.
In his report for 1891, Middleborough Superintendent of Schools Willard T. Leonard laid out his vision of the role of the local schoolhouse. “The great object of the schools is to prepare the children for future usefulness. While not wholly ignoring the physical and the moral, their main work is a careful and patient training of the mind. All their energies are bent in this direction …." Towards this end, Middleborough’s school curriculum was developed.
The one-room school curriculum, itself, varied greatly, dependent as it was on the differing levels of development within each building, and though patterned upon the curriculum in the central schools, that of the suburban school was typically modified to meet the needs of a mixed grade room.
To assist teachers in ungraded schools like the Green who were confronted with the challenge of teaching a student body of varying ages and abilities, in November, 1895, a curriculum was developed and introduced into the suburban schools, including the Green. Each school was divided into three sections based upon the grades present, and a relatively rigid schedule established.
Until the early 1900s, the elementary school curriculum in Middleborough was established for nine grades, all of which (outside Middleborough center) were housed in a single ungraded school. Superintendent Bates became increasingly dissatisfied with this arrangement and recommended an eight-year course of study for students before entering the high school. “I believe with a shorter course better application on the part of the pupils would be gained and less of dawdling would be noticeable in the schoolrooms.”
With this view in mind, the elementary school curriculum was revised, and in 1911, a further overhaul of the suburban school curriculum was proposed for implementation in the fall of 1912. In September, 1917, a revised course of study in arithmetic, reading, language, grammar and geography was instituted for the entire school system, with the course of study in the primary grades being better outlined. “It is hoped by this systematic outline to be able to carry on the work more uniformly and with a more defnite aim.”
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Reading
At the time the Green School was built, reading was a focus of the Middleborough School Committee which believed that it could not be considered enough. “Good reading, and spelling, cover a multitude of deficiencies, in school-days and after life.” The committee was clearly disheartened at the level of reading which it found in the schools in the early 1870s.
The reading in all our schools … is still defective. As a general rule, with the older scholars, it is too rapid. It would seem that the only end to be attained is the end of the paragraph to be read, and that readers, like race-horses and steamboats, are to be prized according to their speed. As a necessary consequence, there is imperfect enunciation, the dropping and clipping of final syllables, the ignoring of accent and sometimes several words are blended into one. For instance, we have heard and pronounced an, and the sentence, “Who is he,” Whizzie!
The committee challenged teachers to establish a high standard in this area.
Some of our teachers are not so good instructors in reading especially, as we wish they were. Some follow simply the old way, allowing about so much time, and so many paragraphs to each, and only aiding in pronunciation, and not closely and accurately in that; whereas, if need be, every paragraph should be repeated, and elaborated, till it be read with as much correctness as is aimed at in the solution of a problem, or the analysis of language. A lazy reading-exercise is of all things, inexcusable and reprehensible.
Despite the School Committees challenge, reading remained a matter of concern, and in 1879 the committee continued to regard the subject as the most neglected and poorly taught. To remedy the situation, the committee suggested the abandonment of the traditional “A B C method” in favor of phonics and word methods. Single words were taught, “one after another, by script from the blackboard, until from one hundred and fifty to two hundred had been learned as wholes, had been analyzed by sounds and spelt be letters.”
Swinton’s Primer and Readers were employed at the Green during this period, the better known McGuffey Readers being in use at Middleborough center. Such readers were important in not only advancing the abilities of the students, but in introducing them to a much wider world beyond Middleborough.
In contrast to today, scholars in the late 19th century were taught first to read script, rather than printed words. “After they can read readily at sight simple sentences in script, that is, after the first three or four months, the transition to the printed word and sentence is made, and, if the teaching has been as it should be, no difficulty is experienced in the transition, but after a few days they read as readily in the one form as in the other. The change from script to print has been found much easier than from print to script.”
In the fall of 1890, the Middleborough schools switched to the “sentence method” of teaching reading in hopes of improving standards of reading.
This differs from our previous method essentially in this, - that instead of teaching a single word by itself, that word has been incorporated into a sentence, and the teacher, by skillful questioning, gets the sentence which she wishes from the child, first in an oral expression, then writes it upon the board, and then the written expression is read by the child. To get these oral expressions the teacher brings before the children toys of all sorts, puts them into their hands, talks with them about the objects, and takes such expressions from them as : I have a cow, I see a cow, The cow has two horns, The cow gives milk, It is my cow, etc. From these expressions the word cow is forever fixed in the memory, good expression is being taught in the reading, and intuitively the child is learning “I have,” “I see,” “It is,” and the like, without having his attention called to them especially.
Despite the change, drills in phonics were retained as it was felt that such skills were helpful in aiding students in learning new words when there was no teacher present.
The school committee continued to focus upon improving reading skills among Middleborough pupils , and in 1895 reported what it considered “good progress.” “The pupils now read forty per cent. better than they did two years ago.”
In the late 1930s, after a period of having seen little focus, reading received renewed attention, particularly at the Green which by that time was operating with the first and second grades for East Middleborough only. “Longer time allotments, frequent standardized tests, and modern remedial techniques, have been employed to improve the reading facility and comprehension.” Phonics also saw increasing use in the classroom during this time.
The reading in all our schools … is still defective. As a general rule, with the older scholars, it is too rapid. It would seem that the only end to be attained is the end of the paragraph to be read, and that readers, like race-horses and steamboats, are to be prized according to their speed. As a necessary consequence, there is imperfect enunciation, the dropping and clipping of final syllables, the ignoring of accent and sometimes several words are blended into one. For instance, we have heard and pronounced an, and the sentence, “Who is he,” Whizzie!
The committee challenged teachers to establish a high standard in this area.
Some of our teachers are not so good instructors in reading especially, as we wish they were. Some follow simply the old way, allowing about so much time, and so many paragraphs to each, and only aiding in pronunciation, and not closely and accurately in that; whereas, if need be, every paragraph should be repeated, and elaborated, till it be read with as much correctness as is aimed at in the solution of a problem, or the analysis of language. A lazy reading-exercise is of all things, inexcusable and reprehensible.
Despite the School Committees challenge, reading remained a matter of concern, and in 1879 the committee continued to regard the subject as the most neglected and poorly taught. To remedy the situation, the committee suggested the abandonment of the traditional “A B C method” in favor of phonics and word methods. Single words were taught, “one after another, by script from the blackboard, until from one hundred and fifty to two hundred had been learned as wholes, had been analyzed by sounds and spelt be letters.”
Swinton’s Primer and Readers were employed at the Green during this period, the better known McGuffey Readers being in use at Middleborough center. Such readers were important in not only advancing the abilities of the students, but in introducing them to a much wider world beyond Middleborough.
In contrast to today, scholars in the late 19th century were taught first to read script, rather than printed words. “After they can read readily at sight simple sentences in script, that is, after the first three or four months, the transition to the printed word and sentence is made, and, if the teaching has been as it should be, no difficulty is experienced in the transition, but after a few days they read as readily in the one form as in the other. The change from script to print has been found much easier than from print to script.”In the fall of 1890, the Middleborough schools switched to the “sentence method” of teaching reading in hopes of improving standards of reading.
This differs from our previous method essentially in this, - that instead of teaching a single word by itself, that word has been incorporated into a sentence, and the teacher, by skillful questioning, gets the sentence which she wishes from the child, first in an oral expression, then writes it upon the board, and then the written expression is read by the child. To get these oral expressions the teacher brings before the children toys of all sorts, puts them into their hands, talks with them about the objects, and takes such expressions from them as : I have a cow, I see a cow, The cow has two horns, The cow gives milk, It is my cow, etc. From these expressions the word cow is forever fixed in the memory, good expression is being taught in the reading, and intuitively the child is learning “I have,” “I see,” “It is,” and the like, without having his attention called to them especially.
Despite the change, drills in phonics were retained as it was felt that such skills were helpful in aiding students in learning new words when there was no teacher present.
The school committee continued to focus upon improving reading skills among Middleborough pupils , and in 1895 reported what it considered “good progress.” “The pupils now read forty per cent. better than they did two years ago.”
In the late 1930s, after a period of having seen little focus, reading received renewed attention, particularly at the Green which by that time was operating with the first and second grades for East Middleborough only. “Longer time allotments, frequent standardized tests, and modern remedial techniques, have been employed to improve the reading facility and comprehension.” Phonics also saw increasing use in the classroom during this time.
Writing & Grammar
.
The method of teaching grammar in Middleborough’s schools, and the inordinate amount of time devoted to the subject, came in for sharp criticism by the school committee in early 1875, undoubtedly to the delight of scholars plagued by the subject.
It seems to us that an immense amount of time is wasted in the study of Grammar, as conducted in schools. The object of English Grammar is said to be to teach one to “speak and write the English language correctly.” Does the usual method of teaching it do this? To some extent, doubtless it does. But not to a degree proportioned to the amount of time and study devoted to it. Our children spend months of precious time in storing away in their minds vast quantities of almost useless verbiage. The old time “parsing” [sentence diagramming] has been mostly supplanted by the more modern “analysis.” But has this innovation, which has been for many years so popular, and from which so much was expected, answered the high hopes which were entertained of it? We think not, and we believe that we are not alone in this opinion, but that it is shared in by many of the best educators. Scholars may learn to talk very glibly of “simple,” “compound,” “complex,” “elements,” “first class,” second class,” and “third class,” and yet not know how to “speak and write the English language correctly.”
For 1877, the town adopted a new grammar for the primary levels, changing to Harvey’s which it favored for the text’s avoidance of theoretical discussions which served “only to confuse and discourage the beginners”. Throughout the period, Harvey’s remained the standard grammar text for Middleborough scholars.
In 1885, Superintendent of Schools Morss concurred that “it is in this branch [written language work] that our schools show the greatest weakness". "Grammar never taught any one to speak and write correctly. It simply tells us the usage which is sanctioned by good writers and speakers. We must learn to use good language by using it,” emphasized Morss. Little is recorded, however, regarding what changes were implemented to improve language study in the schools at this time. In fact, less attention was given in reports of the area to this field of study than to others.
In 1923, Pearson and Kirchwey’s Essentials of English language series was adopted in the Green and other schools following the recommendation of the central school teachers who had used it with success.
The method of teaching grammar in Middleborough’s schools, and the inordinate amount of time devoted to the subject, came in for sharp criticism by the school committee in early 1875, undoubtedly to the delight of scholars plagued by the subject.
