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SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 11 — 1921 BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
October, 1921
BOSTON
PRINTING DEPARTMENT
I 92 I
BOSTON r -^ITTEE ,- \ttVV
Boston, October 17, 1921. To the School Committee:
I submit herewith the thirty-ninth annual report of the Superintendent of PubUc Schools.
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK V. THOMPSON,
Superintendent of Public Schools.
CONTENTS.
Report of Superintendent Frank V. Thompson Fundamental School Finances ....
Educational Progress
Unification of the Boston School System
Increase in High Schools
Problems in Reorganization .... Study of Objectives of High School Graduates
Legislation and the Schools
General Comments
Page 7 10 12 14 16 17 19 22 23
APPENDIXES. A. Report of the Department of Educational Investigation and
Measurement
B Report of the Director of the Extended Use of the Public
Schools
C. Report of the Director of Household Science and Arts
D. Report of the Director of Kindergartens
E. Report of the Director of Medical Inspection
F. Report of the Director of Music ....
G. Report of the Director of Penmanship H. Report of the Director of Physical Training I. Report of the Director of Special Classes . J. Report of the Director of Vocational Guidance . K. Report of the Principal of the Horace Mann School for the
Deaf
28
31 37 44 49 65 69 75 85 91
95
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
The most pressing need of the Boston School system during the past year has been that of more adequate funds for salaries of teachers, for school maintenance and for new school build- ings. Recognizing this need the School Committee has industriously and unremittingly pressed the case before the citizens of the city and before the Legislature at the regular and special sessions during the interval. The conservative and moderate demands of the committee were favored by the legislators and increased appropriating power was granted.
By this legislation the School Committee has been authorized to increase its appropriations for new school buildings by the amount of 95 cents, and for repairs and alterations of school buildings to the extent of 49 cents on each $1,000 of the average valuation of the city, on which valuation the appropriations both of the City Council and the School Committee are based, for the three financial years 1920-21, 1921-22 and 1922-23, at the end of the last-named year the appropriation to be restored to the rates which were in effect before this new legislation was passed.
The School Committee has also been authorized to increase its appropriations for general school purposes to the extent of 93 cents per $1,000; for school physicians and nurses by the amount of 1 cent; for physical education by the amount of 1 cent; and for the extended use of the public schools by the amount of 1 cent.
Of the 93 cents increase granted for general school purposes, it was estimated that 59 cents would be required for increasing the salaries of teachers, attendance officers, janitors and others; and the sum of 34 cents was the amount estimated as necessary to meet the increased cost of fuel and supplies.
With the additional funds available, substantial rehef has been effected. In general, increased school moneys have made it possible to raise the salaries of teachers, to furnish more school suppHes, and to provide more adequate school accom- modations. The task of the School Committee in securing additional funds for the schools at this period of retrenchment is probably not appreciated by the ordinary citizen. It was
8 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
necessary for the School Committee to make a convincing case before those vested with authority to make the laws of the Commonwealth. A strict accounting for the use of present funds was demanded by the Legislature, and estimates for the use of proposed moneys were carefully exammed.
Two facts are evident as the result of this experience; one, the people demand that the schools be maintained without impairment of efficiency, and two, the citizens charged with the responsibility of caring for the schools, the Boston School Committee, possess the confidence of the Legislature and the public in general. The co-operation of the Mayor, the Finance Commission, and the press should be noted in commenting on helpful influences in this issue.
The ratio which the amount of money devoted to education bears to the sums devoted to other pubhc purposes has been gradually increasing in recent years, and in Boston, in common with other American cities, the increase has been marked. The most important function undertaken by the public is education. This importance has become distinctly emphasized in the economic and social developments of the past few years. The expectation of social gain through the efforts of the schools is high in the pubhc mind. This explains in part why moneys are furnished for education when denied for other purposes. • The responsibihty of those who must justify this expectation is grave indeed. Those who share this responsibihty comprise a wide group; the School Committee, first of all, who represent the citizens in whose interest the school system is maintained; the administrators, — the superintendent, assistant superin- tendents, principals and directors; the teachers in the class room; and the parents who send their children to the schools. Only by the united efforts of all concerned can the high expectation of the pubhc be fully reahzed. The superintendent desires to take this occasion to state that the various forces involved in. the successful operation of the schools are united, and that the Boston school system bids fair, consequently, to meet, as far as may be possible, the expectations of the pubhc.
With additional appropriating power the School Committee increased the salaries of teachers and principals to the full extent that the available funds made possible. The present maximum and minimum grades of salary are distinctly more effective in getting and holding competent teachers. Boston did not succeed, however, in securing the funds which would
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 9
have made it possible to equal the increases provided in a num- ber of great American cities in the same period. On the other hand, Boston may be said to have resisted the tendency towards inflation of teachers' salaries, a condition which may be sus- pected in some communities at present on a glittering pinnacle in this regard. It is reassuring to believe that what we have secured should in justice be maintained in spite of the general deflation of values. It remains to be seen whether other communities excelling Boston in the matter of teachers' salaries will be able to continue their present schedules.
With increased appropriating power the School Committee has made provision for more and better educational material, in the way of text-books, illustrative material, paper, manual and industrial training suppHes, typewriters, commercial machinery and pianos. Our appropriations have never per- mitted lavishness in the provision of such necessary articles. At all times the severest economy has been exercised. With the soaring cost of all articles during the period of inflation, the quantity and quality of educational material were cut to the point of disadvantage to the child. Increased funds have enabled the committee to make better provision of this material without, however, losing the habit and tradition of economy. The per capita allowance for educational material in the budget of the current year in round numbers is about twice as much as has been possible in the years immediately preceding.
With increased appropriating power for new school buildings, and for repairs and alterations, the School Committee has enabled the Schoolhouse Commission to make provision for the normal growth of the school system in the matter of new elementary buildings principally in outlying districts, of new high school units and additions to present structures, and of repairs and alterations in existing buildings.
The situation with respect to high school accommodations will be described later. Boston was faced with a serious situation with respect to provisions for housing pupils before increased appropriating power was granted. It was proved by rehable studies that the cost of building and repairs had risen 140 per cent over pre-war standards and with the static amount of money fixed by statute, Boston was falling hopelessly behind in any adequate building program. The present sums granted by the Legislature do not provide for a new and generous program, but do enable us to look forward with more
10 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
assurance to a defensible plan of providing for housing needs. The partial deflation of prices allows us furthermore to meet in part certain unexpected needs which our growing school system has recently presented.
The growth in high school attendance has been in the past problematical. The tendency of more and more children to go to high school has been noted frequently of late. The extent to which high school attendance in this city has grown during the current year is truly remarkable. The actual increase in attendance in high schools between September, 1920, and September, 1921, will be 2,800, a figure unprecedented in the educational annals of this city. Considering this phenomenon merely in relation to the building program at this juncture the extent of the problem of providing proper housing for pupils will be apparent. The present three-year building program mentioned in the preceding annual report of the superintendent makes provision for a new high school in Dorchester, a new building for the Public Latin School, a new junior and senior high school (combined) in West Roxbury (Roslindale), and a very substantial addition to the Roxbury High School. We caimot expect that our present building program will make the provisions occasioned by the tendency of increasing numbers of children to attend high school. The increase this year in high school attendance will be more than ten per cent of all children at present in high school and will be far above a proportionate population increase for the city in the same period.
Fundamental School Finances.
This is perhaps an opportune time and place to say some- thing on the fundamental question whether public school finances should be separate and distinct from expenditures for other municipal purposes, which are very properly directly under the supervision and control of the chief executive of the city.
Various mayors have from time to time expressed the opinion that school expenditures should be subject to their direction and control, and that the authority of the School Committee in this respect should be strictly subordinate to his authority. This view I believe to be contrary to sound public policy, and wherever it has been tried, so far as I am aware, the results have not been satisfactory or to the advantage of public school systems.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 11
In Boston the power of the School Committee to make appropriations for school purposes is limited by legislative authority, and whenever it has been necessary for a committee in the past to apply for additional appropriating power, it has invariably consulted the mayor on the subject and has usually received his assent, and frequently his cordial co-opera- tion in its efforts. The fruits of this policy which has long continued in Boston are self-evident. No criticism has ever been made by any mayor or by the Finance Commission that the School Committee has been extravagant or unwise in its expenditures. Indeed it has often been commended for the economies which it has exercised. Such action as it may take involving the expenditure of money is presented to the mayor for his consideration, in order that he may exercise, if he chooses, the modified veto power which he possesses, which veto, if exercised, requires to overcome it a vote of four of the five members of the committee. This arrangement has worked, I believe, very satisfactorily. A veto by the mayor of any proposition approved by the committee is exceedingly rare.
It is a satisfaction to be able to report that notwithstanding a constantly growing increase in school population and an extraordinary growth in high school attendance not equalled elsewhere in the country, the committee has not been obliged to resort to part-time instruction, nor has it been unable to provide accommodations for children of school age, as has been the case in at least one city where the mayor has a larger control of school expenditures.
Notwithstanding the large appropriating powers with which the School Committee is clothed, it has never been unmindful of the demands for other municipal expenditures, nor has it sought to obtain for school purposes a greater amount than it believed the citizens of Boston desire appropriated for their public school system.
A striking instance of the attitude of the School Committee in this important matter appears in the fact that on several occasions in the past it has turned over to the mayor amounts which the committee might legally have appropriated and expended for school purposes, and it failed to appropriate during the current financial year the sum of $175,746.34, which it might legally have done.
Thus the attitude of successive school committees for many years has been to appropriate sufficient amounts to maintain
12 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
the school system upon a reasonable and gradually expanding basis; and at times when unusual emergencies have arisen, as during the war time period when steadily mounting costs in all directions presented situations unforeseen and which could only be met by the exercise of sound and farsighted judgment, it has maintained the school system, it believes, in a manner acceptable to the people of Boston, and has exercised every possible economy that could be put into effect without unduly hampering or crippling the important public service which is placed under its control.
Educational Progress.
Notwithstanding the strength of evidence or of general desirability, sweeping and sudden changes of educational methods are not encouraged in this community. This has long been the case and repeatedly has it been commented upon in various reports of Boston school executives. There are physical and economic conditions in addition to psychological reasons for the situation respecting changes in the school system. Particularly is it true with respect to school buildings and the character of the school plant is a prominent factor controlling school methods. The educational system of Boston is ancient compared with those of other American communities. We have inlierited and accumulated a great number of school buildings which provide housing for pupils and which we cannot afTord to abandon. Our available funds for new structures are of necessity expended largely in meeting the growth in newer sections of the city. Our newer buildings portray more adequately modern convictions concerning the physical environ- ment of the school, the greater amount of light, air, space, together with playground provisions. Our newer buildings permit more adequately the adoption of educational programs dependent in large part upon physical conditions. By reason of inherited buildings in the older sections of the city it is difficult to undertake in these areas more progressive educa- tional programs.
As indicated, the tendency of our school principals to avoid hasty educational experiments has been implied uniformly in the reports of former superintendents of schools in this city. In the report of Superintendent Edwin P. Seaver in 1903 is found an opinion of similar tenor.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 13
His great work (John D. Philbrick's) in the grammar schools was to design and bring into effective operation a uniform course of study. This work was partly constructive and partly reconstructive. Circumstances did not then permit an entire clearing ground for a wholly new structure symmetrical and complete; but the new construction must be combined with the old after the method of builders m the reconstruction of old buildings too valuable to be torn down. In a newer community, without much of a history and with a school system to be constructed for the first time, the work would have been far easier.
The implied tendency in the above quotation has sometimes proven unwise conservatism as instanced many years ago in the controversy between Horace Mann and the "Thirty-Nine" Boston schoolmasters. The superintendent believes that today our Boston school service is responsive to progressive school development and more so than at any previous period. In spite of the present spirit of progress, finances, physical con- ditions and educational traditions constrain Boston to work out educational changes less dramatically than is true in many communities. The period from 1906 to 1912 at the advent of the new and small School Committee was characterized by the most drastic and sweeping changes of organization and conduct of the schools. It is doubtful if the school service was prepared to receive with whole-hearted approval the many changes decreed at the time. The changed character of our school system is an accepted fact today, and to revert to the conception obtaining prior to 1906 would be counseled by no one. The difficulty of readjustment at the time (1906 to 1912) would have been greater were it not for the fact that during this period, social, industrial and political changes were common in con- nection with most of the other municipal activities of the City of Boston, Then it was that our present form of city govern- ment was adopted, a substantial change in form from that obtaining before. Separate business organizations were united into one large body, now known as the Chamber of Commerce. Social organizations like the Boston City Club came into being. Mr. Stratton D. Brooks,. Superintendent of Schools at this period, possessed educational vision of the highest order, and the energy to carry through his convictions into action. Many contributory causes brought about the active period of change and readjustment in educational procedure in the period mentioned. It may be said that our school system today is the result of the rennaisance of that stirring period. Changes have not been so frequent since nor have conditions demanded
14 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
it. But school systems must progress, and hence changes must occur. Under normal conditions changes must be care- fully considered and wisely undertaken or else there will be missing that active spirit of co-operation so essential to success.
Unification of the Boston School System.
Conviction of the need of unification of the various units of our school system has been growing during recent years, and a progressive step in this direction has been made during the past year. Indeed the need of the unification of the Boston school system has long been felt by those vested with administrative responsibility. In the report of Superintendent John D. Philbrick in 1870 we find the following commentary:
The relations between our high and grammar schools are probably at this time as harmonious, or, to speak more exactly, as little antagonistic as they have ever been, but there is evidently not that cordial co-operation between them which ought to exist. There is more or less prejudice and injustice on both sides. High school teachers are apt to expect too much of their pupils, and to attribute their imperfections to the bad management of their former instructors. The grammar school teachers, on the other hand, too often depreciate the character and management of the high school. . . . The practical result of this conflict of views and feehngs is that many pupils are deprived of a high school education. If a perfectly good understanding between these parties shoiild come to replace the existing quasi-hostiUty, the niunber of high school pupils would soon be largely increased.
The need of unification today is particularly pressing with respect to school units dealing with pupils in the upper elemen- tary and lower high school grades. Children in these grades are found in schools of varying character with divergent plans of organization. We now have what may be called the standard elementary school much modernized however in methods and procedure, elementary schools with intermediate classes (eight years of instruction), intermediate schools with nine grades of instruction. Pupils from our elementary schools of whatever character quite uniformly go to high school. The smoothness of transfer from the lower school unit to the higher has been difficult by reason of the variety of practice obtaining in the lower schools.
Facing this condition the Board of Superintendents has undertaken two kinds of correctives; one, a standardization of
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 15
courses of study of fundamental subjects by grades, together with time allotments for such subjects, and two, a uniform accounting of credits obtained by pupils in whatever type of school. The so-called 100-point system just adopted means that pupils in the seventh grade wherever found begin to accu- mulate points or credits which, when totaling one hundred, entitle the holder to a high school diploma. The point or "-edit becomes the common factor of progress irrespective of the type of school. The pupil will progress from grade to grade and pass from one school unit to another with less appreciation of change than the former system involved. The intermediate school offers more variety of choice in earning credits by reason of the more varied courses of study, e. g., modern languages, prevocational work, and so on. The elementary school, more restricted in offerings, presents, however, full opportunity to acquire the requisite credits.
The need of unification was most strikingly apparent in connection with ninth grade or first-year high school work. With two entirely distinct institutions, namely, the high school and the intermediate school, carrying on instruction in this grade, unification is an imperative need. From this time on the union of all ninth-grade pupils in the tenth grade in high school organizations will prove less complicated. The arguments and details of the plan of unification adopted this year are fully set forth in School Committee Documents, No. 19, 1920, and No. 2, 1921, prepared by the Board of Superintendents. Along with the adoption of the principles of grade standardiza- tion of essential subjects and of the 100-point system of accredit- ing the progress of the pupil, has come a simphfication of records and blanks used by the schools. The so-called elementary "Z" blank has been discontinued; in general the passage of the pupil from one school to another, or from grade to grade any- where in the educational system, has been simplified. It is confidently believed that completion of the school course will be the natural aim of all pupils who reach the seventh grade, for at that point the pupil begins a course which is not finished until the 100 points are earned, or at the end of what we now call the high school. To encourage the idea of the unity of our school system we are not emphasizing the terminology to which we have long been accustomed, such as the elementary school and the high school, but we speak of the grades of progress, e. g., the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth grade, and so on.
16 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
Increase in High Schools.
The fact of the increase in numbers of children attending the high school, or proceeding from the old stopping place at the end of the eighth grade into higher grades, the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth, has been commented upon in a preceding section. The educational and social significance of this phenomenon needs some interpretation. It is apparent that the high school is no longer a selective institution for a minority of pupils who choose to pursue a course over and above the normal expectation. The high school no longer receives only those of better mental stature or of higher academic interest, or those who wash to prepare for higher institutions. Today all kinds of children with all kinds of abilities, interests and life purposes go to the high school. The problem of the high school is not merely that of housing, difficult as that is, but it is how the resources and possibilities of the institution may prove of greatest advantage to our children and to our future citizen- ship. Exclusion as unfit of those who do not readily adjust themselves to the offerings of the school is no longer considered a proper method of disposing of difficulties. Our high schools are seeking to so diversify educational paths that each pupil with good will and earnest desire may find a suitable oppor- tunity. This means greater complexity of organization and expense of maintenance, but on the other hand it means that more of our future citizens will possess higher standards of general education as well as specialized training.
Why do pupils go to high school in increasing numbers, so that today such a practice is the rule and failure to do so the exception? We must seek the answer in a combination of many causes. "More education," is a current slogan; it is in the air. This counsel is urged in the press, given in the pulpit, and kept in the foreground in the lower schools. The recent war was fought and won by intelligence. It was a war of technique and specialization, of machinery and science rather than of brute strength and untutored bravery. Business and industry demand higher standards of scholastic preparation. Employees under sixteen years of age are unprofitable. Employees with high school education are given preference. Again this is an age when greater intelligence in citizenship is demanded. More and more questions of public policy are being referred directly to the people. The original conceptions of
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 17
representative government are being modified, as instanced by the wide-spread adoption of the principles of the initiative and referendum. Wise leadership in a democracy is a recognized necessity, but with present tendencies especially there must be intelligent ''foUowship." If the masses are to decide directly fundamental policies then the masses must be intelligent if democracy is to endure. The masses must be wise enough to discover and follow true leaders, or else they will continue to raise the demagogue to positions of power. No one can say that the present questions referred to the people in elections do not require an educational training equivalent to high school graduation.
Problems in Reorganization.
It is apparent that steps must be taken at once to make pro- vision to meet the housing situation which natural tendency, state law and industrial conditions have forced upon the school system. We have statutory limitations upon the amount of money available for school purposes. Though successful, our frequent recent petitions to the Legislature have probably estopped us from further appeals to this source in the immediate future. We are now taking from the total amount raised for taxation at least one-third of all such moneys; we are engaged at the present moment in the erection of new school buildings. Yet in spite of present provisions the indications point to such demands upon high school accommodations that we shall be unable to meet them. In September this year we shall be able barely to accommodate our high school pupils in regular build- ings, annexes, portable buildings and hired quarters. The com- pletion of all the new structures in process of erection or planned will bring but slight relief. All capacity for extension in all present high school buildings has now been exhausted. The point of saturation has been reached. Our nine-grade schools at the present time are lightening the housing demand for high school accommodations to the extent of 1,649. Had not the intermediate organization been in operation, the high school situation in this city would have been desperate.
