A RAFIl) SUEVET OF THE lEASSACHUSETTS EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM Harris Class _44^2^ Book n y- Gopightlj? COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. A RAPID SURVEY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS EBUCATIONAL SYSTEM BY CHARLES A. HARRIS, A. B. Author of "Idioms and Phrases of Caesar' 1\ ^^^ Copyright, 19 lo, By CHARI.BS A. Harris. ©Cf. A 2 735 4 5 Preface This little book is by no means an historical treatise. It makes no pretense to set forth the cause and effect of any period or periods. It is merely, as the title suggests, a rapid survey of the educational system of Massachusetts — a succinct compendium of educational facts which, the author trusts, will give teachers who have little time for an earnest research into the educational system of the State, a clearer insight into the growth, experi- ments, past and present institutions of our school system. The author wishes to express his indebtedness to the Annual Reports of the State Eoard of Educa- tion for much material in this compilation. CONTENTS Page Colonization 9 Boston Karly Records . 10 Boston Latin School 10 Harvard College II Law of 1642 ^3 Law of 1647 15 Law of 1654 18 Law of 1683 19 Plymouth Colony 20 Unification of the Colonies 22 The Pre -District System 23 Law of 1789 24 School District System 25 Earl}^ School Reports 35 Public Schools of 1826 37 American Institute of Instruction 41 County Teachers' Associations 42 Massachusetts School Fund 44 Indian School Fund 46 CONTENTS Page Todd Normal School Fund 47 District School Libraries 48 State Board of Education 50 Statistics of 1908 56 Statistics of 1837 57 New State Board 58 School Returns of 1837 60 School Reports of 1838-39 63 School Reports of 1839-40 72 Normal Schools 74 Massachusetts Teachers' Association 81 Teachers' Institutes <^3 Educational Dates SS Massachusetts High School 94 Miscellaneous 100 o S » 5 ^4 00 O 00 so o ^ W *~*^ o* r?" K^ o 00 S. M B. Ov o Js! ii> V o M rt 00 "^ o E3 M •D n> fD o •-t a 2 o ^ 7:i o* y o M ^ ^ a> 00 VO »^> ON COLONIZATION. Aithougli the Plymouth Colony antedates the Massachusetts Bay Colony by a decade, yet because of its comparative poverty and paucity, its educa- tional system was not inaugurated for fifty years after the landing at Plymouth. We will therefore l)egin at once to enumerate the educational features of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Massachusetts Bay Colonists, approximately o:ic thousand in number, arrived in 1630. They set to work immediately to build log-houses for their dwellings, and a church for worship. It was not long after their arrival, however, that plans were formulated for an educational system. Public schools were voluntarily established in several of the towns before the passage of the first school law by the General Court in 1642. Before the close of the year 1630 nearly fifteen hundred Puritans land- ed at Massachusetts, settling Boston, Chariest own, Roxbury, Dorchester, Watertown and Cambridge. By the year 1634 approximately four thousand had arrived settling twenty towns or parishes, therebj^ averaging two hundred persons to a parish. Be- tween 1630 and 1640 twenty thousand were added to the Massachusetts Colony lo BOSTON EARLY RECORDS. Boston Early Records. The date of the first entry in the Boston Town Records was July i , 1634. The date of the first en- try in regard to schools was April 13, 1635 — thus (i) "Likewise it was then generally agreed upon that our brother Philemon Pormort shalbe intreated to become schole-master, for the teaching and nour- tcring of children with us. ' ' The school over which Pormort was placed was called the Boston Latin School. The first school founded in New Er gland was the Boston Latin School opened in 1635. It was started by subscriptions, receiving part support from the town which finally took upon itself the entire ( I ) Second Report of Boston Record Commissioners, p. 5. History of Boston, Snow, p. 348. Horace Mann's Tenth Report, p. 7. Joseph Uhite, For- tieth Report, p. 104. Geo. H. Martin, "Evolution of the Massachusetts Public School System," p. i. HARVARD COLLEGE ii cost of its maintenance. This school was for over half a century the only school in Boston. Boston was at that time a little village of from twenty to thirty houses. It was made a city in 1822, with a population of 45,000 and about 7,000 voters, and now has a population of more than 600,000. Harvard Coi^IvKGE. In the "History of New England" edited by Howard and Crocker, p. 33, we find this : — "Pre- vious to 1636 there were at least nine churches in existence in the Massachusetts Colony" — Salem, Watertown, Boston, Charlestown, Lynn, Roxbury, Dorchester, Newtown, Ipswich. Most of the clergy and not a few of the laity were University men, so it was but natural that their thoughts should turn toward the establish- ment of a college, (i) Ini636;^40o were appro- priated by the General Court of Massachusetts for (i) Records of Mass. Bay, Vol. i, p. 183. 12 HARVARD COLLEGE the establishment (4) at Ne^\'town,now Cambridge, of a school or college which in 1639 by a decree of the General Court was called (5) Harvard College in honor of Rev. John Harvard, who in his will of 1638, left to this school his library of 320 books and half his property amounting to ^779 17 s. 2 p. The regular course of instruction began in 1638, and four years later nine graduates received de- grees. (6) In 1640 the ferry between Boston and Charlestown was granted to the college. John Fiske in ' 'The Beginnings of New Erg- land, "p. Ill, says: - "The act of establishing Harvard College was a memorable one if we have regard to all the circumstances of the year in which it was done. On every side danger was in the air. Threatened at once with an Indian war, with the enmity of the home government, and with grave (4)Recordsof Mass. Bay, Vol. i, p. 20S. (5) Records of Mass. Bay, Vol. i, p. 253. (6)Records of Mass. Bay, Vol.i, p. 304. LAW OF 1642 13 dissensions among themselves, the year 1636 was a trying one indeed for the little community of Puritans, and their founding a college by public taxation just at this time is a striking illustration of their unalterable purpose to realize, in this new home, their ideal of an educated Christian society." In 1636 there were sixteen towns, and a popu- lation of 4,000. With ;^4oo to raise this meant a tax of fifty cents apiece. First School Law. In the year 1642 the founders of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts represented by the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay passed their first legislative enactment in regard to the ed- ucation of its people. According to this ordinance the education of every child was compulsory, that is, universal, but not necessarily free. Instruction was given at home. There was no mention of a school in the law, and no penalty was 14 LAW OF 1642 imposed for neglecting to maintain one. The par- ents were required to teach their children "to read perfectly the English tongue, and knowledge of the Capital Laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect therein. ' ' Parents were also required to teach their children the principles of religion. In 1642 the Plymouth Colony had about i,coo in- habitants while the Massachusetts Bay Colony num- bered more than 20,000. In 1643 Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven united for mutual protection. The wording of the law of 1642 was as follows : "Forasmuch as the good education of children is of singular behoofe and benefit to any Common- wealth, and whereas many parents and masters are too indulgent and negligent of their duty in that kind; "(i) "It is ordered, that the chosen men for managing the prudentials of every town, in the several precincts and quarters where they dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over their neighbors, to see, first that none of them shall suffer so mucli (i)Records of Mass. Bay, Vol. 2, pp. 6, 8. LAW OF 1647 15 barbarism in any of their families, as not to endeav- or to teach, by themselves or others, tlieir children and apprentices, so much learning as maj^ enable them to read perfectly the English tongue, and a knowledge of the Capital Laws, upon penalt}^ of twenty shillings for each neglect therein. ' ' ' 'Also that all masters of families do once a week (at the least) cate:hise their children and servants in the grounds and principles of religion." The supervision was in the hands of the select- men who were to have a "vigilant eye over their neighbors" to see that the law was carried into ef- fect. Law of 1647. (i)By the law of 1647 every town of fifty house- holders was required to maintain a school in which reading and writing should be taught; and every town of one hundred householders was required to maintain a Grammar school. This law remain- (i)Records of Mass. Bay, Vol. 2, p. 203. 1 6 LAW OF 1647 ed in force until 1789. The Grammar schools were similar to the old cathedral Grammar schools of England with the purpose of fitting boys for the University, therefore implying the teaching of the ancient languages. Within thirty years from the landing of the Pil- grims the school system which began with the col- lege was complete with its three grades of schools practically as they exist to-day. The law of 1647 made the support of public schools compulsory, and education not only universal but free, although the town might determine whether it or the parents should bear the expense. The function of the Grammar school was to prepare for college as that of the college was to fit for the min- istry. (i)The penalty at first was five pounds; increased in 1671 to ten pounds; in 1683 to twenty pounds; in 17 18 to thirty pounds if the towns consisted of one hundred fifty families: the penalty was forty (i)Iyaws of Mass. Bay, Vol. 4, p. 486. LAW OF 1647 17 pounds on towns having two hundred families, and so pro rata in case the town consisted of two hun- dred fifty or three hundred families. There were about fort}^ towns at this time, and the population was about 21,000. The law with its preamble follows:- "It being- one chiefe project of that ould deluder, Sathan, to keepe men from the knowledge of the Scriptures,, as in former times by keeping them in an unknowne tongue, so in these latter times by perswading from the use of tongues, that so at least the true sence and meaning of the originall might be cloud- ed by false glosses of saint seeming deceivers, that learning may not be buried in the grave of our fathers in the church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors "It is therefore ordered, that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their towne to teach all such children as shall resort to him to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by LAW OF 1654 the inhabitants in generall, by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the towne shall appoint; provided those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught in oth- er townes; ~ And it is further ordered that where auA^ towne shall increase to the number of one hun- dred families or householders they shall set up a Grammar schoole, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so farr as they may be fited for the university, provided that if any towne neglect the performance hereof above one yeare, every such towne shall pay five shillings to the next schoole till they shall perform this order." / . Seven Grammar schools w^ere established before 1647 — at Boston, Cambridge, Charlestown, Dor- chester, Salem, Ipswich and Roxbury. Law of 1654. The colonists looked toward the moral as well as the intellectual as is shown by the following law : - LAW OF 1683 19 ( i) * 'Forasmuch as it greatly concerns the welfare of this country that the youth thereof be educated not only in good Litterature but in sound doctrine; This Court doth therefore commend it to the se- rious consideration and special care of the Overseers of the College, and the selectmen in the several towns not to admit or suffer any such to be con- tinued in the office or place of Teaching, Kduca- ting or Instructing Youth or children in the College or Schools that have manifested themselves un- sound in the faith or scandalous in their lives, and not giving due satisfaction according to the rules of Christ." Law of 1683. (2) In 1683 all towns of more than five hundred families or householders were required to maintain two Grammar schools and two writing schools. A penalty of ten pounds to be paid to the next school (i) Records of Mass. Bay, Vol. 3, pp. 343-344. Vol. 4, Part I, pp. 182-183. (2) Records of Mass. Bay, Vol. 5, p. 414. 