What WPS was like in 1914/15

Just found this Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Public Schools of the City of Worcester 1914.

"The future welfare of our city will depend in a large measure on the instruction the children receive in our schools and the training given them in their homes. The home life we can affect only indirectly and in part; their school life lies wholly in our care. If we fail to do all in our power to provide for them the best within our means, we fall short of the duty we have been elected to perform."


-INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF CHARLES F. MARBLE, CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE, 1915


Here are some parts I found interesting, especially in light of the current situation in Worcester Public Schools:

• There is a section about community partnerships with organizations including: The Public Library, The Natural History Society, The Worcester Society of Antiquity and lectures given by various professors at WPI, Clark and the Massachusetts Agricultural College.

• On access to libraries:

Public Library

Mr. Robert K. Shaw, librarian of the Free Public Library, is ever ready and willing to aid the teachers and pupils who wish to avail themselves of the many rich opportunities which the library possesses as aids to education. The following is from a communication sent me by Librarian Shaw:

"For more than a generation the public library and the public schools of this city have enjoyed intimate and friendly relations. Our school deliveries cover all parts of the city, there being in fact only four school buildings which do not not receive our books. The four school deposits at Gates Lane, Gage Street, Millbury Street and Tatnuck bring practically branch library facilities to the children of these districts, respectively.

"At the central library we are assisting children in many ways outside of the regular juvenile department; in the circulation department we provide books covering the required reading, such books being supplied on open shelves of convenient location. In the reference department we spend much time in supplying material on debates and on collateral reading in many lines of school work. Professional reading for teachers is furnished both through the circulation department and the teachers' room in the juvenile department.

"In the past, certain classes have come irregularly with their teachers for occasional talks on the use of the library, the use of reference books, etc., and the librarian has visited the high schools with the aim of familiarizing pupils and teachers with library facilities and methods.

"A splendid plan for the future would be the inauguration of some regular library course in the pursuit of which pupils who elected this course would receive regular instruction at the library in the use of reference books, card catalogues, etc., and in such elementary knowledge of library methods and handling books as would benefit them throughout life. Such courses have been given in some of our larger cities with a real benefit to both library and schools."

The idea of inaugurating a library course in our school system seems worthy of consideration. Such a course could readily be put into our high school curriculum.

Mr. Shaw has assured me that it would be a pleasure for him to co-operate with the school authorities in this direction. In closing my report on the Public Library, I wish to say that which I feel confident is the opinion of the entire school department, namely, that the librarian and his corps of efficient and courteous assistants have been a great aid to us in our work of educating the young of the City of Worcester.