The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-19
l MORE DIFFICULT
 EXAMINATIONS TO BE REQUIRED NOW
State Board of Education Pro. poses to Make # Harder For Children to Get Employment CertIfi-
 CateS

Children who seek certificates for employment this year will find a more thorough and stringent educa- tional test or examination to go up against than was the case last year. State Agent Charles N. Hall said to Farmer reporter yesterday that it would not be so easy for a child be- tween the ages of 14 and Is years to secure the employment certificate this year as it was last year, which was the first year that the new law re- gerding children went into effect.
 The whole purport of this law, as members of the state board of educa-
 tion regard it, said Mr. Hall, ''is to insure every child who enters employ ment having a fair, elementary edu- cation. It isn't the object of this law
 to prevent children from getting cer-
 tlficates Of employment, but to see that such children as do get certif- oates have sufficient education to meet certain standard or requirement.. Ii t1onal test or examination to be more stringent as the time goes on and
 each year will see, undoubtedly. 8
 harder examina tion for the applicant to goA through. This will have the
 tendency to keep children from the
 fields of labor when they should bt kept from them. It is wrong that chil. dren, so the state board of education
 believes. be put to work at an early age at the sacrifice of an education. '-The official year will begin Augus' i and after that. date the test will be
 harder than it is at present. It won'j
 be so easy to get the certificates Fol instance, up to the present time the requirements are that an applicant for a certificate, pass an examination | in reading, writing and in the funda' mental rules of arithmetic, including fractional arithmetic. From. now or the requirements will be that a mort
 thorough examination be given il
 reading and writing, and both com mon and decimal fractions, such a! having to do with weights and meas
 ures, for instance, will be part of thu l test. This examination will mean tha
 @ fair, elementary education will b. required of all children who go int the shops, factories and stores of thu state, to work,
 we anticipate that there is goin, to be great deal of fuss and troubl
 from relatives and parents who wan their children at work. But it won l be any greater than it is at present I Many parents appear before the stat I agents and beg, cry, irnplore, tease \ coax and go to all manner of mean 1 10 persuade the agents 10 grant LII certificate. We try and make then
 see the harm that is being done tn child if put to work before getting al education, but in many cases we fai land the parent or parents go ava. Ewith the idea that we are unfair Bridgeport is the largest industria l city in the state and there are nor
 children who apply for the certificate l to become employed here than in mos of the other cities.
 "The true situation should be knowl I with regard to the law and the edu cationaI requirements. This law wil ] be a blessing, in my estimation, t. i the future generation It will mean 1 better educated class of people in tn I factories and shops and thus a nor
 intelligent class will nahke up tn city's population