USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Franklin > Town of Franklin annual report 1900 > Part 4
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In the report of last year your superintendent at some length discussed the advantages of manual training and recom- mended its adoption. I am sure that sooner or later it will come. It is for you to decide whether it be this year or not till later. It is no new or untried plan. Below is a summary of the advantages gained by manual training after a trial of the system for twelve years in St. Louis :
(1.) Larger classes of boys in grammar and high school.
(2.) Better intellectual development.
(3.) More wholesome moral education.
(4.) Sounder judgment of men and things and living issues.
(5.) Better choices of occupation.
(6.) Higher degree of material success, individual and social.
(7.) The elevation of many of the occupations from the realm of brute unintelligent labor to positions requiring and rewarding cultivation and skill.
(8.) The solution of color problems.
Further, a room in the basement of the Horace Mann could be fitted up, or at even less expense a room at the Nason School could be used. The total expense for benches, tools, materials and the services of an expert teacher could be kept within $900.00 for the first year, and subsequent expense would be but little more than the teacher's salary.
"A keeper in Sing Sing prison was asked how many of the prisoners had been trained to any useful trade or business. His reply was : ' Not one in ten.'
" John Adams when a boy did not like Latin grammar, and wanted to stay away from the academy ; so his father set
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him at ditching on the farm. After a day or two he was will- ing to study Latin. His father proposed work at home or work at school. The result of such training made him one of the pillars of the republic and the successor of Washington as President of the United States.
" The early life of eighty-eight of the leading men of Springfield, Mass., was inquired into, and it was found that only five were not in early life trained to regular manual labor. Nearly every one had been a hard-working boy."
There are some eleven high schools in Massachusetts re- porting courses in rhetoricals and five with courses in elocu- tion. The Horace Mann is one of the five. This demands eight periods a week of one assistant's time out of a possible thirty periods. The value of such a course is seen in the excel- lency of the graduation last June and in the improved health and better bearing of the pupils. Without a sound education as a basis, such courses lead to superficiality and insincerity. As a complement to severe and protracted study it is one of the very best courses offered in the school. Personally we should be very loath to omit it from the school, but its con- tinuance and the maintenance of the other departments at their present high standard demands the present quota of paid teachers. In the best high schools the principal does but little teaching. His time is of more value in inspecting, suggesting and directing the other teachers. In a neighboring town, where the principal is also superintendent, he has but five periods a week of teaching. In Franklin the principal had thirty periods last year, and this year twenty-three teaching exercises per week. The assistants could also do more effect- ive work if they had one period a day free. At present all the assistants except Miss Judd are at work each period. In Sep- tember the principal had five more open periods a week, which were used for the greatest advantage in organizing the school. This is in no sense a complaint at the amount of work, for the principal enjoys teaching, but it is not a wise or an economical use of his time.
My manufacturing friend tells me: "There are many kinds of cotton waste-nearly fifty." When he talks about
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cotton waste I cannot understand what he means until I know all that he knows about cotton waste and in just the same way. Again, the expert electrician, while discussing his occupation, is " talking all Greek" to me unless I am as expert in elec- tricity. This law is true of all branches of knowledge. To understand or appreciate a teacher one must have taught. Criticism is the act of comparing given results with the stand- ard. Only one who has mastered the standards can rightly criticize. Any one can find fault, but rarely is it just or help- ful. A little knowledge is dangerous unless that little leads the possessor to strive for more. I read Kant's " Critique of Pure Reason," perhaps the hardest book to understand ever written, an hour, a day, a week, a month without understand- ing any of it and throw the book away in disgust. I have not criticized the book, but it has weighed me in the balance of pure reasoning and found me wanting. I read “David Harum" a minute, an hour, five hours. The book is finished and found delightful. Again I have not criticized the book, but the book has weighed me and found in me a sense of humor, of justice and of duty. So in life the acts we criticize are silently weighing and placing us.
