, it was found ncessary to keep back 12.5 per cent. in the grades, while many were allowed to go into the next grade on trial. The wisdom of promoting on probation is shown by the fact that of 208 children who were given a trial, only 11 failed and were obliged to go back.
It is inevitable that some shall have to repeat the work for the following reasons : Prolonged absence because of sickness, physi- cal defects of sight, hearing, nerves, adenoid growthis, etc., abnor- mal mental ability, natural slowness in all mental operations, out- side interests, indifference to school that teachers cannot over- come, studies that fail to attract or interest, lack of ability in some one subject, a curriculum too full for the unscholarly, classes too large to allow individual instruction, and the natural tendencies of teachers to work along lines of least resistance.
No complete remedy can be found for this state of things, but surely everything possible should be attempted by way of relief. A physical examination will show how certain defects may be
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
remedied by parental action. Outside interests that distract may be controlled by the same authority. In all our classes we should emphasize the essentials and ignore details that now absorb too much attention ; teach the fundamental principles without attempt- ing to present every remote application of them. The accepted psychological law that the dull and slow of intellect are stimulated and helped by motor activities can be applied; uniform attain- ments should not be insisted upon ; superiority in one study should be allowed to make up for deficiency in another.
The chief obstacle on the part of the pupils is the natural in- difference to all purely mental school interests. The chief ob- stacle on the part of the system is large classes which are neces- sary because of conditions. We have many classes with an aver- age of nearly 50 pupils, and at the present time five classes of over 50 pupils. It is evident that mass instruction becomes im- perative, and individual instruction well-nigh impossible. Teach- ers must have time to study the individual child, find his weak- nesses, and "get next to him" in order to awaken and develop his latent powers. In the Cutter School, where we have an extra teacher because the fourth grade has 56 pupils, we are this year having the assistant help backward pupils in several of the other classes. It is working admirably, and it would be a great help if other school buildings had a floating teacher whose work would be to assist backward children in any grade. Such a teacher should be a woman of experience and skill, kind and sympathetic, to awaken the ambition of these backward pupils. Such instruc- tion would save many a child the wasteful prolongation of his school course. The two hundred children who are this year re- peating at a cost of $30 each, are costing the town $6000, enoughi to pay ten extra teachers.
If every member of the present ninth grade should graduate in June, the statistics of the class will be as follows: Two will have finished the course in seven years, nineteen in eight years, forty-seven in nine years, forty-seven in ten years, eight in eleven years, and one in thirteen years. This means that 17 per cent. will have finished the course in less than the regular nine years, 38 per cent. will have taken one extra year to complete the course, while 6 per cent. will have taken two extra years to complete the course. In all 45 per cent. will have taken more than the regu- lar time for the elementary school work. The average time per pupil amounts to nine years, four months, and the average age is fifteen years. Isn't this too long to spend on purely elementary education ? Should we honestly expect the majority of a class of this average age to continue through the High School? Should they not enter the High School at an average age of nearly a year less? These conditions are not peculiar to Arlington, nor is our
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
experience unusual in this regard. In Somerville last year, the average time was nine years, three months, and the age at grad- uation was fifteen years. Cambridge has had for years an excel- lent skipping system which gives every advantage to the brighter pupils, and yet, for the last five years, the time taken by grad- uates, as a whole, to complete the course averages nine years, one month.
It is coming to be generally recognized that nine years is too long to spend on the elementary school work. Outside of New England an eight-year course is practically universal. Boston, Providence, New Haven, Bridgeport, Portsmouth, Quincy, Mil- ton, and Reading are among the places in New England which have adopted an eight-year elementary course. I have commu- nicated with the Superintendents of all of these places, and with- out exception they give a hearty endorsement of the plan and its result. I will quote a few of the replies I have received which were included in the answers to a questioniare which I sent re- cently to Superintendents and leading educators in New Eng- land.
The questions were as follows :
Superintendent
In the schools under your charge, how many grades are there below the High School? (Not including the kindergarten.)
Have you kindergartens ?
Has any change in the number of grades below the High School been made in the last ten years ?
Are you contemplating any such change?
If you have changed from a nine-grade to an eight-grade sys- tem, what were the principal reasons for the change? (Kindly answer on the back of the page.)
Has the eight-grade system proved satisfactory ?
If you have nine grades, do you think a change desirable ? Why?
Is your highest grammar grade working in the High School building under High School conditions ?
Do you think such an arrangement desirable ?
What so-called High School subjects are taught in your upper Grammar grades?
Have you a sub-freshman class in your High School ?
In your High School, how many years are given to the follow- ing courses : English or General - -; Commercial -; Scien- tific -; Classical -; College
What is your opinion of the following arrangement: Eight- year course for Grammar and Primary Schools; High School course comprising four years in the English and Commercial courses, and five years in the college and technical courses ?
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SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
"I am inclined to favor an eight-year course for the elementary schools. In fact, I argued for it in a Boston report several years ago. They have just come around to it.
"I am not so sure about a five-year course in a Classical High School course. It has seemed to me that a student who ought to go to college ought to be able to prepare in four years."
GEORGE H. MARTIN.
"We changed from nine to eight grades because we believed that the kind of work necessary to be done in the Grammar grades could be done in eight years.
"It is not a fair statement to say that we are trying to do nine years' work in eight years. That is not the problem. Can the pupil of ordinary ability do the necessary work of the elementary grades in eight years and prepare himself thereby to do the re- quired work of the High School? I know he can do it, if he is fortunate enough to have the right kind of teachers."
"Nearly all the Maine cities and towns have nine grades below the High School. A few of the larger towns and cities have sep- arate kindergarten systems. In others, efforts are made to com- bine the kindergarten work with the lowest primary grade. I do not note any general tendency in the State toward an eight-grade system and, at present, I should not consider a change of that kind to be desirable, save possibly in a few of the most highly or- ganized school systems.
"In a large number of towns and cities the highest Grammar grade carries on its work in connection with that of the High Schools. This arrangement is usually made through necessity rather than because of any educational advantage. It is my opinion, however, that such an arrangement has many advantages. I think we should welcome any change which will tend to em- phasize the unity of the school system.
"In nearly all our High Schools four years are given to the sev- eral High School courses. With regard to the last question you raise I would say that, under present conditions in Maine, I am not inclined to favor the eight-year course for Primary and Grammar Schools, but I think I might do so provided the school year should be brought to a more nearly uniform length."
"Most of your program seems clear enough. The five years for the college and technical courses would depend on the student. The trouble is that our children get into the High School too late,. anyway, and consequently too late in life. This is a serious mat -. ter and is a recognized problem. Nobody seems to solve it very-
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