Various solutions may be offered. New York City at the present time is forced to offer part-time instruction. Already one of our high schools, Dorchester, is conducted upon a two- platoon plan, but relief in this region is in sight. The belief
18 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
may be ventured that Boston stands for full-time education in all schools for every pupil and that the part-time device will not be tolerated.
The most practical solution of the housing situation in my judgment is the organization of more intermediate districts with nine grades. We shall need to hasten the process already going on whereby the high school is confined more and more to the education of pupils in grades ten, eleven and twelve. The intermediate school has been promoted hitherto wholly upon the argument that this organization furnished a superior educational institution for children at the particular stage of development. We have proceeded slowly in Boston with the intermediate school so that its advantages might be recognized and supported by public sentiment, as well as indorsed and encouraged by principals and teachers. Furthermore, we needed to select and train teachers to undertake successfully the new work, and we were obliged to await the availability of buildings and equipment essential to success.
I would repeat here the faith which the administration has in the educational superiority of the intermediate school plan over other forms of organization, but I believe we must now hasten what would otherwise be a more gradual process of transition, and grant to those elementary districts which are at present ready and wihing to add the ninth grade or first year high school work the privilege of doing so. The number of eight grade schools desirous of obtaining this permission and prepared to do the work successfully is not inconsiderable at the present moment.
If we do not choose to follow this counsel our high schools in spite of new buildings in contemplation will be unable to accom- modate pupils who will resort to them. We shall be obliged to put pupils on part-time and to adopt other makeshifts detrimen- tal to the educational welfare of school children. This expansion of the intermediate school means that our high schools become more and rnore three-year schools, but closely connected with the intermediate school so that the child beginning secondary education in the seventh grade of the intermediate schools changes to the high school organization in the tenth year with almost half his credits towards a high school diploma won, accustomed to high school ways and procedure and thinking in high school terms.
It is proper, to urge further considerations of economy in
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 19
proceeding as counseled above. High school housing pro- visions involve proportionately heavy expense. Lecture halls, laboratories, Ubraries are demanded in the standard equipment. These special provisions are furnished chiefly for students in the higher grades though the new high school buildings may be occasioned by the pressure of accommodating first-year pupils. The per capita cost for instruction is substantially higher in the high school organization. The incorporation of ninth-grade pupils in organizations requiring so much greater outlay per pupil is a doubtful policy, particularly'- when the evidence indicates that the educational needs of these pupils can be met adequately in a less expensive organization.
Should we proceed as counseled several changes in certificate requirements of teachers and proportionate compensation will be needed. At present teachers in intermediate schools are doing exactly the same work in the ninth grade as high school teachers giving instruction to ninth-grade pupils, but are not compensated on so high a salary schedule. In my judgment such a condition can be alleviated by changes in certificate requirements and resegmentation of grades. Without taking away from present teachers any advantages now possessed, all new teachers in high and intermediate schools should qualify on a different basis somewhat as follows:
The high school certificate should cover service in grades ten, eleven and twelve, and to the present requirement of college education there should be added the attainment of the master's degree. The intermediate school certificate should cover service in grades seven, eight and nine and college graduation should be required. The elementary certificate should cover service in the first six grades with present requirements. Teachers in intermediate grades should be given a salary pro- portionate to the certificate demands under which they quahfy. I am not in favor of differentiating between the salaries of executives serving under the same title, — masters, sub-masters, and masters' assistants, whether in intermediate or in elemen- tary schools. In my judgment, the cost of keeping abreast with the demand for more secondary instruction can be found within our means only by proceeding as recommended above
Study of Objectives of High School Graduates. The tendency of graduates of lower schools to seek entrance to higher schools is seen in the figures of high school graduates
20 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
who enter college or post-high school courses of varied character. Not only are the actual numbers increasing who wish to con- tinue education beyond the high school period, but the per- centage of graduates seeking after-training is greater. The Director of the Department of Vocational Guidance, Miss Susan J. Ginn, has just completed the study of the destinies of the graduates, boys and girls, of ten high schools, with the view of determining relative choices of further education or immediate employment. This period of observation extended from 1916 to 1920, inclusive. The educational tendencies of boys and girls at present differ more at the end of the high school than at any other previous period. It has, of course, been an observed fact for a long time that more girls than boys enter high school, and that the persistency of girls in high school is greater than in the case of boys. The facts about the boys graduating from high school and continuing in higher institu- tions are as follows:
In 1916, 27 per cent of boys entered college, 10 per cent entered other schools; in 1917, 20 per cent entered college and 5 per cent other schools (war year); in 1918,20 per cent entered college and 12^ per cent entered other schools (war year); in 1919, 28.69 per cent entered college and 10.4 per cent entered other schools; in 1920, 32.64 per cent entered college and 9.58 per cent entered other schools. In the five-year period the percentage of boy graduates of high schools has increased from one-fourth to one-third with a constant tendency to a higher ratio. It is commonly known that the colleges are feeling the pressure of numbers as well as the lower schools. The same factors respon- sible for increased numbers in the high school are operating with respect to the college. While the public has not under- taken in this State to furnish free education beyond the high school, the situation created by the overflowing high school, namely, graduates seeking further education, is one of prime public interest. Where are our aspiring youth to go? Can the private colleges receive them all? What voice has the public in determining the policies of private higher institutions? Can Massachusetts afford to remain the only state that closes the door of free public education at the end of the high school period? These questions were vigorously raised in connection with certain bills presented to the Legislature at the recent session. Regrettable to state it was found impossible to secure even an investigation of the facts underlying the higher edu-
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 21
cational interests of the youth of our state. This condition can- not continue. It is the duty of those charged with the welfare of pubHc education to see that educational aspiration is unchecked. School committees, school superintendents, and other officials charged with the conduct of the public schools cannot lay down this responsibility at the close of the high school period. They are the defenders and guardians of the educational rights of the young at every stage. They must observe and interpret the growing tendencies of the young not only for more high school education but for more higher educa- tion, and if present private agencies offering the only oppor- tunities for higher education are inadequate or are unreasonable in setting the terms of achiiission, and if high school graduates as a result are obliged to forego the desire to proceed further, then the public must set up publicly controlled and supported institutions to meet the need. We cannot longer in Massa- chusetts avoid these issues.
The figures with regard to the girl graduates of ten public high schools in Boston show the same significant tendency pointed out with regard to boys. In 191(), 5.89 per cent of girl graduates entered college; in 1920 the figure was 8.84 per cent, a striking increase in ratio and prophetic of what we may expect about girl graduates in the future. Are girls to be permitted to aspire to the educational opportunities in the way of higher education that have been accorded to boys? For many years in this state and community high school provisions were denied girls. When the doors were opened girls entered in larger numbers than did boys and today hold a substantial preponderance in numbers. Will the girls stop with the high school as they have been doing? We cannot raise woman to full political enfranchisement and remove social and industrial restrictions as we have done without foreseeing what will be the outcome. The history of what has happened when the door of opportunity, educational or otherwise, is opened to women is the best evidence of what may be expected. No one who knows the present limited provision for the higher educa- tion of women in this state can believe that any preparations proportionate to the demand are being undertaken.
While the number of girls seeking admission to college is still relatively small, Miss Ginn's study shows that a sub- stantial percentage of girls pursue further study in institutions such as normal schools, training schools and the like. In 1916
22 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
25.29 per cent of girl graduates resorted to such schools; in 1920, 20.39 per cent were registered. Here is seen the evidence of girls entering in substantially larger numbers into college (stated above) and slightly less proportion into other higher schools. The girl desires to possess the highest equip- ment for life satisfaction and success as does the boy, and she will knock at the door until it is opened.
Legislation and the Schools.
The character and conduct of the public schools are becoming increasingly subjects of interest and debate in the State Legis- lature. During the past year this has been particularly evident. Most of the legislation proposed failed of enactment not so much from disbelief in the measures as from financial limitations of taxpayers. The tendency of all those who are urging social, moral or political reforms is to get hold of the child, to influence his mind at the impressionable stage so that he will act and vote in advance of the generation passing. The schools get all the children for an increasing period of time. The schools showed their potency in effecting results during the war. The post-war enthusiasts for social betterment see in the schools a powerful instrument in changing the habits and tendencies that are beUeved harmful. How much part the compulsory teaching of the harmful effects of using alcohol and narcotics may have had in the adoption of the eighteenth amendment may be a matter of speculation. All children in most states for about a generation have had instruction in this subject, as the result of legislative compulsion.
This year a strong sentiment was found in support of raising the compulsory school age to sixteen years, now the standard in a number of progressive states. The proposed act failed of passage, but the present fourteen-year law with the sixth- grade minimum educational achievement was raised and a full sixth-grade accomplishment was substituted.
The fate of the compulsory continuation school for working youth between fourteen and sixteen years of age is affected by proposals to raise the present legal age of leaving school. In other states where the compulsory school age has been raised, the compulsory continuation school has been retained on a higher level, that is, when the compulsory school age has been raised the continuation school period has been advanced correspondingly to seventeen or eighteen years of age. The
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 23
settlement of this question of policy in Massachusetts, should the compulsory school age be raised, will be of importance to Boston in determining what should be done in the way of making permanent provisions for our continuation school. No permanent plan for the proper housing of our continuation pupils can be undertaken until it is known whether or not the continuation school is to be required, should the compulsory school age be raised. Continuation school pupils are not satisfactorily housed today, and to make proper provision will cost a large sum which cannot be appropriated from our present funds nor should funds be sought under a special act if there is prospect that the continuation school will not be required by law.
A new law compels the study of American history and civics for one year in high schools. Hitherto this subject has been compulsory only in the lower schools. The attention of school committees and school officials is taken up more and more by legislative proposals and the effort to prevent hasty and ill- advised action respecting what shall be the intimate and de- tailed procedure in the class room. A law proposed for the compulsory teaching of fire prevention one hour each month in all grades of all schools was defeated. Incidentally it may be said that proposals of this kind are typical of what is being proposed with increasing frequency for our schools. The in- tent is sincere, but the danger that our school courses of study may become a patch work of specific compulsions, unrelated and unorganized, is apparent to those who know the limitations of class-room procedure and the demands of a well-ordered educational process.
General Comments. A superintendent's annual report can hardly present in general outhne a competent account of the school system as a whole. It is evident that a pubUc school system has a range of effort as broad as society itself. The school syst^n aims to present opportunity for all the children of all the people to carry out the many compulsory provisions of numerous state laws, to encompass the physical, vocational and recreational needs of the child in addition to the customary intellectual training once the sole province of the schools. The people desire this expansion of the function of the schools and the laws demand it. The annual report of the superintendent conse-
24 SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT.
quently must deal with those phases of school effort which present the most pressing problems at the time. A full report upon the activities of the schools in recent years would be an encyclopedia of social, industrial, health and civic interests. The school system is really a cross section of the sum total of progressive social effort. The school exists for the training of citizens and for a l^etter citizenship always than the existing one. Education, consequently, is not a burden upon society, but is an instrument for social betterment. The special re- ports appended to this document are chosen to indicate the range of activity within the school system and to portray the typical as well as varied services undertaken by the public for the child.
The merit system, by means of rated lists for promotions to higher positions in the Boston school service, has been described in the two previous reports of the present superintendent. Enough evidence of the wisdom of this move has now ac- cumulated to warrant increasing confidence in the procedure. The second biennial rating of candidates for the position of master of elementary schools was published in June of this year. The Board of Superintendents is completing the second list of candidates for positions as masters' assistants, first assistants, grammar, and first assistants -in-charge. The several vacancies in the position of head master of high schools, the two direc- torships of primary supervision, the position of chief examiner and the important promotive positions have been filled as the result of open competition in the school service of Boston. Evidence from all sides points to the conclusion that the present method is distinctly superior to the practice which it superseded.
I would not intimate that promotive positions in Boston were not made as the result of merit before th e present system was adopted. In my judgment, however, the present system is a better merit system than the one displaced. Today every vacancy is made known to the whole number of aspirants and all may apply. Then merit is evaluated in definite and concrete terms. The results are open to inspection and inquiry. Candi- dates rated have the right of explanation, of appeal and of hearing before the Board of Superintendents, and finally before the School Committee. All the safeguards of human rights which free institutions have developed are found in the present method. Those affected by the procedure have had a voice in
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT. 25
determining the principles which control the rating method. In the rating for elementary school principalships, a joint committee representing the Submasters' Association and the Masters' Assistants Club were asked to make recommendations which were carefully considered by the Board of Superinten- dents and in large measure adopted. These associations have on their own initiatives endorsed the present procedure of formal rated lists as the basis of promotion.
The exact details of making rated lists for promotion will progressively improve as experience accumulates but the system itself ought to be cherished as a substantial gain for the Boston school system.
In concluding this report I am mindful that the present year marks the fact of new and substantial increases of expenditure for the schools. There are those who may say, "Is it worth it? " and some who will query, "Can we afford it? " Important social changes must be undertaken on faith encouraged by experience. Faith in the efficacy of the public schools as an instrument to better social conditions and to improve citizen- ship is an American characteristic, and experience with our public schools has quickened faith and justified confidence. This community has had an abiding faith in education. Public education had its birth in this region. Here have come the progressive development of the function and province of the school. Here today are found the largest expansions of the services of education. The effort of society to rise to higher levels never ceases, and the instrument of society most chosen to improve citizens, the school, cannot remain static. If society is to progress then the schools must constant^ be progressive. Let us have faith !
Respectfully submitted,
FRANK V. THOMPSON.
Superintendent of Public Schools.
APPENDIXES TO EEPOKT OF SUPERINTENDENT FRANK V. THOMPSON.
APPENDIX A.
REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL INVESTIGATION AND MEASUREMENT.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston Mass.
Dear Sir,- — ■ The Department of Educational Investigation and Measurement planned at the beginning of the year to bring the work of the department into closer touch with the teaching body, for unless the work is a direct help to the administrative and teaching forces of our school system, it has no right to its existence as a department. As a research department entirely apart from the teaching forces, it cannot be justified.
In an attempt to come into closer touch with the teachers, conferences were arranged with the principals and teachers in thirteen schools. An effort was made to show how the depart- ment intended to help and co-operate with the work of the teacher. We believe that our educational problems can only be solved by the help and constant co-operation of the large body of our teaching force.
Further co-operation with the schools has been attempted by speaking before teachers' clubs, teacher councils, and the faculty of the Normal School. The assistant director has held himself ready at all times to serve the teachers in this way.
In co-operation with the department a committee of masters, appointed by the president of the Elementary Masters' Asso- ciation, and composed of:
Caspar Isham, Hyde School,
Charles M. Lamprey, Martin School,
Hugh J. McElaney, Dwight School,
Archer M. Nickerson, Prescott School,
Leonard M. Patton, Edward Everett School,
Mary R. Thomas, Norcross School,
Chester H. Wilbar, Ulysses S. Grant School,
has been studying the question of problems in arithmetic. Thjs work has only begun and it is hoped that next year
EDUCATIONAL INVESTIGATION AND MEASUREMENT. 29
the committee will be able to put the teaching of prob- lems on a much better basis.
Intelligexce Tests.
Early in September the Dearborn intelligence test was given in the Oliver Wendell Holmes School and in the Dillaway School. The results of this test were very useful in grading, reorganizing, and stimulating the work of brighter pupils.
In January a questionnaire was sent to all elementary school masters in order to find out how many wished an intelligence test given in their schools. In response to the questionnaire, fifty-nine schools requested the testing of over 50,000 children. It was impossible to test so many pupils and on looking over returns it was decided to test children in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, and a small group of freshmen in the Patrick A. Collins building. The National Intelligence Test, Scale A, Form 1, was used. The teachers gave and corrected the tests. The following table shows the number of pupils finall}^ tested :
Grade. Pupils.
IX 252 (Patrick A. Collins)
VIII 5,089
VII 3,910
VI 6,197
Total 15,448
The results of each individual test were sent to the masters of the respective schools tested and they were used in conjunc- tion with the marks of teachers as a basis of promotion. The results of pupils in Grade VIII were also made available to head- masters in the high schools. So far as information has come to the office, this is the largest number of elementary school children which has been tested in any school system. Next year the results of this test will be followed with keen interest by everybody concerned.
In performance or achievement tests the department has given :
Courtis tests in fundamentals, series B, Grades V and IV. History tests, Grades VIII, VII and VI.
This new test, based on the Boston course of study, was devised by Miss
Oh via C. Penell, who has been substituting in the department during
the year. An information test in arithmetic. Grades VII and VI.
30 APPENDIX A.
Spelling tests composed of words from the Boston supplementary list.
Grades VIII, VII and VI. Geography test.
A preliminary test sent out by the University of Illinois.
These tests are for the purpose of finding out the situation in our schools in the various subjects. Teachers are well acquainted with tlie results in their own school or district but are not familiar with the results of the work in the various subjects in other districts. Information from a wide area should be of great help to teachers in formulating their work and in stimulating professional study and advancement.
Needs of the Department. The department has always been handicapped by its small force. The results of the work of this department to be of greatest value should be returned to teachers as soon as possible. Some of the results of the testing in May, 1921, will not be available to the teachers until early in 1922, nearly a year after the date of testing. To be of greatest use they should be re- turned much sooner. Other results of equal or greater value will never be returned because o. lack of time. The depart- ment has on hand large quantities of material which could be of use to teachers who are taking extension courses. The department is always ready to co-operate with such students by suggesting subjects for study and by furnishing material for this research work.
Respectfully submitted,
ARTHUR W. KALLOM,
Assistant Director of Educational Investigation and Measurement.
EXTENDED USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 31
APPENDIX B.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE EXTENDED USE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Me. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir, — This past year has been one of greater service, prosperity and expansion for the Department of the Extended Use of Pubhc Schools.
Better organization and larger community support stand out as the paramount achievements of the year.
So important a place in community life have leisure-time activities of the grown-ups attained and so many and varied have been the demands for the use of school buildings after school hours during the recent years, that it was deemed advisable at the beginning of the present season to reorganize the work of the department.
From an experiment the Department of the Extended Use of the Pubhc Schools has grown to be an accepted and essential part of our educational system. Expansion and growth necessarily have given rise to new conditions and difficulties that could be met only by a different and stronger organization. Consequently during the past year, old rules and regulations have been revised and improved; new terms and requirements governing the wider use of the school plant have been drafted and adopted ; a definite system of accounting has been devised and estabUshed; and the duties of the managers, associate managers and workers in the department have been defined and prescribed. As a result of all this, the department now rests on a basis that appears stable and permanent, which means, of course, that as time goes on our school buildings will more and more not only serve the interests of children but of adults as well.
