Hamilton High School - Hamiltonian Yearbook (South Hamilton, MA)

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6 The Hamiltonian into a school for the education of boys. Phillips Academ - was established in Andover in 1778, and numerous others soon followed. By 1826 there were twenty-six incorporated academies in the state, d ' here was a fjood deal of competition between hijjh schools and academies because both trained students preparinff for college in Latin and Greek. After the Civi 1 War, when the public high school’s popularitv was intensified, the academies’ pace of pro- gress slackened. In 1839 the first state normal school was established in Lexington, Massachu- setts but it eventually failed because of lack of financial support ; three others were opened within the next few years. A tre- mendous fight for the maintaining of these tax-supported normal schools was waged in the state legislature. Horace M ann and other leaders of universal education finalh won and, by this victory, one of the worst set-backs in educational progress was avoided because it was tbrougb these nor- mal schools that Horace .Mann spread his plans for education. After the Revival of Education in the nineteenth century, a great improvement was stimulated in public education by the opening of public schools to girls as well as boys, the classification of schools into primary, grammar, and high school divisions, compulsory attendance, the introduction of manual training in schools, authorization by the state for establishing industrial schools, and the introduction of home economics in high school. Besides our great system of elementary and high schools, iMassachusetts has scores of higher institutions of learning in her manv colleges and universities. I here is the Massachusetts Agricultural College ( now M assachusetts State College) which was founded in 1821 for the completion of courses in agricidture. Massachusetts has no state university although some educa- tional leader claim that the Massachusetts State Agricultural College should be rated as such. State normal schools have grad- uallv advanced their educational standards until they have earned from the Massa- chusetts legislature the title of State Col- leges. d ' hese institutions were at first free to pupils but now a nominal tuition fee is charged. (jiadually and steadilv has the Massa- chusetts educational system improved until it is now one of the finest in the country. We now have well ventilated, well lighted, and well equipped buildings. Be- sides regular classrooms, buildings are pro- vided with gymnasiums, playgrounds, and well equipped manual-training and home- economics rooms. By the law requiring the provision of free textbooks, careful attention and supervision of our textbooks is exercised by the state to see that proper and modern texts are used. In our high schools, there are college courses preparing pupils for entrance to higher scholastic institutions, commercial courses preparing girls and boys to take their part in the world of commerce, as well as the general courses. Then too, we have trade courses in many of our schools today where pupils, not inclined to the scholastic type of work, ma}’ learn a trade or some art in the well equipped trade divisions. Every student should know thoroughly the construction and use of his language; therefore, the state of Massa- chusetts has required Ivnglish to be taugbt in all its schools. As it is desirable to have all students know the general history of their country. United States History is now also a required subject. The authori- ties of education in .Massachusetts have recently recognized the need of physical development and exercise for the students — for if the body is not well the mind can- not function properly. As a result, physical education is now required in all schools. ' Ehe state also supervises the health of students by having school clinics, school nurses, and physical examinations of pupils at stated intervals, d ' he student’s appre- ciation of Classical Arts is developed bv having elective subjects such as M usic Ap- pr eciation, Drawing, Art Appreciation, and .Mythology. 1 hen there are the extra-curricula ac- ti ities. In many schools, clubs are organ- ized under the supervision of teachers for the widening of the general knowledge of the pupil. There are the school get- togethers” such as the Junior Promenades, Senior Receptions, and the general social activities which tend to increase good feel- ing, cooperation and sociability among the (Continued on page 22)

