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Show ; A Short Cut to Education i By Frederic J. Haskin. j 4 -t vAs-HiNvrox, i c. Oct. a. it's .v.i wto-...-. The uruieue sysu-m whereby we I stru-i-iled through rUtht or nine years of 1 readiiis. writing and arithmetic, and then ! were, suddenly landed in liiiill school to tactile .such mysterious subjects as l.atiu, 1 science and alftc'cra. is all wrong. K!-i K!-i cators now advocate a sort o shock ab-j ab-j sorN-r known as a junior i'lh school. I A junior hiu-h school, in case you have not krU up Willi the styles in education, 1 takes the place of seventh and eighth Kiades and first-year hljih school. The ; pupil is i.roiaole.i irom the sixth graile I into tae junior hii;h school, where he ei-Ui-j timies some of tee old grammar sehoo: I studies, aim at the same time is iiradunlly and painlessly introduced to hiu-h school j suojecis and' luuih school methods of I teaeiiins. Oradualos from the junior hkli I school enter the second year of a regular ' hish school, 'fire need for a transition I scaool of this sort may seem a trivial ' matter, bill experiments have, proved its practical value as a means of keepiiiK the Krowini,' boy and sirl in school, and now the number of junior hiyh schools in the country is increasing by hundreds every ev-ery year. According to a report by Commissioner of Kdueaiion Claxton, only one out of every ev-ery sixteen children who enter the first I grade of our public schools progresses far ! enough to obtain a htyh school diploma. I To elaborate 4. OtiikOt'l children entered first srade in li'oS. In 1SU3. the class reached eighth grade with an enrollment of 1,21-t.OS. The next year, .when these same children entered hiuh school, the class had shrunk to 6:10.000, and of these only lis per cent graduated in 345.-Ooo 345.-Ooo high school graduates out of 4, 000, Oct) first graders. The big drop comes between the eighth grade and high school, and during high school years the enrollment steadily falls. The reason for this, it la stated. I is not so often that the pupil is needed j at home or has to leave school to work, 1 as that he is kept at elementary studies I too long and does not take enough interest inter-est in school to enter high school, or else that ho entered high school but never gets adjusted to the standards there. He leaves the eighth grade, where he is called Harry, and treated accordingly, and enters the classical and altogether different atmosphere of high school, to be called Mr. Smith. Instead of having one ever-wutehful teacher to keep him on the job. he now has from two to eight, none of whom take any special interest in Mr. Smith aside from his conduct in one particular par-ticular classroom. The greater amount of freedom given is not always used wisely, wise-ly, and the student's sense of responsibility responsibil-ity is not always sufficiently developed for him to work alone. As a result he falls behind in his work, becomes discouraged, discour-aged, and sooner or later quits school for good. It is in cases of this sort that the junior high school scores. Instead of being counted in with "the children'' until he is 13 or 1-1, Harry Smith is sent to junior high school at 11 or 12. Instead of having hav-ing one teacher, he has two, or possibly three, but one is his particular guardian and is definitely accountable for him. As his Interest in geography, American history his-tory and grammar are rapidly waning on account of too long familiarity with such subjects, some of these are dropped and he is given a chance to take up a foreign language, typewriting or manual training. train-ing. As he progresses through the three years, the course becomes more and more the typical high school regime. Athletics,- debate and dramatic work are introduced in-troduced to take the place of playground games and other amusements in vogue at the graded school. In cities, the junior high school course usually includes domestic science for girls and shop work for boys. In rural schools, agriculture is added ' to the vocational schedule and a model truck garden is planted and studied by the pupils. Tho vocational work is an important branch of the course. In Vermont, where -junior high schools are established by state law, every effort is made to adapt such work to the locality and to make it of practical value. In one school the boys manifested special interest in telegraphy. A course was soon instituted, and tho boys established stations in their homes and In the school. In ai orchard community tree pruning and culture were stressed and the boys w-ere urged to apply ap-ply their school instruction to the trees on their home land. Girls in some of these Vermont schools utilized their lessons in cooking by taking tak-ing charge of the school lunches, both preparation and service: while at sewing sew-ing class they killed two birds with one stone by use of the family mending as material for the lessons. ' The maxim that education should prepare pre-pare for citizenship was practically applied ap-plied by on principal who took his entire en-tire school to the town meeting. "We occupied seats in the gallery," he reported, re-ported, "and the order was splendid The moderator called the attention of