Salt Lake Telegram | 1915-11-18 | Page 8 | Fits New School Plan for Defense

Fits New School Plan for Defense I By HERBERT T QUICK The town town of St. St Johnsbury Vt has made practical use of its school class in ma manual ual training It set the b boys ys to repairing and I building for tor the school One class built 27 27 feet of post and wire fence lence painted paint paint- ed ed 1 an old fence made four sets of teeters built and filled a sand Band paint paint-I box box for the little children reset the pla play play- bars in concrete repaired a board oard fence built an foot eighteen-foot concrete walk and a flight of steps made a fence from the steps to the driveway tore down one on the girls' girls playground playground play play- ground built a new one and painted it ft made lockers for forty boys graded graded graded grad grad- ed the playground and built a tool room In the shop S This Is the new Idea Ida in school work letting boys and girls get an an education education tion ion out of practical and productive work The school system of Gar Gary Ind md is based on this luea itla So splEndId splendid splendid did have been its results that the cit city of ot N New w York Is installing the same same plan and has been appropriated to put it into effect In rural schools the system of ot makin making mak mak- in ing educational work productive Is still more more successful than in the city S We have nave made two dreadful mistakes mistakes mis mis- takes in the past P I We Ve have lave assumed that the time spent In the school i py by y a a achild child must I be economically unproductive In Irdel or Ir order order or- or der del that the child might be trained We have v assumed that the soldiers soldier's time while In service must be economically eco eco- wasted in order that the soldier might be trained It does not take all aU a mans man's time timeto to become a soldier The great merit of the Swiss and the the Australian s systems systems terns lies In the fact that their soldiers soldiers sol aol diers are trained without taking much s I of their time time from th their lr work Company drill three times a week wel battalion drill twice a month a few hours a month month- for fr shooting and the study of the arms used and a we weeK weel or two wo of or camping and maneuvering maneuver once a year year these these Would euld take very ver little of an any boys boy any good officer will tell you that these things would s soon on make him a good soldier Millions Million of boys and men who are earning wag wages s and salaries expend more time decreasing their earring earning power a cent in the games of baseball football tennis golf got bil bli- bli Bards and pool than would suffice to tomake tomake tomake make them good soldiers If It were expended In military drill The Swiss and Australian systems would give u us too large an army I cannot help thinking that the open way to military preparedness without wasting the soldiers soldiers' time lies In the Gary system of public schools in cities cit cit- cit cit- ies lea and and the new kind of rural school which is springing Into existence allover all allover allover over the country