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Show - -i a " ' " si ' ,-7 .,. . . ' ' f ''''! , r . is ; 1 V i " , I ' - ? ' ; ' : I1 'v?T i Quaint but outmoded, little red schoolhouses like this one in Missouri's Ozark country are being replaced by modern schools that offer the very best In up-to-date facilities, comfort and excellent daylight conditions. Many of the new schools are envied by their city cousins. I A A A A -l u u . RURAL SCHOOLS I Quaint, Outmoded Rural Schools Vanishing From American Scene ( Thl a In the flrnt of two articles on the rural school plant which Is under-folnr under-folnr radical chnnges In many sections of the country. The second article will appear next week.) The rural school system is having its face lifted. Outmoded, Inadequate In-adequate and too frequently overcrowded, the "little red schoolhouse" Is being shoved off the American scene by a "new look" school which is exciting the envy of the farmers' city cousins. Most of these new schools are ground-hugging masses of cement, steel and glass block offering commodious classrooms drenched with glareless daylight. They are designed for function without frills, to provide the latest educational facilities without excessive ex-cessive cost. And they're replacing substandard rural schools at the rate of 2,000 a year. Appearing from Maine to California, Califor-nia, most of these new schools are patterned after the Rosedale experimental ex-perimental school in Austin, Texas, where extensive research in controlled con-trolled classroom daylighting and its effect on health were conducted by Dr. Darell B. Harmon, noted educator and school designer. New Lighting System This research, lasting seven years, proved conclusively that improper classroom daylighting was a health menace. It was shown that children forced to twist and turn day after day o get adequate light on their work developed poor posture and chronic ailments. Glare and bright contrasts as well as inadequate daylight were also held largely responsible re-sponsible for eye deficiencies. Out of these studies, in which 160,000 children were observed and examined, was evolved a new type of classroom, one which has changed the whole aspect of school design. Its most outstanding feature is a new window system large panels of prismatic glass block over strips of clear glass sash. It not only offers positive daylight contro1 under un-der all conditions but does it automatically. auto-matically. Here's how it works: Tiny prisms within each light-directing light-directing glass block actually bend strong daylight toward the ceiling. This, in turn, acts as a huge reflector re-flector to distribute daylight evenly over work surfaces throughout the room. The clear glass sash serves for ventilation and a view of out-sidg. out-sidg. Color also plays an important role in these new classrooms. Traditional drab tones have given way to soft pastels that reflect light, not absorb it; floors and furniture fur-niture are in light natural colors; even the chalkboards are eye-comforting green rather than the customary cus-tomary black. 'New Look' Schools In Texas schools where these techniques were first tried, improvement im-provement in health was astounding. astound-ing. Within six months in demonstration demon-stration schools, functional and organic or-ganic eye troubles were reduced 65 per cent. And scholastic achievements achieve-ments improved sharply too. Closely paralleling these studies on classroom daylighting daylight-ing were those made at the University of Michigan, a research re-search project sponsored by Owens-Illinois Glass Co. to improve im-prove the light-directing qualities qual-ities of Insulex glass block. Today there are hundreds of new rural schools using this window system; many more are being planned. Varying in size and shape to meet the demands of site and community, com-munity, the "new look" rural school generally features a single corridor flanked by standard-size classrooms. class-rooms. Foundation costs are cut to the bone by resting the building on a huge slab of concrete (frequently offering radiant heating coils) surfaced sur-faced with asphalt tile to serve as a floor. Heating costs are lowered because be-cause the glass block panels have A good example of the type of building supplanting the substandard sub-standard rural schoolhouse is this modern unit in Spring Branch, Comal county, Texas. All classrooms in this new school receive maximum daylight, day-light, automatically controlled to minimize glare by means of panels of light-directing glass blocks installed above clear window win-dow sash. Individual exterior doors reduce corridor traffic, offer easy access to play areas. the insulating value of eight-inch brick walls; maintenance costs are negligible because these panels, which never need painting, also require re-quire no shades or blinds. Thus these new schools, economio to build, heat and maintain, are proving more and more popular In areas where tax rates are low and every public dollar must be spent with care. But for every dollar spent, uncounted dividends in health, culture and even a new community com-munity spirit are certain. Take the case of the new school at Grand Junction, Colorado. It's a story of how one school influenced school boards of surrounding communities com-munities and became the basic pattern of a wave of new school construction. 15 Schools Built Needing new school facilities to relieve overcrowding, the school board decided to first investigate glowing reports of a "new look" school at Austin, Texas, before signing a contract. The school superintendent and the architect went to see for themselves. Their trip changed the entire complexion of rural Colorado schools. They found classrooms ideally daylighted; they found gay rooms decorated in pastel colors: col-ors: they found children with good posture and improved health records. Facts, figures and visual evidence were convincing and Grand Junction Junc-tion got its first "new look" school the focus of attention for all surrounding communities. The school has six classrooms, a kindergarten, a lunchroom and a multi-purpose room with a stage. Primary grades have their own toilet rooms and outside exits to play area; the lunchroom and kitchen are linked to the large general-purpose room to provide better service for special parties and after school functions; oversized over-sized classrooms are flooded with glareless daylight. Sorely needed to provide for a fast growing population, this school is a far cry from the traditional rural school. t . s I . rv:r j Ultimate in seeing conditions con-ditions is provided the "new look" rural classroom by means of a new window system. The ceiling acts as a huge reflector to distribute distrib-ute the daylight evenly to all parts of the classroom. The block glass above the clear glass sash bends strong daylight toward the ceiling. |