St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-04-11
A JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TO
BE OPENED in ST. JOHNSBURY

high school has increased 20 per cent
The junior high school serves tn
individual. The sooner the teachel
| realizes that the child is not a stand
ard machine the better it Will be fol
all concerned. Some of us are adapted
for one thing, some for another, an6
If our school training has been proper
| there will be fewer misfits in life. 1r
by giving the individual more freedom
| our work We are endeavoring to FIND
| that for which the child is best fitted
| of choice than has heretofore been
| done. If for example it is impossible
| for him to master the languages but
| he can and will study agriculture OF
| shop work we let him spend his time
| with the work in which he is interested
| and | believe that he will be better
| fitted to enter the world as a produc-
| tive citizen, than if he had been forced
! to study Latin or French, or rebelling
| at the requirements and discouraged
| because of failures had lett school
| with the idea that he was not good for
much any way.
The junior high school through its
opportunity enleavors to reach the in
dividual and SO far as possible give
him that which he can use directly
when he leaves the school room, at the
same time SO plan his work that the
| door to the college will remain open to
him.
We endeavor to keep the child in
school SO long as he is doing one thing
IN creditable manner for we believe
that it is better to give him that which
he will take and keep him, than to
lose him from school by forcing upon
him those things against which his
whole being rebels. [ have a boy in
my school who made the old declara-
lion at the opening Of the year that he
could see no use of school and that
lust SO soon as the law would allow
he would be earning som ething in
stead Of spending his time in school
room, but this boy when given an OPP
portunity to show what he could do
along sertain lines for which he was
adapted has not only made good in
those but improved his ranks in other
subjects and has decided to finish the
junior high school. Here is one boy
who will have two years more Of
schooling than he would have had if
he had not had the opportunity to de-
Velop along those special lines for
which nature has fitted him.
The junior high school in Vermont
is q community school, school which
aims to teach those things that will
directly benefit the community, in
which it is located. If the community
is one which is especially devoted to
the dairy industry the school endeavors
to assist in every legitimate way to
fin -f hn I1a Of
teaching the boys and girls to ap-
preciate their opportunities The boys
make a special study of the technique
and then go home to do actual work
under the supervision of their father
and the teacher of agriculture If the
community be one which is devoted to
manufacturing or other industry then
the particular things which the people
want are provided so far as possible.
do not want to be understood to
imply that every boy who lives on a
dairy farm is to become a dairy farm
er, or every girl who lives in a com
mercial community is to enter the
office, but that every opportunity be
given the boy or girl to train them
selves for that which they may choose
for life work. For this reason we
require all girls to take domestic
science.
Among the subjects given in the
junior high school is one in general
farm mechanics which includes rope
work. [ recently heard a person who
had visited one of the schools tell how
the class served citizen of the town.
The boys had been taught ropesplic-
ing. One of the farmers nearby broke
the rope which passed thru the pulley
that was used on the hay fork. He
was in hurry. A knot would not do
A new rope was impossible because of
time. SO what did he do? He sent to
the school. and the principal sent one
of his boys to the farm who had the
rope spliced and the fork working in
few minutes. Is that school servin e
| its community? Take an example
| from a similar school which I heard
/ from brother principal. The farmers
+, in the town were bothered for help
| and the potatoes were rotting in the
| ground. The boys in the school had
| studied from books about seed selec-
| ton, grading, and marketing potatoes
| but they needed practice, so the teach
| er took them With him to this farm
er's potato patch where they dug, sort
ed and made ready for market the en-
tire field of potatoes. They had good
! time doing it too, and learned more
| than one lesson. There is not a junior
high school in the state which does not
test samples of milk and cream every
/ week for the farmers Of the commun.
ity. These are a few of the ways il
which the school is endeavoring tt
benefit the community
The work in the school room is mad,
as practical as possible, for exampl,
by teacher in domestic science ha
taken the girls to some of their homes
for house cleaning, has required then
to make up a budget of the eXpendi
lures of Il family and many other de
cidedly practical exercises. This worl
has been paralleled by the othe
schools although each have one o
, more specialties, as for example, warn
lunches which are served at cost il
, many of the schools.
/ In agriculture the boys are give
= much practice in orchard work, prun
ing and caring for trees. We all haV
5 more Of this work waiting to be don
? than we can give the boys time for, a
there are many orchard owners VIII
? are anxious for the boys to care TO
2 their orchards Stock-raising an
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