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

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T Tl 'l l'- l An .Eng Qemmc-snr .1 fl Lslucarl on Eslmx Riu- SALUIAIORIAN HIS IS '1 perlod of r1p1d lfldllgfflal development :ll 'CQQXW over the world Never before has compet1t1on been ll , ,, 2 , 2 X, y W p it y, p p , ii I Q' 2 lf- Q' H' rf -' 4 ii' I Vi , I a , , y 5 , I , .V I A Q , Q 2: 1l L J 4 Q jg :uf g.- , , Q, E.-kg g sp- , ' 7' , ,4 ' so keen, or the cry for ethclent workers so strong. 'EX . . . fl I: 4- rv ,' 5 - 1 I a f , ' la N 6 1 , . 3 , ' 2 , ,ff . . M- 2- . . ' ', ' 2. 2 ., 2 . 42 ' ' . 2: ' , - 3 2 2 , 2 ' ' 2 . '. 2 Z . . . S , I . 4 I I 1 C . I I ' . . ' ' . ' '2 . 2 2 ' Condxtlons are changing constantly and one ofthe most serlous Cl lt1ClSIl'1S of our modern schools us that they are not 'tccommod ltmg themselves to these changes The puplls leave school wlthout bemg re1lly educated and the vast fIl3.JOI'lfY of them leave school 'ts soon Wx A as the compulsory educatxon laws wnll pernut They have no motlve for golng to school In Gary lndmna they thmk they have solved th1s problem by the mtroductlon of vocatxonal tralnmg Gary has been so wldely dnscussed durmg the last few ye xrs that xt IS hard to real17e how lecently xt has been bullt About e1gl1t years ago the Umted States Steel Corporatlon began thelr great steel mxlls on the southern end of I ike MlChlg3D When the vtst armles of work men moved 1nto the newly buxlt c1ty Gary was confronted by a dnfticult questlon A school system had to be bullt whnh would accomodate the thousands of forelgn chxldren wl1o had come 1n Clllrlllg the f1rst few months The laborers had very llttle taxable property and the mllls ol the bteel Corporatuon were much undervalued Accordmg to the st ate ltws approprxatlons for school purposes tre made on the basxs of tn enurnerttxon taken 1n the PFCVIOLIS Aprll So some of the leadlng men erected and rented to the c1ty 1 moderately lalge and fanly equlpped bmldxng which to then mmds solved the educatxon tl problem entirely But when the pxesent superxntendent Wtlh un Wnt tppeued he lefllbed to C.0l1SldCI'tl1lS as mythzng but t temporaxy subshtute lox the kmd of school whxch iccordmg to h1s ldeas was needed m such a

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Q l M ment for better Clt13S In one msttnce a large monthly ln 1906 pub hshed photographs of some of the neglected spots xn Memphls Tennes see In 1910 the magavnne gave pxctures of the same places after the cltuens had gone to work to rnd thexr cltv of these evesoles In our own Clty there ns plenty of xoom fox nmprovement We have the vacant lots used as dumpmg grounds b1ll boards are ln evn dence 111 many places and some of our streets are anythlng but beautx ful especxally where all the trees have been cut down Most of the al leys Lre stdly xn need of 1 thorough cle :mug to make them respectable Fort Madlson has great possxlulltles for beauty On the south there lg the gre xtM1ss1ss1pp1 Rlver Wldl ned at thxs pomt mto Lake Cooper and on the north and east the beautnful bluffs rlse Wntll these natural ad vantages there ought to be a general movement for cnvlc progress One thmg whlch has been done recently along thls hne IS the extens1on and mlprovement of Rlver Vlew Pzrk lh1s park takes the place of the coal sheds and ramshackle boat houses whxch usually occupy the rxver front and thxs mnovatlon glves the traveler 1 favorable hrst IITIPTCSSIOII of our clty And now whlle we ire tlylllg to make FortMad1son Flrst ID other respects let us profit bv these examples of other C1tl8S and m tke It first nn be iuty llso 192 VFR V' sz 9, 'l'l-Ili HIGH SCHUOL 'l' ES 23 its-1 rig? 'L' My h U xr, Y A 'ff lt YH l .' X.

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E H G SCHOOL TIM cosmopolitan city namely tl1e Emerson school which h ms been c1lled the educational center of the United States One of his ideas is that lt IS a great waste to allow the capital in vested in school buildings to be idle for two or three months of each year so the Gary schools run for twelve months of the year and six d xys of the week The pupils and teaches may take their three months vacation at any trme of the year they choose and the attendance on Saturdays is voluntary All subjects are repeated every three months School opens at eight thirty and has been closing about five oclock but the intention is to continue the dav until six for M1 Wirt says that the only way of preventing the child from undoing all the good he has learned at school IS to keep him off the streets and alleys But no child sxts through all the hours at his desk Indeed no child has what the superintendent calls a straight jacket desk They move from room to room as in the high schools grades The children in the lower grades have about three hours of formal textbook study about three and a half hours of special work 'md the rest of the time is spent on the play grounds under the direction of the teachers trained for that purpose As the children grow older their play time is decreased and the time given to regular lessons mcreased regular work another is taking special work and another is on the play ground This plan increases capacity of the building and explains the treedom from crowded conditions in Gary It has other adv mtages too If 1 child has not understood his lesson for the clay he may cut short his time on the playground and repeat the class And if he is more id vanced in one subiect than another he may enter a higher class in that one study lhis develops the individuality of each pupil The children ire phxsit rlly benefited by this plan for their long hours on the play dround .ue wisely directed A child who is not able to take his regular work may take only his special studies or none at all Tl1ere are several reasons for the superior work of this school lf ach teacher is a specialist in the subject she teaches She knows the work md is capable of presenting it in the most interestmg way The vocztnonal teachers are prepared to make their courses practlcal and even the playground teachers are specially trained The building which contains all the grades from the kindergarten through the high school is very well equipped The regular teachers have every device necessary The vocational teachers are well supplied with tools The T H l H ' E S 25 , ' Q 1 . . . ' 2 . at ' ' ll . . . l f ' ' C - ' ' 5 y ' . 4 H q . L l 7' 5 1 . . , L . ' , . The program is arranged so that while one division is taking , - i I I i ' . Z . C - 1 - Q: .5 r . . -ro Z . . . ' ' I