USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1874 > Part 15
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H. M. WILLARD, Secretary.
REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
TO THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF NEWTON :-
ANOTHER year has drawn to its close, and the laws of the Commonwealth require that the School Committee shall make report of the progress and condition of the schools under their care. The interests which the Committee have in charge in the city of Newton have, year by year, grown larger, more complex and manifold ; and any report which shall compass adequately these interests, in all their details, must, of necessity, be of considera- ble length. It has been the aim of Newton, for many years, to maintain a system of public schools equal to any in the Commonwealth; not simply for the gratification of being so named, but because the wealth and intelligence of the inhabitants seemed naturally to demand this at their hands. There are doubtless many small towns in the Com- monwealth, of sparse population, where a far inferior system is maintained with greater personal cost and sacrifice to the people than here. With the re- sources which Newton has in her keeping, she would be remiss in her duty if she did not maintain schools of a high order; and this, for many years, she has aimed to do.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
It was the remark of a distinguished man of the last generation, a president of one of our New Eng- land colleges, that "the chief business of each generation was to educate the next generation." Stated in this way, it might seem that this would be a wearisome, ever-beginning, never-ending employ- ment. And so indeed, in some sense, it is. Death is forever removing the ripened fruits of our cul- ture ; and life is bringing in the fresh, crude materials on which our care and toil are to be expended. If the earthly existence were the whole of our exist- ence, we might faint and grow weary under this endless expenditure. But when we consider what this thinking, intellectual being is, and how com- pletely every thing else on the earth dwarfs in its stately presence, it is no other than the gravest truth to say, as in the words already quoted, that " the chief business of each generation is to educate the next generation."
But what is " education" ? We do well con- tinually to go back to the primitive idea of that word. It is the drawing out of that which is myste- riously wrapped up in the soul, more than the putting in to it of outside material. The first, it is true, cannot be done without the second. But the great aim in all true education should be to develop the native and original powers and faculties of the · whole being, intellectual and moral. It cannot be made known to an animal that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right angles, because he has no inward powers whereby he can apprehend any such truth. It never could be communicated to man, except as he has this inner vision to see and
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GENERAL REPORT.
comprehend it. The process that helps him to that knowledge may begin, indeed will naturally begin, from the outside ; but the recognition will be from within. It is by the power which belongs to his soul as a thinking being, - a power which was there, in its germ, from the start,-that he seizes and appropriates that truth. It is educated, taking that word literally, it is drawn out from him into this exercise and grasp.
In like manner, you cannot communicate to an animal, that lying and theft are morally wrong, because he has no basis on which to reach any such conclusion. And you could not communicate this to a child, except as his inner moral nature sees it. Education then, in the true sense, is not cramming the mind with the largest possible amount of other men's thoughts. It is the development of the native powers and endowments in fair and symmetrical proportion. It is making the mind master of itself; so that it can turn itself wisely and intelligently, with working force, in this direction or that, as occasion calls. Mere memory holds but a very sub- ordinate place in all true education. It is a most convenient and useful faculty, and not to be despised or dishonored. The mind would be. poor indeed without it. But to rely mainly upon the memory, in education, is but a cheap order of culture. To say of any person, that he has the most remarkable memory, and can retain and repeat all that he reads and hears, is, at best, but a very doubtful compli- ment. The real question is, What can he do with his own mind ? What can he bring out from it that shall be worthy to be cherished in other men's memory ?
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
The glory of having first conceived and originated a system of public schools, whereby all the children of the people should be trained in the elements of knowledge, belongs to New England. After more than two hundred and fifty years' experience, her system stands so thoroughly accredited and ap- proved, that, in its fundamental features, there will be no going back. The system has already spread into other nations, and is fast making its way in the earth.
And yet so good a system as this may be over- done, and carried to excess. We must all the while remember, that the heritage of the great body of the people in this world is a life of toil, - healthy, and pleasant, and good, if it be pursued with a right and cheerful spirit. It would be a sore evil under the sun, if we were to carry the luxuries and refine- ments of our school system to such an extent as to plant in the minds of the great body of the children a distaste for honest toil. We ought to give them all the elements of knowledge, ought to open to all the avenues of thought and intelligence, and give them the dignity of self-thinkers. Beyond this uni- versal culture which should be given to the rich and poor alike, preparing them all to act well their parts in life, there will be, of course, that higher culture of not a few, according to their. individual tastes and preferences, and positions in society. But the special duty which the State has to perform toward all its children is to provide the means for this wide- spread elementary culture, and the further duty of seeing to it that the children shall not neglect these opportunities, and grow up in ignorance.