It seems to us that an immense amount of time is wasted in the study of Grammar, as conducted in schools. The object of English Grammar is said to be to teach one to “speak and write the English language correctly.” Does the usual method of teaching it do this? To some extent, doubtless it does. But not to a degree proportioned to the amount of time and study devoted to it. Our children spend months of precious time in storing away in their minds vast quantities of almost useless verbiage. The old time “parsing” [sentence diagramming] has been mostly supplanted by the more modern “analysis.” But has this innovation, which has been for many years so popular, and from which so much was expected, answered the high hopes which were entertained of it? We think not, and we believe that we are not alone in this opinion, but that it is shared in by many of the best educators. Scholars may learn to talk very glibly of “simple,” “compound,” “complex,” “elements,” “first class,” second class,” and “third class,” and yet not know how to “speak and write the English language correctly.”
For 1877, the town adopted a new grammar for the primary levels, changing to Harvey’s which it favored for the text’s avoidance of theoretical discussions which served “only to confuse and discourage the beginners”. Throughout the period, Harvey’s remained the standard grammar text for Middleborough scholars.
In 1885, Superintendent of Schools Morss concurred that “it is in this branch [written language work] that our schools show the greatest weakness". "Grammar never taught any one to speak and write correctly. It simply tells us the usage which is sanctioned by good writers and speakers. We must learn to use good language by using it,” emphasized Morss. Little is recorded, however, regarding what changes were implemented to improve language study in the schools at this time. In fact, less attention was given in reports of the area to this field of study than to others.
In 1923, Pearson and Kirchwey’s Essentials of English language series was adopted in the Green and other schools following the recommendation of the central school teachers who had used it with success.
Spelling
.
“The ability to spell English words seems to be a gift of which many people are deprived,” remarked Superintendent Fitts in his report for 1889. Deploring the level of spelling skills found in children and adults alike, Fitts sought to improve the teaching of it in Middleborough schools. Throughout the period, local schools grappled with the best tools to employ in teaching spelling. In 1881, the Progressive Speller which was then in use at the Green was labeled by the local School Committee as “being one of the most obsolete text-books we know of.” It was consequently replaced by Worcester’s Speller, which in turn was gradually replaced in the late 1880s by Harrington’s Graded Speller for upper level students.
Oral spelling was emphasized in the first three years. “In the fourth year we begin to write formal lessons in a book which is preserved and used day after day.” Spelling as an educational subject gained increasing visibility during the last decade of the 19th century, so much so that by 1899 “its importance is more generally recognized than at any previous time.” Superintendent Jacoby at this time sought to bring Middleborough’s teaching of spelling in line with the theories of Dr. Edward R. Shaw, Dean of the School of Pedagogy at New York University, who considered learning to spell as a matter largely of association.
“The ability to spell English words seems to be a gift of which many people are deprived,” remarked Superintendent Fitts in his report for 1889. Deploring the level of spelling skills found in children and adults alike, Fitts sought to improve the teaching of it in Middleborough schools. Throughout the period, local schools grappled with the best tools to employ in teaching spelling. In 1881, the Progressive Speller which was then in use at the Green was labeled by the local School Committee as “being one of the most obsolete text-books we know of.” It was consequently replaced by Worcester’s Speller, which in turn was gradually replaced in the late 1880s by Harrington’s Graded Speller for upper level students.
Oral spelling was emphasized in the first three years. “In the fourth year we begin to write formal lessons in a book which is preserved and used day after day.” Spelling as an educational subject gained increasing visibility during the last decade of the 19th century, so much so that by 1899 “its importance is more generally recognized than at any previous time.” Superintendent Jacoby at this time sought to bring Middleborough’s teaching of spelling in line with the theories of Dr. Edward R. Shaw, Dean of the School of Pedagogy at New York University, who considered learning to spell as a matter largely of association.
Penmanship
.
One skill, the loss of which has been greatly lamented in recent years, is that of penmanship. Ironically, the general feeling in the late nineteenth century was also that students wrote poorly, a circumstance attributable to “delaying the beginning of systematic instruction in penmanship till the pupil has formed careless habits by too long use of the pencil.” In 1871, the Middleborough School Committee maintained simply, “we think more attention should be given to writing.”
“Writing” in the context of the nineteenth century meant penmanship. As late as 1920, Middleborough’s Supervisor of Penmanship, somewhat testily took umbrage at what he clearly sensed was an arbitrary distinction:
To state that PENMANSHIP is WRITING would seem like discrediting the intelligence of anyone who has attained the use of reason. Nevertheless PENMANSHIP is understood by some pupils to be a term used to describe the work done in one special recitation period of possibly fifteen minutes each day, while all written work is merely WRITING. Until pupils realize that these two terms are synonymous, and that the same care and intelligent practice should be taken in the preparation of all written work as that of the class devoted entirely to the study of penmanship, satisfactory results can not be obtained.
Children were taught first to write cursively, learning only later how to print. Printing was considered more cumbersome and time-consuming and so was not favored.
“A child begins to write immediately on entering school, at first with slate and pencil, soon with appear, while the third year finds him using pen and ink with regular copybooks. His writing now is quite commendable, for he has had already two years’ practice with slate and paper …." Some schools, apparently following the advice of Superintendent Morss in 1886 began writing with ink in the second grade, including “much practice with finger and arm movements.”
Morss’ successor, Superintendent Fitts concurred with the assessment that writing deserved greater attention and, as a result, a complete course in writing was set forth for the four primary grades, meeting with some initial success. “The children in the lowest Primary are at present capable of making a few letters remarkably well, for the time they have been in school, and can write their names in a very legible hand.”
Penmanship was instructed in the Green School and taught until 1895 by means of the popular Spencer method with its ornate flourishes and prescribed 52-degree slant. “The average results, however, were not satisfactory. The writing in many cases was poor. Illegible writing was too prevalent. The subject was difficult to teach and hard to learn. Besides, eminent medical authorities began to assure us that slanting writing produced deformity and imperfect vision.” Consequently during the 1890s, penmanship as an educational subject received renewed attention. Beginning in 1895 “a system of intermedial penmanship” was introduced into the local schools which sought to eliminate the floridness of Spencerian penmanship as well as the amount of time the Spencer method required.
In 1908, Superintendent Bates recommended the appointment of a Supervisor of Penmanship to oversee the subject throughout the towns schools. Previously, Supervisors of Music and Drawing had been successful in developing those areas and it was thought that a Supervisor of Penmanship would be able to raise the standards in that field as well. In 1911, William A. Harthorne was named to fill this role, and he met with the Green School teacher monthly in order to discuss the progress of the pupils and the direction of penmanship teaching at the school. The object of penmanship education at the time was to train students to write “a neat, swift, and creditable hand.” The following year (1912), the copy book, so long a staple of the training of penmanship, was abandoned in favor of a “course outlined by the supervisor [which was] followed under his direction.” Harthorne was a strong advocate of writing efficiently, and surprisingly announced in 1912 that “A person may write the vertical, the medial, the back hand, Spencerian or some other system, I care not what, but if he uses the arm movement, his efficiency is increased 2 or 3 times. This is our aim.” Of the two methods of writing – finger movement and arm movement – Middleborough’s supervisors like Harthorne would continually favor the latter. Harold C. Sears in 1923, also a proponent of arm movement methods of writing, stated somewhat pedantically in 1923: “in my reports of other years I have endeavored to show just what is meant by arm movement and its advantages over finger movement, and I will not repeat here those advantages except to say that they are obvious to all.”
In 1914, the nearly ubiquitous Palmer Method (an arm movement method) was finally adopted for use by the elementary classes under Louise H. Scott, the new Supervisor of Penmanship. “This method is meeting with excellent success and already 13 of the teaching force have been awarded diplomas [Palmer Teachers’ Certificates] by the Palmer Co. signifying their ability to teach their system of writing.”
While previously a metronome had occasionally been utilized in penmanship work in order to help students in their movement drills, music was also suggested as helping teach rhythm and correlating work in penmanship and music. Pupils were encouraged to practice their penmanship skills and those in the fourth grade or above were recognized by the Palmer Company for doing so. Following approval of the first 25 drills by the teacher and Supervisor of Penmanship, students could have them submitted to the Palmer Company’s Boston office. “If the work is up to their standard, the pupil is awarded a Palmer Button.” Similarly, the first 100 drills could be awarded a Palmer Progress Pin and satisfactory completion of all 172 drills resulted in the Pupil’s Final Certificate. Later, the Ayres Scale for the Measurement of Handwriting was introduced to aid students.
Scott’s successor as Supervisor of Penmanship, Raymond S. Dower, however, was less impressed with the results in the schools. “The actual written work [was] not of a very high standard when measured by the standard established by commercial educators.” Penmanship, perhaps, received a seemingly inordinate amount of attention, perhaps because, as Dower contended, “without exception, writing, correct writing, is the most difficult subject that a grade teacher has to teach”. Dower questioned whether parents expected “too much of teachers in the matter of penmanship” and maintained that “psychologists emphasize the fact that, by nature, the child is not old enough to learn to write rightly until about ten years of age.”
Suburban schools like the Green clearly struggled in teaching penmanship of an acceptable standard and it was not until 1923 that suburban school pupils received awards for the penmanship abilities. This latter fact, however, was a testament to the tenacity of suburban school teachers in elevating the quality of their pupils’ work. Little assistance was received from the Supervisor of Penmanship whose “only contact with the teacher of these schools is through the Teachers’ Institute held every term.”
To help guide students, in 1924 Blackboard Wall Charts were placed in a conspicuous location at the Green “where pupils may see at all times the perfect forms of all the capitals, small letter, and numerals.”
Each teacher has for her own guidance, a scientifically arranged list of the successive steps to be taken in teaching the subject of penmanship. This list is also posted where it may be referred to constantly by the teacher.
In addition, books containing stories illustrating the forms of letters have been obtained for use of the teacher so that she may make her work interesting for the pupils.
I have prepared, for the use of the theachers, an analysis of all the letters, showing not only the proper strokes used in making the letters, but also special drills and constructive criticism.
With the devotion of the Green School to grades 1 and 2 following 1929, the focus of penmanship studies was the proper formation of letters and development of a “free easy writing movement.”
One skill, the loss of which has been greatly lamented in recent years, is that of penmanship. Ironically, the general feeling in the late nineteenth century was also that students wrote poorly, a circumstance attributable to “delaying the beginning of systematic instruction in penmanship till the pupil has formed careless habits by too long use of the pencil.” In 1871, the Middleborough School Committee maintained simply, “we think more attention should be given to writing.”
“Writing” in the context of the nineteenth century meant penmanship. As late as 1920, Middleborough’s Supervisor of Penmanship, somewhat testily took umbrage at what he clearly sensed was an arbitrary distinction:
To state that PENMANSHIP is WRITING would seem like discrediting the intelligence of anyone who has attained the use of reason. Nevertheless PENMANSHIP is understood by some pupils to be a term used to describe the work done in one special recitation period of possibly fifteen minutes each day, while all written work is merely WRITING. Until pupils realize that these two terms are synonymous, and that the same care and intelligent practice should be taken in the preparation of all written work as that of the class devoted entirely to the study of penmanship, satisfactory results can not be obtained.