20 PLYMOUTH COLONY was inflicted on such towns, and a penalty of twen- ty pounds on towns of two hundred families or householders. Plymouth Colony. It was half a century after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth that the first free school was establish- ed. ^ Their first work was to erect a Common -House or Rendez-vous, build ashed for supplies and a hos- pital for the sick. During the first winter about a half dozen dwellings were constructed. Their lot was one of struggle and privation ; thus an organ- ized system of education was naturally of slower growth than that of the wealthier Massachusetts Colony. Before the dawn of 1644 Dux bury, Scit- uate, Taunton, Barnstable, Sandwich and Yarmouth were flourishing settlements. (i)In 1663 suggestions from the Court that each town maintain a school for reading and writing were (i)Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 11, pp. 142, 211. PLYMOUTH COLONY 21 made. These suggestions were not immediately heeded. (i)At the General Court held in 1670 it was de- creed that the profits of the cape fishing be used towards the support of a free school in some town in the colony. The Governor and Assistants were the committee. Three years after, in 1673, this committee rendered a report of progress, and Mr. Thomas Hinckley was appointed teacher. The cost of maintaining this school was about thirty- three pounds a year. The law of 167 1, similar to the one of 1642 of the Massachusetts Colony, required the teaching of reading, knowledge of capital laws, grounds and principles of religion. ( 2)In 1677 a law, similar to the law of 1647 of the Massachusetts Colony, was passed authorizing towns of fifty famiUes to maintain a Grammar school, and towns of seventy families were required to keep such a school. (i)Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 5, p. 108. (2) Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 11, p. 248. 22 UNIFICATION OF THE COLONIES In the Plymouth Records of 1678, Vol. 10, p. 36S; we find this: -- * John Indian Teacher of Mattakes- sett is allowed three pounds for his labor in preach- ing and teaching school among the Indians; and is ordered for the continuing in that work for the fol- lowing year. " • In 168 1 the Plymouth Records state that the Court made appropriations for two schools as follows: - twelve pounds for the maintenance of Rehobeth school, and eight pounds for the Duxbury school. In the same records of 1682, Vol. 6, pp. 102-103, we find that the Court ordered the "cape money" to be distributed as follows: - Barnstable School twelve pounds, Duxbury School eight pounds, Rehobeth School five pounds, Taunton School three pounds. The Two Colonies United. By the new charter, given by King WilUam, Ply- mouth and Maine were added to Massachusetts. The government of this single royal Province was organized in 1 69 2 . The governor , deputy governor , THE PRE-DISTRICT SYSTEM 23 and secretary were appointed by the king; the peo- ple chose the twenty-eight councilors. Each town was represented by two deputies at the General Court. From 1692 to 1780, called the Provincial Period, although a number of laws were enacted, little improvement was manifest. A law was passed in 1 701 requiring the certification of the Grammar master by the local minister and by two in adjacent towns. In 1 70 1 and 17 18 penalties for the non-ob- servance of the school laws were incorporated into the statutes. The Pre-District System. The early settlers migrated in congregations guid- ed by the minister, and thus the old parish system of England became the town and political unit in America. (i)Previous to 1768 schools were maintained by the (i)Fourth Annual Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, p. 17. 24 LAW OF 1789 towns, but after that date, and until 1789, the pre- cincts or parishes could maintain schools by a tax imposed upon the parishioners. These precincts [communities in a township some distance from the center] were parishes having power at first in eccle- siastical matters only. In 1833 these territorial par- ishes were disorganized, and the clergymen no long- er were under the obligation to visit schools as a part of their parochial duty. Law of 1789. The law of 1789 required towns of two hundred families, instead of one hundred, as heretofore, to maintain a Grammar school. Up to this time the selectmen had been charged with the supervision of the schools, but by this law "ministers of the gospel and the selectmen or such other persons as shall be specially chosen by each town or district ^ for that purpose" constituted the school committee. ^ Their duty was to encourage attendance, and to visit the schools at least once in six months. This form of supervision continued until 1826. SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM 25 School District System. The act of 1789 authorized the establishment of the towns into school districts in order to facilitate the attendance upon the schools. This act gave power merely to divide the towns into such sections as would more effectively ensure better attendance. At first these districts wielded no power — not a single duty was assigned them. The schools w^ere, as formerly, under the control of the towns. In fact the process of districting was by no means ob- ligatory. By an act approved in 1800 the selectmen were authorized to warn district meetings at which the voters should appropriate money for building or re - pairing school-houses and purchasing school fur- nishings. Thus power was given the district which virtually became a corporation. The town had to pay b}^ assessment the money voted by the district. By the law of 18 17 * 'school districts were made corporations in name, and authorized to sue and be sued, and empowered to hold, in fee simple or otherwise, real or personal estate for the use of the schools. ' ' 26 SCHOOIv DISTRICT SYSTEM Prudential committees, elected by the district, who had the care of the school houses and hiring, or more exactly, nominating teachers were author- ized in 1827. Town school committees were requir- ed the preceding year. Hon. George H. Martin, in his ''Evolution of the Massachusetts Public School System," p. 92, says of the law of 1827 — "It marks the culmination of a process which had been going on steadily for more than a century. It marks the utmost limit to the subdivision of American sovereignty — the high-water mark of modern democracy, and the low- water mark of the Massachusetts school system." These committeemen were usuall)^ chosen in the district instead of in the town meetings, although the latter was authorized by law. The office of prudential committees was usually a rotating office therefore the incumbent might be well qualified or otherwise to nominate a teacher. Under the school district system the responsibility devolved upon no one. In Hanover, Mass. report in the thirty-fourth Annual, p. 240, we find the following : — "Under the district system, prudential committees chose SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM teachers, deciding upon the question of their phys- ical and moral qualifications, while the^town com- mittee were permitted to decide only as to their lit- erary qualifications. There was sometimes a con- flict of opinion which did not benefit the school. More commonly, however, it led to a want of care on the part of the prudential committee, and the town committee as well. ' ' "Prudential committees were careless in their selection of teachers, for thej^ thought that the town committee having a final voice in the decision would settle the question of their fitness. The town committee always felt that as these had been settled by the proper officers of the district, they ought to^ be approbated, if possible. Hence persons were placed in charge of schools, whom neither party would have approbated, had the members of it pos- sessed the sole responsibility. With the authority^ and responsibility vested in our committee, this re- sult will not follow. ' ' The aversion to change is exemplified in several reports made by committees in the last-mentioned Annual. Of reports coming ^ from thirty towns treating of the district system, only four towns 28 SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM voiced any pessimistic sentiment. Of these four, the first recorded in the Annual was one of the last to give up the school district system. The second was still clinging to the system when it was finally abolished, thirteen years later ; the report of this town shows that the committee longed for the res- toration of the old system. The third was one of the towns that petitioned in 1870 for the restoration of the district system ; the committee, in its report, frowned upon the legislative act which abolished the system. The fourth separated itself from the district system only when the law finalh- compelled it ; the committee expressed their sus- picion of the wisdom of abolishing the system. (The Annual Reports of the State Board of Ed- ucation contained abstracts of school committees' reports from 1837 to 1877.) B}^ a law of 1853 districts could be discontinued flt the discretion of the school committee, unless the town voted otherwise. In 1859 the district system was abolished, and in the same year this act was repealed. By an act of '69, after much dis- cussion and delay, t^he school district system was abolished by a unanimous vote in the Senate and SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM 29 with only nine opposing votes in the House. By an act of 1870, as a result of petitions f^^m several towns, the re-establishishment of the school district system was permissible by a two-thirds vote, and more than fifty towns voted to re-establish the sys- tem. This law was passed by both branches not- withstanding the fact that the committee on Kduca - tion reported adversely to the petition. Only thirty-three towns presented petitions sign- ed by only twenty six per cent, of the voters of these towns : Fifteen in Franklin County - Heath Leverett Orange New Salem Coleraine Warwick Eernardston Shutesbury Deerfield Northfield Ashfield Erving Conway Shelburne Gill Nine in Eerkshire County : Lenox Sandisfield West Stockbricge Stockbridge Eecket Monterey Pittsfield Hinsdale Tyringham Three in Plymouth County : Plympton, Ware- ham, Rochester. One in Essex : Newbury. One in Worcester : Oakham. One in Hampden : Tol- land. One in Barnstable : Barnstable. One in Norfolk : Canton. One in Hampshire : South Hampton, 30 SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM By an act of 1873 a town by vote might abolish the school district system. Ey an act of 1882 the school district system was finally abolished. There were about forty -five towns then adhering to it. (i)Fromthe returns of the year 1876 we find that the following forty-six towns held to the dis- trict system : Eleven in Berkshire County— Eeck- et, Egremont, Florida, Great Barrington, Hancock, Monterey, New Marlboro, Richmond, Sandisfield, Savo3^ West Stockbridge : Eleven in Franklin - Ashfield, Eernardston, Charlemoiit, Ervir.g, Gill, Leverett, Ley den. New Salem, Northfield, Sliutes- l)ury , Warwick : Nine in Worcester- Ashburnham , Boylston, Brookfield, Douglas, Harvard, Hubbard - ston, Lunenburg, Rutland, Sutton: Four in Hamp- den- Granville, Ludlow, Southwick, Tolland: Six in Hampshire- Chesterfield, Cummington, Green- wich, Prescott, Williamsburg, Worthington: Or.e in Essex- Newbury; Four in Bristol: Attleloro, Mansfield, Rehobeth, Swansea. «--^»-*^ (i)Fortieth Annual Report of the State Board of Education, p. 95. SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM 31 For fifty years or thereatouts after the passage of the law of 1789, when Massachusetts^was sparse- ly inhabited, the school district system stood almost unchallenged, but when the population became dens- er and cities and towns were founded, the inade- quacy of the system was apparent. In 1826 there were 1,726 school districts. Eight years