·
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GENERAL REPORT.
The year that has passed has been one of full activity and of general success, with as few deficien- cies and drawbacks as can be expected in any system of this kind ; which must have, at the best, its de- fects and limitations. Under our present system, an immense amount of work is devolved upon the Superintendent. The School Committee have a general oversight; but it falls to the lot of the Superintendent to hold all the little details in his mind, and keep himself in living daily connection with the whole work, as it goes on at widely-sepa- rated points throughout the city. And when it is remembered that our system of schools embraces between two and three thousand pupils, with more than sixty rooms to be visited, and a hundred teachers, more or less, in all the departments, to be conferred with, it is easy to see that the Superintend- ent is kept exceedingly busy, and that he has to bear upon his mind a heavy burden of care and responsibility.
The principal change which has been made in our school system during the past year has been in the blotting out of the Training School. That change was made with not a little misgiving on the part of many; and it remains to be seen whether or not the change was a wise one. There was certainly an honest difference of opinion upon this point ; but it was not worth while to continue that department in the face of such grave opposition as existed against it.
The remarks, thus far, have been rather of a general than a specific nature; and it will be left to the various sub-committees, and to the Superintend-
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
ent, to give the more detailed reports in their several departments.
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
It is not the chief function of the School Com- mittee to affirm that our own schools are the best constituted and conducted in the State; neither is it a commendable modesty to under-estimate what is really an occasion of congratulation in the real prog- ress of our public institutions. There certainly is no reason why the High School of Newton should not rank among the first in the Commonwealth. The character of its population, and the aspect of its homes, would justify such an expectation. The careful examination of this school by any intelligent person will only confirm this reasonable expectation. It will not suffer in comparison with any united Latin and English high school in the State. Still there is hardly a department in which its well-trained in- structors do not see large opportunities for improve- ment; and the whole plan of it is a matter of profound study with its appointed guardians, as to its adaptation to accomplish the greatest amount of ser- vice for its hundreds of interesting young people graduating from it into practical life.
Naturally, the attention is at first arrested by its material condition; not its most important aspect, indeed, but at the present moment requiring special consideration. The necessity for the enlargement of its present accommodations is not occasioned simply by an expected increase in the number of its pupils in a coming year ; but its present rooms are already far too small for the health, comfort, and
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THE HIGH SCHOOL.
facility for study, of the pupils already enrolled upon its record. This can readily be appreciated by simply meeting with them when assembled at their opening exercises, and examining their different recitation- rooms.
Previous to the entrance of the present class, in view of the crowded condition of the school, the Committee met the masters of the Grammar Schools, to consult together upon the expediency of raising quite considerably the standard of scholarship requi- site for entrance into the High School, and thus keep- ing back in the Grammar Schools a portion of the students that otherwise might apply for admission. This was not discussed so much with reference to the relief of the former, as to the enriching of the curriculum of the latter ; for it could only secure a temporary relief to throw pupils back one year in their preparation. The Committee has been con- stantly alive to the fact, that only a very small pro- portion of the children of the Grammar Schools avail themselves of the opportunities of the High School. It is a remarkable and painful truth, that, in such a thrifty community as Newton, only a small percentage of the youth qualified by age enter the High School, and only a limited portion of these re- main to the end of its course. There must be rea- sons besides the pressure of poverty that occasion the early departure from school of these children, that ought to be made a matter of careful inquiry. There can be no doubt that our young people are entering too immaturely for their health, success, and moral stability, into mercantile life; and the fre- quent and sad failures, both in health and charac-
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
ter, are significant evidences of this error. But the fact remains, that a large proportion of the pupils receive all their school-training in the Grammar Schools.
It was found, during the discussion with the mas- ters, that they were also fully alive to this fact; and that they spared no effort to obviate its worst con- sequences. Where it is known that pupils can remain only a limited period in school, they are pressed forward in the most important fundamental studies, and special instruction is given them by the master in the upper class of the school. This is particularly the case in some of our schools. It was found, upon inquiry, that the standard had really been raised annually, and that every year the classes received into the High School had been better pre- pared for the new course of training upon which they were to enter, than their predecessors. It was thought that still more might be done in the Gram- mar Schools to meet the most pressing intellectual wants of the large class that had no expectation of passing beyond the opportunities these afforded.
But the proposition of an additional year to the Grammar-school course met with such objections as these. 1. It is with great difficulty that pupils, especially boys expecting to learn a mechanical trade or to become clerks, are now retained through the Grammar-school course. It is only by being able to finish the school at a very early age that they are persuaded, or their parents induced to per- mit them, to remain. Another year added to the course will greatly enhance this difficulty.