Children were taught first to write cursively, learning only later how to print. Printing was considered more cumbersome and time-consuming and so was not favored.
“A child begins to write immediately on entering school, at first with slate and pencil, soon with appear, while the third year finds him using pen and ink with regular copybooks. His writing now is quite commendable, for he has had already two years’ practice with slate and paper …." Some schools, apparently following the advice of Superintendent Morss in 1886 began writing with ink in the second grade, including “much practice with finger and arm movements.”
Morss’ successor, Superintendent Fitts concurred with the assessment that writing deserved greater attention and, as a result, a complete course in writing was set forth for the four primary grades, meeting with some initial success. “The children in the lowest Primary are at present capable of making a few letters remarkably well, for the time they have been in school, and can write their names in a very legible hand.”
Penmanship was instructed in the Green School and taught until 1895 by means of the popular Spencer method with its ornate flourishes and prescribed 52-degree slant. “The average results, however, were not satisfactory. The writing in many cases was poor. Illegible writing was too prevalent. The subject was difficult to teach and hard to learn. Besides, eminent medical authorities began to assure us that slanting writing produced deformity and imperfect vision.” Consequently during the 1890s, penmanship as an educational subject received renewed attention. Beginning in 1895 “a system of intermedial penmanship” was introduced into the local schools which sought to eliminate the floridness of Spencerian penmanship as well as the amount of time the Spencer method required.
In 1908, Superintendent Bates recommended the appointment of a Supervisor of Penmanship to oversee the subject throughout the towns schools. Previously, Supervisors of Music and Drawing had been successful in developing those areas and it was thought that a Supervisor of Penmanship would be able to raise the standards in that field as well. In 1911, William A. Harthorne was named to fill this role, and he met with the Green School teacher monthly in order to discuss the progress of the pupils and the direction of penmanship teaching at the school. The object of penmanship education at the time was to train students to write “a neat, swift, and creditable hand.” The following year (1912), the copy book, so long a staple of the training of penmanship, was abandoned in favor of a “course outlined by the supervisor [which was] followed under his direction.” Harthorne was a strong advocate of writing efficiently, and surprisingly announced in 1912 that “A person may write the vertical, the medial, the back hand, Spencerian or some other system, I care not what, but if he uses the arm movement, his efficiency is increased 2 or 3 times. This is our aim.” Of the two methods of writing – finger movement and arm movement – Middleborough’s supervisors like Harthorne would continually favor the latter. Harold C. Sears in 1923, also a proponent of arm movement methods of writing, stated somewhat pedantically in 1923: “in my reports of other years I have endeavored to show just what is meant by arm movement and its advantages over finger movement, and I will not repeat here those advantages except to say that they are obvious to all.”
In 1914, the nearly ubiquitous Palmer Method (an arm movement method) was finally adopted for use by the elementary classes under Louise H. Scott, the new Supervisor of Penmanship. “This method is meeting with excellent success and already 13 of the teaching force have been awarded diplomas [Palmer Teachers’ Certificates] by the Palmer Co. signifying their ability to teach their system of writing.”
While previously a metronome had occasionally been utilized in penmanship work in order to help students in their movement drills, music was also suggested as helping teach rhythm and correlating work in penmanship and music. Pupils were encouraged to practice their penmanship skills and those in the fourth grade or above were recognized by the Palmer Company for doing so. Following approval of the first 25 drills by the teacher and Supervisor of Penmanship, students could have them submitted to the Palmer Company’s Boston office. “If the work is up to their standard, the pupil is awarded a Palmer Button.” Similarly, the first 100 drills could be awarded a Palmer Progress Pin and satisfactory completion of all 172 drills resulted in the Pupil’s Final Certificate. Later, the Ayres Scale for the Measurement of Handwriting was introduced to aid students.
Scott’s successor as Supervisor of Penmanship, Raymond S. Dower, however, was less impressed with the results in the schools. “The actual written work [was] not of a very high standard when measured by the standard established by commercial educators.” Penmanship, perhaps, received a seemingly inordinate amount of attention, perhaps because, as Dower contended, “without exception, writing, correct writing, is the most difficult subject that a grade teacher has to teach”. Dower questioned whether parents expected “too much of teachers in the matter of penmanship” and maintained that “psychologists emphasize the fact that, by nature, the child is not old enough to learn to write rightly until about ten years of age.”
Suburban schools like the Green clearly struggled in teaching penmanship of an acceptable standard and it was not until 1923 that suburban school pupils received awards for the penmanship abilities. This latter fact, however, was a testament to the tenacity of suburban school teachers in elevating the quality of their pupils’ work. Little assistance was received from the Supervisor of Penmanship whose “only contact with the teacher of these schools is through the Teachers’ Institute held every term.”
To help guide students, in 1924 Blackboard Wall Charts were placed in a conspicuous location at the Green “where pupils may see at all times the perfect forms of all the capitals, small letter, and numerals.”
Each teacher has for her own guidance, a scientifically arranged list of the successive steps to be taken in teaching the subject of penmanship. This list is also posted where it may be referred to constantly by the teacher.
In addition, books containing stories illustrating the forms of letters have been obtained for use of the teacher so that she may make her work interesting for the pupils.
I have prepared, for the use of the theachers, an analysis of all the letters, showing not only the proper strokes used in making the letters, but also special drills and constructive criticism.
With the devotion of the Green School to grades 1 and 2 following 1929, the focus of penmanship studies was the proper formation of letters and development of a “free easy writing movement.”
Arithmetic
.
In the late 1800s, a modified version of the Grube Method of teaching arithmetic was employed in Middleborough schools, including the Green. “By this method the four fundamental rules, together with fractions, are simultaneously taught....All the combinations and separations are taught simultaneously by the use of objects, instead of dwelling on addition till it is mastered, then proceeding to subtraction.”
All instruction in arithmetic was strictly oral until the 5th grade when the first text – White’s Elementary Arithmetic – was introduced. This same text was utilized for 6th grade students as well. Scholars in the subsequent three levels used White’s Complete Arithmetic. While White’s comprised the standard arithmetic text for Middleborough pupils, in 1884, the school committee noted that “there is a new and much better edition of White’s Arithmetic, issued since their introduction into town. The change must come sooner or later….” Textbook work was supplemented by “extra work upon the black-board taken from different arithmetics and original work by the teachers."
Success in arithmetic at the time was measured how rapidly and how accurately students could calculate. In this regard, Superintendent Fitts in 1887 felt that local schools lagged behind those elsewhere and consequently sought an improvement in this area.
In January, 1898, the school department formalized a “Course of Study in Arithmetic” for the elementary schools which urged that “accuracy and rapidity should be thoroughly cultivated” while “long and complicated problems should be avoided”. Students were introduced to simple multiplication, division and fractions as early as the first grade, while simple geometric problems such as calculating surfaces and volumes was introduced in the 5th grade.
The intention of the school committee that the course prove of practical use was indicated by the fact that 5th graders also learned simple business forms such as bills, receipts and promissory notes, and would continue to study these items through the remaining grades when accounting principles were added. Algebra was studied in the 9th grade until 1904 when it was dropped from the grammar school curriculum in order to provide more time for arithmetic. Typical arithmetic problems taken from White's New Complete Arithmetic (1883) indicate the practicality of the subject:
A dairy of 10 cows yielded in one season 120 Hl of milk and 450 Kg of butter; the milk was sold at an average of 6 1/2 cts. per liter; and the butter, at 56 cts. per kilo: what were the season's receipts in money?
In the late 1800s, a modified version of the Grube Method of teaching arithmetic was employed in Middleborough schools, including the Green. “By this method the four fundamental rules, together with fractions, are simultaneously taught....All the combinations and separations are taught simultaneously by the use of objects, instead of dwelling on addition till it is mastered, then proceeding to subtraction.”
All instruction in arithmetic was strictly oral until the 5th grade when the first text – White’s Elementary Arithmetic – was introduced. This same text was utilized for 6th grade students as well. Scholars in the subsequent three levels used White’s Complete Arithmetic. While White’s comprised the standard arithmetic text for Middleborough pupils, in 1884, the school committee noted that “there is a new and much better edition of White’s Arithmetic, issued since their introduction into town. The change must come sooner or later….” Textbook work was supplemented by “extra work upon the black-board taken from different arithmetics and original work by the teachers."
Success in arithmetic at the time was measured how rapidly and how accurately students could calculate. In this regard, Superintendent Fitts in 1887 felt that local schools lagged behind those elsewhere and consequently sought an improvement in this area.
In January, 1898, the school department formalized a “Course of Study in Arithmetic” for the elementary schools which urged that “accuracy and rapidity should be thoroughly cultivated” while “long and complicated problems should be avoided”. Students were introduced to simple multiplication, division and fractions as early as the first grade, while simple geometric problems such as calculating surfaces and volumes was introduced in the 5th grade.
The intention of the school committee that the course prove of practical use was indicated by the fact that 5th graders also learned simple business forms such as bills, receipts and promissory notes, and would continue to study these items through the remaining grades when accounting principles were added. Algebra was studied in the 9th grade until 1904 when it was dropped from the grammar school curriculum in order to provide more time for arithmetic. Typical arithmetic problems taken from White's New Complete Arithmetic (1883) indicate the practicality of the subject:
A dairy of 10 cows yielded in one season 120 Hl of milk and 450 Kg of butter; the milk was sold at an average of 6 1/2 cts. per liter; and the butter, at 56 cts. per kilo: what were the season's receipts in money?
How many yards of Brussels carpeting will carpet a flight of stairs consisting of 18 steps, including the landing, each step being 10 in. wide and 8 in. high, if 1 1/4 yards be allowed for turnings? What will be the cost at $2.25 per yard?
Smith & Jones bought $500 worth of goods on 4 months' credit, $700 on 6 months' credit, and $1000 worth on 5 months' credit: what is the equated time for the payment of the whole?
In 1906, Superintendent Bates recommended that arithmetic no longer be taught in the first grade in order that more time could be devoted to reading, writing, language, music and drawing. Such a recommendation was consistent with educational practice in a large number of schools. 1910 saw the reduction of abstract arithmetical work in the lower grades.
In 1940, a new course of arithmetic study was approved for the first three grades and introduced into the local schools including the Green.
Geography
.
Geography was one of the requirements which Green School pupils had in order to be promoted to Middleborough High School. “Of Geography we would say particularly, that whatever concerns our own country should be most familiarly known by every scholar”, opined the 1872-73 School Committee.
