Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-03-12
HAVE TIME AT
WORK And STUDY
DR.. r. z. Hieronymus, of State
Educational Commission,
City Visitor.
INVESTIGATES CONDITIONS
Plan to Establish System Whereby
Employed Youth Can Get
Schooling.

DR.. r. E Hieronymus. secretary of
the state educational commission and
| formerly president of the Eureka col
lege at Eureka, spent today in Rock
| Island looking into and Investigating
the Industrial conditions of the COM
munity. In company with Superin-
tendents s. j. Ferguson and II. B..
Hayden and Principal H. E. Brown
of this city and superintendent B. B.
Jackson and H. S. Dickinson, manual
training supervisor. of Moline, he
spent the morning visiting the shops
at Rock Island arsenal Yesterday
DR.. Hieronymus went through the
Moline shops and talked with the
men in charge.
The educational commission of
which DR.. Hieronymus is the secre-
tary was appointed two years ago
for the purpose of codifying and sys-
temizing the school laws of the state.
This work has finally been completed
and the members are now going to
turn their attention to industrial con-
ditions. not only in this state, but in
other states as well, so that some
recommendations along legislative
lines can be made to the state law
makers.
Want "HaIf Timer Schools.
The end at which the commission
is aiming now, and which has caused
it to send the secretary on tour of
investigation, is to establish through
out the state, and especially in in
duetrial centers, a system whereby
1 1nnr
t. AIDES at the same time. This sys-
IN, which is being tried to some ex-
.el.t in other places, is called the
half time" system, as it gives the
boys a week in school and then a
week at work, or a day in school
end a day at work in the shops. 1t
is believed that the boys who are
serving apprenticeship as artisans of
different kinds are better able to be-
come really skilled at their chosen
occupation if they give part of their
time to the development of their
brain along other lines than just
learning by constant observation in
their daily work.
Aim to Raise Standard.
The question which DR.. Hieronymus
shops is, where will you get a skilled
artisan in case one of your older en- |
ployes dies?" and the answer for the |
most part is, I'VE will have to send to
some other city for one" II is to over |
come this very thing that the board is |
taking up it's present course of inves- |
tigation. 1t aims by means Of the half |
time" SvstpTn tn raise the standard of /
among apprentices and to l
give boys who have to work for their |
living a chance to improve their edu- I
cation. In this way a class of skilled .
mechanics is growing up in shop all I
the time. The Moline manufacturers .
are heartily iii accord with the plan
and they had already communicated /
with the school authorities on the sub
ject before the representatives of the .
board arrived here.
The commission consists of seven .
representing practically ev-
cry grade of educational methods. The
members are State Superintendent of
Schools F. c. Blair, President e. J. I
James of the University of Illinois.
President A. J. Burrows of the St Ig-
natius college in Chicago. President
Alfred Bayliss of the Macomb Normal
school, superintendent A. F. Nightin-
gale of the Cook county schools, w. l..
Steele. superintendent of the schools
Of Galesburg, and Harry Taylor. prin-
cipal of the township high school at