6^ u G2V\? ■w^ c^ ft 285 32 M2 >py 1 The Gary School System A Series of Articles By W. J. McNALLY, Of The Minneapolis Tribune Staff. ^^m^ PubUshed by November, 1915. y ^ Copyright 1915. By The Minneapolis Tribune. 0)C1.A415751 N0\1 151915 The Gary School System. CHAPTER I. The Gary System Explained. A rather tragic distinction has been reserved for the word "Garyism" in that an almost universal familiarity with its sound has for a long time been unable to dis- sipate an almost universal ignorance as to its meaning. The word has proved practically unavoidable as an ac- quaintance and practically inaccessible as an intimate. Kelentless in arresting the attention, it has tantalizingly persisted in eluding the understanding. It has achieved the paradoxical position of being unknown and yet wide- ly known. It has been captured by a national fame, but it has refused to surrender to the average comprehension. Unexampled publicity has been chiefly informative in revealing the pitiable poverty of the current information. The peculiar status of the word, therefore, is suf- ficient reason for appearing purely elementary in this introductory article. A school system has been developed at Gary, In- diana, which has excited the interest and the wonder of the country. The man who conceived and developed this system is a quiet thinker, named William A. "Wirt. A poll of the casual notions associated with "Gary- ism" would probably present an encyclopedia of contra- 4 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM dictions. Certain persons have a horrified feeling that Mr. Wirt houses his children in Utopian places. Others have an equally horrified feeling that he is inhuman enough to make one building do the work of two. The heart-rending spectacle of these meek, inanimate stniC' til res of stone ruthlessly condemned to extra labor with- out their consent has stirred to indignation many ad- vocates of the older and more benevolent system. Some are positive that the Gary idea is demoralizing to the child in that it means all work and no play. Others are positive that it is similarly demoralizing in that it means all play and no work. Some express disquietude because they believe that religious instruction is incorporated in the schools. Others express perturbation because they understand that religious instruction is separated from the schools. Sheer incuriosity and apathy are no doubt responsible for preventing scores more of perfectly original and ingenious misconceptions from reaching the light of day. In point of fact the Gary idea should not be spoken of in the singular number at all. The Gary idea in real- ity is a sheaf of novel and apparently none too closely co-ordinated ideas. Various skeins have been inter- woven in order to effect the pattern of Garyism. The disentanglement or unravelling of some of the more con- spicuous threads might reveal the following specific phases : Child's Activities Increased. 1A point which has elicited much comment is Mr. Wirt's wholesale wrecking of the rigid grade sys- tem. Upon the ruins of the old system he has superim- posed or reconstructed a new system infinitely more com- prehensive and built on far wider foundations. The Wirt THE GAKY SCHOOL SYSTEM 5 system has increased the area of the child's activities and has enlarged the responsibilities of the school. An elaborate program of recreation and a catholic scheme of vocational work supplement, or encircle, the ordinary academic work. The fixed seat of the pupil has been abolished. The single teacher of the grade has been ban- ished. The pupil visits perhaps half a dozen different rooms and studies under perhaps half a dozen different teachers in the course of a day. Incidentally the upper grades are permitted to take such high school subjects as physics, botany, chemistry, French and German. I shall deal with this phase of the Gary system at greater length in a subsequent paper. ^ A phase closely allied to the above phase is the ^ famous economy practiced in running the school plant at its full capacity. The schools in Gary are used evenings, Saturdays and during the summer months. The "Wirt system has so increased the activities of the pupil that half the time he is not in the classroom at all. A skillful method of rotation has been developed which keeps half the pupils in the classrooms while the remain- ing half are engaged upon the playgrounds, in the shops and in the auditorium. Through this means the capacity of the individual building has been practically doubled. Take Desired Religion. 3 A phase little emphasized in Gary but much exploit- ed in outside cities is the method of handling re- ligious instruction. The various creeds in Gary may em- ploy special teachers, who hold special classes during school hours within their own precincts. Sufficient flex- ibility characterizes the Gary program to permit the pupils to take what religious instruction they desire at the place and the time which suit their wishes and con- 6 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM venience. No credit is given in the schools for religious instruction, nor does any connection exist between the creeds and the schools. The school simply surrenders the child temporarily to the church and then reclaims him again. 4 A phase which has attracted a vast amount of at- tention is the extraordinary development of the Gary evening classes. These evening classes differ from the evening classes in other cities not so much in kind as in range, equipment and proportionate attendance. The number of courses taught is simply bewildering. The equipment for teaching vocational subjects is similarly startling. Their phenomenal popularity has become a national proverb. Nearly 8,000 were enrolled last year and gave rise to the assertion that every third person in Gary was attending school. Freedom Permitted Children. 5 Miscellaneous phases which have attracted atten- tion here and there are the individual freedom per- mitted children, the individual freedom permitted teach- ers, the responsibilities thrust upon pupils, the subordina- tion of books, the practice of vitalizing dead topics and relating them to living problems of the moment, and the amazing competence developed by the juvenile craftsmen. All these phases will receive separate consideration in succeeding papers. William "Wirt is the man who converted the Gary sys- tem from a dream into a reality. His biography exem- plifies the proverb that the world will come to the super- ior man if he spends his life in a forest. Mr. Wirt was born just outside a little Indiana town called Markle. He attended the grade schools at Markle, took his high school work at a neighboring town known as Bluffton. THE GARY SCHOOIi SYSTEM 7 and received his college degree from De Pauw univer- sity. A principalship of the high school at Redkey fol- lowed his graduation from De Pauw and preceded his election to the superintendency of schools in Bluffton. Entered on Career at Bluffton. In Bluffton he may be said to have entered fairly upon his career. His work attracted attention from the first as notably bold and progressive. He had won a reputation among educators long before he had passed out of his twenties. He was in line for promotion to the superintendency of the schools in such towns as Fort Wayne and South Bend when the opportunity of his life occurred. The Steel Corporation decided to wave its magic wand over the sand dunes and call into being a new city. Mr. Wirt's work at Bluffton had been of so distin,- guished a sort as easily to win for him the election to the superintendency of schools in this contemplated metropolis. A fortunate facet of his ability consisted in his power of impressing other people with the worth of un- tried ideas. He was permitted to erect a school system in Gary very much as he would have erected it in a dream city. Two beautiful buildings, the Emerson and Frobel, stand as monuments to his success in obtaining the exact laboratories he needed for the realization of his ideas. System Soon Recognized. Mr. Wirt's achievements in Gary did not remain long overlooked by the watchful world outside. Mayor Mitch- el of New York made a trip through the country which brought him into contact with the Gary school system. His delight with what he encountered knew no bounds. 