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The Hamiltonian 5 All schools at this time were controlled hy the town. 1 he town voted to have the school, determined the grade of school, chose the master, fixed his compensation, inducted him into office, and arranged all details of school economy. In the early schools, the masters were very poorly paid ; their salaries in most cases, allowing a small sum for board, is estimated to have barely reached sixty or seventy dollars a full term. During the middle of the seventeenth century, many parents demanded free schools for their children. To some extent this demand was gratified, but most schools at this time required some tuition fee. As only the wealthy could afford fees for their children, this tended to develop class dis- tinction. Attempts to overcome this were made, and entirely tax-supported schools were established in order to induce chil- dren of all classes to attend school. This caused many to look upon free schools as charitable institutions; therefore, attend- ance was not complete in them. This caused a decline in school spirit in New England and approaching the eighteenth century, education went backward, we are told, and no further progress in establishing public schools was made until about 1735 when school districts began to appear. The towns were divided into districts and each district was allowed to draw its share of the school money to be spent as it liked. By 1789, the question of war had been removed and the old subject of popular education again came to the fore. Around this same period too, school dames were appointed and women teachers became more prominent in the schools. I ' his was due primarily to the fact that the towns absorbed into their public systems of edu- cation, the “dame” or “kitchen” schools, as they were called, which had existed since early colonial times. This same year a law was enacted which required teachers to be college or university graduates and to present a certificate of qualification and moral character from a minister or select- man from their own town. This law also provided for official supervision of schools either by ministers and selectmen or by a committee especially appointed for the pur- pose. All these so-called new practices had been in existence in many towns since 1647, hut now the law legalized them for the whole state. Up to this time, school houses and equip- ment were voluntarily provided for by contributions of tbe people but tins was remedied in 1800 when the power to tax was conferred upon the people of the school districts, and following this very naturally in 1817, districts were made corporations. This resulted in the passage of a law in 1827 requiring each district to choose a committeeman who should select teachers and have care of the school and property in his district. The first city superintendent of schools was apponted in Springfield, A I assachusetts in 1840. In 1821 Boston established the first pub- lic high school in the United States and in 1825 it established one for girls. By 1827 a law in this state required towns of a certain size to establish free schools. Few towns acted upon this, however, until Horace Mann became secretary of the Board of Education. The early high schools were not so closely related to the elementary as our high schools of today; one did not pass through seven or eight so-called “grades” of elementary school and then enter high school. For a long time the high school was a selective school in that admission requirements were such as to exclude all but the more competent. Gradually the public high schools became upward ex- tensions of the elementary schools and one who had satisfactorily completed the latter could enter high school. The grading system was not developed until the latter part of the nineteenth century and high schools were not particularly numerous until then. In 1873 the state authorized the towns to own books and equipment and loan them to pupils, and in 1884, this was made a law and all sch(X)l books and equipment were free to children in all grades of public schools. Let us leave the public schools at this time and consider a vital factor in the growth of education in Massachusetts, the growth of the academies. I ' he academy was really a creation of the Revolutionary- War, although the first academy in Massa- chusetts was established in 1763 when Wil- liam Dummer of Boston died and be- cpieathed his mansion and farm to be made

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The Hamiltonian 7 “STUDENT COUNCIL Readiru) from left to right: Hack row, William Kelisle, Gordon McCullock, Lawrence Lamson, Principal Roland V ' . Payne. Second row, Gordon Vaughn, Louise Moulton, George Sprague, Alice Maddern, Gordon McRae, Minnie Wetson. First row, Catherine Cracknell, Sec.; Robert Smith, Vice-Pres. ; Dorothy Greeley, Pres.; Kenneth McRae, Betty Ann Beal, William Smith. Student Council Report ' ' HE Student Council was organ- ized in September, 1934, and met on alternating Wednesdays throughout the school year. Each Junior high class had one representative, while the Senior high classes were allowed two represen- tatives in the council. After each meeting a report of the business was carried back to the classes by their representatives. This was done so that each member of the high school would know the discus- sions carried on during the meetings. A social committee was organized by the president which consisted of three members of the Student Coun- cil Board : L. Lamson, L. Moulton, and C. Cracknell. This committee had charge of regulating social ac- tivities of the high school. The members of the council wish to express their appreciation to, the officers for having carried out their duties so successfully. — C. Cracknell.