The Washington herald., 1913-07-20
PLAN TO COMBINE SCHOOL AND THEATER
Bureau Of Education win
Send Cardboard Models Of
Buildings to Rural Districts
to Show How Idea May Be
Practically Worked Out.

ernment Bureau of Education. It II to
combine the rural schoolhouse with an
open-air theater, for plays, Tor schooi
entertainments, and outdoor exhibitions.
and for the uses Of the local commu-
nifty.
To show how this may be done, card
board models of such a schooihouse nave
been made. Being collapsible, they VIII
be sent, packed fiat, to local school au-
thorities anywhere in the country VINO
may want to use them. They are care
fully made Ito scale" and are complete
in every detail, SO that any fairly skilled
carpenter can put up the building which
the model represents.
The toy schoolhouse of cardboard Is In
two parts-a twin building, in fact, each
of the two sections containing two class
rooms. Between them is pergoia On
tended to be covered with vines), ana In
the rear a sort of court which is meant
TO serve as a stage. The court Is to be
planted with shrubs to make back
ground for the stage, and In the center
of the pergola there may be fountain.
This style of schoolhouse is especially
adapted for the South and Southwest,
where during much of the school year
the weather outdoors is pleasant. Under
such conditions the open-air theater and
large rooms connected with it offer a de-
lightful opportunity for promoting social
functions of various kinds. In the rear
of the court is shown. in the model, a
series of benches for spectators. But Il
is recommended as more desirable to
erect the schoolhouse near a suitable
slope. and to make an excavation into
the hillside in the form of a semi-circle.
Within this excavation the seats of ce-
ment or wood. may be built, and, with
shrubs and trees planted around about,
the general effect cannot be otherwise
than attractive and beautiful
Low Cost First Essential.
Low cost is a first essential in designs
for rural schools. 1t has been taken into
view as prime consideration by the
Bureau of Education in preparing this
and two other cardboard models for
schoolhouses. All three represent the
very latest ideas in school architecture,
and the structures of which they are
miniature copies are up to the minute in
hygienic arrangements, yet within the
means of the smallest community. All
are made to fold fiat. so as to be shipped
Safely by parcel post They were de-
signed by DR.. F. B. Dresslar, the bu-
reau's specialist in school hygiene. and
then worked over by two well-known
firms of architects
There are only six sets of these mod |
els. which cost from so to SIS apiece. |
1t will not be practicable, therefore, to |
furnish them Unfortunately to appl-
cants. No school district will be al
lowed to have more than one at a time,
and requirement will be made that IL
shall be returned within ten days to the
bureau, carefully repacked and unin-
jured- This, ii is believed. will be long
enough for making the requisite draw
ings and measurements from it.
So cOmplete the models n noiOfi
OF detail that even the windows are
shown in isinglass. One of them repre-
sents one-teacher rural schoolhouse.
class room, a workroom
for girls, a library, cloakroom, a teach
er's room. and a fuel room. The scale.
of an inch to the foot
makes the class room thirty by twenty
four feet. and the ceiling height twelve
and half feet. 1t is recommended that
the building be erected to face the east.
SO that the workroom shall get the
south sun and the class room the west
light.
The second model is of a two-teacherl
village schoolhouse, containing two class
rooms, library. a teachers room, and
.wo cloakrooms
The type of schoolhouse with the per-
COLA and open-air theater. already de- :
scribed. is for three Of four teachers
I has four class rooms and two cloak
-ooms.
Advantages of Models.
The models offer two principal advar- ,
ages to those who use them. They save ,
he local community the cost of having .
'lans made, and they give the best in
ormation Of whatever is most desirable
md most up to date in the way of school, =
'ouse construction. In addition, they af- , ,
ord hints for making the rural school !
lnNnG tfrnT - i've
olors used for painting the interior and
exterior being carefully chosen.
If you were to pick out 100 of the best
informed people you know. and put to i
hem the question, What is the business c
4 the government Bureau of Educa- S
ion?' the chances are that not one Of v
hem could answer correctly Probably Z
most of them would venture a guess to v
he effect that the principal function of g
he bureau was to exercise a general su- =
over the schools of the h,
'nited States But such, a notion would =,
e entirely wrong. AS a matter of fact, :
he bureau is nothing but clearing =
ouse of educational information. 1t has
O authority over the schools, except =
hose in Alaska, which il conducts and
manages.
The Federal government does not inter- q
ere at all with the schools in the va
ious States of the Union. So far as our
utlying possessions are concerned, the >
EDUCATIONAL control is distributed in a n
ather curious sort of way. Thus the a
ureau of Education, having charge of L
ne schools in Alaska, is a branch of the e.
Interior Department The schools in d
orto Rico and the Philippines are un- Il
er the War Department. Those of the n
sland of Guam, which is a naval sta a
on. are managed by the Navy Depart h
lent. &
The most important feature of edu- b.
ation in the Philippines, as developed b.
1der American control, is industrial n
aiming. In that archipelago manu-
cturing of various kinds-such as hat RI
aking. mat making, basket making. ii
I'd lace making-is carried on mainly ca
home. These and other household in st
istries are of such great economic i'm m
,rtance that utmost efforts are being in
ade to encourage them by teaching in hi
e schools the arts on which they de- OF
nd. During the last year 2lS.oOo boys RI
ID I25O00 girls received regular daily
struction in profitable Industrial lines. m
at making alone engaged the attention dr
30,0Oo boys. pa
px., fir
m
The system adopted is exceedingly co
acticaL Expert workers are employed oO(
teachers of the various arts. and the sc
oducts Of the schools-hats, pottery, tn
nbroideries, or what not-are sold in
e market. In addition, new industries
e being introduced In the islands 7
rough the schools. and the girls are in
nsht cooking, sewing, and domestic hy- sci