Norwich bulletin., 1914-10-06

The town school committee maoe us report Monday night at the town meet ing upon the matter of vocational edu- | cation. In a general way. the suo- stance of their report was that it was not advisable now for Norwich to at tempt to institute a vocational school. The report was signed by the full
 town committee, Shepard B. Palmer, T. J. Kelly, H. M. Lerou, Charles Q. Murphy, Dr. P. J. Cassidy and B. P. Bishop, and was as follows:
 Report of School Committee on Voea- tional Education.
 At the town meeting held in October, 1912. a resolution was passed empow ering the selectmen to appoint a com ittee of three to investigate the ad- visibility of establishing a technical high school in the town of Norwich. This committee made careful study Of trade and technical schools and at the following annual town meeting in 1913 gave a comprehensive and able report of their findings, and then the town meeting turned the matter over to the town school committee for fur ther investigation.
 During the past year the town school copmittee. assisted by the superin- ful study of vocational education and training in this state, Massachusetts, New York, and other places.
 Four Connecticut Trade Schools. There are now four trade schools es- tablished and maintained by the state board of education in Connecticut; one at New Britain, one at Bridgeport, one at New Haven and one at Putnam. During the year the school commit tee or a representative of the same has visited all of these schools except the one at Putnam, which has been re- gently established.
 The trade schools at New Britain, lat l--e T regular trade school courses. Part time for apprentices employed in the factories is arranged to suit condi- t1ons of employment. The Putnam trade school differs from the others established in that it specializes in the textile industry as about tNPutnam
 the textile industries predominate. In Massachusetts.
 In a number of Massachusetts cities various kinds of industrial training are given. One of the most successful at- tempts to give instruction in the trades in the public high schools is that be- gun at Fitchburg. Mass. Through CO., operation of the manufacturers and | the school authorities the pupils spend one week in the shops where they get | the practical training and the next week in the school where they receive | acadmic work.
 The school committee spent @ day at New Britain and made a special study | of the local conditions The trade school there has been established for four years. During this time the school 1 committee of New Britain has had an opportunity to watch it's progress and | growth in the community and this school committee does not feel that it fully supplies the needs of the com munity.
 Opinion of Now Britain Superintendent "a dent of schools of New Britain, says ''The element of academic instruction l furnished by the trade school is ex- ceedingly small. The course is too short for adequate trade instruction. l The pupils are taken into the school l at too early an age to profit as fully ! as they should by the trade training, 1 and they complete the course at too early an age to be able to enter the I industries upon an equality with skill | ed industrial workers of maturer age. Furthermore, the trade school as now 1 organized does not seem to make any l strong appeal to boys and girls who l desire a high school education com bined with trade training. Nor does | it succeed in attracting in any large numbers boys and girls of grammar school age who desire to and should 1 complete the work of the elementary l grades. The result is a comparatively small attendance at the trade school | rom the DOyS ana S1rLS or the city. 1 That attendance is also to quite a de- I gree made up of pupils who have fail- | ed in the elementary school work and not, as it should be, of pupils of the l best general abilities, a situation which | is undesirable from the standpoint of 1 the community and of the trade | school.''
 l In view of the foregoing statement, | the school committee of New Britain | is now. perfecting plans to take over
 the work of the trade school and em- l ploy the same in the public school sys-
 | tenn. Their plan is to establish a pre-
 vocational school of grammar school
 l grade. In this school provision is
 made for those pupils who wish to
 take the household arts and practical
 l arts courses.
 | At the meeting Of the National Edu-
 | cation Association of Superintendents
 | of Schools held in Richmond last Feb-
 1 ruary. Mir. Lewis Gustafson, princi-
 I pal of the Rankin School of Trades at
 l St. Louis, who is considered an au-
 thority on vocational work, said:
 l That the cost of the strictly trade
 | school is so great and the scope of
 l it's activities so limited that it cannot
 hope to reach more than a small frac-
 ton of the skilled workers which, are
 ] needed yearly to replace vacancies in
 the industrial ranks. Except where it
 can be subsidized by private founda-
 | ton it is doubtful whether the trade
 1 school can succeed as a public insti-