The Cape May Summer School 



Laura E. Woodward 



The first summer school in the state of New Jersey was founded 

 in Cape May in 1907. To quote from the charter, "the purpose 

 for which it is formed is that of promoting and encouraging the 

 study of agriculture, industrial arts and science and organizing 

 and establishing a school in which will be taught the theory and 

 practice of agriculture, home economics, manual training, mechan- 

 ical arts and trades. 



Prior to 1907 many of the teachers of the state were without an 

 opportunity for training to meet the growing demand made upon 

 educators for more practical work in the public schools. 



During the first year only ten teachers availed themselves of 

 the opportunities offered by the school. The movement had not 

 been sufficiently advertised for people in the state to realize such 

 a school had come into existence within its borders. The second 

 year there was a considerable awakening, and during the past 

 summer of 1913, the members had so outgrown their quarters in 

 the High School Building that the courses in Elementary Manual 

 Arts were given in a spacious hotel in the neighborhood and the 

 Physical Training classes were conducted in the school yard. The 

 faculty was increased to twenty-five members, and not with- 

 standing the fact that three other summer schools were established 

 that year in the state, the enrollment of teachers at Cape May 

 headed the list. 



As the school has grown its purposes have grown with it, and 

 the number of courses offered has increased to meet the demand 

 of any group of teachers, however small, for a subject that may be 

 desired for certificates or for help in the entire range of industrial, 

 professional, and special education. 



Since the beginning, however, emphasis, has been placed on the 

 practical rather than the academic side of school work. The motto 

 of the school has been,* 'Not the thing made, but the power to 

 make something." This power, which the teacher-student in 

 the school was led to realize she possessed, was considered by the 

 dean of the school as not really possessed by her until she had gone 

 home and taught to some class or to someone else what she had 

 learned so that her pupil in his turn could produce a similar pro- 

 duct. When such evidence was presented, the summer school 

 student was given a certificate showing that the courses taken had 



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