Again, criticism to be helpful must be given in a kindly spirit and received as such. I feel that I have been of much more assistance to the younger teachers simply because they held their minds in a receptive attitude, while some of the more experienced teachers, hedged about with former suc- cesses, have repelled such help. Indeed, one teacher, criti- cized by an official because of a trivial mistake, lost her tem- per. Can such conduct be evidence of a desire to improve and a high consecration to duty ?
" Do the teachers complain of the work?" Yes, some who are not prepared for the grade or quality of the work. " Is the work too hard?" You wish for a good high school, of a rank comparable to the best in the State. That can be attained only by paying the cost-self-denial and hard study. The average student cannot devote much time to social amuse- ments without serious loss ; or, if he is fitting for the better colleges-Harvard, Yale or Radcliffe-without the failure of " conditions."
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Below are statements from the principals of three of the best schools in Massachusetts. Compared with them we are deficient in both quantity and quality.
The following opinions are received in reply to a letter containing these questions :
(1.) How many subjects requiring home preparation is the greatest number that ought to be taken at one time in the various years of the high school course?
(2.) What is the maximum number of periods of forty- five minutes per week requiring preparation that ought to be exacted in the various years ?
MOSES MERRILL, Boston Latin School.
In the early part of a four years' course the preparation of two lessons or subjects may be reasonably required for home study. Later on three may be required, but the tasks should be somewhat shortened. Not more than three hours' study should be expected.
On the above basis twenty periods of prepared work may be required during the greater part of the course-one lesson to be learned each session in school. The foregoing answers are based on the supposition that your questions relate to a session of five hours for five days a week, and to boys and not to girls.
PRINCIPAL D. S. SANFORD, High School, Brookline, Mass. :
It is the rule in our school to require fifteen recitations of prepared work. The average student is probably carrying eighteen periods of prepared work, and in addition to this the attention devoted to art, music and physical training gives him an aggregate of twenty-four exercises per week. In a circular letter sent to the parents this fall we stated that the school de- manded the following amount of home preparation for the various classes :
Fourth class, one and one-half to two hours; third class, two to two and one-half hours; second class, two and one- half to three hours; first class, two and one-half to three hours.
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PRINCIPAL FRED W. ATKINSON, High School, Springfield, Mass. :
By reference to our courses of study you will see that your first question cannot be answered in a general way. The number of subjects requiring home preparation should vary with the strength and ability of the individual pupil as far as a public school course can allow. In this school parent, pupil and principal concur in deciding what the work of each pupil for the year shall be, as you can see from the inclosed blank card filled out by each pupil at the beginning of the school year. On page 7 of " Courses of Study " you will find a more detailed answer. For the average pupil two and one-half or three hours of home study daily after a single school session are sufficient.
Our recitation periods are forty-five minutes long, and the minimum number of prepared recitations a week in the four years is as follows : First year, fourteen and one-half ; second year, thirteen ; third year, fourteen ; fourth year, fifteen. In each year two more hours of either unprepared or prepared work are required in addition to the above required hours. This allows the average pupil to elect music, drawing, sing- ing, if desired. Most of our pupils carry more hours of work than this minimumn, and the maximum is decided by the strength and ability of the pupil, as mentioned above.
Journal of Education.
Years ago a boy visited a bookstore kept by an old man in New York. The aged salesman took unusual interest in the boy and showed him many quaint and rare volumes. One day he said to the boy : " What do you intend to do when you are a man?" Startled by the unexpectedness of the ques- tion, the boy replied, without thinking : " I wish to do good." " Go on, my boy," the old man said ; " prepare yourself to do good. Do it, but don't expect to have many friends." The boy grew, passed through school and college and was trained by difficulties to be self-reliant and to do his own thinking re- gardless of cost. The advice and prophecy of the old man
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unconsciously went with him. It is pleasant, very pleasant for any servant, though he be an official, to have the uttered approval of those whose interests he serves and conserves. But such approvals are accidental and temporary. There are higher obligations resting on a school superintendent than mere personal popularity with any class, be it ever so favored. Last spring it was the plain duty of your superintendent not to recommend the election of a certain teacher. The duty was plain and it was performed.
