USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wilmington > Town of Wilmington Annual Report 1909-1910 > Part 3
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12
The general order and discipline of the schools has been, for the most part, good; and teachers, pupils and parents have generally worked together in harmony. While our total membership has been somewhat larger than that of last year, yet no school has been excessively crowded. The opening of the West School and the transferring of a number of pupils living in the South district to the South School have so reduced the attendance at the Walker Building that none of the rooms have now more pupils than they can conveniently accommodate. The new furniture placed in three of the rooms of the Walker Building has added greatly to the attractiveness of their appearance and to the comfort of the pupils. The old-fashioned double desks at the North School have also been replaced by morc modern single desks; so that at present all our school rooms are provided with suitable modern furniture. with the exception of one class room at the High School Building where the desks are rickety and old This room should be refurnished when it is possible to do so; and then our equipment, as far as desks go, will be complete.
53
During the past year, the following teachers have severed their connection with our schools .- Mr. Loring, Miss Hodge and Miss Cutler, at the High School : Miss Goodrich and Miss Norcross, at the Walker, and Miss Gurney, at the South. Their places have been filled respectively by the election of Mr. Files, Mr. Wing, Miss Merrill, Miss Fogg, Miss Andrews and Miss Luce.
Each year brings some changes in our teaching corps : and, while changes are to be expected, it is not often that we lose a third of our teachers in one year. The reason for the change is nearly always the same, -some reighboring town offers the teacher an increase of salary and she asks to be released. It has never been the policy of the committee to hold teachers to the strict terms of their contracts when it appears that it is for their professional or financial interest to make . a change. As it is the privilege and duty of the committee to dispense with the services of a teacher at ary time when the interests of the school would, in their opinion, be promoted by so doing, there would seem to be some justice in the contention, that a teacher should have a like privilege of making a change whenever her interests would be promoted by so doing. At any rate, I believe that the view which the committee have taken of this matter is a wise one, for even if the teacher could be held strictly to the terms of her contract, I should doubt the wisdom of insisting upon it. The unwilling service of a teacher, however conscientiously rendered, is not nearly as valuable as the same service rendered willingly and when a teacher really wants to go, I do not believe that there is any advantage in detaining her.
It is unfortunate that changes should occur in the midst of the school year for it means an awkward
51
break in the work of the school in which the change occurs and not only that, but it may mean a like disturbance in a dozen other schools. For instance, a grammar school teacher in the town of A. resigns during term time. The school authorities go to the neighboring town of B. and engage its grammar teacher to fill the vacancy, paying her a somewhat larger salary than she has been receiving. The school people of B. look about and hear through a teacher's agency, perhaps, that there is an accomplished grammar teacher in the town of C. who is teaching for a less salary than they are willing to pay. They secure her services, and this leaves a vacancy in C. which is very likely filled by the election of a teacher from D. and so it may go through the alphabet until a dozen schools have been affected by this single resignation in the town of A. All this involves considerable confusion and loss of time in the various schools affected, but the fault as it seems to me does not lie chiefly with the teachers who make the changes but with the school officials who offer the inducements. Teachers who are looking for advancement must accept positions when they are offered. If school officials would unite in an agreement to engage regular teachers during the summer vacation only and to provide for such vacancies as might occur during the year by the employment of substitutes there would be few mid- year vacancies and little opportunity for teachers to change schools during the school year. Until some such agreement as this can be reached, I can see no means of escaping these undesirable mid-year changes. The towns that pay higher salaries will continue to draw their teachers from the towns that pay less. They
55
will naturally select the best, and in the absence of any general agreement, they will take them whenever they want them.
This subject has come home to us rather forcibly this year in the loss of three of our teachers at the close of the fall term. All have been elected to other schools , at increased salaries. In the last eight years we have lost no less than sixteen teachers in this way-rather a heavy drain upon a small school system-yet there seems to be no way of preventing it. Other towns offer larger salaries than we can afford to pay, and while this is so we must expect to lose many of our desirable teachers.
The committee has increased the salaries of our teachers as fast as the means at its disposal would allow, but the cost of living seems to have increased still faster; and it is doubtful, taking this fact into consideration, if our teachers are today as well paid as they were ten years ago.
In our school work, we have made no radical changes. At the beginning of the year we had just in- troduced a new method of writing into the schools-the muscular movement-business writing. It has been a somewhat slow and difficult task to change from the vertical to the rapid slant and to break up old habits and form new ones; but we have made satisfactory progress on the whole, and by the close of the current year we should begin to produce some good rapid writers. Heretofore we have used this system only in the grammar and high schools. It is our purpose to extend it at once to all the grades. It seems a mis- fortune that in attempting to teach carefully the forms of the letters in the lower grades by the slow, drawing process as we now do, we should form and fix the very
56
habits which we find it so difficult to break up when we begin to teach rapid writing.
