S. J. C. Needham
     from the Salem Evening News, Sept. 29, 1933

Second Assistant Required in Peabody High School in 1872:
Miss S. J. C. Needham, Graduate of the School,
Procured to Fill the Position; Changes in Course of Study

by John O. Buxton, Salem Evening News, 1933

Peabody, Sept. 29 - In their report of the Peabody High School for 1872 the committee say: "The school still enjoys the advantage of the skillful, able and successful instruction of the Principal and Assistant who for three years have had charge of  it, Bryon Grove, A.M.  and Miss Julia A. Stetson.

"At the beginning of the year the committee found it necessary to procure the services of a second Assistant, and was so fortunate as to be able to engage Miss S. J. C. Needham, a graduate of the school. for that important post.  Miss Needham's well known scholarship and teaching ability led the committee to expect excellent results from this addition to the board of instruction of the school.  It is is scarcely necessary to any that in this we have not been disappointed.

"The reasons which have seemed to make it imperative upon the committee to give this school  a second Assistant are briefly these:  First, the considerable increase in the number in attendance.  There is the unusually large number of 71 at the beginning of the year.  Second, the change in the course of studies which the committee found it necessary to make last year.  It had been thought by some of the patrons of the school that the course marked out by the committee ought to be simplified somewhat in order to give a wider discretion in the choice of studies.  To answer this demand as far as the best interests of education would permit, three different courses of study were laid out for the pupil to make choice of at the beginning of the second year, as was fully explained in the report of last year.  But this increase in the number of courses of studies made necessary a very considerable increase in the number of recitations per day, and this in turn required the assistance of another teacher.

"The result of this year's experiment with the new programme has not been altogether satisfactory to the committee.  The first result of making French compulsory, and Latin and Botany elective, requiring at least one of the two, was to send a large part of the class into Botany and the abandonment of Latin, which was not, the committee believes, altogether the best thing. For as between any physical Science and Latin, the committee has but one opinion as to which would be the most profitable study.  In view of this fact modification of the programme was deemed desirable.  This modification has been secured by making Botany a required study for the beginning of the second year and allowing the choice to lie between French and Latin, it being presumed that after the first year's study of Latin most of the scholars will prefer to continue that, instead of taking up a new language, if at the same time they are not deprived by this election of the advantage of the scientific studies. Certainly they are left in no doubt of the opinion of both committee and teachers as to which would be the wisest choice.

"Still another change in the studies at this school has been thought advantageous.  There is no complaint which the committee oftener hears from citizens than this, that we do not make the studies of the High school "practical" - that they do not fit a boy or girl to do something after they go out.  We suppose that in the sense in which this word "practical" is used, the only answer we can make is that we do not pretend to given a "practical" education in the High School.  It is not a professional school.  The object of high school instruction is not to fit young people for any particular business but rather to lay the foundation of a good education, to store the mind with useful information, and above all to develop the power of careful, consecutive thought and accurate observation: In other words to prepare the young to enter professional and other schools to learn a business or trade, and practice it with the largest success.

"High school instruction lies at the centre of a circle, the circumference ...(missing)...the purpose and spirit of proper High Shool work, to give special instruction and meet special demands.  And with this purpose in view, it has been determined to give somewhat greater emphasis to the study of Book-keeping and Commercial Arithmetic.  For the success of this undertaking the committee is fortunate in having in the Second Assistant, one who has had a special preparation for giving instruction in this study.

"What the committee said last year of the general condition of the school, - the vigor and enthusiasm of the instruction and management - the rapid progress of the scholars in their studies, may be said this year.  We have noticed a decided improvement in the spirit which reigns in the school, both in the cheerful submission to the necessary discipline, and in the appreciative and hearty response which most of the scholars make to the earnest efforts of the teachers.  There is probably no better evidence of this, nor of the real success, of the work of our High School than is seen in the substantial, intellectual growth of the pupils during their course here.  Indeed, it is something marvelous, even to those who watch it most closely, and observe its progress from week to week and are therefore most familiar with it.  We do not see how anyone remembering, for instance, the last graduating class as it was when it entered the school, remembering the amount of its scholarship and its power of thought and comprehension, and it was quite up to the average of that grade of pupils, and then seeing it at the end of its course, observing its thorough, accurate, and extensive acquirements in several important branches of useful knowledge, above all witnessing the fruits of intellectual cultivation and the signs of its wonderful mental growth, as shown in the graduating orations and essays, can thereafter doubt the inestimable benefit and importance of the three years' work in the High School.

"The Latin read by the Senior class was about the average amount for graduates.  The five of the Middle class who took Latin instead of Botany, did excellently and the Juniors made very good progress.  Their appreciation of the benefits of this study is indicated by the fact that when they came to make their election between this and another study at the commencement of their second year, a large majority of them chose to continue Latin.

"The French classes have become a prominent feature of the school.  Especial mention should be made of a part of the Senior class taught by the Principal, who exhibited uncommon attainments for High School scholars in this language, notwithstanding they took it with Latin - perhaps we ought to say, in consequence of the fact that they took it with Latin.  The original French dialogues at the graduating exhibition gave most satisfactory evidence of a high degree of proficiency in this language.

"For the first time in several years we have to report a Greek class in the school.  It consisted of two members of the Middle class and one of the Senior.  By the earnest, faithful, and untiring work of the teacher and scholars together, a very fair degree of progress has been made in this study.  It is understood that two of the three are fitting for college.

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Peabody Press, October 1, 1879
The Van Guard - Below we give the names of the women who have signified their intention of voting, next Spring, under the late law extending the suffrage in school matters to women. - When female suffrage is the accomplished fact it will be in a few years, their names will be read with interest and many will then wish that their name was among them:

Sarah P. M. Kittredge
Sarah F. Kittredge
Sarah S. J. C. Needham
Sarah P. Farnham
Sarah N. Bancroft
Maria S. Bancroft
Martha M. Curtis
Mary J. Floyd
L. Maria Styles
Lizzie S. Towne
Abi Osborne
Lucy M. Fernald
Sophia Mayhew
Adeline E. Kimball
Martha C. Noyes
Elizabeth S. Osborne
Elcie S. Lewis
Harriet Very
Mary E. Moore
Mary E. Farnham
Harriet A. Hardy
Margaret E. Upton
Ellen A. Proctor
Sarah E. Perkins
Harriet A. Sumner
Mary F. Hoag
Ann H. McClure
Elizabeth Tucker
Caroline M. Shillaber