The superintendent begs to state that he has never recom- mended for non-election or dismissal any teacher for any other motives than for the good of the schools. Incompetency and unfaithfulness cannot be tolerated. No one has any moral right to teach or wish to teach in the public schools unless he can be perfectly loyal to all the interests of the public schools and their officials at all times and in all places. No one can honestly serve the public schools for five hours, and other interests, be they ever so attractive. nineteen hours a day.
Formerly the three r's-reading, (w)riting and (a) rith- metic-were considered enough for a fit education. The world has grown much wiser. "New occasions teach new duties." These narrower limits for education are passed. But for the perfect man the modern three r's in education are also deficient. For our nervous life refinement, reserve and repose are recommended as a standard by certain self-appointed leaders who, attaining success, wish to deter others. And smaller souls imitate what they fail to understand. Such a standard for ideal manhood is incomplete. As a supplement to right living in an age when all are in all points equally free they are ornamental. But as long as there is any inequality in life or character or rank they are pernicious. As long as any man is in bondage financially, politically or socially to another fellow-man they are harmful and tend to increase rather than relieve such a bondage. Recall the great servants of the past-men who, catching a far-off glimpse of the truth, were willing to risk their all for that truth ; men who have been the real benefactors and leaders of the ages. Do you speak of the refinement of Luther, of Columbus, of Abraham
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Lincoln, of Moody ? The smallness and roughness of the man is lost sight of in the greatness of the mission. Do you think of the reserve of Christ, of Peter, of Loyola, of Booker T. Washington? The energy, the devotion to duty, the love for fellow-man led these heroes in their times to overstep the arti- ficial barriers of a nice but degenerate propriety. Do you weigh the repose of Michel-Angelo, of Cromwell, of Gari- baldi, of Garrison? No, eternally no. Art in its place is good. I believe in it and in art education, and have welcomed heartily elementary courses in the schools. Their chief end in the school is not the beautiful, but to interpret and make more attractive the good. As a complement art adorns life, but it never can take the place of truth and right. "No one, indeed, can successfully uphold the idea that a high development of art in any shape is of necessity coincident with a strong growth of religion or moral conviction. Perugino made no secret of being an atheist ; Lionardo da Vinci was a skeptic ; Raphael was an amiable rake. And those who maintain that art is always the expres- sion of a people's religion have but an imperfect acquaintance with the age of Praxiteles, Apelles and Zeuxis."
Will these art standards-refinement, reserve and repose- implanted in the hearts of our youths develop them into men who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, quenched the violence of fire, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens? Are there no contests today demanding loyalty to truth and a courageous honesty without guile? What of ignorance, of poverty, of intemperance, of sin? All life that thinks and feels has been and can continue to be only as the product of struggle and pain. Teach the youths, then, to endure hardship like a good soldier. These standards, essen- tially selfish, are but a half-truth, and to hold such ideals only before the youths for their imitation is to rob them. Mean- while the greater ends of truth, of loyalty to duty because it is duty, of service to mankind, are all forgotten and untaught. In a somewhat varied experience of twenty years I have never met a person professing such standards for his life who was
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essentially honest. The idea that grace of body must breed real grace of spirit or life is false. The world has witnessed the great crime perpetrated in the name of justice-the Dreyfus trial-by that nation graceful, polite-aye, the very arbiter of the world's elegance. Then, in place of these half-truths I would nail to the mast as right ideals for the public school to instil into youthful minds-sense, sincerity and service. Sense, that an economic use of public funds demands that youths be trained in the public schools in the special courses for which they are best adapted ; that it is wrong to spoil a good mechanic to make a poor minister ; that manual labor is both noble and ennobling; that it is our duty to teach the youths to reverence home and to fit themselves for its duties and privileges. Sincerity, that honesty, unswerving honesty- though it be an old-time virtue-is the greatest end ; that to fail honestly is better than to win dishonestly; that a lean purse and an honest heart is better than a full purse and a dis- honest heart ; that riches, social position, fame, power are as nothing compared with honesty. Service, that the chief end of man is not to see how many lives he can make contribute to his happiness ; not how much of that which the world calls good he can win for himself and wrest from others ; not how far he can lift himself up by thrusting others down ; not how exclusive he can be, but how broad and inclusive his help may become; that the individual may choose for himself without fear or favor not to be ministered unto, but to minis- ter and to give his life for others; that though he has all knowledge and all wealth and all power and has not the char- ity that leads to service, he is nothing but a clog in the great world's progress; that living for self he dies with self, but living honestly to serve-not his friends merely, but man- kind-his influence shall go on unendingly through the ages yet unborn.
" Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee; Corruption wins not more than honesty. Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just and fear not ; Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's. Thy God's and truth's ; then if thou fall'st, Thou fall'st a blessed martyr."
Respectfully submitted,
ERNEST DARWIN DANIELS, A. M., Superintendent 1893-1900.
17 REPORT OF CHAIRMAN OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
TO THE CITIZENS OF FRANKLIN : 1
Since the duties of the School Committee have almost wholly to do with the financial part of the school business, your committee have deemed it wise this year to only call your attention to that part of the school work, leaving the report of the schools as a whole to the superintendent.
The town appropriated for the support of schools last year thirteen thousand eight hundred dollars ($13,800) ; we have received from the State, dog licenses and tuition from scholars outside the town about one thousand and sixty dollars ($1,060), making a total of fourteen thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars ($14,860) placed in the hands of your com- mittee to be used for school purposes.
We have expended for teachers' salaries, fuel, repairs, janitors, transportation, etc., fourteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-five dollars ($14,855). For the various items of these expenditures we respectfully refer you to the report of the town treasurer.
ESTIMATES AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
In the near future the school at Unionville will be very much larger than at present, owing to the increase in busi- ness in that village ; that being the case, it will be necessary to have an assistant teacher for that school. We therefore recommend that the sum of fourteen thousand one hundred dollars ($14,100) be appropriated by the town for school purposes this year.
The furnace in the William M. Thayer school building is very much out of repair and allows the gas to escape into the schoolrooms. We have stopped the leakage of gas to some extent, so that the furnace will probably run this season ; but next summer it will have to be thoroughly overhauled and
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repaired. The Smead Furnace Co. have examined the furnace and estimate that it will cost two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) to put it in good repair. We therefore recommend that the town appropriate two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) for that purpose.
At a previous meeting the town voted to name the School Street schoolhouse The William M. Thayer School, and also to name the high school building The Horace Mann High School. We therefore would recommend that the town appro- priate one hundred dollars ($100) for the purpose of lettering those buildings, and place the direction of such work in the hands of the School Committee.
As it is very probable that the schoolhouse at South Franklin and also the Northwest schoolhouse will never again be used for school purposes by the town, we therefore recom- mend that they be sold.
Respectfully submitted,
AMBROSE J. GALLISON, For the Committee.
REPORT OF COMMERCIAL DEPT.
FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE :
The report of the commercial department will of neces- sity cover only the time since my official connection with the school.
The work of the last term has been as follows : A senior course in phonography, five hours a week ; junior courses in bookkeeping, ten hours a week, and in commercial arithme- tic, five hours a week. Toward the end of the fall term a course in economics or political economy was substituted for
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commercial arithmetic. This will include a glance at eco- nomic history, study of the processes involved in the produc- tion, distribution and exchange of wealth, and the teaching of the historical development of such processes with a view to the understanding of present industrial conditions.
