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a way for checking the flood of waste from apparently hopeless retardation and failure, and incidentally, perhaps, for closer adjustment of the school system as a whole to the needs of the new industrial age.

The school was opened in a commodious 10-room building connected with the Brownell School, a central location. Its advantages were extended to children not under 13 years of age and stranded in the sixth grade and not less than two years behind grade. The principals of the elementary schools were requested to recommend a given number of boys and girls who in their judgment would be benefited by the transfer. The consent of parents was obtained chiefly on the plea that the children would have a better chance for progress and promotion.

In this way a school of 93 boys and 43 girls was organized in eight classes, five for the boys and three for the girls. For exceptional reasons a few younger children had been admitted; so that their ages ranged from 12 to 17; the average age of the boys was 14.3 years, that of the girls 14.1 years; 37 of the girls and 63 of the boys were foreign-born or had foreign-born parents. All had been rather unsuccessful in their school work, had lost interest in the studies and confidence in their abilities. They were reported to be poor in arithmetic, in writing, in spelling, in all their book work; and, in a number of instances, they had been difficult to control.

The school, as already indicated, was not to be a mere vocational or trade school. Industrial considerations were, indeed, to lead, and the practical tendencies of the pupils were to be appealed to and emphasized both in handwork and in academic work; throughout they were to revel, as it were, in practical efficiency. Yet, at the same time, no effort was to be spared to touch and stir the deeper springs of personality, of manly and womanly qualities in the pupils, to lead them to an appreciation of the social and æsthetic value of work, to spiritualize their growing efficiency with elements of good will and joy.

TIME SCHEDULE AND COURSE OF STUDY.

It was decided to extend the school day from 8.30 to 3.30. This time was divided into nine periods, one of which was assigned to luncheon. This left 40 periods per week for instruction and practice. One-half of these were devoted to English, mathematics, geographyhistory-the two in close correlation-and to hygiene of a thoroughly practical character. The other half were given to manual and industrial work, to domestic economy and gymnasium practice. There were shower baths, a swimming pool, and an auditorium for assembly exercises-rhetorical, musical, stereoscopic. and general.

Instruction is departmental; the sexes are segregated, and no attempt is made to give classes of boys and girls the same treatment in any subject of instruction.

In closer detail the course of study, as elaborated up to the present, deals with the following topics:

English.Three-fifths of the time is devoted to reading, with stress upon thought study, upon material that will meet the needs of the classes, upon the memorizing of suitable selections, and upon catalogue reading. The remainder of the time is given to grammar, composition, spelling, and penmanship. Grammar is confined to essentials: Capitalization, punctuation, the formation of plurals and possessives, practice in the use of pronouns and verbs. Composition, oral and written, deals with matters of personal observation and with experience gained in the occupational work of the school, on class visits to municipal buildings and industrial plants, shopping excursions, etc.; with business correspondence and business forms; with specifications; with accounts of what has been read, etc. Occasionally a story that has been read is dramatized and presented for the benefit of the whole school, or programs showing the work and correlation of the different departments are arranged and presented. Mathematics.-Fundamental processes, with ample practice in correlation with geography, shopwork, and household economy. Practice in short methods used in business and trades, with stress upon immediate practical application in connection with the occupational work of the school and the class visits to factories, banks, etc. Practice in writing and receipting bills, in best ways of marketing and keeping accounts, in reading meters and testing the accuracy of bills, in the use of deposit slips, bank checks, money orders, etc.; in profit and loss, simple interest, taxes, insurance, trade discount, and commission; in the use of the triangle in determining distance, the law of levers, the relative speed of parts of machines; in the subdivision of lines and angles, the drawing of tangents, construction of plane figures, mensuration in its various relations, the construction of graphs, etc.

Geography. This study is closely correlated with the other departments; the study of foods with cooking; fibers and textiles with sewing; woods, paints, varnishes, and glass with manual training. Visits are made to factories, shops, mills, and stores engaged in the industry or dealing in the products under discussion. In the study periods, outline maps are shaded, showing regions yielding wheat. corn, cotton, and other products under consideration.

