Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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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

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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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comprehensive view of hiy:h school education in Ipswich, it is necessary to trace briefly down through two centuries the work done under the Feoffees and other Boards in the school which had come to be called the Latin Grammar School. An ancient record book says, in 1636, “A grammar school is set up, but does not succeed.” The town records of 1642 have the following entry. “It is granted that there shall be a free school.” However there are no records to show where this school was located. At this time, William Hubbard of Ipswich, twen- ty-one years old, who presumably had obtained his education at this school, was one of that remarkable group of nine men first graduated from Harvard College. In 1643, the town voted eleven pounds a year for the school and chose what appears to be the first body of feoffees to have charge of the school. There were seven free scholars to be chosen by the feo- ffees. Mr. Lionel Chute is supposed to have been the first schoolmaster. In 1645, James Ward, son of Rev. Nathaniel Ward, was graduated from Harvard. He, too, was a pupil of the Ipswich Free School. By 1650 the Free School had be- come a fixed part of the town’s edu- cational system and Ezekiel Cheev- er, one of the most learned and em- inent teachers in New England was chosen as the master of the school. Mr. Cheever was the author of the Latin grammar entitled “The Ac- cidena,’ which was famous as a book of learning and was used in all the educational institutions of the country up to nearly the end of the eighteenth century. No less than twenty editions were printed. By this time it was evident that more funds were needed to main- tain the school, for we find in the town records that the town voted that “all the Neck beyond Chebacco River and the rest of the ground up to the Gloucester line should be giv- en to the school.” The feoffees leased this granted land for nine hundred ninety-nine years to John Cogswell, Jr. for fourteen pounds a year. It is interesting to note the method of payment as fixed by vote : four pounds were to be paid in but- ter and cheese, five pounds in pork and beef, and five pounds in corn at the curernt prices. Recently, a plan was adopted under which the town of Essex paid a lump sum of $2000 to the feoffees, and the lease, which at that time had about seven hun- dred years more to run, was dissolv- ed. In the year 1652 the town ap- pointed a committee of nine to regu- late school affairs with the power to take charge of all gifts, which had already been made and those made in the future, to elect a school- master, and fix a price each scholar should pay for tuition. In 1653, Robert Paine, who was one of the original feoffees, built a building for a grammar school, hav- ing purchased the land at the corner of Argilla Road and County Street. The school faced Schoolhouse Green, as it was then called. Mr. Paine kept the title to the land and building in his own name for thirty years until 1683, when he conveyed it to the feoffees. 20