Galion High School - Spy Yearbook (Galion, OH)

Page 22 text:

manufacture of many new kinds of articlesg many new types of machinery have been intro- duced. Manners, customs, religious observ- ances, political ideas and views of life, as well as, the ways of living have been almost equally transformed. Business knowledge, industrial skill, executive capacity and personal efliciency are demanded. The declaration of war has made the situation more complex and the de- mand greater. Great inroads have been made on the old educational ideas. The kind of knowledge needed has fundamentally changed. The ability to read and write and cipher no longer dstinguish the educated from the un- educated man. One must have better, broader and a different kind of knowledge than did his parents if he is to succeed under modern con- ditions. The boy, today, that is as well edu- cated as his father, is not as well educated as his father because he must fight his battles in a greater and more complex civilization. Success is hgher up the ladder now than it was a generation ago, while the crowd about the bottom of the ladder increases every year. The days of apprenticeship have passed. Our public schools should no longer be mere teaching institutions. Disciplinary training in the rudiments of learning does not suffice. We are called upon and we must undertake in a more extensive way than ever before, some of the educational functions no longer provided either by the home, or in the shop. We must concentrate our energy to a definite purpose, to train the eye and the hand for direct and useful action, and to prepare more deiinitely our pupils for personal usefulness in life. Drawing, manual-training, household arts, laboratory instruction, industrial and vocation- al training should be given extensively. School hygiene and the physical welfare of the child must be given attention, or in other words, the care of the bodies as well as the heads of the children is absolutely necessary. We are in a new era of educational progress. Parents, teachers and all connected with the schools must be wide awake and ready to meet the conditions as they present themselves. We are thankful more than we can express for the school spirit that exists in Galion. The elec- tors by their ballot have made it possible for two new buildingsg a high school and a grade building, to be erected and because of this fact, we feel that the demands which have been set forth in the preceding can be met to a great degree. This is gratifying to the Superintendent, Principals, Teachers, Board of Education and all concerned. Thanking the public again and again for their support and hoping that these few lines may be of interest and value, I am Sincerely yours, J. J. PHILLIPS. 4- '1 X! .. 'igi+r.:wi , ' sw.. ... -.'i-,--.arg-:yi Lax . cf .,.fsn.11'ffg455::5t13. Wai.. MW -1- x:,:7'. -1 -' ' SE Qfdn--f-'2'.1-M' ::-- .. 5 - 4 L' fa ' 2, 'sits' .:.E . ,. ' -w4::i-Seiya: ,A 1 W, . , JMU -,vw ,- ,V . .-.g . , -A I 315, - 4- -Wfsw - was K se,:aue..,. .,f11s.i-ia, 'mi-' Viiiclaffs ' 2Lui5'g:W5N?' 41:4 K f'f et -w- N wr: me AKG' ,fm ,E miglamg -16..

Page 21 text:

E112 19121 anh the New in iihuratiun The early schools were of an elementary and rudimentary nature. The entire curriculum conssted of reading, writing, spelling and arith- metic. Grammar, geography and history were added a little later. The term was short, and a small tuition fee, in the form of a rate bill, was usually charged to supplement the small income from school funds and from taxation. A fuel tax was also charged for a time, and admission was denied to those whose parents had not provided their quota of wood. Com- pulsory attendance was unknown. A winter term, with a subscription school in the spring, was a common thing. School keeping was the custom rather than school teaching. The method of instruction was individual. Grad- ing of pupils and uniformity in text books were for a long time unknown. Each pupil brought whatever books he had. The chil- dren studied their lessons and Worked their sums, and when they were mastered they went up and recited what they had learned. Those who could work well alone succeeded, the others made indifferent progress and soon became discouraged and quit. After many contests in court, and after the principle of public support had been set- tled in the minds of the people, conditions began to change. Gradually, the schools were made absolutely free. The school term was slowly lengthened. High Schools were estab- lished but not to any extent until after the Civil War. Almost everywhere the right to establish high schools was fought out in the legislatures, or before the people, and was then unsuccessfully questioned in the courts. The opportunities for education in all schools have gradually increased since the Civil War. These opportunities have increased as the increase in population and the changes in our lives demanded it. lt has been estimated by the United States Commissioner of Educa- tion that, taking all public and private forms of education and adding them together, each individual in the population, on an average, -15 received only 82 days of education during his life-time in 18005 only 208 days in 1840 and only 434 days in 1860. By 1880, the number had reached 792 days, by 1900, it had reached 998 days, and by 1916, the number had gone to almost 1,200 days. The gradual change in the public schools has been caused by the changes in the nature of our lives. In the early days the boys and girls received, everywhere, the training of ex- perience, besides the training they received in reading, writing and arithmetic. City life did not differ materially from that in the country. To be able to do was the real test and both boy and girl were trained to accomplishment. The boy learned to make and repair Wagons and harness, to build and repair buildings, to take care of animals, to sow and to reap, to read the signs of the weather, to know the trees, the plants and animals about his home and their habits. The apprentice system was everywhere in vogue, and experience was the chief means of education. Everything used was made by hand. Most of the common ar- ticles now sold in the stores-clothing, shoes, preserved foods, smoked meats, lard, soap, candles, butter, furniture were made in the homes. The girls, too, received an analogous training in the daily duties about the home. Today, the conditions are entirely changed. Steam, electricity, machinery and the great in- crease n population because of immigration have wrought a tremendous change in our life. Old occupations and methods are gone. One man with a machine, today, can do work for- merly done by Hfty or a hundred men. The people of Ohio have a greater productive ca- pacity now than had the entire English-speak- ing race a century ago. Agriculture, com- merce, and manufacturing have experienced a greater change in the past hundred years than has ever been known in the history of the world. The cities have made rapid- growthg new enterprises have been launched in all di- rections, factories have been started for the

Page 23 text:

-Faeulwy -,17-