Warren’s Geography was the favored text in the 1880s for teaching the subject. Superintendent Fitts characterized this area of study in 1886: “Excellent work has been done in geography, in modeling at the moulding board, and with outline maps drawn upon the slate and board.” With changes in technology, the printing of detailed colored maps became affordable and leant themselves admirably to this field of study. Wall maps were an important learning tool for pupils, though the rapidity with which the country grew during the period, was noted at the time as quickly making such maps out of date. Because of Superintendent Fitts’ pointed reminder regarding these maps, each school including the Green was “supplied with some good maps up to the present date."
Similarly, rapid changes in the world also quickly made redundant the geography texts used by pupils, and 1887 witnessed the gradual changeover from older to newer texts which also had the advantage of being “written in a more pleasing style.”
In 1904, the 4th grade geography text was dispensed with and “a new course treating more fully with the geography of the town, county and state substituted.” At the time, a map of Plymouth County was installed in the school.
With the changes in grading at the Green which housed grades one and two only after 1929, came a drastic reduction in the amount of time devoted to the subject, perhaps a fortunate circumstance as geography became an increasingly challenging topic to teach given the accelerating changes of the early twentieth century.
Geography was one of the requirements which Green School pupils had in order to be promoted to Middleborough High School. “Of Geography we would say particularly, that whatever concerns our own country should be most familiarly known by every scholar”, opined the 1872-73 School Committee.
Warren’s Geography was the favored text in the 1880s for teaching the subject. Superintendent Fitts characterized this area of study in 1886: “Excellent work has been done in geography, in modeling at the moulding board, and with outline maps drawn upon the slate and board.” With changes in technology, the printing of detailed colored maps became affordable and leant themselves admirably to this field of study. Wall maps were an important learning tool for pupils, though the rapidity with which the country grew during the period, was noted at the time as quickly making such maps out of date. Because of Superintendent Fitts’ pointed reminder regarding these maps, each school including the Green was “supplied with some good maps up to the present date."
Similarly, rapid changes in the world also quickly made redundant the geography texts used by pupils, and 1887 witnessed the gradual changeover from older to newer texts which also had the advantage of being “written in a more pleasing style.”
In 1904, the 4th grade geography text was dispensed with and “a new course treating more fully with the geography of the town, county and state substituted.” At the time, a map of Plymouth County was installed in the school.
With the changes in grading at the Green which housed grades one and two only after 1929, came a drastic reduction in the amount of time devoted to the subject, perhaps a fortunate circumstance as geography became an increasingly challenging topic to teach given the accelerating changes of the early twentieth century.
History & Civics
.
In 1885, Superintendent Morss remarked upon the disconnect between the study of geography and history. “These two subjects, as too commonly taught, seem to have no connection with each other; but taught as they should be, they really belong together, and should form a part of the supplementary reading.”
History remained an important topic of study, and each grade from 4 through nine had its own texts for American and New England history. Added to this were “poems and prose selections of a historical nature” which were studied. Among these were “America: and the “Star- Spangled Banner”, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and “Barbara Frietche."
Later, American History was removed from the 4th and 5th grade curriculum and not introduced until the 6th grade, when it was taught “by means of readings and talks.” The text adopted was Goodrich’s Child’s History and the Eclectic Primary History. The subject was repeated each year in increasingly greater detail.
All lessons to be given by topics and a more minute study of what has been taken during the two preceding years [6th and 7th grades]. We hope and expect by this method to have the general facts of history in mind at the end of the sixth and seventh grades, and to be thoroughly conversant with United States History at the close of the Grammar school course.
Progress in the teaching of history (as well as geography) was considered hampered by the lack of suitable supplementary reading, and Superintendent Fitts in 1887 urged this matter be considered.
Local history was taught beginning in 1909, when the schools were given copies of Thomas Weston’s History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts and a course of study for 7th, 8th and 9th graders in local history was developed. The course quickly proved “one of the most interesting in our school curriculum” and would be maintained for years at various grade levels.
As with geography, history saw less attention given it once the Green School became devoted to the first two primary grades.
One important accompaniment of history studies was the teaching of civics. For years, civics would remain a strong component of local schoolwork as required by state law which required that the last school day preceding Memorial Day be devoted to "exercises of a patriotic nature." Washington's Birthday and Flag Day also became key days when civics were emphasized and frequent student pageants were held.
In 1885, Superintendent Morss remarked upon the disconnect between the study of geography and history. “These two subjects, as too commonly taught, seem to have no connection with each other; but taught as they should be, they really belong together, and should form a part of the supplementary reading.”
History remained an important topic of study, and each grade from 4 through nine had its own texts for American and New England history. Added to this were “poems and prose selections of a historical nature” which were studied. Among these were “America: and the “Star- Spangled Banner”, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and “Barbara Frietche."
Later, American History was removed from the 4th and 5th grade curriculum and not introduced until the 6th grade, when it was taught “by means of readings and talks.” The text adopted was Goodrich’s Child’s History and the Eclectic Primary History. The subject was repeated each year in increasingly greater detail.
All lessons to be given by topics and a more minute study of what has been taken during the two preceding years [6th and 7th grades]. We hope and expect by this method to have the general facts of history in mind at the end of the sixth and seventh grades, and to be thoroughly conversant with United States History at the close of the Grammar school course.
Progress in the teaching of history (as well as geography) was considered hampered by the lack of suitable supplementary reading, and Superintendent Fitts in 1887 urged this matter be considered.
Local history was taught beginning in 1909, when the schools were given copies of Thomas Weston’s History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts and a course of study for 7th, 8th and 9th graders in local history was developed. The course quickly proved “one of the most interesting in our school curriculum” and would be maintained for years at various grade levels.
As with geography, history saw less attention given it once the Green School became devoted to the first two primary grades.
One important accompaniment of history studies was the teaching of civics. For years, civics would remain a strong component of local schoolwork as required by state law which required that the last school day preceding Memorial Day be devoted to "exercises of a patriotic nature." Washington's Birthday and Flag Day also became key days when civics were emphasized and frequent student pageants were held.
Physiology & Hygiene
.
In 1885, Massachusetts law made compulsory the teaching of these two subjects in all schools, including “special instruction as to the effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants and narcotics on the human system”, this last stipulation promoted by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. All schools, including the Green, were subsequently supplied with “two books bearing the date 1885, one containing four hundred fifteen pages devoted to Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene, the other of one hundred fifty-seven pages of ‘Practical Work in the School Room,’ one quarter of which is devoted to Alcohol, Tobacco, Opium, and other narcotics.”
It appears that a curriculum, however, was not formalized in Middleborough until 1893 under the guidance of Superintendent Jacoby. Green School pupils were to use the Child’s Book of Health (grades 1-4), How to Keep Well (grades 5-6) and Our Bodies and How We Live (grades 7-9). The subject was to be studied during the fall term of the school year, with three required lessons of not less than 20 minutes (above the third grade) weekly. Like much else in the Middleborough schools, physiology and hygiene was taught with an emphasis upon its practical application.
Whatever is taught should be so taught that it will lead to further study and to the observance of hygienic laws in daily practice. The teacher who allows her pupils to sit in drafts, and to take all kinds of improper postures in sitting, standing, and walking, who neglects the ventilation of the room and the arrangement of light, and who is herself a living example of the consequences of an habitual disregard of hygienic laws, will teach physiology to little purpose.
In November, 1897, the physiology and hygiene curriculum was revised and formalized. Grades 1 and 2 focused upon the basics as outlined in the State Course of Study, while the remaining grades continued to utilize the texts prescribed four years earlier in 1893. Each grade was provided with a specific area of study, while all were taught the “effects of alcohol and tobacco”. This course of study remained the basis for health education at the Green School through 1941 when it closed.
In 1885, Massachusetts law made compulsory the teaching of these two subjects in all schools, including “special instruction as to the effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants and narcotics on the human system”, this last stipulation promoted by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. All schools, including the Green, were subsequently supplied with “two books bearing the date 1885, one containing four hundred fifteen pages devoted to Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene, the other of one hundred fifty-seven pages of ‘Practical Work in the School Room,’ one quarter of which is devoted to Alcohol, Tobacco, Opium, and other narcotics.”
It appears that a curriculum, however, was not formalized in Middleborough until 1893 under the guidance of Superintendent Jacoby. Green School pupils were to use the Child’s Book of Health (grades 1-4), How to Keep Well (grades 5-6) and Our Bodies and How We Live (grades 7-9). The subject was to be studied during the fall term of the school year, with three required lessons of not less than 20 minutes (above the third grade) weekly. Like much else in the Middleborough schools, physiology and hygiene was taught with an emphasis upon its practical application.
Whatever is taught should be so taught that it will lead to further study and to the observance of hygienic laws in daily practice. The teacher who allows her pupils to sit in drafts, and to take all kinds of improper postures in sitting, standing, and walking, who neglects the ventilation of the room and the arrangement of light, and who is herself a living example of the consequences of an habitual disregard of hygienic laws, will teach physiology to little purpose.
In November, 1897, the physiology and hygiene curriculum was revised and formalized. Grades 1 and 2 focused upon the basics as outlined in the State Course of Study, while the remaining grades continued to utilize the texts prescribed four years earlier in 1893. Each grade was provided with a specific area of study, while all were taught the “effects of alcohol and tobacco”. This course of study remained the basis for health education at the Green School through 1941 when it closed.
Drawing & Music
.
Massachusetts required drawing be taught in all schools. In 1874-75, it was introduced into the High School and following that introduced into the remaining schools, including the Green, in 1882. Its adoption as a curricular subject was frequently misunderstood at the time, so much so that in 1885, the Middleborough Superintendent of Schools had to explain the rationale for including it as a school subject: “The aim is not to teach children to make pretty pictures, but to train the hand and the eye, and through them the mind, to accuracy.”
Initially, the Green School employed White’s Graded System of Drawing to instruct pupils. Apparently, though was some trepidation on the part of a number of teachers who felt unqualified to teach the subject, the local school committee assured that “any one who is competent to teach school can teach Drawing.” Probably because of this apprehension on the part of teachers, drawing appears to have gotten off to a slow start, the school committee in 1877 admitting that the subject “received less attention than its importance would seem to require.” Such remained the case nearly a decade later when it was remarked that “the work in drawing was found to be done in a very desultory manner, some schools doing nothing whatever in that line, although it is required by law.” While continual improvement was made in developing this branch of study, particularly helpful was the attention of Henry T. Bailey, Agent of the Massachusetts Board of Education who in 1888 helped the town revise its curricula. Under the revised scheme clay work was performed by the first grade, while drawing lines was performed by the higher grades.
In 1903, a Drawing Supervisor was appointed to oversee the course. In this role Isabel Sewall met with mixed grade school teachers “when the work of the month is outlined, suggestions given, and criticisms on work submitted made.” The Green School was divided into primary and grammar levels for drawing instruction, and in 1903 the grammar level was focused upon the task of creating a wastepaper basket involving “three processes – working drawing, construction and decoration.”