later there were 2,251. In the fourth An- nual Report, p. 17, it is stated that in the 307 towns there were 2,500 school districts. In 1848-49 there were 3,748 districts. Every secretary and agent of the State Eoard of Education had pronounced the district s^^stem the greatest barrier to educational progress. Hon. Horace Mann, in the tenth Report, p. 36, said,* 'I consider the law of 1789 authorizing towns to divide themselves into districts, the most imfor- tunate law, on the subject of common schools, ever enacted in the State." Rev. Bamas Sears said of the above statement in the fourteenth Report, p. 29, "The justness of the above observation is illustrated ever3^ day by the evils which are forcing themselves upon the public attention from every quarter. ' ' 32 SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM Hon. Geo. S. Eoutwell in the twenty-third Re- port, p. 75, said, "I entered upon the duties of the office I novV hold with some faith in the district sys- tem; my observation and experience have destroyed that faith entirely." "It is a system admirably cal- culated to secure poor schools, irxompetent teach- ers, consequent waste of public money, and yet nei- ther committees, nor districts, nor towns be respon- sible therefor." Again he said in the twenty-fourth Report, p. 115, **I am so well convinced of the wisdom of abolish- ing the district system, that I confidently expect its gradual abandonment. ' ' Hon. Joseph White, in the twenty-ninth Report, p. 85, said, "I have seen and experienced, as my predecessors did, the unfortunate and depressing in- fluence of the school district system. And I con- tent myself with saying, that every day's observa- tion gives strength to my convictions of its utter- incompatibility with any high degree of success in the management of school affairs Indeed, I have ceased to look for further progress where its influ- ence is unbroken. Defiant and frowning, it stands square in the path. It cannot be avoided; a "flank SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM 33 movement" will not turn it, and there is no room for compromise. Then, and then on^y, will fur- ther advance be possible, when the people of the Commonwealth, in the exercise of that power which is their right, and of that wisdom which an unfor- tunate experience has given, shall remove the ob- struction from the way." Again in the thirty -first Report, p. 45, he said, ''There can be no regular classification, no regular order of studies, and of course no uniform system of teaching, in the schools where the district system prevails. ' ' John W. Dickinson in the forty -third Report, p. 65, said, "There appears to be no sufficient reason for a longer continuance of the district system in the State. It opposes the improvement of our schools while it increases the expense of their sup- port. As a fact, the schools in towns where the district system still holds are on the whole, inferior in quality, if not in quantity." (An invaluable account of the School District System is given in the sixteenth Annual Report of the State Board of Education, pp. 24-51.) 34 SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM A district meeting held in September 1832, show- ing the tendency to local interference, resulted thus: **A vote taken by dividing the house to ascertain what number in their meeting were in favor of Mr. Forbes teaching their school the ensuing winter, and how many opposed, and found eleven in favor and thirteen opposed. ' ' In October a special meet- ing was held resulting as follows :- Article i. To choose a moderator. Article 2. To see if the district will direct their committee to dismiss Daniel H. Forbes from teach- ing their school the ensuing season. Voted to direct their prudential committee to dis- miss Daniel H. Forbes from teaching their school the ensuing season, the votes being in number twen- ty-eight and all for dismissing Mr. Forbes. Voted to choose a committee of three to inform their prudential committee of the proceedings of this meeting, and made choice of Elihu Fuller, Henry Richardson and Silas Richardson. Voted that this committee request their pruden- tial committee to emplo}^ another teacher for the ensuing season. The proceedings at another district meeting in EARLY SCHOOL REPORTS 35 1836 follow: — Article i. To elect a moderator. Article 2. To elect a clerk. Article 3. To elect a prudential committeeman. Article 4. To see it the district will procure a stove and funnel for their school-house or act any matter or thing respecting the same. The inhabitants of the district met at the school- house, and disposed of the first three articles with dispatch. The fourth article was unquestionably food for discussion, which ended thus: - Voted that the prudential committeeman procure a stove and funnel provided he can obtain money by sub- scription, also to instruct him to draw up a paper to that effect and put it in circulation forthwith. Early School Reports. The first school returns ever made to the Com- monweath of Massachusetts were rendered in the year 1826 when one himdred fifteen towns made returns. They were folded like old fashioned let- ters and sealed with wax. No penalty was provid- ed for non-compliance with the statute, and eighty, eight towns neglected to obey the law This atti- 36 EARIvY SCHOOL REPORTS tude on the part of the towns continued to such an extent that in 1 83 1 only eighty-six towns rendered reports. It was not until after the creation of the state fund in 1834, which was given to towns com- pl3'ii:g with the state laws, that towns began to ren- der reports. Of three hundred five towns, two hundred sixty-one made returns in 1834. In the year 1826 two sets of reports were made-- one by the school committees, and one by the select- men on this wise:-- By a law of Mar. 4th, i826» towns were first required to elect town school com- mittees who were to be furnished blank forms by the State, and make returns in regard to the num- ber and condition of the schools. But by a resolve of Feb. 24th of the same year, returns were to be rendered by the selectmen. Although this resolu- tion was reconsidered and rescinded, two reports were forthcoming, and were the only school returns ever made to the Commonwealth by selectmen. (See Twenty-second Annual Report, pp. 46-47.) (See Sixty-fourth Annual Report, pp. 233-250. ) PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF 1826 37 Public Schools of 1826. Frank A. Hill, sixth secretary of the Massachu- setts State Board of Education, in the sixty-fourth Annual Report, pp. 247-249, writes as follows:- "A complete surv^ey of our public school system seven- ty-five years ago cannot here be attempted. A general idea of the situation may be formed, how- ever, when we contemplate such school returns as we have for those times, and consider further that there was then no compulsory attendance; that the length of schooling showed astonishing diversities, sometimes from two months to twelve, even in the same town; that this length was frequently eked out by private subscription; that large numbers of teachers were incompetent; that schools were con- stantly changing their teachers; that factory work for young children was in vogue; that school build- mgs were generallj^ poor; that teaching apparatus w^as almost entirely lacking; that pupils in consid- erable numbers were without text-books; that the presence of girls in the public schools of the older and wealthier towns was practically discouraged; that the wealth and culture of the State largely 38 PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF 1826 patronized private rather than pubHc schools; that the city of Boston declined to admit pupils to its public schools until they could read and write, and even then ruled out its girls for half the year; that there was a reprehensible trend, where private schools flourished, to look upon public school child- ren as charity children; that public school second- ary education had become nearly extinct; that there were no normal schools, no teachers' associations, no educational journals, no school fund, no measures of State help, no State supervision, and so on through the long list of things enjoyed to-day, but then unknown. These were the years when the public school spirit of the State seemed to have sunk to its lowest level. Many of the foregoing conditions were the unavoidable accompaniment of the times, the best conditions, in fact then possible, and are respectfully mentioned as interesting stages in the evolution of our school history. As for the rest, they ranged from the excusable to the dis- creditable. The worst of them were due in some measure — but how fully cannot be here discussed, to the State's mistake of 1789 in recognizing sub- PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF 1826 39 divisions of the town, known as school districts, as proper units for school administration. These units were so multiplied that large numbers of them were too small and too poor to do justice to their respon- sibilities, and their powers were so increased that the towns as towns were shorn of about everything like a central control of their schools and a central interest in them. The State was capable of better things, andthere were thoughtful people like James Carter, the Rev. Charles Brooks, Edmund Dwight, and others who were profoundly stirred to try for these better things. Hence the creation, of the school fund, the organization of the Board of Edu- cation, the heroic work of Horace Mann, the found- ing of normal schools, and a long train of agencies whose underlying basis is the great conviction that the supreme interest of Massachusetts, upon which every other interest depends, is the wise education of her boys and girls. It must not be inferred, however, that there were no bright spots in the public schools of 1826. On the contrary, there were noble-minded and inspiring teachers here and there who worked on sound prin- 40 PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF 1826 ciples, such as we have come to prize in these later days, even if they were not always conscious of so doing; here and there oases of special school inter- est; here and there study boys and girls, whom ad- verse conditions seemed to nerve to higher endeav- or; here and there ideals above the average, that led to the establishment of private schools where the pubUc schools fell short; here and there influ- ences from the educational life of Eiu-ope beginning to make themselves felt; and, dotting the State like beacon lights, partly a cause and partly a conse- quence of thedecUne in pubHc secondary education, were the academies, where the more favored youth of the Commonwealth were initiated into those high- er branches of learning for which the colonists had made provision in the public grammar schools, but which in our later provincial and State history had gradually dropped out of the public school system. And since 1826 the Legislature, notwithstanding haltings and occasional backward steps, has shown, on the whole, a keener sensitiveness to the needs of the pubHc schools than the towns it represents. In- deed, we do not realize that certain precious things AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION 41 which we now take for granted as belonging to the very grain and heart of our public schools might not have been there at all had it not been for the foresight and wisdom of those who have given the system its present character. So that, even in 1 826, in spite of the general failure to utilize school re- sources and possibilities to best advantage, the State was incomparably better off with its public schools than it would have been without them." American Institute of Instruction. The American Institute of Instruction, whose ob- ject is to diffuse useful knowledge respecting edu- cation, was organized in Boston in 1830, when elev- en states were represented at its first meeting held in the Hall of the House of Representatives. The following year the society was incorporated. It had an annual grant of $300 from the State until 1873, (with the exception of the first five years) when it became self supporting. Although denominated * 'American" it was really New England in limitation. 