Length of Fees and TABLE XI. BROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL, MASS.--SCHEDULE OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE COURSE. Institution and Entrance Scope of Course. Methods. Equipment. department. Other of the topics, such as ventilation and (a) Brookheating, involve principles of physics, and here also the effort is line, Mass made to apply work already done in that department, and to continued. bring to students without that training the knowledge of some of its elementary principles. The fourth year is largely given to the applications of biology to every-day life. As this comprehends an elementary study of bacteriology, the theory of disease causation is naturally introduced, and the practice includes some simple home nursing and emergency work. A short subsequent course in invalid cookery gives opportunity for a review of the principles learned in the first year. The latter part of this, the last year, is spent in the discussion of problems of home making rather than of housekeeping, many of which are looked at from the economic and social as well as from the domestic standpoint. For example, the following selected topics belong both to Political Economy and to Domestic Science-the consumption of wealth; food, in its relation to labour power; the housing of the poor and its relation to good citizenship; municipal sanitary regulations; expenditure versus saving; domestic service (as a part of the general labour problem); the work of superintending a home compared with other economic occupations; child labour, etc. Evidence of the thoughtful inter-relation of studies, for which this school is notable, is also apparent in the following selection from some of the topics suggested for theme work in the English department-the life and work of Count Rumford; the influence of Pasteur on modern science; yeast fermentation in its relation to bread-making; the manufacture of flour; experiments with albumen, dust, bacteria and butter-making; the Brookline water supply; the system of ventilation in the Brookline High School; an ideal room. This method serves at least three ends; facility of verbal expression is acquired in respect of subjects studied chiefly in the laboratory or by observation; girls are stimulated to study the history and development of existing domestic customs; and intelligent application of principles acquired in one department is demanded in another. Physiology, chemistry, physics and economics are also closely affiliated by cross-work reference throughout the course. Miss Smith, who is in charge of the present promising class, spares no pains to secure the cooperation of her colleagues in order to maintain continuity in theory and practice, and finds an ample reward for her efforts in the increasing interests and greater womanliness of those who include Domestic Science in their studies. Throughout the course visits to well-planned houses, steam laundries, chocolate works and other factories connected with food and clothing processes, are made whenever practicable or desirable, in order to broaden the outlook of the students and to impress on their minds the points under discussion. I subjoin a concise synopsis of the ground covered and a few suggestions of the methods adopted in the courses in chemistry, physics, geology and art; the course in general household cookery is a somewhat extended treatment of the grade school syllabus. (t) Brookline, Masscmtinued. : The General Chemistry includes: A study of the air and its gases. Chemistry of respiration. Water its composition, distillation, solvent power. Hard and soft water. Hydrogen. Acids, bases, salts. The halogens and their compounds. Sulphur and phosphorus. Carbon and the chemistry of combustion. Fuels and illuminants. Dyeing of cloth. Starch, sugar, albumen, fats. Chemistry of fermentation and of digestion. Study of the metals. Action of acids and alkalies upon the common metals and their compounds. Simple qualitative analysis. To this succeeds the "Household Applications" previously mentioned. "The General Physics Course is governed by three permanent aims:(1) that which it has in common with the general chemistry, viz., to develop in the pupils steady, persistent, logical thinking; (2) to make them fairly intelligent in reference to their own scientific environment; (3) to teach them to apply the elements of algebra and geometry to the problems of daily life. Incidentally it is anticipated that the sense of appreciation will be aroused for all that modern science has done and is doing for the comfort and convenience of the race.' As the average manual offers few opportunities for any original independent thinking, and contains so little of anything like a practical application of physics to the phenomena of daily life, the head of the department substitutes special notes of his own-still in manuscript form-in which students are told as little as possible directly, but are given, practically, a series of original exercises in mechanics, optics and electricity, to work out by the aid of a set of simple apparatus, their mathematical instincts and their own brains; the intention is that these shall then be applied to the affairs of daily life in continuous sequence, suggested by questions, problems and references. This thoroughly practical aim takes the form, for instance, in hydraulics, of directing attention to the water-meter, the simple motor, and the turbine, rather than to the lifting pump, the ram and the breast wheel, as the average man is more likely to see and use the former than the latter series. In optics again, the camera, the opera-glass, and the spy-glass are dealt with more fully