Social education has been the aim of our department since its inception. New and informal, our work, as might be expected, has encountered difficulties and misunderstandings. Progress
32 APPENDIX B.
and development, therefore, have been somewhat retarded on that account. In this slow growth, however, our strength lay, for things that endure grow slowly, it seems. Ground has been gained little by little; our work has won its way step by step each year, gradually ingratiating itself into full public favor until today it is understood at its true value and enjoys public confidence and trust.
Not a section of Boston nor an elepient of its population is without its beaten path to some schoolhouse or other where the people are wont to gather afternoons or evenings in neighborly companionship and friendly intercourse. Where a so-called School Center, open regularly during the season, does not exist, at least there can be found a school building used once or twice e^ch week or month as the popular gathering place of the community for social or civic purposes.
That the citizens of Boston are now aware of the privileges and advantages accorded them through the community use of the public schoolhouse is ampl}^ attested by the largely increased number of permits granted during this past year for the use of schoolhouse accommodations. Social and fraternal organiza- tions, church and philanthropic groups, boy scouts, girl scouts, camp fire girls. Posts of the American Legion and Women's Auxiharies, local improvement associations and the like have made extensive use of school buildings during the past year. Many new groups applied and obtained the use of our halls, g5aiinasia and rooms; these combined with the old groups of former years give us today a long list of patrons and users of school property most cosmopolitan in character.
One forward step taken this year worthy of special mention is the start that has been made toward the revival and reor- ganization of the parent-teacher associations. For years before the outbreak of the war, these associations thrived and played an important part in the work of the schools by bringing together into a closer relationship of friendly cooperation and mutual helpfulness the home and school, the parents and teachers. During the war, however, and for some time after the war, too, this work, like most work of a kindred nature, languished and declined. Some of these organizations dis- banded altogether, others are struggling along; a few function with old-time vigor.
Appreciating the worth and possibilities of these parent-
EXTENDED USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 33
teacher associations and conscious of the intention and purpose of the Board in annexing them to this department, we set out shortly after the beginning of the New Year on the task of rebuilding and reconstructing this branch of our activities. A meeting of delegates from decadent and live associations was called at which there was a large attendance and much interest and enthusiasm was shown. A committee on reorgani- 25ation was appointed which since this initial meeting has formed a central organization with a duly elected set of officers, repre- senting the different districts of Boston. These officers have formulated a set of plans which call for a big inspirational meeting in the fall after which a campaign will be launched that will have for its object the revival of old associations, the strengthening of existing ones and the formation of new groups. "The Boston Home and School Association" has been chosen as the permanent name of the whole federation. Affiliation with the Massachusetts Parent -Teacher Association, Inc., is being considered. The coming year, then, gives every indication of being a busy and fruitful one in advancing and promoting the common interests of parents and teachers as far as they are merged in the work of the schools.
Never have the school centers been in a more flourishing con- dition than they are at present. Eight main centers and four branch centers or twelve in all have been maintained and operated during the past year. The hearty support given them during the past year by the people of C'harlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, the North End, Roxl^ury, South Boston and the South and West Ends serves to brighten the prospects of future success which will attend, we trust, the new centers that are to be opened from time to time in the other parts of the city.
Men's activities and women's activities, boj^s' clubs and girls' qlubs, orchestra, glee and choral clubs, parliamentary law, de- bating and dramatic clubs, dressmaking, millinery, embroidery and basketry clubs, athletic and gymnasium games, socials, dances, assemblies, concerts, lectures, entertainments, illustrated talks, motion pictures, and the Trade Union College classes all met with most gratifying success this past season. Activities greater in number and larger in attendance obtained in every building. What is more, the spirit of service to the community continues to grow, to inspire and to animate our staff of workers
34 APPENDIX B.
at all times, everywhere. "Something for Everybody, Every- body Welcome" was the slogan under which the school centers (the community service stations of Boston) were conducted.
Another accomplishment of the year that merits note is the inauguration of a course in civic education for women. Classes in citizenship were formed in the various centers and free in- struction in civics was given. The course in each center con- sisted of ten lectures covering the structure of the city, state and national government, the process of law-making, problems of citizenship and naturalization, and the principles of the political parties.
The schedule of the course was as follows: "Our City Officers and What They Must Do"; "What Our City Does for Us and What We Should Do for the City"; " Our State Government and Its Officials"; "How Laws are Made"; "Our Govermnent at Washington"; "Congress and the Fireside"; "The Courts, Federal and State"; "Our Schools"; "Who Are and Who May Become Citizens"; "Political Parties."
An interesting example of co-operative service by city depart- ments for the purpose of conveying to the people of the city worth-while information for their individual benefit and for the welfare of the community was the special programs presented in the centers in conjunction with the Boston Health Depart- ment. This series of public meetings had for a title "Your Good Health and Mine." In each program were motion pictures relating mainly to health subjects, singing by the audience of songs in the spirit of the occasion with song leader and pianist, constructive information on the screen by means of "silent talks," always a patriotic feature to enable the programs to contribute to good citizenship and a ten-minute heart-to-heart talk by a physician from the Health Department on the subject of co-operation in the prevention of common contagious diseases.
Effective help was likewise rendered the Americanization Committee of the Boston Chamber of Commerce in planning and managing several citizenship mass meetings for the Italian, Jewish and Portuguese folks of our city. Material aid was also given the chamber in its drive for new books for a branch library by the Women's Club of one of our school centers.
Two notably successful lines of endeavor carried on this year were the home nursing clubs and receptions to foreign-born women, both initiated and fostered by our mothers' clubs.
EXTENDED USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 35
These home nursing groups proved so popular that at times the number of women who attended was too large for the nurse to handle. Instruction in these clubs was furnished by the Red Cross.
The receptions to the foreign-born women were made doubly attractive through the co-operation and help received from the Council of Jewish Women and the Evening School Department. The local School Center Mothers' Club acted as hostess on each occasion, provided a splendid musical program and supphed refreshments. An exhibit of handiwork of the dif- ferent races, specimens of cooking, etc., featured one of these receptions.
Better and stronger forums marked the season's work. A more inviting array of speakers and a more compelling list of topics enabled us to surpass and excel by far the results of other years. These forums were again arranged and managed by a committee of representative men and women in each locality and presided over by carefully chosen, well-informed leaders. The names of some of the speakers and their topics follow: Prof. David Vaughn, "Social Unrest and Proposed Remedies"; Charles Baine and Dr. Arthur Holt, "The Future of Labor"; Robert Woods, "America in the Orient"; Rabbi Harry Levi, "Can Jew and Christian Meet?"; Rev. WiUiam Stinson, S. J., "Our Schools, Federal or Local Super\ision? " ; Rev. Richard Roberts, "In Praise of Narrowness"; Denis McCarthy, "The Present Status ot the Irish Question"; Prof. Clarence Skinner, "World Unity or World Destruction?"
With the idea of introducing something new in center work for our staff to meditate and ponder upon, Mr. Eugene C. Gibney, Director of Community Centers, Vacation Schools and Playgrounds, Board of Education, New York City, and Presi- dent of the National Community Center Association, spoke here upon invitation towards the close of the season on "Com- munity Councils in School Centers." So well did this talk go and so much additional information of value did the speaker give that similar conferences will be held annually hereafter, if not oftener.
The season closed with the usual all-center competitions, get-together parties and festivities. First came the basketball games in which was settled the championship of both classes, young men and young women. Shortly afterwards the mem- bers of the department and local center advisory boards met at
36 APPENDIX B.
their annual dinner conference and discussed with the managers and associate managers new methods of enhancing and increas- ing the serviceableness of our organization. A large whist tournament followed, bringing together in friendly rivalry a host of devotees of this popular game from all parts of the city. Next came the annual all-star show consisting of a varied program, thus affording us another opportunity of displaying before a crowded house the musical and dramatic talent trained and developed in the centers. Then the annual prize debate was staged, the two best teams selected after the usual trials and semifinals, discussing the question of compulsory arbitra- tion in a capable and meritorious manner. The calender of events wound up with a big dance arranged and managed by a joint committee which attracted a throng of centerites from the different sections of the city.
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES T. MULROY,
Director of The Extended Use of Public Schools.
HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE AND ARTS DEPARTMENT. 37
APPENDIX C.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE AND ARTS DEPARTMENT.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintefident of Public ScJiools, Boston, Mass.:
Dear Sir, — I herewith submit a report of the Department of Household Science and Arts for the school j-ear 1920-21.
The high prices of food and textiles have made impossible a much-hoped-for extension of work in this department. If food materials and textiles had dropped back to normal prices this year, much could have been accomplished. However, some development has taken place, although not what we had looked for. All that could be done under present conditions was to broaden out and try to come into closer contact with the homes, by emphasizing the work on nutrition and health in connection with cookery lessons, and by teaching more reno- vation in connection with sewing lessons.
Domestic Science. The aim has been to give the girls, whether in high or elemen- tary schools, a training in preparation for home life. Effort is made to arouse in them a desire for a well-ordered home by promoting habits of cleanliness, order, thrift, refinement, happi- ness and health. To accomplish all this there must be kept before their minds this thought — home making is a great pro- fession and not a life of drudgery, and an excellent home- maker is accomplishing one of the noblest works in this world.
Nutrition or Health Work.
The lessons on nutrition are closely correlated with the work of the school medical department. Health education should seek to prevent disease by promoting right habits of living.
Many hundreds of adults and children are not really ill but lack energy. They have no reserve force to meet emergencies.
38 APPENDIX C.
They cannot work hard nor play hard. They drag along and in most cases are a burden to themselves. This is due in a great measure either to the eating of improper foods or to the ignoring of health rules.
This work in nutrition is so closely correlated with domestic science that it was decided to broaden out along this line. As there is only time to touch upon the subject where classes have but ninety minutes, it was planned to emphasize this work in the practical arts section of intermediate schools, as the girls in that section have seven hours a week of domestic science. In schools where teachers have classes of over-age girls the work is taken in connection with cookery lessons.
Experts on nutrition both from the state and from the Dietetic Bureau address the teachers on this subject at their monthly meetings. Federal and state pamphlets on health, collected by a committee of the teachers, are distributed at these meetings for class use. They are discussed in class and then given to the girls to take home so that the other members of the family may benefit by them.
As the girls in the cookery classes are taught the relative value of food elements, and the effect of each upon the body, they have some knowledge of what elements of nutrition the various foods furnish. A calory seems hard for them to under- stand, so a calory is explained as a unit. The pupil finds out how many units a day are required to keep her and the other members of the family in a healthy condition. The subject of vitamines has also seemed hard for some pupils to understand, but by simplifying the instruction the difficulty has been over- come. For example, it is put in this way: Vitamines give health. They are found in many foods, so it is our duty to select the foods which contain the greater amount. We should plan to get some in every meal we eat. Vitamines are found, principally in milk, cream, butter, wheat, yeast, eggs, and in many fresh vegetables and fruits.
One of the most difficult tasks is to persuade children to eat foods that are best for them. They have strong hkes and dis- hkes regarding foods. The parents are many times responsible rather than the children. Instead of trying to educate the children to eat nutritious foods, they frequently cater to childish whims. It is necessary to establish a friendly co-opera- tion with the parents if children are to be impressed with the importance of eating nourishing foods at home.
HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE AND ARTS DEPARTMENT. 39
The teacher starts the work by putting on the blackboard a Hst of things to be done and a hst of things to be avoided each week. Then the girls are weighed. A chart secured from the State Department of Public Health on the standard weight and height for each child according to age is studied and dis- cussed in class. Then each pupil makes her own weight chart. This is referred to each week, when the girls are weighed, to show progress. The kinds of foods necessary to improve their condition and bring them up to normal weight are also discussed in class. In this matter of weight it seems best to take the class as a whole rather than the few that are under- weight. This class work encourages the girls who are under- weight to drink more milk and cocoa, to avoid tea and coffee, and to eat correct foods in their daily diet, so that they may come up to normal weight.
In one class where a little girl was six pounds underweight in October and was four pounds ovenveight in March, the child said to the teacher, "Mj^ mother says I am getting too fat; my clothes are getting too small for me."
In connection with this work the girls plan their own menus for simple, nutritious meals. They estimate the food values and cost and then the best menus are used for class work. The menus are finally taken home for family use.
In connection with these health lessons two particular cards (Cards I — II) are given each girl for home use. She is sup- posed to report weekly on the progress she has made along the Hnes mentioned on the cards. The girls await these weekly reports with the keenest interest and friendly rivalry. They also make their own posters to illustrate some of the different points 'emphasized on the cards. One teacher who has taken up the work extensively writes that when a girl does omit one of the points on the cards she very reluctantly stands and tells why it happened. The teacher also writes that the girls seem to be very honest and painstaking about all their reports.
Principals of schools can do much towards promoting interest in proper foods by talking on this subject at the assembly meet- ings in the hall. Grade teachers can also help in their class- rooms.
In connection with this teaching of health and nutrition, pictures, posters, stories, songs and plays should be used freely.
The work may be readily correlated with other studies. In the study of hygiene and science the girls find their knowledge
40 APPENDIX C.
of foods very helpful. In making health posters they correlate with the drawing; in geography the products of the various countries are studied, thus enabling them to discover where various food materials and clothing supplies come from. In computing the cost of recipes and menus and making out a family budget, they bring in their knowledge of arithmetic. By this method of teaching a direct connection between the work of the girls in the school and their lives in the home is established, making a better relationship between the two groups and educating all concerned toward good health.
In speaking of a closer relationship between the home and school, I want to mention here that the home cookery work, started three years ago, has grown extensively this last year. This home cookery means that the girls are given the privilege of cooking a family quantity in the school kitchen (the recipes used being in line with the day's course of study) and then taking it home for the noon or evening meal. Of course the girls furnish their own materials.
Many of the teachers who were skeptical about results in this line of work are now enthusiastic. It gives the pupils a family quantity to handle which the school cannot afford to give with the money allowed in the budget for cookery supplies.
This work has more than doubled since last year. About 10,000 family quantities have been cooked this year in the school kitchens and taken home.
Home Pr'oject Work in the High School of Practical Arts.
This year a teacher from the High School of Practical Arts has been assigned for home project visits. This means that she visits the homes of all the girls in the fourth, the third and, in many cases, the second year of the course. She plans to make at least two visits a year to each home.
Tasks on dressmaking, millinery, housekeeping and menu work in which they are especially weak, are assigned the girls for home project work.
The "home project teacher" calls at the home and asks the mother to co-operate with her in encouraging her daughter to obtain excellent results in the work assigned her. The mothers are very grateful for the interest taken in their daugh- ters and are most willing to help. They discuss freely the success or the failure of their girls. They aid by insisting that their girls live up to right habits of health, order and cleanliness.
HOrSEHOLD SCIENCE AND ARTS DEPARTMENT. 41
When the teacher tells the mother that her sole aim is to help these girls, who are to be the homemakers of the next genera- tion, by teaching them habits of thrift, economy and order, so that they may not find housekeeping a life of drudgery, the mothers are willing to help in every way possible. Many times a mother has said, "Oh, if I had had such a training I would not have had such a terrible problem the first few years of my married life." The teacher tries to show the mother that she is aiding the girl by giving her more responsibilities in the home, and by saving the mother.
If the mother requests the teacher to call to supervise the girl's work, the teacher is glad to do so. However, this should not be done without invitation from the mother, as her home belongs to her and not to the city or state, and sometimes she is far too busy to have an "outsider" come in. If the best results are to bs obtained, harmony between the home and school must exist; to get this we must have co-operation of the mother.
Seiving.
In the intermediate schools where the girls have advanced sewing, emphasis has been placed on proper dressing for health's sake, on renovation of clothing, family mending and clothing budgets. At the monthly meetings, clothing experts from the Clothing Bureau, Simmons College, Textile School and Art Museum have addressed the teachers.
Effort is made to impress the girls with the importance of dressing properly so that they may be looked up to as young women of modesty and refinement, having common sense enough so to dress that health is conserved rather than impaired. They are taught that when the body is insufficiently clad it automatically tries to regulate its heat, and thus much energy is lost, leaving the body in a lowered physical condition ; that clothing should be adapted to the climate; that when the chest, neck and arms of women and girls, as well as the knees of little children, are exposed to cold, as is the common style of the day, health is menaced; that the body should be kept warm in cold weather and enough proper clothing worn to avoid chill and colds.
Renovation. The girls are taught that clothing wears longer if cared for regularly; that is to say, outer garments and dresses should
42 APPENDIX C.
be shaken, brushed thoroughly, spots taken out and then placed on hangers and hung in the closet, rather than thrown on chairs; that undergarments should be mended, darned, patched, and buttons sewed on each week after they are laundered, for "a stitch in tune saves nine." Clothing soon looks shabby if the minor repairs are not attended to.
All kinds of cleaning, dyeing, pressing and making over have been done by the girls in these classes, both for themselves and for the mothers and the children at home. They have also helped with the family mending. Pupils are encouraged to assume full responsibility for their own clothing, and so far as possible, for the family mending.
Simple clothing budgets have .been made out by the girls for their own use.
Millinery.
In two of the intermediate schools millinery has been taught in connection with the work on clothing. The results accom- plished in these classes were far beyond expectations. The girls started with the small model on which they learned the different steps in millinery. When they had conquered the different processes they made and trimmed hats for themselves, as well as for their mothers and sisters; they even made bonnets and hats for the little people at home. Many of the hats were made from new materials, but a goodly number were made from old materials which they cleaned, renovated and made over on new frames.
An exhibit of the work was held the first Wednesday in April. It was a splendid exhibit, about fifty hats of all kinds were shown. Many more had been made during the year for immediate use. It seemed hardly possible that so much work could be accomplished by amateurs in six months' time, on one lesson a week. The parents and visitors were loud in their praise, and the parents are anxious to have it continued. It is planned to have all ninth grade girls in practical arts sections of intermediate schools do this work next j^ear.
Work for Children's Hospital. Garments were made in the sewing classes by girls of the fourth, fifth and sixth grades for the Children's Hospital, in connection with the Junior Red Cross of the Boston Metro- politan Chapter. The garments were made in addition to the
HOUSEHOLD SCIENCE AND ARTS DEPARTMENT. 43
sewing course of study. This was "pick-up-work." In all about 1,000 garments were made. Then, too, some of the cook- ery classes sent jellies and preserves which were put up by the girls last fall. The "Service Line" of April, 1921, a paper devoted to the interests of the Boston Metropolitan Chapter, American Red Cross, says, "Wee, fortunate tots of the Boston Children's Hospital, have been made the recipients of numerous gifts of clothing and jellies. These articles were exhibited at the Children's Hospital, Tuesday afternoon, April 5, and made a remarkable showing of what Junior Red Cross children in some of the schools of Greater Boston have been able to accomplish in their service to others."
Respectfully submitted,
JOSEPHINE MORRIS, Director, Household Science and Arts.
44 APPENDIX D.
APPENDIX D.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF KINDERGARTENS.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston, Mass.
My dear Mr. Thompson, — In compliance with your request for a report on the work of the Kindergarten Department during the past year, I respectfully submit the following :
There are at present 160 kindergartens, sixteen of which are conducted in the afternoon. This means at least one kinder- garten in every elementary district. The Hancock, Roger Wolcott and Samuel Adams Districts have six large kinder- gartens each, the Quincy, five, and the Wells, four. Other districts in congested areas average three kindergartens each.