To assist suburban school teachers in their work, meetings continued to be held for them with the supervisors. One typical meeting, Spetember 13, 1907, featured the Drawing Supervisor, Mary L. Cook: "A meeting of the suburban teachers was held in the High school building, Friday evening. Miss Cook outlined the work in drawing for the coming month and the superintendent spoke in regard to the necessary clerical work required in the school management."
Periodic visits by the Supervisor also helped guide teachers in ably instructing their pupils. Odessa M. Long, the Supervisor of Drawing, remarked of the suburban schools in 1922, that they were “doing the usual work, and with the short time given to drawing, are accomplishing very good results. I enjoy visiting these schools and find a very deep interest on the part of both teachers and pupils in the work.” Sylvia C. Matheson continued the practice of providing supervision to the suburban schools through once-monthly visits.
In 1877, the school committee first broached the possibility of teaching music in local schools, looking to the model of Germany where “almost every child at school, is instructed in singing.” Initially, Massachusetts state law provided that vocal music be taught in all public schools where the school committee deemed it “expedient.” For years, informal signing had formed a recreation in schools of ten to fifteen minutes daily. “We have at present no instruction in music other than a few pretty little songs taught by rote for specific occasions”, remarked the Middleborough School Committee in 1882. Three years later in 1885, however, music – essentially singing – was formalized by the Middleborough School Committee as a specific requirement for local schools. “The methods used are those suggested by Mr. H. E. Holt, the eminent teacher of music in Boston schools.”
Progress in the subject was facilitated by the acquisition by the schools of books and charts in the mid-1880s. The Green, along with other one-room schools were furnished with first readers and four charts in 1887, and plans called for the introduction of two subsequent music readers “as soon as they shall be ready for them.” Music education at the time consisted of “systematic drill adapted to the ability of the pupils.”
Like drawing, music was a subject some teachers felt unqualified to teach, and a number made efforts to correct this deficiency. “Particular mention ought to be made of those teachers who, feeling their inability to teach this branch successfully, have availed themselves of the assistance of private teachers and the public singing school in order to do good work.” By 1894, Superintendent Jacoby was able to relate that “these subjects are now taught as regular subjects in our schools”
In September, 1900, H. J. and H. E. Whittemore were engaged to provide specialized instruction in music in the local schools, and time was devoted each Thursday morning at the Green School to musical instruction. The focus was principally upon vocal music and during 1901 each student was assigned their “proper place with reference to range of voice” by the Whittemores. In June, 1902, the Whittemores were succeeded by Austin M. Howard who devoted a half-hour each Tuesday at 11 a. m. at the Green School for musical instruction. In 1903, musical instruction was being provided at the Green every two weeks, no doubt in conjunction with the organ which was donated to the school that year.
Increasingly less time was devoted by the music supervisor to the Green, which was visited only four times each term in 1905, prompting Superintendent Bates to call for more attention for these schools in the field of music. Under the direction of a new Supervisor of Music, H. O. Wetherell in 1912, a new course of study, The Modern Music Course, was introduced into the schools in November. Each pupil above the third grade at the Green received a music textbook and followed a simplified version of the course as carried out in the central schools. Wetherell’s enthusiasm was apparent in his report for that year. “The purpose of music in the Public Schools is to teach the children to sing, to love to sing and to appreciate good music.”
In 1912, in order to better meet the needs of the suburban school students in special subjects (drawing, music and penmanship), half-day institutes were inaugurated monthly at which “the supervisors outline and explain to the teachers the work to be done for that month.” Eventually, however, these institutes appear to have been conducted once per term. Additionally, the special work in the schools, such as music, had to be “necessarily simplified on account of so many grades in a school.” Nonetheless, visits to the suburban schools continued to occur. In 1918, Supervisor Nellie M. Wicher visited the Green School every third Wednesday of the month to monitor the progress of musical education in the building. In 1924, Supervisor Wirt B. Phillips was able to visit the Green “regularly” through use of an automobile, where he noticed as well as in other suburban schools the music “going on in the even tenor of its way, part singing being the procedure in several instances.”
With the changes in school grading in East Middleborough, musical education at the Green School focused upon the development of rhythm as “the foundation and basis of future training in Music.” To forward this development, the Green was equipped with a number of percussion instruments to cultivate manipulation and ear-training. “This activity makes for recreation, socialization, citizenship, and concentration.” Mrs. Ray F. Guidaboni, the supervisor of this work, visited the Green monthly to oversee its progress, and as part of the course, music was incorporated into various school exercises including those performed at Christmas, 1936.
Massachusetts required drawing be taught in all schools. In 1874-75, it was introduced into the High School and following that introduced into the remaining schools, including the Green, in 1882. Its adoption as a curricular subject was frequently misunderstood at the time, so much so that in 1885, the Middleborough Superintendent of Schools had to explain the rationale for including it as a school subject: “The aim is not to teach children to make pretty pictures, but to train the hand and the eye, and through them the mind, to accuracy.”
Initially, the Green School employed White’s Graded System of Drawing to instruct pupils. Apparently, though was some trepidation on the part of a number of teachers who felt unqualified to teach the subject, the local school committee assured that “any one who is competent to teach school can teach Drawing.” Probably because of this apprehension on the part of teachers, drawing appears to have gotten off to a slow start, the school committee in 1877 admitting that the subject “received less attention than its importance would seem to require.” Such remained the case nearly a decade later when it was remarked that “the work in drawing was found to be done in a very desultory manner, some schools doing nothing whatever in that line, although it is required by law.” While continual improvement was made in developing this branch of study, particularly helpful was the attention of Henry T. Bailey, Agent of the Massachusetts Board of Education who in 1888 helped the town revise its curricula. Under the revised scheme clay work was performed by the first grade, while drawing lines was performed by the higher grades.
In 1903, a Drawing Supervisor was appointed to oversee the course. In this role Isabel Sewall met with mixed grade school teachers “when the work of the month is outlined, suggestions given, and criticisms on work submitted made.” The Green School was divided into primary and grammar levels for drawing instruction, and in 1903 the grammar level was focused upon the task of creating a wastepaper basket involving “three processes – working drawing, construction and decoration.”
To assist suburban school teachers in their work, meetings continued to be held for them with the supervisors. One typical meeting, Spetember 13, 1907, featured the Drawing Supervisor, Mary L. Cook: "A meeting of the suburban teachers was held in the High school building, Friday evening. Miss Cook outlined the work in drawing for the coming month and the superintendent spoke in regard to the necessary clerical work required in the school management."
Periodic visits by the Supervisor also helped guide teachers in ably instructing their pupils. Odessa M. Long, the Supervisor of Drawing, remarked of the suburban schools in 1922, that they were “doing the usual work, and with the short time given to drawing, are accomplishing very good results. I enjoy visiting these schools and find a very deep interest on the part of both teachers and pupils in the work.” Sylvia C. Matheson continued the practice of providing supervision to the suburban schools through once-monthly visits.
In 1877, the school committee first broached the possibility of teaching music in local schools, looking to the model of Germany where “almost every child at school, is instructed in singing.” Initially, Massachusetts state law provided that vocal music be taught in all public schools where the school committee deemed it “expedient.” For years, informal signing had formed a recreation in schools of ten to fifteen minutes daily. “We have at present no instruction in music other than a few pretty little songs taught by rote for specific occasions”, remarked the Middleborough School Committee in 1882. Three years later in 1885, however, music – essentially singing – was formalized by the Middleborough School Committee as a specific requirement for local schools. “The methods used are those suggested by Mr. H. E. Holt, the eminent teacher of music in Boston schools.”
Progress in the subject was facilitated by the acquisition by the schools of books and charts in the mid-1880s. The Green, along with other one-room schools were furnished with first readers and four charts in 1887, and plans called for the introduction of two subsequent music readers “as soon as they shall be ready for them.” Music education at the time consisted of “systematic drill adapted to the ability of the pupils.”
Like drawing, music was a subject some teachers felt unqualified to teach, and a number made efforts to correct this deficiency. “Particular mention ought to be made of those teachers who, feeling their inability to teach this branch successfully, have availed themselves of the assistance of private teachers and the public singing school in order to do good work.” By 1894, Superintendent Jacoby was able to relate that “these subjects are now taught as regular subjects in our schools”
In September, 1900, H. J. and H. E. Whittemore were engaged to provide specialized instruction in music in the local schools, and time was devoted each Thursday morning at the Green School to musical instruction. The focus was principally upon vocal music and during 1901 each student was assigned their “proper place with reference to range of voice” by the Whittemores. In June, 1902, the Whittemores were succeeded by Austin M. Howard who devoted a half-hour each Tuesday at 11 a. m. at the Green School for musical instruction. In 1903, musical instruction was being provided at the Green every two weeks, no doubt in conjunction with the organ which was donated to the school that year.
Increasingly less time was devoted by the music supervisor to the Green, which was visited only four times each term in 1905, prompting Superintendent Bates to call for more attention for these schools in the field of music. Under the direction of a new Supervisor of Music, H. O. Wetherell in 1912, a new course of study, The Modern Music Course, was introduced into the schools in November. Each pupil above the third grade at the Green received a music textbook and followed a simplified version of the course as carried out in the central schools. Wetherell’s enthusiasm was apparent in his report for that year. “The purpose of music in the Public Schools is to teach the children to sing, to love to sing and to appreciate good music.”
In 1912, in order to better meet the needs of the suburban school students in special subjects (drawing, music and penmanship), half-day institutes were inaugurated monthly at which “the supervisors outline and explain to the teachers the work to be done for that month.” Eventually, however, these institutes appear to have been conducted once per term. Additionally, the special work in the schools, such as music, had to be “necessarily simplified on account of so many grades in a school.” Nonetheless, visits to the suburban schools continued to occur. In 1918, Supervisor Nellie M. Wicher visited the Green School every third Wednesday of the month to monitor the progress of musical education in the building. In 1924, Supervisor Wirt B. Phillips was able to visit the Green “regularly” through use of an automobile, where he noticed as well as in other suburban schools the music “going on in the even tenor of its way, part singing being the procedure in several instances.”
With the changes in school grading in East Middleborough, musical education at the Green School focused upon the development of rhythm as “the foundation and basis of future training in Music.” To forward this development, the Green was equipped with a number of percussion instruments to cultivate manipulation and ear-training. “This activity makes for recreation, socialization, citizenship, and concentration.” Mrs. Ray F. Guidaboni, the supervisor of this work, visited the Green monthly to oversee its progress, and as part of the course, music was incorporated into various school exercises including those performed at Christmas, 1936.
Physical Education
.
