Miller School of Albemarle - Blue Ridge Blast Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

Page 34 text:

I 4 5 1 5 I f I 5 Y I s I TH E SHOPS A-L nun- 41 9 C

Page 33 text:

The Appointment of Pupils to the Miller School HE school trustees o-f the County of Albemarle and of the City of Char- lottesville meet at the School on the Tuesday after the third Monday in January and in July of each year. Of these meetings the County Superin- tendent of Schools is chairman and the Clerk of the Circuit Court is secretary. At these meetings those children are selected and designated who come under the requirements of Mr. Miller's will. From the children who are thus selected and designated, the Circuit Court appoints the pupils of the School. It is to be noted that the children must be poor orphan children, and other white children whose parents are unable to educate them, the said orphans and other children being residents of the said County of Albemarle, and must be between twelve and sixteen years of age. But exceptions may be made in favor of children under twelve years of age whenever, in the judgment of the recommending and appoint- ing powers, special benefits will thereby be conferred. In October, 1878, the first pupils were admitted into the School. The School began with twenty boys. It was then quite difficult to find children whose friends were willing to have them appointed to the School. In july, 1884, a paper in reference to the rights of girls to the benefits of Mr. Miller's gift was submitted by Prof. Francis H. Smith to the Visitors, and by them to the Court. After securing the opinion of some of the leading lawyers of the Albemarle bar, the Court at the August term, I884, entered the following order, viz. : It appearing to the Court that the provision made in the twenty-fifth clause of Mr. Miller's will, for the education and support of as many poor orphans and other white children of Albemarle County as the profits and income of the fund therein devised will admit of, or compass, can be more effectually carried into operation by forming the School into two separate and distinct departments, and by the admission of children of both sexes, therefore it is ordered that the District School Trustees of the County from and after this date shall make the selections for appointments to the School from both sexes having the required qualifications, regard being had to the numbers to be admitted each year of each sex, and for whom separate and necessary accommodations have been previously prepared. In accordance with this order, a department for girls was authorized under the authority and control of the superintendent. Girls were first admitted in Novem- ber, I884. 2

Page 35 text:

The Position of the Miller School in the Work of Manual Training I-IE Miller School is the pioneer of industrial education in the South. Wfhen her massive machine-shop was built in ISSI, only the Massachusetts Institute in Boston, and the Wforchester Polytechnic Institute Qthen called the Wo1'cliester County Free Institutej were in this field of education' The St. Louis Department of Manual Training, under Dr. VVoodward, was at its begin- ning. The Boston School, with shops half hidden in the ground, was beginning its work that has become to-day so noted and so noble. It, seemed to have grave doubts as to the results in this new and untried field, and with models from Rus- sian schools given the Institute from the great Philadelphia Centennial, it hesitated in the work, and seemed to desire to prevent the making of anything that was of value. In this it succeeded admirably, but the result was untidy shops and pur- poseless work. But since it has lost its fear of doing something, it stands at the head of high and true technical training in Ame-rica. , The VVorchester County Free Institute, under the leadership of that wonder- fully practical and successful teacher,-Mr. M. P. Higgins, began its work along the line of making things that were valuable, and for their value. Notwithstanding this false foundation upon which he builded, such was his great power of organ- izing and training that he produced most excellent results. The Miller School, at the beginning, aimed at a medium between these two, and sought as its chief and really only aim to educate the pupils. But it was thought that the pupils could not be properly educated without seeing results. So things were completed. In this way the pupils soon took in the far-reaching results of such instruction. But it soon became apparent that at Worchester', Bos- ton and the Miller School the work was begun at the wrong end. It was found that this work should begin'at the bottom, that manual training began in the elementary classes. So the School, instead of beginning in the machine-shops, begins now in the most elementary classes and fits the pupils for the higher work. The School now has, perhaps, from beginning to close, in manual training the most complete curriculum to be found in the South, and perhaps in any school in the nation. It has furnished the universities and colleges and industrial schools 29