El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-12-17

age expense OF maintenance bfgb
nicipal Fairgrounds runs very - =
Mrs. Eylar gave some comparative A5
ures with the school playground
Gary and the municipal park pay
grounds Of Chicago. one Gary % o.
playground reaches a population u
600 children. Eleven public park pIag
grounds, combined, of Chicago IedT ~
a population of 100000 children ~
indoor gymnasium of the one GdLs
school playground for one year We
used by 10000 600 children; for the IN.
door -gvmnasiums of the II ChlCaSO
marks. combined. 80, 900 children. me
outdoor work of both the one cay
school playground and the combined II
Chicago park Fairgrounds was eqLdl
to 1000, 600 children. The ldea IN ny
Gary system, said Mrs. Eylar' IS 10 set
away from the present school system
and divide a child's time equally pc
tween work and directed play, the vo-
c|ational training being considered play
and not work, because it is so interest
Ing to the child that he wants to do II;
BY interspersing r~ecreattve dlrecteG
, work between the concentrated WORE
Of the traditional school kind, the chlIu
is kept occupied the entire day anu
with most beneficial results. In the
playground work, particularly, are lhe
results most excellent. The children
have their daily play period under lne
physical training supervisor, the cnll-
dren are grouped by age, size and ue-
velopment, so there is no croWdtng OUT
| Of the smaller by the larger as in tne
/ general recess, and the spirit is only
/ friendly rivalry. There is no btcker-
ing or bitterness or quarreling, as
{ when the children Of mixed ages and
| sizes play together. Another good fea-
ture is that in almost every group OF
| children there are those who need dl-
| rected. corrective exercises for their
physical development These can be
given during the play period by the
] physical supervisor. Separate super
visors are provided for the boys n for
the girls so that the growing girl may
] have the right kind Of exercise, instead
kof indiscriminate exercise that may do
her harm. The Fairgrounds Of the
. Gary schools are managed by the chill
dren themselves
The r~ecreative work. whether in the
playground or vocational work, is cor
related to the academic studies OF
arithmetic, etc. Mathematic calcula-
tions are employed in the care Of the
Fairgrounds and every ordinary school
subject is thereby made both interest
ing and practical to the school children.
The playground equipment includes
wading pools, sand boxes and quanti-
ties Of horizontal bars n similar
equipment. gardens, with their tool
houses and animal houses, for each
child brings some kline of wild animal
to the little animal house, and zoology
is studied at first hand in this way.
Its Success in New York.
Mrs. Eylar spoke of the adoption OF
the Gary system by the New York City
board of education and also of its modi-
fled use by the Aoy school in Ell Paso,
and the larger number OF pupils that
were being accommodated in this way
by the school.
I'm this age when the keynote Of ev-
erything is increased efficiency and the
elimination of waste, it must be consiG-
cred waste when from 16 to 25 percent
Of the schools running expenses are
lost because the schools are not used
to their fun capacity" said Mrs. Eylar
in urging the equipment and use Of the
school yards of the city as Fairgrounds
Mrs. Eylar spoke of the popularity
of the school Fairgrounds with the
Gary school children and said that they
sometimes came as early as z O'CLOCK
in the morning to play there. Another
feature Of the Gary system upon which
she commented was the splendid school
spirit among the children and the lack
of the need for disciplining by the
school teachers. The children have
their own self governing system and il
: is very rare indeed that a teacher needs
to discipline a pupil "The use Of thu
school grounds for the playground Of
the children of the community is keep
ing the child's activity in the proper
place" she said.
Club Represented on Committee.
Mrs. A. W. Foster, the president OF
the club, commented upon the pleasure
that 1t gave the club to be represented
in the social survey committee recently
appointed by the chamber Of commerce
The club representatives are Mrs. A
P. Averill, Mrs. Charles B. Stevens, Mrs
A. S. J. Eylar and Mrs. W. r. Brown.
Mrs. T. c. Phillips spoke very briefly
urging the women to influence theil
men relatives and friends to work fol
the playground movement.
Mrs. Olga Kohlberg, commenting up
on the social survey meeting at The
chamber Of commerce, said:
From the sentiment expressed al
the meeting I feel sure that we viii
have public Fairgrounds by the end Of
the school year. I am glad to say that
I believe h general sentiment is il
favor Of equipptng the school ground:
for the public Fairgrounds of escl
section of the city. The most impor
tant thing about the Fairgrounds is
that they shall be properly supervised
This is infinitely more necessary thar
equipment"
Mrs. Charles B. Stevens commented
in favor of the use Of the school yards
as the public Fairgrounds.
CensOrinG of Moving Pictures.
Mrs. Claude Berry. in current events
of the days topic, Moving Pictures,
spoke Of the national board of censor
ship of the moving pictures. This, she
explained, was purely voluntary, there