HOME CREDIT IN HIGH SCHOOLS

Several high schools have sent us reports of their plans for giving credit for work outside of school. Some of these schools use plans that differ considerably from those of the elementary schools where the movement began; they lay emphasis on improvement in work, and to this end they require that all the work be supervised by the teachers of home economics, agriculture, commerce, or manual training. Other high schools try to encourage the habit of industry, no matter what the kind of work, and offer credit for such tasks as running errands, delivering groceries, or carrying a paper route. In my opinion both ideas are good; there is no end to the possibilities of developing skill in home work under the instruction of one who really knows how to do it, and there is also great value in the encouragement of faithful industry in routine tasks.

AUBURN, WASHINGTON, HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN RAILROAD SHOPS

This is good school equipment. It cost $200,000

Descriptions of parts of the work of a few high schools are given here.

In the High School of Santa Monica, California, two credits for home work are allowed out of the total of sixteen required for graduation, and pupils with a certain average standing who earn eighteen credits, two of them for home work, may graduate cum laude.

Below is given a list of tasks for which school credit will be allowed:—

One-half credit per year:—

Regular music lessons, instrumental or vocal, under
a competent instructor.
Making own clothes for school.
Doing family darning and mending.
Preparing one meal a day for a year.
Carrying paper route.

One-half credit for half-time for a year, or for full time for summer vacation:—

Clerking in store, bank, or office.
Cement work, or work in any local trades or industries.
Regular work on a farm.

One-half credit:—

Raising one-fourth acre of potatoes, melons, onions,
strawberries, or similar products.
Employment in a dressmaking or millinery establishment
for summer vacation.

One-fourth credit per year each:—

Sleeping for one year in the open air.
Retiring at 10 P.M. five days per week for one year.
Taking a cold bath every morning five times per
week on an average for one year.
Walking three miles per day for a year.

Credit will be given for the following according to the amount of work:—

Public speaking or reciting. Reading aloud to family or to invalids.

Horticulture. Gardening. Poultry-raising. Bee-culture.

Taking care of cows or other animals. General dairy work.

Sewing for the family. Doing the family laundry. House-cleaning, bed-making, dish-washing, or any other useful work about the house.

Getting younger children ready for school every day. Caring for a baby.

Nursing the sick.

Making a canoe or boat. Taking full care of an automobile. Perfecting any mechanical contrivance for saving labor about the home.

Recognizing and describing twenty different native birds, trees or flowers.

Summer vacation travel with written description.

Playing golf or tennis. Sea-bathing and swimming.

Keeping a systematic savings bank account, with regular weekly or monthly deposits.

Keeping a set of books for father or some merchant. Doing correspondence for father or other business man.

Running errands. Delivering groceries.

Singing in church choir. Teaching in Sunday school.

Carpentry work. Cabinet-making, furniture construction.

Working as forest ranger.

SANTA MONICA HIGH SCHOOL
Date ........................ 191....
I hereby declare my intention of earning ...... credits for home or outside
work by doing .............................................................
...........................................................................
Signature of Pupil .....................................
I approve of the above and agree to observe and certify to the quantity and
quality of work performed.
Signature of Parent ....................................
I hereby certify that ........................ has faithfully performed the
above work, spending on the average ...... minutes per day for ....... days
and is in my judgment entitled to ...... credits.
Signature of Parent or Employer ..................................
Credits granted ............... Prin.......................................

In the High School at St. Cloud, Minnesota, great attention is paid to vacation work as well as to work done during the school year. At the beginning of the fall term the following questionnaire is sent to high school pupils, and to elementary pupils above the fourth grade:

Vacation Report—Grades Five to Twelve

.....................................School.
Note—Teachers are requested to have pupils fill out this blank
carefully. It is very important. Explain each question. Caution children
not to over- or under-estimate.
1. Name ............. Age ............. Grade or Class ................
2. Did you help at home during the summer vacation? ....................
3. Did you take music lessons? ..... Travel? ..... Attend Summer School?
4. Did you do any work along the line of agriculture, horticulture,
gardening, bee-culture or poultry-raising? If so, what? .............
........ Estimate carefully the net profit ................... $.....
5. Did you have a flower garden? .............. Name six or more of the
leading flowers that you raised. ....................................
.....................................................................
.....................................................................
6. Name wild flowers, birds, or trees you have observed this summer.
Flowers .............................................................
Birds ...............................................................
Trees ...............................................................
7. What pieces of hand-work, if any, did you do during vacation?
Wearing apparel .....................................................
Household art .......................................................
Wood ......................... Iron..................................
Cement .............. Give estimated value of such hand-work $.......
8. What electrical contrivance or other home accessory did you
make to save your mother work? ......................................
9. Which of the following home tasks did you do this summer?
Prepare one meal alone daily? ...... Bake the bread? ................
Bake a cake? ....................... Make the beds? .................
Do the washing? .................... Do the ironing? ................
10. Are you sleeping in the open air or with open window? ...............
11. Can you swim 300 feet or more? ..... Did you learn this summer? .....
12. Were you employed elsewhere than at home? ...........................
13. State kind of work done ............ Employer .......................
14. Number of weeks employed ........... Amount earned per week. $.......
15. Total amount of cash earned during vacation. $.......
16. Fair estimate of the value of your home work. $.......
17. Total cash value of your summer work (items 15 and 16). $.......
18. Have you a savings bank account? ... Amount of your deposit. $.......
Principals ascertain amount of deposit for lower grades. $.......