8 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM He insisted on bringing Mr. Wirt to New York for the purpose of Garyizing the schools in the congested dis- tricts. New York is now in a state of upheaval as a re- sult of the volcanic ideas which Mr. Wirt has introduced. The opposition to the Gary system in New York is in- credibly bitter and the ultimate results are yet in doubt. Mr. Wirt is fully conscious of the fact that in New York he is engaged upon the struggle of his life. Success in Garyizing the New York school system will in all prob- ability mean a revolutionizing of the metropolitan school systems the country over. Mr. Wirt's other outside experience in Troy, New York, was a brilliant triumph. In a certain district of Troy it was discovered that two buildings were inade- quate for the needs of the children. While the board was considering the erection of a new building, one of the standing pair burned to the ground. The desperation of their straits moved the Troy educators to call upon Mr. Wirt. He did not keep them long in suspense. He pro- ceeded to action with characteristic energy and dispatch. He introduced vocational shops, play-grounds, and audi- torium, abolished the single seat, shook up the teaching staffs so that general teachers were made specialists, and in a short time had a true Gary school installed in Troy, The miracle of the whole affair was revealed when it was found that the children were now amply housed in one school, where formerly they had been inadequately hous- ed in two. When with the two buildings they declared they needed more room, they now, with one building, saw that they had room to spare. Some of the dazzled folk in Troy feared that the chil- dren would not do as well in their academic work as they had formerly. The magical process they regarded as much too good to be true. But in the next examina- THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 9 tions the children \von the highest average they had won in the history of Troy and stood up among the first schools in the state. Mr. Wirt still gives a couple of days each month to Troy as he travels back and forth from the week's visit -which he monthly makes to New York. Considerable publicity has been given the quite unimportant fact that he receives $10,000 a year from New York and $2,500 a year from Troy for the supervision which he exercises in these respective cities. The scene of Mr. Wirt's present activities, Gary, is one of exceptional interest. Most people are familiar with the romantic aspect of its brief history. Ten years ago what is now Gary was an endless stretch of sand dunes, the favorite haven of Chicago thugs. The Steel Corporation, true to its reputation for omnipotence, sum- moned its genie, and ordered nothing less than a city. And upon this blasted heath a handsome American city obediently rose, gridironed with superbly paved streets, snd blocked out in squares of beautiful symmetry. The city of Gary already enrolls 40,000 inhabitants and has every prospect of sustaining a rapid increase. The demand from Europe for munitions of war has stimulat- ed the steel business greatly. Work is about ready to begin on a new $3,000,000 mill which it is expected wiU bring 2,000 new families, or 8,000 inhabitants, to Gary, The population of Gary is very largely foreign, although the native element is by all odds the more conspicuous. It is in this extraordinary laboratory that William Wirt has been enabled to work out what is perhaps the most interesting educational experiment of the decade. 10 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM CHAPTER II. Child's Development Primarily Sought. "I tell you, Mr. Wirt, I've never taken the boy's part against the teacher before. I've always stood right by the teacher, I have, but now I " The sentence concluded in a wail and the tempestuous sobbing of a mother flooded the room. This was part of a conversation I was forced to over- hear in the Emerson school as I entered the administrative rooms to keep an appointment with Mr. Wirt, who had just arrived in Gary after a visit to New York, and was planning to depart almost immediately for San Fr,ancisco. Some woman, whose son had evidently been discharged from school, was seizing her opportunity to make a per- sonal appeal to the famed superintendent. The fragment of the woman's tragic drama enacted before me had no relevance to my purpose except that it was destined to throw an illuminating sidelight upon the character of the originator of the Gary system. Again Comes Assurance. "Always before, Mr. Wirt,, I've taken the teacher's part against the boy. Always, Mr. Wirt. I wouldn't have you think otherwise for the world. I've never taken the boy's part before, but this time — " That one idea had achieved an intellectual monopoly with the woman and rigidly excluded every other notion. She clung to it with that pathetic tenacity which so often is discernible in the clutch of an inferior mind to a wholly irrelevant thought. Chance had lodged this va- grant idea in her head as the vital point, and apparently there was no force powerful enough to pry it loose. Any THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 11 attempt to bring- her to the point invariably resulted in making her hug the idea more desperately, A torrential iteration of the same unvaried sentence became an obses- sion with her. ''I've always taken the teacher's part before, Mr. Wirt, always. This is the first time I've ever taken the boy's part, it is. I — " Primeval Savagery Confessed. Under normal provocation I hope I may lay claim to a moderate stock of patience. But after twenty-five min- utes of this unceasing repetition, I must confess I had so far relapsed into primeval savagery that I could cheer- fully have sentenced the Avoman to the guillotine. What was chiefly significant in this trying encounter was the effect that it had upon Mr. Wirt. Several people were waiting outside to see him and he was palpably pressed for time. But never an ejaculation of impatience escaped his lips. Never, a gesture of dismissal, never a curt word, never an intimation that he was in the slight- est degree busy, never an inflection which might have re- vealed that he was crucified with weariness, could I de- tect. The most sincere sympathy or the most finished hypocrisy — the most profound patience or the most artis- tic duplicity — I have ever come in contact with charac- terized his attitude throughout. One might have imagined that he was fascinated by her inexhaustible assurances and reassurances of an utterly pointless truth. But when she ultimately rose she appeared happy, although it is worth noting that she had not succeeded in achieving her purpose. . '. • A moment later I had my first clear glimpse of the cyclonic thinker whose ideas are threatening to wreck the entir.e existing grade school system of America. 12 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM Mr. Wirt is squarely built, rather short for a man of his bulk, brusque in speech, none too fastidious in dress, smooth-shaven, and possessed oddly enough of a rather cherubic countenance. An impression of phlegmatism or stolidity that I momentarily received was utterly de- stroyed by his curiously decisive and ener,getic walk. The round, almost youthful, face of the man (he is about forty-two years old) at first struck me as containing a hint of simplicity and unsophistieation. But a closer scruntiny of his keen, intent eyes, and more intimate ac- quaintance with the unmistakably firm snap of his mouth as he flung out a sentence, soon dissipated that illusion. He dispenses with such superfluities as empty cordialities and has a talent for what one might call an aggressive silence. Heavy shoulders, a chest of ample, even extraor- dinary, br.eadth and thickness, an erect carriage and a step of emphatic determination give him a commanding and forcible presence despite his lack of height. Asked to Summarize. I asked if he could weld together the various ideas which constitute "Garyism" and summarize them in a single synthesis. He hesitated for an instant and then said ''Yes," with that striking abruptness which characterizes his actions. Simultaneously he dropped into his chair, and before I had become fairly ad.justed to the swift transition, he had flung himself into his topic and was talking with gr.eat rapidity and animation. "There's one dominant idea which has governed every phase of the Gary system. From beginning to end the development of the child has been my primary concern. That's the hub from which all the spokes radiate. Con- THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 13 siderations of economy have always been secondary and completely in the background. I've never had any desire to see how cheaply a school might be run. I've never looked at education purely as a cold-blooded business pr.oposition. Home's Power Lost. "The gradual concentration of our population in large cities has made certain changes in our educational system inevitable. The home to a large degree has lost its power to provide for the proper development of the child. It can't give him the proper facilities either for work or play. The streets then may capture and degrade him. Now all that the home has given up I propose the school take over. The deficiency of the home must be met by the school. "Would I invade or compete with the home? Not at all. I would co-operate with it, rather. Any help I get from the home I'm preciously glad and grateful to get. But I'm not for one instant going to place the burden of responsibility on the home. If the home contributes something, well and good; if it contributes nothing, all right, too; in any event the essential responsibility re- mains with the school. Wants Full Supervision. "Now, as a representative of the state, I feel it my duty to provide for the child the fullest, largest, freest development possible. I want to supervise his play and work, as well as his study. I want to meet the street and the amusement halls and the cheap theaters and beat them out through sheer, force or superior interest. Let's suppose that we attempt to add play and work to an ordi- nary school system and watch what would happen. Let's 14 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM suppose that we add training in nature study, training in vocational work, training in