New Kindergartens. The plan of establishing new kindergartens has always been a conservative one, allowing for not more than five each year, and discontinuing a kindergarten when the attendance from an economical point of view does not warrant its continuance. As a matter of fact, however, a large percentage of our kinder- gartens cannot accommodate all the children of kindergarten age in the district. There is need of more kindergartens especially in the districts composed mainly of foreign-born children, and it is also the insistent hope of the department that sometime Boston may estabhsh a "Children's House" in one or more of the congested spots, where the children may have supervision in their work and play activities all day, and where the forma- tion of habits and emotional attitudes may be guided and not left to chance. This sounds visionary and the practical world scoffs at visions, but,
"None but the dreamer dares to create, Only star gazers can estimate; Solely by caring we build or we plan, For it still takes God's spirit to make a man."
DIRECTOR OF KINDERGARTENS. 45
Teachers.
There are 297 kindergarten teachers. In addition to these, it has been necessary for the past two years to use the seniors of the kindergarten-primary course of the Boston Normal School to fill temporarily vacancies in our kindergartens. During the past year the seniors have held such positions from October to the end of June. While they have done excellent work, and have given satisfactory help, the necessity of curtailing their academic work at the Normal School is to be regretted. The need for more kindergarten teachers will be an urgent one for the next few years at least.
Home Visiting and Mothers' Meetings.
The kindergarten teachei-s have continued their home visits with regularity and have reported upon them once a month to the director. No stated number per month is required for the emphasis is not placed on quantity, but on friendliness and helpfulness. The teachers have made during the year 1920-21 25,955 visits to the homes of kindergarten children. Mothers' meetings have been held as usual once a month in the majority of our kindergartens. These meetings are distinctly worth while and mutually helpful to mothers and teachers. The total attendance at mothers' meetings from October, 1920, to June, 1921, has been 15,854 mothers and 905 children.
Conferences.
The weekly conferences of any group of teachers with the director of their department is a mutually stimulating experi- ence, the value of which cannot be overestimated. The gather- ing together of nearly three hundred kindergarten teachers from all over the city, interested in a common problem, exchanging ideas and experiences, is a feature of the work which could not be dispensed with.
The ground covered this year has followed the modern trend of child education. During the first half-year the teachers were divided into four groups, each group meeting once a week for study of the psychology of the project method and its appli- cation to the needs of the kindergarten child. The last half- year was devoted to talks and demonstrations on music, eurhythmies, child hygiene, and community work.
46 APPENDIX D.
Health of Kindergarten Children.
Dr. Arnold L. Gessell of Yale University said recently to an assembly of one thousand kindergartners, that one out of every three deaths occurs before the age of six years. The full import of this statement, which one must assume was not made off-hand, makes one realize very fully the importance of health education covering this first period of child life. The kindergarten teachers must be trained in child hygiene and must preach and practice the gospel of health, the right of every child to physical and mental health. Standing between the pre-school and the school period, the kindergarten should concern itself more than ever before with the physical health of its children. In one of our kindergartens, a recent physical examination showed but one out of seventy-two children suffering from malnutrition. This is a wonderful record and effort is being made to duplicate it in every kindergarten in our city.
In some of the kindergartens soup has been served daily, in others milk. The goal toward which we are striving is to have milk for every child in every kindergarten, every day.
OuT-oF-DooR Playtime. Some years ago the kindergarten children had no out-of-door recess. It was not considered necessary because there is so much freedom and activity in the kindergarten, because there seemed to be no time for it in the three-hours' session and because it took so long a time to put on the children's wraps and take them off again. Today, the kindergarten children go out to play in clement weather as the grade children do, and they have learned to put on their own wraps "with but little help. The kindergartners, too, have learned the value of including this brief time of vigorous, free exercise in the open air in their daily program. May we not look foiivard to the time when a playroom will be provided in every school building for j'oung children, equipped with shdes, awnings, knotted ropes sus- pended from the ceihngs, see-saws and other simple apparatus, and that opportunity shall be provided in the school programs for all children in that first group from four to eight years to use this equipment for their own physical development? Such playrooms are now provided in some of the public schools in Rochester, New York. Why not in Boston?
DIRECTOR OF KINDERGARTENS. 47
Physical and Mental Examinations. In addition to the thorough physical examination which every child entering the kindergarten should have, under the direction of the Department of Medical Inspection, it would be a distinct advantage if, at some time during the year, these children could also have a mental examination. Dr. Stuart Courtis defines education as the process of helping children to change themselves from what they are to what they ought to he. This means that teachers should understand the characteristics and the varia- tions in ability of individual children as well as the goals toward which they are to help the children to arrive. Recognizing the fact that mental tests are a means, not an end, and that their chief value lies in the use made of them by teachers of intelH- gence, the director has arranged with Mr. Arthur Kallom, of the Department of Educational Investigation and Measure- ment, to give a course on the value and uses of tests, the training necessary for giving tests, etc., to a voluntary group of kinder- garten teachers interested in the subject, beginning September, 1921.
Five-Hour Day For Kindergarten Teachers.
In the annual report to the Superintendent for 1919-20, the director recommended the same salary schedule for kindergar- ten and elementary teachers. The reconmiendation is repeated in this report. For many years the School Committee has generously allowed the director or the assistant director to attend the annual convention of the International Kindergarten Union, where subjects of most vital interest pertaining to the education of young children are discussed. It is the consensus of opinion voiced at these conventions by leaders in kinder- garten work that kindergarten teachers should be definitely employed five hours each day and receive remuneration equal to that received by primary teachers in their respective cities. The kindergarten is no longer an isolated field in education, complete in itself, but is now recognized as a very real and efficient part of the whole system of education. The kinder- garten teachers, then, should not be regarded as a highly privileged body but should be included under the same rules that govern teachers of the grades.
It is not for the highest morale of our schools that young women should turn to the kindergarten as a "half-day job.''
48 APPENDIX D.
Neither is it conducive to the development of a sense of respon- sibihty and the rendering of full measure of service for value received, to permit them to adjust the afternoon time schedule to suit their own convenience.
It is an acknowledged fact that kindergartens of experience with intensive training in child study and community service should make further valuable contribution to the public schools. In this connection, the department recommends that the adjust- ment of afternoon time shall be made by the principals of districts in conference with the Director of Kindergartens, and submitted to the Superintendent of Schools for his approval.
In conclusion, the dii-ector desires to commend the earnest, progressive work which the kindergartners have accomplished this year. The attendance at the weekly conferences has been satisfactory; the response to suggestions, the reaction to material presented for the betterment of various phases of the work has been most gratifying. With such faithful, devoted work on the part of the teachers the future is faced with confidence.
Respectfully submitted,
CAROLINE D. ABORN,
Director of Kindergartens.
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION. 40
APPENDIX E.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston, Mass.
Dear Mr. Thompson, — The following is a brief report of the Medical Inspection Department for the school year 1920-21 :
A special report, including a history of the department will be prepared at a later date. It is the desire of the Director of Medical Inspection to have this special report for persons seek- ing information as to medical inspection in Boston. It will answer the many inquiries of educators and save much time and energy of the ofhce force.
Dr. Harry P. Cahill was appointed as temporary school physi- cian, assigned to otological work, beginning February, 1921. Doctor Cahill has made a careful study of ear diseases among school children, especially the pupils of the Horace Mann School. His report to the Director of Medical Inspection will be forwarded to your office as soon as received.
The open-air classes have improved during the past year. All physical defects receive early treatment and are followed up by the school nurses during the school year. Special atten- tion is given to feeding of open-air class pupils and there is reason to believe that each child has received recess luncheon each day throughout the school year. The inclosed chart gives an idea of the average gain in weight of pupils in one open-air class and may be taken as a fair estimate of the other classes.
The feeding of children, in other than open-air classes, is conducted in almost every district in the city. According to a report compiled in December, 1920, 8,113 children were served daily with luncheon and 30,872 brought luncheon from home each day.
Insanitary conditions are not noted in this report. During
50 APPENDIX E.
the year reports of this nature are filed promptly in the office of the Superintendent in order that immediate action may be taken.
A rule providing that pupils shall be weighed and measured by the school physician at the time of physical examination has been successfully carried out.
At the request of the School Committee a survey on pedi- culosis was made during the spring. This report was forwarded to the Secretary.
I am inclosing report on "Comparative Statistics on Physi- cal Examinations of Pupils of Boston Public Schools from December 1, 1915, to March 1, 1921," and "Comparative Statistics on Vision and Hearing of Pupils of Boston Public Schools from June, 1907, to June, 1921."
Other reports, with a history of the department, will be forwarded at a later date.
Very truly yours,
WILLIAM H. DEVINE,
Director of Medical Inspection.
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
51
Comparative Statistics on Physical Examinations of Pupils of Boston Public Schools from December I, 1915, to March 1, 1921.
1915-16. 1916-17. 1917-18. 1918-19. 1919-20. 1920-21
Total number pupils ex- amined
Total number without defects
Total number with defects
Defects as Follows:
Defective nasal breath- ing:
Anterior
Posterior
Hypertrophied tonsils. .
Defective palate
Cervical glands
Pulmonary disease:
Tuberculous
Arrested tuberculous
Question
Nontuberculous
Cardiac disease:
Organic
Functional
Nervous disease:
Organic
Functional
Chorea
Orthopedic defects:
Tuberculous
Nontuberculous
Skin
Rickets
Malnutrition
99.862
oo.rsi
69,081
1,292 5,966
18,444 351
18,841
1,330 1,668
74
221
43
88
1,698
3,071
383
2,110
104,287 8,318
65,969
1,297
5,282
14,806
169
7,746
22
1 453
1,406 1,716
179 23
76
1,770
2,978
326
1,712
104,762 43,128
61 ,634
1,108
4,975
14,037
121
7.201
28
456
1,624 1,864
46 138 33
63
1,774
2,308
284
2.087
100,564 43,328
67,226
826
5,338
12,734
65
4,777
105,193 46,065
516
1,572 2,209
26
149
14
51
2,221
2,007
132
2,359
59,128
633
6,158
14,015
48
3,351
1,502 2,215
54
174
16
37
2,131
1,716
146
2,353
107,664 51,158
56.506
413
4,652
13,238
54
2.319
297
1.455 2,404
45
160
26
32
1,881
1,706
114
2,543
Totals
Defective teeth .
56.307 56,750*
40,010 55,638-!
38,152 50,507
35,041 44,531
35,035 45,567
31.345 43.685
Grand Totals 113.057
95.648
88.659
79.572
80,602 75,030
* During the year 1915-16, and from October 1, 1916, to January 1, 1917, defective teeth were classed as primary and secondary. In some instances, if a pupil had defective primary and defective secondary teeth, it was recorded as two defects instead of one. In order to avoid duplication of defects, it was thought advisable to record defective teeth without regard to whether they were primary or secondary. This method was adopted commencing January 1, 1917, and precludes comparison for the two years.
52 APPENDIX E.
A special point to be noted is the decrease in the number of cases of puhnonary tuberculosis. Even allowing for the fact that children are excluded for this disease (in nearly all cases permanently) the figures indicate that there are but few new cases.
The number of cases of cardiac disease remains practically the same for the past six years. These figures are compiled from the examinations of forty-eight school physicians and the fact that they have not varied to any great extent in the past six years is some evidence of the accuracy of the observations of the medical inspectors.
New interest has been awakened in medical circles on the prevention of cardiac disease. The etiological factors in heart disease are infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, etc. According to eminent medical authorities, neglected teeth, tonsils, and adenoids play an important part in the etiology. It remains for the future to decide the relation of decayed teeth, diseased tonsils and adenoids to the causation.
The writer believes that the prevention of heart disease offers a great field in prophylaxis. The notification of parents by school physicians is an important step in its prevention. I have known many cases where our school notification was the first the parents received that the child had cardiac disease. Its early detection in the schools, longer rest in bed after con- tagious diseases, and the proper care of the teeth and removal of diseased tonsils and adenoids, should have some effect in reduc- ing tlie number of cases.
There is but little change in the number of cases of mal- nutrition, although recess lunches are increasing each succeeding year. For the past year about seven hundred children have been served daily with luncheon in the open-air classes. In addi- tion, about eighty-five hundred were served with daily luncheon in school and about thirty-one thousand brought luncheon each day from home. The average cost of school luncheon to pupil is three cents.
The Director of Medical Inspection is inclined to favor milk with bread or crackers for recess luncheon. It is the most eco- nomical food. The milk, delivered at school just before recess, can be distributed without the aid of an attendant. Taken from the bottle by straw or served in paper cups, it is most easily handled of any of the foods. Fewer children object to milk than to any other form of liquid food.
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
53
The writer has interviewed many teachers on the advisabihty of furnishing recess luncheon to school children. Without exception they favor this form of light luncheon. The normal child who has a hearty breakfast between eight and nine o'clock and a substantial dinner at noon, does not need food between meals, but a glass of milk is beneficial. The number of children who attend the morning session without breakfast, or with a very light one, is surprising. The principal reasons given for this are lack of appetite, no supervision by parents, and hurry in the desire not to be tardy for school.
The school physicians and nurees are giving more attention each year to malnutrition, instructing teachers, children, and parents on the prevention and treatment of this affection.
The number of cases of defective teeth is decreasing each year. Dental and medical authorities place this defect at 80 to 85 per cent in communities where little attention is given to dental prophylaxis. The percentage in this community is about forty. To realize the improvement, one must compare the dental defects in the higher elementary grades (seventh and eighth) and the high schools with the general average. With this purpose in view, the Director of Medical Inspection had a careful survey made of the teeth of pupils in three schools with the following results:
|
School. |
Number Examined. |
Number with Defective Teeth. |
Per Cent with Defective Teeth. |
|
Normal (Girls) |
253 814 1,457 |
37 79 449 |
.146 |
|
Latin (Girls) |
.0&7 |
||
|
High (Boys) |
.308 |
||
Of over 17,000 examinations of applicants for employment certificates, only 28 per cent had defective teeth. These children were between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years.
The examination of children by dental experts in our ''steamer class" (organized for education of immigrant children) shows that not over 5 per cent of the children have defective teeth; that only one had defective sixth-year molars ; that in an ordinary class of natives of corresponding age, the percentage would be over 50 for sixth-year molars and much higher for other defects. This certainly furnishes food for thought. Careful
54
APPENDIX E.
questioning reveals the fact that few of these i;tnmigrant children have used a toothbrush before their arrival in this country. Their diet consisted of plain, nourishing food and but httle candy, ice cream, or other sweets, such as are used by our children.
In addition to ordinary routine measures, such as the use of the toothbrush, the early detection and correction of defects, etc., special attention is directed by this department to the value of nourishment in dental health. Pupils are encouraged in the proper selection of school luncheons, and feeding in the home is reached by instructions to parents, teachers and pupils.
Boston is fortunate in having the co-operation of such institu- tions as Forsyth Dental Infirmary, Harvard, Tufts and other clinics where skilful attention is given.
Comparative Statistics on Vision and Hearing of Pupils of Boston Public Schools — Period: June, 1907, to June, I92I.
Year Ending June.
Number
Tested in
Vision.
Number Percentage Defective j Defective in Vision, in Vision.
Number Tested in Hearing.
Number Defective in Hearing.
Percentage Defective in Hearing.
1907 1908 1909 1310 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918, 1919 1920. 1921,
83,909 82,255 82,954 84,058 84,747 83,075 87,493 89,508 91,326 92,552 89,108 87,386 85,682 88,150 90,252
26,435 19,723 18,838 17,303 12,845 12,488 12,581 11,070 11,039 11,899 10,366 10,187 9,818 10,052 10,013
.3150
.2367
.227
.2058
.1515
.1503
.1437
.1236
.1208
.1286
.1163
.1160
.1146
.1140
.1109
83,909 82,265 82,944 85,343 86,055 83,075 88,788 91,529 1 3,024 92,415 88,896 87,231 85,419 88,075 90,298
6,829 6,329 4,129 4,774 3,405 3,269 3,224 2,469 2,538 2,581 1,565 1,505 1,516 1,525 1,399
.0813
.0769
.0494
.0539
.0309
.0309
.0363
.027
.028
.0279
.0176
.0103
.0177
.0173
.0154
|
Grade |
V. |
CHART 5HOWINO |
AveRf»ce |
PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL OPEN-AIR CLASS. GAIN IN weiGHT FOR CLASS SCPT |
i«1 JO... ouNe, ■'jai. |
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DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION. 55
REPORT OF NURSING DIVISION.
Dr. William H. Devine,
Director of Medical Ins'pection, Boston Public Schools, Boston, Mass.
Dear Dr. Devine, — The following is a report of the Nursing Division for the year ending June 30, 1921.
During the year 1920-21 the work of the Nursing Division has progressed most satisfactorily. Splendid results are noticed in the health of the school children, due, in a great measure, to the good health campaign conducted by the school nurses.
The completion of physical examinations in the majority of districts early in the school year has aided greatly in securing the early corirection of physical defects.
While a detailed report of this department is presented, it is not possible for figures to show the amount or character of work accomplished. Often it is necessary to make five or six visits to a home to obtain the desired results. The energy and tact necessary to arouse and stimulate the interest of the children in their physical well-being cannot be put on paper. While emphasis is laid on the prevention and correction of physi- cal defects, health activities of various kinds have been in- stituted in many schools. In some instances efforts have been concentrated on the securing of a clean bill of health for an entire class. Nearly one hundred classes have quahfied for this record, and several hundred more would have so qualified but for two or three children who failed, for some reason or other not always the child's fault, to meet requirements.
In four districts lessons in home nursing and first aid were given to eighth grade pupils with much success. Special investigations were made during the year on :
Crippled children.
Serious cases ordefective vision.
Pediculosis.
The following literature was distributed to teachers and
pupils :
Rules for Care of Teeth.
Health Habits.
Health Creed.
Food Rules for School Children.
Nature Leaflet, No. 9. — Poison Ivy.
56 APPENDIX E.
Special attention was given to every case of cardiac, pul- monary and malnutrition diseases. Intensive work was done on vision and dental cases so far as was possible, and the serious cases received attention.
Too much praise cannot be given to the teaching staff for their splendid assistance in the general work of the department, and particularly in the special health activities along various Hnes.
The following is a report of health activities in one district:
Open-air Classes.- — By careful management and good buying, the attendant in the open-ak* classes saved $21.14 on the money paid by the children for luncheons. With this money the children of the two open-air classes, accompanied by the two teachers, a maid and the attendant, were given an outing by boat to Nantasket Beach, a ride on the merry-go-round, and two peanut butter sandwiches. Each child brought luncheon from home and candy and peanuts were donated. A fine day, no accidents, and every child had a wonderful time. The undertaking was well worth while.
Health Plays and Demonstrations. — Two health plays and demonstrations were very finely presented to interested au- diences. One play was given to an audience composed of a master, teachers, attendance officer, and three outside teachers, also the mother of each child. This play was repeated for twelve primary classes.
The other play was presented to an audience composed of three third grades and four second grades.
Dental Demonstration,— The banner class demonstration and toothbrush drill given at the presentation of the banner for "All Dental Work Completed" was repeated at Mechanics Hall on Health Day in February, and was also given for nearly every class in the elementary building.
