The departmental teachers in the head building (Emerson School) act as assistant supervisors of instruction in their subjects and have general oversight of the courses in their subjects as taught in the other buildings.
Departmental teaching is carried out in the Gary schools to an extent generally unrealized in other public schools. It is considered that, with the exception of the lowest grades, no arguments which apply to the institution of departmental teaching in the high school are inapplicable to the grades of the common school. The special activities undoubtedly call for specialists to conduct them. History, language, literature, mathematics can also be much better taught if the teacher can devote his or her attention to the particular methods and orientation of the respective subjects, and not be required to be equally at home in the technique of all of them. Teachers can rarely be found who are many-sided enough to teach well even all the common branches, without the special activities. The Gary schools, therefore, adopt for all, except the first two or three grades, what are practically advanced high-school or college methods of specialized teaching.
THE MACHINE-SHOP AT THE EMERSON SCHOOL
In these lowest grades all the regular subjects are taught by the one grade teacher; in the other grades practically all the subjects are departmentalized. A unit school plant which should have fifty-six classes, divided proportionately among the grades, in addition to the nurseries and kindergartens and special classes, would employ for grades 1 to 3, sixteen teachers, as follows: For English, mathematics, 8; for manual training, 2; for nature-study, 2; for music, 1; for expression, 1; for physical training, 2.
For grades 4 to 12, forty-six teachers would be employed: For English, 4; for mathematics, 2; for Latin, 1; for German, 1; for French, 1; for Spanish, 1; for history, 1; for fourth-and fifth-grade English, mathematics, history, and geography (either departmentalized or undepartmentalized), 8; for chemistry, 2; for botany, 2; for physics, 2; for zoölogy, 2; for freehand drawing, 2; for architectural drawing, 2; for mechanical drawing, 1; for music, 2; for expression, 2; for cooking, 1; for sewing, 1; for manual training (not including the industrial shops), 2; for physical training, 6. Four teachers would be employed in the kindergarten department. A unit plant of this size would require one executive building principal, and one supervisor of instruction. Two school nurses and a school physician would also be employed.
Such a distribution of the teaching force would be considered the ideal for a unit school plant of all grades, accommodating between fourteen hundred and twenty-two hundred and fifty children in two duplicate schools. It will be observed that this most careful specialization of teaching does not increase the number of teachers required. At least fifty-six teachers, with a number of special teachers, would be required in any school of fifty-six classes, run on an undepartmentalized plan. The Gary plan, therefore, without increasing the number of teachers, provides for a much higher expertness of service. Indeed, Superintendent Wirt has worked out a form by which a school of thirty-two classes would only require thirty-two teachers, including the special teachers, and with most of the work departmentalized.
Programs may be arranged for schools with any number of classes. The number of classrooms and teachers required will be approximately as follows, including supervisors, special teachers, librarians and playground instructors:—
A 12-class school requires 8 classrooms and 12 teachers.
A 24-class school requires 15 classrooms and 23 teachers.