St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1915-11-17
BOYS MADE SCHOOL
BUYS MADE SOHOOL REPAIRS
Supt. Young Tells of Successful IN
dertaLdng And Training In
St. JOhnSburY
(From Journal of Education.)

i st. JOhnSbury.
(From Journal of Education.)
In the spring of 1915 the Board of
School Directors of ST. Johnsbury,
Vermont decided to try an expert
ment 1t had recently instituted a
very strong course in manual training
and the pupils under capable super
vision had done excellent work, not
only in the workshop but in handling
the several jobs around the school
buildings. The suggestion was made
that the boys could do the repair work
'on the school building during the sum-
mer vacation. This idea took root
and the details were carefully discuss
ed with Leon H. Baxter, the director
tof manual training. The upshot of the
whole matter was that Mr.. Baxter was
engaged to organize a squad of boys
and supervise the work to be done,
under the specifications provided by
the Board of School Directors.
+ Twelve boys, averaging about four
teen years of age, were selected from
the eighth and ninth grades. Size,
general efficiency and willingness to
work were the determining factors in
making the selection. If it had been
possible to use them we could have
had fifty boys ready to help; for the
possibility of working during the sum
mer under supervision appealed to the
boys, and they set about the task with
great alacrity and enthusiasm.
1t was not possible to use twelveE
boys all the time, consequently they
were often taken in squads of six or
eight. The number twelve was fixed
upon because it was thought that
some would tire of hard labor and
that consequently the numbers would
soon dwindle to seven or eight. In
this we were happily disappointed.
During the seven weeks of hot sum-
mer weather every boy ''stuck to his
job Not single one quit Not
one was ashamed to carry his dinner
pail, wear Overalls, soil his hands or
be seen at honest work The finan-
cial reward was not great, only one
dollar a day, but the boys enjoyed the
labor and were eager to gain the ex-
perience.
The repairs to be made were diver
sified in character, varying from build
ing a wire fence to cOncreteing a
school basement. Not only did the
boys gain invaluable experience, but
the repairs were made as well as they
would have been made by ordinary
contractors and at a much less cost.
For example: The lowest bid to con-
crete the basement of one of our
buildings was $500. This was done
by the boys for $3.50, a considerable
saving The total cost of material
and labor for all repairs amounted to
F$1,135. One gratifying feature of
this experiment was that not only was
the Board of School Directors fully
satisfied with the quantity and quail
ty of the work done, but parents and
taxpayers universally approved, and
were pleased to see the boys, who
otherwise would be idle, busily and
profitably employed.
We quote from the special report of
Mr.. Baxter to show the variety and
amount of repair work done on one
building
''At the Summer Street School we
made the following repairs and i'm
wire fence in the rear of the school,
Cd Four sets of teeters CD Built and
filled 715 IL foot sand box, ca
Painted the old fence on Winter street,
60 Reset iron playbars in concrete,
(6) Repaired board fence on line, Cd |
An eighteen foot concrete walk with
four steps to grade from basement
door on Winter street to street level,
(8) New fence from these steps to 4,
driveway entrance, and painted to
match original fence, 90 Tore down
girls playground and replaced with
new fence, and painted same, fence |
about 225 feet long. .(1O) Two sets of
lockers, providing for forty boys, CID |
Graded in some places in rear of
school by fence, (12) Built tool room
in shop" Approximate cost $500, of
which $12O was for wire.
For the successful planning and |
management of the work, and for in
spring the boys with a desire to do |.
their best, full credit must be given
to Mr.. Baxter. In conclusion I will |
say that our experience has shown to
US that any we'll equipped manual
training department can do the gen
eral repair work not only more eco.
nomically than it could otherwise be
done. but that the boys gain valuable
practice in the use of tools and come
to respect more highly the dignity of
labor.