The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-01-20
NEED ECONOMICS
Says Superintendent of Boys
State Industrial School.
To Teach Inmates Value of Saw
ing Money.
PHYSICAL TRAINING.
Important Factor in Develop
ment Of Delinquents.
III. w. Charles Makes Address
at Washburn Chapel.

In an address to the students of
Washburn college at the college chapel
| this noon. Homer w. Charles, superin-
tendent OF the Boys Industrial school
north of Topeka, urged that more rec
ognition be given to the work of in
situations of this kind, also that in
Struction in economics be introduced
sc that the boys might be taught the
value of saving. He also pointed out
how the industrial and book education
of the school went hand in hand both
as educative and disciplinary training.
He laid considerable stress upon the
idea that proper physical instruction
was necessary to correct the stunted,
mental and physical growth which was
general among the inmates of these
schools. His speech in part follows:
THE industrial school deals not with
the normal but with the abnormal and
endeaVors to reshapen the dwarfed and
Stunted lives that all the other agen-
cieS have failed to reclaim. In build
ing up this unique system of education
the industrial school has been hamper
ed by lack of public recognition, by
poorly paid service, by lack of proper
ideals and want of any consistent
philosophy of education NotWlthstand-
ing all this it has accomplished much
good and possesses in it's unique field
a large amount of unorganiZed educa-
tional material which is worth the at
tention of men and women engaged in
any line of educational work. During
the past decade there has been rapid
capitalization of ideas and methods.
Not many years in the future indus
trial school education will ger away
from the faint of its prison origin and
will be recognized as an efficient agent
i'll its particular line of educational
effort. No part of any system of edu-
cation is so Immediately put to the test
as is this. The industrial school boy
is a marked character in the neighbor-
hood where he lives. The results OF
his training at once become PUBIC
knowledge. Whether these schools
have accomplished much or little they
represent today a persistent and fruit
full experiment in public education
Public schools Lacking.
Our public schools are not what
they ought to be but assuming that
they represent the best that is attain
able in youthful training it follows that
the best things to give the young male
factor when he enters the Industrial
school are those things which he fail
ed to get in the public schools To that
end he is placed in school portion
OF each day-usually one-half day
session-and is here taught what he
most needs in rounding cut his COM
mon school education. With few ex-
ceptions he is irregular in his studies,
backward in some but oftimeS with
a decided gift in others. The rule. how
ever. is mental retardation. For the
purpose OF economizing time and effort
the boys are grouped into classes but.
are not held to a strict classification.
The instruction is made as largely IN
tiiyiduaI as circumstances will permit.
Only the essentials are taught much
time being devoted to- the practical
phases of each branch
Combined with penmanship. much
attention is paid to letter writing, and
| in this, the letter home is an important
part of every months work.
'The other, and to our mind most
Important factor in the work of edu-
cation. is the industrial feature.
three heads: First. any work with the
purpose of providing an income for
the institution, or the products of
which reduce the running expenses of
the institution; second, occupations
which are not regarded as remunera-
tive but which have purely an educa-
tive value. Third, various forms OF
domestic work in which little Is ex-
pected in the way of remuneration or
| in the way of education. The first of
| these is of first importance from an
Industrial viewpoint, and in the case
| of many boys it is the dominant fac
tor in bringing about their reclama-
ton.
Need of Trades.
Comparatively few boys are prop
erly equipped for this training when
| they are received at the industrial
school In case they are so equipped
their work lies in 'trade schools
purpose, reached through different
means from those employed in indus
| trial schools. The boy upon leaving
the Industrial school, rather than upon
entering it is the one properly fitted
| for this training. 1t is not to be
barred. however, for this reason, but
should be and is employed and often
with gratifying results. This training
! is purely industrial and has little dis
ciplinary value. whereas almost every
bov- coming to the industrial school re-
uuires discipline first of ALL If imme-
| diately responsive to these measures
he will profit by the Industrial train
| ing but comes now the law or the GUS
tom or the necessity and requires the
school to return to his friends the boy
who is just ready to respond to this
| kind of teaching. In this way the in
dustrial school prepares the way for
real vocational training, but is obliged
to stop short of the goal. Among the
| occupations here referred to may be
mentioned farming, gardening, tailor
ing. shoemaking. baking, cooking, etc.
1.-The second class of occupations are
those that have purely an educative
value. These are restricted to s1oyd,
manual training and printing, although
the latter may in individual cases be
regarded as remuneratfye. Outside of
those mentioned. the purely educative
| branches are few and poorly deyel-
oped. Manual training, however, has
received in recent years so much at
tention at the hands of educators that
it has reached relatively high state
of development.
Uses of Domestic Service.
THE third class of Industrial en-
ployment is the domestic service
which ranges from the purely unskill-
ed labor of sweeping and scrubbing
to that of cooking and table serving.
From the standpoint of Industrial
training this class of employment is
of least Importance yet it is not with
out its value. The habit of doing
| well even uninviting a task as
scrubbing a pine floor may become
L irn1-o In a Inla Ii, Lat life In addition,