During the first year emphasis is placed upon the local geography of Cleveland-its location, surface features, climate, rocks, rivers, modes of transportation, etc. This leads, through industrial necessities, to the consideration of our country's more important industries.

During the second year, the subjects studied by the girls and boys vary. The girls lay stress upon cotton, wool, flax, silk, cacao, coffee, tea, sugar, spices, salt. rice, barley, rye, wheat, vegetables, nuts, fisheries, etc.; the boys upon tropical woods, paints and varnishes, building stones, brick making, the manufacture of glass, heating methods, lighting methods. important minerals, paper, printing, rubber, etc.

History. This is taught in close correlation with geography, the two being united by the school under the term "geography-history."

During the first year the chief stress lies upon facts that have developed our country commercially and industrially. This involves: The founding of Cleveland by settlers from Connecticut; the settling of the New World by European nations; a comparison of the characteristics, customs, and industrial life of

these; the growth of English supremacy; the separation of the colonies from England; the comparison of the modes of life in northern and southern colonies; the westward movement of the settlers; famous pioneers and principal routes followed by them; invention of steamboat and locomotive; incorporation of Cleveland as a city; detailed study of city government.

The second year deals with the formation of the United States; its govern. ment; a comparison of republican and monarchical forms of government; invention of the cotton gin; Louisiana Purchase; War of 1812, which gave us commercial status with European countries; the Cumberland and National Roads; the Erie Canal; the Spoils System and Civil Service Reform; acquisition of new territory by war and exploration; discovery of gold in California, and opening of region west of the Mississippi River; the Civil War and its results; introduction into the United States of new process of manufacturing steel; the Union Pacific Railroad; period of wonderful new inventions; growth of business corporations and labor organizations; War of 1898 and colonial acquisitions; industrial and commercial prosperity.

Drawing. These courses are correlated with the work of every other department. The freehand drawing comprises drawings from nature in watercolor, pencil, and crayon, with stress upon composition and harmony of color, analysis of plant forms for use in design, and the representation of simple objects in perspective and view drawing.

Design, for boys, is applied to book covers, portfolios, boxes, posters, stainedglass windows, woodworking problems, interior decoration, furniture, lettering, and illumination of texts. Girls apply it in household decoration, table linen, wall paper, rugs, draperies, simple embroidery for articles of clothing, stenciling and wood-block printing for cushions, needle cases, curtains, etc.

Mechanical drawing involves simple working drawings of objects previously made in the shop, showing the necessity for the arrangement of views, conventions of lines, dimensions, etc.; finished working drawings to scale from dimen- . sioned sketches of designs for articles to be made afterwards in the shop; tracing and blue printing; charts illustrating machinery and processes of manufacture in connection with geography; illustrations of geometrical figures and devices for arithmetic work.

Shopwork. This involves, in metal work, simple objects in copper, brass, and other soft metals, particularly fittings in woodwork, such as box corners, hinges, escutcheons, etc.

The course in preliminary woodwork deals with problems affording systematic use of tools and general principles of construction involved in simple projects of use and beauty. The course in advanced woodwork deals with cabinetmaking, wood turning, and pattern making.

The aim in printing is to give a general knowledge of the different kinds of work in the print shop. The boys turn out all of the printed forms for the school, as well as some text and commercial work.

In the second year boys may give the full time assigned to industrial work (about nine 80-minute periods per week) to specialization in mechanical drawing, cabinetmaking, pattern making, or printing.

For training in business methods, pieces of work are turned out in quantities as nearly as possible under factory conditions-cutting boards, jack boards, tool handles, and other equipment for manual-training centers; book racks, stools, bookcases, screens, frames, etc., for school use or for sale; commercial work in printing for school, and school activities. In all such work time cards are kept by the pupils, furnishing data for use in arithmetical work.

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Household arts.-These courses deal with cookery in its varied interests, with sanitation, laundering, home nursing, household decoration, household accounts, sewing, darning and patching, and shopping.