Health recitations, plays, demonstrations, and recreations given by the open-air class pupils were interesting, varied, and continuous.
Visitors. — Twenty-three visitors, eight observers, and thir- teen social workers, all interested in the work of the Department of Medical Inspection, visited this district.
Malnutrition Group. — The malnutrition group was formed into class, and after weighing and measuring, special instruc- tions were given and a prize awarded to the pupil with the highest gain. These prizes were donated by the school nurse
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
57
and were awarded by the principal, school physician, or sub- master. The pupils enjoyed the contest, and the lessons learned on safe-guarding health should have a lasting effect. The following is a summary of the corrective work of the school nurses for the year ending June 30, 1921:
Report on Pulmonary Disease.
Number of pulmonary tuberculosis cases 6
All cases examined at Boston City Hospital. Results of ex- aminations as follows :
Positive (excluded from school) 3
Admitted to Mattapan 1
Admitted to Westfield 2
Negative 2
Arrested • . . . 1
— 6 Number of pulmonary non-tuberculosis cases 170
In care of family physician 79
In care of hospital 61
No treatment necessa^'v (colds, etc.) 30
— 170
|
REPORT ON FOLLOW-UP WORK ON PHYSICAL DEFECTS. |
|||
|
Defects. |
Number Recommended for Treatment. |
Treated by Family Physician. |
Treated at Hospital. |
|
Defective nasal breathing: |
55 4,026 10,178 8 419 28 74 20 21 859 373 48 |
18 480 1,.5.34 3 151 15 34 11 5 118 115 17 |
27 |
|
1,284 |
|||
|
2,343 |
|||
|
4 |
|||
|
141 |
|||
|
Nervous disease: Organic |
12 39 |
||
|
9 |
|||
|
Orthopedic defects: |
16 |
||
|
238 |
|||
|
Skin Rickets |
1.39 14 |
Home visits were made on all cases of physical defects reported.
58 APPENDIX E.
REPORT ON DECREASE OF CASES OF DEFECTIVE VISION SINCE 1907.
Number Pupils Tested.
Number Pupils Defective.
Percentage Defective.
June, 1907. June, 1921.
83,909 90,252
26,435 10,013
.3150 .1109
Report on Vision and Hearing.
Number found defective in vision by teachers .... 10j516
Number found defective in vision by nurses 7,217
Number corrected by parents 2,629
Number corrected by nurses 2,048
Total number corrected 4,077
Number found defective in hearing by teachers .... 954
Number found defective in hearing by nurses .... 535
Number corrected by parents 339
Number corrected by nurses 130
Total number corrected 469
Report on Cardiac Cases.
Number of organic cardiac cases 1,224
In care of family physician 716
In care of hospital 359
Re-examined, O. K 126
Left school or moved from city 15
Treatment refused 1
No treatment recommended 6
Christian Scientist, nothing done 1
1,224
Number of functional cardiac cases 212
In care of family physician 27
In care of hospital 29
No treatment necessary 156
212
All homes were visited and parents instructed relative to care of pupils, and teachers were notified in order that these pupils might receive special consideration in school.
Report on Dental Work. Number of pupils found defective by school physiciars Number treated by private dentists . . . . Number treated at clivics
40,477
18,035 18,295
Total number treated 36,340
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
59
Number escorted for dental treatment by nurses .
Number of revisits
Nvunber of pupils escorted for prophylaxis treatments Number of toothbrush drills
13,478
21,275
16,248
3,329
REPORT ON PRIMARY GRADES.
|
Grades. |
Treated by Dentist. |
Treated at Hospital. |
Totals. |
|
Ill |
1,961 1,932 1,676 726 |
2,509 3,17.") 1.47SI C6S |
4,470 |
|
II |
5,107 |
||
|
I |
3,155 |
||
|
Kindergarten |
994 |
||
|
Totals. |
6,29.') |
7,431 |
13,726 |
Since the opening of the Forsyth Dental Infirmary, with its opportunities for the care of the teeth of young children, re- markable progress has been made in dental work. Since 1915 the average age of children receiving attention at this institution has been reduced from thirteen and one-half years to seven years. Recently an entire kindergarten class qualified for "All Dental Work Completed," undoubtedly the first group of children of this age in the country to attain this honor.
Each school child is advised to visit a dentist at least once during the year, and children whose home conditions warrant are escorted or sent to dental clinics.
Toothbrush drills are formed in all grades, and instruction in oral hygiene and proper food are not only given to children but are carried into the homes as well.
Classes are urged to compete for dental certificates which are signed by the Director of the Forsyth Dental Infirmary. Ban- ners are presented by Mr. Forsyth to the first two lower grades in the city who complete their work.
While every available chair in the different dental clinics has been used this year, much hardship was endured in escorting the children, particularly the younger ones. It is hoped that some means may be provided to safely transport children to and from the various clinics.
With the remarkable improvement in the condition of the teeth of school children during the past ten years, it is safe to predict that the day is not far distant when all pupils entering the second grade will do so with mouths in good condition and
60
APPENDIX E.
it will be fairly easy to overcome the problem of dental caries among school children. This problem is not insurmountable.
"All Dental Work Completed" banners were presented this year as follows:
First grade banner awarded the Cushman School.
Second grade banner awarded the Washington School.
Dental certificates were awarded the following districts:
Distiict
Agassiz
Bowditch
Bowdoin
Dearborn
Dillaway
Edward Everett
Elihu Greenwood
Emerson
Franklin
Hancock
Hugh O'Brien
Jefferson
John Marshall
Longfellow .
Lowell
Number of Certificates.
2 5 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 2 2 1 14 3
District.
Martin
Mary Hemenway Mather
Phillips Brooks . Robert G. Shaw^ Samuel Adams . Sherwin
Theodore Lyman Ulysses S. Grant Washington Washington AUston Wells . Wendell PhilUps
Total .
Number of Certificates.
2 2 1 5 17 3 1 4 2 5 1 7 4
97
It is interesting to note that one of these certificates was awarded to a kindergarten, four to a first grade, fourteen to a second grade, and fourteen to a third grade.
Pupils Escorted to Clinics.
Clinic.
Number.
Revisits.
Eye
Ear
Nose and throat
Medical
Surgical .
Skin
Optician
Totals
2,503 107 336 303 861 145 634
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
61
Contagious Diseases Found by Nurses in Schools and Home.
Disease.
Homes.
Chicken pox .... German measles.
Measles
Mumps
Nasal diphtheria.
Ringworm
Scabies
Scarlet fever .... Whooping cough . Diphtheria
57 4
68
16 0 0 0 7
30 1
Totals.
183
Summary of School Nurses, Reports.
Home visits 36,192
Talks on hygiene:
In schools 14,333
In homes 15,277
Consultations with teachers 79,308
Consultations with pupils 183,625
Adenoids removed : . . 2,820
Tonsils removed 3,505
Treatments in school 29,880
Inspections for pediculosis 454,520
Pupils Admitted to Special Schools or Hospitals. Number of pupils admitted to special schools or hospitals
Boston Consumptives' Hospital, Mattapan .... 5
Westfield Sanitorium 7
Canton School for Cripples 2
St. Botolph School for Cripples 3
Monson State Hospital 3
Wrentham 2
Waverley 4
38
Boston State Hospital
Home for Destitute Catholic Children
House of Good Samaritan
Long Island Hospital
School for the Nearly Blind
Total
38
62
APPENDIX E.
Special Work, Assisted school physiciaiis with all physical examinatioiis and inspections. Notices of defects written and sent to parents. Monthly inspections of hair and teeth. Talks in class I'oonis, and toothbrush drills. Retested 10,516 vision cases.
Weighing and measuring of pupils in open-air classes, and all malnutri- tion cases.
Home demonstrations in first aid and pediculosis treatments.
Report on Open-air Classes. Interest in the work of open-air classes has increased to a marked degree. These children are carefully selected and given a physical examination in September and re-examined in February. The nurses aim to visit every home as early as possible. Dental work is completed and physical defects cor- rected. Every pupil in these classes has been served with a luncheon this past year. Instruction is given to the class after the monthly weighmg and measuring and if there are any losses in weight, the causes are carefully investigated and remedied. These children are kept up to grade in academic work. Their attendance is higher than that of corresponding grades, and an education is provided for children, who, owing to their poor physical condition, would otherwise be deprived of one. It is gratifying to note that the majority of the open-air classes in Boston are superior to those of other cities, and the happy, smiUng faces of the little ones must repay the teachers for then- untiring efforts.
REPORT ON MALNUTRITION CASES BY DISTRICTS.
Number of Cases.
In Care of
Family Physician.
In Care of Hospital.
Treated at Home.
Abraham Lincoln
Agassiz
Bigelow
Blackinton-John Cheverus
Bowditch
Bowdoin
Bunker Hill
Chapman
Dearborn
221
21
1
9
14
115
3
3
11
1 10 43
83 1 1 1 3
23 1 2 6
DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
63
REPORT ON MALNUTRITION CASES BY DISTRICTS.— Coretmued.
|
Number of Cases. |
In Care of Family Physician. |
In Care of Hospital. |
Treated at Home. |
|
|
12 20 13 34 5 53 5 2 43 4 4 3 349 19 1 31 1 21 13 130 27 1 11 10 18 13 1G6 23 44 7 1 24. 123 32 8 22 1 |
1 3 |
3 |
6 |
|
|
Dudley |
20 |
|||
|
Edmund P. Tileston. . . |
21 3 |
2 3 2 3 3 |
4 |
|
|
8 |
||||
|
Elihu Greenwood |
||||
|
Eliot |
||||
|
1 2 |
1 |
|||
|
Franklin |
43 |
|||
|
4 1 |
||||
|
3 |
||||
|
Gilbert Stuart |
3 |
|||
|
182 6 1 2 |
167 9 |
|||
|
4 |
||||
|
Henry Grew |
||||
|
Henry L. Pierce |
24 |
|||
|
Horace Mann |
1 |
|||
|
Hugh O'Brien |
21 |
|||
|
Hyde |
12 |
|||
|
25 22 1 3 2 2 13 8 6 3 |
14 5 4 8 2 26 8 7 3 2 14 |
91 |
||
|
John A. Andrew |
||||
|
4 |
||||
|
12 |
||||
|
130 |
||||
|
g |
||||
|
Mather |
34 |
|||
|
4 |
||||
|
Phillips Brooks |
1 5 3 |
|||
|
17 |
||||
|
108 |
||||
|
32 |
||||
|
Robert G. Shaw |
10 1 |
1 4 |
||
|
Roger Wolcott Samuel Adams |
5 |
64
APPENDIX E.
REPORT ON MALNUTRITION CASES BY DISTRICTS.— ConcZurferf.
|
Districts. |
Number of Cases. |
^ F?^i?v"^ In Care of Physician. Hospital. |
Treated at Home. |
|
|
3 15 1.3 10 4 30 376 100 27 1 |
1 6 11 8 1 G |
2 |
||
|
S'nurtleff |
9 2 2 |
|||
|
1 |
||||
|
7 |
15 |
|||
|
Wells |
376 |
|||
|
Wendell Phillips William E. Russell |
40 19 1 |
60 8 |
||
|
2,271 |
.553 |
517 1 993 |
The two hundred eight cases not accounted for in the table were cases found improved on re-examination and no treat- ment recommended, or moved from city, left school, refused treatment, etc.
These children were weighed and measured every month and instructed relative to amount of sleep, rest, proper food, the need of fresh air, etc. Homes were visited and the co-operation of parents requested and the early correction of physical defects
urged.
Lunch Report.
Ten thousand two (10,002) children, exclusive of open-air classes, were served with a luncheon during the school year. This mid-morning luncheon consisted of soup, milk, or cocoa fur- nished at an average cost to pupil of three cents daily. A special effort was made to introduce milk into the kindergartens and first grades. This experiment met with great success in several schools.
Respectfully submitted,
HELEN F. McCaffrey,
Supervising Nurse.
DIRECTOR Of^ MUSIC. 65
APPENDIX F.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF MUSIC
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Schools, Boston, Mass.:
Dear Sir, — It is felt that many improvements have been made this year in the Music Department of the Boston Schools.
Inspirational Song Singing. — We have greatl}^ increased the practice of singing songs of all styles with spontaneity. It is our purpose to create among the pupils a real desire and love for music for its own sake.
Tone Production. — In spite of the fact that the tone of voices differs very much in the various districts, we have obtained good results and established a uniformity of tone placement and resonance through relaxation and proper breath control. We have been able to affect an even scale and have endeavored to eliminate all forcing of tone in the middle and upper voices.
Diction. — We have stressed the importance of bringing out all pure vowel sounds and pronouncing distinctly the conso- nants at the beginning and end of each word. We have also pointed out the importance of using the correct niusical accent and emphasis on the more important words, in order to faith- fully convey to the listener the true meaning of both author and composer.
Rhythm. — For rhythm we have introduced several improved methods of presenting time problems. In the first, second and third grades we are advising the introduction of rhythmical orchestras. The value of this training was demonstrated by a group of pupils from these grades at the Eastern Music Super- visors' Conference in May. These orchestras consist of sepa- rate groups, as the drums, triangle, tambourine, clappers, etc., and in our drill we aim to train each group to work separately, in various combinations, and at times all together.
66 APPENDIX F.
Sight Singing. — We have increased the practice of using the actual words of the song at the first reading in preference to the do-re-mi syllables.
Violin Department.— Our viohn section averaged about two hundred fifty pupils throughout the entire year. More atten- tion was given to the individual pupil and more sight work was undertaken at each lesson. During the course of the year we have been able to give a concert in each one of the schools where violin classes are held.
Orchestra and Band Department. — By the addition since January 1, 1921, of one more assistant director, we have been able to give a real impetus to orchestral and band music. The Public Latin SchocJl which previously had no music now has a successful orchestral group as well as a glee club. A good start has been made toward establishing a true symphony orchestral group which we are forming from advanced pupils from the several school groups. It is hoped soon to have adequate equipment for this orchestra, such as double basses, timpani and other exceptional instruments. We also hope that later this group may be used to promote the appreciation of orchestral music among the pupils and teachers of the schools.
Outside Credits. — The course which allows credit for the study of music outside of school has attracted more pupils each year. We believe this course is now running more successfully than ever before. Our great concern has been to ehminate the incompetent teacher. We do not mean by this simply the teachers who charge but a small fee for lessons, but rather those who pose as music teachers, with very little or no musical knowledge or training for teaching.
Difficulties, — In the high schools we experience great diffi- culty in arranging the music periods so that they will not clash with other studies. This is occasioned mainly because music has never received the proper recognition as a major study in the curriculum, although many of our eminent educators advo- cate its recognition as a major study in our present day cur- riculum. If a junior high school teacher has not been assigned music she will never think of asking for even a verse of a song.
The book question is a serious one with this department at present, as a great many books have been taken off the list because of the increase in price, which is a great handicap in the matter of keeping classes properly supplied.
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC. 67
Recommendations. — The late war developed the idea that music might be a necessity. Singing, in addition to being one of the best forms of physical exercise, is a relaxation from physi- cal work, from mental strain and from nervous tension. This has been demonstrated as has also the fact that music is an incentive to work, and an inspiration to higher things. Music was adopted in the curriculum of all training camps both for officers and enlisted men. It formed a large part in the devel- opment of morale over seas. It would seem, therefore, that the daily singing of songs, if only one verse at the opening of sessions, and for relaxation at various times during the day, might well be recommended. All grades above the fourth should certainly have assembly singing.
The Concerts for School Children Given by Symphony Orches- tra.— These concerts were a success and the possibihties in them for advancing the appreciation and understanding of symphonic music are great. If it were possible to have the programs given early in the season, much could be done to prepare the children to listen with understanding as well as appreciation. They could become familiar with the names and sounds of the difierent instruments of the orchestra, read the lives of composers, learn the stories, if any, of the pieces to be performed, and become familiar (through the Victrola or other means) with the music of the pieces to be given, so that they would seem like old friends when they were heard. After the last concert we appealed directly to Mr. Monteux and we hope early next season to be favored with copies of the programs to be used.
Incentive for Music. — The recent exhibition of our work in the schools for the Eastern Music Supervisors' Conference seemed to stimulate the pupils, teachers and supervisors to greater efforts for the betterment of music. It certainly was inspiring to witness the sight of 1,400 children filled with enthu- siasm to do their best. They were well behaved and attentive and sang exceptionally well; good tune, good time and good tone. We may well feel proud of them. We wish the parents could have heard them and heard the violin classes also. It is a good start in a good direction toward community music and a spirit of Americanization. It emphasizes more than ever the need of a larger municipal auditorium with organ in this city, where free concerts can be given by children to parents, fi lends
68 APPENDIX F.
and interested citizens. In such a hall a series of choral and orchestral concerts could be given for a nominal fee. It would be the foundation of a course for the training of professional musicians, making this work, in a way, vocational. It would give the pupils an opportunity they probably would not other- wise obtain, acquainting them with th^^ best in orchestral music and developing an appreciation and enjoyment of good music.
Respectfully submitted,
JOHN A. O'SHEA, Director of Music.
DIRECTOR OF PENMANSHIP. 69
APPENDIX G.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF PENMANSHIP.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Schools, Boston, Alass.
Dear Sir, — In compliance with your request, I submit here- with the report of the Department of Penmanship for the school year 1920-21.
This is the third year since the establishment of the office of Director of Penmanship. The first two years were devoted to the presentation of the pedagogics of the subject in the various stages of its development to the teachers of the first eight grades. The presentation was made through lectures to teachers assembled by grades and subsequently by demonstra- tion lessons and discussions in the class rooms of the schools throughout the cit3\
The aim of the department this year has been five-fold :
(a.) To assist teachers in the understanding of the fundamentals of procedure for the successful correlation of penmanship with all other subjects in the curriculum.
(b.) To aid the individual teacher in her penmanship problems through class room observation of her teaching.
(c.) To make uniform and to promote the work of each school district in the subject by means of district conferences.
(d.) To bring about an improved development of the subject between the eighth grade and the high school.
(e.) To establish a definite means, whereby teachers may be enabled to evaluate correctly the writing product in all grades of school and its variability within each grade.
During the opening month of the school year the teachers of the first eight grades were brought together in several assembhes and instructed in the means by which penmanship may be made most economically to function in the work of the other subjects in the school curriculum. At these meetings the fundamental laws which govern all class room procedure in the successful
70 APPENDIX G.
development of the functioning power of penmanship to the advantage of all other subjects were set forth.
The teachers of clerical practice in the ninth grade of the intermediate schools were met in assembly early in the school year for the purpose of establishing uniform methods of procedure in the presentation of formal pemnanship instruction and in the correlation of it with the other subjects. Concert drill in counting with the rhythm and speed adapted to the needs of the ninth grade and in conformity with the text-book, was conducted with a view to emphasizing the functioning power of numerical and corrective counting in their various adapta- tions.
An assignment of work from the text-book was outhned for credit to be given in the ninth grade toward the high school penmanship certificate. This assignment included approx- imately one-half of the examination required for the certificate.
