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Show f .. f ome and School League THE DENVER SCHOOL OF OPPOR-, OPPOR-, TUNITY. By E. W. FRASER, Principal of the Irving School. (Explanatory At the request of a number of presidents of local parent-teacher parent-teacher associations, the following address, ad-dress, delivered before the last meeting of the league, is herewith reproduced! Jlrs. Ralston 's paper on vocational guidance will appear next week.) No man is born into the world whose work Is not born with him. Lowell. The continuation school is a subject of great educational and social importance impor-tance at the present time. The evening school, the oung Jlen's Christian association as-sociation and Young Women's Christian association classes, correspondence schools, private vocational schools all of these have aimed to supplement the education of those who have been forced to leave school and seek some form of employment. The number of such eliminations from the public schools reaches alarming proportions from the fourth grade on. Professor E. L. Thorndike of Teachers' college, Columbia university, estimates that of 100 children who enter the city public schools and who live till 19 years of age, ninety stay till the fourth grade, eighty-one - stay till the fifth grade, sixty-eight stay till the sixth grade, fifty-four stay till the seventh grade, forty stay till the last gSmmar grade, twenty-seven stay till the first year of high school, seventeen stay till the second sec-ond year of the high schoo'I, twelve stay till the third 3-ear of the high school and eight stay till the fourth year of the high school. The extent to which the schools of different cities retain their pupils at ages above 13 and in the grades above the fifth varies very greatly. The causes of these withdrawals may be economic conditions, indifference in the home, poor health, etc. Educators, however, are coming more and more to think that one cause of dropping out of school is the course of study itself. In its present form it fails to interest a certain portion of upper grammar grade and high school pupils. They are the type of students who are looking for immediate im-mediate help in their preparation to earn a livelihood. They are the ones who fail to see the Temote results, but who' must have tangible, concrete evidence evi-dence that they can turn the knowledge they are getting in school into dollars and cents. To satisfy this need the continuation schools have emphasized the vocational element in their courses. Beginning with training in wood work and forge work, they have added such courses as printing, plumbing, stenography, bookkeeping, book-keeping, auto repairing, cooking, dressmaking, dress-making, etc. Denver began some four or five years ago to meet this situation, and now has a flourishing school of this nature which is called the opportunity school. Its present enrollment is 1700. An evening school would not satisfy Denver, and so this school is run all day from S:30 in the morning till 9:30 at night. At present there are about 150 boys taking seventh aud eighth grade work who must work part, of the day at their various va-rious ,iobs. There are about 100 seventh and eighth grade girls who work part time, and these are in separate classes from the boys. Ninth and tenth grade subjects are elective. The foreign department de-partment is an important feature of this school, as it is in all part-time or continuation schools. T-he opportunity school has between three and four hundred hun-dred foreign adults. A. G. Hall, to whom T am indebted for this detailed information, in-formation, has charge of the naturalization naturaliza-tion department, and ho informs mo that he has assisted 400 men in preparing prepar-ing for the citizenship test during the past year. This school issues a certificate certifi-cate to aliens which is acceptable to the court. Besides an English aud a mathematical mathe-matical department, this school has a class of seventy-five in millinery, fifty in dressmaking, seventy-five in cooking, 125 in auto repairing, seventy-fivo in bookkeeping, 150 in stenography, seventy-five in hnirdressing, seventy-five in manicuring, special classes for fifty Western Union Telegraph boys, a special spe-cial room for thirty Japanese students and part-time work for any who desire mechanical drawing and draufdit.inj. Thirty-five teachers are employed, some full time, some part time, to give this vocational training. A dental clinic nnd a free employment acency are maintained main-tained for the benefit of the students of this school. Supt'lementine the work of the opportunity op-portunity school is the Denver school of trades. Here printing, plumbing and carpentry are taught. The Denver teachers' directory, a syllabus for teachers teach-ers (course of study for each grade under un-der separate covers), and other school literature nre printed by the Denver school of trades, and attest the general excellence aud commercial value of the work. These continuation schools have received re-ceived considerable ndvertisini-r, which 110 dnubt accounts for their large classes nnd their rapid gTowth in attendance in Denver. ANNOUNCEMENTS. A