than the telescope and the compound microscope, for the same reason. Throughout, continual reference is made to the current literature of the day and to the features of Boston and its vicinity. The work in physics is distributed somewhat as follows:-September, October, November-mechanics, including hydrostatics and pneumatics. December, January, February optics. March, April, May-electricity. Junereview. Towards the close of the school year special topics are suggested for more exhaustive treatment than is possible in the regular classroom work. Each pupil is expected to choose one or more of such topics and to present an illustrated paper upon the subject selected, at the end of the year. Among the topics recently suggested may be mentioned the following:-mechanics of the clock; the bicycle; the sewing-machine. Consumption of gas, water and electricity in the household. Testing a water-meter. The fire-alarm system of Brookline. School-room ventilation. The long-distance telephone. The gas-engine. The horse-power of an electric motor. These courses, each of which extends over an entire year, are required of the Sub-classical, the Scientific and the Manual training pupils. The time is equally divided between laboratory and lecture-room work, to both of which two periods per week must be devoted beside the usual preparation. Complete notes are kept by the pupils of the laboratory and lecture work, which are inspected from time to time by the instructor. The course in Zoology is planned on lines of equal practical value. Observation of living animals and a study of their external anatomy, expressed by drawings and oral or written descriptions; constant use of the simple microscope and occasional use of the compound; field trips, study of text and reference books, investigation of special topics, the making of collections, represent the method of study. All the work is carried on in well-lit, airy rooms; the physics laboratory, 40 feet by 23, deserves special mention for its well thought out arrangements and equipment. The same spirit can be traced throughout the Art work, under the direction of Miss Irene Weir, who bases her method upon the facts that the principles of art form the basis of good taste, and good taste concerns itself with every act and duty of daily life. In a recent paper on this subject she expressed her view as follows:-" From the economic standpoint alone the most important object which any course of art training can attain is to establish in the mind of the child principles of good taste; from the standpoint of the child's own well-being, the power to do a thing well, which is art, requires the full and complete training of hand and eye and a concentration of brain energy scarcely excelled by any other mental process. The average child is not going to become either painter or architect, but will work in some sort of industrial occupation, or help in the production of marketable goods, or dress in good or bad taste, and make and have a home where order and beauty prevail, or where disorder and inartistic confusion reign. These things, therefore, are of primary value which tend to the improvement of the home, the comfort, well-being and harmony of the family, the order, security and beauty of the city, and finally, the best and happiest life of the individual; and in good taste is found the broad foundation stone upon which these things rest." So her students are first trained to comprehend, and then required to apply, the principles of art in form, colour, design and composition to "homely" objects and ends, in the highest significance of the word. The part of the Domestic Science Course at present least developed as regards practical work, is that concerned with House Sanitation, though time is freely spent on "field trips." After all, this method offers by far the best practice, especially as a course of physics is obligatory the previous year; pupils are thus prepared to make their observations on building construction, pipes, water supply, and sanitary fittings, with an intelligence based on a practical, though elementary, knowledge of the subject. Their art training should have already developed some ideas as to house plans and room decoration. About one-fourth of the whole time is devoted directly to the study of Domestic Science during the four years' course; zoology or physiology, physics, chemistry, and art absorb a full third; the remaining hours are devoted to English literature and composition, history, mathematics, and one modern language, though, in the general course, book-keeping is also an elective subject. Table XII. The four years' course of study in Domestic Science is confined () Provito one of the three High schools in Providence (Rhode Island), dence (R.I.). viz., that devoted to manual training, where it is carried on under the direction of Miss Abby L. Marlatt. At present this training is available only for 25 girls a year, at an average age of 15 years. Here, again, marked attention is given to the correlation of subjects; e.g. in the Household Arts Course, suitable and original designs must be prepared for the dress and hat, the making of which forms part of the sewing practice; in the study of house construction, the plan and elevation of a simple dwelling are demanded of the student, subsequent schemes in colour for its internal decoration being duly carried out. In mathematics, problems are given for the calculation of the cubic capacity of various shaped rooms, of the velocity of entering and out-going air in different systems of ventilation, and of the amount of air provided per hour per person under different conditions of atmosphere and propulsion. 6490. F |