New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-13

] ing Slmllarllles WIN Ttkail w 'h' 10"
sons for signing the petition. The
writer. accompanied by another visitor
had the leisure TO visit only eight OF
the thirty families covered, but her
findings were practically the same as
| those Of the other visitors.
Only Three Against tho Plan.
/ The Tribune had an article yester-
/ day giving tho results Of the visits
/ to these mothers. so We shall not re-
peat the cases here. but we should
/ like 70 emphasize again that out OF
all the twenty-four families actually
interviewed only three were definitely
against the plan. One Of these mothers
came TO Mrs. Ritter later and er-
planned that il was only the playground
that she objected 10. The other two
were against II for purely polltica
reasons. like the Hennosseys. who were
visiting friends" OF President Church-
i'll. and therefore against II because
che was against IL, and Mayor Mitch
el was for IT," OF course, such points
have nothing to do with the worth
Of the Gary plan, although they throw
much light upon the reasons Tor the
opposition TO II.
OF the remaining twenty-one mothers
who were interviewed only ten objected
70 any feature Of the plan, and nln9
Of these objected 10 the play period
largely because their children came
home muddy and dirty" That is
true mothers objection. Take. for eX-
ample, Mrs. Weisger, who signed be-
cause her son came home looking Ike
a mud turtle" Il cannot keep hun
looking nice" or course. II a child
PLAYS on asphalt streets his clothes do
not get particularly muddy, but It IS
street play that muddies and besmirch
es child's mind. That kind OF mud
does not show. but to the unpreJudiced
observer it seems q great deal worse
than good. healthy mud from the fie lds;
The Gary plan aims 20 keep the chlld
away from tho evil influences OF the
streets, which soil MS mind.
However. under the Gary plan par
ents literally can have any kind OF
school they want. and II they don
want play periods for their children
they don't have 10 have them.
The educational page OF one Of INC
evening papers in commenting on TINS
yesterday states that IN Public Scnool
So children do have TO take play. The.
dcpends on what YOU call play" They
DO no, have 20 take the free play period
provided under the Gary plan. They
do have 20 take ffteen minutes Of for
nal physical training which the physi-
cal training department OF the New
York public schools requires. such
REQUIREMENT has nothing 20 do WIKI
the Gary plan.
Gives Time for Music Lessons.
The objection Of the other mother
Of the ten who had any objections at
all was that she wanted her child OK
cused at 3 o'clock 20 take her music
lesson. In view OF the fact that
speech is hardly ever given on the
Gary plan when 1t is not explained
that children may be excused for prl-
vGte music lessons, il seems lncredl-
BILE that there should be any one IN
this CITY who does not know that the
Gary plan excuses children on the TO
quest OF their parents for outside ac-
tivities. The only explanation is that
the parents Of New York have been 60
used to a hard and fast system that
IL is inconcevable to them that the
can have any Kind Of school they
want"
Upon the whole. considering the i'm
pressions of the plan left by the visi-
tors on the minds Of the mothers, il Is
really surprising that more mothers
did not sign. No doubt there was no
intent TO misrepresent. but the fact il
that the mothers were left with strange
and amazing impressions Of the school.
Take. for example, Mrs. Prestigi acomo,
who signed because children were get
ting colds and pneumonia Doubtless
some children in Public School 50 have
had colds this winter, although we
have heard of no case of pneumonia.
Considering the prevalence of grip, II
would be strange II they had not had
colds. but, according 10 the school
physicians report, the health OF the
children in Public School SO is bet
ter than that of any other school i'm
the district. Il is unfortunate that the
parents were not informed Of that fact
by the visitors.
Academic Work Above Average
Or again. take Mrs. Joseph Montag,
who is "sorry | signed. but a lady
came in who is a customer. and she
begged ! sign. When my little girl
comes home from school and hear |
signed she begin 70 cry. ! like the
school" Mrs. Montag was left with the
impression that the children at the
school weren't learning anything" that
they had 10 work fifteen minutes, play
fifteen minutes, then change again 20
writing" II is unfortunate that Mrs.
Montag did not know that II is a mat
ter OF record made by superintendent
MacAndrew, that the children in Public
School 80 stand higher IN academic
work than the children Of any other
school in the district.
Finally, we found many parents who
told us with great seriousness that I'M
der this Gary plan children had their
arms broken" The fact Is that one
child had his arm broken. and the way
IL happened proves that Mr.. Wirts at
titude toward playground instruction
~ correct. Mr.. Writ believes that
there should be special playground in
structors for the playground. Class
teachers should not be employed for
that work When the Gary plan was
first put into operation. year and a
quarter ago. owing 10 the delay in max
ing transfers, class teachers were tenn
porarily used on the playground. One
class teacher took her class for walk
one day instead Of having them play
They took a long walk, and on the
way back stopped at a baseball field 20
rest Most OF the children sat down,
but one boy begag climbing up and down
the seats Of the grandstand. He fell
through and injured his arm The
moral Cf that Isl Don't have class
teachers on the playground. They do
not know how TO play. and. II accidents
3 IL.