New Britain herald., 1915-04-07

showing the food values in different eatables are explained and the girls are taught how to arrange balanced menus. The fifteen cent-a- day menu is discussed simply to show how we'll it is possible to live on very little. Dietetics is presented, with the idea of teaching the girls what a person really needs to sustain life rather than what he would relish.
 In the practical arts course for girls courses in household arts, sewing and dressmaking, drawing and industrial work are given in addition to the gen. eral courses. In the specially shop the girls are taught box making. clay modelling, and any other specialties that are thought advisable. Whenever simple articles are needed in the school, the faculty looks to the spe- cia1ty shop.
 Out of the thirty hours a week spent by the boys in the practical arts course, twenty-one are devoted to classes in general education and nine are devoted to industrial work. Six teachers are provided for the indus trial work, each an expert in his par ticular branch. teaching the machip- ist's trade, carpentry, jobbing, cleo
 
 of the teachers act as vocational ad- Visers, man for the boys and .wo- man for the girls.
 The nine hours a week of shop work consists of three full half days of three hours, with no other school work to interfere. In the seventh grade, each boy gets six weeks of con- tinuous experience in each of the six lines. In the eighth grade the same round is repeated to give the boy a maturer view of the processes.
 Meet Practical Problems.
 In all the practical arts courses tho principle of training the boys to meet practical problems and make articles to fill present instead of future needs is carried out. v
 For instance, in the machine shop which has an excellent equipment, the boys are this week at work on sen sitive drill for the Vocational High school to be erected this year. Every part of this drill will be made in the machine shop and every part is made from blue prints provided by the drafting department.
 In the woodworking department tho boys are at work on tool cabinet for the shop. The plans for all such work are made by the boys in the drafting department, and the boys in each department face every problem confronting a skilled craftsman. In the carpenter shop are also made the typewriting tables for the school, pie ture frames, and many similar ob- jects of practical use. Nothing is made ,1l, made must have some practical value.
 In the electrical shop house wiring is being taught. First comes the simple wiring necessary to the installation of an electric bell. Then the various problems of house wiring are taken up. The purpose of all the vocational courses being to determine the special fitness of any boy for particular work and not to train him for any particular vocation only the simplest problems in electricity are worked out.
 At the end of six weeks work in the printing shop, the boys are usual ly able to do small jobs. The hope, of course, is that some Horace Greeley will be developed here.
 The mechanical drawing depart ment is intensely practical and has proved so interesting to the boys that they refuse to take advantage of the recess privilege and remain at work all the time. The equipment was made to fit the particular needs of the school.
 Special Trips to shops.
 In order to give the boys q broad and comprehensive idea of each voca- ton, the instructors take them on special trips to the factories and in dustrial establishments in the city The printing class visits the newspaper plants, the machiniSt3 make trips to some of the machine shops in the city, the drafting instructor takes his boys to the drafting departments in the factories, and woodworking and electrical shops are visited by the boys during the time spent in the other departments.
 Although the shop work is the most interesting feature of the prac- tical arts course, Superintendent of Schools stanley H. Holmes state ment is significant. We do not"