In 1922, Massachusetts state law required physical training be taught in public schools and the subject was accordingly introduced into the elementary levels in February, 1922. As with the other specialized topics – drawing, music and penmanship – the suburban schools were left to their own devices and had no benefit of the Supervisor of Physical Education, Frank A. Crozier, who was appointed to oversee the development of the course. Schools like the Green typically followed a modified version of the central school program of study, “although no supervision is given at the present time.” To help promote physical education, the Putnam P. T. A. in 1926 equipped the Green schoolyard with "apparatus for physical exercises."
In 1922, Massachusetts state law required physical training be taught in public schools and the subject was accordingly introduced into the elementary levels in February, 1922. As with the other specialized topics – drawing, music and penmanship – the suburban schools were left to their own devices and had no benefit of the Supervisor of Physical Education, Frank A. Crozier, who was appointed to oversee the development of the course. Schools like the Green typically followed a modified version of the central school program of study, “although no supervision is given at the present time.” To help promote physical education, the Putnam P. T. A. in 1926 equipped the Green schoolyard with "apparatus for physical exercises."
Text Books & Study Aids
.
Throughout its operation, the Green School relied upon a number of sources for textbooks, including Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; Thompson, Brown & Co.; George F. King & Merrill, and several others. Textbooks were employed by the older students only. “Books are not needed” for younger pupils, wrote Middleborough Superintendent of Schools Willard T. Leonard in 1891, “for all teaching is from the blackboard.”
Initially, students were required to purchase the books which the town was required to make available to them. By 1880, “all the common school books used in the schools are now provided by the town, as required, and are kept for sale at as near the wholesale prices as can be, without incurring actual loss. These books are sold at the stores of John Shaw, and Shaw & Childs.” While the school committee recognized by the mid-1880s its obligation to ultimately purchase textbooks, “one for each scholar”, as per the law requiring free textbooks which was implemented in August, 1884, it also sought to keep school expenses to a minimum and “furnished only what we were absolutely obliged to provide by law, requiring pupils to use whatever supplies they might have on hand.” When the School Committee replaced the “obsolete” Progressive Speller in 1881 with Worcester’s Speller, it boasted that it had “been able to do [so] without any expense whatever, either to the town or pupils”, a frequent rationale behind the local committee's decisions. Increasingly, however, the town recognized the benefits of purchasing and furnishing its own books to students, despite the expected lifetime of each book was estimated in 1885 at only three years.
Occasionally, students could make use of worn and out-dated textbooks. During the First World War due to the scarcity of paper, Green School students were able to sell worn out and discarded textbooks to a junk dealer for enough money to purchase a large dictionary for the school.
In combination with text books, various study aids were helpful in instructing students and over time, the Green schoolhouse came to be filled with these aids which were acquired from the town, donated by generous residents within the district, purchased by the students through fund-raising efforts, or won in various contests. One of the earliest aids mentioned in the Green School was a globe acquired from Ginn, Heath & Company in 1881, when similar globes were supplied to all the local schools. The globe was considered invaluable in providing “a more exact understanding of geography.” In 1887, the school was also furnished with "good" maps which were up to date.
In 1905, the Green was equipped with an outfit “for busy work for pupils of the primary grades" and the following year in 1906 acquired a Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary and a Twentieth Century Atlas. By 1924, the town was able to pride itself on the amount of supplementary materials to which suburban school teachers had access. “Out-of-town teachers visiting our schools comment on the amount of material the teachers have to work with. It is essential for good schools that they be thus equipped. It is doubtful if any system of one-romm schools in the state is so well supplied with educational aids as the rural schools of our town. The past year maps, charts, supplementary educational work for self-supervised study have been placed in these schools.” Among these last mentioned aids were blackboard charts for penmanship.
Throughout its operation, the Green School relied upon a number of sources for textbooks, including Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; Thompson, Brown & Co.; George F. King & Merrill, and several others. Textbooks were employed by the older students only. “Books are not needed” for younger pupils, wrote Middleborough Superintendent of Schools Willard T. Leonard in 1891, “for all teaching is from the blackboard.”
Initially, students were required to purchase the books which the town was required to make available to them. By 1880, “all the common school books used in the schools are now provided by the town, as required, and are kept for sale at as near the wholesale prices as can be, without incurring actual loss. These books are sold at the stores of John Shaw, and Shaw & Childs.” While the school committee recognized by the mid-1880s its obligation to ultimately purchase textbooks, “one for each scholar”, as per the law requiring free textbooks which was implemented in August, 1884, it also sought to keep school expenses to a minimum and “furnished only what we were absolutely obliged to provide by law, requiring pupils to use whatever supplies they might have on hand.” When the School Committee replaced the “obsolete” Progressive Speller in 1881 with Worcester’s Speller, it boasted that it had “been able to do [so] without any expense whatever, either to the town or pupils”, a frequent rationale behind the local committee's decisions. Increasingly, however, the town recognized the benefits of purchasing and furnishing its own books to students, despite the expected lifetime of each book was estimated in 1885 at only three years.
Occasionally, students could make use of worn and out-dated textbooks. During the First World War due to the scarcity of paper, Green School students were able to sell worn out and discarded textbooks to a junk dealer for enough money to purchase a large dictionary for the school.
In combination with text books, various study aids were helpful in instructing students and over time, the Green schoolhouse came to be filled with these aids which were acquired from the town, donated by generous residents within the district, purchased by the students through fund-raising efforts, or won in various contests. One of the earliest aids mentioned in the Green School was a globe acquired from Ginn, Heath & Company in 1881, when similar globes were supplied to all the local schools. The globe was considered invaluable in providing “a more exact understanding of geography.” In 1887, the school was also furnished with "good" maps which were up to date.
In 1905, the Green was equipped with an outfit “for busy work for pupils of the primary grades" and the following year in 1906 acquired a Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary and a Twentieth Century Atlas. By 1924, the town was able to pride itself on the amount of supplementary materials to which suburban school teachers had access. “Out-of-town teachers visiting our schools comment on the amount of material the teachers have to work with. It is essential for good schools that they be thus equipped. It is doubtful if any system of one-romm schools in the state is so well supplied with educational aids as the rural schools of our town. The past year maps, charts, supplementary educational work for self-supervised study have been placed in these schools.” Among these last mentioned aids were blackboard charts for penmanship.
Chalkboard Excerises for Spencerian Penmanship, 1874
.
Source: H. C. Spencer, Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship (New York, NY: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., 1874).
Source: H. C. Spencer, Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship (New York, NY: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Co., 1874).
Monday, August 3, 2009
Attendance
.
In the early years of the Green School, attendance was not always the highest. In 1875-76, 21 pupils between 5 and 15 were enrolled at the Green and the average attendance during the course of the year was 61% (the town average was 69.67%). Partially, the reason for such low figures was that children were needed to assist with chores at home, particularly during the spring and fall terms when attendance fell to its lowest.
In an effort to improve attendance in the public schools, in 1875 the town adopted a series of “By-Laws Concerning Truant Children and Absentees from School.” Among them was a requirement that all children aged 7 through 15 “regularly attend some day school approved by the School Committee, unless engaged in some lawful business or employment” in which instance alternate schooling was expected. To enforce these regulations, a truant officer was appointed, reporting annually to the School Committee.
The suburban schools were particularly challenged as children were often needed to assist with agricultural duties. In 1904, a monthly attendance contest was established for these schools whereby the school with the highest percentage of attendance was awarded a silk banner to display until won by another school. Though successful, the program was abandoned in 1905 for more substantive rewards. The suburban schools were divided into two divisions – schools such as the Green with more than 25 pupils enrolled, and schools with less than 25. Each month, schools with the highest percentage attendance received a prize. During the first month, December, 1905, the Green School won the large division, receiving for the school a “geographical outfit.”
Increasingly, as Middleborough industrialized and became proportionately less agricultural, school attendance rates rose during the late nineteenth century, averaging about 90% following 1900. Undoubtedly, part of this increase was also attributable to the value which was placed in having an education by a growing number of parents.
Also during this period, the required entrance age was raised essentially to six, the School Committee in 1918 requiring all pupils entering grade one to attain the age of six during the calendar year.
NEXT PAGE: Terms & Sessions
In the early years of the Green School, attendance was not always the highest. In 1875-76, 21 pupils between 5 and 15 were enrolled at the Green and the average attendance during the course of the year was 61% (the town average was 69.67%). Partially, the reason for such low figures was that children were needed to assist with chores at home, particularly during the spring and fall terms when attendance fell to its lowest.
In an effort to improve attendance in the public schools, in 1875 the town adopted a series of “By-Laws Concerning Truant Children and Absentees from School.” Among them was a requirement that all children aged 7 through 15 “regularly attend some day school approved by the School Committee, unless engaged in some lawful business or employment” in which instance alternate schooling was expected. To enforce these regulations, a truant officer was appointed, reporting annually to the School Committee.
The suburban schools were particularly challenged as children were often needed to assist with agricultural duties. In 1904, a monthly attendance contest was established for these schools whereby the school with the highest percentage of attendance was awarded a silk banner to display until won by another school. Though successful, the program was abandoned in 1905 for more substantive rewards. The suburban schools were divided into two divisions – schools such as the Green with more than 25 pupils enrolled, and schools with less than 25. Each month, schools with the highest percentage attendance received a prize. During the first month, December, 1905, the Green School won the large division, receiving for the school a “geographical outfit.”
Increasingly, as Middleborough industrialized and became proportionately less agricultural, school attendance rates rose during the late nineteenth century, averaging about 90% following 1900. Undoubtedly, part of this increase was also attributable to the value which was placed in having an education by a growing number of parents.
Also during this period, the required entrance age was raised essentially to six, the School Committee in 1918 requiring all pupils entering grade one to attain the age of six during the calendar year.
NEXT PAGE: Terms & Sessions
Terms & Sessions
.
Massachusetts state law required that students attend thirty weeks of school during the year (provided “the schools are kept open that length of time”). While Middleborough complied with this law, the number of weeks it offered varied from year to year, largely based upon finances. For instance, in 1878, the school committee was forced to shorten the school year for want of money. “We did this with regret, for we think that thirty-six weeks of school, per year, is little enough.” Conversely, certain years were lengthened. In 1892, the school year was extended to forty weeks, “thus placing our schools on a par with those of the large towns in the Commonwealth”. In 1895, the school year was reduced to 38 weeks and remained so until 1902 when a reduction in school appropriations forced a temporary reduction to 36 weeks, much against the view of the school committee which recognized that the reduction would lower standards.