42 COUNTY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS Massachusetts was the only state that made any contribution towards the support of this Institute. The first session was one of several (four) days, and the discussion centered about the condition of the schools in the New England towns. The first discourse delivered before the American Institute of Instruction was read by Francis Way land, Pres- ident of Brown University, who was the first presi- dent of the Institute. James G. Carter, who was in- strumental in founding the Institute, also participa- ted in this same meeting. Out of this organization which is still active grew the Massachusetts State Board of Education, and through it the Normal Schools. The amalgamation of this organization with the Massachusetts Superintendents' Association and other educational bodies is contemplated, and ex- periments along that line have been made. County Teachers' Associations. By an act passed by the legislature of 1848, fifty dollars a year was appropriated for each county I COUNTY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS 43 Teachers' Association that held semi-annual meet- ings of not less than two days. This was the first grant from the state for county associations. In 1864 the law allowed twenty-five dollars to county associations that held annual meetings of not less than two days. In 1880 the law granted appropri- ations if meetings were held not less than one day. Essex was the first to form such an association. It had been in existence since 1829, and a meeting w^as held at Topsfield, the county's geographical center, in June 1830 when a committee was chosen to report upon the expediency of organizing a coun- ty association. In the following December the pro- posed meeting was held, lectures given, officers elected, and constitution adopted. There was an attendance of about three hundred teachers and others interested in educational matters. The ob- ject was to better the existing methods of instruct- ion. It was incorporated in 1837. The following were the first County Teachers' Associations: Barnstable organized in 1835, Frank- lin in 1846, Hampden in 1847, Norfolk in 1848, Dukes in 1848, Berkshire in 1849, Bristol in 18^)9, Plymouth in 1850, Nantucket in 1852, Middlesex in 1853, Worcester in 1857. 44 MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL FUND Massachuse'TTs School Fund. In 1833 an act to establish the Massachusetts School Fund was referred to the next general court. The act made no suggestion of better preparing teachers, the very pretext for establishing the fund in 1828. On Feb. 14, 1834 the bill authorizing the fund, established through the influence of Hon. Al- fred Dwight Foster of Worcester, became a law which follows: It provided that "all moneys in the treasury derived from the sale of lands in the state of Maine, and from the claims of the State on the government of the United States for military serv- ices, and not otherwise appropriated, together wath fifty per centum of all moneys thereafter to be re- ceived from the sale of lands in Maine, shall be ap- propriated to constitute a permanent fund for the aid and encouragement of common schools, provid- ed that said fund shall not exceed one million dol- lars. ' ' The fund has been increased from time to time until on Dec. 31, 1907 it amounted to five million dollars. MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL FUND 45 Established in 1834, it was increased in 1851 to $1,500,000, in 1854 to $2,000,000, in 1859 to $3,000, 000, in 1894 to $5,000,000 by the payment of one hundred thousand dollars annually. In 1900 the State Board of Education recommended that the principal of the fund be fixed at ten millions. No town, the valuation of which exceeds two and one half millions of dollars, receives any part of the School Fund. The first payment of the School Fund, in 1836* was made directly to the towns and cities, amount- ing to $16, 176.02. Adverse Act of 186 1: "By gift of land in Back Bay to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Boston Society of Natural History, the sum of $232,790.40 was diverted from the fund" within two years of the passage of the act of 1859. This square of land contained 131,520 square feet; at Si. 7 7 per foot it amounts to the above sum. Because of the liberal bounties paid to men who enlisted in the war of the rebellion the Massachu- setts Bounty Fund was created, toward the pa3^ment of which the legislature appropriated nearly all the receipts from the sale of lands in Back Bay as soon 46 INDIAN SCHOOL FUND as the fund shall have reached $2,000,000. The amount paid into the fund was $456,930.06 "or less than 1 5 per cent, of the estimated profits of the en- terprise. * ' The manner of distribution of the income of the Massachusetts School Fund was first provided for by the Legislature of 1835, and amended in 1839, 1840,1841, 1849, 1854, 1866, 1874, 1884, 1891, 1893. Indian Schooi. Fund. In Horace Mann's Tenth Report, p. 139, he states that there were, in 1848, Indians to the number of 847 within the borders of the State. Since the policy of the Commonwealth was uni- versal and free education, it annually appropriated money for the support of schools for the Red Men as follows: For the Marshpee Indians, $100. For the Gay Head Indians, $60. For the Christiantown & Chappequiddick Indians, $60. (Edgartown & Tisbury) For the Herring Pond Indians, $20. (Sandwich & Plymouth) TODD NORMAL SCHOOL FUND 47 In addition to these appropriations, the above- mentioned tribes received for the support of their common schools the incomes of $1,000, $600, $600, and $300 respectively. This aggregated $2 , 500 is further explained as fol- lows: In 1836 $30,000,000 was distributed to the several states. Of the surplus internal revenue of the United States national treasury, which was distributed to the several states, Massachusetts re- served S2500 as "The Indian School Fund." The income of this fund had been used for the purpose of maintaining schools for the Indians in Marshpee, Gay Head, Edgartown, Tisbury, Sandwich, and Ply- mouth. In 1869 the Indians were made citizens, and in the following year a distribution of that fund was made to the above-mentioned towns which were directed "to apply at their discretion, for the benefit of that portion of their inhabitants formerly called Indians, the money" so received. Todd Normai. Schooi. Fund. This fund given by Henry Todd, Esq. of Boston, 48 DISTRICT SCHOOL LIBRARIES and paid to the treasurer of the Commonwealth on the 7th of June 1850, is a trust in control of the State Board of Education. The fund when given amounted to $10,797.72. The law in regard to this fund is as follows: "The income of the Todd fund shall be paid to the board of education, to be applied by said board to specific objects, in connection with normal schools, not provided for by legislative ap- propriations. ' ' The income has been expended for instruction in music, and for lectures given in the various depart- ments of natural science, in which Mr. Todd was deeply interested, and for other purposes. District School Libraries. On April 12, 1837, a week before the creation of the Board of Education, an act was passed author- izing each school district to expend the sum of $30 to estabHsh a library, and $10 per year for new books. This movement was borrowed from the State of New York. The State Board of Education, in its First Report, deemed this movement of great importance. Books were especially designed for the purpose, DISTRICT SCHOOL LIBRARIES 49 and the Board of Education supervised and recom- mended them. At first there were two series of fifty volumes each: one series for those ten or twelve years of age, or under; and the other series for ad- vanced pupils and parents. School committees of many towns urged the districts to make the school library an adjunct of the school system. Few districts availed themselves of the law, and in order to encourage the establishing and mainte- nance of district libraries, the legislature of 1842 granted the sum of $15, to be taken from the school fund and expended in books, to every district which would appropriate an equal amount or more. Con- sequently many districts(one fourth) availed them- selves of the opportunity at a cost to the State of $11,355; the second year $11,295. The amounts annually drawn steadily decreased until 1850. In 1843 the law of the preceding year was ex- tended to undistricted towns and cities, giving them as many times $15 as the number 60 is contained in the number of children between the ages of 4 and 16 years, provided an equal amount is appro- priated for the establishment of libraries. In 1848 the number of volumes in the school libraries of 297 50 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION towns numbered over 91 ,000 valued at over $42,000. After nine years, that is in 1850, the law author- izing state aid was repealed. The districts lost in- terest, the scheme was neglected, and the innova- tion proved a failure. The amount paid from the school fund was $31, 260 representing 2,084 libraries, and the total ex- penditure twice that amount. [See 3d Report, pp. 24-32.] State Board of Education. The Massachusetts State Board of Education was established April 20, 1837, and was the first depart- ment of Education in the country. It consisted of the governor, lieutenant governor, and eight others appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the council for a term of eight years, one retiring annually. On May 27 th the following persons v.- ere appoint- ed members of the first board of education: - James G. Carter, Emerson Davis, Edmund Dwight, Horace Mann, Edward A. Newton, Thomas Rob- bins, Jared Sparks, Robert Rantoul, Jr. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 51 (i) The selection of the members of the first board of education was based upon reHgious and political grounds. Carter, a Whig and Rantoul a Democrat were chosen from the House of Repre- sentatives; Davis and Robbins were orthodox cler- gymen; Dwight was a Unitarian; Mann, a Whig, came from the Senate; Newton, an Episcopalian; Sparks, formerly a Unitarian minister was Presi- dent of Harvard College; Dwight and Newton were business men. The board held its first meeting June 29th. It was authorized to appoint its own secretary, and Horace Mann, then president of the Senate, was elected. His salary was fixed at $t,ooo, increased to $1,500 in 1838, to $1,600 in 1849. He entered upon his official duties the last of August. Although the board in its first report, suggested that an allowance be made to the secretary for p03t- age, stationery and clerk -hire, Mann in his tenth report, p. 103, said:- "No allowance was made for any expenses incurred in the discharge of his (the (i) "Old South Leaflets," No. 135. 52 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION secretary's) duties. During the continuance of the first Secretary in his office, no allowance was ever made for office -rent, clerk -hire, purchase of suitable or necessary books, and so forth, or for other inci- dental expenses. Though required, once in each year, at such time as the Board of Education shall appoint, to 'attend in each county of the Common- wealth, a meeting of all such teachers of Pubhc Schools, members of school committees of the sev- eral towns, and friends of education generally in the country, as might voluntarily assemble,' j^etnopart of the traveling or other expenses of these circuits was ever provided for or refunded. ' ' On the first of June 1849 two rooms in the State House were placed at the disposal of the Secretary, who was the executive officer of the board. Pre- vious to this the board had no office of its own, but had held its meetings in the council chamber. Mann had performed his office work at his own home, and while traveling. The names of the secretaries in order of service follow: - Horace Mann, 1837- 1848. Barnas Sears, 1848- 1855. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 53 Geo. S. Boutwell, 1855-1860. Joseph White, _, i860- 187 7. John W. Dickinson, 1877- 1894. Frank A. Hill, 1894- 1903. Geo. H. Martin, 1904- 1909. The work of the State Board of Education was for the most part advisory. Its duty was to collect and disseminate information for the betterment of the Massachusetts School System, and to suggest remedies for existing defects. By the law of 1837 the duty of the board was:- **To make a detailed report to the Legislature of all its doings, with such observations as their experi- ence and reflection may suggest upon the condi- tion and efficiency of our system of popular educa- tion, and the most practicable means of improving and extending it. ' ' The school returns were made up in the office of the secretary of the Commonwealth from 1838 to 1 847 after which they were made up in the office of the Board of Education. The Massachusetts Board of Education has al- ways had its opponents ; e. g. in 1840 soon after 54 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION the establishment of the Lexington Normal School, when a majority of the committee on Education was influenced, by those hostile to the educational prog- ress, including the Governor of the State, to render an adverse report against the continuance of the Board of Education and the Normal Schools. The minority of the committee, however, shed light of a more optimistic hue, and the Legislature by a vote of 245 to 182 voted not to adopt the majority report. (i)Again the committee of Hamilton and Savoy expressed the desire that the enactment creating a Board of Education be repealed, as they failed to discover that the labors of the Board of Education were of any possible benefit to their schools. Again the Board met opposition at the time when Mann raised the ire of the thirty-one Boston schoohnasters by his famous seventh report. In 1909, seventy-two years after its establishment, the Board was abolished by legislative enactment. (i) Abstract of the Massachusetts School Re- turns, 1839-1849, pp. 17, 323. STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 55 Agents of the State Board of Education. (Before reorganization.) John T. Prince, Appointed in 1883. James W. MacDonald, Appointed in 1892. Frederic L. Burnham, Appointed in 1906. Julius E. Warren, Appointed in 1906. The office of agent was created in 1850 for the purpose of acquiring all possible information, and of advising school officials in all matters pertain- ing to the public schools. In this year $2, coo was appropriated for this purpose, and six temporary agents were at once employed to act for short peri- ods of time in different parts of the State. They were everywhere enthusiastically received. Two were retained for the remainder of the year. This authority was renewed in 1851, when an appropri- ation was granted for a term not exceeding two years; in 1853 not exceeding three years. There was no appropriation in 1856, when the time ex- pired and the agents were discharged. In 1857 $4,000 was appropriated and two agents were ap- pointed. In i860 the office of agent became perma- nent by law. This was the year when no provision was made for the support of agents, and none were engaged after April ist. 56 STATISTICS OF 1908 Statistics of 1908. No. of towns and cities in the State, 354. No. of public schools, 11,677. No. of scholars of all ages in the public schools ; 530,444- Average length of schools ; 9 months, 6 days. No. of teachers in the public schools ; Males, 1,341, Females, 13,752. Average wages per month, Males, $151 •39- Females, $60.68. Amount raised by local taxation for all children in the public schools, $14,664,067.68- Average taxation cost for all school purposes for each child in the average membership, $39.48. See Seventy-third Annual Report, pp. 88, 89, 91, 92, STATISTICS OF 1837 Statistics of 1837. No. of towns in the State, 305 No. of public schools, 2,918 No. of scholars of all ages in the public schools ; In winter, 141,837 In summer, 122,889 Average length of schools ; 6 months, 25 days No. of teachers in the public schools ; Males, 2,370 Females, 3»59i Average wages per month, including board ; Males, $25.44 Females, $11.38 Amount of money raised by taxation for all children between 4 and 16, $465,228.04 For each child between 4 and 16, $2.63 See Abstract of the Massachusetts School Returns for 1837, p. 302. 58 NEW STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION New State Board of Education. In the year 1909 discontent arose over the edu- cational condition in the State, and the Governor, in his inaugural address, suggested a single board in place of the two existing boards. The bill which was passed abolished both the State Board which had existed since 1837, and the Industrial Com- mission. A new State Board of nine persons was created, to be appointed by the Governor, four to be taken from the former State Board, one from the Industrial Commission and four others. The new board, appointed by Governor Draper 0:1 the 30th day of June, 1909, to take office on the first day of July of that year, was composed as fol- lows: Frederick P. Fish Thomas B. Fitzpatrick Clinton Q. Richmond Ella Lyman Cabot Paul H. Hanus I,evi L. Conant Sarah Louise Arnold Simeon B. Chase Frederick W. Hamilton NEW STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 59 The first four were members of the former State Board of Education, and the fifth was a member of the Industrial Commission. The new board met at the State House on the morning of July 2d, 1909, and effected a temporary organization with Frederick P. Fish as temporary chairman, and Mrs. Ella Lyman Cabot as clerk. Committees were appointed, and an adjournment made until July 14th. On November 14th of the same year the Board appointed Dr. David Snedden as Commissioner of Education, whose term of office began November 1 5th for a term of five years. On February 11, 19 10 two deputy commissioners were chosen by the State Board of Education to hold office for five 3^ears. William Orr and Chas. A. Prosser were the appointees. See Seventy -third Annual Report, pp. 10, i 6o SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1837 School Returns of 1837. School committees were first required to make school returns in 1826. These first returns were meagre, and comparatively few towns submitted them. From the returns of 1837, the date of the estabhshment of the State Board of Education, when 294 out of 305 towns complied with the law, we cull the following: Burlington:- "The town is not districted, and the children are at liberty to attend any school that may be keeping as they chose. Last winter the centre school commenced keeping alone, then the east and west schools were kept together, and after they were finished, the north and south began." Chesterfield:- Lowest wages per week for the fe- male teachers was $1.00; the highest $1.54. Deerfield:-" 'Orlando Hawks' district contains but two families and three scholars" Dorchester:- " Of the fourteen public schools kept in this town, thirteen are kept through the year" Edgartown:- "The persons between the ages of 7 and 16 are divided into five classes of 52 each. SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1837 61 Each class attends school ten weeks, and then goes out for the residue of the year, to give opportunity to the other four classes to attend, during their re- spective terras. ' ' Greenwich:- * 'In raost cases teachers board around the district." Hamilton:- The female teachers, who taught the summer schools only, were paid $1.56 per week in- cluding board. There were two terms, as was us- ual in most towns, the winter (closing about March I St) and the summer. Hingham:-"This town is not districted. There are ten public schools, four for males, with male teachers, and six for females, with females teachers. The ten schools are each kept six months in sum- mer; and all but one of them six months in winter. " Mount Washington:- "Both board and fuel are contributed by the parents. The value of the fuel only is $30.00. The amount of money raised for the 'support of schools' is $110.00 only." Northampton: - * 'There is one Boys' Town School and one Girls' Town School in Northampton. The first has two male, and the last three female in- structors. ' ' 62 SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1837 Salem:- "This city is not divided into the ordina- ry school districts. There is one school for colored children. ' ' Sandwich:- "There is no academy, but twenty- five private schools." Southwick:- "The board of the teachers in the common schools is contributed by the districts. In five districts, also, the wood is furnished gra- tuitously. " Stoneham:- "One Mann's school, kept for the whole town, three weeks, when a few large schol- ars mutinied, expelled the instnictor, and the school closed." • ' i- Waltham: - ' 'The Boston Manufacturing Company pays $250 to prolong the common school in the 'factory district", where there are two schools of about one himdred scholars each." Webster:- "The school in district No. i, is divid- ed into three departments; viz. the high school, the middle school, and the infant school." Westfield:- "The Tontoosuck' district has four children only. ' ' SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 63 School Reports of 1838-39. It is interesting to compare former school condi- tions with those of to-day. School reports render- ed by the school committees were first required in 1838. For that year returns from 298 towns, and reports from 170 towns were received. This was the period when female teachers were hired for winter schools as an experiment, in con- sequence of which many schools could be kept six and one half months instead of two and one half months ; when the larger scholars of a district * 'have been accustomed to turn upon their heels and go home, whenever, upon approaching the school- house , they have seen the chaise of the committee- man in the yard" ; when a multiplicity of text-books was the rule ; when prudential committees vied with the town committees and vice versa ; when there was a total lack of apparatus ; when there was an almost utter indifference on the part of the parents ; when the cheapest teachers were sought ; when expenditure upon private schools often exceeded that upon the public schools ; when monitorial schools flourished ; when schools were closed on ac- count of the incompetency of the teachers ; when 64 SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 the length of the school year differed greatly hi different places ; when schools were sometimes kept in basements of private houses, and so forth, and so forth. Some encouraging features, however, were no- ticeable : - There were isolated movements of gra- dation ; music was introduced into some schools ; circulating libraries for teachers were suggested by the committees ; flogging was abolished in some towns ; parental interest was occasionally manifest ; normal schools were on the eve of establishment ; district schools were often prolonged by private subscription, and so forth, and so forth. Horace Mann, who was directed by the Board of Education to superintend the preparation of the Abstracts, stated th^t he omitted points of local na- ture, saying that "A town might feel mortified, and yet the State derive no benefit, from its being recorded, that, in one place, the discipline of the vSchool was so lax, that card playing was practised by the scholars, not only at intermission, but per- petrated during school hours ; that, in another, cer- tain scholars were reported to the towns by name, in open town meeting, for gross acts of misconduct SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 65 in connection with the school ; that during a con- test in one district, concerning the schoolhouse, it took fire, though unoccupied, and burnt down ; that in another, where opposition against the instructor prevailed to some extent, the house was repeatedly rendered untenantable by the chimney's being closed up, and finally that the school was wholly broken up in consequence of these infamous pro- ceedings, and so forth, and so forth." The following statements, often in the exact words of the writer, have been gleaned from the "Abstracts of the Massachusetts School Returns for 1838-9." Schoolhouses. The schoolhouses in general were deplorable and are best described by adjectives used in the several reports of the school committees : "cold, dark, tm- plastered, shutterless, blindless, curtain less, dilap- idated, ill-constructed, ill-ventilated, ill-situated, ill- furnished, ill-proportioned, inconvenient, uncom- fortable, shabby, unhealthy, leaky, dingy, shatter^ ed, prison-like, smoky." "Nothing outside or in to recommend it." 66 SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 * 'There is hardly a family except the very poor- est, from dire necessity who would live a week in some 'of our schoolhouses. " . "One must sit in constant fear of being soiled, if not seriously injured, by the falling of the plaster- ing and lathing upon his head. " • ' 'Many schoolhouses scarcely merit the name ; they are located in unpleasant and bleak places, ^re old iand shattered, cold and uncomfortable." "The house in No. 3, if closed tight, will not contain air enough to supply the lungs of one man eight hours, yet they shut up in this den of impure air fifteen to twenty children, six hours in each day." "The fire-place is small, so that the room often- times is not comfortable till near the time of recess in the morning." "Many of the districts are contented with paper and shingle glazing of the windows; without plas- tering for considerable spaces ; and what is plastered has become very dark colored, by time and smoke ; some with slab seats, and wooden door latches, or none at all. ' ' SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 67 "When we think of these tottering frames, un- even floors, broken windows, and aboye all, the polar breezes which reign within, can we not find excuse for the reluctance of the children to attend school or, what is far worse than reluctance, their willingness to attend it for a wrong motive and for wrong purposes?" Seats. "If the house is made comfortable, as far as warmth is concerned, the seats are of such a con- struction as to make the child as uncomfortable as he would be, were he placed in that machine of an- cient punishment, the stocks." "In some schoolhouses the children are compel- led to sit hour after hour on a narrow plank, with nothing to support their bodies, unless they lean one upon another, which is too often done for the good order and quiet of the school. ' ' "Sometimes small scholars are placed on seats not more than 4 or 5 inches wide, and raised so far from the floor as to prevent the possibility of their reaching it." 68 SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 "A stump, with a piece of wood on the top call- ed a seat, with no back attached, affords no envi- able resting place for any one. " Attendance. "Non-attendance of children is an evil of great magnitude, which as the committee have found by experience, is easier to describe and lament, than it is to remedy." "In several of our schools, it appears there is an average absence of from 25 to 40 scholars daily!" "Even the subscription schools exhibit equal ir- regularity of attendance." "Every scholar has been absent more than one third of the time. ' ' "Scholars are permitted to pass and repass from one school to the other , according to their own ca- price or the will of their parents. ' ' One town had 632 scholars of legal age 116 of whom had not attended school a single day during the year. In another town of 350 scholars there were 95 absentees each day. SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 69 "During the past year, there have been several scholars in our schools who were only 2 years of age; 74 are reported only 3 years of age, and 90 that were but 4 years of age. " "Indeed, much of the reluctance and aversion which children manifest towards school-going, may be traced to the shabby, dingy, prison -like appear- ance of the rooms in which, for so many hours of the cheerful summer or bright winter days, they are incarcerated." It was the duty of the ministers, the selectmen and the school committees "to exert their influence, to have the youth regularly attend the schools. ' ' Books. "In some instances whole pages are cut or torn from elementary books, and it is to be apprehended that this is done to evade the tavSk of becoming thoroughly acquainted with what those pages con- tain." "The traders in books are generally supplied by pedlars, who find it for their interest to dispose of as many unsalable books as in their power. ' ' 70 SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 "The multitude of books used is decidedly inju- rious, there being no less than 47 different school- books used in the district schools in this town. The committee found 25 in the center school, 18 in the north-east, 17 in the south and 15 in each of the other schools. In the center school there are 5 dif- ferent geographies in use, and of course there must be as many different classes in geography as there are geographies, and therefore five different classes, tn one single department. * ' "The great difficulty seemed to have originated in the multiplicity of the studies to which attention was given. With an average attendance of 30, there were 25 classes. Ancient history, philosophy , chemistry, algebra, astronomy, and one of the dead languages, were taught." The smaller children were necessarily neglected. Prudential Committees versus Town Committees. Definite bargains for teachers were frequently made by prudential committeemen before the can- didates presented themselves for examination before the town school committee. SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1838-39 71 * 'Not the least of these evils is the hostility which is created in such cases between the town committee and the prudential committee. The fear of gener- ating this hostility frequently operates powerfully in the minds of the former, inclining them to appro- bate a candidate, which in other circumstances, they would unhesitatingly reject. Every teacher, also good or bad, secures some of the district on his side. Hence, commences the warfare between the district and town committee. And instances are rot infre- quent where the most complete ignoramuses have been supported and encouraged for the sole reason and no other, that they might resist the law, as well as the committee." "In district No. 5, your committee were informed that a school was kept, but the same was not visit- ed by your committee, as the instructress of said school never applied for a certiticate, as the law re- quires, and therefore, could not be considered as under any superintendence of your committee. ' ' Prudential committees often failed to notify the town committee when school was to begin, so that 72 SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1839-40 the town committee was unable to be present near the commencement, and furnish books to the schools in case the parents neglected it. School Reports of 1839-40. Manual Work. Carlisle : * 'The practice which has to some extent prevailed, introducing needlework into our summer schools, we cannot approve. It is a perversion of the design of their institution, and a misapplication of the funds drawn from the public for their support. If needlework is permitted in our summer schools, we see no reason why boot and shoe making, or any other employment, should not have a place in our winter schools ; or why teachers should not be ex - amined in reference to their skill in the mechanic aits, as well as to their knowledge of reading, etc.." Sherborn : "The second evil which we wish to notice, is the introduction of work into our schools. In the summer season, our schoolhouses frequent- ly present the appearance of a workshop. Braiding straw, and needlework appear, at times to be the SCHOOL RETURNS OF 1839-40 73 principal employments. Now this must distract the attention of the pupils, and occupy much of the teacher's valuable time. But we have felt a delica- cy in taking such a step, without consulting the feel- ings of the town. We should, therefore, recom- mend to our fellow-citizens, should they think it proper, to pass a vote to this effect. " A note probably inserted by Horace Mann follows: "It may be proper to state in this place, that the town, at their last meeting, voted that work be ex- cluded from our Common Schools. ' ' Holden : *'The committee have noticed, in a few instances, that manual labor, such as sewing, braid- ing straw, and the like, has been introduced into schools. But, supposing this to be entirely foreign from the design of Common Schools, they have de- cidedly disapproved of it, and directed teachers not to allow it." Boarding around. "The practice of having teachers board aroxmd in families is increasing, and is much to be com- mended. In this way the people become acquaint- ed with them, and take much more interest in the school. " 74 NORMAL SCHOOLS J Normal Schools. At the time of the establishment of the Normal Schools, teachers were not properly prepared nor qualified for their work, and were underpaid. Def- inite courses of studies were rare. Owing to the lack of confidence in the public schools, children in large numbers were attending private schools. The school houses were extremely wretched, deplorable, and inadequate. As far back as 1789 schools for the better preparation of the teachers were suggest- ed. James G. Carter of Lancaster, who afterwards became a member of the first Board of Education, the establishment of which rested upon the legisla- tive act of which he was the author, by a series of articles (i) in 1824-25, insisted that the establish- ment of a Normal School for the purpose of better preparing teachers was the only salvation for our public school system. Carter is often called the (i) "The Schools of Mass. in 1824," by James Gordon Carter in "Old South Leaflets", No. 135, Irom his "Essays on Popular Education. " NORMAI. SCHOOLS 75 "Father of Normal Schools of America. " Dr. Elbridge Smith in an addiess at Worcester, Mass., before the Massachusetts Teachers' Associa- tion, said : ( I ) * 'The herald of this new dispensation in Massachusetts, which taught that boys and girls have minds to be trained as well as souls to be sav- ed, and bodies to be fed, is generally and properly recognized in James Gordon Carter." Attempts had been made by Carter to have the legislature appropriate money for the training of teachers, but to no avail. Governor Lincoln in 1826, and again in [827, rec- ommended in his annual message that steps be tak- en for the better preparation of teachers ; the re- port of the committee to whom the matter was re- ferred was favorable, but the bill was defeated as well as others of kindred nature within the next ten years. This bill of 1828 suggested the establishment of a school fund, called "The Massachusetts Literary Fund," for the maintenance of a Normal School (i) Fifty -eighth Annual Report, p. 467. 