children's pets exhibition (C. P. Jl.), was held at San Francisco on Eeb-ruarv Eeb-ruarv 2e ami 2!, at which over a thou sand pets belonging to children were exhibited. The exhibition was held under un-der the auspices of the National C. P. E., which was organized at the Panama-Pacific Panama-Pacific International exposition last year. Posters were also exhibited and other schools were invited to exhibit. The Wasatch sent a number of children pets exhibits posters and received several first, second and third prizes. A special spe-cial honor came to Marian Knight of the W'asatch eighth grade, who won the silver cup for the best poster in the exhibition. ex-hibition. The other winners were: Lois Christensen, Hal Brown, Gwen Luff, Dorothy Dunyon, Stanley Qniek and Harvey Bowerman. The Bryant junior high school Parent-Teacher association will hold its next regular meeting at the school Thursday evening, JIarch 15, at 8 o'clock. Following is the programme: "Beauties of the Classics in the High Schools," the Rev. P. A. Simpkin ; "The Academic Course of the Junior High School," Miss Alice E. Rowe; piano solo, Mrs. Taylor Woolley; two violin selections, Jliss Bessie Hansen. All patrons and parents interested in junior high school work are earnestly invited to be present. The following committee has been appointed ap-pointed by Superintendent Ernest A. Smith to arrange for the Home and School league entertainment to be given in the Salt Lake theater about the middle mid-dle of next April: J. H. Coombs, Miss Etta Powers and Miss Lillian Whelau, Harold J. Stearns, J. Fred Anderson. The entertainment will be given in three performances, two evenings and one matinee. Following is the complete programme, each - school to give one number, as follows: Bryant, dance in costume, girls; Columbus, folk dance in costume, Swedish, fifth and sixth grades; Douglas, dance and chorus, in Dutch costume; Edison, "an Jlother Goose Land," kindergarten; Emerson, choruses; Ensign, flower dance, second grade; Forest, motor march dance, seventh sev-enth grade; Franklin, dance, "Hot Cross Buns," first grade; Fremont, dance of spring, twentv girls; Grant, pantomime, "In Dreamland," second grade; Hamilton, Indian songs and dance: Hawthorne, fancy and figure marchinsr, seventh grade; Irving, chorus and drill, "Welcome Sweet Springtime," Spring-time," chorus of eighty, parasol drill, eight; Jackson, rhythmic exercises, kindergarten; kin-dergarten; Jefferson, comedy, "A Natural Nat-ural Spell" (representing an old-time spelling class); Lafavette, plavlet, "The Growth of Uncle Sam;" Liberty, playlet, "The People of '76," kindergarten; kinder-garten; Liucoln, old rustic dance, fifth and sixth grades; Longfellow, dance, ."The Chimes of Dunkirk," first grade: Lowell, song specialties, third and fourth grades; Onequa. dramatized songs, first grade; Oquirrh, "The Lads and Lassies of the Red, White and Blue;" Riverside, Spanish dance, seventh sev-enth and eighth grades; Sumner, junior high school choruses, training, dramatization, dramati-zation, "Fairjdand; " Uintah, an oriental orien-tal sketch; Wasatch (a) minuet, second grade, (b) Irish lilt, fifth grade; Washington, Wash-ington, living pictures illustrating pop-ular pop-ular and patriotic songs; Webster, dan,ce, "Doll's Dream;" Whittier, patriotic pa-triotic drill or playlet, "The Melting Pot;" East junior, boys' chorus; west junior, dance in costume, minuet; East high school, West high school, numbers to be announced later. The following resolutions were passed by the Jackson Parent-Teacher association associa-tion at its last meeting: We, the members of the Jackson Pa rent-Teacher association, feeling I that for greater efficiency in denT. ing with domestic problems and in the interest of greater community service, a municipal market would be a suitable aid, do hereby resolve that it be our sentiment: "()1 That such a municipal market be established; estab-lished; (2) that, such municipal market be centrally located so as to be conveniently reached bv people from all sections of the city: (3) that vendors and producers be stationed sta-tioned some distance apart to enable en-able purchasers to know whom they are dealing with; (4) therefore, we do approve and will patronize such a market. The Lafayette Parent-Teacher association asso-ciation will hold its next regular meeting meet-ing at the school next Jlonday, JIarch 12, at 8 p. ni. Superintendent Ernest A. Smith and Will G. Farrell will address ad-dress the meeting, jrr. Farrell 's subject sub-ject will be "Education for Peace." An excellent musical programme has been arranged, consisting "of. choruses of 120 voices under the direction of Miss Edna Anderson and contralto solos by Jliss Leola Schrack. The training school Parent-Teacher association will hold its next meeting Friday, jrarch 16, at 8 p. m., in the I kindergarten room of the school. Superintendent Su-perintendent Ernest A. Smith will address ad-dress the meeting. A verv interesting musical programme has been arranged"! The feature film for the bovs ' and girls' matinee to be given at the Paramount-Empress theater Saturday, JIarch 17 at 10:15 a. m., will be Robert Edeson in "The Call of the Norlh. " |