El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-09-02
Public Schools of America are
Now Being Used the Year Round
Many Novel Plans Employed for Benefit of Adults
Well As Their Children.
. YER $1,000, GOO. 900 are now In
vested in the public school

~ YER $1,000, 600, 900 are now In
vested in the public school
~ buildings in the United States
The interest on this immense sum
of money would be equivalent to
$50, OOO, 900 annually, and yet the great
majority of these buildings are abso-
lutely idle the greater portion OF the
the time. The regular school ses-
sions average a little more than 100
hours per month for less than 10
months in the year. In other words,
for only about one-tenth of the entire
time are the resources Of this great
public school plant in use so that the
interest of the money invested is ben
efitting the public.
Purposes OF Schools.
For years educators have been max
ing a study of the possibility for en-
larging the resources of the school
house by utilizing it for other purposes
for the public good than the five hours
a day session of the schools for which
it was originally intended The scope
of these plans for the wider use of the
school plant is one of the newer and
more interesting developments of pub
lie educational thought
The school social center is rapidly
receiving official endorsement The
legislature of Wisconsin last year
passed a bill providing for the use Of
school buildings for social and educa-
tional purposes, other than their orig
inal obpect, when under proper au-
thority Most Of the large cities, by
some local measure, have made the
same provision. Governor Hughes, of
New York, recently said: THE school
social center will soon be recognized
as a strong buttress in the foundation
Of tho country
Earliest school Clubs.
One of the earliest of the school
clubs was organized in Philadelphia
under the auspices Of the Home and
School association, an organization
having for its object the closer union
of the interest of the school and the
home. large school building in the
most congested section OF the city was
selected for the first experiment Of the
school social center. The board of ed
ucation granted the use Of the building
and also supplied the trifling addition
al expense of light and janitor service.
Promptly at o'clock in the evening the
building was lighted up and reopened
with the same regularity as the day
school, but this time the school rooms
were filled with adults. A reading
room where current periodicals were
supplied was at once well attended AT
first these were provided gratuitousiy
by women interested, but within SIX
months club organization had been
formed consisting of the adult popuia-
ton of the neighborhOcd and a number
of teachers of the school. This club
had a trifling membership fee. but as
its numbers were large, a small fund
was soon in hard to pay for some Of
the entertainments and also to provide
suitable refreshments, which added
greatly to the social affairs held fire.
quently.
Mothers Attended.
1t was a factory neighborhood and
many Of the people were foreigners.
so classes of various kinds were organ
lied. Many mothers were glad to at
tend classes in sewing, domestic SCI
ence and the care OF children All Of
this instruction was informal, devel-
oped as the need came, and did not in
any way interfere with or initiate the
courses of study in the regular night
schools, which were part of the organ
lied school system of the city. The