“1. For the better use of school-buildings day and evening, including Saturdays, the year round, making it possible to save large sums of money expended for this purpose.”
This multiple use of school plants, which secures greatly increased facilities at greatly reduced cost, while it permits the giving of full-time instruction to all the children of even the congested school districts, is the aspect which has appealed most generally to educators outside of Gary. For administrators confronted with problems of part-time, it makes an examination of the Wirt plan almost essential. No educationist can afford to ignore a plan which, in mere details of mechanical administration, provides not only a full-time program, but actually a longer school day, for all the children in the city school—something hitherto considered impossible in the larger school systems. The Gary plan seems to provide an easy solution for these difficulties which grow progressively worse in the large city with every year.
“2. The possibility of a better division of time between the old and the new studies, the ‘regular studies’ and ‘special activities.’”
The Gary plan provides not only an enriched curriculum, but an unusually favorable and harmonious balance between the various activities. The larger emphasis on science and manual work has not made the school ultra-utilitarian in its purpose. The Gary schools have not been “turned into mills and factories,” as certain educators have feared. For many visitors, the Gary school is a living refutation of the idea that the useful and the beautiful are opposed. The new school plants, such as the Emerson and Froebel, are spacious and dignified buildings, with many touches of thoughtful taste that one usually associates only with the high schools of exceptionally wealthy and cultivated suburban communities. The presence of pictures, the cultivation of music, the emphasis on expression, the teaching of literature, the systematic use of the public library, indicate a determined effort to bring the cultural aspects of education to the front, and make them as real a part of the school life as the more striking special activities. The “application” work involves constant care and interest in the enhancement of the beauty of the school plant. The actual charm of the school life in Gary—the conservatories and gardens, the play, the freedom of the children, the dramatic expression, the absence of strain and confusion, the happiness of the children—is testified to by most visitors. A very beautiful school life seems to be lived, paradoxical as it may seem, where every activity is motivated by application and expression, where the learning is by doing and not by mere studying.
“3. Greater flexibility in adapting studies to exceptional children of all kinds, thereby diminishing the necessity of special schools.”
The Gary plan provides a school which is adapted to almost every kind of a child. It does not try to adapt the child to the school, casting off automatically those who do not fit. But it adapts the school to the very unequal needs and capacities of the children. Such a school seems to be one where capacities will be developed wherever there are capacities, a school where something like equal educational opportunity can be given, as it cannot be in the ordinary public school. It can almost be said that the only reason for keeping a child home from the Gary school would be a case of contagious disease. If the child is physically weak, so that he cannot undertake all the work, he may take what he can and use the other facilities of the school as one would use a sanitarium for regaining health. The daily program permits a child to spend all his time in the special activities if this is best for him. He may spend his time resting in the open air, or in supervised play until he gains strength to do the regular work. The defective child may work at what he can in the way of manual activity. And the retarded child may take such activities as will awaken his interest, and gradually bring him up to the level of his grade. An elementary school system like this has no need for the expensive special open-air schools, classes for defectives, etc., special trade schools or commercial schools. In the organized life of the complete school community, the child may find approximately what he needs.
“4. The possibility of more expert teaching through the extension of the departmental plan of organization.”
“5. The better use of playtime, thereby preventing influences which undo the work of the schools.”
“6. More realism in vocational and industrial work, by placing it under the direction of expert workmen from the ranks of laboring men, selected for their personal qualities and teaching ability as well as their skill in the trade industries.”
The organization of the industrial and other vocational work offers many practical advantages to the young worker. Not only does he have the evening continuation courses and the privilege of coming back to the school shops in the daytime when unemployed, but the most practical foundation is laid for the development of coöperative courses between school and factory on the lines of the well-known Fitchburg plan. The flexibility of administration and curriculum in the Gary school allows him to attend the academic class during slack hours, or to divide the job and the school with another student. The Gary school even offers to provide special instruction for part-time students for any desired number of hours a week, or allows them to work on their own initiative. In 1914 in Gary there were said to be about one hundred part-time students. The plan of the all-year school also offers peculiar opportunities to the young worker. The opportunity of finding employment is increased fourfold. For instead of throwing all the pupils on the market to find jobs at the same time, one quarter of those who needed work would be available throughout the year. Instead of one continuous apprentice in an industry or trade, therefore, four pupils could take his place in alternation. Instead of one young workman spending all his time at work and none at school, four would be getting a full schooling of thirty-six weeks in the year, and twelve weeks of practical apprentice training in the factory. Thus the Gary plan makes it easy for the young worker to get the maximum benefit of the modern school and his apprenticeship at the same time.