The daily Alaskan., 1914-12-10
CONTINUATION SCHOOLS

Compulsory education rests upon the conviction that universal intelli- gence is necessary to progress, says the Portland Telegram. The mo tive of 1t is double-barreled- The state Is served by the greater per centage of intelligence among its citizens, and the individual inter ests are advanced in innumerable ways.
 Compulsory education so far has only applied to the elementary branches of the public schools. and almost altogether 70 those studies that are the fundamentals of men tai culture. Compulsory education is about to take another step. It is To apply to those studies which teach boys and girls how to make a living when they are men and wo- men. It is to concern itself with the new brand Of schooling, which We term vocational.
 This new departure Is already es- tablished in Massachusetts in the form of "continuation schools" The purpose Of those schools and the method of conducting them are mat ters worthy of consideration where ever there is desire to improve the practical efficiency of the schools.
 The fact that so large a percent age of pupils lett the schools in the lower grades, and Gs soon as the age limit would permit went to work; and the further facts that the greater percentage of these children who fOUnd employment were without any vocational air or ambition; that they gave for the most part inefficient and unsatiSfac- tory service, caring solely for the pay envelope and nothing at all tor the acquisition of Skill in the chosen handicraft, with the result that there is constant drifting from one form of employment to another -an these combined led to the conclusion among the educational authorities of the Bay state that there should be some measure of compulsion in vocational education.
 The first step, taken some four years ago, was tc establish con tiuuation classes in vocational study and training, such as were available as part of the public school system. During 1910 four such classes were established in Boston with a total enrolment of l73 pupils, employed for the most part in the shoe and leather business and in various branches of the retail trade. Three years later there were forty classes and an enrolment Of 1O33 pupils, he studies covering a much larg- CT field of industry than at first. Upon this showing of progress the legislature enacted law, just now in effect, which provides for the compulsory attendance at these classes of all children tetween the ages of 14 and 16 years, who are regularly employed.
 The law requires an attendance Of four hours a week in every city Or town in the state where these continuation schools are establish ed, the time to be divided accord ing to the convenience Of the par ticular locality or school. This four hours school attendance must be TeckOned as part Of the week $ working time; and that there may be assurance it will be spent in school attendance, employers as well as pupils and parents are held respon- sible, and may tc punished under the law if that responsibility is ig- nOred or neglected.
 Under the plan adopted for the conduct of these schools there will be but twenty pupils in any one class, the purpose being to make the instruction individual, oT in other words to treat, so far as may be, every pupil according to his in Gividual needs and temperament. Employers generally approve the law and the schools; and q great deal of interest has been aroused among business and -pubne=spirited people concerning the best way to insure their success: The feeling is that they fill a gap in our educa- tional system through which there drifts every year 8 Yeritable army of