Fort Madison High School - Madisonian Yearbook (Fort Madison, IA)

Page 24 text:

THE HIGH SCHOOL TIMES further into the subject For example take Domestic Science Generally speaking if some one mentions taking Domestic Science one 1mmed1ately thinks of cooking and sewing and that IS 111 How few people really know the value of Domestic Science to the st11 dent Tis true that she learns cooking and sewing but the most important part IS the theory to know exactly why everything IS done Tllell there IS the economv View of It Surely it is of great worth to know how to save on our food ind yet to have the same nutritive value In the sewing one not only learns how to sew for indeed that IS but a small part but why each stitch IS used where it IS Domestic scale and Home Decoration and Economy in Buying These things surely speak fOl themselves Ill their value and importan e The Manual Trammd is also an economy Those who take the work can make th1n0s for their own homes and save in this wav The Manual Train ing 1S also closely related to the mechanical draw1ng and draft work The honor and rewards of this world are coming in the future to the intelligent crafts man the man who does things w1th his own hands and brain the man who can think out a plan and then show others by his drawino' Not all boys have the opportunity of going away to college and they must have our help toward their greatest good We must not direct all our tlllle and energy to those who cm have a college education but we must also prep tre for their life work the hundreds wl1o cannot go Another important study whose value we far underestimate IS Physiology What can be more llll portant than to know and to understand the workings of our body? And yet we study this subject for one semester and put several years on others that w1ll never be to the student of any practical use If each person had a thorough knowledge of his own body what an economy in doctors bills alone It would mean And where can we get this knowledge if not in the public schools? with Physiology The one teaches us what condi tions the body demands and the other helps us to at ta1n those conditions Every well equipped school ought to have an excellent course in physical training Let us also consider the study of Agriculture The number of boys who go onto the flrm with no further training than their High School course IS countless Think what a benefit it would be to them to have received at leasta general if not thorough knowledge of the science of farming for indeed we all agree today that farming is a science The Business Course includes Type writing Book keeping Stenography and Short hand These courses should be offered in the High School Many 18 . . 5 C r . Z I . L 7 f I . . , 6 V L . , ' r 1 1 1 ' 2 V I 7 Science and Art often include Millinery on a small The Physical Training work is connected close- ' , . c . ' ' ' . - ' l 1 ' f I . 1 c l I . k b S ' , . 1 ' ' S ' . aw - I . - Z ' . . . 6 . ' ' ' ' - y . . . v S - .. ,' l 1 1 ' -

Page 23 text:

