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Thomas Willis (search for this): chapter 1
ol in the town for three or four months in the winter season, and a committee of seven men, consisting of Captain Tufts, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Lieut. Stephen Hall, Engn Stephen Francis, Mr. Jno. Willis, Dea. Whitmore, and Mr. Jona. Tufts, was chosen to treat with some person to keep said school. Nothing came from the above action, perhaps owing to the size of the committee. At another meeting, held on November 30, the same year, the town voted to have a school kept in the house of Thomas Willis, the ensuing winter, and a committee of three men, consisting of Engn Jno. Bradshaw, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, and Mr. John Willis, was chosen to agree with some suitable person to keep a writing and reading school in town three or four months the ensuing winter, and to make return of their doings to the town at the next town meeting. We note in the action at this meeting that the people have diminished the size of their committee, have enlarged the curriculum of their school to include re
September 25th, 1732 AD (search for this): chapter 1
ding a school-house till 1730. On the 5th of October in this year the town voted to build a school-house on the town land by the meetinghouse, chose a committee of five men to attend to the matter, and then promptly refused to appropriate any money therefor. The next year, 1731, the town repeated the performance—voted to build the school-house, and then refused to raise the money. On the 17th of January, 1732, the town again refused to raise money to build a school-house. On 25th of September, 1732, the town voted to build a school-house, to be finished the 25th of November. Captain Brooks was chairman of a committee of three to attend to the matter, and, although no appropriation was made at the time, and no allusion is made to the matter at a meeting held the next January, I am inclined to think the building was erected. From about 1736 Medford seems to have had what may be called an annual school—that is, for seven or eight months each year, as this year the people voted
1642 AD (search for this): chapter 1
reaks of light were visible above the eastern horizon. Neither Plato in his perfect republic nor Sir Thomas More in his ideal state had ever dreamed of such a thing as the American common school, where every child, the poorest as well as the richest, girl as well as boy, can claim, not as a charity, but as a right, the possession of the keys of all knowledge; and for the support of which a first mortgage is held on every cent of the accumulations of every childless millionaire. The law of 1642, while recognizing to the full parental responsibility, suggested not only the viciousness of indolence and the educative office of labor, but just as plainly indicated the state ownership of the child and its responsibility for him. Horace Mann had not yet formulated his three famous propositions on which the common school system of Massachusetts rests: 1st. That the successive generations of men, taken collectively, constitute one great commonwealth. 2d. That the property of
1680 AD (search for this): chapter 1
ouseholders to support a school for reading and writing, it was not till twenty-seven years later that Medford made any move to establish such a school. Lying so near Boston, we may feel certain that if she had had the requisite number of people she would have been obliged to comply with the law, even if reluctant to do so. Its insignificance, furthermore, may be inferred from the fact that although incorporated as a town in 1630 no one of its people seemed to be aware of the fact till about 1680,—fifty years later,—and the first white child born within its borders had become an old man of eighty-three before it had a settled minister, and this in a thorough-going puritan settlement. Very likely as she drew her preaching from ministers settled in the surrounding towns, and from young men studying in Harvard college, so her brighter and more ambitious boys managed to attend the public schools established in those places. The distance was not excessive, and the boys of those days d
1686 AD (search for this): chapter 1
took many years to make apparent that tuition fees from the rich and free tuition for the poor made class distinctions too pronounced in a new society where in church and state all were equal. We must not forget, moreover, that Medford was small and poor and insignificant, enveloped literally and overshadowed by its larger and more prosperous neighbor, Charlestown. It was scarcely more than Governor Cradock's farm; and in 1700 its population probably did not exceed two hundred souls. In 1686 the county rate contained only fourteen names, and the whole number of polls in 1695 was but twenty-six. While the law passed by the Colonial Court in 1692 required every town of fifty householders to support a school for reading and writing, it was not till twenty-seven years later that Medford made any move to establish such a school. Lying so near Boston, we may feel certain that if she had had the requisite number of people she would have been obliged to comply with the law, even if rel