2. The pupils that are purposing to continue their
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THE HIGH SCHOOL.
studies in college, by the time they graduate from the highest class in the Grammar School, have reached an age when they should be commencing their special preparations. To put them back a year would be a serious inconvenience. Even as it is, a number every year are unwisely taken from the public school without completing its course, and sent to private schools ; as their age, if not their acquisi- tions, render it necessary, in the estimation of their parents, for them to commence their preparatory studies. It would be entirely inexpedient and un- economical to introduce these preparatory studies into the Grammar-school course.
3. The age at which pupils may, on an average, reach the High School, should be so favorable as to induce as many as possible to avail themselves of its higher and broader culture. Having once entered, they become influenced by a strong class-feeling, by the more practical and entertaining character of the studies, by the inspiration of accomplished teachers, and by a developing personal ambition to rank well intellectually with their companions, and will be more likely to remain through the whole course, and thus secure a pretty fair rudimental training for life, if not induced to pursue a collegiate education.
The result of the conference seemed to be, that there were large opportunities to improve the Gram- mar-school course, and to render it more serviceable for the pupils that will have no further opportunities for school instruction; but that it would not be expedient to raise the requisitions materially for entrance into the High School.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
The proposed addition to the present building, favorably referred to in His Honor the Mayor's annual address, will, without doubt, meet the requi- sition of the school for many years. It will afford ample room for the assembling of the pupils without incommoding each other, perilling the discipline of the school, or depraving the air through the limited space of the hall. Ample recitation-rooms can be provided, and, what is specially needed, arrangements for experimenting in the sciences. A suitable room can also be secured for the Superintendent of Schools and for the meetings of the School Committee.
The internal history of the school during the past year has been unmarked by any striking incidents There has been, every day of the school session, quiet, honest, earnest, and excellent work done by con- scientious teachers. The graduating classes, which do not by any means give the full measure of the service accomplished by the school, have annually honored themselves and the institution that becomes so embalmed in their affections, that ever after they meet with previous classes in an annual reunion under its auspices. With a natural fondness for the youngest of the family, the accomplished Principal of the school looks upon the class that leaves the coming fall, as promising to be the best it has sent forth.
There has been no question in the community as to the vigor and success of the school in training lads for college. Its graduates have won an enviable pre-eminence in their examinations for entrance into a neighboring university. Indeed, it has been feared by some that the whole force of the school was ex-
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THE HIGH SCHOOL.
hausted in fitting the little handful of admirably trained boys that knock annually at the gates of Harvard. This excellent work the school has done, and the broader and more practical training it has not left undone. In mathematics, philosophy, the natural sciences, English literature, drawing, and modern languages, instruction of the best quality is given with the most satisfactory results.
Its system of instruction is wisely arranged to meet the wants of a mixed school, the necessities of business and professional life, the incidents of health and the time that may be devoted to study. The minimum of weekly studies requisite to secure a regular graduation is so small, that a girl of some- what delicate health need not be overburdened ; while the maximum is broad enough to meet the ambition and robust vigor of the heartiest.
It has been asked, whether attention enough has been given to the fact that so large a portion of the pupils enter upon a mercantile life, and whether more technical instruction could not be given to furnish them for their prospective duties; whether what is now obtained in commercial colleges could not be provided in the High School. These suggest- ive questions are worthy of consideration. There are only a few practical branches, however, secured in these commercial colleges, that are not better taught in our High School; and the most important of these might be, perhaps, embraced in our cur- riculum. By the addition of a few lectures each year, given by intelligent men of business, and our professional citizens, upon leading points affecting commercial success, explaining the regular courses of
2
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
trade, setting forth the rudiments of mercantile law, and enforcing the moral characteristics and active habits vital to an honorable career, a happy direc- tion might be given to the thoughts, purposes, and studies of such pupils.
It should be remembered, however, that a well- trained mind soon seizes in its grasp practical affairs. A good mathematical scholar, with an easy and graceful penmanship, with habits of attention secured by study, and with a pretty well developed intellect, will be able, with a few days' training, to keep a set of books, and will soon learn the intricacies of in- surance, stocks, and exchanges. If a man has the implements, and knows how to use them, he only needs a fair opportunity to accomplish any thing within human limitations. The great mistake of the hour is overlooking the vital importance of this full development and training to right working, of the intellect, and hurriedly seeking the cheap compensa- tion for it of a narrow practical drilling. One course is the solid substance, the other is simply veneering. There is a great amount of the latter, both in the professional and business world, in our day.