Regardless of the number of weeks, the school year commenced each September and was complete by June. Initially, this year was divided into three terms: a fall term lasting from September through December, a winter term from January through late March or early April, and a spring term from April to June. In early 1911, Superintendent Bates recommended the adoption of a four-term academic year commencing in fall 1911 in order to provide more frequent rest periods by reorganizing the winter and spring terms into three separate terms. In fact, the suburban schools adopted a five-term year “so that there will be less tendency for stale work as is often the case in long terms of schools,” with two terms in the fall and three terms in the winter and spring. This experiment, however, was short-lived and by 1917 these schools were back to a four-term year with a single fall term and three winter and spring terms.
The school day, itself, was broken into two sessions – a morning and afternoon session interrupted by lunch. At the Green, these sessions ran from 9 a. m. until noon, and from 1 p .m. through 3 p. m. By 1904, the afternoon session had been extended until 3.30 p. m. from November through March and until 4 p. m. in the remaining months. For the 1910-11 school year, the end time of the afternoon session was set at 3:30 irrespective of the time of year.
Undoubtedly to the dismay of Green School students, Superintendent Bates in 1923 recommended a longer day for the Green and the other large suburban schools “to meet more successfully the requirements of school work”, particularly so that more time could be devoted to the special studies of drawing, music and physical education. Bates also urged that arrangement be made to enable the supervisors of these courses of study to be able to visit the suburban schools more frequently.
NEXT PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
PREVIOUS PAGE: Attendance
Massachusetts state law required that students attend thirty weeks of school during the year (provided “the schools are kept open that length of time”). While Middleborough complied with this law, the number of weeks it offered varied from year to year, largely based upon finances. For instance, in 1878, the school committee was forced to shorten the school year for want of money. “We did this with regret, for we think that thirty-six weeks of school, per year, is little enough.” Conversely, certain years were lengthened. In 1892, the school year was extended to forty weeks, “thus placing our schools on a par with those of the large towns in the Commonwealth”. In 1895, the school year was reduced to 38 weeks and remained so until 1902 when a reduction in school appropriations forced a temporary reduction to 36 weeks, much against the view of the school committee which recognized that the reduction would lower standards.
Regardless of the number of weeks, the school year commenced each September and was complete by June. Initially, this year was divided into three terms: a fall term lasting from September through December, a winter term from January through late March or early April, and a spring term from April to June. In early 1911, Superintendent Bates recommended the adoption of a four-term academic year commencing in fall 1911 in order to provide more frequent rest periods by reorganizing the winter and spring terms into three separate terms. In fact, the suburban schools adopted a five-term year “so that there will be less tendency for stale work as is often the case in long terms of schools,” with two terms in the fall and three terms in the winter and spring. This experiment, however, was short-lived and by 1917 these schools were back to a four-term year with a single fall term and three winter and spring terms.
The school day, itself, was broken into two sessions – a morning and afternoon session interrupted by lunch. At the Green, these sessions ran from 9 a. m. until noon, and from 1 p .m. through 3 p. m. By 1904, the afternoon session had been extended until 3.30 p. m. from November through March and until 4 p. m. in the remaining months. For the 1910-11 school year, the end time of the afternoon session was set at 3:30 irrespective of the time of year.
Undoubtedly to the dismay of Green School students, Superintendent Bates in 1923 recommended a longer day for the Green and the other large suburban schools “to meet more successfully the requirements of school work”, particularly so that more time could be devoted to the special studies of drawing, music and physical education. Bates also urged that arrangement be made to enable the supervisors of these courses of study to be able to visit the suburban schools more frequently.
NEXT PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
PREVIOUS PAGE: Attendance
Grades & Report Cards
.
During the 1880s, teachers completed monthly reports on pupils above the primary grades which were submitted to parents, grading students in their various fields of study numerically on a scale of 100.
In 1893, the numerical system of grading and the rationale for promoting students came under considerable discussion. Superintendent Jacoby found that “teachers were opposed to the daily marking of pupils, and the marking in per cent.” Jacoby concurred, calling the daily marking of pupils a “pernicious practice … which dissipates energy and wastes precious time”. Consequently, on January 26, 1894, the Middleborough School Committee adopted new rules governing both grading and promotions. Commencing in February, 1894, students were to be graded weekly by means of letters representing excellent, good, fair, poor and very poor. In 1885, the grade of “low” falling between “fair” and “poor” was adopted.
In September, 1919, a new system of report cards was adopted. Cards were sent home five times yearly (every two months) for students in the fourth grade and above. No cards were issued for pupils of the first three grades, though if their performance became a concern, parents were to be informed by means of a personal letter from the teacher.
NEXT PAGE: Promotions
PREVIOUS PAGE: Terms & Sessions
During the 1880s, teachers completed monthly reports on pupils above the primary grades which were submitted to parents, grading students in their various fields of study numerically on a scale of 100.
In 1893, the numerical system of grading and the rationale for promoting students came under considerable discussion. Superintendent Jacoby found that “teachers were opposed to the daily marking of pupils, and the marking in per cent.” Jacoby concurred, calling the daily marking of pupils a “pernicious practice … which dissipates energy and wastes precious time”. Consequently, on January 26, 1894, the Middleborough School Committee adopted new rules governing both grading and promotions. Commencing in February, 1894, students were to be graded weekly by means of letters representing excellent, good, fair, poor and very poor. In 1885, the grade of “low” falling between “fair” and “poor” was adopted.
In September, 1919, a new system of report cards was adopted. Cards were sent home five times yearly (every two months) for students in the fourth grade and above. No cards were issued for pupils of the first three grades, though if their performance became a concern, parents were to be informed by means of a personal letter from the teacher.
NEXT PAGE: Promotions
PREVIOUS PAGE: Terms & Sessions
Promotions
.
As the purpose of the primary and elementary schools was considered fitting the pupil for high school, qualifications for attending high school were established. In 1874, Green School students wishing to further their education at Middleborough High School were expected to complete a satisfactory examination in reading, spelling and writing; to complete Common School Written Arithmetic; to complete Greene’s Introduction [to grammar] and to display an “ability to parse and analyze ordinary prose”; and to complete Warren’s Common School Geography and United States History.
Relative to promotions, Green School pupils in the first eight levels would be promoted on the basis of “estimates indicating the teacher’s best judgement of the fidelity and success with which the pupils have done assigned work, and their success in oral and writing tests that have been used as an element of teaching, and the answers to which have not been valued numerically.” Final examinations were dispensed with until the 9th grade as they “do not always determine who is prepared to do successfully the work of the next grade. Frequently they do not test genuine work and power.” Promotions were based upon the yearly average of weekly grades, with students averaging Excellent, Good and Fair being promoted.
While the one-room schoolhouse was generally considered a less effective and more chaotic institution than the graded school, it did have the advantage of encouraging advanced students who unlike their counterparts in graded schools elsewhere were exposed to lessons presented to higher level students. As one local resident described it, “A child who was anxious to learn would ‘listen in’ and often have a wider knowledge than the city students.” Such gifted students were therefore able to acquire a deeper knowledge in their studies and sometimes advance at a more rapid pace. The Middleborough School Committee obliquely recognized this phenomenon when it emphasized that students of special ability could be promoted regardless of age or length of time in a specific level.
NEXT PAGE: Health
PREVIOUS PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
As the purpose of the primary and elementary schools was considered fitting the pupil for high school, qualifications for attending high school were established. In 1874, Green School students wishing to further their education at Middleborough High School were expected to complete a satisfactory examination in reading, spelling and writing; to complete Common School Written Arithmetic; to complete Greene’s Introduction [to grammar] and to display an “ability to parse and analyze ordinary prose”; and to complete Warren’s Common School Geography and United States History.
Relative to promotions, Green School pupils in the first eight levels would be promoted on the basis of “estimates indicating the teacher’s best judgement of the fidelity and success with which the pupils have done assigned work, and their success in oral and writing tests that have been used as an element of teaching, and the answers to which have not been valued numerically.” Final examinations were dispensed with until the 9th grade as they “do not always determine who is prepared to do successfully the work of the next grade. Frequently they do not test genuine work and power.” Promotions were based upon the yearly average of weekly grades, with students averaging Excellent, Good and Fair being promoted.
While the one-room schoolhouse was generally considered a less effective and more chaotic institution than the graded school, it did have the advantage of encouraging advanced students who unlike their counterparts in graded schools elsewhere were exposed to lessons presented to higher level students. As one local resident described it, “A child who was anxious to learn would ‘listen in’ and often have a wider knowledge than the city students.” Such gifted students were therefore able to acquire a deeper knowledge in their studies and sometimes advance at a more rapid pace. The Middleborough School Committee obliquely recognized this phenomenon when it emphasized that students of special ability could be promoted regardless of age or length of time in a specific level.
NEXT PAGE: Health
PREVIOUS PAGE: Grades & Report Cards
Health
.
Student health was an increasingly important facet of the educational experience in the twentieth century.
Previously, diseases and sickness could severely compromise the work of the school when large numbers of students became ill simultaneously. In December 1885, the Green School was closed for two weeks due to a case of scarlet fever, and in November, 1906, whooping cough at the school was prevalent, “causing a small attendance”. Diphtheria closed the school for a considerable length of time in the autumn of 1910, and in January, 1920, a number of cases of chicken pox were recorded. Eventually immunization clinics and improved health standards would help reduce these concerns and the threats to children’s health.
Preventative action was taken as well as in October, 1905, when the Green School was furnished with “test-type cards for testing the eyes of the pupils” in anticipation of a state law passed in 1906 requiring the appointment of school physicians and the annual testing of students’ sight and hearing. Each eye and both together were tested. 31 students at the Green School were tested and 3 were found “defective in eyesight” and 1 found “defective in hearing”, and their parents were notified. In some cases, poor academic performance was able to be attributed to poor vision, or, as put less sympathetically by the Superintendent’s report for 1905, “Many cases of apparent stupidity have been found due to poor vision.” The tests also had the benefit in aiding teachers in seating assignments and blackboard use.
Similar tests continued to be conducted throughout the remainder of the Green School’s operation. In 1929, an audiometer was first used in Middleborough schools to aid in the testing of hearing, the results previously having been “very unsatisfactory”.
In 1910, Dr. J. H. Burkhead was appointed largely to examine students between the ages of 14 and 16 who wished to work and who were required by law to have a physical examination by a school committee-appointed doctor. By 1912, however, Burkhead was officially serving as school physician and he had examined all children. At the Green, Burkhead examined 47 children and found 6 cases of hypertrophied tonsils, 7 cases of adenoids and 3 cases of defective teeth, findings which were consistent with those of the other schools. Besides working with parents to improve the health of the community’s children, under Burkhead’s direction the town began to pay closer attention to the sanitary conditions of each school.
