"

The children in grades one to three, inclusive, in addition to studying
the three R's, spend thirty minutes each day learning to measure, fold,
cut and weave paper. In grades four and five, an hour and a half per
week is devoted to simple weaving, knife-work, raffia work, sewing and
basketry. Grade six has four and a half hours of similar work each week,
while in grades seven and eight, the pupils are occupied for one-third
of their entire school time in art work, book-binding, pottery work,
weaving (blankets and rugs), chair caning, cooking, sewing and printing.

"But how is it possible?" queries the defender of the old system. "How
can the necessary subjects be taught in two-thirds of the time now
devoted to them? Are we not already crowded to death?"

Yes, crowded with dead work, the proof of which lies in the fact that
the children who devote a third of the time to apply their knowledge get
as good or better marks in the academic work than the three-thirds
children. That, however, is not the really important point. This course
of study is valuable because it gives a rounded, unified training.

This is how the course is organized. The school life is a unit, into
which each department fits and in which it works. The spelling lesson is
covered in the classroom and set in type in the print shop. The grammar
lesson consists in revising compositions with regulation proofreaders'
corrections. The art department designs clothes which are made in the
sewing classes. The drawing room furnishes plans for the wood and iron
work and designs for basketry and pottery. In the English classes, the
problems of caning and weaving are written and discussed. The
mathematical problems are problems of the school. Children in the
sixth year keep careful accounts of personal receipts and
expenditures--accounts which are balanced semi-weekly. The boy in one
woodworking class makes out an order for materials. A boy in another
class makes the necessary computations and fills the order. All costs of
dressmaking and cooking materials are carefully kept and dealt with as
arithmetic problems. For the older boys, shop-cards are kept, showing
the amount and price of materials used and the time devoted to a given
operation. These again form a basis for mathematical work. The whole is
knit together in a civics class, which deals with the industrial,
political and social questions, in their relations to the child and to
the community.

Best of