USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Annual report of the school committee of the city of Manchester, N.H. for the year ending 1878 > Part 3
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pended by the city councils for repairs and improvements of school-houses and lots, and salaries of school committee, clerk, and superintendent, and there results $52,154.72 as the whole amount expended by the city for all school pur- poses for the year 1877. From this latter sum there should be deducted $1,963.81, the " Literary Fund " received from the State for the support of schools, and also $291.41, the amount of tuition received from non-resident pupils, if we would know the amount raised by tax for the support of schools for 1877, and there is left $49,899.50, which, as a tax, is at the rate of a little less than three and one-fifth mills per dollar of the assessed valuation of the city for that year.
" The evening schools were much larger and more suc- cessful than usual. The average attendance for 1877 was ninety-six as against sixty for 1876, and it is to be regretted that the appropriation for these schools is so small for the current year. No schools are more important than those which furnish means to the adult population for learning to read and write. According to the census of 1870, New Hampshire had about 10,000 illiterates, or 3.8 per cent of her population over ten years of age. The larger portion of these are congregated in our great cities. Shall we open to them the door to all secular knowledge, an opportunity to learn to read, and make it possible for them to append more than a mark to a receipt for services ? "
TEACHERS' SALARIES.
By an act of the school committee since the foregoing was presented, the salary of teachers in all suburban schools having an average number less than twenty-five for any term, has been fixed at the minimum salary of three hun- dred dollars per annum, the same to take effect at the open- ing of the next school year.
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This act is certain to affect the salaries paid teachers at the Stark District, at Webster's Mills, and at Mosquito Pond ; and it is quite likely to apply to teachers' salaries at the Harvey District, and at Youngsville, and possibly at Hallsville:
During the past two terms only the minimum salary has been paid teachers at the Stark District, at the Harvey Dis- trict, and at Youngsville, because of the employment of new teachers in these schools, whose salaries have been fixed by a standing rule of the committee, which estab- lishes the salary of new teachers for all grades below the first division of the grammar schools at three hundred dol- lars per annum for the first year's service.
The three former of the suburban schools last named are quite small. For the two years ending December 31, 1878, the attendance at these schools has been as follows : At the Stark District, the average number of pupils belonging was 11, 12, 14, 13, 12, 14, for the six respective terms begin- ning. January, 1877, and the average daily attendance for the same terms was 10, 11, 13, 12, 8, 11 ; at the Webster's Mills school the average number belonging was 18, 12, 11, 13, 8, 14, and the average attendance was 17, 11, 10, 11, 7, 11; at the Mosquito-Pond school, the average number belonging was 12, 15, 18, 15, 18, 18, and the average daily attendance was 11, 13, 15, 15, 16, 13.
The recent act of the board to reduce the salaries paid teachers in these schools, may be considered just when their salaries are compared with those paid for teaching full schools. There is certainly not half the exhaustion of the vital forces occasioned in the management of such small schools. It is true that the number of hours daily devoted to work in the school-room is the same, and that we expect equally good teaching ; but the great strain upon the nervous energies of the teacher does not come from
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the process of giving instruction. The act of instructing is invigorating, and a pleasure to the true teacher. It is the government of a school that taxes the teacher's health, patience, and power of endurance ; and the degree of dif- ficulty experienced in the control of a school generally increases in rather more than geometrical ratio as the num- ber of its pupils increases. Hence it is, that in schools, as in the army, wherever many are herded together, it be- comes necessary, in order to have an efficient organization, to secure a head that can successfully organize, control, and direct the movements of large numbers. The drill- master may have as much knowledge of standard military tactics as the general, and drill a squad or company even better than he; but for the government of an army, an additional quality is essential, and, to be had, it must be paid an extra price. The same, in general, is true of schools and teachers. I presume a dozen could be selected from the corps of our lady teachers who might successfully control and instruct the most difficult grammar school di- vision in the city, if it were in a building by itself. So I presume it equally true that the same might utterly fail as governesses where they are, if they were held solely re- sponsible for the conduct of their pupils out of, but about, their school-rooms, mingling, as they do, with about three hundred other pupils in the same entries and yard, were it not for the fact that the pupils know their teachers are upheld by the head of the school ; and experience shows that for a proper governing head, whether for an army, a school, or a factory, the market price must be paid.
It may be seen from what follows, whether, and to what extent, it is customary to grade teachers' salaries according to the position occupied, whether our scale of variation is exceptional or not, and how our rates compare with those paid for similar work in the following fifteen cities : Ha-
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verhill, Lewiston, Burlington, Gloucester, Taunton, Bangor, Chelsea, Bridgeport, New Bedford, Salem, Springfield, Fall River, Lynn, Lawrence, and Portland. This list includes all the cities in New England having in 1870 a population varying from 13,092, in Haverhill, to 31,413, in Portland. The average population of these fifteen cities at that time was 21,269, and the population of Manchester at the same time was 23,536. .