music, training in gymastic work. "First of all we stumble against the obstacle "of the human limitations of the individual teacher. I've never believed that teacher who was indifferent to nature could teach nature study. I've never believed that a teacher, who was tone-deaf could teach music. Nor have I imag- ined that a teacher who knows nothing about play could supervise it from a window or that a teacher only super- ficially familiar M'ith things mechanical could teach me- chanical arts and sciences. Expense Proves Obstacle. "What shall Ave do to overcome the obstacle discov- ered here % Shall we add to our corps of teachers a gr,oup of specialists who will teach these special subjects a few minutes each day? A number of objections pop up at once. In the first place of course the expense of the un- dertaking will burn us out of house and home. In the second place, no teacher can satisfactorily handle an en- tire school for only a few minutes each day. The class is too la: ge and the time too short. And in the third place, we can 't forget the appalling waste that we have about us. Expensive playgrounds ar.e on our hands used for only a short time each day — an orthodox group of teachers is wholly idle while the special group is teaching — class- rooms are wholly idle while the shops and laboratories are in operation — shops and laboratories are wholly idle while the classrooms are filled up — why, the idea is sim- ply economic madness." Restraint characterizes the man as he talks, but the tightening of his fist and the tensity of his gaze as he leaned farther and farther forward revealed the depth and THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 15 earnestness of his feeling on tlie topic. A conviction that I was enconntering a man of extraordinary power began to grow on me. A man whom at the outset I had regarded as phlegmatic, taciturn and impassive now^ was electrified, vivified and surcharged with a dynamic force hitherto not to be noted. "Now to give the child the development I wanted, some plan had to be devised to circumvent these obsta- cles. Here is where we arrive at what you call the Gary system. The method I adopted knocking out the wliole system may be summed up pretty well as the abolition of the fixed seat. -^ Rotation System Used. "The abolition of the fixed seat of the pupil is the kej- stone of the Gary arch. Thr.ough this we are permitted to install the rotation system. Through this we are per- mitted to exchange miscellaneous teachers for specialists. Through this we are permitted practically to double the capacity of our building so that the economics are effect- ed which allow us to install magnificent shops and play- grounds. Experts in shop under our new system have small classes every hour in the day. Experts in music al- so have small classes every hour of the day. Every room in the building may be worked up to its full capacity all of the time. No special teacher need be hired to give only a part of her time. Instead of being strait-jacketed in a single seat and studying under the same teacher from morning till night, the child progresses from specialist to specialist, getting a vocational education as well as an academic education and physical drill as well as mental drill." He paused long enough to smile a curious, abstract smile which did not apparently include any human being 16 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM within its embr,aee. Plis smile seemed to be an affectionate greeting, or salute, thrown at his passing beliefs as his conversation paraded them before him. One might have supposed that his infectious interest had endowed these convictions with a living presence and a palpable shape. It is worth noting that his ears have a trick of rising when he smiles. Shows Plan's Economy. "The abolition of the fixed seat is a point that some people talk a great deal about. Criticism on this point loses sight of a fundamental economic principle. A multi- ple use of the unit of service is one of the imperative laws of social progress. What would happen if the patron reserved his seat in the theater not for the single night but for the entire year? What would happen if the hotel guest reserved his room not for his immediate stay, but for the entire year? Or what would happen if the trav- eler reserved his berth on the railr.oad train not for his actual trip, but for the entire year? Both society and the individual would lose incalculably. The individual would have to give vastly more and take vastly less for the privilege of excluding others from using something he was not using himself. The whole principle is absurd. Yet that's the principle, silly as it is, which has been gov- erning school management, and that's what we've revolt- ed fr,om in Gary. The child has lost his fixed seat, it's true, but look what he's been given in exchange." "You've introduced a paradoxical formula whereby what appears as a nominal loss is actually an inestimable gain?" "T>iat's the idea exactly." I asked him if he thought the Gary system might be introduced effectively in other cities. THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 17 "Certainly it might if used intelligently. I can answer for the system, but I can't answer for the handling of it. Any system in which the human equation enters may be bungled. But the fact that stupid execution may spoil a good plan is no argument against the plan's intrinsic worth." "What about your method of handling r.eligious in- struction? How did that arise?" I interjected. "Its origin would take us clear back, to the historic separation of church and state. You must know most of the religious instruction of this country is being done by school teachers outside of school hours. Now I believe that's not fair to the state. The teacher is paid by the state and a diffusion of her energies naturally means a loss to the state. I have made it policy not to per.mit my teachers to give religious instruction outside. "Well, that stand upset the old condition of affairs and created the present system. The churches were left without teachers and had to hire their own. I'm alto- gether willing to give them the children so long as they provide the instruction. They were displeased with the arrangements at first, but the huge superiority of the in- struction the teachers now give has more than reconciled them to the change. I believe in church and I go to church, but I've never had any fondness for the notion that the churches should act as parasites on the schools." A query as to the prospects of his election to the su- perintendency of the Chicago schools brought forth an emphatic answer that he would not consider, it. "No pos- sibility of getting anything done under the present sys- tem there," he said. "The superintendent is only elected for a year and the old board kept on him. Everything he tried to do could be blocked. 18 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM "I haven't the remotest idea what inspired your super- intendent, Spaulding, to jump into print the way he did," he turned to the subject abr.uptly, swinging about in his chair and dropping his fist heavily on his desk. " Spaul- ding 's a good fellow. 1 regret his attack and fail alto- gether to understand it." Superintendent Spaulding of Minneapolis had recently given out a statement in which he had said it would cost $800,000 to "Garjnze" the Minneapolis schools. Mr. Wirt referred to that. "I haven't read the article myself," he went on, but I've been told what it contains. Of course, it's unjust. Spaulding 's never been down here, so far as I know. I Avish he would give us a fair investigation before con- demning us in print." It was now after lunch time and the entire office staff had long since left the building. On my going Mr. Wirt immediately plunged back into his work. An hour later, when I returned, he was still absorbed, the one solitary figure in the two great administrative rooms of the Emer- son building. I have no final knowledge on the point, but I am convinced that a lunch did not intrude upon his work that day. CHAPTER III. Children Treated As Grown-ups. ; "Oh, look at the lazy loafer!" "The son-of-a-gun's just a darn bum! He's got no business goin' to school at all!" A. lone lad perhaps eight years old was surrounded by a ring of shouting boys and made the target of their merciless scorn. THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 19 Charlie, the wretched youth in the center, had been convicted of idling in the workshop. For a week's work in the shop of a Gary school he had received a check which amounted only to fifty cents. The depth of his disgrace may be understood when it is explained that these diminutive "laborers" were suppos- ed to receive three dollars a Aveek for their services. Charlie's ludicrously small check had excited the im- mediate contempt of his classmates. "Lazy loafer, you! Only fifty cents! Ha, look at our checks ! ' ' Flaunt Checks in Face. And the vainglorious little wretches, Avhose etficiency had been attested beyond dispute, flaunted their munifi- cent checks in the face of the delinquent. "Why don't you work when you're in shop, eh?'' "You oughta go off and die instead of goin' to school, you ought!" Particular point was given the situation when it is added that the foreman, who had so ruthlessly "docJjed" poor Charlie for his inefficiency was aged but eleven. The lynx-eyed juvenile "boss" had observed that Charlie was taking life rather too easily, and, with that appalling conscientiousness which characterizes extreme youth, had cut oft* five-sixths of his ordinary pay. And the culprit's punishment was still by no means complete. His very soul must have seared by the disgust of his comrades. He had promptly been condemned to a cruel but certainly instructive social ostracism. The episode is illuminating in that it reveals the peculiar grasp possessed by Mr. Wirt on the psychology of childhood. These cheeks were not checks at all in the ordinary 20 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM sense of the M'ord but merely clever substitutes for the "marks'' of the conventional grade system. The checks were made out in the school currency and w^ere to be deposited in the school bank. No trait is more pronounced in the small boy than his inordinate capacity for imitation. His passion for aping men in particular is overwhelming. Mr. Wirt has skillfully brought the best out of the boy by installing a system which permits him to imagine himself a man. The boys in the shop already alluded to were so infatuated with their importance as real "laborers" that they were tricked into a precocious as- sumption of maturity. "Loafing" under the conventional school system strikes the juvenile imagination as a dash- ing and piquant mode of spending time. But round the Jefferson shop in G^vy it commanded universal con- tempt. The plight of the solitary "loafer" was so dis- tressing as to be pitiable. Genuine Workshop Reproduction. The visitor who enters a workshop in a Gary school finds the details of a genuine workshop reproduced with extraordinary fidelity. Everyw^here the youths are work- ing busily and with what seems a feverish interest. What struck me at the outset about this hive of in- dustry was the apparent superfluity of the teacher, A lad of eleven was acting as "foreman" and appeared to be the autocrat of the room. His orders were brusque and invariably won instant obedience. In the far corner of the room a storeroom was fitted up behind a steel cage. A lad of eight who bore the official title of storeroom keeper was perched upon a high stool. The humble worker had to approach this lordly personage- with a written slip of paper which THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 21 contained a formal statement of his demands. The slip Avas then placed on file and the stipnlated tools were given out. One unfortunate youth who had scrawled his de- mands too hastily was subjected to a stinging rebuff while I was looking on. ' ' I can 't read the writin ', ' ' remarked the finical store- keeper. "It's rotten." Hands Back Slip With Wave. And he arrogantly handed back the applicant his slip and waved him away. ''It says 'bucksaw,' " urged the repudiated one im- ploringly. "Gosh, can't you read?" "Not that bum stuff," the inexorable official replied. "AVrite it over." The disgruntled workman proceeded to rewrite the word laboriously only to come to grief upon its spelling. The fastidious custodian of the storeroom abused him roundly for his delinquencies in this respect, but finally relented and passed him the desired bucksaw. No conscious discipline was maintained in the shop nor was there any apparent need of it. The diminutive workmen were so wholly consumed with their own im- portance as to regard it beneath their dignity to "cut up." They swaggered about their various tasks as though the destiny of the nation hung upon their manner of disposing of them. I later learned that the episodes observed in this room illustrated certain principles of "Garyism" which were to be encountered in every phase of the work. The large delegation of responsibility to the juvenile official, as cxemplied in the almost autocratic power of the "fore- man," was a phenomenon which I noted again and again. 22 THE GAUY SCHOOL SYSTEM Whenever it is practicable at all, the pupils may be seen governing themselves. Strict Discipline Abandoned. Nothing is more amusing in the Gary system than the sight of these infantile corporals and captains and colonels ordering their helots about and exacting a start- ling obedience. The insistence of the storeroom keeper upon good writing and good spelling is an illustration of another tenet in the Gary creed. In one class it is cus- tomary to make the pupils use the knowledge they have gained in a different class. Even information is not al- lowed to lie idle in Gary or to remain sealed up in a given class, but is kept rotating by devices invented for the purpose of insuring its circulation. A third point revealed by the conduct of the children in the shop is the relative abandonment of ordinary measures of strict dis- cipline. A phase of this shop work which surprised me and interested me is the hold it has won upon the little girls. Probably no town in the country has a more valid claim to modernity than Gary and it is therefore only fitting that it should be found well abreast of the feministic wave. The contention is urged that a changing ciyiliza- tion has made a knowledge of mechanical matters a vital part of feminine education. Tiny girls of eight, nine and ten may be seen working with saws and hammers with the same exuberant energy that characterizes the boys. They show an insatiable inquisitiveness about engines and dy- namos and electricity. They develop amazing competence in crafts that were supposed to be a masculine monopoly. Indeed an instructor in the Jefferson school told me that they actually excelled the boys. A larger supply of patience and a finer artistic conscience enabled them to THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 23 get results beyoud the reach of their too impetuous brothers. Restraint Is Characteristic. Another interesting point of psychology was given me by Mr. Swartz who declared that only the little girls took kindly to this shop work. The girls that had arriv- ed at the high school age were indignant at the thought of soiling their hands and presenting an aesthetically dubious appearance. But these miniature Amazon of the grades, ^Aho had not yet grown sufficiently sophisticated to accept a picturesque impotence as the loftiest ideal of f .'minity, threw themselves into the work with an abandon and a competence that were a revelation to the skeptics. A walk through the shops of either the Emerson or the Froebel building is an unforgettable experience. Com- modious halls open into spacious laboratories, foundries and printing establishments excellently ventilated and ex- traordinarily well equipped. In one shop I was forced to stare wonderingly at a group of youngsters repairing an automobile. In another room I found a number of pupils repairing their own shoes. In a third I found several pupils making vases out of clay. In a fourth I ran across a boy who was nmking a picture frame for his mother. In a fifth I no- ticed a physics class giving a practical demonstration of their knowledge in physics by moving the physics labora- tory from the second floor to the first. Youth Is Expert Printer. While passing the print-shop I saw a handsome little black-eyed lad of 9 or 10 running a printingr press with what struck my untutored eye as a precocious expert- ness. He would stop to oil it with an almost paternal 24 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM affection. He seemed to take an exceptional zest in his Avork. I was later told that outside of the shops he was the wickedest little "cut-up" in school. The pupils do a vast deal of the work required for the maintenance of schools. They do all the printing of programs, school statistics, catalogs, announcements of courses and pamphlets which the schools issue in the course of a year. They help greatly in preparing the motion pictures used in the auditorium. They are used constantly as teachers' assistants and given credit for this work. They even aid somewhat in the bookkeeping of the schools. They take charge of the school supplies and learn to keep their inventories correctly. Every conceivable phase of jDractical business training at the disposal of the schools is thrust upon them. I even dis- covered a retail store in one of the buildings which the l)upils were sui:)posed to run at a profit. Feminine Efficiency Not Overlooked. That eft'iciency in the purely feminine accomplish- ments is not overlooked is proved by the remarkable sew- ing and cooking done by the girls. Cafeterias are to be found in botli the Emerson and Froebel schools which are run by the pupils. Excellent lunches are prepared for ridiculously small sums. I took lunch in each of the buildings and found it impossible to complain of any- thing except the unconscionably tiny bill. I had a feel- ing of positive shame when I discovered the amount I v, as expected to pay. It is apparently Mr. "Wirt's belief that the capacity of the child has been greatly underestimated. Certainly the startling competence developed at Gary would go far to prove that contention. These children are clearly not super-children or even unusual children, although they THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 25 are able to do unusual things. It is a pleasure to observe tliat they are by no means exemplary in their conduct. They