The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-06-26

made a careful study OF PUBIC scnooij
attendance in Iowa recently and on L
the basis on the statistics he secured
he made the statement that in Iowa I
the great majority of boys and girls
fail to obtain a high school education.
In the larger cities of the state at
least 5 out OF every 6 boys fail to
complete high school curse and
great majority of them never go into
high school at all. In the four larg
est cities of the state there is total
school population Of 10000 of which at s
lease $4,000 ought to be in school. 1
of that $4,000 boys and girls, only
80 ,000 are enrolled in all the grades
and only 1920 in the high schools
| 1t is not difficult to learn why bows
quit school. Ask those who quit and
the answer will be right at hand.
fssAw! What's the use Of goin' to school
any more That is the typical reply
i an inquirer gets. Boys feel that the
upper grades and the high schools
offer nothing to help them make al
living with their hands, and that is
what most of them have to dc. So
they drop out of school long before
& they are even fairly we'll educated
and join the ranks of the ever in
creasing army OF inefficient workmen
in the trades Some of them learn
much after they so to work and by
!, dint of hard effort make themselves
!. efficient, but most of them, so the
records show, remain at the very
commonest kind of labor all their
lives.
Iowa has the boys and young men in
its cities and towns to make it a lead
ing industrial state. but it is not train
ling them for skilled, efficient workers.
! Instead, it is letting them drop out of
the schools in ever increasing num-
bers. 1t is overlooking its duty to the
boy himself and it is overlooking its
: opportunities for industrial develop
ment.
: To meet this situation, the Iowa
J State Manufacturers Association asks
2 the state legislature and the state
; board of education to do these two
: things. now:
Y /. Provide for mechanic arts ex
; tension work. and correspondence
i study, having the same relation to
L mechanic arts. division of the state
college which the agricultural extern
g sion work has to the agricultural di
vision.
2. Establish a system of state ait
q trade schools properly co-ordinated t.
the present public school system. ant
/ upon whose boards employers and EN-
3 ployes are strongly represented"
4 The extension work is proposed Il
d meet the immediate needs. The thous
IS ands of BOYS and young men who ar.
y in the trades and industries withou
c proper education for their work can
Re go to school again, because the publi
Is schools do not interest them and als'
It because they can't give up their brea.
earning to do that Properly organ
le ICED and conducted, the extension
IF work would send teachers and lectur
I'd ers to the Industrial centers for shor
50 courses, for weekly night lectures
sr and for similar instruction which mel
i'd would not need to quit their work. |
would also conduct correspondence
school of which workers might avail
ut themselves without loss of their wage
n and without the payment of more tha
re nominal fees.
The state aid fer trade schools i
is cities and towns is urged because tia
n will meet the needs of bows who ar
~ still in school AMI keep them Their
" until they are qualified to, GO out an
meet the fight for a place in the worlt
RI Dean Marston of the division {
te mechanic arts at Iowa state colles
of has outlined plan o. industrial ed'
he cation fer Iowa after a carefully stud
'oI of the plan in Wisconsin and els
to where. He discusses it as follows:
en- Mechanic arts extension and co