It is to be hoped that no new system of writing will be discovered for many years. We have had Spencerian slant, vertical and medial writing in the schools, and every time we have changed our system, there has been a drop (temporarily at least) in the quality of the writing. Having now fixed upon a hand which is acceptable to business people and which busi- ness people use, I hope that we may be permitted to retain and perfect it.
No changes in text books have been made for some time except in geographies. The arithmetics and language books now in use are not wholly satisfactory, and as they have been in use for ten or more years, a change might well be considered.
The work in music and drawing has been in charge of the same teachers as last year; and, as far as I am able to judge, their work has been fully up to the usual standard. A good degree of interest is mani- fested by the pupils in each of these subjects, and their progress has been satisfactory.
The high school, for the first time in several years, has shown no increase in membership. Indeed there has been a slight decrease, which indicates, I think, that it has nearly reached the end of its period of rapid growth. It is not probable that a town of this size can maintain a high school much larger than the one that we now have; and whatever increase we have henceforth should be due to the normal increase in our school population.
To all who are interested in the work of the High school, and particularly to those parents who have children in attendance, I recommend a careful reading
57
of the Principal's report, which is appended. In it hc discusses a question which is of vital importance to the standing of the school-home study. For some reason, not at present clear to me, the teachers of this school have found it very difficult to induce their pupils to do any considerable amount of school work at home. The idea seems to prevail that the work done in the five-hour school session is all that ought to be required. Experience, however, has shown that it is not enough. The pupil of average ability can not do acceptable high school work today without a consider- able amount of home study. It may have been possible several years ago, but it is not possible now; and the pupil who begins the course with that idea will soon find himself hopelessly behind his class. It is not th'e idea to make the high school work such that it can be successfully pursued only by the scholarly few. As a public school, the high school should serve the general public, and its requirements should be such that the industrious pupil of moderate ability can meet them, not, however, without a good degree of effort on his part, involving a considerable amount of regular home study.
No high school pupil gets out of his course more than he puts into it. If he slides through with little effort, the result is of proportionately little value to him; if, however, he contributes a fair day's work five days in the week and forty weeks in the year for his entire course, even if he has no great ability as a scholar, he will have gained a mental power and efficiency which will make that course of real value to him. The foregoing statement applies not only to the high school and its work but is true of all our school work. It is what the pupil does himself, not what is
58
done for him, that counts. It is the province of the teacher to stimulate and direct the self-activity of the pupil, and by this self-activity alone is growth accom- plished.
The usual special reports and tables are appended. Respectfully submitted,
W. N. CRAGIN. Wilmington, Mass., Dec. 31, 1909.
59
REPORT OF PRINCIPAL OF HIGH SCHOOL
To the Superintendent of Schools :
I herewith submit my third annual report as Principal of the Wilmington High School.
The school is now in very fair condition, the teachers are conscientious and faithful, the attitude of the pupils is good, and the year to follow promises much for the progress of the school. There are, how- ever, several matters which should be brought to the attention of the School Committee and of the parents for the interests of all concerned, and to these, I shall give rather close attention in this report.
During the past year two pupils have been fitted for Yale college, the completion of this work has been due to the conscientious help of the teachers and to the studious inclinations of the pupils rather than to a standard of excellence attained by the school as a whole. Reports lately received would seem to indicate that these young men are well qualified to go on with the work which the college requires.
The classes entering the high school continue to be large and the school will probably graduate sixteen in June. This, however, will be the largest class to graduate for several years, for some have dropped out through change of residence, some for sickness, and others for inability to do the work.
60
The work of the High School, with its increasing number of subjects and the elimination of the ninthi grade, has appeared to press heavily upon some pupils, and for several years the schools have been criticised for demanding too much. Such a charge I am inclined to consider rather seriously. It is certain that the one session must be devoted largely to recitations, prepara- tion for which must be made at home. There has come a real pressure in actual increase of the college requirements as well as in the demands of the modern society, and few, apparently, realize this. I have been beset with inquiries, "Why certain pupils have to study so hard at home, while a few years ago pupils went through a high school with little outside prepara- tion ?''
The best high schools for years have been requir- ing home study. To give our school an equal rating in the eyes of those who intend settling here, to make it really worth while to the pupil, he must exert himself, else the best teachers in the world will be of little advantage.