July 20th, 1719 AD (search for this): chapter 1
on. At the town meeting the most frequent matters for consideration were the preacher and the meeting-house. The meeting-house, by the way, was literally the meeting-house where all matters secular as well as spiritual were discussed and settled. When every citizen was a member of the church, and no other person was thought fit to vote, and when spiritual and secular affairs were all one, this seemed the proper thing to do. The first entry in our records concerning schools was on July 20, 1719, when the town voted to hire some meet person to keep a writing school in the town for three or four months in the winter season, and a committee of seven men, consisting of Captain Tufts, Capt. Ebenezer Brooks, Lieut. Stephen Hall, Engn Stephen Francis, Mr. Jno. Willis, Dea. Whitmore, and Mr. Jona. Tufts, was chosen to treat with some person to keep said school. Nothing came from the above action, perhaps owing to the size of the committee. At another meeting, held on November 30,
July 23rd, 1739 AD (search for this): chapter 1
three to attend to the matter, and, although no appropriation was made at the time, and no allusion is made to the matter at a meeting held the next January, I am inclined to think the building was erected. From about 1736 Medford seems to have had what may be called an annual school—that is, for seven or eight months each year, as this year the people voted to have a school from September to May. On the 30th of July, 1738, they voted to have a school for the space of a year, and July 23, 1739, they voted to have an annual school. The hiring of the master and the care of the school was usually put in the hands of a special committee, as now, but for some years before the Revolution the selectmen were charged with that duty. The studies pursued were very few, but they sufficed. Reading, writing, and the fundamental operations in arithmetic—the three R's—were all that found a place in the course of studies in those early schools. I will spare my readers an enumeration of<
1750 AD (search for this): chapter 1
d the care of the school was usually put in the hands of a special committee, as now, but for some years before the Revolution the selectmen were charged with that duty. The studies pursued were very few, but they sufficed. Reading, writing, and the fundamental operations in arithmetic—the three R's—were all that found a place in the course of studies in those early schools. I will spare my readers an enumeration of the things we are expected to study and teach to-day. Beginning about 1750, at each annual meeting, after voting the minister's salary, the town immediately votes to provide a school for the ensuing year. These were the first matters attended to. Evidently the education of their children was coming to the front. And as we approach 1776, although the records throb with drumbeats and glisten with bayonets, there are no indications of any failing of that deep interest which from that day to this Medford has ever shown in her public schools. The last warrant for to
1630 AD (search for this): chapter 1
passed by the Colonial Court in 1692 required every town of fifty householders to support a school for reading and writing, it was not till twenty-seven years later that Medford made any move to establish such a school. Lying so near Boston, we may feel certain that if she had had the requisite number of people she would have been obliged to comply with the law, even if reluctant to do so. Its insignificance, furthermore, may be inferred from the fact that although incorporated as a town in 1630 no one of its people seemed to be aware of the fact till about 1680,—fifty years later,—and the first white child born within its borders had become an old man of eighty-three before it had a settled minister, and this in a thorough-going puritan settlement. Very likely as she drew her preaching from ministers settled in the surrounding towns, and from young men studying in Harvard college, so her brighter and more ambitious boys managed to attend the public schools established in those p
1692 AD (search for this): chapter 1
in church and state all were equal. We must not forget, moreover, that Medford was small and poor and insignificant, enveloped literally and overshadowed by its larger and more prosperous neighbor, Charlestown. It was scarcely more than Governor Cradock's farm; and in 1700 its population probably did not exceed two hundred souls. In 1686 the county rate contained only fourteen names, and the whole number of polls in 1695 was but twenty-six. While the law passed by the Colonial Court in 1692 required every town of fifty householders to support a school for reading and writing, it was not till twenty-seven years later that Medford made any move to establish such a school. Lying so near Boston, we may feel certain that if she had had the requisite number of people she would have been obliged to comply with the law, even if reluctant to do so. Its insignificance, furthermore, may be inferred from the fact that although incorporated as a town in 1630 no one of its people seemed to b
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