The maximum salaries now (November, 1878) paid teachers in these cities are at the following rates per an- num : -
HIGH SCHOOL. Principal. Sub-Master. Ist Assist. Other Assist.
Average of the 15 cities,
$1,996
$1,231
$797 750
$618
Paid at Manchester,
1,800
950
475
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
Average of the 15 cities, 1,487
539
476
Paid at Manchester,
1,350*
475
425+
MIDDLE OR INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS .;
Average of the 15 cities, 465
Paid at Manchester, 425
PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
Average of the 15 cities, 465
Paid at Manchester, 425
SUBURBAN SCHOOLS.
Average of the 15 cities, 342 to 476
Paid at Manchester,
300 to 475
MUSIC.§
Average of the cities employing a special teacher, $1,185. Paid at Manchester, $1,200.
* Since reduced to $1,300.
Since advanced to $440.
# In some cities this grade is included in the grammar school, as fifth and sixth divisions.
§ Twelve of the fifteen cities employ a special teacher in music, and the average salary as given for these is proportioned to five days' work per week, the same be- ing the time devoted to music by our special teacher. Since these figures were prepared our music-teacher's salary has been made $800, for which he is to render three days' service per week.
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DRAWING. T
Average of the cities employing a special teacher, $1,164. At Manchester, no special teacher.
INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL.
The action of the committee, which for the spring term reduced the number of teachers to one at the Intermediate School, proved to be well advised, for the number of pupils there for that term was but fourteen. At the opening of the fall term there were only four present, and as the school did not increase, at the end of the first week it was closed for the remainder of the term. In response to an advertisement in our local papers, six have signified a de- sire to have the Intermediate School again opened, and promise attendance during the coming winter.
The character of this school seems to have gradually changed within a few years. Formerly it was chiefly com- posed of young ladies and gentlemen who had good, or fair, abilities, but were unable to attend school more than a few months a year. Latterly, there have been put into this school, with the former element, those who might properly be classed in middle or primary schools, but were some- what more advanced in years than the average of those grades, and of the ruder sort, disposed to truancy, etc.
Pupils of this character have been put into the Interme- diate School because the school has been small and the pupils were an annoyance to the graded schools. This policy, however, has not secured a sufficient number for & fair-sized school, and it is closed. A present member of the school committee, for many years conversant with the character of our population and our schools, thinks the de- pletion of the Intermediate School is owing to the changed
I Seven of the fifteen cities employ a special teacher in drawing, and in mos instances he instructs in both day and evening schools and at teachers' meetings.
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character of that portion of our population which now leaves school for the mill and the shop, the same obtaining from the evening schools what additional schooling they have ; while the clement formerly disposed to leave school for the mill, no longer finding employment there, now con- tinues more generally in the graded schools.
If this theory is correct, and from recent observations in regard to those attempting to attend the evening schools I think it may be, then there are many of school age in the mills, and it becomes our duty to see that they attend school according to law.
Section 3, chapter X. of the "Rules of the School Com- mittee," is as follows : -
" The Intermediate School is not regarded as one in the regular grade, but is designed to afford special advantages to such pupils as shall attend school for less than two terms in the year, or such as, from mental or physical inability, cannot maintain a fair position in the Grammar or High School, or are not easily managed in a middle or primary school. No pupil shall be admitted to this school who can profitably attend the graded schools."
Pupils of the character referred to in the latter part of the section, are not sufficiently numerous to warrant the continuance of the Intermediate School ; but I doubt not there are in our mills and about our streets children enough of school age to make a school of the character contem- plated by this section, as large as the Intermediate ever was in its palmiest days.
Of other things mentioned in my April report, it may be said that the services of one teacher at the High School have been dispensed with since the opening of the spring term, without apparent detriment to the school ; and funds have been obtained for a successful opening of the evening schools, by a transfer from the appropriation for fuel, made
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possible by economical expenditures in the department of fuel and heating.
NEW SCHOOLS.
During the fall term two new schools were opened, one at the corner of Spruce and Beech streets, and the other on the third floor of the Manchester-street house, at the corner of Chestnut street. The former of these is likely to be permanent, and possibly the latter will also be found a necessity. If so, a more suitable room should be pro- vided for it; and I think investigation would show that there are pupils belonging to the Manchester-street schools, living north of Hanover street, sufficiently numerous to form another school in the old High-School building on Lowell street, and I would suggest that the transfer of a sufficient number of such pupils to the latter house would be the most convenient way of relieving the Manchester- street schools, provided both vacant rooms on Lowell street are not again needed for the Intermediate School. I seri- ously doubt any necessity for the use of more than one room for the latter school, if again opened.