76 NORMAL SCHOOLS and the encouragement of the common schools. In 1835 the House Committee on Education rec- ommended that a part of the Massachusetts School Fund be used to educate persons for the work of teaching, but the recommendation was ignored. The State Board of Education in their first report urged the establishment of Normal Schools. In 1838, a member of the State Board of Educa- tion, Hon. Edmund D wight of Boston, offered to give $10,000 for the training of public school teach- ers, provided the State would volunteer an equal amount. Mr. Dwight's proposition was accepted, and the legislature appropriated $10,000 to be plac- ed at the disposal of the Board of Education. With $20, coo at their disposal, the State Board of Education resolved to establish three Normal Schools to be continued three years as an experi- ment, one for the northeastern, one for the south- eastern, and one for the western part of the state. The people of Plymouth County, aroused by the enthusiasm of Mr. Brooks of Hingham and others, were very desirous of having one of the schools es- tablished in their county, and a meeting which was largely attended was held at Hanover, Sept. 4, 1838. NORMAL SCHOOLS 77 Among those that attended were Hon. Horace Mann, Hon. Daniel Webster, Hon. John Quincy Adams, Hon. Robert Rantoul and Rev. George Putnam. The sum of $10,000 was needed for new buildings, and nearly two years elapsed before plans assumed tangible form. Abington, Duxbury, Ply- mouth, Marshfield and Wareham voted to appro- priate money from the surplus revenue distributed by the U. S. government. When it was decided to locate at Bridgewater, some of these towns re- fused to live up to their previous vote, and the requisite amount of money was consequently not forthcoming. Lefore any final decision had been made in regard to the school in Plymouth County, two other Normal Schools were established. The first Normal School of the state and of the country was opened at Lexington in July 1839 ; re- moved to West Newton in Sept. 1^44, and trans- ferred to Framingham in 1853. Females only were admitted, and the course was one of at least one year. The school opened in a small academy building with Rev. Cyrus Pierce of Nantucket as principal. Mr. Pierce, ' 'at the time of his election, was engag- 78 NORMAL SCHOOLS ed with uncommon success, as principal of the pub- lic school at Nantucket. " [Third Report, p. 5.] On the opening day, which was rainy, the three visitors and the principal were present, and three pupils presented themselves for examination. The first term closed with 12 pupils, and the year clos- ed with 22. The model school contained 33 pupils at first. "Father" Pierce was from 1839 ^o ^^4^ the sole teacher. [See cut, p. 93, 53d Report.] . Dr. Elbridge Smith, in an address at Worcester, before the Massachusetts Teachers' Association, said : ( i) "It was my good fortune to see Mr. Pierce in his schoolroom, and I have never seen so much power exercised, with so much simplicity and kind- ness. His control of himself was complete, and, as a consequence, hi.s control of the school was ab- solute." Compare this humble beginning of one school, one teacher and three pupils, with the present ten schools, one hundred and forty teachers and two thousand pupils. (i) Fifty- eighth Annual Report, p. 463. NORMAL SCHOOLS 79 As the State Board of Education had its oppon- ents, so had the Normal Schools. Charges were made against this school and the principal, as well as Mann himself. It is unnecessary to state, how- ever, that the charges were unsubstantiated. The early normal school buildings were rot suit- able structures, but such as were available. Eoth sexes were admitted at Bridgewater and Barre, and students were admitted for periods less than a year. At Barre many attended for only a term, others for two terms. This accounts for the larger numbers at these places. The requirements for admission to the early Nor- mal Schools were equivalent to a grammar school education of to-day. We must take into considera- tion, however, the fact that teachers then were train- ed for ungraded district schools. As is known, the experimental stage of the Nor- mal Schools was limited to three years, and at the end of that time a committee appointed for the pur- pose of reporting on the result, recommended $20,000 for the continuance of the Normal Schools, The specific object of the Normal Schools is to teach the science and art of teaching. Tuition is 8o NORMAL SCHOOLS free. The teachers are appomted by the Board of Education. Each school is managed by a board of visitors. Courses are two, three and four years in length. As a result of the controversy between Mr. Mann and the thirty -one Boston masters, the Boston dev- otees of Mr. Mann, wishing to prove to him their confidence in his attitude toward educational sub- jects, offered to give $5,oco provided the State would give an equal amount to erect suitable build- ings for the Normal Schools at Bridge water and Westfield. The State accepted the offer, and the buildings were erected. This sum, however, was insufficient by six or seven hundred dollars, and Mann personally made up the deficit. An enumeration of the Normal Schools follows : Framingham, opened at Lexington June 3, 1839; removed to West Newton Sept. 1844 ; transferred to Framingham 1853. Westfield, opened at Barre Sept. 4, 1839 ; contin- ued until Nov. 1 84 1 when it was suspended till Sept. 4, 1844 when it was re-opened at Westfield. Bridgewater, Sept. 9, 1840. Salem, Sept. 14, 1854. MASS. TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION 8i Normal Art, Nov. ii, 1873. Worcester, Sept. 15, 1874. Fitchburg, Sept. 11, 1895 North Adams, Feb. i, 1897. Hyannis, Sept. 9, 1897. Lowell, Oct. 4, 1897. Massachusetts Teachers' Association. On Nov. 25, 1845, eighty -five teachers sutmnon- ed (Nov. 3, 1845) by the Essex County Teachers' Association, met in Worcester as the result of Mr. Mann's seventh Report, which dealt with his ob- servations on his tour of inspection of European schools, setting forth new piinciples and methods of teaching. Previous to this meeting a pamphlet of 144 pages by thirty -one Boston schoolmasters was forthcoming, antagonistic in every detail to Mr. Mann and his views, and for a long time a spirited controversy ensued. WiUiam J. Adams was the only one of the thirty -one Boston masters who re- fused to sign the famous (infamous? ) document. Many were in favor of abolishing the Board of Ed- ucation and the Normal Schools, and the meeting refused to approve the Board of Education. ** Fa- ther" Pierce loyally supported Secretary Mann. 82 MASS. TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION This convention formed the Massachusetts Teach- ers' Association. It was incorporated in 1846. In 1853 the State granted $300 annually for five years. In 1857 ^900 in three ai:nual installments was granted, provided the Association furnish "The Massachusetts Teacher" to each board of school committee. This made an appropriation of f6oo annually. This was continued till 1865 when $800 was appropriated till 1875. From 1875 an appro- priation of $300 was made yearly till 1880, after which time the association has received $300 an- nually. Council of Education. The Massachusetts Council of Education con- nected with the Massachusetts Teachers' Associa- tion is a representative body (limited in membership to one hundred) of delegates elected by the several associations of teachers. Its first meeting was held in I'oston, Nov. 25, 1904. Its aim is to improve popular education. Several important reports have been made some of which have been incorporated into the Annual Reports of the State Board of Ed- ucation. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES 83 Teachers' Institutes. Another effective agency in our educational sys- tem is the Teachers' Institute. Its object is to give instruction in the art and science of teaching. In 1843 voluntary and self-supporting teachers' institutes were held in the state of New York. From these Horace Mann conceived the idea of holding similar meetings in Massachusetts. In his eighth report, that of 1844, he urged the adoption of teachers' institutes, but the legislature failed to make an appropriation. Hon. Edmund Dwight, a member of the first board of Education, made the estabHshment of in- stitutes possible by giving $i,oco toward their or- ganization, the first of which was held in Pittsfield in 1845. Three others were held the same year at Fitchburg, Bridgewater and Chatham, all of which, including the one at Pittsfield, were under the di- rection of Mr. Mann. These first four institutes were attended by more than 400 persons. It was a year later, however, that an act was passed es- tablishing them by law. At the time of their es- tablishment there was little professional spirit among 84 TEACHERS' INSTITUTES the teachers. The money given by Mr. Dwight was expended in paying the board of the members of the mstitiite in order to encourage a large attendance. At Pittsfield nothing was in readiness, so Mr. Mann and Governor Geo. N. Briggs swept the floor, built the fire , and put things in order. Gov. Briggs who was present at Pittsfield, rec- ommended, in his message to the legislature, an appropriation for the support of teachers' institutes. It was approved, and these meetings have now be- come a settled policy of the State. There was Httle opposition to their establishment - there being only five opposing votes in the House and none in the Senate. The number of j^early convocations follows ; 1845 4- 1851 12. 1857 II. 1863 8. 1846 6. 1852 16. 1858 10. 1864 8. 1847 4- 1853 12. 1859 9- 1865 7. 1848 5- 1854 13- i860 5. 1866 7- 1849 6. 1855 II. 1861 9- 1867 7- 1850 12. 1856 10. 1862 8. 1868 7- TEACHERS' INSTITUTES 85 1869 6. 1879 II. 1889 22. 1899 22. iSyo 7- 1880 13- 1890 24- 1900 27. 1871 7- 1881 21. 1891 17- 1901 26. 1872 8. 1882 22. 1892 25- 1902 18. 1873 8. 1883 26. i8q3 29. 1903 22. 1874 8. 1884 35- 1894 25. 1904 ^3- 1875 8. 1885 17- 1895 17. 1905 15- 1876 6. 1886 II. 1896 29. 1906 19. 1877 9- 1887 4- 1897 20. 1907 20. 1878 12. 1888 19. 1898 24. 1908 1909 21. 16. The legislature of 1846 appropriated $2,500, $200 to be used toward the expense of each institute. In some instances the expense exceeded $200, and Mann shouldered the deficit. Thus Massachusetts was the first state in the Union to aid Teachers' Institutes by legislative enactment. The law required the attendance of at least sev- enty teachers who were to remain in session not less than ten days. By the law of 1848 the attend- ance of at least fift}^ teachers was required. Teachers' Institutes were at first voluntary meet- ings, and were from one week to two months in duration, at the option of the members. 86 TEACHERS' INSTITUTES In the course of time the sessions were shortened to fiv^e, then three, then two, and finally to one day. It was in 1849 that the duration of the institutes was put into the hands of the State Board of Edu- cation . The first ones took the form of regular school routine with more attention to subject matter than to methods. Classes were formed , lessons assigned , learned and recited --in brief it was a school com- posed of teachers -- in other words -- a model school. This similarity to a school was gradually lessen- ed. Evening sessions as well as day sessions were held, usually lectures, sometimes debates, of pop- ular interest. During these sessions, the expenses were paid by the State, the wages of the teachers by the towns. In rare ca^es towns deducted the wages of teachers for the time spent at the institute. Towns that had never had institutes took hold of the project with unbounded enthusiasm. In some instances, where the institutes were held several miles from the railroad stations, the committees pro- vided carriages, and lunches were provided for the teachers who lived at a distance from the place of TEACHERS' INSTITUTES 87 the meetings. Everywhere the teachers were hos- pitably treated, and very generally gratuitously en- tertained. At other times, railroads, steamboat companies and stage lines issued free returns tickets. (i) The citizens of Lee, in 1846, furnished board to members of the institute at $1 per week. At anoth- er time, in 1848, board was given to female teachers attending the institute. A few years later this gra- tuity was extended to the male teachers as well. (2) The citizens of Hyannisand Sandwich, in 1849, gratuitously entertained the teachers the entire time [six days] , and felt that they had been the beneficiaries instead of the benefactors. In 1850 other towns followed the example of furnishing board free. [Fourteenth Report, p. 54.] Although the institutes were in popular favor, several members of the legislature of i860 advo- cated their abolishment. Their endeavors were fruitless. (i) Tenth Report, p. 4. (2) Thirteenth Report, p. 48. 88 EDUCATIONAL DATES Educational Dates. 1635 First school founded in New England-- the Boston Latin School. 1636 Harvard College founded. 1642 First legislative enactment in regard to edu- cation . 1647 Reading and writing schools required in towns of fifty householders ; grammar schools in towns of one hundred householders. 1 683 Two grammar schoo.s and two writing schools required in towns of five hundred families. 1789 School district sj'stem established. Arith- metic, spelling, English grammar and good behavior required. 1826 Towns of 500 families were required to main- ^ tain a high school of second grade ; towns of 0^- 4,000 inhabitants a high school of first grade. Towns for the first time were required to elect school committees. Geography re- quired. Committees were required to make school returns to the Secretary of the Com- monwealth. ^ EDUCATIONAL DATES 89 1827 Election of prudential committees authorized . Entire support of the schools- by taxation made compulsor}^ for the first time. 1830 American Institute of Instruction organized. 1833 Age limit, 12 years -- 20 weeks schooling. iX 1834 Massachusetts School Fund established, 1836 First evening school in New England open- ^ ed in Warren Street Chapel, Boston. First employment law enacted. 