Gymnasium.-Two periods per week are assigned to this work. Its aim is to remedy the effects of faulty posture, to give strength and agility to the body, to secure graceful movement, and to develop by the use of games a taste for healthy and clean sport.

EFFECT OF THE WORK UPON PUPILS.

The effect of the work upon the pupils proved to be full of encouragement. Under the stimulus of kindly and consistent discipline, of patient and persistent faith in their ability on the part of carefully selected teachers, and under the influence of work that dealt with intelligible problems and appealed to tangible interests, the children soon found themselves. They discovered that they possessed abilities and capacities heretofore doubted, detected in their academic studies values bearing upon their immediate interests, and turned to these studies with feelings of good will heretofore foreign to them. As they gained in confidence they gained in poise. With increasing self-respect there came to them increasing respect for the school and its work. With growing recognition of the social value of personal efficiency they gained in individual self-assertion, coupled with a deepening sense of responsibility akin to enthusiasm.

Of far-reaching significance is the gain of the pupils in their academic work. Stolid indifference yielded to intelligent interest; discouragement and sullen apathy in the presence of difficulty to determined persistence and the fervor of achievement. General culture assumed new and enhanced value in its bearing upon success in special pursuits. Interested visitors failed to understand that these eager and alert workers and students could ever have borne the stigma of "dullards and incorrigibles." Parents who came to visit the school expressed themselves as much pleased, praised the growing interest of their children in academic as well as economic subjects, and extolled their improved helpfulness and general disposition at home. They seemed to revel in the new sensation of pride in the work and progress of their children.

A concomitant result of this growing appreciation of the value of school was found in the steady increase in regularity of attendance. The significance of this gain is enhanced when it is remembered that a number of the pupils come from distances, involving trolley trips of from 6 to 7 miles each way, and others must walk 3 or 4 miles to and from school every day.

A lingering misapprehension, perfectly natural in view of the origin of the school, that membership in its classes implied dullness or worse, was overcome so completely before the close of the first year that the opening of the second year brought a number of volun

tary and persistent applications from "bright" children. Moreover, a number of the pupils of the first-year course had gained so much interest in school education that on returning to school for the second-year course they expressed eagerness to prepare for entrance in the Technical High School.

WHAT SOME OF THE PUPILS HAD TO SAY.

A few weeks after the beginning of the second year of the school the writer of this sketch devoted several days to the inspection of the school. In the course of his investigations he requested a group of 27 girls and a group of 37 boys, all of them members of secondyear classes, to state freely in a letter addressed to him, and closed without revision by the teacher, what benefit, if any, they had derived from transfer to this school and what were their favorite subjects of work and study.

The following extracts from the letters of the girls will indicate the spirit of their answers:

I like the school because the teachers teach the studies we most need, especially the boys and girls who want to earn their own living.

I find that I have improved in the subject which seemed to halt my progress in school. This subject is arithmetic, and I am grateful to the teachers and the school for their help.

The school work is told so interestingly that we can use it out of school.

I like the school because it has helped me to get good marks and be good to home folks.

The school has taught me to be useful in the home and to be neater in my work than I used to be.

I hope this school will help me more every day, so that I may be more useful when I grow older.

Here we learn to sew and to cook, and we learn arithmetic and geography that we will use out in life.

Our arithmetic and other studies are given us in a way that will help when we are grown up.

This school has helped me to wish to be helpful to others, and it has taught me to work so that when I am at home I can help my mother.

The teachers here speak to us like grown-up sisters. They tell us what we should do in a way that makes us feel at home.

I enjoy coming here, because the lessons are more businesslike.

Since I came here I have learned more than in the seven years at grade school, especially in arithmetic.

I like this school because I never could have learned anything, and I am more use in the world. I learned to be a lady.

Out in the grade schools I felt as if I just wanted to stop, but here the work is so interesting that I don't like to leave it.

The school has helped me in what I needed most, obedience and behavior. Cooking and sewing were named as favorite subjects by 21; gymnasium practice and swimming by 8; geography by 6; arithmetic by

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