During the fall the high and Latin schools were visited and local conferences were held with the teachers. In these con- ferences the penmanship work, as established and developed in the elementary schools, was explained, and the method of furthering this work in the high schools was outlined. A Boston high school penmanship certificate was designed for the successful completion of the designated work selected from the authorized text-book. Pen-and-ink specimens of the standard of work to be required were sent to each high school early in the year that pupils might visualize and aim to acquire, through serious study and practice, a business style of penmanship devoid of finger or combination movement, and might realize in the ultimate obtaining of the certificate the significance of the inscription thereon: "Superior Ability in Business Penman- ship."
Following the work in the high schools and in intermediate classes, visitation to the elementary schools was begun. Two- thirds of the schools throughout the city were visited during the year, and the penmanship teaching of each individual teacher therein was observed. Approximately eleven hundred teachers were visited. At the close of the afternoon session a conference was held with the teachers in each district. At these conferences the district work was commented upon and sugges- tions and corrections pertinent to the status of the work were given.
As school after school was visited, it became obvious that the
DIRECTOR OF PENMANSHIP. 71
most outstanding need of the teachers in this work was a basis by whicli to judge the writing product of their pupils in its various stages of development.
The work of pupils of those teachers throughout all the grades who had successfully carried on the work was therefore selected to estabhsh standards of accomplishment for the schools of the city. The work of several thousand pupils in the city was observed and types showing well-defined gradations of develop- ment were selected to designate the criterion of growth for each grade. The series is entitled the "Boston Penmanship Gra- dient." The purpose of the gradient is to set forth a series of types of muscular movement writing sho"wnng relative degrees of development throughout the grades and within each grade for the purpose of defining the variability of the writing product during the school year of pupils who use muscular movement.
The complete gradient comprises eight folders. Each folder sets forth the types of writing for the grade named on the cover. The types of writing shown on the gradient are photo-engravings of writing specimens of Boston school pupils. This system of grading is designed to establish a ranking that will enable con- scientious, capable pupils to receive a consistently high rating from month to month throughout the year, and also to allow backward, frequently-absent, or new pupils, who before the close of the school year acquire the ability to use muscular movement in their work, to obtain a passing rank in this subject. It aims to discourage at all times the use of finger motion and combination movement.
Pupils who use whole arm, combination movement or finger movement writing are in need of correction of process rather than any consideration of product.
The gradient was adopted by the Board of Superintendents on May 6, 1921, and was issued as Board of Superintendents' Circulars Nos. 46 to 53, inclusive. The gradient was distributed to the schools in June, in order that the teachers might have an opportunity to grade by it the penmanship work of their out- going classes.
The recording of progress in this subject and instruction relative to it in all grades throughout the schools was carried on this year in a manner similar to that of last year, i. e., in September the teachers of Grades III to VIII were requested to have their pupils write a given selection, and to note the time consumed in the writing of each specimen. In June the teachers
72 APPENDIX G.
of these grades were requested to have their pupils write again this same selection, and to note the time consumed. The papers of each pupil were then placed together, and the class sets were sent to the office of the director, where they were reviewed and placed on file. The papers of thousands of pupils show a startlingly obvious improvement in movement, speed and control of letter formation. Many teachers have reported interesting comments and exclamations of pupils upon the comparison of their September and June papers.
Twice durmg the year spelling, composition and arithmetic papers were sent from grades four to eight, inclusive, to the office of the examiner, where they were examined and criticized as to merits and faults, and given directions for improvement. These papers were returned to the teachers, who, in general, discussed subsequently the criticism and directions with their pupils. In the majority of the class rooms these papers were displayed on some convenient wall space for a time until the class was familiar with the various types of penmanship and their criticisms. The discriminating ability on the part of many teachers and of pupils to recognize the pure muscular movement writing product in its various stages of development, as resultant from this procedure, was shown plainly in the im- proved selection of papers submitted in June this year for the honor rolls.
Early in March the teachers of the first, second and third grades were requested to send in a designated formal penman- ship lesson. These papers were reviewed and placed on file as evidence of the accomplishment of these grades in this subject at that time. In June these grades again sent in a designated formal penmanship lesson showing a more advanced type of work. These papers were reviewed and placed on file with the March papers for comparison of progress. The sentence writing of the great majority of second grades throughout the city, as shown in the June papers, may be termed as truly remarkable.
In February this department was requested to send an exhibit of the penmanship work of the city to the meeting of the National Education Association, Department of Superintend- ence, held at Atlantic City, N. J. The spelHng, composition and arithmetic papers which were sent in for the honor roll last June and the formal penmanship work of the first, second and third grades placed on file last June were mounted, together
DIRECTOR OF PENMANSHIP. 73
with wiitten composition woik from the high and normal schools, making a complete exhibit of the regular pemnanship of the city.
This same exhibit was requested to be sent to Albany in May for display at the annual meeting of the Eastern Penmanship Supervisors' Association. From Albany it went to New York City, and from New York City it was sent to Des Moines, la., to be exhibited at the summer meeting of the National Educa- tion Association. The exhibit is to be sent from Dos Moines to Columbia University in July.
The honor roll work inaugurated last year was continued this year. A week before the close of school, honor rolls bearing the names of pupils whose applied written work in spelling, arith- metic and composition shoAved evidences of the use of muscular movement were distributed to all grades above the third. There was an increase of approximately 40 per cent in the number of pupils over that of last June, who successfully competed for place on the honor roll. The quality of the work submitted was in general vastly superior to that of last year. Many masters have added strength to the functioning power of the honor roll in making an attractive ceremony of the distribution of the honor rolls in their schools.
An unexpectedly large number of ninth grade pupils sub- mitted during the allotted time in May, examinations for the ninth grade penmanship credit toward the high school penman- ship certificate. Many of the intermediate schools made notable showing in the long lists of successful pupils.
It is greatly to the credit of all the high schools from which examinations were received that the majority of examinations submitted for the certificate were accepted. The number of high school penmanship certificates awarded to high school pupils in this the first year of its design, has been most gratifying.
Several highly commendable and conspicuous results in the development of the work this year deserve mention:
1. Pupils in all grades have acquired a greatly improved sitting posture during all written work. The benefits derived are too obvious to require enumeration.
2. Excellent condition and management of materials in all written tasks is a noticeable feature in the majority of class rooms.
74 APPENDIX G.
3. The blackboard work of the teachers in all subjects has shown an increased consideration of the value to pupils of visualizing correct letter formation.
4. The habit of applying muscular movement to all written tasks, with a constantly improved power of control has been acquired by a greatly increased number of pupils.
.5. Teachers have, in general, developed a fuller understand- ing and sympathy with the transitory period of oversized, erratic writing occurring in the applied work, and, as a result, are guid- ing and encouraging their pupils to a high degree of efficiency in practical writing ability.
6. A uniformity of procedure in this subject from the first grade through the Normal School, and an improved under- standing of the aims and accompHshment of each grade are now apparent.
The entire teaching corps throughout the city deserves high praise for the splendid accomplishment shown by the pupils in this subject.
Very sincerely yours,
BERTHA A. CONNOR,
Director of Penmanship.
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL TRAINING. 75
APPENDIX H.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL TRAINING.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir: In accordance with your request I am sending herewith a report of the scope of the work of the Department of Physical Training, with indications of new developments and recommendations for the future.
The Department of Physical Training includes all those branches of school activities in which training of the mind is received through the training of the body, i. e., gymnastics in the Boston Normal School, Latin, day high, intermediate, and elementary schools; mihtary drill in the Latin, day high and intermediate schools, and the Boston Trade School; athletics in Latin, day high, intermediate and elementary schools^ and the Boston Trade School; and playgrounds.
Gymnastics.
Elementary Schools. — In the first three grades of the ele- mentary schools part of the new course in physical training has been introduced, and vanous forms of marching, simple dances and singing games have been tried out.
Much enthusiasm has been developed in the work by both pupils and teachers, the latter looking foi"ward eagerly to the issue of the entire course in September. The work in all grades above the first three consists of marching and formal gymnas- tics, and next year graded folk dances and games suitable for use in the school room or corridor will be added. These will be of great value, the dancing for the development of the sense of rhythm, and the games for training in fair play and control. All physical training work is given by the grade teachers under the supervision of physical training teachers
76 APPENDIX H.
from the high schools. About sixteen minutes a day are allotted to physical training in the elementary grades, part of the time being given in the morning and the rest in the afternoon.
Intermediate Schools.- — In the intermediate schools, the seventh and eighth grades are allowed five minutes in the morning and three fifteen-minute periods three afternoons in the week. In the ninth grades five minutes are allowed every morning for a ''setting-up drill" and forty-five-minute periods twice a week are given to gymnastic work in the school hall under the charge of one of the grade teachers. Marching, free standing exercises, folk dances and games are given, the course being similar to that of the freshman year in the high schools. This year the experiment was tried of bringing to- gether the girls of the ninth grades from the various parts of the city in the Normal School gymnasium to demonstrate the uniformity of their work. This demonstration proved most successful, owing to the ready co-operation of the masters and teachers with the supervisor in charge of the intermediate school gymnastics.
Latin and Day High Schools. — In the Latin and day high schools, ten minutes in the morning are devoted to setting up drill exercises and two forty-five minute periods a week are given to physical training. Graded work in free standing exercises, wands, dumb-bells and Indian club drills, folk and aesthetic dancing, games and athletics form the program from freshman to senior year. Seven points are given towards the high school diploma for gymnastic work and an additional one point is awarded to every pupil who successfully passes the swimming test. A demonstration is given by each high school annually to show the proficiency and progress gained by the pupils.
Normal School. — In the Normal School the physical training of the first two years consists of a double period twice a week. During this time the students are taught how to perform the various types of work included in the course of physical training for the elementary schools.
Early in the fall and late in the spring the students go to a nearby field for work in baseball and other team games. This gives a splendid opportunity for training in leadership and in playground organization.
In the third year one period is assigned for theory of physical training and two for practical work. The latter is almost
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL TRAINING. 77
wholly directed by the students as practice teaching, and is supplemented by a teaching lesson in the Model School.
A posture machine, set up in the school this year, has been invaluable in indicating to the girls the necessity for striving for good posture. By means of the tracings made of the pupil's outhne, she is able to see her own defects and is thereby given concrete evidence of the need for improvement.
Courses in the organization and conduct of playground work are given during the entire period in the school. An innova- tion this year is the institution of an athletic club which has a voluntary membership from all three classes. Under its auspices inter-class games and meets are held and splendid results are evident in the development of team spirit, fair play and loyalty.
Athletic Badge Tests.
It has been made increasingly apparent during the past year that schools which aspire to excel in the intermediate and elementary school athletic meet must give early attention to getting the boys to qualify for the athletic badges. These awards are given to those who reach certain definite physical standards. Three badges are offered to boys and two to girls. In the first test for boys, bronze badges are given to those who succeed in running sixty yards in eight and three-fifths seconds, jumpmg five feet nine inches and chinning the bar four times. A silver badge may be won by doing the run in eight seconds, jumping six feet six inches and chinning six tmies. To be eligible for a gold badge, a boy must be in high school or in the ninth grade of intermediate school. He must run 220 yards in twenty -eight seconds, do a high jump of four feet four inches and chin the bar nine times. These badges furnish strong incentives to boys to bring themselves to a fair degree of physical development. They are eagerly sought for by the boys and are much prized by the parents.
The first badge test for girls of the Latin, day high and ele- mentary schools requires the finishing of the all-up Indian club race in thirty seconds, two successors out of six throws at a basket ball goal, and balancing properly on a regulation 12-foot beam. To qualify in the second badge test a girl must finish the all-up Indian club race in twenty-eight seconds, succeed three times out of six trials at the basket ball goal, and balance on the beam with a bean bag carried on the head.
78 APPENDIX H.
These requirements are not easy, nor are they of equal difficulty. The requirements in running for boys and balancing for girls, prove hardest to satisfy. Rarely do any succeed below the seventh and eighth grades.
In order to arrive at standards that will take into account proper incentives for fourth, fifth and sixth grade pupils as well as for seventh and eighth grade pupils, one of the schools tested out its boys in chinning, jumping, and running at the beginning of the year and again at the end, after considerable intensive training. The study indicates that a set of graded badges A, B, and C might be given to elementary school boys for at- taining the following standards:
|
A. |
B. |
C. |
|
|
Running 60 yards . |
8i? seconds. |
9 seconds. |
9? seconds. |
|
Jumping . |
6 feet 2 inches. |
5 feet 9 inches. |
5 feet 4 inches, |
|
Chinning . |
10 times. |
7 times. |
4 times. |
It is suggested that other schools try these standards out and report results, in order that the standards may be adjusted to meet the average proficiency of the pupils. Until such time as they are modified, the director offers the original standards for purposes of comparison and hopes to have similar standards worked out for the girls.
Military Drill.
During the past year the Boston School cadets have been reorganized into an infantry division of nine cadet regiments, divided into two brigades of five and four regiments respectively. This work which started in the years of the Civil War when the boys of two of the central schools voluntarily took military drill, and which then numbered a battahon, has now grown to be one of the largest military units of school cadets in the world. The drill is compulsory for all boys who are not found physically deficient and excused by the school physician. Diploma credit for the work is given.
The regi,ments of the division are located as follows: First Regiment, EngHsh High School; Second Regiment, Public Latin School; Third Regiment, English High School; Fourth Regiment, Dorchester High School; Fifth Regiment, Brighton, Hyde Park and West Roxbury High Schools ; Sixth Regiment, East Boston and South Boston High Schools; Seventh Regi-
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL TRAIXIXG. 79
ment, High School of Conunerce; Eighth Regiment, High School of Commerce; Ninth Regiment, Boston Trade and Charlestown High Schools.
To officer the division above the rank of cadet captain the following method is pursued: At the beginning of the school year no officer of higher rank than captain is appointed, and until the spring months the work progresses through the school of the soldier, squad, section, platoon and company, and then a competition is held in each cadet regiment in which the most efficient company is chosen, as are also the second, third, fourth, and fifth. The captain who has developed the best company becomes colonel of his regiment, and the others selected, in order, become the lieutenant -colonel, and the majors of the first, second and third battahons respectively. For the balance of the school year the drill includes the school of the battalion and the regiment in accordance with the infantry drill regu- lations. In order to select the division commander and the two brigade commanders, the nine winning companies of the regiments are assembled at a central point, and another competi- tive drill is conducted in which the winner is made division commander. No higher rating than that of colonel is given, however. The officer, already a colonel, who gets second place in this final competition becomes the brigade commander of the first brigade, and the winner of third place becomes brigade commander of the second brigade. The members of these three most efficient companies of the division wear gold, silver or bronze stars for first, second or third places, respectively.
In each of the regimental competitions, certificates are awarded the officers of the winning companies, which state the place taken by the company and the rank to which the cadet has been promoted. No medals are given, but each member of a winning company is awarded a small colored stripe to be worn on the lower part of the left sleeve.
Besides the above-mentioned rewards for merit, ten certifi- cates for soldierliness and proficiency in the manual of arms are awarded individually in each regiment at its spring com- petition, and in each of the regimental drum and bugle bands a certificate for proficiency is awarded to the best performer on drum, fife, or bugle. These boys, too, receive a small conven- tional device in blue silk on khaki to be worn on the lower left sleeve.
While the mifitary character of the work is distinctly em-
80 APPENDIX H.
phasized, the chief purpose of the instructors, who are veteran officers, is to develop correct posture. Throughout the year, physical drill is dwelt upon and especially emphasized during the autumn months when a large proportion of the time is devoted to physical drill. Two periods per week, of forty- five minutes each, are devoted to military drill throughout the four years of high school training. Boys in the ninth grade classes of the intermediate schools take military drill at the nearest high school and become a part of that high school organization.
Military drill is necessarily discipHnary in character to a large extent, and as failure in it implies a lack of control, or bad con- duct, a boy who has not received his credits for the four years in military drill may be denied a diploma. Those who are excused from drilling on account of physical disability are obliged to secure the four points by additional work in other lines.
Promotions are limited by classes. Officers are appointed from the senior classes; non-commissioned officers from the junior classes, though second-year boys may occasionally be- come corporals, or in rare instances junior sergeants. Upon graduation, military diplomas, which in each instance show the rank, are given to those who have held commissioned rank.
High School Athletics.
The School Committee exercises full control over school athletics and assumes financial responsibility therefor. Each high school is allotted a generous sum for athletic equipment, which is ordered by the Business Agent upon requisition from the Director of Physical Training. Most of the high schools maintain an athletic association, the receipts of which may be expended only in accordance with the Committee 's regulations. This complete financial control has been in operation since September, 1920.
The business representative of the committee in each school is the teacher manager. He is, as the name shows, a member of the faculty. His duties are to make the necessary business arrangements for the games in which his school takes part, to attest the eligibility of his school's contestants, and to be pre- sent at every game in which his school takes part. At these games he is responsible for the conduct of the players and of the spectators.
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL TRAINING. 81
Three main ideals are the objectives in the conduct of high school athletics: First, to have the boj^s trained under strictly amateur conditions by competent coaches of the highest char- acter. Second, to get the largest number of pupils possible to take an active part in athletics. Third, to develop in the boys, by means of the games, sportsmanlike qualities, fair play, loyalty, team spirit.
So that the first of these ideals may be carried out, the coaches of the teams are selected from the ranks of teachers. They are men highly skilled in their work; men who, in their school or college courses, played the games they are coaching. Since their vocation is teaching, they are free from the temptation of professional coaches to slight the boys less promising athleti- cally for the sake of developing a winning team. These faculty coaches are judged not for producing a championship team but for their ability to get a large number of boys out daily for physical exercise.
Before this year the grounds for the games were selected and paid for by the contesting schools. The result was that all the games of the smaller high schools and most of the games of the larger schools, were played on the public playgrounds. These playgrounds are all good grounds, but since they are public, it is difficult to play the games unhampered by crowds gathering on the field of play. Consequenth^, the teams were greatly handicapped.
To remedy this situation in the absence of a stadium for the football games, arrangements were made with the Boston National Baseball Team management for the use of Braves Field. Every courtesy was granted by the officials, and all but one of the football games were played there. The games were in charge of competent officials, there was adequate police pro- tection. A doctor, whose word as to the condition of the players was final, was present at every game, and the spectators were off the field of play. In short, the boys had an opportunity to play under ideal conditions. For the track season, the East State Armory on East Newton street was secured. For base- ball, the Boston Athletic Association of New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad granted the use of the Walpt)le Street Grounds. The result has been most gratifying.
So great an interest in athletics has been aroused that many more pupils report for athletics than can be directed by the teacher coaches. Therefore, in the larger high schools, teachers
82 APPENDIX H.
called play teachers have been appointed. These men have charge of the boys who cannot be cared for by teacher coaches. Every pleasant afternoon the play teachers are out with these boys, coaching them and arranging inter-group games.
It may truly be said that no pupil in the Boston school system lacks an opportunity for athletic activity under com- petent instruction.
No arguments are needed to convince the pubhc ot the value of athletics. This approval has been taken for granted by the Department of Physical Training. Its whole endeavor has been to give the pupils every chance to engage in athletics under good conditions, and to show them that the greatest fun in winning a contest comes from playing the game on the level and winning on merit alone.