growl and snarl at each other with that abnormal superfluity of animalism which in children is the best possible assurance of a normal rationality. Anything more despicable in a child than uniformly admirable conduct, or anything more alarming than the absence of all alarming symptoms, I can not readily imagine. Given Time to Choose Specialty. It is not the intention of the Gary system to develop specialists in vocational work. The intention is rather to give a full and varied program of vocational work which in the end will enable the pupil to make a wise decision as to what nature has best fitted him for. Mr. Wirt is firmly opposed to the idea of premature speciali- zation. The inalienable right of the youngster to end- less experimentation is jealously guarded at Gary. Prac tice in running all the keys of failure represents the Gary idea of achieving the technique of success. The Gary system has the fearlessness and the faith to treat the boys and girls as men and w^omen. Its trust is vindicated in the response it wins. That the superb workshops of the Gary schools do a great wor.k in de- veloping unimagined potentialities in the child — that they emancipate him from the reign of silly toys and baubles wdiich keep him enslaved to infancy — that they challenge the best that is in him, tear him away from the artificial and interest him in the real — that they encourage greater adaptability, greater efficiency, and provide a short-cut to maturity— I find that a week's stay in Gary has made it very difficult for me to doubt. 26 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM CHAPTER IV. Physical Side of Gary Training-. "You're out, Ethel!" A fleet-footed, golden-haired girl of perhaps fourteen had just hit a stinging grounder in the direction of short- stop. The opposing pitcher, an extraordinarily graceful maiden dressed in a "middle" blouse, had dived after it and in sporting parlance had "speared" it with one hand. A swift recovery of her balance which revealed an astonishing suppleness of figure had been followed by a perfect throw to first. The decision was close and I am inclined to believe that the runner was out. The runner herself nevertheless had spirited convictions to the con- trary. "Oh, out your grandmother!" she retorted with a blustering air, and seated herself on the bag in a deter- mined manner. "Come off your perch!" And she wound her arms about her ankles with a dogged firmness which revealed an intention never to yield. "Of course you're out," pitcher iterated impatiently, "out by a mile. Hurry up and get off the diamond." "I'm not out!" "You are!" Scene First Encountered. This scene was what I encountered one fresh October morning as I arrived on the Emerson playgrounds for my first view of the Enierson school. Tlie situation of this building on the extreme edge of Gary permits an unlimited prospect of the bleached and pitilessly flat Indiana landscape for miles about. A malicious sun of THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 27 unexampled opulence seemed bent on humbling the pride of the country forever by riding over the squalid waste in full and resplendent panoply. It mocked the terrible poverty of that endless desert by a wanton parade of its ordinarily obscured splendors and extinguished the last trace of dignity which the invaded heath might have possessed by relentlessly grinding it beneath its burning heel of gold. I had never before known the experience of witness- ing a purely feminine baseball game. Nine girls were lined up on a side and playing with all the vigor of pro- fessionals. I fancy that they were high school sophomores or juniors. The skill they displayed in some instances was amazing. Their play was not, of course, up to the standard of boys their own age, but it was a remarkably high standard for girls of any age to attain. The ball they used was much larger and softer than the regulation ball. Knew Diamond Slang. Their knowledge of baseball idiom seemed fully as extensive and as accurate as that of the most sophisticat- ed "fan." The scraps of dialogue wliich I gathered struck me as unusually interesting. "Oh, put 'em over the platter, Marian!" "There, that was a strike! "What are you looking for, anyway t ' ' "Strike, that? Huh, two inches the other side of the plate and way over my head ! Just give me a good one once and watch me hit her out!" A certain refinement in their little billingsgate and a certain softening of the fierceness which characteries the playing of boys were practically the only modifications which their sex had wrought in the game. It was no- 28 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM liceable that they did not wrangle with quite the primeval ferocity which is discernible in the Avranglings of boys. They forgot their grievances more readily. They did not manifest such scorching bitterness in dispute. They show- ed a philosophy in losing and above all a tolerance of bad decisions and imagined "raw deals" which I never knew boys to display. Their abuse of each other was marked by a relative urbanity. Winning Secondary. They seemed on the Avhole to be more interested in playing than in winning, whereas boys are almost in- variably more interested in winning than in playing. The mighty joy which they were unmistakably taking from the game, and the dexterity, the grace, and the hardi- hood they were developing, constituted a scathing indict- ment of that convention which in the past has excluded girls from this most fascinating of youthful sports. The playgrounds of either the Emerson or the Froebel buildings' — more particularly the Froebel — cannot fail to excite the wonder and the admiration of the visitor. The first point which commends itself to the gaze is their conspicuous amplitude. My impression may be incorvo(,'t but I should certainly say that grounds of far great n* vastness surround the Froebel school than are included within Northr.op field or the Harvard stadium. All Get (Chance. The value of sheer size may not at first seem manifest. But anyone who recalls the fate of the grade scliool children on grounds of conventional niggardliness will understand its significance. The school "team" monop- olizes the school grounds. Ordinary children w^ho have no claim to the grounds except a desire to play are ruth- THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 29 lessly swept away to make way for the hallowed .;ad deified members of the athletic club. Of course it would be iueonceivable that mere mortals should enjoy the same privileges on the grounds as the august Olympians enrolled on the "team." Usually the crying need of physical development in a child is the one qualification AA'hich disqualifies him from undergoing any develop- ment. The children ^^ ho need the grounds least use them practically all the time, while the children who nefid them most use them practically none of the time. Physi- cal inferiority is sternly sentenced to grow more and more inferior while the only true eligibility to the grounds has a fatal certainty of stigmatizing its possessor as in- eligible. What should serve the child as a passport to play simply effects an automatic cancellation of his ri.^ht He forfeits his chance through the very excellence of his claim. Health Is Watchword. The Gary system works havoc with this haphazard and unjust distribution of the groimds. Every child i& insured his right to a proper physical development. Mag- nificent gymnasiums and swimming pools have been con- structed to watch over him in winter as well as in v.mw- mer. Expert instruction has, been engaged to super /ise his activities. The almost fanatical zeal with which Mr. "Wirt looks out for the health of the child is the best pos- sible proof of his essential balance and sanity. It is rather significant that in the Emerson building the fir^t rcom one stumbles upon harbors the school physiciaji. The children who particularly profit by the Gary system are the girls who normally w^ould regard it as unladylike to exercise and the boys who are so situated as to be denied adequate playgrounds. It would be superfluous to add that these include the majority of both sexes. 