While at work here in Wilmington, I have been continually considering ways and means of enhancing the efficiency of the school, and at the same time of alleviating the work where it seemed to press too heavily upon the pupils. The Committee furnished a fourth teacher and I have been trying to accomplish these things through the medium of a few study periods in school. At such times I have endeavored to have my teachers encourage real study, to have them ready to help the pupils, and to teach how to study where the methods were wrong. Most pupils enter high school with little knowledge of how to study. Then, too, some parents are unwilling that their children should remain
61
after session for help, others object to their children returning in the afternoon. Those pupils who have been requested to remain or to return have been those who needed help, and the lack of study at home, or in the comprehension of a lesson has, in a measure recti- fied itself by these afternoon sessions. Every teacher has been at the building at least one afternoon per week-has been there, not for the love of the building personal, or financial considerations, but purely to help. those pupils who needed assistance. Even with all these possibilities, there are pupils who have been unwilling to study even one lesson at home. It is true that occasionally one teacher may make extra long assign- ments which, with the pupil's other work, will keep him pretty busy at home; but this I think, is the exception rather than the rule.
Meeting these criticisms from the parents, and con. tinually hearing that the High School was demanding too much, I thought that my ideas might be somewhat exaggerated. With this still in mind I have sent a set of printed questions to the principals of fifty (50) High Schools in this state; all of these schools numbered seventy (70) pupils ard upwards. In the list were included the best high schools in the state. Forty-six (46) have replied up to the present time. There was such a unanimity of opinion that I will state the results. Below is a list of the questions and appending results
NOTE .- These questions refer to the average pupil and not to the genius.
No. 1. How much time do you expect the conscien tious pupil to spend in study at home in the preparation of all his lessons ?
No. 2. Have you ever asked such pupils, how much time they actually spent per day for a week ?
62
No. 3. Were the replies general ?
No. 4. The nature of the replies ?
No. 5. Did you consider such replies as meaning study under the best conditions with no distracting influences ?
No. 6. Is there a course in your high school which the average pupil can pass with no study at home ?
Results :
No. 1 Replies varied from 1 to 5 hours per day. 2 hours was the average for the first two years, and over 3 hours the average for the last two years, aggregating 15 hours per week during the Junior and Senior years. This, as any parent can see is far above the average time spent by the pupils in Wilmington.
No. 2. Practically all answered " Yes ".
No. 3. In the larger schools with a corps of several teachers, the minimum time was possible, but every school expected the pupil to prepare at least one lesson at home.
No. 4. Most conscientious pupils spent 3 or more hours.
No. 5. In general " Yes " In several cases " No ".
No. 6. "No" with only one exception, and in that school they have special courses in Bookkeeping and in Manval Training which require no outside prepara- tion-a larger school by the way, than Wilmington can hope to have for several years.
It is obvious that the results were surprising. With the replies came a large amount of statistical informa- tion. Several of the schools investigated had an extra
63
session in the afternoon for those who were doing unsatisfactory work. This was made compulsory by vote of the School Committee, and attendance of the teachers was required, even though in a one-session school. In a few towns and cities a complete record of the pupil's home study was kept, signed by the parent and sent to the principal, who preserved it for future reference. I have at hand statistics from parents who did not consider that the health of their children had been impaired by High School work, and many of them stated that extra work was also being done in Music and other things as well. It is true they all found that the conscientious pupil overworked at times, but the requirements of all were less than what the conscientious pupil of average ability could do. I was rather interested in an inquiry, which one teacher had made, of parents who felt the work too hard. "How many of them were willing that the child should go more slowly ?" There were few who replied in the affirmative. It is the parents' duty. to safe guard the health of the child, and if it becomes evident that home study is too great a burden, it is the part of wisdom to have the pupil go more slowly even though his class go on. I am quite ready now, as regards High School, to agree with one superintendent who states, "'that if a child fails to take his books home, and spend some time upon them there, the parent may be sure that the pupil is not doing all that is desirable in the work of the schools." (He explicitly stated the High School, and the Seventh and Eighth Grades.)
It seems to me at this time that some scheme should be devised for systematizing the work on Spelling at the High School. As in many places, our Spelling is poor. Several Schools have a regular Spelling-Book
64
which is largely a vocabulary of words used by pupils in the high school. Our work in Spelling as carried on recently has been a slight gain, but not all, that I hoped. I would recommend that some good text be put into the High School, two periods per week as the minimum, and the entire amount of such time as may wisely be devoted, be spent on words of every-day use. The Commercial Course shows the need of such work as a part of the regular program.
Tardiness and dismissals have been too frequent the past Term. It goes without saying that there are times when a pupil is needed at home, or illness pre- vents attendance, but it seems to me that the matter of dismissals has been going too far. When pupils come to me with excuses from their parents I usually inquire into the reasons when not stated in the note. I have several times found that it was to attend some exhibition or show to which they might go any evening or Saturday for several weeks. Several pupils, when closely questioned, have admitted that the visiting of such exhibition was possible when school was not in session. At such times it would appear that the im- portance of the school and its work was not fully realized by those at home, for often a pupil misses that which he can least afford to lose.