Recently, also, a new course in bookkeeping has been introduced, one which, this last autumn, has been placed in the Boston high schools.
It is as practical as a system can be outside of the business where it is used. Printed bills of goods, orders and vouchers of all kinds pass through the students' hands ; entries are made from them and they are then filed or otherwise properly dis- posed of. It is believed that the painstaking student cannot fail to obtain from this course a practical knowledge of the principles of double-entry bookkeeping.
Concerning the course of study in the commercial depart- ment I desire to say a few words. I would earnestly recom- mend that the technical work in bookkeeping and phonography (so long as these courses are, as at present, one year in length) be preceded by two years of study similar to that arranged for students who are pursuing other high school courses, includ- ing history, mathematics and a maximum amount of English.
The thoughtful person must, I believe, recognize the importance of such requirements. A few years ago the busi- ness world was flooded with stenographers atrociously igno- rant except in the mechanical knowledge of shorthand and typewriting. Then came a reaction ; business men demanded assistants with mental development sufficient to enable them to use judgment as well as mechanical skill in the office, and the salaries of many stenographers already in the field fell to less than six dollars a week.
The high schools responded to the new demand, and are now turning into the business world young men and women who have a high school education besides the technical train- ing of their special department. Of high schools offering a commercial course, the Central High School in Philadelphia is an acknowledged leader. In that course English, history, mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry) and modern
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languages occupy a prominent place. Stenography and book- keeping are two-year courses. In Worcester, Mass., also, the study of English appears in each of the four years and mathe- matics and history in the first two ; stenography appears in the second, third and fourth years of the course, and bookkeeping in the third and fourth.
Shall not we aim to graduate from the commercial depart- ment-as we do already from the other high school courses- students who, first of all, know how to use the English lan- guage correctly, both orally and in writing; who have a " speaking acquaintance " with the great events in the world's history, and who have had some discipline in those studies that specially strengthen the reasoning faculty ?
Respectfully submitted,
RUTH ELIZABETH HUBBARD.
REPORT OF ENGLISH.
During the past few years the subject of English in second- ary schools has been thoroughly discussed by almost every edu- cator in the land. Higher institutions of learning have sent forth an appeal for better English courses in the lower schools.
We are confronted with two questions : What is the aim in the study of English? and, How shall we reach this end?
One writer has said that " the beginning and end of the study of literature is to open the mind to beautiful thoughts."
" All our dignity consists in thought."
" A man is as his ideals."
The study of literature inspires the pupil with noble ideals of conduct and of beauty, and thus develops character.
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With this end in view, last September the course of Eng- lish in the Horace Mann High School was remodelled. The study now extends throughout the entire course, with three recitations a week.
During the first two years we aim to enrich the pupil's vocabulary, to create a taste for the good and the beautiful, and to enable him to use simple, correct English in speaking. as well as in writing. During this period ideals and models are furnished by Whittier, Longfellow, Irving, Franklin and Hawthorne. A short course in the study of the great artists is also offered.
During the last two years we seek to cultivate and to develop the moral and æsthetic sense. Literature, ever ready with her noblemen, gives us further ideals in Lowell, Burke, Macaulay, Webster, Chaucer, Shakspeare, Milton and Ten- nyson.
Besides the regular work a supplementary graded course of reading has been prepared. Each pupil writes a report of what he reads.
Little if anything can be said of the result. The teacher of English must have faith and wait for the progress of years. Oliver Wendell Holmes says that in order to be a good Eng- lish scholar one must have had three grandfathers who spoke good English. If this thought is considered from the stand- point of a fellow-teacher who remarked, after a discouraging hour spent with an English class, "Have good courage, you may be starting one of those grandfathers," the instructor will feel a new strength and put more zeal and patience into those hours when, with his pupils, he struggles with the complexi- ties of the mother tongue ; the horizon will widen and a new light dawn.
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