30 THE GARY SCPIOOL SYSTEM I do not find that the academic work done iinder the Gary system differs in any fundamental respect from the academic work done under the conventional system. Dif- ferences in detail of course are to be noted in abundance. It is centainly striking to observe little children progress- ing from a special teacher in mathematics to a special teacher in drawing instead of taking both subjects from the same teacher. This to an outsider would appear to work for better instruction. The principle that the expert is superior to the dilettante has never provoked a vast deal of dispute. Apropos of this topic it is intesting to note what the children answered when asked why they preferred the Gary system to the orthodox system. Practically with- out exception they put themselves on record in favor of the change of teachers. The candid answer of one juve- nile analyst was especially illuminating. Grouch Not Continuous, ' "If a teacher gets miffed at j^ou the first thing in the morning she can't keep soaking it to you all day. The next teaclier you draAv is pretty sure not to have a grouch." I was struck again and again by the emphasis laid upon modernity in the Gary schools. Mr. Wirt has ap- parently no antipathy towards fitting his children for the Twentieth century. The old-fashioned school, which enthroned antiquity and looked with scorn upon moderni- ty, would stand agape at the heresy of Gary. I noticed a war map of jMexico on the wall in the corridor. I sup- posed of course that it could be no nearer our own time than the age of Pizarro and the Aztecs. The shock I felt when I made out the names of Carranza and Villa and Zapata I leave to the reader to imagine. The map show- THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 31 ed minutely the present distribution of the warring forces in Mexico. A little study of it enabled me to emerge with an incomparably better understanding of the position of Carranza than I had ever possessed before. Maps of the Panama canal and of Belgium also interested me greatly. Present Is Welcomed. The present in most prim schools is regarded as a rather indecorous period whose dubious status and per- haps too vivid behavior put it utterly beyond the pale of polite historj^ These conscientious custodians of edu- cation proceed to snub it and ignore it with the severity which its ill-bred obtrusiveness properly merits. The less said about a period of such questionable antecedents the better. But shameless Gary refuses to enter into this patrician disdain of the present. It welcomes the de- spised waif to its schools with open arms. It has the effrontery to address the horrified past in some such met- aphorical fashion as this : "Past, cease this attitude of snivelling hypocrisy to- wards the present, at least while visiting me. Never mind apologizing for the present as a remote and insignificant relation that you would like to disown. Your only claim to distinction that I will recognize is your close relation to the present. The present to me is a hundred times more important than you. The fact that a study of you throws some light on the present is my sole reason for bothering with you at all. Intrinsically I regard you as decidedly unimportant. Accustom yourself at once to your properly subordinate position and learn to genuflect before the present during your sojourn here." "What is known as the auditorium comprises another interesting phase of the Gary program. Geography and history are vitalized and energized through the stimulat- 32 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM ing instrumentality of motion pictures. The children themselves make speeches and explain the significance of what is shown on the screen. They dramatize the past with their own little playlets. I witnessed a dramatization of the Christopher Colum- bus story, which brought back the details of the voyage Mn.th rare vividness. The juvenile actors all wore cos- tumes, and rather elaborate costumes — though I later learned that these almost criminally competent and versatile youngsters had made them themselves at a cost of two cents apiece. And during the same hour I was the spectator of a second dramatization of the three com- promises of our constitution. Messrs. Madison, Gerry and Carroll appeared on the stage impressively adorned Mdth wigs and contributed solemn remarks in high, so- prano voices. A good character touch of Garyism was brought to my attention when I learned that the audience was under no obligation to keep quiet. The actors were informed that they must interest the audience by sheer force of histrionic power. The desire to escape the humiliation of giving a performance before a crowd of inattentive and conversing comrades naturally put the youthful thespians on their mettle. The pupils themselves therefore were forced to interest themselves so deeply in the past they were depicting as to be able to communicate an interest in it. They were cleverly seduced into practicing the ancient maxim that the best way of learning is by teach- ing. THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 33 CHAPTER V. The Testimony of a Teacher. "Most certainly I Avould rather teach under the Gary system than under any other." This was the answer which Miss Elsa Ueland un- hesitatingly returned me in response to a query concern- ing her opinion of Garyism. The words she used certainly were not to be described as either feeble or indirect. But an intensity of feeling utterly beyond the power of print to transmit or repro- duce charged her sentence with an arresting quality which I shall not attempt to communicate. Garyism to Miss Ueland was not an abstract name for an educational system. It represented a religion to which she had dedi- cated her,self as a votary. Though Miss Ueland, who has a well developed sense of humor, and who takes herself with anything but fear inspiring seriousness, w^ould doubtless have laughed at the extravagance of my figure, I nevertheless could feel in her attitude a peculiar rever- ence towards Garyism which w^ould have made a flippant remark on the topic seem profane. Miss Ueland is the daughter of Judge and Mrs. An- dreas Ueland of Minneapolis and is a former student of the university. A short experience in settlement and educational work in New York aroused her interest in the Gary system. The desire to gain authoritative infor- mation upon the subject prompted her to go to Gary and accept a position as teacher in Emerson school. Response Eloquent. The facilities of observation which she enjoys there are of course the very best conceivable. For that reason 34 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 1 was particularly anxious to learn her verdict regard- ing the system. Nor did she keep me long in suspense. The light that flashed up in her eyes at the mention of "Garyism" afforded a comment which, for sheer elo- quence, the most finished phrase would have been unable to rival. "I'll tell you why it is that I would prefer teaching under Gary system," she said. "It's first of all because I find in the child a richer deposit of experience than I can find elsewhere. I notice this distinctly in my auditorium work. You know I'm a rebel from the tiresome conven- tion which exalts mere technique in the art of public speaking. Before the pupil can talk well he must have something to talk about. And it's in providing him with something to talk about that the Gary system is peculiarly generous. Trained to Talk. "In the schools here he has a wonderful background of experience. He's been trained to observe, he's been in the shops, he's asked questions, he's been taught how to relate what he learns in school with the details of his daily existence, he's arrived very early at the point v/here he uses school as an interpreter of the little rid- dles of his life. These tiny tads get up in auditorium with a subline lack of self-consciousness and narrate phases of their experience that are remarkably interest- ing. Of course it's not alone in auditorium that I'm struck by the relative richness of the youngster's experi- ence. I notice it in all my classes. "Then there's another phase of the Gary work that has a decided interest for me. You know that I'm an utterly irredeemable feminist anyway and so naturally I can't help looking at the Gary system from the feminis- THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 35 tie point of view. The provision made here for the de- velopment, the natural development of the girl is to me a constant source of delight. Development Illustrated. ''Did you see those high school girls playing baseball on the diamond? And did you notice those little girls down in the shops using saws like experts and driving nails straight? Well, that's what I mean by a provision for the natural development of the child. "Really, you know, I sympathize with the small boy's proverbial contempt for the average little girl. "What on earth she is good for after convention has ironed all the humanity out of her I can't see any more than he. She is predestined to parasitism by a systematic train- ing which has for its goal a versatile uselessness. Worth- lessness is supposed to be her certificate of worth. She undergoes such a perverted course of instruction that she feels she would convict herself of unnaturalness if she acted naturally. The small boy has a contempt for her which altogether is to his credit. If there's one thing his primitive mind cannot be made to respect it's help- lessness. He knows that the little girl can't do anything. She can't drive a nail straight to save her life. The way she throws a ball is enough to make him weep. She can't swim or ride or excel in any of the arts that he regards as supremely important. No wonder that he looks upon her with a disgust he doesn't bother to conceal, or that the most horrible epithet he can conceive of is 'girl-baby.' Gains Boy's Respect. "Now this is exactly the type of girl that the Gary system aims not to develop. Here the little girl learns to swim, to use the hammer and the saw, to play ball, 36 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM to handle machinery even. She develops surprisingly proficiency in things which the small boy respects. She sometimes beats his supercilious little lordship at his own games. The result is that his ojDinion of her promptly undergoes a profound change. "But the main point about the Gary system is its re- fusal to stifle the girl's physical development out of deference to convention. You