These are the needs and the weakness of the school at the present time, and are obstacles of con- siderable importance in the progress of the work. | could hope that these conditions might be bettered in the future.
Respectfully submitted,
SETH A. LORING.
65
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT ON HIGH SCHOOL
TO THE SUPERINTENDENT AND SCHOOL COMMITTEE:
I have the honor to append my report of the High School to the report already rendered by my predecessor.
At the outset I want to say that the High School teachers are seriously handicapped by having a first year class poorly prepared for High school work. A part of the class, in spite of the lack of adequate preparation, can do the work after a fashion; and a part of the class, no matter how much assis- tance is given them, cannot do the work at all.
In the case of those who through lack of preparation cannot do the work, it would seem to be necessary to re-assign the delinquents to lower grades or else seriously impair the standard of the school. To do the work necessary to prepare pupils for college or business in four years, without the neces- sity for a year of graduate work, the pupils who enter the High School must be well equipped, and more mature. The average entering age is too low.
The town's main concern is not for those pupils who are fitting for college or professional school, for those pupils will leave town altogether. The town's main concern is for those pupils who, after graduation, will remain citizens of the town of Wilmington. The High School should better prepare for the duties of citizenship.
Another hardship, though less serious than the first mentioned, is the lack of a working reference library. This matter should be given attention.
The typewriting department, on account of the increasing number of pupils taking up the business courses, should be enlarged to at least six machines; and I would respectfully recommend that the instruction machines be representative standard typewriters. I can see no reason why the High School should not turn out as efficient business help as the
66
ordinary business school where little or no attention is paid to educational fitness for business instruction.
Instances of tardiness are too numerous, and I am inclined to believe that parents can bring about great improvement.
I have only favorable words to speak of the work of the present staff of instructors under me, but learn with regret that serious illness makes it necessary for our first assistant, Mr. Wing, to give up his school work. Mr. Wing brought to his work a high degree of scholarship, and though somewhat handicapped by lack of experience was rounding into form and doing good work.
I would respectfully urge upon the parents and citizens of the town the urgency of frequent school visiting. They have an interest, and a deep interest, in having the town schools kept up to a high standard of efficiency. I can assure them a hearty welcome at the High School at any time, whether they call to make a complaint or to visit. Visitors will always be welcome.
Our schools must be found faulty or praiseworthy on first-hand information -- by visiting and observing. Second hand information-they says-is seldom trustworthy.
I want to extend my thanks to the school officials and to those citizens who have been so ready to welcome a stranger and make his work pleasant.
In closing, permit me to say that it is the purpose of the present staff of teachers, by permission of and with the co- operation of the school officials, to make the local High School not merely as high in grade as the law requires, but one of the best, an approved certificate school for the New England Colleges. With this end in view we ask your co- operation and friendly consideration.
Respectfully submitted,
HAROLD W. FILES, PRINCIPAL.
67
REPORT OF INSTRUCTOR OF MUSIC
Mr. W. N. Cragin, Supt. of Schools, Dear Sir :-
I respectfully submit my fourth report as Super- visor of Music.
During the past year progress has been made along certain lines while in some cases there is still chance for more improvement. The interest and earnestness of teachers and scholars has been very encouraging.
There will always be classes who excel in music. Some contain a larger percent of musical children than others. I have also found that where there are two or three grades together, the class that is promoted and leaves that room contains the leaders; and if there is any unevenness at the first of the year it must be remembered that while the incoming class has been doing good work they will be using a more advanced book and must necessarily proceed slowly at first. If the teacher is unusally musical she can work to a better advantage. It is of great importance, however, that the teacher shall have a fair musical ability, anything less than that is a decided hindrance to steady advancement. The work in music demands a reasonable degree of concentration and effort upon both teacher and pupil in order to obtain the best results. The technical part of the music in the grades is all important, and the work in one grade is not complete in itself but preparatory to the work in the grades which follow .
No two classes are exactly alike in the interpre- tation of the various branches of music. For example,
68
here we find a class which without being constantly reminded to sing softly, produces the desired quality of tone, while another class seems to have a little difficulty in adapting the words of a song to the music.
As has been stated in other reports, the plan of work includes exercises from the board or chart and from the music readers. Rote songs continue to formn an important part in the lower grades. Unless the teacher happens to have a book of songs at her dis- posal it is hard to obtain suitable material for this, so I would suggest that a few books of children's songs be purchased for use in the lower grades.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.