Athletics in the Intermediate and Elementary Schools.
Sixty submasters, reahzing the importance of play in educa- tion, prolong their school day to 5.30 o'clock, to direct the games of the boys of their schools. These men work under the direction of four supervisors, who are responsible to the Director of Physical Training.
The play teachers, during the spring season, organize a series of inter-room games, confining their activities to their own schools. The system of inter-school contests, which limits the nmnber of participants to a dozen or two boys from each school has given place to the plan of affording opportunity for play to all the boys of a school. The play teacher organizes his games at the school, and the boys come to the playground prepared to play at four o'clock. Most schools have two games of baseball scheduled to start at four o'clock, two other games at 4.45 o'clock. This system allows many boys to plaj^ who have chores to do at home after school.
From time to time the play teacher, leaving the ball games in the hands of competent older boys, finds time to train and coach the boys in running and jumping. By holding a school track meet the best athletes are selected to represent the school in the inter-school track meet held in June.
The play teacher's work does not stop when the games are started. On the contrary, his work has just begun. Getting an older boy to umpire, he is free to give his attention to the playing of the individual boy. Spending a few minutes at first base, a few minutes with the short stop, he aims to get each boy
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL TRAINING. 83
to play his part in the team's work. He teaches the boys how to make a good start in the dash, how to get the inside of the track in the run, how to finish at the tape.
A relay carnival and a track and field meet are held on suc- cessive Saturdays in June. The enthusiasm, the clean sports- manship, the skill of the very many participants, show the careful training of the play teachers.
Playgrounds.
The growing recognition of the significance and value of properly directed recreation implies an ever widening scope of activities for the playgrounds. Their function is not simply to serve as a means for "amusing" the children, but to exert educational, social and moral influences as well. It is therefore with a sense of spiritual and mental responsibilities as well as the obvious physical ones that the playground work is organized and performed by supervisors and teachers. To insure efficient service only those are certified for playground positions, who are students in or graduates of the Boston Normal School, in which a course in playground work is given, or teachers of physical training in the Boston Schools. Appointments are made from a merit list. Over three hundred teachers make up a staff under the direction of five supervisors.
There are three playground seasons, spring, summer and fall. During the spring and fall months (April, May, June, September, and October) the sessions are held after school from 4. to 5.30 and on Saturdays from 9.45 to 5 on forty park corner play- grounds. Directed and free play is carried on. During the summer the forty park corner playgrounds and thirty-five schoolyard playgrounds are open from 9.45 to 5. A definite, well varied program is followed by the two instructors on every playground. The morning is usually spent in active games; in fact on two mornings in the week inter-playground games in boys' and girls' squash ball, bean bag, and checkers, and boys' baseball are conducted according to a definitely planned schedule. District winners in all these games have the privilege of competing in the finals at the end of the summer which decide the winning teams of the city.
During the afternoon the program of play is enriched by the addition of story-telHng, dramatics, dancing, and sewing. Special training is given to the assistants who tell stories and coach dramatics. The especially noteworthy effort made last
84 APPENDIX H.
year to train little casts for the production of plays commemo- rating the Pilgrim Tercentenary has borne fruit in the repeti- tion of these plays in various schools at special exercises. Both dancing and dramatics are used to advantage in playground demonstrations .
In addition to the regular program, excursions to picnic groves and beaches are frequently held. The playgrounds also benefit by trips to the Art Museum for story hours. In order that the Randidge excursion be conducive of the highest degree of profit and enjoyment, the playground department co- operates with the trustees of the Penal Institutions Department by providing playground activities for the excursionists under the direction of a supervisor and two efficient teachers.
The opportunities playgrounds offer are open to all children of the city, and as a result the daily attendance varies according to the size and location of the playground from 150 to 500 children each day. A conservative estimate of the number of children who this year benefited from the playgrounds places the number at 50,000.
Yours very truly,
N. J. YOUNG, Director of Physical Training.
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL CLASSES. 85
APPENDIX I.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL CLASSES.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir, — In accordance with your request for a report on the work of the Special Class Department during the past year, I respectfully submit the following :
There are now eighty-one classes in which over fourteen hundred pupils are being given academic, manual and phj^sical work suitable to their individual needs. More classes are needed in order to fulfill the requirements of the recent state law which makes it compulsory to establish special classes in order to give mentally-retarded children instruction adapted to their mental attainments. The appropriation made for a center m the John Marshall District will provide much-needed accommodations in the Dorchester district and the organization of this group will be the advance step to be taken during the coming year.
The George T. Angell Center is approaching the type of school for which it was originally intended, a higher school for the older boys of the individual classes, a school where greater opportunities for intensive training of the individual are offered, a school to which it is a promotion and an honor to be sent. The opening of a new class in the Sheiivin School last September, to take care of the smaller boys of the surrounding districts, has been a distinct advantage. B}^ elijninating these boys from the center, it has been possible to admit a larger number of older pupils and has made them as well as their parents feel that the school is really an advanced school to which the boys have been promoted. Miss Coveney reports:
A valuable bit of work started this year is the regular training in cor- rective gymnastics and physical training. The resignation of one of our teachers and the temporary appointment to our school of a trained teacher
86 APPENDIX I.
of physical education, together with the courtesy of the Roxbury Neighbor- hood House in allowing us the use of their gymnasium, has made this new work possible. I have always regretted our inability to give our boys such training, particularly as they can get it nowhere else. Instructors in play- grounds, municipal buildings and settlement houses all make the same reply when asked what they are doing for our type of boy, "We can do little because they need such constant watching and even then they never seem to fit." The boys are enthusiastic over the new work and I feel that we have gone forward another step in the development of these pupils.
Our immediate need is a workshop properly equipped and in charge of skilful instructors. The extension of school requirements for working certificates, the present industrial conditions, and a growing intelligence on the part of parents, are causes tending to keep our boys in school. We have more boys fourteen to sixteen years than ever before. We are pushing carpentry, caning, and tin work as far as possible in our limited quarters but we cannot do enough for the boys who are physically very mature and • who could do much more than they are doing. Many of them have distinct ability in hand work and should be given every opportunity to progress in this line. In my attempt to overcome the inadequacy of our equipment for the advanced bo3's, I have had splendid co-operation from the masters of the Dudley, Dearborn and Mather Districts who have taken our boys into their prevocational classes on our valuation and have given them the needed encouragement. On first thought, this seems to be the satisfactory solution of the problem, but we who understand special class boys know ' better. They may go into an eighth grade machine shop and cope success- fully with normal boys, but in the academic instruction correlated with the shop work they still are "misfits" as they were in the grades and in the recreation work. One of our boys is doing superior work in an eighth grade machine shop, but because of his academic disabilities, he has to return to us for this work. He realizes there is something wrong, for he said to one of the teachers, "I don't belong anywhere, do I?"
In return for the co-operation of these masters, we are frequently asked by them to examine boys in their prevocational classes who are failures in the class, but who, for one reason or another, have never been in special classes. The examination by Doctor Jelly usually proves the boy to be a Special Class subject, and in some cases the doctor's records show that the boy has been examined years before and pronounced eligible for a Special Class, though never admitted to one. With our center full and unable to receive all legitimate applicants from special classes, there is no possibility under present conditions of doing anything to help these boys. They do not belong in the prevocational center where the requirements are adapted to boys of normal ability; there is no room for them in our center. I believe it is the work of our school to take care of all such boys and to give them a chance of finding themselves. We can do this with increased facilities for vocational or trade classes adapted to their needs. We can, at least, give them a few years to form good habits under sympa- thetic, interested teachers who will give them the careful, individual treat- ment characteristic of special class instruction. These boys belong some- where in the school system. How much longer must they wait before their place is found? x
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL CLASSES. 87
At the Frances E. Willard Girls' Center there has been an improvement along all hnes. The fact that labor conditions have forced pupils to remain in school has caused less shifting of the membership and much more steady application at school. The manual work has been of unusual excellence, especially that done by girls who have had long j^ears of special class train- ing. Sewing, embroidery, knitting, mending, dressmaking, the use of the sewing machine, have all been taught, and in addition, very careful, artistic work has been done on milhnery models. Hats with hand-made trimmings have been com- pleted in straw, velvet and satin. Bead work, rug making, cardboard construction work, paper box, crepe-flower and favor making have been real industries.
The greatest abihty of the girls appears in the Domestic Science Department. Most of the older pupils are capable of buying, cooking, serving and clearing away the lunch for about fifty pupils and teachers each day. The Wednesday afternoon voluntary cooking class has been an innovation. Pupils plan with the teacher what they wish to cook for the Wednesday night supper at home. They bring the materials from home. If the recipe is too expensive, two or three share in bringing the materials and divide the product. So far, they have made apple and lemon-meringue pies, cookies, baking-powder bis- cuits, pin-wheel rolls, and doughnuts. Twenty-two dozen doughnuts were taken home on the day of the doughnut lesson. Recently the girls cooked and served a dainty and palatable luncheon for the entire group of eighty special class teachers.
Through the kindness of friends, it has been made financially possible to serve in the middle of each morning, cocoa and crackers to malnutrition cases in two classes. There have been decided gains in weight. The school nurse has given time and effort in the interests of teeth and throats. By the end of the school year, practically all needy cases will have been cared for. The youngest class has had instruction in proper taking of baths and in shampooing. Diflacult marching, setting-up drills, ball, wand and Indian club drills, and folk, solo and social dancing have given splendid physical training. Miss Powers reports:
Through the courtesy of the Metropolitan Chapter of the Red Cross, a group of eighteen of the girls were given the regulation course of sixteen
88 APPENDIX I.
lessons on the "Home Care of the Sick. " The course began on December 1, 1920, and was completed on April 4, 1921. The girls were enthusiastic over the work and acquired much that the center is unable to give because of lack of equipment. A teacher accompanied them at all of the lessons and reviewed with them the difficult parts of the lessons at school on the following day. Note taking was crude, and many eyes were not sharp enough to read the registration of the clinical thermometer, but all learned to make better beds, take more rational care of babies, and bathe and feed, or not feed, a patient properly. An outline of the course follows: (1.) Equipment for a model, hospital bed.
Demonstration of making a bed. (2.) Preparation of bed for conscious and unconscious patients. The lay-out for making the bed up clean. Practice in making the bed without disturbing the patient. (3.) Symptoms of common diseases. Taking of pulse. Taking of temperatures. (4.) Demonstration by nurse on giving a bath to a patient in bed. One of the girls served as model. Listing of articles needed for giving the above bath. (5.) A very interesting lesson on bacteria.
Practical advice about guarding against harmful bacteria. (6, 7.) Practice on bathing a dummy in bed, lifting and turning a patient,
caring for soiled linen, etc. (8.) Feeding and proper dressing of babies.
Demonstration with doll. (9.) All had practice in bathing and dressing baby or putting baby to bed. Baby's clothing and bath implements noted. (10.) Preparation of trays for the sick.
Listing of proper foods for liquid, slightly solid, light and full diet. How to carry the tray and serve the patient. (11.) Bandages and binders. Circular. Figure eight. Triangular. T.
Swathes. (12.) General practical review. (13.) Four-tail bandage.
Review of other types. (14.) Common diseases and their prevention. (15.) Poultices and stupes made and applied. (16.) Examination.
Of the twenty-four pupils who have left school this year,
there are:
Working in store or factory 7
Working well at home 4
In state schools for mentally defective 3
In private schools 2
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL CLASSES.
89
In grade schools in Boston 3
(Of these, 2 were at parent's insistence and the other by order of the Court.) In special class in Detroit, Mich In Horace Mann School Living in Canada . In penal institution Excluded ....
24
Two hundred girls who have left the Frances E. Willard School during the past five years have been placed as follows :
At work : -
In factory 38
In store In laundry In restaurant At housework On elevator
11 3 2
2 ]
At home :
In the home 19
Married 6
In other Bo.ston schools: In grade .... In parochial schools In Special Class In Horace Mann School In private schools
In schools elsewhere : In Massachusetts . In other states In Canada
In care of city or state:
In institutions for the feeble-minded In penal institutions In house of detention . Boarded out ....
Miscellaneous:
Moved and lost track of (small girls)
Excluded
Ill at home
Deceased ....
57
25
25 11
9
1
1 — 47
21
11
3
14 5 4 5
4 2 1 1
35
28
Total
200
Of the thirtj^-eight placed in factories, eleven work on candy and eight on candy boxes. Of the twenty-five returned to grade, thirteen were at parents' request.
90 APPENDIX I.
Miss Bigelow of the Somerset Street School reports :
Another year is added to the age of this youngest of the special class centers. Each locality has its own particular problems and this center has its share which are peculiarly those of the neighborhood. We draw our pupils from the four West End school districts and find that our num- bers are quite up to the requirements without drawing from districts out- side of this area. The greatest difficulty when we started was to convince foreign parents that we were not a disciplinary school or a school to which it was a disgrace to be sent. This misunderstanding has been overcome and now there is friendly, helpful co-operation between parents and teachers. During the year we have promoted fifteen to grades. All are holding their own and some are doing extremely well.
No work with the mentally backward is truly successful unless careful, follow-up work is done. For many parents the ordinary verbal message or even the carefully-worded note rarely bring the desired result. The appeal must be made personally. The time that a teacher may give to follow-up work is necessarily limited because of her school hours, and if she has done an honest day's work, she is able to give but a. short time more for follow-up work. For the teacher assigned to follow-up work, these limitations are removed. She may go to the home, the place of business, or wherever the need calls her, at any time of the day or evening. She may go once, if that is sufficient, or, as in one case this winter, nine times before the desired result is obtained. The children soon recognize her as the connecting Hnk between the home and the school, and all the social agencies recognize her as an authorized part of the school system.
In the first five months of this school year, the follov/-up teacher made 329 visits in 43 schools and 155 visits in 79 homes. She has fifteen times attended court sessions in which special class children were involved and has made thirteen calls on probation officers, and has also made twenty visits to hospitals. Effective co-operation has been received from settlements, social agencies, the Judge Baker Foundation directors, and from the police.
Looking forward to the further development of the depart- ment, provision should be made for more individual classes in districts now without them, the organization of a center in each section of the city, and an opportunity for vocational work, suited to the needs of the older pupils.
Respectfully submitted,
ADA M. FITTS, Director of Special Classes^
DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. 91
APPENDIX J.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston, Mass.
Dear Sir; — As a part of the report of the Department of Vocational Guidance, I herewith submit seven Tables and twenty-one C harts representing graphically the results of studies of certain of the data collected by this Depaitment in its work with the high and elementary schools.
Chart XVI shows the number of graduates of all the high schools for 1921. English High for Boys and Girls' High are easily the leaders in numbers.
No boys graduated from Charlestown High in 1921, in the regular course, and the figures used here do not include those receiving industrial certificates.
Occupations of Boys and Girls Who Graduated from Ten Boston High Schools, 1916 to 1920, Inclusive. (Data gathered between January and April of the year fol- lowing their graduation.)
The boys studied are graduates of the following high schools :
Brighton, English. South Boston.
Charlestown.* Hyde Park.* West Roxbury.
East Boston.* Mechanic Arts.f
The total number of boys graduating from these schools each year has shown a slight decrease, namely, from 635 in 1917 to 585 in 1920.
The number of boys entering college has increased each year, with the exception of 1918, when there was a falhng off of five. . In 1920, 191 boys entered college as against 127 in 1917, an increase of 64 (50.39 per cent).
• Boys receiving industrial certificates are not included.
t Statistics are not available for Mechanic Arts High School for 1916. The number of graduates was 185.
92
APPENDIX J.
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OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS AND QIRLS WHO QRADUATED FROM TEN BOSTON HIGH SCHOOLS, 19f6 TO 1920, INCLUSIVE.
(Data gathered between January and April of the year following their graduation.)
0 100 200 300 400
^ J
1917.
Total. Boya, 635 Girls, 950
500
600
|
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^- *-. |
m |
|
|
HI B |
Ill |
II III '!il| |
|
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li llll'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH |
llllllllilllllll Illlllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll |
^
1918.
Total.
■niiniiimiiiiiir!i!!i
iiiiniiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiimiiiiiiiii iiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMTi
BLACK represents GIRLS
■ At College g Other schools
Working
.fBoye- in Army, or Havy
Ic
LGirls- at home, or married Moved or not traced
^ Figures for boys based on seven schools, Mechanic Arts omitted.
DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE. 93
The largest number going to work from high school appears in 1917, when there were 424, an increase of 170 (66.92 per cent) over 1916. The decrease from 424, in 1917, to 312, in 1920, is 112 (26.41 per cent).
Boys entering the army or navy during the year following graduation is small, the largest number, 26 (4.09 percent), being in 1917. For the five years there were only 49 (1.7 per cent). It must be remembered that these figures do not take into account those who may have entered the service at a later period than April of the year following graduation.
The total number who have moved or could not be traced is 141 (4.9 per cent) for the boys, and 165 (3.64 per cent) for the girls, during the entire period.
The girls included in this study are graduates of the follow- ing High Schools:
Brighton. Girls' High. South Boston.
Charlestown. Hyde Park. West Roxbury.
East Boston. Roxbury.
Each year shows an increase in the number of graduates (in 1916, 857), with the exception of 1919, when two less (855) received diplomas.
In 1916, while only 34 entered college, 290 (33.84 per cent) continued their studies in commercial, normal, art, or other schools. The number going to college has increased slightly each year, except in 1918, when two less (32) entered. 1920 shows an increase of 51 (150 per cent) over the figure for 1916. On the other hand, the number attending other schools de- creased steadily until 1919, that is, from 290 (33.84 per cent) in 1916 to 192 (22.46 per cent) in 1919, and this number has increased only 4 (196) in 1920.
The number of girls going to work from high school is 471 (61.42 per cent) for 1916, and 617 (64.20 per cent) for 1920, an increase of 266, while the total number of graduates of the eight schools in 1916, was 857, and in 1920, 961, an increase of only 104.
The number of girls who marry within the year after leav- ing high school, or who remain at home varies only slightly, about 3 per cent of the total number graduating. The greatest variation appears in 1916, when the number rose to 5.13 per cent.
Note. — See, also, Chart XVII.
94
APPENDIX J.
TABLE II.— OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS WHO GRADUATED FROM EIGHT BOSTON HIGH
SCHOOLS, 1916-20. (Data gathered between January and April of the year following their graduation.)
|
PoST-GR.iDUATE |
Boys Whose Post-graduate Occupations were as Specified, by Years. |
|||||||||||
|
Occupations. |
Total. |
I 1916. |
1917. |
1918. |
1919. |
1920. |
||||||
|
Total Taking further studies * . . . College' Other schools At work 2 Miscellaneous. . In army 6. . . . Not traced,. |
2,876 1,002 729 273 1,684 190 49 141 |
100.00 34 84 25.35 9.49 58.55 6.60 1.70 4.90 |
437 161 118 43 254 22 1 21 |
100.00 36.84 27.00 9.84 58.12 5.03 .23 4.81 |
635 160 127 33 424 51 26 25 |
100 00 25.20 20.00 5.20 66.77 8.03 4.09 3.94 |
623 201 122 79 363 59 16 43 |
100.00 32.26 19.58 12.68 58.26 9.47 2.57 6.90 |
596 233 171 62 331 32 4 28 |
100.00 39.09 28.69 10.40 55.54 5.37 .67 4.70 |
585 247 191 56 312 26 2 24 |
100.00 42.22 32.64 9.58 53.33 4.44 .34 4.10 |
1 The figures for 1916 are based on seven high schools, since the statistics for Mechanic Arts High School were, not available for that year.