It is somewhat probable that in the spring a new school will have to be organized in the Center-street house in 'Squog, where one was discontinued about a year and a half ago. The school population in that vicinity seems to have considerably increased since the establishment of the German settlement in that locality.
HIGH SCHOOL.
Since I became Superintendent, I have given less atten- tion to the High School than that of any other grade in the city, because I have believed my time could be utilized more to the advantage of our public schools by an endeavor upon my part to unify and improve the work of the lower
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grade schools, from which by far the larger portion of our pupils enter upon their life-work, and upon which also chiefly depends the character of the material of which the .. High School is composed. I have felt the more free to pur- sue this course because of a knowledge that the High School was being frequently inspected by a member of its sub-committee, and occasionally by another member of the same and by one of the general committee.
It appears, however, from record, that I have visited this school thirty-nine times ; and it affords me pleasure to say that the instruction given there may be regarded as of a high character, and the recitations usually good. When- ever the contrary has been observed of recitation, from previous knowledge of the pupils reciting I could not feel that the teachers were at fault for the failure of a few. In passing judgment upon any school, it is important that the critic should know somewhat of the material with which the teacher has to do; nor is it safe to draw hasty conclusions from observations made at but few visits. Some pupils will not appear even as well as usual, until they be- come used to the presence of individual visitors, nor are any likely to appear at their best before they come to feel the presence of visitors as that of friends. The members of our High School, however, are for the most part reliant and self-composed, and may be judged from any criterion which is fairly applicable to those in similar institutions.
In regard to the High-School course of study, I will say that I believe it is the result of an honest endeavor, upon the part of the committee who framed it, to satisfy the va- ried demands of the community by affording an opportu- nity to fit for college, to study French and the higher Eng- lish, including the sciences, or to select a partial course in any of these departments of study. If the trial has dem- onstrated that such an accommodation of the public is not
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properly possible in one high school, then it becomes the duty of the school board either to establish another high school or to ascertain that a considerable portion of the community are agreed as to what the purpose of the one high school shall be.
The severest criticisms upon this school seem to be aimed at the amount and manner of classical teaching. One would have less in amount, that the teaching may be more thorough, even though none be fitted for college ; another would have the amount required for admission to college so taught that pupils pursuing the classical course at our High School may have the drill obtained only at the best classi- cal schools in the country, even to the weakening, or ex- clusion if necessary, of the business and English courses now undertaken, it being held that three such courses as are now arranged, cannot all be thoroughly carried forward by its present number of teachers. There are some who would not have Latin or Greek taught in the High School, and others who would not have any public high school. Such being the extreme views entertained by respectable and intelligent citizens, there can be but one course to pur- sue ; and that is for you who are the chosen custodians of the public schools to give these different views due consid- eration and then to act for the " greatest good of the great- est number " of your constituents. The attempt of the past few years to popularize our High School by reducing to a minimum the amount of time and attention to be given the classics has, I think, been the foundation for un- favorable comments by those who believe in thorough clas- sical training ; but so long as the young men who complete this course are able to enter college and there take the re- spectable or high rank certified to by the professors at Dartmouth within the past few months, it may be con_ sidered that the portion of our community which is enti- tled to classical instruction is being fairly treated.
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Our High School compared with others doing similar work, is inexpensive, and well worth the cost of it to the community for the sole sake of its influence upon our lower grade schools. It may also be added to the credit of the school, that zeal for knowledge and the necessity of labor to secure it, is so exemplified by the example of its corps of teachers, that its pupils are not likely to be satisfied with dime novels and similar trash so eagerly devoured by those who have acquired only the elements of a common-school education. I cannot believe that one of the twenty-eight young men seen at one time on a day of July sitting backed by trees on a single common in this city, reading the vilest of trash, was a graduate of our high or grammar schools. Our " dangerous classes," or at least those most dangerous, are no longer of those too ignorant to read. If we would win them to the better portion of the community, we must educate them above its lower strata. Our greatest lack of pupils is in the higher grades of the grammar schools .; and these are undoubtedly larger than they would be, had we no high school. Our High School may be improved, and to this end it is and should be open to fair criticism ; but to impair its usefulness is to strike in the head our whole system of public schools.
OTHER SCHOOLS.
With rare exceptions, all the divisions of our grammar schools, as also the middle and primary grades, are uncom- monly well taught and deservedly popular. The suburban schools are also doing a good work, of which some are excellent. Perhaps no school in the city has shown more improvement than that in the Harvey District, where for the first time in two years, at least, a teacher has been for- tunate enough seemingly to secure a general co-operation of the citizens of the district.
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TEACHERS.