The financial results of this vacation work are summarized as follows:—

			Total	Deposit
	Cash	Home Work	Earnings	in Bank

High School	$6,393.01	$1744.45	$8137.44	$2793.36
Total for city	16,422.00	3666.15	9559.25	3144.92

Highest	individual	earnings	— High School	$260.00
"	"	"	— Grades	200.00
Average	"	"	— High School	76.00
Highest	"	deposit	— " "	300.00
"	"	"	— Grades	500.00

Pupils may graduate with honor from the St. Cloud High School by attaining certain standings and by offering two credits for home or continuation work. One of the sixteen credits required for regular graduation may be a credit for home or continuation work.

The list of credits is divided into two parts, outside work and home work. Among the many outside activities mentioned in the St. Cloud list, we find:—

Literary society work, or rhetoricals, debate, public speaking, or expressive reading, one-fourth unit per year.

Granite or paving-block cutting, or work in any of the local trades, shops, factories, or industries, one-fourth unit for each summer vacation.

Steady work on a farm, followed by a satisfactory essay on some agricultural subject, one-fourth unit for three months.

Raising one-fourth of an acre of onions, tomatoes, strawberries, or celery, one acre of potatoes, two acres of pop corn, five acres of corn or alfalfa, one-fourth unit.

Running a split road drag or doing other forms of road-building for three months, one-fourth unit.

Judging, with a degree of accuracy, the different types of horses, cattle, and hogs, one-fourth unit.

"See Minnesota First" trip under approved instructor, with essay, one-fourth unit.

Among the home tasks are mentioned:—

Shingling or painting the house or barn.

Making a canoe or boat.

Swimming 300 feet at one continuous performance.

Cooking meat and eggs three ways and making three kinds of cake. Exhibit.

Doing the laundry work weekly for three months.

Recognizing and describing twenty different native birds, trees, and flowers.

The Ames, Iowa, High School course outlines out-of-school work in three departments: agriculture, manual training, and home economics. I quote from the home economics prospectus:—

Unless the work is ... made to connect with the work in the home it loses much of its vitality. Our aim is to relate the home and the school and permit each to contribute its share in making the work vital, really worth while. The girl ... may carry into the home some new ways of working, and there will be an exchange of ideas between mother and daughter as to hows and whys ... that will result beneficially to both. As the girl carries these ideas and discoveries back into the school we shall be able to know better the needs of home and social life, and hence so plan our work that it may "carry over" into her out-of-school life.

A total of two credits to apply on graduation may be earned in home economics at the Ames High School. Three hundred points equal one credit.

Two hundred points each are offered for cookery, general housework and sewing.

Cooking is to be done for the family at home, and whenever possible a sample brought to the school for examination, together with the recipes giving itemized cost, and a signed statement that the entire work was done by the girl herself. A list of things to be cooked is given: ten dishes are required, the other five are to be chosen from the list. The list for the first year follows; dishes required are marked with a star and receive seven points credit, the others receive six points.

Some fresh vegetable cooked and served in a white
sauce.
Potatoes in some form.
Tapioca.
Rice.
Macaroni.
Muffins.
*Baking powder biscuit.
*Plain cake, with or without frosting.
*Drop cookies.
*Rolled cookies.
*Pastry.
*Gelatin with soft custard.
Cottage cheese.
Scalloped dish.
Custard, or some kind of custard pudding (bread, rice,
tapioca).
Steamed brown bread.
*Prune whip. }
Marguerites. } One of these required; either may be chosen.
Fondant candies.
Salad with cooked or French dressing.
*Sandwiches—three kinds of filling.
*Bread.
*Baked beans.

General housework includes making girl's own bed each day; daily and weekly care of bedroom, helping with general housework one-half hour each day and one hour on Saturdays (sweeping, dusting, ironing, washing dishes, washing windows, etc.). The total credit for this is 12¹⁄₂ points for one month.

In the course in sewing, the home work is brought to school for examination and grading. The list for second year sewing follows:—

One-third credit—100 points, open to girls who are taking, or who have completed second year sewing.

Princess slip	50 points.
House dress	75
Shirt waist	50
Woolen skirt	75
Made-over dress	75
Nice dress	100

The High School at North Yakima, Washington, gives credit for work in music under approved teachers; for practice-teaching (coaching) by normal students in the grades; and for work in agriculture.

The summer work in agriculture is planned before the close of the school in the spring.

Each pupil informs the instructor in agriculture as to the kind of work he intends to do. The instructor visits each pupil several times during the summer, discussing methods of work, results, etc., with him and his employer, and designating pamphlets, bulletins, and magazine articles for him to read. In 1914, fifty-four pupils applied for credit for work in agriculture.

Rules for Summer Agricultural Work in North Yakima, Washington

1. Students may earn one credit in agriculture toward graduation by work completed outside of school during the vacation period.

2. At least 250 hours of work must be completed before any credit will be given.

3. Complete records and systematic reports kept by the applicant, giving all information required, and signed by the parent or employer, shall be filed with the instructor in agriculture every two weeks.

4. Applicants shall secure such information as a result of reading, study, and questioning experienced workers, as may be necessary to convince the instructor in charge that the work has been of sufficient educational value to justify the granting of a credit.

5. Pupils wishing to receive credit for this work shall make application for the privilege before beginning the work. Lists of reference books, kinds and character of notebooks, shall be designated by the instructor in agriculture.

6. An examination covering the work may be given by the school authorities.

7. Work may be done along the following lines:

a. Vegetable gardening work; keeping results of work done in complete form.

b. Feeding of stock, poultry, etc.; keeping records of foods used, amounts and results obtained.

c. Thinning, picking, packing, marketing, cultivation and irrigation of fruits, etc.

d. Eradication of blight, other orchard diseases and pests; complete records of attempts to reduce damage done by these causes.

e. Growing of cereal, grass, or forage crops.

f. Keeping records of dairy animals; milk testing records for monthly periods.

g. Care of bees, handling of honey, etc.; complete records.