Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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Tlie aim of the academy was to pre- pare boys and j»irls for the real business of living’. Between 1780 and 1850 approximately six-thous- and academies were organized in the United States. Between 1840 and 1850 the academy movement was at its peak. i Because the Massachusetts Act of 1824 exempted towns of less than 5000 inhabitants from maintaining grammar schools, the academies were taking the place of the gram- mar schools. Since the grammar schools became so few, Massachus- etts had her legislature grant the academies aid and in so doing had taken another great step in furth- ering the cause of education. Be- fore 1850, Massachusetts and New York had incorporated the most academies, with Massachusetts hav- ing one-fortieth of the academies of the country. By the middle of the nineteenth century the academy be- came the dominant secondary school in America. While the people were struggling to provide a higher education for boys, little was done to educate the girls. From 1635 to 1735 girls were not allowed to go to the town schools. After 1735 the girls began to have limited opportunities of ob- taining an education. At that time they were allowed to go to school only when the number of boys in a school was small or at such times when the boys had a vacation. The first school for girls was op- ened in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1742. This was a religious school and later it was transformed into a secondary school. It is now called the Moravian College and its stu- dent body still consists entirely of girls. Soon the dawn of a new day be- gan to break and the necessity of educating a girl was recognized. Catherine Beecher, with her en- thusiasm and ability, deserves much credit for the development of seminaries in the west. The greatest seminaries in the east were established in Ipswich, Salem, South Hadley, and Troy. The present academies are used for experimental secondary educa- tion, for those not suited for the program of the high school, and for c-hose who feel the need of a differ- ent type of training. The academy of the eighteenth century, however, with its broader curriculum and preparation for life was the fore- runner of the modern high school. The only break in education oc- curred during the American Revolu- tion. It took about forty years for the educational movement to recov- er from the depression and disor- ganization which was caused by the Revolution. It took a long time for the people to realize that secondary educa- tion was necessary for the children of all people, and therefore, it took a long time for the high schools to develop. People who had money werenot willing to pay taxes to edu- cate the children of others, and some had already invested money in an academy. The first Boston school committee was formed in 1809 to secure a change for better meth- ods of school training and for a more democratic form of school for the children of the dissatisfied par- ents. Massachusetts again had tak- 18

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from England : Its curriculum was classical, and its main objective was to prepare its students for the uni- versity. These schools were tuition schools but were controlled and par- tially supported by the town. Boys entered the Latin grammar schools at the age of seven or eight, and by the time they were sixteen, they v ere admitted to college. Sessions of the Boston Latin School were held at the homes of the masters of this school for at least ten years after it was founded. The only sub- jects taught were Greek and Latin, and the knowledge of these lan- guages was considered sufficient for university work. Other grammar schools were soon established and became so popular with the people that by the end of the seventeenth century about forty such schools were in existence in New England alone. Massachusetts greatly stimulated the educational movement by passing a law in 1647, which established the right of the state to require communities to maintain grammar schools at pub- lic expense. Other schools besides the gram- mar schools had been established for the inculcating of religion and for other purposes. Just before the beginning of the eighteenth century private parochial schools were first established in the middle colonies. The church had control over these, with clergymen as teachers. Relig- ion was one of the main subjects, and the curiculum was considered elementary rather than secondary. The old field schools, which were privately controlled, were establish- ed principally in the South through the co-operation of the parents who could not afford the expense of priv- ate tutors. The patrons of these schools employed highly educated men for the purpose of educating the boys and girls for the education- al opportunities which the schools offered or for preparation for col- lege. The curriculum was both el- ementary and secondary. Therefore, the old field schools were popular and existed until the middle of the nineteenth century. No other century has accomplish- ed as much as the eighteenth cen- tury which is considered one of the greatest in history for the advance- ment of secondary education. It was at this time that great strides were made in the commercial and indus- trial fields. Because the curricu- lum of the Latin grammar schools did not prepare students for this ever growing commercial expan- sion, these schools began to lose their hold on the people. In their place, there gradually arose the American academies which offered courses that would more easily en- able their students to enter into the business life that was making such great headway at that time o fpros- perity. The academy was an insti- tution of tuition designed for the children of all classes in order to make them good citizens. It pro- vided its student body with a broad- er curriculum which had become necessary because of the develop- ments which followed the American Revolution and had a finishing func- tion as well as a preparatory func- tion. Franklin’s Academy, which was founded in 1751, provided its students with a variety of subjects. 17

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en the leadership in advancing edu- cation by producing the first high school in Boston in 1821. At first the school was called the English Classical School and three years lat- er the name was changed to the English High School. The aim of the high school was to prepare for entrance to some form of vocation, with emphasis on English. Thus the fundamental existence of the early high school was to give the student opportunity to secure training to meet the practical needs of life. The aims of the high school to- day are not much different from those of schools of an earlier day. The modern high school prepares a small group of its students for fur- ther study in colleges or univers- ities. Preparation for college is riot its main goal, however, for a great number of high school graduates never go to college. The curricula of the present high school as stated in 1918 in the report of the Com- mission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education aims to meet seven definite requirements: those of health, command of fundamental processes, worthy home-member- ship, vocation, civic education, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. Therefore, the modern high school still has as its main ob- jective the preparation of its stu- dents for the needs of modern so- ciety ; in other words, it trains us to become better citizens in better communities and thus fulfill the whole aim and object of public edu- cation. We of the clas of 1935 take this opportunity to thank the people of Ipswich for making it possible for- us to obtain a high school education. By taking advantage of this priv- ilege we believe that we are better prepared to meet whatever life has in store for us. In passing may we urge you as citizens of the town to be true to the American tradition and to give your full support to the cause of education. History of the Public High School in Ipswich to 1895 By Barbara Schofield B efore entering upon a discus- sion of the early high school fa- cilities in Ipswich, it should be stat- ed that, from the earliest colonial days up to 1836, there was no school in Ipswich which was known as the “high school.” From the year 1636 down to 1836, a period of two-hun- dred years, the higher education of Ipswich children was conducted in a school which was known at vari- ous times as the Feoffees School, the Free School, and other titles. This being so, it is obvious that a so-called study of the high school in Ipswich must begin back in 1636, for from that time on to 1836, the teaching of high school subjects, in- cluding Latin, Greek, and English, and the preparations of students for college, was carried on in these vari- ous schools, which were controlled and financed both by the town and by private contributions. It will be seen from the above statement that in order to get a 19