Beginning in 1914, Burkhead began more detailed dental examinations of students “as Pathologists now believe that Defective teeth are incompatible with the proper moral and physical development of the child.” Through these examinations, Burkhead considered 11 of the Green’s 46 pupils to have defective teeth. In 1916, Burkhead was alarmed to find 25% of children in the public schools (including 13 of the 52 Green students) had defective teeth, and both he and Superintendent Bates recommended the establishment of a Dental Clinic to address the matter. While any defects found in students were initially communicated to parents by means of a letter advising them to further consult a dentist or the family physician, in 1920 the task of personally visiting parents devolved upon the school nurse due to the lack of response in a number of instances. In 1921, Burkhead described the tasks of the school nurse: “Aside from weighing school children and consulting with the parents of the ‘underweights,’ referring children to specialists for examination and treatment, procuring glasses for children who were in dire need of them, taking throat cultures of children who were exposed to diphtheria, giving health talks in the schools, she still has found time to make over three hundred home visits to consult with the parents and to urge them to have the defects found by [the] school physician corrected.”
The influenza pandemic in late 1918 forced the closure of the Green and all other public schools for a period of three weeks while a reoccurrence in November and December hampered a number of schools, though it is not known whether the Green was among them. In April, 1929, a smallpox outbreak similarly closed the school when the school vacation was advanced a week.
Students continued to be examined annually by the school department in order to ensure adequate health. In 1927 Green School students were weighed six times as part of School Nurse Helen Pasztor’s nutrition work, and in 1931, they were weighed twice. Any found to be underweight were weighed four times during the course of the year. Tonsils and adenoids continued to remain part of the routine examination and of 38 Green pupils examined in 1930, 4 were found to have “tonsil and adenoid defects.”
In 1929, a dental clinic was inaugurated with a $500 appropriation by the town. The clinic operated every Wednesday morning from October through June, and pupils who could not otherwise afford a dentist were treated for a fee of ten cents by Dr. R. W. Wood. At the time, the town also began the operation of a diphtheria clinic, providing immunizations for children between the ages of 6 months and ten years, as well as tuberculosis clinic.
NEXT PAGE: Discipline
PREVIOUS PAGE: Promotions
Student health was an increasingly important facet of the educational experience in the twentieth century.
Previously, diseases and sickness could severely compromise the work of the school when large numbers of students became ill simultaneously. In December 1885, the Green School was closed for two weeks due to a case of scarlet fever, and in November, 1906, whooping cough at the school was prevalent, “causing a small attendance”. Diphtheria closed the school for a considerable length of time in the autumn of 1910, and in January, 1920, a number of cases of chicken pox were recorded. Eventually immunization clinics and improved health standards would help reduce these concerns and the threats to children’s health.
Preventative action was taken as well as in October, 1905, when the Green School was furnished with “test-type cards for testing the eyes of the pupils” in anticipation of a state law passed in 1906 requiring the appointment of school physicians and the annual testing of students’ sight and hearing. Each eye and both together were tested. 31 students at the Green School were tested and 3 were found “defective in eyesight” and 1 found “defective in hearing”, and their parents were notified. In some cases, poor academic performance was able to be attributed to poor vision, or, as put less sympathetically by the Superintendent’s report for 1905, “Many cases of apparent stupidity have been found due to poor vision.” The tests also had the benefit in aiding teachers in seating assignments and blackboard use.
Similar tests continued to be conducted throughout the remainder of the Green School’s operation. In 1929, an audiometer was first used in Middleborough schools to aid in the testing of hearing, the results previously having been “very unsatisfactory”.
In 1910, Dr. J. H. Burkhead was appointed largely to examine students between the ages of 14 and 16 who wished to work and who were required by law to have a physical examination by a school committee-appointed doctor. By 1912, however, Burkhead was officially serving as school physician and he had examined all children. At the Green, Burkhead examined 47 children and found 6 cases of hypertrophied tonsils, 7 cases of adenoids and 3 cases of defective teeth, findings which were consistent with those of the other schools. Besides working with parents to improve the health of the community’s children, under Burkhead’s direction the town began to pay closer attention to the sanitary conditions of each school.
Beginning in 1914, Burkhead began more detailed dental examinations of students “as Pathologists now believe that Defective teeth are incompatible with the proper moral and physical development of the child.” Through these examinations, Burkhead considered 11 of the Green’s 46 pupils to have defective teeth. In 1916, Burkhead was alarmed to find 25% of children in the public schools (including 13 of the 52 Green students) had defective teeth, and both he and Superintendent Bates recommended the establishment of a Dental Clinic to address the matter. While any defects found in students were initially communicated to parents by means of a letter advising them to further consult a dentist or the family physician, in 1920 the task of personally visiting parents devolved upon the school nurse due to the lack of response in a number of instances. In 1921, Burkhead described the tasks of the school nurse: “Aside from weighing school children and consulting with the parents of the ‘underweights,’ referring children to specialists for examination and treatment, procuring glasses for children who were in dire need of them, taking throat cultures of children who were exposed to diphtheria, giving health talks in the schools, she still has found time to make over three hundred home visits to consult with the parents and to urge them to have the defects found by [the] school physician corrected.”
The influenza pandemic in late 1918 forced the closure of the Green and all other public schools for a period of three weeks while a reoccurrence in November and December hampered a number of schools, though it is not known whether the Green was among them. In April, 1929, a smallpox outbreak similarly closed the school when the school vacation was advanced a week.
Students continued to be examined annually by the school department in order to ensure adequate health. In 1927 Green School students were weighed six times as part of School Nurse Helen Pasztor’s nutrition work, and in 1931, they were weighed twice. Any found to be underweight were weighed four times during the course of the year. Tonsils and adenoids continued to remain part of the routine examination and of 38 Green pupils examined in 1930, 4 were found to have “tonsil and adenoid defects.”
In 1929, a dental clinic was inaugurated with a $500 appropriation by the town. The clinic operated every Wednesday morning from October through June, and pupils who could not otherwise afford a dentist were treated for a fee of ten cents by Dr. R. W. Wood. At the time, the town also began the operation of a diphtheria clinic, providing immunizations for children between the ages of 6 months and ten years, as well as tuberculosis clinic.
NEXT PAGE: Discipline
PREVIOUS PAGE: Promotions
Discipline
.
School Committees at the time that the Green School was built in 1871 anticipated that schools would be run in an orderly manner. “The manners of the school room should be those of the well regulated and cultivated home.” Teachers were expected to lead by example and set a high tone within the building. Everything from discourtesy to poor posture was to be corrected and pupils to be reprimanded for vulgarity, meanness, sloppiness and a host of other sins as seen in the eyes of the teacher. “Teachers shall rebuke every known instance of profanity, and suppress, so far as possible, all coarseness, and rudeness, and unkindness in their pupils’ treatment of one another, whether in school-hours, or by the way; and the use of tobacco by any pupil shall be especially discountenanced.”
Teachers were charged with acting in the manner “of a kind, judicious parent” towards students, and were urged to avoid corporal punishment. In the event the teacher deemed that such harsh punishment was warranted, they were required to record it in a register along with the reason for inflicting it. While the method of administering such treatment was not prescribed, the school committee’s regulations did set boundaries: “No teacher will be justified in inflicting any punishment upon the head of any pupil, either with the rod, rule, or hand.”
In 1881, the School Committee reported what it viewed as an alarming decline in respectfulness among children of the era.
Fifty years ago, children were not only instructed, but were made to treat their superiors with great respect, and all with courtesy. When they met the clergyman or the Squire, they would take off their caps and stand with uncovered heads while he passed. Now, many times when one passes a wayside schoolhouse, he is glad to make extra speed to get out of the way of flying missiles, hurled about his head, and beyond the sound of the yells and whoops of the froward striplings. While we do not care to have the children of the present day under such rigid surveillance, yet we do ask, that they may be so instructed, as not to throw stones at the school house after dismissal, in our presence, or cast a stone after us as we drive away.
The committee, however, may have been regarding the past with a somewhat rose-colored perspective as not all scholars of an earlier generation had been as deferential as the 1881 group believed. In 1851, the School Committee had been critical of Deborah Gisby, the teacher of the Green for what was an apparent inability to always retain order. “Miss G. succeeds in teaching better than governing where there are scholars that need more than common restraint.”
PREVIOUS PAGE: Health
School Committees at the time that the Green School was built in 1871 anticipated that schools would be run in an orderly manner. “The manners of the school room should be those of the well regulated and cultivated home.” Teachers were expected to lead by example and set a high tone within the building. Everything from discourtesy to poor posture was to be corrected and pupils to be reprimanded for vulgarity, meanness, sloppiness and a host of other sins as seen in the eyes of the teacher. “Teachers shall rebuke every known instance of profanity, and suppress, so far as possible, all coarseness, and rudeness, and unkindness in their pupils’ treatment of one another, whether in school-hours, or by the way; and the use of tobacco by any pupil shall be especially discountenanced.”
Teachers were charged with acting in the manner “of a kind, judicious parent” towards students, and were urged to avoid corporal punishment. In the event the teacher deemed that such harsh punishment was warranted, they were required to record it in a register along with the reason for inflicting it. While the method of administering such treatment was not prescribed, the school committee’s regulations did set boundaries: “No teacher will be justified in inflicting any punishment upon the head of any pupil, either with the rod, rule, or hand.”
In 1881, the School Committee reported what it viewed as an alarming decline in respectfulness among children of the era.
Fifty years ago, children were not only instructed, but were made to treat their superiors with great respect, and all with courtesy. When they met the clergyman or the Squire, they would take off their caps and stand with uncovered heads while he passed. Now, many times when one passes a wayside schoolhouse, he is glad to make extra speed to get out of the way of flying missiles, hurled about his head, and beyond the sound of the yells and whoops of the froward striplings. While we do not care to have the children of the present day under such rigid surveillance, yet we do ask, that they may be so instructed, as not to throw stones at the school house after dismissal, in our presence, or cast a stone after us as we drive away.
The committee, however, may have been regarding the past with a somewhat rose-colored perspective as not all scholars of an earlier generation had been as deferential as the 1881 group believed. In 1851, the School Committee had been critical of Deborah Gisby, the teacher of the Green for what was an apparent inability to always retain order. “Miss G. succeeds in teaching better than governing where there are scholars that need more than common restraint.”
PREVIOUS PAGE: Health
Green School Pupils, c. 1906
Pupils of the Green School are photographed about 1906 with teacher Bessie B. Bailey.Front row: Charles Erickson, Ruth Bryant, Hyman Gold, William Theall, Annie Erickson, George Hudson, Dorothy Burt, Rosalie Sears, Hattie Sears, Guy O'Brien, Dorothy Fessenden
Back row: Howard Sparrow, Murray Day, Anna Thompson, Clifton McCrillis, Edward Griffith, Horace Griffith, Ralph Theall, Herbert Erickson, Michael Collins, Edith Burt, Lillian Chapman
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