ed of the town child is a place to play, and the
plainest duty of the town elementary school is to provide play space. In
thinly settled places there is no such need. In towns and cities there
is no more imperative duty resting on the school than the furnishing of
playgrounds and gymnasiums for children. The practice of building school
houses without gymnasiums and without play spaces cannot be too strongly
condemned. It is robbing children of the chance to grow into normal
human beings.

The other side of the town problem--the question of occupations--has
been settled in Germany, and more recently in certain American cities,
by the "continuation" school, which unties the Gordian knot by cutting
it. Instead of allowing children to stop school at fourteen the
"continuation" system requires partial school attendance until they are
eighteen.

Under this system, when children reach the end of the elementary schools
they may either go on with a high school course for four years, or else
they may take a "continuation" course for four years.

For example, if a boy elects to be a carpenter he spends forty hours a
week as a carpenter's apprentice. Then for fourteen hours a week he goes
to a school where he is taught mechanical drawing, designing, the
testing of materials, and any other subjects which bear on carpentering.
The time he spends in school is credited on the time sheets of his
employer.

So at the end of four years the boy, at eighteen, has been well trained
in the practice of carpentering by working at his job, and well schooled
in its theory by taking a "continuation" course which bore directly on
his work. Thus wage-earning and education are united to produce a
well-trained man.

The school problem of the city suburb is very different from that of the
mining village, the rural community, the industrial town, or the city.
The children have space, good homes, and abundant opportunity to go
through high school and even through college. Under these conditions the
elementary grades can be directly preparatory for high school work,
since six or even seven out of ten children will go to high school.

In the city suburb there need be little specialization in the elementary
grades. The high school, with a general course and two or three special
courses, can be relied upon for all necessary specific training.

VIII Beginning with Child Needs

In the industrial town, in the city, and in the city suburb the high
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