The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-22
A SCHOOL .CITY."
Novel Educational Experiment ON the
Line of the Junior RepubIlc."
Public Opinion.

fuDllc opinion.
A somewhat novel experiment has been
tried IN New York during the month OF
July and a part of August. Mr.. Wilson
l.. Gill, who has done excellent educational
work before, and who is president of the
Patriotic League, is the inventor of plan
somewhat similar to that of the George
Junior Republic, except that 1t is more COM
prehensive and is capable of being applied
in public schools throughout the country
His plan is called the Gill school city, and
consists IN organizing a school into per-
feet miniature municipality, governed ex-
actly like large cities. with a mayor, alder
men, police, STRENGTHENING and health de-
partments. The vacation school chosen for
Mr.. Gills experiment is situated in the
heart of the thickly populated East Side or
New York; The school, which numbers
nearly 1900 children (nearly all of Jewish
parentage), is divided into "boroughs' like
those which will comprise Greater New
York. Each borough is properly represented
in the City Council. The officers of the city
are elected exactly as they will be under
the Greater New York charter, and the de-
STRENGTHENING department has drawn up
laws which oblige children to keep the
school building and yard in order and not
to deface any school property. 1t is con-
nected with the municipal STRENGTHENING
department. The members are pro-
NOTED from drivers ito be street
cleaners, then foremen and finally
superintendent each boy or girl doing
useful work to typify that which the EN-
ployes of the real city perform They send
of the work done by them in the neighbor-
hood, and since they have been carefully
taught the law on the subject there are few
mistakes made and about five thousand cor
rections of genuine violations of sanitary
code are reported every month The health
department of the school city has also re-
ceived suggestions and avice from the health
department of New York and is to have
leaflets printed for distribution, not the
serious and scientific leaflets of the larger
department, but bright and popular pamph-
let's suited to the neighborhood. The police
department is carefully supervised. The
three judges, consisting of two boys and 81
girl. recently impaneled a jury to try a
police captain accused of improper conduct.
The verdict guilty was returned and the
captain, much to his chagrtn, deposed
Mr.. Gill is entirely satisfied with the sue
cess of his experiment in New York and
hopes to spread it throughout all the large
cities of the Union. He expects that in
New Yori. it will be made a permanency
in two or three schools this coming fall, and
the Hoffman School, of Philadelphia, has
definitely decided to introduce 1t immedi-
ately. Mr.. Gill's idea is that the system OF
absolute monarchy enforced in our schools
to-day is an injustice both to the teacher
and to the pupil. Certainly the children or
the East Side have shown themselves capa-
BILE of self-government; their pride in school
order has been most gratifying. Mayor
Strong of New York, as we'll as all the
heads Of the departments, have given the
school city their cordial sympathy and CO.
operation believing that the children can
never be too early trained to take part IN
municipal affairs.