No visitor at the High School can fail to be struck with the cheerful and inviting character of its dis- cipline. Good order is preserved without severity or rigidness ; and this is all the more remarkable on account of the crowded condition of the building. Gentlemanly conduct, and good outward morals and manners, mark the deportment of the pupils. The silent but powerful influence of the cultivated Chris- tian teacher is everywhere apparent. Parents need feel little solicitude as to the daily development of
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THE HIGH SCHOOL.
character constantly going on under such strong and wholesome positive and involuntary forces.
At the request of the chairman of the High School Committee, Mr. Francis A. Waterhouse, the principal of the school, has furnished, as in a previous report, his own views, from the inside, of the working of the institution during the past year.
" In compliance with your request, I have written the following report of the High School for the past year : -
" According to the suggestions made in the last Report, the Programme of Studies in the High School has been modified in certain points, and seems now to answer com- pletely the purpose for which it was designed.
" There are now four regular courses of study, or courses for the completion of which a diploma is awarded, - the General Course, the Three Years' Course, the Classical Course, and the Technology Course, i.e., the course in which pupils are prepared for the School of Technology.
" The Three Years' Course, as explained in a previous Report, coincides exactly with the first three years of the General Course. The Technology Course also coincides with the first three years of the General Course, except that it omits the natural sciences, and adds to the mathe- matics.
" As printed in the 'Rules and Regulations,' the Classi- cal Course appears to be quite distinct from the General Course. But, in reality, it is not so. It coincides very nearly with that course ; differing only in adding Greek, which, probably, will soon be made an optional study, and in omitting one or two branches, such as mental philosophy and ethics, which are pursued in college.
" The broader scope of the Classical Course is owing to the increased requisitions for admission to Harvard Col- lege, the institution for which, almost exclusively, pupils are prepared in the High School. Time was when the re-
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE.
quirements for admission to that college were chiefly the elements of Greek, Latin, and mathematics. But within a few years a change for the better has taken place. Those who now desire to enter the college must prepare them- selves not only in Greek, Latin, and mathematics, but in ancient history, natural science, physical geography, Eng- lish literature, and French or German ; in a word, in nearly all the most important branches taught in a high school. Pupils who take the Classical Course, therefore, no longer constitute, as formerly, a separate class, but are intimately associated, in studies and recitation, with the main body of the school. In fact, it would be impossible to make them a separate class, without increasing largely the num- ber of recitations, and, consequently, the number of teachers. Nor, if it were possible, would it be expedient. The incorporation of these pupils with the school cannot be otherwise than advantageous. Obliged to prepare for an examination at the close of their course upon all that they have gone over during that course, - an examination conducted at a distance from the school, and without fear or favor, by experts of acknowledged scholarship, - they have the strongest incentives to exertion. To pass the examination, they know to be highly creditable to them- selves and to their school ; to fail in passing, they feel to be a disgrace. It becomes practicable, therefore, to bring them up to a high standard of attainment, and, together with them, the school with which they are so closely connected.
" Though the Classical Course has been thus broadened, and has, consequently, become more difficult, it is gratifying to observe that a greater number of pupils are taking it than ever before. This is especially noticeable in the senior class. At present the class consists of about thirty mem- bers, - being the largest senior class ever in the school ; and of this number over one-third take the Classical Course.
" But, while the Classical Course serves as a lever of no inconsiderable power in raising the school generally in
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THE HIGH SCHOOL.
point of scholarship, other helps are required to enable our teachers, earnest and faithful as they are, to overcome the natural indisposition of the young to mental labor. Of these helps, a standard of promotion is especially recom- mended. The nature of the standard needs not be specified here. It is enough to observe, in general, that it should be such as to exact from the pupil vigorous and sustained effort. Another help is a periodical award of prizes for excellence in the more important branches, - the prizes to be sufficiently numerous and varied to rouse in every pupil the feeling of emulation. Such helps have proved service- able in other schools, not to speak of higher institutions of learning, and have received, in direct terms or virtually, . the sanction of the wisest men, from Aristotle to Sir Wil- liam Hamilton.
" The operation of the elective system during the last two terms has been, in all important respects, the same as during the term in which it was adopted. A majority of pupils have taken more studies than the minimum required for graduation. Of those who have taken the minimum, it may justly be said that they have attempted quite as much as they have been able to perform. The number of special students, or those who do not take a required course, con- tinues to be small. Students of this class almost invariably take less than twelve lessons per week. During the past term, however, there have been noteworthy exceptions. Now and then a regular pupil has dropped into the special category. But the lapse, in nearly every case, has been owing, not to indolence, but to ill health, or other sufficient cause. Those who enter upon a regular course generally keep to it if they can.
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