GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 



23U8 



GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM 



system has been developed in the "Steel City" 

 of Gary, Indiana, which has attracted wide- 

 spread attention. Important features of this 

 system have been incorporated into the schools 

 of other cities, notably in New York City, 

 where several public schools have been reor- 

 ganized under the personal direction of Super- 

 intendent Wirt, who gave one-fourth of his 

 time to the New York work for two years. 



The school program, of which Superintend- 

 ent Wirt has elaborated nearly fifty variations 

 since about 1903, is intended for what he calls 

 the "Work-Study-and-Play School." The sev- 

 eral factors in such a school program admit of 

 combination in numerous ways, and he has 

 never tried to design a program for use in all 

 schools regardless of the varying conditions 

 under which schools are located. He states 

 that he has had only two fixed principles since 

 he began the formulation of such programs at 

 Bluffton, Indiana, in 1900. These principles are 

 as follows: 



First : All children should be busy all day long 

 at work-study-and-play, under right conditions. 



Second : Cities can finance an adequate work- 

 study-and-play program for all children only 

 when all the facilities of the entire community 

 for the work-study-and-play of children are prop- 

 erly coordinated, with the school as the co- 

 ordinating agent, so that all facilities supplement 

 each other and the peak loads are avoided by 

 keeping all facilities in use all of the time. 



Just what children should do when at work, 

 study or play; how they should do these 

 things; when and where they should do them; 

 what facilities should be provided or utilized 

 for these purposes; and the amount of time 

 to be given to them, may vary according to 

 conditions in each city and in each school dis- 

 trict within a city. With these things in mind 

 we need only describe the "Gary Plan" as or- 

 ganized and operated under conditions which 

 are more or less typical or ideal ; remember- 

 ing, also, that the system is conducted upon 

 an efficiency basis intended to provide more 

 time for children with less cost per capita for 

 instruction, buildings and equipment. 



A large school managed in accordance with 

 this plan calls for a program which is too com- 

 plex to be easily described or understood, so 

 we will illustrate the technique of procedure 

 by supposing a relatively-small school con- 

 ducted in harmony with the essential princi- 

 ples of the system. 



A School of the Gary Type. Let us suppose 

 a school consisting of the eight grades with 

 which all are familiar. Suppose, further, that 



each of the grades is divided into two sections, 

 commonly known as "A" and "B." We have, 

 in such a case, essentially two schools, and we 

 may speak of them as such the one consist- 

 ing of the "A" sections and the other of the 

 "B" sections of each grade. 



To accommodate these two schools there 

 would be needed a building with eight regular 

 classrooms and eight or more other places 

 for the accommodation of sections of pupils, 

 such as are provided in auditoriums, gymna- 

 siums, swimming pools, playgrounds, play- 

 rooms, laboratories, libraries, shops, etc. While 

 the one school is occupied with the regular 

 studies in the eight regular classrooms the 

 other school is engaged in various special ac- 

 tivities which are now included in the modern 

 school program and which are conducted in 

 such spaces as those mentioned, suitably 

 equipped. The two schools alternate through- 

 out an eight-hour day, exchanging places each 

 hour, let us say, in the pursuit of a program 

 made up of work-study-and-play. In the mid- 

 dle of the day one school is at luncheon while 

 the other is occupied with either the regular 

 studies or the special activities, the conditions 

 being reversed the hour following. Spacious 

 corridors are provided with lockers where each 

 pupil keeps his personal belongings, and each 

 teacher conducts the work of a department 

 and teaches different grades throughout the 

 day instead of teaching all subjects to a given 

 grade of which she is in charge all day long. 



In a typical work-study-and-play school pro- 

 gram arranged by Superintendent Wirt for 

 seventy-two classes divided into two schools of 

 thirty-six classes each, these two schools alter- 

 nate between "formal drill," "application de- 

 partments" and "general work," each school 

 giving two, two, and four of the eight daily 

 periods, respectively, to the exercises classified 

 under these heads. This program calls for 

 sixty-four teachers for the seventy-two classes. 

 Fifty-four teachers conduct work with the sev- 

 enty-two classes in forty-three different class- 

 rooms, and ten teachers are required for the 

 auditorium, playrooms or playgrounds, and 

 library. In the ordinary school as many teach- 

 ers as classes would be necessary, not counting 

 numerous special supervisors. 



The possibilities of such a program in con- 

 gested centers of population where large num- 

 bers of pupils can be kept in school only part 

 of the time, are easily apparent. This is one 

 of the reasons why New York City, where the 

 part-time problem has baffled solution so long, 