The city has been unfortunate in the loss, as teachers, of Miss Cleora E. Bailey and Miss Nellie M. Whitney, both formerly at the Spring-street School, both of whom had also proved themselves superior teachers of the grades in which for several years they had been respectively em- ployed. Their successors, however, after a term's trial, in one instance, and a year's trial in the other, are giving promise of success that will be commensurate with their experience ; and the wisdom of filling similar vacancies from among the number of those showing good work and native skill while at the Training School, is again justified. A few other changes of teachers have occurred since the issue of my last annual report, but I can add nothing more important in regard to them than to say it could be readily observed that from the start those who have had the ad- vantage of our Training-School course, or that of some normal or similar school, have without exception shown superior teaching ability, which is shown by others only after lapse of time, and then only by those of superior native talent. Our teachers in general, as I have already intimated, are good or excellent ; and the few exceptional ones who might be marked at no more than fair, are as they are, not so much because of their lack of education or skill, as because of a lack of heartiness in the work, as is evinced by their conduct about the school-buildings as well as in their rooms. Such are observed by their co-laborers as those disposed to stand at the doors or in the entries and talk, if by chance they may be at the school-building a few moments sooner than required by the rules of the school committee, frequently neglecting to be in their own rooms till a portion of their pupils are seated ; observed by their pupils as those in haste to leave the school-building at the close of each session ; clothed for the open air, found last
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in the file of their pupils marching out ; and noted by vis- itors as those who lack interest and enthusiasm in their work. Happily for our schools the number of such is exceedingly small, and the picture is drawn only for the benefit of those with whom the attitude is habitual. Oc- casional delays and haste may be excusable, but pupils should be taught by example that the school-room is not a place to be entered only from necessity. Nor should teachers, through inclination to be out of their rooms, interrupt other schools in the same building, by unnec- essary consultations with other teachers during session hours, when pupils are in the rooms.
It is not a pleasant duty for principals to be obliged even occasionally to remind those to whom reference is here made, of their place and duties at school ; but they can hardly be censured even by those most concerned for men- tioning things which unfavorably affect the well-being of the schools under their general charge.
ATTENDANCE.
The attendance at the public schools during the past year has been somewhat interfered with by prevailing dis- eases. Diphtheria has been more or less prevalent through- out the year, yet of itself has not more seriously affected the attendance at the schools in general than more common diseases ordinarily do ; but scarlet fever and measles were also prevalent during the spring term, which, together with the small-pox scare, may have reduced the average daily attendance, so that proportionally the average daily attend- ance in all our schools for the past year is not so great by three as it was for 1877. This may be seen by results given in a table at the end of this report, showing the attendance for the past year, when compared with similar results in 1877, found in last year's report. Last year the
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whole number of different pupils in all our public schools was 3,607, and the average daily attendance was 2,413 for that year. The number of different pupils in all our schools this year is 3,515, and proportionally, as compared with last year, we should this year have an average daily attendance of 2,351 ; but as the average attendance for this' year has been only 2,348, we may infer that any unusual amount of sickness in the city during the past year has reduced the average daily attendance in all our schools by three.
The difference between the percentage * of attendance for this year and that of last year is 2.5, and this differ- ence is owing chiefly to the changed basis used in deter- mining the average number belonging. Heretofore this item has been found from a standard which required that pupils temporarily absent for more than five consecutive days should not be reckoned as members of a school dur- ing the period of such absence. By that standard a pupil who was sick abed five days had to be marked absent ; but one who went away fishing for five and a half days had not those days accounted against him as absences, because he was not reckoned a member of the school for the time being, though he had not taken his books away, and it was well known that he would return the following week. By the requirement of the rules, as amended a year ago for the purpose, all pupils are this year reckoned members of school, for the several terms, from the day of their en- trance to that of their withdrawal, without regard to the length of any intermediate absence or the cause of it. This method requires that all intermediate absence be marked as absence, an arrangement which is manifestly just. The membership, or average number belonging, will
* Found by dividing the average daily attendance by the average number be- longing.
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be greater by this method than by that formerly in vogue, and the percentage of attendance correspondingly less. Hence it is that the attendance at the schools this year, when compared with that of last year, differs in respect to the whole number of different pupils enrolled for the year by ninety-two, and the percentage of attendance by two and five-tenths, while the average number belonging for each of the two years happens to be exactly the same.
The following table will show the liability of our schools to increase or decrease, in accordance with the portion of our school population which may be out of health, at work in the mill or shop, or in attendance at parochial or other private schools : -
TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE AT OUR SCHOOLS FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS.
1869
1,969
1874
2,318
1870
1,987
1875
2,295
1871
1,911
1876
2,379
1872
2,110
1877
2,413
1873
2,284
1878
2,348
The average daily attendance is taken as a basis of com- parison, because it is the only item in our attendance statis- tics which, for years past, has been uniformly computed from undeviating data. The chief object of this compari- son is designed to show that the decrease from last year is not exceptional.
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