1837 Estabhshment of district school libraries au- thorized. State Eoard of Education estab- lished. 1838 First annual returns mr.de to the Eoard of Education b}^ school committees. Selection of teachers by school committees authorized, unless town votes otherwise. Annual reports required of the school committees. 1839 First Normal School of the State and the country opened. Minimum school year, six months. Female assistant to be employed in schools averaging 50 pupils, unless the town votes otherwise. 1840 Springfield appropriated $1,000 for Supt. of Schools -- first instance of professional su- pervision in the State . 90 EDUCATIONAL DATES 1844 Committees empowered to dismiss teachers at any time. 1845 Formation of Massachusetts Teachers' Asso- ciation. 1846 Teachers' Institutes established. 1847 Lyman School for bo5^s, at Westborough, es- tablished. y 1850 Appointment of agents of Board of Educa- tion authorized . First law to prevent truanc}^ passed. 1 85 1 Establishment of free public hbraries author- ized. First compulsory school attendance law in the U. S. Age limits 8-14 years; 12 weeks schoohng required, 6 being consecuti v^e. 1853 Forty-eight State scholarships estabhshed. 1854 Election of superintendents of schools au- thorized. Salary determined by town. 1855 Free text books authorized. Daily reading of the. Bible made compulsory in all schools. Vaccination law passed. 1856 Industrial School for girls, at Lancaster, es- tabhshed. 1857 History of the U. S. required. Number on / 185: EDUCATIONAL DATES 91 school board fixed at three, or some tiiultiple of three, one-third elected annually for a term of three years. 1858 Drawing optional. 1859 School Committees alone authorized to select teachers. Towns for the first time were re- quired to support a "sufficient number of schools" for the accommodation of all the children --6 months. i860 Music and Drawing permissive. 1862 Teaching of Agriculture permissive. 1865 Massachusetts Institute of Technology open- ed. 1868 Worcester Polytechnic Institute opened. 1869 Conveyance of pupils at public expense au- thorized. 1870 Drawing required. District superintendencies authorized; Salary of superintendent to be fixed by the school committee. 1872 Women's Education Association organized. Establishment of Industrial schools authoriz - ed. 1873 Tv^^enty weeks schooling required. Age lim- it 8-12. Free text books permissive. 92 EDUCATIONAL DATES 1874 Women members of school committees le- galized. Age limit 8-14. 1876 Sewing authorized. Important employment law passed. 1 88 1 Women authorized to vote for school com- mittee. 1882 School district system finally abolished. 1883 Everiing schools authorized ; required in towns of 10,000 inhabitants. 1 884 Free text-book and school supplies law enact - ed. (Sixteen towns had already adopted free text-book system.) Elementary instruction in the use of hand tools authorized. 1885 The teaching of Physiology and H>giene re- quired. (Optional in 1850.) 1 886 Evenir.g High schools required in towns of 50,000 inhabitants. Permanent tenure of of- fice for teachers authorized. 1888 Salary of district superintendent fixed at $1,250. 1889 Povert}' exemption clause stricken out of attendance law. 1 890 Thirty weeks schooling required if the schools continued that time. Ten days unexcused absences permitted. EDUCATIONAL DATES 93 1 89 1 Free High school instruction required of every town. 1893 First technical High school in Massachusetts established, Mechanics Art, Boston. 1894 Minimum schooling, 8 months. KstabHsh- ment of the Educational Museum. 1895 Instruction in Manual Training required in High schools in cities and towns of 20,000. First textile school in Mass., at Lowell. 1898 A-ge limit 7-14; 32 weeks; attendance the entire time. Instruction in Manual Training required in High and elementary schools in cities and towns of 20,000 inhabitants. 1 899 Establishment of vacation schools authorized . 1900 Every town require J to have a superintend- ent of schools after 1902. 1906 Commission on Industrial education appoint- ed. Appointment of school physicians com- pulsory, 1908 Establishment of pension funds for teachers authorized 1909 Organization of a new State Board of Edu- cation. Commissioner of Education appoint- ed. 19 10 Teaching of Thrift required. 9^ MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOL Massachusetts High School. The first Grammar school in Massachusetts - the Boston Latin School - wcs founded in 1635. This school like others that immediately followed was classical in character, and therefore college prepar- atory'. Such schools were modelled after the Gram- mar or public schools of England. In 1647 a law was enacted requiring every town- ship containing one hundred families or household- ers "to set up a Grammar School" - the expense to be borne by the town, or by the parents, or by both conjointly as the town may determine. This Gram- mar school, so called because the chief study was Latin, corresponds to our High school of to-day. Although there was a penalty attached to the non- compliance of this law, yet towns in increasing num- bers failed to fulfil the requirements of the statute. The law of 1683 required everj^ town of more than 500 families or householders to set up and maintain two Grammar schools. So great was the magnitude of the violation of the law of 1647, that in 1789 a law was passed re- quiring the maintenance of the Grammar school by MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOL 95 110 towns of less than 200 householders. This law exempted 1 20 towns from the requirement of main- taining Grammar schools, but 1 10 towns out of 265 were still under that obligation, that is, out of 265 towns, 230 would have been under the obligation to support Grammar schools under the previous law. Thus the boys in these towns were suddenly depriv- ed of a preparatory school. It was in this year that the school district system was authorized, which re- sulted in engendering the district spirit to the det- riment of the town spirit. The Grammar school was distinctly a town school in contradistinction to the district school. Interest, therefore, continued to wane in the Grammar schools, which were town schools, with the result that when few of the 172 towns were liv- ing up to the letter of the law, another law, in 1824, was passed requiring only towns of 5,000 inhabitants or over to maintain Grammar schools. This re- leased 165 towns out of 172, leaving seven commer- cial towns under the necessity of maintaining Gram- mar schools, namely Boston, Charlestown, Glouces- ter, Marblehead, Nantucket, Newburyport and Salem. 96 MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOL In 1 75 1 the Grammar schools at Gloucester were akin to the portable schools of to-day, instruction being given in seven localities during three years, each having nine, four and one half, three, one and one half, vSeven, five and one half, and five and one half months respectively. Since the establishment of the Grammar school depended upon a moderately sized town, the towns of less population could not furnish secondary in- struction to its young people ; thus the rise of the academies which were practically private institu- tions, although supported in part by public funds. There were 854 academies and private schools in 1 837 . Three years later there were 88 incorporated academies in Massachusetts. The rise of the academies [beginning with Dum- mer in 1763, the first endowed acadenty in Massa- chusetts, at Byfield, and Phillips Acadeiuy, Andov- er, founded in 1778] and the poverty of the people, may be added to the creation of the district spirit as the cause of the decadence of the Grammar schools. Other early academies were : Leicester, 1784. Westfield, i793- Berwick, 1791 Bradford, 1803. MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOL 97 Academies came into existence from 1780- 1820; made part of state system by land grants, with en- riched curricula. The pendulum had swung too far, however, and reaction was the resultant. In 1826 two kinds of High schools were required by law, designated by the terms "finst grade" and "second grade," the former of which was required in towns of 4,000 inhabitants, and the latter in towns of 500 families. Practically the only difference be- tween these two grades was the study of Greek which was required in the High school of the first grade. The law affecting towns of 500 families was twice repealed (1829 & 1840) and twice restored (1836& 1848) Thus 22 years were required to es- tablish this law. Much of the opposition to the law of 1826 ema- nated from persor.s interested in private schools and academies, towards the support of which the State provided grants of land in the province of Maine. There was discontent, moveover, arising in some towns owing to the fact that the school could not be conveniently located for all. It has been noted doubtlessly that there has been a bold-faced violation of the school law up to this 98 MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOL lime. It still continued as is shown by the follow- ing :(i) In 1838, 14 out of 43 towns required by the statutes to maintain High schools were complying with the law. In the 29 delinquent towns, out of $122,089 expended for public and private instruct- ion, about two fifths or nearly $50,000 wds expend- ed in private schools and academies. Many of these towns were among the wealthiest and most popu - lous in the State . The increase in the number of High schools has been marked, however : 1838 14. 1876 216, 1898 261. 1852 64. 1886 224. 1908 266. 1866 156. 1889 236. 1909 270. In 1891 free high school instruction was required of every town in the State in either its own or in an outside High school. In this year 59 towns not required by law were maintaining High schools. The law of 1824 showed that the consensus of opinion at that time was that these institutions did not produce results commensurate with the ex- penses. So Grammar schools in only seven towns were required. ♦ ^ » (i) First Annual Report, pp. 51-52. MASSACHUSETTS HIGH SCHOOL 99 In contradistinction to the law of 1824, we have the law of 1891 which requires all town& to furnish high school instruction. The consensus of opinion now is that, regardless of expense, no child ought to be deprived of a high school training. The term "High School" was not used in the Massachusetts statute until 1882, although for years the terminology was used by school committees in their reports to the State . The distinction between "first" and "second grade" High schools was abolished in 1898. Boston had its English High School for boys in 182 1 ; for girls in 1825, which continued one year, and was abolished in 1826 after this one-years's life because it was deemed too expensive. It was re- established in 1852. See 6ist Report, p. 347, by Frank A. Ilill. ' 'A Modern School. " p.43, by Prof. Paul H. Hanus. "Evolution of the Massachusetts Public School Sys- tem," pp. 85, 115, by George H. Martin. First Annual Report, pp. 51-52. Fortieth Annual Report, pp. 34-47. loo MISCELLANEOUS In addition to the foregoing, Massachusetts has other educational features worthy of mention : Pub- lic libraries authorized by law in 1851 ; State schol- arships established in 1853 ; Women's Educational Association, which is still active, organized in Eos- ton in 1872; sixteen colleges, two technical insti- tutes ; riine special schools for defectives ; industrial school for girls at Lancaster ; Lyman school for boys at Westborough ; county truant schools ; independ- ent industrial schools, and so forth. Massachusetts has an interesting history of school supervision with Springfield taking the lead in professional work in 1840. Massachusetts opened the educational door to women at Dummer, Leicester, Westfield and Bradford academies culminating in a liberal educa- tion at Mount Holyoke founded by Mary L3^on in 1837. One of the most vital questions in Massachusetts is a definite status of the school superintendent. The system has suffered and will continue to suffer unless the APPOINTMENT of teachers is placed in professional hands. Power to nominate will not solve the problem. 3CT 15 1910 One copy del. to Cat. Div. OCT 15 1910 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 019 876 347