know a girl is sentenced by nature to feel human impulses very much like a boy's. She is not taught here that she should be ashamed of them. She gratifies her love for running and jumping and all kinds of physical activity without a sense of guilt. As a consequence she grows strong and hardy, be- comes efficient and accomplished, is able to bear great strains, has a speaking acquaintance with the word robustness, and best of all is permitted a joyous, spontaneous childhood free from the tyranny of false notions of femininity. I tell you the Gary system is superb for the development of the girl. Trio Adopt Child. "There's still a third phase of the Gary system which I have found brought home forcibly to me. You know I'm acting at present in the role of a mother. A trio of us teachers have adopted a child and we're un- dergoing the tribulations of bringing it up. "But tribulations are precisely what the Gary system has been kind enough to spare us. You can't imagine what a relief it is to turn the child over to the school at 8 o'clock in the morning and know that he will be beau- tifully taken care of until 5 in the afternoon. Even on Saturdays the school takes him in tow. All danger of street influences are eliminated. All the worry that we should naturally feel about where he is spending his THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 37 time is cut out. What such a conviction of security would mean to the majority of parents, I don't need to explain. "By the way," she abruptly turned the subject, "how is the Dunwoody institute progressing in Minneapolis? I am watching its career with much interest. You know Minneapolis likes to regard itself as the most progressive city in the world. And it is splendidly progressive, of course, though sometimes I think it might progress some- what faster if it were a wee bit more critical and a wee bit less complacent. Now the Dunwoody institute I thinl/ justifies a little critical examination. Bars Premature Specialization. "I may be wrong, but my observation inclines me to think that the Dunwoody Institute is founded on a philo- sophy which is poles asunder from Mr. Wirt's plan. The Gary system is firmly opposed to premature specialization in vocational work. The Gary sj^stem aims not to force a boy into a specific trade but to keep him out of it until lie has a sufficiently general experience to make a wise selection. I have a fear that Dunwoody Institute has a tendency to push the youngster into a specific trade. I'm not in the least disparaging the institute, you understand. I appreciate what a wonderful educational laboratory it is. But I'm merely expressing a feeling of disquietude concerning what I conceive to be its underlying philoso- phy." Miss Ueland has an unusual power of vitalizing an abstract topic through the sheer infectiousness of her own vitality. She seems able to inject into sociology all the vividness and high coloring of a choice episode of scan- dal. And it is interesting to observe that her one trait, more pronounced than her confessed feminism, is her ir- 38 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM repressible feminity. Those two nouns which the popu- lar imagination has painted as antitheses she has been fortunate enough to convert into synonyms. (CHAPTER VI. Economy Sought by the Gary Plan. The outstanding tenet of the Gary philosophy might be defined as the contention that an enlargement in the use of the school may effect an abridgment in the size of the bill. An addition in the equipment may be forced to serve as a subtraction from the sum total of the cost. A widening of the education offered the child may produce a shrinkage in the payment required of the state. An increase in the program of instruction may make pos- sible a decrease in the charge of running the plant. An enrichment in the development of the pupil may be ac- companied by a retrenchment in the price of operation while an extension of the privilege of learning may bring about a reduction in the expenditure involved. This is the audacious proposition which William A. Wirt now is engaged in demonstrating to a startled world. It must be consistently borne in mind that the Gary plan is a system of education and not a scheme of econo- my. What Mr. Wirt saves for the state he desires to give back to the child. The position he takes towards the public is not "I will cut in two the expense of educating your child," but rather, ''I will give your child a doubly good education without raising the expense." He feels that the child rather than the taxpayer should profit by the economics which he has introduced. But no reason exists why the taxpayer should not pocket the savings himself if he wishes to be niggardly THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 39 with the child. Economics invented for the benefit of the child could readily be exploited for the benefit of the taxpayer. The person that derives the immediate profit from the Gary system unmistakably is the pupil. He is out of the classroom half the time in order that the state may per- mit him a special and extra education which the class- room cannot give. And because he is out of the class- room half the time the state is enabled to put his class- room to double use and thus to double the capacity of the building. It is an advantage to the pupil to be out of the classroom half the time and an advantage to the state. Saving- Is Effected. While he is out of the classroom he is enabled to get such recreational and vocational work as the classroom never could offer and the state, through the double use of classroom thus achieved is enabled to effect a huge sav- ing such as it normally never could hope to obtain. There- fore, in staying out of the classroom half the time, the pupil is doing himself a great favor and the state a great favor. His own gain is educational. The state's gain is financial. "What to him is an expansion of development is to the state a curtailment of expense. What to him is a handsome supplement to his program is to the state a liberal reduction in the cost. The system of duplicating classes in a single building absolves the state from the obligation to duplicate the building in operation after the classes have doubled. The money which under ordinary circumstances would be spent upon the erection of a second building is seized by Mr. Wirt and diverted to the equipment of magnificent playgrounds and workshops about the first building. 40 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM Twice the number of pupils in a given building thus get double the number of facilities they would get if the total group was halved and separate buildings erected for each division. School Invades Home. What strikes me as the most revolutionary phase of Garyism is the bold invasion of the home by the school. AVork, play, and study may be summed up as the trinity embracing the activities of the child. Work and play in the older generation were supervised by the home while study was supervised by the school. Gross inequalities existed in the amount of work and play required of the child by the home. One home might give its child an excess of play and an insufficiency of work. The next home might give its child an excess of wor,k and an in- sufficiency of play. And with the concentration of our l)opulation in urban centers it becomes practically im- possible for the majority of homes to make any kind of adequate provision either for the child's play or his work. An element of grave social danger has loomed up in the inability of society to give to its juvenile members the development which they imperiously need. The preda- tory streets thus are furnished with their opportunity to prey upon the young. The increasing efficiency to be noted in the home's supervision of the child necessitated by the growth of large cities has assumed the aspects of a national menace. Takes Over Work and Play. Mr. Wirt had the clear-sightedness to observe this con- dition and the foresightedness to prepare for it. He be- lieves that the school must be adapted and readapted to accomplish the work which the home is failing to do. THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 41 Whereas, formerly the school supervised but one of the child 's three activities, study, he has taken over the other two, work and play, as well. Vocational work and rec- reational work have supplemented the academic work which in an earlier day constituted its exclusive province. He has made the school as universal as the universe of the child and as varied in its teachings as the entire range of liis interests. A wonderful opportunity to work, a won- derful opportunity to play, and a wonderful opportunity to study are presented in the new and enlarged program which Mr. Wirt has prepared for the school. The amazing phase of Mr. Wirt's activities lies in his apparent success in so reorganizing the school as to make these heavy additions to his program the basis of no ad- ditional expense in operation. This he has been able to do by his system of duplicate, or rotating, classes al- ready explained and by a lengthening of his school day. I desired to ascertain the relative expense of the Gary school system and that of Minneapolis. But the little investigation I undertook showed the utter imprac- ticability of such a venture for