the voters to tho school and suggested that they follow its example." A resume of even a few of the junior high school systems now in force in this country shows a great variety of subjects sub-jects taught. The junior high school is planned on a more flexible order than the regular high school, and everywhere the aim is to fit the pupil for life in the community. At the same time, the courses are so arranged that a prospective prospec-tive college student can take the work required for college entrance. Promotion is made by subjects, as in high school so that pupils failing in part of the work ordinarily repeat only those subjects The junior high school . Idea has been under consideration for about twenty years. A change from the eight-vear elementary, four-year secondary- system sys-tem was proposed in 1S92 when a group of educators discussed the matter of dividing di-viding the twelve years of public school education into six years graded school and six years high school. It was then declared that eight years is too much time to devote to elementary- subjects and that the public school course would be better shortened or the two years transferred to high school work The original purpose In shortening the years of public schooling was to lower the age of college entrance. The plea was that on an average students entered en-tered college at IS years, after which they must cover seven or eight years of college and university work in order to , enter a profession. The result, according to President Eliot of Harvard, was trat "the average college graduate who fits himself well for any one of the learned professions, including teaching, can hardly hard-ly begin to support himself before he is i 27 years old." This argument was considered con-sidered very potent, hut as neither colleges col-leges nor high schools ever agreed to shorten their courses or lessen their requirements re-quirements nothing came of It." The conference of ls2 did, however, lead to the junior high school which has in the past few years become so popular. In 1 fr the first junior high school was introduced, and ten years later there were only nine in the country. coun-try. But since then the project has grown rapidly now until junior hign schools are in operation in all parts of the country. The change in organization is too new and the schools are too scattered for any up-to-date nation-wide statistics to have been collected. But whenever the new system has been put into effect comparative figures and Instances show that a large percentage of pupils who otherwise would have obtained no high school education are sufficiently Interested Inter-ested by the junior"high school course to complete it, and often go on to the senior higii school. is traveling at an accelerated speed. It is moving twice as fast as the machine itself. Q. Is there anything objectionable in addresshig a business letter "Dear Mrs. Smith?" B. T. H. A. This is correct under any. circumstances. circum-stances. "Dear Madam" is more formal; for-mal; "My Dear Mrs. Smith" indicates a better acquaintance. In no case, however, how-ever, is there anything personal in the use of tho term "Dear." It is a mere form of salutation. Q. If a white woman marries a member mem-ber of an Indian tribe, does she legally become- a member of the tribe and entitled en-titled to tribal rights? F. W. C. A. She becomes a. member of the tribe, and is entitled to share as though she were Indian-born, Q. Why does the Gulf Stream exert a greater influence on the climate of Europe than on that of America? O. P. E. A. The winds that most affect the -"mate of both the United States and Europe are from the west. Thus would m y ulow onshore in the United States - ' fi'l t0 bring the warmth of the Gulf Stream, while in Europe they would Oiuw tuward the shore and warm it. Q. Who was responsible for the purchase pur-chase of supplies for the navv? T. W. S. A. Rear Admiral Samuel McGowan, r -f .hp bureni of supplies and accounts, ac-counts, was purchasing agent for the i -. "!' tne war. He had been in tho paymaster corps for twenty years having advanced through all the grades'. Before that he was a newspaper reporter in South Carolina. Q. Have engines been standardized by the railroad administration? C. c. A, A. When the government took over the railroads it encountered manv dif-ii dif-ii . .. t0 the fnot that there were so many makes of engines, and that dif-lulc-.iL .sets in spare parts had to lie l;ept for each make. It decided to standardize the new engines it bought. Karly in 1!)18 it issued specifications and rmr-"--ed. for $i;o.ono apiece, 1025 engines with interchangeable parts. All engims bought since mat time have conformed to this plan. (Any reader can get the answer to any question by writing Tho Tribune Information bureau. Frederic J. Haskin, Has-kin, director, Washington, D. C. This offer applies strictly to information The bureau cannot give advice on legal, medical med-ical and financial matters. It does not attempt to settle domestic troubles nor to undertake exhaustive research on anv subject. Write your question hricflv anil plainly. Give full name and address and enclose a two-cent stamp for return postage. All replies are sent direct to the inquirer.) |