THE HIGH SCHOOL TIMES Tendenc1es Toward Practrcal Educahon Esrnuz Dxmxh Bhmsow SAIUTAIORIAN E are proud and Justly so of our splend1d pr o g res s 1n both the sc1ence and art of educat1on But iw Watt Olin J! P we are glad to say that we are begmnxng to recogmze that wh11e sc1ence and art are a great part or the modern educatlon yet they do not lnclude even 1n the1r w1d est sense tl1e need ofthe ch1ld and of the young people of today And s1nce we see the lack of the pr1ct1cal tl1lI'1gS and that those thmgs wh1ch we have do not supply what the chlld needs we naturally must take up w1th what we know w1ll be useful and pract1 cal to the ch1ld through all h1s hfe Th1s tendency toward practxcahty IS not a th1ng of the last five or even ten years but lt 1S a very very gradual develop ment Away back 1n the M1ddle Ages there was the feelmg of the lack of the tlungs whxch the chlld most needed Th1s feehng xncreased slowly but surely and lt has crept down through these years growmg stronger and stronger first to the Academxes of the New England States and thence to us There rs much d1scuss1on even today as to what IS meant by practxcal educatlon but SIHCC educat1on1s to help a ch1ld to make the most of h1s Ulllld and body surely a pract1cal one IS that wh1ch t1a1ns h1m to make the most of them IH the partxcular lxne whzch he fol lows for h1s llfe work The most 1mportant bus1 ness of the chxld IS growth and lt IS educatxon s duty to ass1st that growth It IS all r1ght to g1VC a ch1ld a certam amount of O1l'l3.I'11CTltdl educatlon but he should have at least two thlTdS of h1s tune left IH whmch to recexve a pract1cal one lust IU the last few years the growth of our pract1c'1l educatxon has been tremendous We are realxzlng more and more that we should not tram the few r1ch who l1ve more or less upon the labor of others but that It 1S the duty of the schools to tram the great mass of humamty who move forward thxs great natlon of ours IH 1ts progress and do the work of the world When we come to cons1der just what the term a pract1ca1 educat1on covers we find that 1n It w1dest sense lt 1ncludes Manual Tramxng Domestxc Sc1ence Phys1ology Phys1calTra1n1ng Agr1culture A Busmess Course Pol1t1cal Economy CIVICS and vocat1onal work When one thlnks of most of these he allows h1s mmd to adopt h1s tlrst 1mpress1on of It wxthout look1ng 17 - - - - ,, I , 1 Y 1 . . 1 . . .1 gg E l ' D I ' A I A I ' - xl-D Y 7 5 . V . V . . - , 0 . V4 , , l . . . .- N X . , an 'N -A ll A ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' l lj 'KC J U . , . . . '5i!'1'l YT, if ' ' . . . ' , U ' . . . h , , c 1 I 1 N17 r K, . d 4 ' C ' Y - . . . . . . ,, , . ,, . . . Q , v . . . 1 . . . 1 . V , , l . . 1 . 1 ' - v

Page 25 text:

THE HIGH HIGH SCHOOL TIMES gnls must go to work in ofnces and for lack f training are inefficient Would it not be better to offer to them a course WhlCll would fit them to go into the world well equipped? After four years prepara tion 1n the High School ought they not to be ready to enter their hte of work w1tl1out takingaspecial course? If we make our school system truly practical it should offer Sl1Cll a course as this to all those who wish t Then there are those students who must be trained to meet the great problems of the day that zrise and are continually ar1s1ng They need Civ s standing of the bovernment and to help them to see mist zkes th tt have been made 1n the past and to prof it by them in meeting the present problems Econ omics teaches the student to reduce the high cost of living and tl11S lS something that would effect every citizen of the United States We have now a course 1n each of these subjects but they are only semester courses and should without doubt be widened greatly As the schools are now conducted there is little to assist a boy or girl in deciding upon his or her vocation The school IS certainly the place for this Since the vo ations cannot be transplanted mto the schools the students must be put into the vocations Vocational teaching has up to this time with few ex ceptions been very slight indeed but now work has been started 1n th1s direction by the Continuation Schools 1n Germany by the Shop Schools in con nection with large trade institutions in England and by the Cincinnati Plan 1n the United States In all of these methods the students attend school and work in their vocations part of the t1n1e Under the plan that IS carried out in the United States students following the same vocation are paired in school and 1nthe1r positions and while one is working at his trade the other is attending school and they exchange places in alternating weeks and months These systems have the same fundament tl principles First under the actual conditions of life second this ex perience places plainly before the student substantial motives for study Allof these studies can be carried on excellently in relat1on to home industries but the kind of in dustry that exists in different places detei mines to a great extent how far this relation may go In an inland place where the agriculture occupation is ex tens1ve the school work could well be carried on with the farm work and in a railroad town it would be very beneficial to have the shop work in connection with the manual training Such a co operative plan as this has been tried many t1n1es but the best known example IS perhaps McComb MISSISSIPPI There the boys work alternating days in the shop and ID the 19 . . ..,. .. . . ' .. ' o 5 - - is . . . ,, . . . . . 4 . ' 5 I l I . f. . 2 '. ' ' ' ' . ' ic .2 ' 2 f ' ' . ' . and Political Economy to give thema thorough under- the vocational work is made real and is carried out , f. I I d 4 4 A . 4 I . . I ' . , , . . . . . , . - . 1 V V . . . .'