the present. Different habits of auditing seem to have left the data of the Gary schools full where the data of the Minneapolis schools is fragmentary and Gary data fragmentary where the Min- neapolis data is full. Neither Mr. Swartz, the assistant superintendent of the Gary schools, nor Mr. Bell, the auditor of the schools, could make an authoritative com- parison of the Gary schools with the Minneapolis schools until he had had complete access to the Minneapolis statistics. Both Mr. Swartz and Mr. Bell were convinc- ed that a disinterested comparison of the school expendi- tures, based upon the entire statistics of both schools, would result unfavorably for Minneapolis. Mr. Spaulding of Minneapolis, on the other hand, is 42 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM convinced such a disinterested comparison would result unfavorably for Gary. In view of the general meagerness of the data, I have not given the space to the compara- tive estimates which have been given me and which, if authoritative, would be important. An Added Chapter. The following article on the ''Gary system" in its home city, by Elsa Ueland, which appeared in a re- cent issue of The New York Evening Post is of inter- est in Minneapolis not only because of the discussion here as to the advisability of adopting the system, but beccmse the writer. Miss Ueland, a teacher in the Gary schools, is a daughter of Judge and Mrs. An- dreas Ueland of Minneapolis. Gary, Ind., Oct. — I wish New York could come to Gary for a week or two. The proof of the pudding is in the eating; and if New York parents could only duplicate my experiences, as a person at least in loco parentis to one small Gary child, they would be ready to endorse the Gary recipe. Gary parents must give extra time to darning stock- ings. That is a penalty of modern education admitted at the start. Sometimes it is the left knee that regularly comes home exposed, sometimes it is the right, depending on the latest fashion for sliding down the aparatus when the playground teacher isn't looking. But, the stocking liability admitted, all other peculiarities of the Gary schools are assets to the parents. Our boy is nine years old, no prodigy, ambitious only to wear ''scout" shoes and have a watch pocket in his "pants," and have kite, cap pistol, or go-cycle, each in the proper season. *'0h, please," he says to me in the morning, coming THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 43 very close, "could I stay at school touiglit till 5 o'clock? We're going to have a soccer game." A r.emembrance of knickerbockers sagging ankle long and a little blackened nose makes me hesitate; but I tell him, "Yes," because I know that a small flat is no place for his young energy during waking hours. He hurries off to be at the gate at 8 o'clock, when the play- ground opens; and as I am a "working mother," I do not see him again till five. This is his program as a member of the 3-A class : Classes Give Programs. 8:15 — 9:15, Auditorium — Largely an hour of singing, marching, and story telling, with programs given by the classes, which represent their regular work. For ex- ample, the German class may give a German program, or a geography class explain some lantern slides, or a his- tory class present a little history, play, or an upper Eng- lish class tell the little children stories, or a boy from the forge class may pound out a chisel with his forge and anvil on the stage. Sometimes there is an outside speak- er ; sometimes a moving picture. It is a thrilling day when Carl is on the program. Then, if he had a mother with more leisure, she would go to hear him do his part. 9:15-10:15 — Play. Most of this hour is given to free play, including ice-skating and snow-balling in the win- ter, though games are suggested and guided by the play- ground teacher. Once a week the 3-A class goes to the Central library, two blocks away, and twi(?e a week Carl goes to "religious,"' as he calls it— a church school in the church across the street. 10:15-11:15 — Application. When the next bell rings the 3-A class follows their captain to an informal class room where they assemble for language and number 44 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM games, measuring problems which sometimes take the class outdoors, perhaps "playing store," It is an in- formal hour given for the "application" of the formal work under the direction of an academic teacher. 11:15-12:15 — Spelling, writing, arithmetic. A formal study and recitation period in a regular classroom. 12 :15-1 :15 — Lunch. Cooked and served by the girls of the cooking classes in the lunch room of the school. A lunch of soup, baked potato, custard, and a muffin, for example, costs our boy 11 cents. He chooses it himself and pays the sixth grade girl who is cashier. 1 :15-2 :15 — Play. Another hour of organized play out- doors. In stormy weather the children gather in the gym- nasium. 2:15-3:15 (first three months) — Drawing. (Second three months) — Shop work. (Third three months) — Nature Study and Garden Work, 3:15-4:15 — Reading, history and. geology. Another formal study and recitation period, 4 :15-5 :00 — Playgrounds and shops open to volunteers Saturday, all day. Classrooms, playgrounds, shops, open to volunteers. How Parents Come Into It. But parents come into closer contact with the school -than through the printed program. Our carving knives are taken there to be sharpened, our chairs to be re-can- ed; most of our toys — swords, go-cycles, even "aero- planes" — are made, each by its future owner, right in the school. The problem of pets is greatly simplified. A poor starved kitten, which our tiny apartment could not welcome, was given a home together with the rabbits, guinea pigs, squirrels, turtles, and white mice of the na- THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 45 ture study class room, aud Carl was made the monitor of the kitten, his kitten, as well as of the gold fish. The presence of the kitten hastened a tragedy a few days later when the gold fish seemed to have disappeared and the only clue was the open door, of the owl's cage. We are brought to the school, bodily, to buy vegetables raised by the children. We go there for entertainment. "Alice in Wonderland," given by the children, is last year's most brilliant memory. We go there for lectures, for music, for moving pictures. The school is not only the social center, it is almost the only center of our, lives. Criticism Answered. "But, madam," I hear some careful school man ask, "what about discipline and drill? You are telling us of toys and pets and moving pictures, but not of your boy's training to meet the real emergencies of life." Eighteen months ago our boy was constantly kept af- ter school in New York city because he couldn't learn to sit quietly in his seat. Here he has three hours of sitting quiet ; a listening period in the auditorium and two study and recitation periods in the formal class room. But he is rested by the play between these periods and sitting quiet is no longer a physical impossibility. He also has a fourth hour of "application" with an academic teacher, and a fifth hour of drawing, nature study, or shop work ; so he gets as many minutes of academic work as he would in any five-hour school. The Saturday work, the play, the library hour, and the church school are all additional. Discipline for Real Life. And the discipline of his daily program is, I am satis- fied, the discipline which trains for the actual emergen- cies of life. Getting to the right place at the right time 46 THE GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM all through the day ; choosing a wholesome lunch ; playing "team work" in a baseball or a soccer game; learning that a library book kept overlong means a fine which must be earned; being responsible for animals and plants whose very life means regular care; listening courteously to the program of a fellow class, and independently com- pleting a bit of creative work even though the creation is but a toy — this is surely the discipline which gives permanent and intelligent self-control. Life in the Gary schools gives more than discipline. It has given our boy an interesting respect for girls, for one thing, because girls handle tools in the shop and play baseball as cleverly as the boys. And it has added to his fine nine-year-old eagerness about everything he sees and does. No walk in the woods is complete without bring- ing back cricket, coccoon or cactus to the nature study teacher. Sewing is just as interesting as sawing. And books, unspoiled by over-emphasis, are as entrancing as the creatures of the woods. Like New Yorkers. No wonder we feel grateful to the schools. Some par- ents are so situated that they can give rich opportunities to their children without help. But we are like most par- ents in New York. We have no private playground, no garden or chicken house or barn, no place for our boy to have his tools, no pets, and no time even to give him what we should. And yet when he has gone to bed at 7 o'clock, worn out by the eager, hard activities of the long day, we know that, thanks to the Gary schools, he has had all these experiences, and the day has been well spent, ELSA UELAND. 022 124 781 4 r rat -K/^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^ iiiiiiifiiiiiiiiir 022 124 781 ^ /