' We have included in this group boys who wished to work but were not employed at the time of inquiry. The numbers were seventeen in 1916, nineteen in 1917, twentj'-two in 1918, sixteen in 1919, thirty-five in 1920. ' Only educational institutions which award a degree are included in this figure. * Boys pursuing further studies in evening schools are not included in these figures.
5 These figures are based, in each case, on data collected between January and April of the year following graduation, therefore, they do not take into account those who may have entered the service at a later date. It is possible also that some of those recorded as "not traced" may have entered the service.
V\BLE III.— OCCUPATIONS OF GIRLS WHO GRADUATED FROM EIGHT BOSTON HIGH
SCHOOLS, 1916-20. (Data gathered between January and April of the year following their graduation.)
|
Post-graduate |
Girls |
Whose Post-ghaduate Occupations were as Specified, by Years. |
||||||||||
|
Occupations. |
Total. |
1916. |
1917. |
1918. |
1919. |
1920. |
||||||
|
Total |
4,526 |
100.00 |
857 |
100.00 |
950 |
100.00 |
903 |
100.00 |
855 |
100.00 |
961 |
100.00 |
|
Taking further studies'. . . |
1,412 |
31.19 |
324 |
37.81 |
290 |
30.53 |
255 |
28.24 |
262 |
30.64 |
281 |
29.24 |
|
College* |
267 |
5.89 |
34 |
3.97 |
46 |
4.84 |
32 |
3.54 |
70 |
8.19 |
85 |
8.84 |
|
Other schools |
1,145 |
25.29 |
290 |
33.84 |
244 |
25.68 |
223 |
24.70 |
192 |
22.46 |
196 |
20.39 |
|
At work I |
2,780 |
61.42 |
471 |
54.96 |
572 |
60.21 |
583 |
'64 . 56 |
537 |
62.81 |
617 |
64.20 |
|
Miscellaneous. . |
334 |
7.37 |
62 |
7.23 |
88 |
9.26 |
65 |
7.20 |
56 |
6.55 |
63 |
6.55 |
|
At home .... |
169 |
3.73 |
44 |
5.13 |
32 |
3.37 |
29 |
3.21 |
29 |
3.39 |
35 |
3.65 |
|
Not traced.. . |
165 |
3.64 |
18 |
2.10 |
56 |
5.89 |
36 |
3.99 |
27 |
3.16 |
28 |
2.90 |
1 We have included in this group girls who wished work but were not employed at the time of the inquiry. The numbers were twenty in 1916, twelve in 1917, thirteen in 1918, two in 1919, and forty-four in 1920. ^ Only educational institutions which award a degree are included in this figure. ' Girls pursuing further studies in evening schools are not included in these figures.
Respectfully submitted,
SUSAN J._GINN,_ Director of Vocational Guidance.
ipo
290
5(?0
4P0
GRADUATES OF BOSTON HIQH SCHOOLS, JUNE, 1921.
500 600 700 800 900 1000 IIQO
(Boys.
Totals
(Girls.
S
BrigbtoD.
D
West Roibury
^1 Boys I 1 Clrl»
HORACE MANN SCHOOL. 95
APPENDIX K.
REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL OF THE HORACE MANN
SCHOOL.
Mr. Frank V. Thompson,
Superintendent of Public Schools, Boston, Mass.: Dear Sir, — In accordance with your request, I hereby submit the annual report of the Horace Mann School.
Convention of Teachers of the Deaf at Philadelphia. June-July, 1920. The work of teaching the deaf in America has been going on for about a century. The American School at Hartford cele- brated its centenary in 1917, and in July, 1920, the second school chronologically, and the largest in the countiy, the Pennsyl- vania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, completed a hundred years of service, and celebrated its birthday by entertaining for a week triple convention of the American Association for the Promotion of Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, the Conven- tion of American Instructors of the Deaf, and the Society of Oral Advocates. Teachers of the deaf from every state and from several foreign countries attended, and the papers, dis- cussions and demonstrations evoked great enthusiasm. The principal and assistant principal of the Horace Mann School were present and the principal read a paper on the teaching of history.
Teaching Staff. There have been no changes in the teaching staff of the Horace Mann School this year except that Miss Jennie M. Henderson, one of the assistants, was appointed assistant principal, she being the highest on the rated list for that rank. Miss Henderson is a specialist in speech and auricular training and brings to the work, in addition to the equipment for a teacher of the deaf, a thorough professional training as a singer and pianist, acquired under the best teachers in Boston.
96 APPENDIX K.
The school was again fortunate in securing as special assist- ants women who were trained teachers of the deaf. The increased compensation for special assistants undoubtedly helped in this matter.
Appointment of an Otologist.
The School Committee last year appointed an Advisory Council for Deaf Children, consisting of eight of the leading otologists of the city. On Wednesday, October 6, these gentle- men, together with Mr. Rafter, met Dr. Devine at the school at his invitation and conferred as to methods of helping the school. The result of this conference was the appointment by the School Committee of Dr. Harry P. Cahill as otologist and adviser for the school. The full report of his work will be found elsewhere, but it is proper here to explain the great advantage of his appointment from the point of view of the school. Up to this time man}- pupils who properly belong in a school for the deaf have been kept in the hearing schools because their parents could not be convinced that their hearing was defective enough to warrant a transfer. Now it is possible for every doubtful case to be given an exhaustive examination upon which a proper decision can be based. If the pupil needs to go to a school for the deaf he can be sent there, and if, on the other hand, his hearing is not sufficiently defective, some other cause of unsatisfactory progress in the regular school must be sought. In addition to examination of prospective pupils. Dr. Cahill is examining all the present pupils so that he may be able to fur- nish such data to our teachers as will enable them to proceed with the particular kind of auricular training best suited to each case, or to refrain from it entirely where no gain can be hoped for.
Even in this short time the parents have learned to rely upon his advice as to treatment, and he has headed off to a great extent the constant dabbling with impracticable "cures" which are the bane of schools for the deaf all over the country.
In addition to his work with the pupils, Dr. Cahill has lec- tured twice to the teachers and conducted a typical test of hear- ing, greatly to their profit.
Numbers and Accommodations. The school shows a small but steady increase each year. The increase during the past year was a little over seven pei'
HORACE MANN SCHOOL. 97
cent. At present there are 159 pupils enrolled and about ten more registered for the coming year. These ten do not repre- sent the usual September candidates who have yet to be heard from.
This year, for the first time in the fifty-one years of the school's history, appUcants have been denied admission because of lack of room. These were two eighth grade pupils whom it was physically impossible to accommodate in an eighth grade of sixteen pupils crowded into rooms designed for classes of ten.
The necessity for refusing applications naturally leads to a discussion of the crowded condition of the school. The school- house was built to accommodate 100 pupils in ten regular class rooms and this year has housed 159 in fifteen class rooms. The five additional rooms are in the attic, cold in winter and suffo- catingly hot in summer. There are double classes in three rooms, besides the over-crowded condition of every room to which the eighth grade goes. There are twelve and thirteen pupils in other rooms, all intended to accommodate ten. These numbers sound small, but six is just as much sixty per cent of ten as twenty-four is sixty per cent of forty, and a room designed for ten and holding sixteen is just as crowded as a room designed for forty and holding sixty -four.
The departmental plan is followed in the Horace, Mann School beyond the third year. All the higher classes visit at least seven rooms in the course of a week; so that provision for seating the largest class must be made in each of these rooms. Extra chairs brought in temporarily suffice in some instances, but full equipment must be provided in others and the resulting "clutter" is very trying.
This crowded state of things is most wearing on both teachers and pupils. The one prime essential in an oral school for the deaf is a chance to see every face in the room in a good light. Without this the give and take of recitation is impossible. The light in our school is poor, in spite of the unprecedented use of 100 watt Mazda lamps, and the excessive number of pupils in a room makes it impossible to seat them so that they may look at each other, or have a front view of the teacher at all times.
It is not hard to understand that children often weakened from illness, unable to hear anything, and partially shut off by their position from seeing fully, may grow restless and fractious. Fortunately our teachers are more than usually experienced,
98 APPENDIX K.
resourceful, patient and tactful, so they have managed to carry through the work of the year successfully and efficiently; but the cost to themselves in nervous strain has been greater than should be required of them.
The total lack of playground and the inadequacy of the two small rooms which we call "halls" for proper physical training, add to the fatigue of the day for the pupils.
Plans for Temporary Relief.
A plan for temporary relief of the over-crowded condition of the school is to be tried this year. A room on the first floor of the Peter Faneuil School has been secured, and it is proposed to gather there a group of first, second, and third-year children under a teacher and special assistant. Some of these children Uve in the neighborhood and others may come on the East Cambridge cars. It is believed that this group will receive many additions from children who rightfully belong in a school for the deaf, but are being kept away from the Horace Mann because their parents object to their traveling on the cars. Such children have been found this year in kindergartens, special classes, and regular primary classes.
An obvious question here arises. Why not plan for perma- nent rehef for the school by estabhshing classes for the deaf in various districts where the members warrant? But the answer is almost as obvious as the question. Such classes usually could not be graded and proper grading is just as necessary for the deaf as for the hearing. There are enough deaf children hving in the West End to make the proposed colony practicable as a three-year unit. Should a similar condition be found to exist in any other part of the city, another lower grade colony could be estabhshed; but any plan which would bring children into a group irrespective of age and acquirement, is unwise as such classes have been found to be most unsatisfactory wherever they have been tried in other states.
It may well be, however, that local graded classes for younger deaf children, in different sections of Boston, and in cities and towns of the metropohtan district, feeding into a central school consisting of grades from the seventh to the twelfth, offering both academic and vocational training, will prove to be the best solution of the education of the deaf in eastern Massachusetts. But each elementary center would have to draw from an area sufficiently large to allow for proper grading.
HORACE MANN SCHOOL. 99
Residence and Transportation of Pupils.
It may be of interest to know just what area the Horace Mann serves. Of the 159 pupils at present enrolled, ninety Uve in fifteen different sections of Boston, and sixty-nine in thirty-one other cities and towns. North Easton, South Easton, Abing- ton, Brockton, Campello, Braintree, Norwood, Dedham, Hud- son, Lynn and Saugus send children, besides all the nearer suburban towns and cities. One mother comes up from North Easton every day to bring her Uttle daughter, works at some temporary employment during the day, and takes her back at two o'clock, doing her housework evenings and Satur- days for the sake of keeping her child at home and the family united. This mother is typical of many the school has known. Teachers of afflicted children find that the affliction often brings with it a devotion and spirit of sacrifice on the part of the family far beyond the common run.
It cannot but be apparent that getting the pupils back and forth from homes so variously situated involves much planning as to trains, escort, buying of coinmutation tickets, providing for half-day sessions, getting sick children home, and all the other exigencies which distance from the school involves.
Older pupils care for younger ones; the matron meets a train group and a West End group at the North Station, and a third group at Park street. There is great need for another attendant to care for East Boston residents, and for yet another to meet a group at Dudley street. It is hoped that some pro- vision may soon be made for these children.
The state pays all car fares; Boston Elevated tickets are given when available, and the parents advance the fares in most other cases, receiving reimbursement quarterly. In those cases where unemployment or limited means make the advancing of money a great hardship, the principal arranges the matter as agent for the Parents' Association or philanthropic individuals. As niany of the parents have but scanty English it can be seen that these car fare matters and the quarterly bills therefor require serious attention.
Types of Pupils and Their Needs. Roughly speaking, the pupils who attend the Horace Mann School may be divided into three classes : The hard of hearing, the totally deaf who have acquired speech before losing their
100 APPENDIX K.
hearing, and the totally or almost totally deaf who have never heard spoken language and therefore possess no thought medium.
In the school there are at present twenty-one hard-of-hearing pupils, ten totally deaf but with natural speech, and 128 who have never heard speech; twenty of these 128 show evidence of some perception of sound. These figures represent the teachers' opinions of the pupils' hearing, and are not based on the careful examination now in progress under Dr. Cahill.
The hard-of-hearing pupils usually come to us from grades above the third with a record of retarded progress and with habits of inattention and carelessness engendered by years of dim understanding. They should be placed in classes by themselves — but exigencies of grading do not permit — and they have to be taught with the others. Curiously, however, they almost never resent this, as the relief of the small class, the constant attention which soon gives them mastery of their subject and the opportunity for frequent recitation usually make them too happy for resentment about anything.
Pupils who have been suddenly deafened by disease or accident, children who have lived a normal life, hearing and speaking Hke the rest of the world, have always been a great problem to schools for the deaf. The shock of losing the hearing is terrible. The awful silence, never again to be broken, seems to shut them out from their familiar world which they still see but cannot interpret. Sometimes we get these children direct from the hospital, with the first fear and be- wilderment yet in their eyes. Their great and immediate need is lip-reading, as a means of communication with their world. During the past year it has been possible so to organize the program as to give such pupils immediate individual instruction, so that even in the first few days they begin to realize that communication with their fellow beings is still possible to them.
Another exceptional class of pupils, difficult to deal with, consists of young, uneducated persons of almost adult age. They are either recent immigrants whose guardians are under bonds to educate them or children who have somehow escaped the attendance officer.
These deaf pupils, representing so many differing types, are all in need of the closest approximation to an ordinary elemen- tary education that it is possible to give them. Therefore the common nomenclature of grades is adhered to and the course of
HORACE MANN SCHOOL. 101
study is followed so far as possible; but it can be seen readily that the varying needs of the pupils in speech, lip-reading, and auricular training for awakening the dormant hearing are not very likely to coincide with the graded needs in arithmetic, language, or penmanship.
This problem has been met this year by a re-grading of the entire school above the beginners for the first period in the day, basing the grading entirely on the speech, lip-reading, and auricular needs of the pupils. The idea is not new; Froebel did it for arithmetic in his early teaching, and Clarke School at Northampton has tried it with good results. In a school where the average "grade" presents more differences than it does likenesses, such an expedient presents a chance for elasticity and it is possible that the principle may be worked out to further advantage. So far the teachers regard the plan with favor, and feel that the results have far exceeded their expectations.
Afternoon Class in Lip-reading.
Last year a class of hard-of-hearing pupils from the older elementary grades met at the Bowdoin School one afternoon each week to receive lessons in lip-reading given by Miss Stella E. Weaver. This year a class has met Miss Weaver Wednesday afternoons at the Horace Mann School for the same purpose. Pupils from eighth grades, the Girls' Trade School and two or three high schools have met and made good progress. None of these pupils needed to go to a school for the deaf, but every one of them needed lip-reading, both for present needs and to pro- vide for a future in which their deafness is very likely to increase.
The city of Lynn has already started a system of hp-reading classes, employing a teacher on full time to go from school to school and instruct hard-of-hearing pupils.
In trying to induce pupils to take advantage of the afternoon class in lip-reading, certain curious misapprehensions and prejudices were encountered. Parents objected to their children attending the class because they thought lip-reading would injure the hearing. It was found that the parents had received this impression from doctors and social workers. During the present year parents whose children had only the merest rem- nant of hearing have said that they had been advised to keep away from any school for the deaf because the hp-reading would destroy this remnant.
At a meeting of the American Association for the Hard of
102 APPENDIX K.
Hearing, held at Unity House, June 10, 1921, the writer asked an audience of hard-of-hearing Up-readers if any one of them had ever heard of a case where Hp-reading had impaired existing hearing, and one person said she had once known an otologist who had thought it might, but had since changed his mind.
Hard-of-hearing Pupils in Boston Public Schools.
At the meeting above referred to, Miss Martha Bruhn, princi- pal of the Miiller Wahle School of Lip-reading in Boston, announced that there were 1,399 pupils with defective hearing in the Boston public schools. These figures she had received from the office of the superintendent. The present writer during discussion described the attempt which is made by the super- intendent every fall to discover all cases retarded by deafness and said that less than thirty were found last year, of whom about sixteen have since entered the Horace Mann. She attempted partially to explain the discrepancy by the well- known fact that very much less than full normal hearing is required for all purposes of ordinary social intercourse. If, however, it is true that there are in the Boston schools 1,399 recorded cases of defective hearing, it looks as though something more ought to be done about them, and it is to be hoped that the coming year will open up ways of furnishing alleviations.
Secondary Education.
In 1911 the School Committee and the State Board of Education permitted the Horace Mann School graduates to return for a year of "advanced" study. The school has had such a class every year since except in two instances when there had been no graduating class the preceding year.
This year there has been an insistent demand from parents that there should be further opportunity for advanced study. These parents claim that if their children had not been deprived of their hearing they would have sent them to high schools, and they see no reason why their deafness should restrict them to an elementary education. The School Committee has, there- fore, authorized a tenth grade for the coming year. The course of study in this grade has yet to be worked out with the as- sistant superintendent in charge. The aim will be, first of all, to meet the individual needs and aims of the pupils in such
HORACE MANN SCHOOL. 103
manner as will further their vocational plans; and secondly, to introduce them to such cultural courses as will help their use of language and their understanding of the life and institutions about them. The deaf lose so much of the incidentally acquired knowledge of our civihzation that they require special teaching to gain much that comes without effort to the hearing world.
ViSITOES.
The constantly increasing numbers of students who visit our school as part of their required course are a gratifying evidence that the education of the deaf is receiving attention. The teachers feel that the more publicity the school receives, the more hkely are the parents of deaf children to hear of it and take advantage of the education it offers to their children. It seems to be true, however, that in many instances the students' primary interest is not so much the education of the deaf as a study of the methods used and their possible application to the teaching of normal children. One well-known professor sends many students to observe our "objective" methods. Another bids them observe the " concreteness " of our teaching. Even thus it is probable that much information valuable to the parents of deaf children may result. It must be clear, however, that when as often happens, sixteen students in one day come to our doors and sit about our small rooms, frequently through the entire session, both teachers and pupils find it trying. It is proposed that for the coming year some sort of plan will be worked out which will limit the visiting hours for students.
There are many other visitors to the school — foreign educators, doctors from all over the country interested in Doctor CahUl's work, and as a consequence in the auricular work, and teachers and parents of children suffering from every imaginable affliction.
Visiting by Teachers. The teachers have continued to do the home visiting and teaching mentioned in last year's report. Nearly every home has been visited this year. Parents and families have witnessed typical lessons and have been shown how to help the deaf child, and in general, most cordial relations have been main- tained between the school and the home.
104 APPENDIX K.
Notwithstanding its special mission, the Horace Mann School is in many ways like other schools. It has its superior children, its average and its inferior children. Every one of the general problems of the school system exists in miniature within its walls, and, like every other school in the system, its one aim is service.
Respectfully submitted,
MABEL E. ADAMS, Principal.
CITY OF BOSTON PRINTING DEPARTMENT
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